White Spots with LCD screen

landocruiser · #1 July 21st, 2005, 03:43 PM

I was bumbed out when the "white spots" started to appear on my screen (G4 15") bought last year. I called apple care and was told "Up to 6 dead pixels are to be accepted and warranty would not cover it ". I had 3. Turns out they were not dead pixels but "white spots" Looked it up at Apples site and found recall on given S/Ns. Sure enough I had a different number but took my lap in anyway. Tech saw it and honored it with 2 days left on my warranty !

**fryke** · #2 July 21st, 2005, 04:49 PM

Happy for you! So: You "simply" got your screen replaced?

serpicolugnut · #3 July 21st, 2005, 08:11 PM

Had the same problem on a Powerbook G4 1.25ghz 15" that I bought in Feb. of 2004 as a refurb. It happened twice, actually (I had Applecare). Although Apple turned the repairs around very quickly, I had enough and sold it on eBay and bought a Powerbook G4 1.5 17". Love the extra screen, hate the extra weight.

WinWord10 · #4 July 23rd, 2005, 10:38 PM

I've been living with a white spot for months on my 15" PowerBook G4. To me, the inconvenience of sending it away to be repaired and the likelihood of the problem recurring outweighs the benefit of getting it fixed. It's hardly noticeable anyway unless I'm looking for it.

mrsmclean · #5 July 31st, 2005, 01:56 PM

Three white spots about 1 cm in diameter appeared on my ibook 14" within the last couple of months. Sent it in to apple...they sent it back because they couldn't find the white spots?! My friend doesn't know the difference between a CRT and an LCD and she could see the spots with a light background. You'd think Apple would have some sort of screen testing software they'd use when determining if a screen was bad or not. Anyways I was not a happy camper after spending $70 to ship it to them, because they won't ship to an APO customer. So much for paying $200 for Apple Care. Thanks for caring Apple.

WinWord10 · #6 August 1st, 2005, 02:28 AM

Maybe you should take it to an Apple Store. If you can show a Genius Bar staffer exactly where the spots are, then you'll have an Apple employee recognizing that the issue exists and consequentially a much better chance of getting it repaired. Check http://www.apple.com/retail/ to see if there's one in your area.

Yogi Bear · #7 August 1st, 2005, 07:23 PM

I had the white spots on my 14" iBook and my local apple store were happy to replace it for me under warranty. Only thing is i've just noticed that i can still see them when i have a light background even after getting a new screen!! Does anyone know exactly what cause them? evidently in my case it is not the screen, so i'm not sure what it can be. Any help would be good. I'm thinking i might take it back to the apple store and see what they say.

WinWord10 · #8 August 1st, 2005, 07:41 PM

I've read that the spots are caused by spacers located behind the screen that separate the LCD from the aluminum casing and keep the aluminum from bending. Check out this picture to see exactly where the spacers are located on 15 and 17-inch PowerBooks.

There's a good article about it at Justin Blanton's blog.