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I have a lenovo thinkpad. The laptop was working perfectly fine but after some time a weird glue like residue was felt on the screen and keyboard. I kept cleaning it but it always came back again. Now it is worse and the weird substance can be seen inside the screen and alot of it on the keyboard. Don't know what to do. Please help.

Screen Photo

Anaksunaman
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Jace
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  • Just a comment, but it sounds as if something in the laptop may be damaged, possibly in the screen (though admittedly the times I have personally encountered this, the liquid has been extremely dark). – Anaksunaman Aug 18 '20 at 07:51
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    That's almost certainly a cracked screen. LCD = **liquid** crystal display… leaking out. Time for a new screen before it gets into the electronics & kills the rest of it. I'm surprised it's got enough actual liquid inside to continue to leak, but you should consider it hazardous & take it to a professional as soon as possible. – Tetsujin Aug 18 '20 at 07:59
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    Jace, please clarify regarding @user91988's comment: Is there a crack in your display? I'd rather assume there is a very widespread meniscus of the liquid between two layers of your display. – mpy Aug 18 '20 at 18:14
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    @user91988 Surely the question is "what **is** wrong with my computer," don't you think? – Tanner Swett Aug 18 '20 at 21:18
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    @Tetsujin The amount of "liquid" in an LCD display is immeasurably small (as a panel will have roughly _a micron-thick_ layer) - it wouldn't be seen to leak-out due to surface-tension and because it's also very viscous, see here: https://superuser.com/questions/324012/are-the-insides-of-lcd-monitors-dangerous - I suspect the substance the OP is seeing is something else, like a laminate bonding agent or more likely: condensation from atmospheric humidity, but it won't be the LCD crystal liquid. – Dai Aug 19 '20 at 05:00
  • Was the screen exposed to sunlight? – Mast Aug 19 '20 at 08:08
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    I recommend anti-virus software – Stewart Aug 19 '20 at 10:18

1 Answers1

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Seeing as you have what appears to be a massive crack in your glass it is entirely possible that this is an optical bonding compound between your screen and the glass leaking out. The crack on your glass layer has probably broken a sealing layer at the edge of your screen.

If your screen is not actually cracked then that line towards the top will be the liquid level as it slowly oozes out of the display panel. The crack may not be in the front glass but instead in the seal that was meant to keep the compound in.

Optical bonding compounds are used to reduce glare and surface reflections in order to improve the look of the screen.

In theory the compound should be harmless, though I wouldn't go licking my fingers after touching it. I would expect the chemical to be a silicone gel, as described by companies such as Display Technology:

enter image description here

Using the VacuBond®, various components are bonded together with the high-performance silicone Opto a-Gel in a clean room. The optical bonding fills the air gaps between the individual components and reduces the reflection of light on the surfaces by 99 percent! So the readability of our TFT displays is excellent, with perfect contrast and colour brilliance.

Chances are the chemical will slowly leak out from between your glass and TFT over time, with bubbles forming and making it appear that it is leaking "into" your screen while it is actually leaking from it.

Your best option for a permanent fix is to replace your display assembly.

If it were from the TFT itself I would expect to see a more significant "damaged pixel" look to the display, such as can been seen in the image below from the question What are these LCD defects if not dead pixels?

enter image description here

I would also not expect the quantity you describe cleaning off daily if the TFT liquid crystal layer were leaking. That layer leaking would definitely be more of a health hazard.

Kakturus
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Mokubai
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  • "If it were from the TFT itself I would expect to see a more significant "damaged pixel" [...]" <-- This may not always be true. Tesla's screens used to/still do leak a similar liquid, without loss of functionality on any areas. Until the screen stops working completely. The screen has to be replaced. – Ismael Miguel Aug 18 '20 at 15:59
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    That doesn't look like a crack to me. It looks like the screen has begun to delaminate. – Vaelus Aug 18 '20 at 16:21
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    @Vaelus I have had the exact issue before, and back then disassembled the screen. I can confirm that it's definitely the screen delaminating. – Twometer Aug 18 '20 at 21:39