That line is normal. The top part of the LCD can light up red or yellow (depending on what's being displayed), while the rest only lights up red. The black line is a divider to keep the yellow backlight from "leaking" into the rest of the display.

 

haha yeah...after being on the boards and seeing how many problems people are having with their screens I tend to leave mine off as much as possible! Seems the warmer it is in the cabin - or outside for that matter, the shittier quality the screen is.

 

if you have warranty and its screwed up go replace it.

and i dont think you have an 07 because the 07's come with color screens.

in any case that line is not pixels missing, its just that when they installed the display they either bumped it too far up or too far down. that line isnt suposed to have pixels on it. check the 3 sections youll find that one of them is unproportionate to the other ones.

 

The car is definitely an '07. Color screens only come when you order the navigation system.

Anywho, I talked to the guy in the repair department at the dealership and he said that it's a seam between the top (yellow+red) LCD and the bottom (red-only) LCD, which is what kplatz was hinting at. I thought everyone would like to hear, but it's surprising nobody has ever happened on this and could provide an authoritative reason.

 

where are you from?

every 05.5 and up that ive driven at the dealer (i work there) has the colored screens, even without navi.

 

The LCD is a single screen, and it doesn't emit its own light. Instead, there are backlights behind the screen that illuminate it. The top part of the screen has 2 backlights, red and yellow. The red is lit normally, and the yellow goes on when certain messages are displayed (low fuel, bulb out, the "OK" on startup, etc.)

The black line is a divider between the two backlights. If you look at the screen when the top part is yellow (easy way to do this is press the "check" button while stopped), you'll see that black line is where the yellow part ends and red part begins.

 

I have a '97 with center display. No pixels or lines are out. I feel it necessary to brag, since the rest of my car hates me...

 

Damn I wish I could see mines[:@]

 

I look at my B7 last night, didn't see the black line in your pictures.
Maybe because I have a navigation?
but you should contact your local dealer and find out more, it should be still under new car warrenty

 

i wish mine looked like that. only thing i can tell is top is yellow bottom is red