Find a spot on your laptop screen that is permanently red or green? That’s a fault known as a ‘Blown Pixel’ and is more annoying than anything else. However, help is at hand with our handy guide on how to fix blown pixels on your screen.

Blown pixels occur when one of the thousands of pixels on your laptop’s screen get stuck. The result is a tiny bright blob of colour that looks like a spot of moisture, made up of green, red and blue. Unlike moisture, you can’t just wipe it away, and it can prove particularly frustrating if it occurs in the centre of your screen. It is possible to fix a blown pixel, however. Read on to find out how.

There are two types of broken pixel that can occur to laptops, and it can happen to both new and old machines. The first type – a dead pixel – appears as a small black dot. It’s caused by a faulty transistor, and light is unable to pass through the pixel, making it darker than the surrounding pixels. Unfortunately, there’s nothing that can be done for dead pixels.

What causes a blown pixel?
A blown pixel is the opposite, and appears as a bright, colourful dot. As before, it’s caused by defective transistors, but in this case all three of the sub-pixels – red, blue and green – allow light to pass through, and the result is a noticeable dot on your screen. Because it affects all parts of the pixel, it’s slightly larger and more intrusive than a dead pixel, but thankfully it’s also often fixable.

Our test laptop was suffering from two blown pixels towards the right-hand side of the screen. It’s possible to correct blown pixels using software that rapidly alternates the colours of individual pixels – the idea being to turn all the pixels off and on again very quickly, in the hope your faulty pixel rights itself.

Step one: Run specialist software
JScreenFix is one such solution. It opens up in a resizable window – so you can place it over your blown pixel[s], and even continue working on the rest of the screen at the same time. It’s recommended that you leave it running for five minutes at a time – moving it to check if it’s worked – and then trying again.

Step two: Find the right tools
After twenty minutes, however, this didn’t work with our test machine, so we tried an alternative solution. Working over a light-coloured background so you can clearly see the pixel, find an object with a pointed end – we used a small cross-head screwdriver – and place a soft covering over it to protect the screen for the next step.

Step three: Apply pressure to the pixel
One you’ve covered your object, gently tap and apply pressure to the area the pixel is in. Aim for the defective pixel itself – and don’t press too hard otherwise you can damage the surrounding pixels. We did this 10-15 times, changing the pressure each time. Unlike our MacBook Pro – which has a glass screen – most laptops feature plastic displays, so you’ll only have to apply minimal pressure. You should also see the screen changing colours around the area you’re tapping.

Step four: Repeat the procedure
After we tried this, the first blown pixel appeared to be less noticeable, with more muted colours. We ran JScreenFix once again, and left it for five minutes, and then repeated the process. This time it worked completely – with the pixel turning on and off correctly.

We did this again for the second blown pixel, and again it worked perfectly, with all of the pixels on our test machine now working correctly, and once again perfect colour reproduction in evidence throughout.

It is dependent on the machine, however, and won’t work in every case. Just be very careful not to scratch your display or press too hard when tapping at your defective pixel.

Find out more over at JScreenFix