Rubbing Alcohol Damage - White Screen

[NTerrano]

I was cleaning my laptop screen with an alcohol solution (60%) today, and I left it for a minute or so on the lower corner while I answered the phone. Came back, dried it off, and within about fifteen minutes the screen suddenly turned white. I immediately did a hard shutdown and left it for an hour. Came back, turned it back on, still white. I got a hair dryer and tried that - still nothing. I have removed the housing for the screen, and I can't see any damage beyond a watermark on the lower corner.

I had assumed that there wasn't much danger in it, since alcohol should not interfere with electronics or dry in, and i have a had a similar accident with my keyboard in which simply leaving it upside down overnight completely fixed the problem

My question is, is there anyway I can dry this, or am I completely screwed? This happened about 4 or 5 hours ago, so I don't want to waste any more time and risk further damage to the screen.

 

[Falkentyne]

You absolutely DO NOT EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER clean a LCD screen with ANY SORT OF CLEANING SOLUTION besides water or distilled water. You absolutely do NOT ever use alcohol. EVER !! And if you use non distilled (e.g. tap) water, you're supposed to apply it to the cloth, not the screen directly.

Most likely you're completely screwed, because alcohol compound dries up quickly. it's probably not the alcohol that killed the screen, but water getting in the cracks and shorting something. Keep it off for a day and see if it comes back.

 

[Karadjgne]

How could alcohol not interfere with electronics? It's a liquid. It will pass electricity just like any other liquid, better than some, worse than others, but it's still conductive.

 

[junkeymonkey]

I like this first

''O NOT EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER clean a LCD screen with ANY SORT OF CLEANING SOLUTION besides water or distilled water.''

then this

''it's probably not the alcohol that killed the screen, but water getting in the cracks and shorting something''

lol lol lol sounds like a loose, loose situation

what I understand is you got to have it turned off and cooled down or damage can occur

as said here

1.1. Turn off your TV and give it a chance to cool down. ...
2.2. Dust the screen to remove any dirt particles. ...
3.3. Make a mild mixture of isopropyl alcohol and water. ...
4.4. Dip and wipe. ...
5.5. Dry with a clean, soft, lint-free cloth.

 

[aznricepuff]

How could alcohol not interfere with electronics? It's a liquid. It will pass electricity just like any other liquid, better than some, worse than others, but it's still conductive.

The point of alcohol isn't necessarily that it doesn't conduct electricity (point of fact, pure isopropanol is actually a worse conductor than pure water by about two orders of magnitude), but that it dries much faster.

But back on topic, it's generally not a good idea to use alcohol or other organic solvents to clean LCD screens, especially ones with anti-glare (matte) coating applied. The alcohol/solvents can dissolve the coating, which will effectively ruin your screen.

The best practices are (in the order that you should try them):
- Clean your screen without touching it at all using compressed air.
- Use a dry, clean microfiber cloth or lens paper.
- Use microfiber cloth or lens paper dampened with distilled water. Poor man's alternative to buying distilled water: breathe on the screen - the condensation is effectively distilled water (just make sure not to accidentally spit on your screen).