bug behind lcd screen manufacturer

I thought the bug was right behind the first layer, between LCD and glass. However as I found out these two layers are permanently glued and sealed. That"s a good news as no bugs get in.

I found the bug (actually 3 of them, two that I didn"t know of) between diffuser and LCD. This space can be quite easily reached with just basic tools (pry tool, flat and Phillips screwdriver) within 30 minutes. You can follow detailed steps in Acer Thin Bezel Monitor Disassembly.

Picture this. You’re looking forward to your favourite release of the year, a new DOOM. And you’ve got a fancy $1000 monitor to play it on. There’s just one small problem. One day, you wake up and discover a bug has somehow carked it in your screen. No problem: the monitor’s well under warranty. So everything should be OK, right?

That’s what happened to long time Australian gamer Narull. Just before Christmas, he forked out the money for a very nice 1440p IPS screen, the 165Hz ASUS ROG Swift PG279QE. It’s a good gaming screen and one that you think would be perfect for games like DOOM Eternal, with all their colour and blood.

Narull didn’t even have the option of blaming himself and wallowing in self-pity, like Kirk did. Like most people, he asked the simple question: how the hell did the bug get inside his monitor to begin with?

Yeah, I bought it end of November, been working perfectly since then this bug appears inside it on Sunday night. I assumed monitors were sealed but I guess not…?— Narull (@Narull) March 17, 2020

But all was still looking well at this point. The monitor was not only within warranty under Australian consumer law, but ASUS’s limited 12 month warranty. Parts weren’t required, because all a competent repairer needs to do is pull the screen apart and clean the gunk from the protective layer that sits between the LCD panel and the screen. There’s plenty of legitimate precedent for it being free, too. LCD screens are a bright light source, and naturally small insects and moths are going to gravitate towards them. It’s the manufacturer’s job to make sure they can’t get inside.

Well that confirmed @ASUSAU don"t deal with small problems first I guess. Over a week to take an insect out of a screen (and I"m expecting longer honestly)

Things were looking up. Sort of. A ticket on the official ASUS support page replied: they’d deal with the issue, but not immediately. Narull would get his PG279QE screen back on March 25, two days after DOOM Eternal‘s official launch. Not ideal, but at least someone was putting the poor bug where they belonged.

But a lot can change in 24 hours. On Thursday morning, Narull received a response from a different ASUS support member. “After inspecting the LCD, we are determined the LCD have insect inside the panel unfortunately insect damage is not covered under the manufactory warranty,” an email from ASUS read, directing Narull to ASUS’s policy for Australia and New Zealand where “contamination with hazardous substances, diseases, vermin or radiation” is not covered under warranty.

Naturally, Narull was perplexed. ASUS initially accepted the support request and said they’d send the monitor back within a week, only to say new parts were needed. Then to turn around and say the monitor couldn’t be “repaired” at all, even though the monitor doesn’t need an actual repair. It just needs the bug cleaned out of the panel (and maybe some questions answered as to how the bloody thing could get inside to begin with).

It’s not a huge stretch to say monitors should be built in a way that doesn’t allow bugs or insects to crawl inside the panel. LCD/LED screens are giant sources of light. Of course they’re going to attract moths, mosquitoes, tiny flies and whatever else comes in from outside the window. One would assume they’d be built to keep critters at bay, even with modern monitors having more aggressive cooling mechanisms.

It’s not the customer experience you’d expect after buying a $1000 monitor. Generally, most brands are pretty good about support on their premium products. You’ve already paid several hundred, or almost a grand in this case. Having a bug that can climb into the screen and die is obviously a suboptimal experience. I get why a company might try and reject it after a year – especially if the user is dumb enough to squish the bug themselves.

Kotaku Australia emailed ASUS’s local team for comment, asking for an explanation on how the customer service should have functioned, what steps they would take to improve logging of customer complaints in the future and their approach to dealing with small insects getting inside enclosed monitor units. I also asked what their official advice was to users who discovered bugs inside their monitor – if ASUS isn’t going to cover it, should users try and fix it themselves? Can they fix it themselves?

As for small insects, ASUS said monitors are “not a completely sealed device” and customers should be patient if they discover one. “When customers find an insect in their screen, we would suggest him or her to wait the insect to get out by itself while it’s still alive,” ASUS said. “However, if the insect has already dead in the screen, the customer should always contact our service team to arrange the repairing as soon as possible. Service fees may apply in this situation. Service fees may apply in this situation.”

Perpetual license owners will receive bug fixes until the next major release, but new the features and functionality you get at launch is what you have to work with going forward.

A tiny insect has crawled in between the LCD panel and the backlight of my 27" iMac and died. Close inspection reveals that it is behind the LCD characters. I called Apple support, and they were sympathetic, but said I had to go to the local store. The local store told me it was not their fault I had a bug in my iMac, and in fact, this "infestation" (his words) would probably void the warranty on my 6 month old iMac.

My iMac sits on the desk in my office. My office is not "infested" with bugs. But Apple"s LCD screen is not sufficiently sealed to dust and other contaminants so it will prevent a tiny insect from being attracted to the light and crawling inside of it. I am very disappointed in their response.

Does anyone know if there is any recourse to the local Apple store? The woman at MY-APPLE assumed it would be a warranty repair. It seems to me that the LCD component should be sufficiently sealed to prevent bugs from crawling into it. And I live in Southern California, not Northern Michigan.

Today I was sitting at my computer, programming. Suddenly, I noticed that a bug was crawling up my second monitor. I had dealt with the bugs before. They tended to pop up on my main display from time to time. Typically, I had just whisked them away with a piece of paper, or (if they wouldn"t let go), squished them lightly and used some cleaning wipes to get up their remains. This time, I tried to wipe it away. That didn"t work, so I tried smashing it with the piece of paper. It took a couple of tries to get it, but it eventually stopped moving. I went to get my cleaning wipes, and started wiping up the screen. To my amazement, the bug"s residue failed to come off. It seemed that the bug was actually inside the screen.

I realize that story may sound absurd. However, doing a Google search shows up many results for people with similar problems. Has anyone had any luck dealing with a similar issue? I see lots of results for people who still have them crawling inside the screen. But, mine is smashed, and there"s no way it"s getting out.

Yeah it"s the following morning and I"m still pretty bummed out about it. 99.99% sure it"s a bug and not just dust. I did google "bug in computer monitor" and there is a frightening number of hits about said issue. I can"t tell if it"s behind the panel in front of the back-light or in front of the panel but behind the outer protective layer. Who knew there were air gaps between various layers. Since it was moving when I tried to swipe it I think I "bent" the outer layer (or panel?) enough to kill and maybe? squish said bug. Lots of tapping and bumping of monitor and yeah it"s stuck.

I"m a bit uncomfortable opening up monitor to wipe away said bug. And the thought of RMA"ing this huge 43" monitor seems like a nightmare. I wonder if I paid for the on-site Dell tech support. Better not mention bug and just mention dead pixels. /sad-sigh

Honestly if you have an expensive, or at least "expensive for you," monitor check out the size of the vent holes on your monitor and maybe tape on some no-see-em ultra-fine mesh screens to prevent bug infiltration. Crazy.

The bug can’t get between the sandwiched layers of the screen. They’re all stuck together. It will be between the backlight (left-most layer), and that entire sandwiched layer to the right.

My only big tips would be to wear nitrile or latex gloves, and not take the entire LCD or backlight out of the monitor. You don’t want to handle it any more than necessary, put fingerprints on it, or allow dust specks or debris to get in. Those things would produce their own artifacts on the screen once you put it back together. Obviously you don’t want to trade the bug for another artifact. Just lift the screen a tiny amount gently, get to the bug with the gentlest blast of air duster or the gentlest swipe with a microfiber cloth, and then put everything back in place.

So, just lately they seem to becoming a bigger problem. I thought it was funny and novel when I saw someone else with little bugs crawling under their LCD monitor until I ended up with some.

Slowly drag your finger to the bottom right corner without lifting. Try to move your finger slowly enough that you can count to 10 before reaching the opposite corner of the screen.

Under your Pixel 5 phone’s screen, at the top center, you can see a white dot. This white dot is your proximity sensor. When your proximity sensor is on, the dot shows through the display. The dot can blink or stay solid.

Your proximity sensor keeps your phone’s screen off while you hold your phone near your face during a call, when your screen is locked, and when used by certain apps. Keeping the screen off helps save battery and avoid accidental taps on the screen.

All Pixel phones have proximity sensors. Because the Pixel 5’s display goes almost to the edge, you can see the Pixel 5’s sensor under the screen. Check our Pixel 5 phone diagram.

Unfortunately, most of that stuff requires either a certified repair or a complete replacement to fix. Unless you’re especially handy with electronics and you just happen to have access to cheap replacement parts, it’s usually better to either return a monitor to the manufacturer (if it’s under warranty) or simply buy a new one. Even so, here are the most common ailments for modern LCD monitors, and what can be done to fix them…or not.

If your monitor’s screen is often flashing or stuttering, there are a few different problems that you could be facing. It might be something as simple as a loose or faulty video cable. So first, tighten down the cable on both the monitor and the computer end (making sure to completely tighten any retention screws, if your cable has them) or simply replace the cable. The same thing goes for the power cable: make sure it’s secure at both ends, and if the problem persists, replace it if possible.

An incorrect refresh rate setting can also cause flickering. The refresh rate is the number of times the computer sends an image to the monitor per second, expressed in hertz. Most LCD monitors use either 59 or 60 hertz, though 75Hz, 120Hz, and 144Hz are also found on premium monitors. Go into your operating system’s display settings (right-click desktop and head to Display settings > Display adapter properties > Monitor in Windows 10) to make sure the right hertz setting is applied—you may need to update your video drivers as well.

Unfortunately, most other flickering symptoms are caused by a power deficiency somewhere in the monitor itself. It’s possible you could be drawing too much power from one of your home’s electrical circuits or overloading your surge protector—just move the power adapter to another plug to test this. But it’s more likely that there’s a loose or malfunctioning component in the screen assembly itself. If that’s the case, repair or replacement are the answers.

Black or single-colored lines on LCD screens are caused by a lot of different issues, but if the standard fixes outlined in the flickering section above don’t fix them (check your video and power cables for problems, install new drivers), it’s probably a physical defect in the screen itself. Try your monitor on another computer or laptop to see if the problem persists; if it does, you’re probably looking at a replacement, since the error is almost certainly in the LCD panel (the most expensive component of the monitor).

A “dead” pixel is a single dot on your LCD screen that doesn’t illuminate, showing up as one or more black squares. “Stuck” pixels are similar, but instead of showing black they’re stuck on a single color that doesn’t match the computer screen’s image, typically either red, green, or blue.

There isn’t much you can do for a dead pixel—it’s a physical malfunction of the screen panel. Luckily one or two dead pixels usually doesn’t mean you have to throw the whole monitor away; it’s certainly possible to work around it or ignore it. You can also look into a warranty replacement, though many monitor manufacturers won’t replace a screen until multiple pixels have gone out.

A stuck pixel may be a different matter. Depending on exactly how the problem is manifesting, it might be possible to get the pixel back into working order. There are various techniques for this, ranging from physically “massaging” the screen panel itself to running programs that rapidly cycle a portion of the screen through the color spectrum. You can try out some of these solutions as outlined in our guide to stuck pixels, but be warned, in my personal experience, it’s exceedingly rare to find a lasting solution to a stuck pixel.

If your monitor has a visible crack, a large discolored area, or a black/multicolored spot that doesn’t align with the pixel grid, it’s been subjected to physical trauma and the LCD panel is damaged. There’s nothing you can do here: even if your monitor is within its warranty period, it almost certainly won’t cover physical damage. You could try to replace the LCD panel itself, but since the replacement part will be almost as expensive as a new monitor anyway, you might as well start shopping.

The most common problem that can cause a buzz or whine noise in a monitor is an issue with the backlight, usually with the compact florescent tubes used for lighting in older models. (This design has been largely superseded by LED backlighting, but there are still plenty of CFL-equipped monitors in use.) Buzzing can occur due to problems in power regulation to one or more bulbs. Try adjusting the brightness of your screen up or down to see if the noise dissipates; of course, this can be a less than optimal solution if you need your screen brightness at a specific setting.

Fortunately, a faulty CFL bulb is a fairly standard issue, as is a malfunctioning power regulator in various other components that can cause similar problems. If your monitor is out of its warranty period, take it to a local electronics shop—they can probably swap out the part for considerably less than the cost of a new screen.

If your screen is suddenly showing the wrong resolution for your desktop—which is indeed a pretty big deal for any PC user—the most likely culprit is your graphics card. It’s probable that either the software component (the graphics driver) or the graphics card itself is where the problem is located. Updating the driver usually fixes this problem, though a new graphics card might be in order.

Most of the above problems can happen to the LCD screens used in laptop PCs and tablets, too…but because of the compact build, they’re much harder to repair. That being said, the extra expense of a laptop versus a monitor might make it a much better candidate for a repair rather than a replacement. At the very least (assuming you’re out of the warranty period), it’s probably worth a diagnosis and quote at a repair shop, if you’re not comfortable replacing the screen assembly yourself.

I bought a KD-65X8500G in January this year and within 3 months, noticed three little black marks. They were insects and annoyingly impossible to get to/remove without opening up the unit. YOur are lucky that your local Sony team have replaced them. In Australia they have an exclusion in their manufacturer warranty, but I have been pursuing them under Australian Consumer Law as I believe it to be a design fault or flaw (most likely entering where the satdns slot in- our unit is wall monuted) No result yet except for the standard reply (3 times to say it isn"t covered by their warranty and then offering a discount replacement TV (ie at cost price but still over $1300), but the fact these three little flies are in the screen in less than 3 months from purchase. It really beggars belief that a mid-range item like this would be succeptible to this type of design flaw. I get there needs to be ventilation, but this is the first time I have ever experienced this after 20+ years of Sony products.