support3008

Q: Small white square appearing on screen

Yesterday I was looking at my iPhoto pictures and every picture had 2 small white squares appear on the screen which I tried to edit. Only to find this morning I now have one white square appearing on the Mac book pro screen. I cannot get rid of it.

Please can anyone advise me how to remove it and what is causing it?

Thanks

Carol

MacBook Pro with Retina display, iOS 7.0.4

Posted on Jan 31, 2015 6:39 AM

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Q: Small white square appearing on screen

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  • by ChitlinsCC,

    ChitlinsCC ChitlinsCC Jan 31, 2015 8:54 AM in response to support3008
    Level 5 (7,534 points)
    Notebooks
    Jan 31, 2015 8:54 AM in response to support3008

    Carol

     

    Take a screenshot of the entire screen [ ⌘ Command + ⇧ Shift > Press ' 3 ' > release all three ] and post here using the 'Camera Tool'

     

    Your Product Info (Default or Only) displays automatically at the end of your Question post

    it is incongruous in that a MBPro does not run iOS - you can edit and fix it on you profile page - you'll figure it out

     

    meanwhile, give us your MBPro specifications (year, processor, RAM, HD, peripherals) and your iPhoto version.

     

    While we mull that over, you could open the misbehaving file in Preview.App to see if the 'white square' is actually part of the image (doubtful)

     

    This sounds like a problem with the Display itself, but the screenshot you post will tell US as the screenshot is a picture of the display IN ROUTE TO the display - not the display itself. Since you have an iDevice, take a picture of the Retina Display showing the "white square" and post it as well.

     

    ÇÇÇ

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Jan 31, 2015 8:59 AM in response to support3008
    Level 7 (31,893 points)
    iPad
    Jan 31, 2015 8:59 AM in response to support3008

    Most likely a dead pixel (the screen is populated by thousands of them which, as a whole, result in the pictures/graphics you see). Here is some general info:

     

    http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT5266

     

    And here is an article addressing dead pixels:

     

    About LCD display pixel anomalies for Apple products released in 2010 and later - Apple Support

  • by support3008,

    support3008 support3008 Jan 31, 2015 1:22 PM in response to ChitlinsCC
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 31, 2015 1:22 PM in response to ChitlinsCC

    Screenshot 2015-01-31 16.12.48.png

    Not sure I understand exactly what you mean CCC! However here is a copy you requested and you can see the small squarest below the word 'at' and opposite 'thanks Carol - 4th line down/

    Hope this is of some help?

  • by ChitlinsCC,

    ChitlinsCC ChitlinsCC Jan 31, 2015 2:21 PM in response to support3008
    Level 5 (7,534 points)
    Notebooks
    Jan 31, 2015 2:21 PM in response to support3008

    OK. I see it IN the image...

    ⬇ click/tap to enlarge any images ⬇

    Picture 4.png

    Picture 5.png

    VERY curious. This LOOKS like a "Checkbox" from a form or dialog of some sort. Never seen anything like it - but I don't LIKE what it may mean.

     

    If this is present no matter what you are displaying in any APP, that means that this is some App putting it there in a floating layer over everything - the small nature may mean a very small window as well - nefarious would be my guess.

     

    Just for documentation sake, you said at first notice you were working in iPhoto on an image? Would you do another screenshot of that or similar image to show this "BOX" in iPhoto - thus proving it is not a browser issue?

     

    Does this MOVE at all when scrolling? Jump around?

     

    Meantime, I will inspect the original screenshot you posted in PhotoShop to get exact coordinates and color info.

     

    Mysterious, to say the least. I will ask our good friend thomas_r. - the MalWare guru to have a look at this thread for his two cents worth.

     

    ÇÇÇ

  • by support3008,

    support3008 support3008 Jan 31, 2015 2:32 PM in response to ChitlinsCC
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 31, 2015 2:32 PM in response to ChitlinsCC

    Dear CCC

    My photos seem to large to copy to you BUT whilst trying this I have discovered the square is on the computer and on most programmes i.e. pages, iTunes, messages etc so it is ON the computer itself! Not just on my photos.

    The square stays fixed it does not move and is about just under 2/3rds up the computer screen and nearly in the middle of the screen.

    I did try to minimise the size of a picture by exporting it to finder but when I opened it there was no mysterious square as you can see below.

    Thank you for your help in this, I appreciate this. I have been having some 'mail' password problems recently and was in contact with Apple support  and they 'took over' my computer to solve the problem. This 'white square' issue seems to have occurred since then - 2 nights ago - but that may just be a coincidence??

    IMG_0301.jpg

  • by ChitlinsCC,

    ChitlinsCC ChitlinsCC Jan 31, 2015 3:06 PM in response to ChitlinsCC
    Level 5 (7,534 points)
    Notebooks
    Jan 31, 2015 3:06 PM in response to ChitlinsCC

    Screenshot details

    2560 x 1800 – screenshot display image
    12 x 12 = box size
    1219 x 612 xy coordinates of top/left of box
    240, 240, 240 = RGB of box
    250, 250, 250 = RGB of background
    223, 223, 223 = box Outside BORDER
    1 pixel Global light shadow


    Picture 6.png

  • by ChitlinsCC,Solvedanswer

    ChitlinsCC ChitlinsCC Jan 31, 2015 3:41 PM in response to support3008
    Level 5 (7,534 points)
    Notebooks
    Jan 31, 2015 3:41 PM in response to support3008

    support3008 wrote:

     

    Dear CCC

    My photos seem to large to copy to you BUT whilst trying this I have discovered the square is on the computer and on most programmes i.e. pages, iTunes, messages etc so it is ON the computer itself! Not just on my photos.

    The square stays fixed it does not move and is about just under 2/3rds up the computer screen and nearly in the middle of the screen.

    I did try to minimise the size of a picture by exporting it to finder but when I opened it there was no mysterious square as you can see below.

    Thank you for your help in this, I appreciate this. I have been having some 'mail' password problems recently and was in contact with Apple support  and they 'took over' my computer to solve the problem. This 'white square' issue seems to have occurred since then - 2 nights ago - but that may just be a coincidence??

     

    You SEE the BOX in the screenshot because it is ON the screen when the snapshot takes place - it is an image of the screen buffer - all DATA.

     

    The fishing man is a FILE - saved not by what you see, but by what it contains in RGB pixel data.

     

    The screen share is likely the culprit. Restart your computer to see if it persists. If so, Call Apple back and give them the trouble ticket number and explain that a remnant of the session remains and is annoying.

     

    ÇÇÇ

  • by support3008,

    support3008 support3008 Jan 31, 2015 7:53 PM in response to ChitlinsCC
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 31, 2015 7:53 PM in response to ChitlinsCC

    Thank you CCC - I rebooted and did what was suggested in the related article below and the box seems to have gone - so thank you very much for your help.

    Carol

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Jan 31, 2015 8:26 PM in response to support3008
    Level 7 (31,893 points)
    iPad
    Jan 31, 2015 8:26 PM in response to support3008

    Glad to hear a simple restart got rid of the dead pixel.

  • by ChitlinsCC,

    ChitlinsCC ChitlinsCC Jan 31, 2015 8:29 PM in response to support3008
    Level 5 (7,534 points)
    Notebooks
    Jan 31, 2015 8:29 PM in response to support3008

    Your welcome (I guess?)

     

    So do you think mere Restart did the trick? Or did you restart and then do something from the bottom of the page (this actually got put there because the esteemed babowa post the link)

     

    Related Articles

     

    About LCD display pixel anomalies for Apple products released in 2010 and later

     

    If the latter is true, what part of the document applied? (section heading will do)

     

    If you had not restarted since your Remote Control session, that likely was the culprit... the size, shape, color, border, border color, drop shadow were definitely not a bad pixel anomaly AND a bad pixel would not show up in a screenshot - the only way WE could see a picture of a bad pixel is from a PHOTO of the Display (with a VERY good camera and some luck) - here's typical photo we see around here

    https://discussions.apple.com/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadImage/2-27581918-52976 6/IMG_3030.PNG

  • by support3008,

    support3008 support3008 Feb 1, 2015 6:37 AM in response to ChitlinsCC
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 1, 2015 6:37 AM in response to ChitlinsCC

    I am not sure for certain CCC as I am not the most IT savvy person in the world! But I think I clicked on Finder, system preferences, displays, built in retina display, it was on 'default' so I clicked on 'scaled' - I think it was after that I noticed that the square had gone! I also noticed that it had gone bucket 'default'.

    I think I then rebooted and all seems OK now.

    Again thank you for your help and the 'esteemed babowa'!

  • by ChitlinsCC,

    ChitlinsCC ChitlinsCC Feb 1, 2015 7:01 AM in response to support3008
    Level 5 (7,534 points)
    Notebooks
    Feb 1, 2015 7:01 AM in response to support3008

    all makes perfect sense... except I cannot for the life of me find any reference in Apple docs to the tick mark box as being an on screen indicator of display mode  - you may have indeed found an anomaly though - look at the similarity to the tick boxes in this image from > Frequently asked questions about using a Retina display - Apple Support

    ----

    I'm noticing functional or visual issues with an application. How can I make it work better?
    Try opening the application using Low Resolution mode:

     

        

    1. Quit the application if it is currently open.
    2. etc........

     

    This, I'm afraid, will remain one of Life's Great Mysteries... when troubleshooting, one thing at a time is imperative to detect that issue that is the fix.

     

    Say "La Vee"

    ÇÇÇ

  • by dpowersatx,

    dpowersatx dpowersatx Feb 11, 2015 12:53 PM in response to support3008
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 11, 2015 12:53 PM in response to support3008

    I have the same thing. Close Safari. It will go away. And it will eventually come back. Probably the NSA spying on us.

  • by ChitlinsCC,

    ChitlinsCC ChitlinsCC Feb 11, 2015 1:27 PM in response to dpowersatx
    Level 5 (7,534 points)
    Notebooks
    Feb 11, 2015 1:27 PM in response to dpowersatx

    IF you indeed have a Reina Display as the OP does, then her response here(above) is what fixed it > Small white square appearing on screen

    NOT the answer of mine that was marked the solution. - ÇÇÇ

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