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> My ASUS ROG Swift PG42UQ monitor was actually where I started, because I got annoyed at the pop-up overlay that comes up every once in a while that tells me t

by ndiddy 1mo ago

> My ASUS ROG Swift PG42UQ monitor was actually where I started, because I got annoyed at the pop-up overlay that comes up every once in a while that tells me to run “pixel cleaning”. I have never intentionally run pixel cleaning on this monitor and I never will, I don’t care, and I would like for that overlay to go away forever. Maybe there’s a debug menu or something that can turn it off, or worst case we patch a branch in the firmware? Note that this is an OLED monitor, so the "pixel cleaning" thing is probably some sort of anti-burn in feature. You could probably ask the AI to look at the firmware and describe what it does.

Rohansi 1mo ago
I don't think learning more about what it does is going to make them change their mind here.
baby_souffle 1mo ago
> You could probably ask the AI to look at the firmware and describe what it does. Or ask for a patch so it runs after the monitor has been powered off for a while... I use an LG OLED 42inch TV as a monitor and it has a setting to do just this.
- ndiddy 1mo ago
  I looked it up, his monitor does do it automatically after it's been powered off for a few minutes. He's getting the nag message because the monitor has been on and displaying a picture for over 8 hours.
Aurornis 1mo ago
Yeah, you actually want to do this with monitors of that generation to make them last. You could argue that there should be an option to disable it for people who don’t care. Refusing to take 1 minute out of your day to learn the reason for the alert is a strange self-defeating protest next to the explanation that it was a pretty expensive monitor.
- californical 1mo ago
  Eh I think the monitors should just handle this automatically - mine do. I basically have no idea that they do any cleaning cycles except when I check their “advanced” menu and it says it’s run 1200 times or whatever
  - DiabloD3 1mo ago
    They can.... which everyone bitched about: they would do their cleaning cycle, no matter if you were busy or not.
    - kulahan 1mo ago
      Then they should do it at another time...? Obviously?
      - teekert 1mo ago
        Maybe he should have assigned an agent to it.
      - DiabloD3 1mo ago
        And thats why we have the warning that everyone bitches about: "Hey, the timer is up, but I'm not gonna make you do it, its just gonna wear the display out faster". Early OLEDs really did need to be pixel cleaned every 8 hours according to manufacturer estimates, the choice isn't have warning or not, its have a lifespan or not. I don't want to blame early adopters for being early adopters, but they early adopted, and this is the early adoption problem.
        troupo 1mo ago
        Because the run a full blown OSes on monitors now, and for some reason it cannot figure out the simple "wait until you're off for at least 10 minutes to do the cycle instead of bothering the user at random intervals"
winrid 1mo ago
Every 8 hours is insane, though
moralestapia 1mo ago
Perhaps you didn't read the text you just copied and pasted, but here it is for you: "I have never intentionally run pixel cleaning on this monitor and I never will, I don’t care, and I would like for that overlay to go away forever." No need for ackshually, the guy is clear with what he desires. That is, by the way, the point of TFA. I want my devices to do what I want, not what a product manager wants or what a dude on hacker news wants. The author even dropped a comment here doubling down on his intent. That is the main problem, when the smaht guys think they know better, to a pathological extent where they tell other people what they ought to do with their things .
- harry8 1mo ago
  >...the smaht guys think they know better, to a pathological extent where they tell other people what they ought to do with their things . Not just tell, actually nag, coerce and force, often in the teeth of their own total idiocy. "Your password needs to be between 8 and 15 characters and include an upper case letter, a symbol and a number. (And an actually good, strong password will be rejected). See that all the time, still, in 2026. So very smaht.
- ryandrake 1mo ago
  The user should be the final authority over what his computer does. Not the computer manufacturer. Not the OS developer. Not the 3P app developer. Not some product manager at a software company. The end user. Even time computer says no, or does something without your permission, or does something counter to your wishes, or alerts you to do something, or urges you to do something, or makes you opt-out, is a failure.
  - willdr 1mo ago
    The end user disables pixel cleaning because the pop-up annoys them. They then start bitching about burn-in within 6 months, RMA the monitor even though it was their choice to do so, and spread negative sentiment about your brand going forward for being "prone to burn in".
    - 1mo ago
2III7 1mo ago
That is just crap UX. Sonys OLED tv-s for example do this automatically while in standby mode in addition to pixel shift while displaying an image. On the other hand Phillips OLED tv-s also ask the user if they want to do a panel refresh.
userbinator 1mo ago
The Internet seems rather reluctant to explain what exactly "pixel cleaning" does, but based on the vague useless "explanations" I could find, I suspect it's a sort of "flat-field correction" where it calibrates the pixel drive current to darken the less worn and/or brighten the more worn ones so it eliminates the burn-in effect. This obviously leads to a vicious cycle where more worn pixels are driven harder and hence wear faster... IMHO OLED is a planned-obsolescence dead-end anyway; LCDs can last literally decades, maybe with a backlight replacement, but OLEDs are designed to fail in a few years. I have a few (rather expensive) pieces of test equipment with OLEDs that became unreadable after only a few years and had to be replaced (fortunately with a regular LCD, and some firmware patching), while others with old-school CSTN/TN LCDs are still fine.
- p1necone 1mo ago
  If OLEDs are 'designed to fail' they've certainly gone about it in a very roundabout way - there would be much easier ways to do planned obsolescence if that was actually the goal of display manufacturers.
  - karim79 1mo ago
    I have a LG wallpaper TV 65" from 2021. I see no burn-in whatsoever. Once in a while it says "we will do the pixel refresher thing when you turn off the TV". I'm pretty sure there's something to it but I'm no expert. Five years later and my TV is just fine.
    - realo 1mo ago
      A TV displays constantly changing images. A monitor displays items that can stay fixed in place a long time, hours or even days. Not the same at all.
      - karim79 1mo ago
        I use it as a monitor as well. I think the key here is what LG calls "screen shift" which makes obvious sense. No magic, just move the pixels around to prevent stuff like HUD and logos from burning the screen.
NegativeLatency 1mo ago
Or update the firmware to do it every n hours or screen blanks or something automatic with no nag
Sha1rholder 1mo ago
I have an ASUS PG32UCDM and an ASUS XG27UCDMG, and both can permanently disable the "pixel cleaning reminder." Have you tried update firmware and look in the monitor UI?
some_random 1mo ago
That's exactly what it is, and it's pretty important to run

by ndiddy 1mo ago

Rohansi 1mo ago

I don't think learning more about what it does is going to make them change their mind here.

baby_souffle 1mo ago

> You could probably ask the AI to look at the firmware and describe what it does. Or ask for a patch so it runs after the monitor has been powered off for a while... I use an LG OLED 42inch TV as a monitor and it has a setting to do just this.

ndiddy 1mo ago
I looked it up, his monitor does do it automatically after it's been powered off for a few minutes. He's getting the nag message because the monitor has been on and displaying a picture for over 8 hours.

Aurornis 1mo ago

Yeah, you actually want to do this with monitors of that generation to make them last. You could argue that there should be an option to disable it for people who don’t care. Refusing to take 1 minute out of your day to learn the reason for the alert is a strange self-defeating protest next to the explanation that it was a pretty expensive monitor.

californical 1mo ago
Eh I think the monitors should just handle this automatically - mine do. I basically have no idea that they do any cleaning cycles except when I check their “advanced” menu and it says it’s run 1200 times or whatever
- DiabloD3 1mo ago
  They can.... which everyone bitched about: they would do their cleaning cycle, no matter if you were busy or not.
  - kulahan 1mo ago
    Then they should do it at another time...? Obviously?
    - teekert 1mo ago
      Maybe he should have assigned an agent to it.
    - DiabloD3 1mo ago
      And thats why we have the warning that everyone bitches about: "Hey, the timer is up, but I'm not gonna make you do it, its just gonna wear the display out faster". Early OLEDs really did need to be pixel cleaned every 8 hours according to manufacturer estimates, the choice isn't have warning or not, its have a lifespan or not. I don't want to blame early adopters for being early adopters, but they early adopted, and this is the early adoption problem.
      - troupo 1mo ago
        Because the run a full blown OSes on monitors now, and for some reason it cannot figure out the simple "wait until you're off for at least 10 minutes to do the cycle instead of bothering the user at random intervals"

winrid 1mo ago

Every 8 hours is insane, though

moralestapia 1mo ago

Perhaps you didn't read the text you just copied and pasted, but here it is for you: "I have never intentionally run pixel cleaning on this monitor and I never will, I don’t care, and I would like for that overlay to go away forever." No need for ackshually, the guy is clear with what he desires. That is, by the way, the point of TFA. I want my devices to do what I want, not what a product manager wants or what a dude on hacker news wants. The author even dropped a comment here doubling down on his intent. That is the main problem, when the smaht guys think they know better, to a pathological extent where they tell other people what they ought to do with their things .

harry8 1mo ago
>...the smaht guys think they know better, to a pathological extent where they tell other people what they ought to do with their things . Not just tell, actually nag, coerce and force, often in the teeth of their own total idiocy. "Your password needs to be between 8 and 15 characters and include an upper case letter, a symbol and a number. (And an actually good, strong password will be rejected). See that all the time, still, in 2026. So very smaht.
ryandrake 1mo ago
The user should be the final authority over what his computer does. Not the computer manufacturer. Not the OS developer. Not the 3P app developer. Not some product manager at a software company. The end user. Even time computer says no, or does something without your permission, or does something counter to your wishes, or alerts you to do something, or urges you to do something, or makes you opt-out, is a failure.
- willdr 1mo ago
  The end user disables pixel cleaning because the pop-up annoys them. They then start bitching about burn-in within 6 months, RMA the monitor even though it was their choice to do so, and spread negative sentiment about your brand going forward for being "prone to burn in".
  - 1mo ago

2III7 1mo ago

That is just crap UX. Sonys OLED tv-s for example do this automatically while in standby mode in addition to pixel shift while displaying an image. On the other hand Phillips OLED tv-s also ask the user if they want to do a panel refresh.

userbinator 1mo ago

The Internet seems rather reluctant to explain what exactly "pixel cleaning" does, but based on the vague useless "explanations" I could find, I suspect it's a sort of "flat-field correction" where it calibrates the pixel drive current to darken the less worn and/or brighten the more worn ones so it eliminates the burn-in effect. This obviously leads to a vicious cycle where more worn pixels are driven harder and hence wear faster... IMHO OLED is a planned-obsolescence dead-end anyway; LCDs can last literally decades, maybe with a backlight replacement, but OLEDs are designed to fail in a few years. I have a few (rather expensive) pieces of test equipment with OLEDs that became unreadable after only a few years and had to be replaced (fortunately with a regular LCD, and some firmware patching), while others with old-school CSTN/TN LCDs are still fine.

p1necone 1mo ago
If OLEDs are 'designed to fail' they've certainly gone about it in a very roundabout way - there would be much easier ways to do planned obsolescence if that was actually the goal of display manufacturers.
- karim79 1mo ago
  I have a LG wallpaper TV 65" from 2021. I see no burn-in whatsoever. Once in a while it says "we will do the pixel refresher thing when you turn off the TV". I'm pretty sure there's something to it but I'm no expert. Five years later and my TV is just fine.
  - realo 1mo ago
    A TV displays constantly changing images. A monitor displays items that can stay fixed in place a long time, hours or even days. Not the same at all.
    - karim79 1mo ago
      I use it as a monitor as well. I think the key here is what LG calls "screen shift" which makes obvious sense. No magic, just move the pixels around to prevent stuff like HUD and logos from burning the screen.

NegativeLatency 1mo ago

Or update the firmware to do it every n hours or screen blanks or something automatic with no nag

Sha1rholder 1mo ago

I have an ASUS PG32UCDM and an ASUS XG27UCDMG, and both can permanently disable the "pixel cleaning reminder." Have you tried update firmware and look in the monitor UI?

some_random 1mo ago

That's exactly what it is, and it's pretty important to run