Aspire V5-571 - brand new, but stuck or dead pixel? Which is it? Please advise

Hi all,

My first post on here. I have just replaced my old Aspire 7520 with a brand new V5-571 with Windows 8. Overall I am very happy with the machine and it performs well for my needs.

However, one problem that has griped with me since I first noticed it, is there is a stuck/dead pixel. I say both, because I am unsure which one it is, believe it or not.

It's very annoying to me now that I have noticed it - it's on the right hand side of the screen, and I am sure it is red. But here comes the confusion. On a white background, it looks red. In fact, on some other backgrounds, it looks red. However, I took this photo the other day, zoomed in from my phone, so I could see the individual pixels:

Clearly here, the pixel looks black. So I then thought there's nothing I can do, as it is a dead pixel. But I have still been convinced it is red, because on a red background, I can't see anything there - whereas if it was dead, then surely you'd see a black dot, correct?

Here's a picture I took zoomed in today:

Clearly red.

But if it was red - then surely it would show up red on black backgrounds, such as the Command Prompt, or black webpages? But it doesn't!! There is nothing there. I have had experience of a stuck pixel before on an old 17" Hanns G TFT monitor, where there was a big green stuck pixel which was in the bottom left, but it was always there - on black, white, whatever - obviously not on green - but still, it could always be seen.

This, though, has me confused - it doesn't show up on red backgrounds, or black ones. So what is it? Stuck or dead pixel? Also has anybody got any advice on what I can do with regards to getting rid of it? Like I say, it is annoying, and I have spent (what I consider) a large sum of money on this laptop and it has taken some of the shine off it for me. I may be overreacting, but I have noticed it and it is winding me up - I'm sure some of you understand! There are loads of software programs to try and remedy stuck pixels, but has anyone actually had any luck? Do you recommend me pressing down on it/rubbing it to see if it rectifies the issue? The trouble is, knowing my luck, I'll probably cause more to appear!

Any advice from Acer or from other users would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Alex

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Accepted answers

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Alan-London

A pixel (or picture element) consists of three sub pixels, Red, Green and Blue).
It would appear that this particular pixel has dead Green and Blue sub pixels - Red still working.
It appears black on your first picture because Red is not used to produce Cyan - only the Green and Blue sub pixels (the Red sub pixel being switched off).
I've no idea what colour your second picture is but it would appear that the Red sub pixel is at least partly lit.

I've tried software to exercise bad pixels but I've never had any luck whatsoever.

As far as rubbing the pixel area - I wouldn't!

alex_ncfc

Thanks for the reply, that makes sense. So it's not showing up on black because the pixel is able to switch to 'off' to show black?

Argh this is really frustrating, the screen has no more apart from this one pixel, I keep telling myself I can live with it, but then I keep looking at it too because I know it's there! I found a screensaver which flashes the screen full of random pixels, but I honestly can't see how it would suddenly jog this pixel into budging from red to different colours. Someone out there must have had some success stories?

Alan-London

Yes, when you display black, all three sub pixels are off. (Your green and blue sub pixels are always off because they are dead.)
In your case, if you display pure red, the pixel should look as you expect as it appears to be functional.
Only when you display a colour containing green and/or blue will the colour be incorrect.
Remember that a pixel is not a single entity. It contains three independent led's. By varying the intensity of each sub pixel or led allows the pixel to trick the eye into believing it can display many thousands of colours. In your case, the pixel can only display various shades of red.
Like you, once I spot a bad pixel (or sub pixel) I am always drawn to it - drives me mad too!
Also, be aware that the eye/brain is easily fooled. The perceived colour of a given pixel can be influenced by the colours of surrounding pixels. That said, it's likely that your bad pixel was still only showing shades of red and the dead sub pixels remain dead!

Inspiration101

What area of the panel is the dead pixel in ? If you were to split the screen into 9 equal sections does the bad pixel reside in the centre square ? If it is in the centre I would contact Acer support.

Have you tried one of the dead-pixel-fixer programs ? ie : http://download.cnet.com/UndeadPixel/3000-2094_4-10671596.html

This program has worked for me to unstick the odd pixel here and there over the years.

Good luck !

alex_ncfc

Thanks for the responses.

This is the position of the pixel:

Do you think this falls into the centre area?

Thanks for your suggestion on UDPixel. I remember using this years ago on my old monitor with the big green stuck pixel, but never had any luck. So far, after running it on 5ms over the pixel in a 5x5 square (it is running in the photo above) I have not had any luck Smiley Sad When it succeeded for you, how long did you leave it for? I would like to leave it on for a few hours, but I have read about something on LCD screens called "image persistance" which is like burn-in on old CRT monitors. I really would like to get this pixel to vanish!!

On my second note, about my battery - I have now had the laptop for a little over a week. And now when checking in HWmonitor, the battery wear is showing at 9%. This is crazy. Even my old Acer Aspire 7520's battery never got to this much wear, and I was using that for over 4 years!! Is this a case of a bad battery, bad charger, or have I done something wrong?

hwmonitor august10.jpg

Appreciate any responses.

Alex

Edit: just realised I never even previously mentioned about my battery here (must have been on another forum!) but basically it was 4% wear the day I got the laptop, 6% wear the day after and 9% as of yesterday (Saturday)