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This summer my flat was "attacked" by hundreds of tiny thunderflies, some of which managed to get behind the screen of my LCD. A few of the cursed creatures went and died right in the middle of the display: 

a thunderfly enters the LCD

And yes, this is real. Imagine my surprise when I saw one of these things crawling across the monitor, tried to swat the thing and realized it was inside!  

How do I go about removing them?

I have tried tapping the screen and shaking it but to no avail. They are very annoying to look at because they look like groups of dead pixels, or even (.) characters. 

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    +1 for causing me to learn something new just to read your question ("Thunderflies"? Who'da thunk it‽) and also because I had no idea this problem was even possible, much less a Google-able problem.
    – JMD
    Nov 27, 2009 at 21:22
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    what a pity ... sell it on ebay as a very effective 24" "thunderfly trap" (tag line: dead flies are put on display to scare off further attackers) and buy a new monitor :)
    – Molly7244
    Nov 27, 2009 at 21:26
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    @JMD: +1 for interrobang.
    – Wuffers
    Apr 28, 2011 at 23:15
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    Why isnt thunderflies a tag?
    – Keltari
    Aug 21, 2011 at 23:42
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    Underflies! I have a dead underfly under the LCD display on my frig, and a dead underfly under the LCD display on my garage door opener, but have never seen one in a monitor. Sep 13, 2011 at 20:08

5 Answers 5

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I'll give a try :)

if your monitor external layer is plastic, (for big LCD screens I think its plastic and it's just for protection)

get one of those suction cups, stick it on the screen where there is a Thunderflies, then pull it softly to make a little space between the two layer so that thing will have some space to move

now, tap the screen or shake it and they will throw at the bottom of the screen.

hope it work for you. :)

suction

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    Hmm, it might just work... I'll give this a try. Nov 28, 2009 at 13:22
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    Just hope that the initial "squidge" when you apply this doesn't squash it further and make it smudge! Nov 29, 2009 at 9:36
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    For the record this didn't work for me but I still think it's an ingenious solution and might work for others. This summer I resorted to using a desk lamp to draw the flies away from my displays and towards the lamp instead. Dec 19, 2010 at 19:09
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    Must screen/laptop be shut down when doing this?
    – Boris_yo
    Aug 13, 2011 at 7:07
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    Does this solution apply to laptops' LCD screens?
    – Boris_yo
    Aug 13, 2011 at 11:56
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Wow! Thunderflies... I wasn't really sure if they are related to Thunderbirds, but wow! I have never seen them let alone heard of them. I guess the best way to get rid of them is to do this, also you did not mention what kind of LCD screen you have.

The general idea on getting rid of them:

  1. Look for screws that are hidden under some plastic grommits around the edges at the back of the LCD. Lie the LCD face down on top of a soft material or clothing, try protect the lcd screen itself first (use bubble wrap)
  2. Unscrew the screws, and gently pry open the back cover...do not pry to hard as you could damage the clips that could be in place.
  3. Gently lift off the back cover. This bit can be tricky, Look around and see if the front of the LCD screen is clipped on to something in the back, if you do see it, gently, unclip it, then gently flip the LCD over making sure you hold the inside in it's place.
  4. Now you should be able to remove the front of the LCD, lift it off gently (provided you have checked for the clips and is unclipped in place).
  5. Wipe clean and remove the thunderflies.
  6. Reverse the instructions for putting the cover back on from 4 backwards to 1 in the above.
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I had a bug directly in the middle of my monitor and I removed him by disassembling the monitor.

So there are four layers in your monitor:

  • backlight
  • diffuser
  • LCD
  • front facing outermost protective plastic/glass layer

I thought the bug was right behind the first layer, between LCD and glass. However as I found out these two layers are permanently glued and sealed. That's a good news as no bugs get in.

I found the bug (actually 3 of them, two that I didn't know of) between diffuser and LCD. This space can be quite easily reached with just basic tools (pry tool, flat and Phillips screwdriver) within 30 minutes. You can follow detailed steps in Acer Thin Bezel Monitor Disassembly.

timelapse

And here are the dead bugs sitting on diffuser sheet:

bugs

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    I want to thank you SO SO much. Thanks to your answer and iFixit guide i dared to take apart my Mi curved 34 inch monitor very carefully to remove some big dust piece that was stuck RIGHT IN THE CENTER of the screen. Turned out it was stuck between the first and second diffuser layer, and now ITS GONE! I'm so happy right now! Thanks!
    – Epskampie
    Jan 16, 2021 at 12:45
  • Great answer. Should have more upvotes! Aug 26, 2021 at 12:22
  • Just did this on an LG monitor and although it was not simple, it was also not as bad as I feared. Getting the snap together parts to open up was the hard bit. And that's both detaching the outer case and also an inner metal case that also clipped shut around the parts. After that it was exactly as described above. The LCD layer isn't attached to the backlight/diffuser, so you can just hinge the layers apart and wipe off the bugs. Everything working perfectly again now. I used a guitar pick as the pry tool BTW. Jul 7, 2022 at 12:48
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Wow... First +1 for something I haven't seen before and truly amazing!

Next, I am not really to sure - If your monitor has a layer such as glass or plastic, your best bet will be to open it up, remove the layer and get it out.

However if it is actually just a standard monitor and these flies are that small they can get in between the layers, I do not think they can be removed without causing significant damage to your panel.

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You should turn your monitor off as soon as you spot them, usually they will make their way out again, if you leave it on then they will stay and bathe in all that lovely light.

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    I like moving my cursor over them, and watching them navigate the "maze of light" I've made for them.
    – Jonathan
    Jul 21, 2017 at 8:08

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