Question Dangerous to use "leaking fluid from laptop screen" laptop until it dies?

[andrepartthree]

This is kind of a strange question.. so I have a seven year old acer laptop (Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575G-57D4 ) .. I found a clear fluid on the laptop screen after not using it for about a week which I thought was just water then I noticed a sticky residue on the bottom/keyboard part of the laptop where the fluid would have come into contact with .. my best guess after a lot of internet research (could be wrong ) is that it's leaking LOCA (liquidly optic clear adhesive)

https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/comments/13y80ut/lcd_screen_maybe_loca_liquid_optically_clear/

I've let the laptop go for a week before on many other occasions without this happening (given the age of the laptop I would still charge it up once every 2 days during that week to keep the battery alive) but this is the first time this has happened.

Here's the strange part of the question.. the laptop has no important files on it, given the age of the laptop I've just basically being using it as an e-reader (kindle won't do it for me I'm a dungeons and dragons type game fan and the pdf's of the books benefit from a larger screen and it would be just awkward trying to deal with the pdf's on the smaller kindle screen format ) .. so normally I would just lament the loss of our faithful laptop and use it until it dies.

Of course I don't want to burn the house down either .. so I'm wondering if it's safe to just use it until it dies? Not sure if it would catch fire , if it's okay to have it charging as I use it and/or to charge it after being used? This could just be me being paranoid as usual ..

Thanks in advance to anyone who reads this and replies

 

[punkncat]

So, in a quick look it doesn't appear that LOCA can leak. It is used for screen repair (or to bond the screen) and one of the aspects that makes it good for this is the quick setting time using UV. In the same Wiki article I read about that also indicates that some silicone may be used for said applications and that sounds much more like what you are seeing. In this case you should be seeing a reduction in the capacitive touch function of the screen (assumably).

 

[Lutfij]

You sure it's not from the battery in the laptop?

 

[andrepartthree]

You sure it's not from the battery in the laptop?

thank you both for your quick replies .. hopefully it's not fluid leaking from the battery ! To determine if it's battery fluid leakage would getting the bottom off the laptop to expose the "guts" inside and examining the battery help as far as figuring it out?

 

[andrepartthree]

So, in a quick look it doesn't appear that LOCA can leak. It is used for screen repair (or to bond the screen) and one of the aspects that makes it good for this is the quick setting time using UV. In the same Wiki article I read about that also indicates that some silicone may be used for said applications and that sounds much more like what you are seeing. In this case you should be seeing a reduction in the capacitive touch function of the screen (assumably).

Thank you for your quick reply .. my apologies I should have mentioned it's not a touch screen type laptop..

 

[Cellie]

Images of it would be helpful. Does it have rubberized finish around the screen or keyboard? Is the residue constrained to the screen or is it all over the place?

The coating of some electronics start to melt and gets all sticky and gross after some years. I've had it happen to plenty mouses, keyboards and a dell laptop.

 

[andrepartthree]

Images of it would be helpful. Does it have rubberized finish around the screen or keyboard? Is the residue constrained to the screen or is it all over the place?

The coating of some electronics start to melt and gets all sticky and gross after some years. I've had it happen to plenty mouses, keyboards and a dell laptop.

Thank you so much for your reply Cellie .. man that would be fantastic if it was just sticky cosating starting to melt (long as it's not dangerous to go on using the laptop and just annoying sticky ) I'm guessing that means I can go on safely using the laptop if that's the case ..

No rubberized finish around the screen or keyboard far as I can tell.. the residue appeared to be constrained to the screen.. I thought it was water I'd somehow gotten on the laptop screen at first and frantically wiped it off with my shirt in a panic and then turned the laptop off.. when I was taping a "please leave this laptop alone and let it dry" note to the keyboard (or "bottom" .. residue was actually between the sticker of robot person with an umbrella and the touchpad... part of the laptop was when I noticed the sticky residue .. brown colored now that I think about it ... in the exact same spot where it would have come into contact with the bottom part of the laptop from the part of the screen leaking it) ... that had soaked the paper in the same spot where the keyboard part of the laptop would have

And you're right my sincerest apologies I should indeed have included pictures. Please let me know if you can see these I'm hoping I used the right link from the vgy website... please excuse the pictures of the stickers on the laptop it belonged to my daughter before I "inherited" it so she decorated it (that was a thought too, what if it's just goo from the sticker melting off? But when I touch the sticker it's dry to the touch...)

 

[andrepartthree]

https://i.vgy.me/G1S8DD.jpg

https://i.vgy.me/oKjb9M.jpg

https://i.vgy.me/hlQRQE.jpg

I think these are "clickable" links that take you to to the jpeg image of the pictures of the laptop in case the links in my previous post do not work

 

[Cellie]

Ok, it doesn't look like a rubber coating problem. First you might want to check the battery to eliminate it just in case. Carefully take it off and examine it for any signs of dampness/oily residues, and also dry crusts. Don't touch them if you see anything. Also check the battery slot. If there isn't any residue then it can't possibly be leaking into the keyboard without leaving traces anywhere else. Even when leaks dry, if you rub a piece of clothing damp with alcohol over the area you'll see something browish on the cloth.

Did you turn that laptop on? Noticed any fuzziness on the image? Pale regions with colorful pixels? Is the screen perfectly smooth or can you see any bumps or diagonal scratches on it (I see nothing)? There's something known as "vinegar syndrome". The acetate in the polarizer reacts with the adhesive in the panel, becoming acetic acid. Yours seem perfect and I've never seen an affected display leak anything, the top coat just tends to look like it was attacked by an angry cat, but who knows? I think you'd notice damage to the screen or at least image though.

I don't mean to sound patronizing, but are you sure you didn't close the lid on anything? You might have not realized a bug crawled onto the keyboard when storing the laptop and after a week the residue might look like that.

In your place I'd thoroughly clean the keyboard and screen to be able to monitor the appearance of any new damp spots or smudges. Someone please correct me if wrong, but with everything off to clean the the screen I've always used a lightly damp lint-free piece of cloth followed by a dry one, and another piece damp with alcohol for the other surfaces (repeated usage can corrode them but you won't be doing it very often so that's fine).

P.S.: I don't think your laptop is dying btw.

 

[andrepartthree]

Ok, it doesn't look like a rubber coating problem. First you might want to check the battery to eliminate it just in case. Carefully take it off and examine it for any signs of dampness/oily residues, and also dry crusts. Don't touch them if you see anything. Also check the battery slot. If there isn't any residue then it can't possibly be leaking into the keyboard without leaving traces anywhere else. Even when leaks dry, if you rub a piece of clothing damp with alcohol over the area you'll see something browish on the cloth.

Did you turn that laptop on? Noticed any fuzziness on the image? Pale regions with colorful pixels? Is the screen perfectly smooth or can you see any bumps or diagonal scratches on it (I see nothing)? There's something known as "vinegar syndrome". The acetate in the polarizer reacts with the adhesive in the panel, becoming acetic acid. Yours seem perfect and I've never seen an affected display leak anything, the top coat just tends to look like it was attacked by an angry cat, but who knows? I think you'd notice damage to the screen or at least image though.

I don't mean to sound patronizing, but are you sure you didn't close the lid on anything? You might have not realized a bug crawled onto the keyboard when storing the laptop and after a week the residue might look like that.

In your place I'd thoroughly clean the keyboard and screen to be able to monitor the appearance of any new damp spots or smudges. Someone please correct me if wrong, but with everything off to clean the the screen I've always used a lightly damp lint-free piece of cloth followed by a dry one, and another piece damp with alcohol for the other surfaces (repeated usage can corrode them but you won't be doing it very often so that's fine).

P.S.: I don't think your laptop is dying btw.

Again thank you so much Callie ... I'm just too cowardly to do it 🙁 .. I know in theory I could unscrew the screws on the bottom cover of the laptop and take it off .. but the laptop is so old it actually has a CD reader in it .. not that this matters too much in that in this day and age it's highly unlikely someone's going to be using their CD ROM but I'm not confident in my ability to pry the bottom cover off and (more difficult I'm guessing) pop it back into place with the complication of that CD ROM reader .. though that part about the brown residue is a bit worrisome if it is indeed a leaky battery 🙁 ..

... during my frantic internet research I noticed comments about how the laptop battery can have problems if it's exposed to too much heat ....the laptop has been kept in an air conditioned room around 79 degrees fahrenheit for the past year ... though I admit the six years prior to that it was kept in a non air conditioned part of the house that could hit 88 degrees F , not sure if that would cause a delayed battery leakage due to continued exposure to heat that is onl manifesting now?

Yep turned the laptop on when I was being all frantic and panicked about it even though I knew it wasn't a good idea to turn it on if I thought something was wrong 😛 .. no fuzziness on the image, no pale regions with colorful pixels .. the screen is perfectly smooth, no bumps or diagonal scratches on it. That's the other thing that's got me agonizing whether or not it's safe to go on using the laptop , that's the funny thing it's actually working perfectly fine, no noticeable change in terms of how stuff looks on the screen (pulled up a pdf and read text all over the various parts of the screen to check), no problems with the laptop's performance..

And no that's not condescending at all (plus you're being kind enough to try and help me so I'd never see it as condescending at all ) that's actually a really good point .. I live in the Southern part of the USA and with the year around heat and no winter to kill off critters it is entirely possible a bug managed to get in there somehow .. the laptop normally goes into it's own laptop bag and gets zipped shut when not in use due to my wife not being happy about stuff "just sitting out there" (well that and since in all fairness I mostly use my desktop PC I can see why she'd want the laptop put away when not in use) .. so I don't think it was a bug critter but I can't rule out the possibility either, if one zipped into the bag when I wasn't looking and I had it trapped in there for over a week that could be a possibility indeed .. though I didn't see any bug antennae or legs or other parts 😛 in there ..

That was a really good idea with the cloth thank you so much ! I did just as you suggested with a white cloth so I could easily see any brown residue but no brown residue showing up when I wipe it down (I'm guessing when I frantically wiped off the laptop's screen thinking it was water, and then wiping off the brown residue type thing on the keyboard part I must have gotten it all already?)

In your opinion since I can't really check the battery properly (I know in theory I could bring it to a tech repair shop and have them look at it but the laptop is so old at 7 years not worth the big labor cost the tech person would charge ) , do you think it's safe to use the laptop until it finally dies assuming the battery is leaking? Or would that be a big no-no in terms of a fire hazard with electricity going through the laptop while that battery is leaking fluid?

 

[andrepartthree]

Also found a video of a soul much braver than me who goes over how to replace the battery in the same kind of laptop I have

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LDb4gmQQV8


Much to my dismay when looking at the video, it looks like the battery rests right underneath the part where I found the brown sticky residue between the computer-guy-with-umbrella sticker and the mousepad .. so maybe the battery is leaking after all ?