Dead Pixel vs Stuck Pixel: How to Tell Them Apart

A single misbehaving dot on your screen is either a dead pixel or a stuck pixel — and the difference decides everything about what happens next. One of them can sometimes be fixed for free in twenty minutes. The other cannot be fixed by any software, ever.

The two-minute diagnosis

Run the Dead Pixel Check and pay attention to two slides:

On a white screen	On a black screen	Verdict
Black dot	Invisible	Dead pixel
Invisible or faint	Bright red, green, blue or white dot	Stuck pixel
Dark dot	Dark dot, moves when wiped	Dust or a smudge

That’s the whole test. A dead pixel is a hole in the light; a stuck pixel is light that refuses to turn off.

Why dead pixels stay dead

Each pixel on an LCD is made of three subpixels — red, green and blue — each driven by its own transistor. A dead pixel means the transistor or its connection has failed and the pixel receives no power at all. No signal from the computer can reach it, which is why flashing colors at it does nothing. It shows as a black dot on white, red, green and blue backgrounds alike.

On an OLED panel a dead pixel is a subpixel that no longer emits light — same symptom, same prognosis.

Why stuck pixels sometimes recover

A stuck pixel is different: the pixel still receives power, but one or more subpixels are frozen in the “on” state. A red dot on a black screen means the red subpixel is stuck at full brightness while green and blue behave.

Because the circuitry still works, rapidly cycling the pixel through colors can sometimes jolt the stuck subpixel back into responding. That’s exactly what the Stuck Pixel Fixer does: it flashes colors over the stuck area for a timed session. It doesn’t always work — but it works often enough to be worth twenty minutes before you consider a repair.

Be honest with your expectations: no tool can guarantee a fix, and anything that claims to repair dead pixels with software is overselling.

What to do in each case

If it’s a stuck pixel:

1. Run the Stuck Pixel Fixer over the area for 10–20 minutes.
2. Re-run the Dead Pixel Check to verify.
3. Still stuck? Repeat once with a longer session. Still stuck after that — treat it like a dead pixel.

If it’s a dead pixel:

1. Don’t press on the panel — you can damage neighboring pixels.
2. Count the defects and note their positions with the Screen Test Report.
3. If the device is new, use the retailer’s return window — it’s almost always more generous than the manufacturer’s pixel policy.
4. Otherwise, check the manufacturer’s dead pixel policy. Many follow ISO 9241-307, which tolerates a few defects per million pixels, but premium lines often replace panels with even one bright dead pixel.

The gray areas

Two look-alikes are worth ruling out before you conclude anything:

• Dust sits on top of the glass, is usually not perfectly round, and moves or disappears with a dry microfiber wipe. A pixel defect never moves.
• A hot pixel appears only when the panel is warm or at high brightness, then vanishes. Note when it appears; intermittent defects are still worth documenting in a report.

When in doubt, wipe the screen, let the device cool, and run the test again.