Comments on: 17″ Powerbook LCD bug, literally!

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 07 May 2009 03:39:29 +0000

I have the same problem. Will Apple warrantee this? I have a 3 year AppleCare.

By: Flat Screen TV

Flat Screen TV — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:16:17 +0000

Hi, I’ve dismantled quite a few older Compaq Armada laptops to replace backlights when I used to repair computers and it can be quite fiddly. They have fragile ribbon connectors, connecting the TFT LCD panel to a control circuit board and it’s easy to end up with intermittent coloured vertical or horizontal lines n your screen. Also there are a number of plastic polarised filters and a light diffuser used to evenly spread the light from the florescent tube and these all seem to attract dust. Any cleaning solutions used must not leave any residue or this will show up, I’ve once spent about 4 hours dismantling, fitting a new backlight, reassembling only to find a thumb print showing when the screen was switched back on!

By: Lcd Display Lover

Lcd Display Lover — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 20:55:33 +0000

I have this same problem with one of my new philips monitors. I hate this bugs :)

By: PriceStretcher

PriceStretcher — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:36:36 +0000

Now I believe that it’s really a BUG!
Pretty funny. I will show your blog to my friends.
Anyway, how do you manage to get him out?

By: trev

trev — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 20:13:53 +0000

i have the same insect in my moniter at the lower left hand side of the screen and it is dead,And i also have a line going across the screen where the little bugger is,

By: Graham Gallagher

Graham Gallagher — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 19:19:30 +0000

I changed from PCs to Macs to avoid the viruses, it looks like I have to keep my eyes open for the bugs on Macs! Good post.

By: moomin

moomin — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 19:20:45 +0000

ive got two in my dell 21″ moniter, i tried getting a replacement with dell but they dont reply to my emails the service serial number is wrong >_<

By: DJ Bee

DJ Bee — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:57:46 +0000

It’s not just Macs – I’ve had this problem with 2 different model Compaq laptops. I wonder why the LCD screens can’t be properly sealed to prevent the insects entering? It’s a real pain as they are a bit distracting.

By: blellum

blellum — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:11:02 +0000

I have 3 of the little fookers – thunderflies. All now dead.

Bollocks – thankfully it is a Uni MacBook Pro, so I can get a replacement – but how annoying!!!

By: MJ2k

MJ2k — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:16:37 +0000

Same here, got one in my Dell monitor yesterday.
There was this little insect walking about on my monitor. I’ve seen it a few times just wandering around on the screen. I went to brush it off only to find that it wasn’t on the screen, it was IN the screen. And now I’ve squashed it!

We’ve just had a couple of really warm days so I guess there were a lot of these little bugs about.

By: Bugblatter

Bugblatter — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:43:02 +0000

Arrgh! Must be the season for them as I have one too. Slap bang in the centre of my MacBook Pro screen. Anyone had one extracted professionally or can I try some DIY?

By: Bart V

Bart V — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:38:04 +0000

I have the same bug… in my Powerbook that is about a year old. It appeared today, wandered around a bit and is now stuck just a bit below the center of the screen. Has anyone found a way to get these bugs out? It doesn’t exactly speak for Apple’s manufacturing capabilities that this seems to happen so often…

By: Bob at Quantum Leap Technologies

Bob at Quantum Leap Technologies — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:58:37 +0000

I thought apples only had worms!

Be carefull if you decide to separate the screens yourself. There is a lot of small screws and it is easy to ruin the LCD membrane.

Regards,

Bob

By: Fozzy Bear

Fozzy Bear — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:20:41 +0000

I have a dead bug in my monitor as well. I noticed him crawling across the screen and he just died. The strange thing is I have the exact powerbook. Maybe there was a batch with bug eggs in them

By: Nicole

Nicole — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 23:41:10 +0000

I thought my bug was crawling on the outside of my screen so I flicked it. Big mistake, now I have a smudge of a bug in my screen. Does anyone know if I can take the moniter apart??

By: Ronnie

Ronnie — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 17:49:24 +0000

Spelling mistake: “OR” not “OF” ^^^^^^

By: Ronnie

Ronnie — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 17:47:36 +0000

May be if you had Windows running on parallels of Boot camp, the bug would’ve left the screen immediately.

By: Marc

Marc — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:54:19 +0000

Actually… I noticed while at Camp that BUGs in general seem to Love laptop screens… I think its the folourscent screens right? The bugs would just go straight to the screen…

All i need is one of those 200kV zappers encasing me lcd…lol

By: Richard

Richard — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 01:39:43 +0000

I have 1 bug in my PowerBook G3 – it only appeared a couple of months ago, and the machine was already 5 years old, so no idea how it got in! Similarly there was one in my iMac G4, and two of the little swines have managed to get inside my iMac G5! Luckily, they’re all had the decency to expire near the edges of the screen!

By: Lawerance Oak

Lawerance Oak — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 00:13:45 +0000

Haha, that is crazy funny. I didn’t believe it from the story headline, but after viewing the pictures, speachless. Keep us posted with what the out come of this.

By: Shawn

Shawn — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 19:24:31 +0000

I had the same thing happen and would have sworn I was the only person to be this unlucky. The lucky thing with me is that it happened to a Dell my work owns and not my Macbook pro. I’d cry for days if it happened to the MBP. I only [i]think[/i] I’m joking about that.

By: Gunni Grahn

Gunni Grahn — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 09:04:24 +0000

I had the exact same experience with my previous 15″ powerbook. A very small insect (it was one of those small beedles that turn up just before thunderstorms – why we call’em thunderflies) appeared and walked around inside my screen for days.

I couldnt get it out, but waited for a couple of days until it died – i think it then fell to som “pit” at the bottom of the screen after i shaked the powerbook for a while.

It never reappeared.

By: Drew

Drew — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 20:03:50 +0000

I’ve seen that happen a few times. Not with me, but I have heard stories of people having actual bugs being trapped in there Mac screens.

By: jay

jay — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 19:40:43 +0000

Hey guys,
Well what do you think?! my poor powerbook is a bug graveyard!
I haven’t contacted apple about this yet, as I know that anything “cosmetic” isn’t that important to them! but, if the bug is in the LCD screen this must mean its a problem with Apple right? i thought LCD screens should be sealed so dust cant get into the layers of the LCD let alone wildlife!?

iâ€™ve had the laptop for about two years, could an egg really live that long before hatching in my screen??

I switched off the powerbook when it was resting in the middle of the screen, then the next day when i switched it back on it was dead in the top corner.
i would love to read your comments about this!

take care guys,

Jay

ps…. the bug is a thunder fly, can you get thunder flys in the states? the reason i ask is because i got the laptop when i was in the states, so if you dont have thunder flys over there it must mean it walked in last summer in the uk and i must have a hole in my LCD!

By: Mark Fleser

Mark Fleser — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 15:12:21 +0000

That’s happened before with a cinema display, I saw a video of it.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 15:03:53 +0000

LOL! Awesome story! I hope that never happens to me, but I guess the chances are about one in a billion.

Actually I have a similar story as I once discovered a dead bug in my Harman Kardon subwoofer. Of course it was right in the bottom front of the unit so I saw it all the time. I’ve tried josteling the subwoofer this way and that in order to get the bug to fall out of one of the numerous ventelation holes but alas, all I’ve succeeded in doing is moving the bug more towards the back of the unit. It’s still there right now. In fact it’s been there about 3 years.

Dp you think Apple would replace this guys screen?

By: Jamie

Jamie — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 11:14:45 +0000

“But, look at the bright side, if you had to be trapped in a computer wouldnâ€™t your rather be trapped in a Mac?” Genius! Love your thinking :) Also great, random story.

By: theOlster

theOlster — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 09:51:53 +0000

I had this problem with an LG monitor (but I’ve also seen it on other laptops and tfts). We call them thunder-flys as they only appear when it’s warm and humid. But I have some very important advice for anyone who finds one wondering around your screen, and is still alive…

Switch off your monitor – NOW!

What kills them is the heat, switching off the monitor and allowing the bug to crawl out is your only defense. Although the little bugger was already dead in my LG, the monitor was still under warranty and LG were kind enough to replace it.

You have been warned – switch off your monitor and leave it for 2-3 hours if you’re not sure.

By: Christian

Christian — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 09:38:04 +0000

that’s so tragic… and Jay’s screen turns to be a backlight graveyard… how do we call that??