Dead or stuck pixel? Weird pixel behavior

Question

I have a very weird problem. I recently discoverd a blue dot on every dark/black image i opened. A dead pixel? It couldn't be, a dead pixel does not receive any energy and would be a black pixel on all colors.

So it has to be a stuck or hot pixel. So i started playing around in Paint. And here is where the weird part begins.

• On RED, i see a slightly blue color. (like Cyan)
• On GREEN, also slightly blue color. (like Cyan)
• But on BLUE, the pixel is turned off, a black dot.
• On BLACK, where all the 3 (r/g/b) leds should be turned off, i see a blue color.

It's like the blue color of the pixel is REVERSED somehow. On a blue screen the color blue is turned off (were it should be on) , on a black screen the blue color is turned on (were it should be off).

But that's not all.

So i filled my whole screen with black.... and the blue dot was gone. I minimize the screen and the blue dot returned. I discovered that the blue dot only appears when there is a WHITE pixel on the same COLUMN as the pixel.

• On a BLUE screen i have a Black dot.
• On a BLACK screen everything works fine.
• On a BLACK screen, where somwhere on the same column a white pixel is active, the blue dot returns.

So i started playing with WHITE on the same column, conclusion:

• BLACK screen: More WHITE is a brighter blue dot, Less WHITE is a slightly visible blue dot (on the same black screen). NO WHITE, is no blue dot ( or its so little its not visible to see with the human eye).
• BLUE screen: The more BLUE i have, the more darker the pixel becomes. if i add white on the same column, the less darker the pixel becomes. if the WHOLE column is white except for that pixel, its blue and not black. if i change the white in to BLUE, the blue pixel i had turns to black again.
• ANY other color: (same behavior as a black screen ) if i fill the screen with RED, and add WHITE bit by bit, i see the blue dot appear again.

How can i fix this?

Never experienced something like this. I also did the Stuck pixel fix videos on youtube ( for like 2 hours ) no luck.

Also its a new notebook, 9 months old (lenovo y700-15isk). Manufacturers also have defect pixel policies, where they can decline the repair or replacement request when the defective pixels doesn't meet the specific amount of defect pixels. ( its 3 defect pixels for Lenovo if im not wrong)

What is the problem im dealing with? how can i fix this pixel? Is it software related? A driver problem? Its not a dead pixels because it shows blue, its not a stuck/hot pixel because it doens't stay blue, so what is it?

Solution

The Pixel is a hardware fault with some kind of stuck (not dead) pixel features.

There are not as many quirks to your problem as you think. Several of the observations you've listed could be occurring because the pixel doesn't really change, and so you're always viewing it in terms of its relative colour compared to the pixels around it.

Did you know that there's no such thing as black ink? Most often people use very dark blues, but occasionally other colours depending on the situation. Black tattoos fade through blue or red or green - never gray, and chromatography of black inks always reveals an underlying colour.

You sometimes see a black pixel on blue screens because you're seeing the same dark blue relative to lighter blues, and so it looks black.

LCD screens can be weird

I know very little about the nuts-and-bolts behind LCD screens, but it's not as simple as having your little colour-guns which drove CRT displays in years past, which could be confusing your approach to this. LCD crystals usually re-orient in layers to 'gate' through a certain amount of red, of green, and of blue from the underlying light source. It seems plausible that you've got a mis-calibrated pixel somewhere in there which is typically letting more blue through than it ought to.

It could be that (as you suggest) the pixel's set up in reverse, where the crystal's blue-filter opens up the more you tell it to close, and vice versa. I suspect we'd need to understand more about the exact triggers which control the way your hardware and software interact before we'd really be able to get to the bottom of it, but that's my two cents.

Comments

[Admin]

For a well written interesting question, +1

[Admin]

If the pixel is always in the same spot, it would point to a hardware problem. The symptoms sound more like a defect in the display than a problem with the graphics card. But you can rule out a driver problem by running a live Linux session to see if the problem persists. You can rule out the graphics card by connecting an external monitor and seeing if the problem appears there. Another diagnostic: set the resolution (or screen magnification) at something that involves interpolation. If the same pixel behaves the same way, that would also point to the display.

[Admin]

Did it behave like this from the time you got it? I would be more concerned if the problem developed recently. If the problem is with the display electronics, there would be nothing you could do to fix it. However, I would still report it to Lenovo. Even if they don't fix it (unlikely for one pixel), you will be on record with the issue during the warranty period. If it eventually gets worse (more pixels with the same issue), you'll have a little leverage that the start of the failure was documented during the warranty period.

[Admin]

Did you try that software that flashes RGB colors on a pixel to revive it? EDIT: Wanted to post this as comment, darn mobile app

[Admin]

@fixer1234 The pixel is always on the same spot, external displays dont show the pixel. So it has to be the display unfortunately. The pixel showed up just recenlty 2-3 days ago, Also didn't do anything weird with my laptop like throwing around, it always rests on the same spot.

[Admin]

Bit late to the party, but did you find the term for this occurrence? Was it fixed by flashing RGB colors, or were you able to get it repaired under warranty? I just got the same issue, although for me it's both the red and blue subpixels light up if there are bright pixels in the same column, and the green seems to be dead.