Brilliant patches after cleaning the display - what now ?

OK, I probably did something stupid.

Yesterday, I found my PB 1.33 (17) to be so dirty that I decided to go for a thorough cleaning with a "computer special" foam spray.

Juste because it worked perfectly for the casing, the trackpad and the keyboard, I decided to add the screen to my cleaning rage.

Indeed, it now looks beautiful ... as long as I don't turn it on !

When turned on, I get "brilliant" patches on some places.
Mostly, at the bottom of the screen, but the biggest one is on the right side, shaped like a triangle of 3,5 cms at the base and 5 cms high.

If I have to describe it, I would say : it does not look like dead pixels, because it is not a "white" or a "blurred" zone, but really a zone where luminosity of the screen dramatically improves !
Using Apple's Digital Color Meter, I have no discrepancy of color at these places.
Only light seems to be brighter... and, devilishly, the images look much better at these places !

My guess is that some cleaning foam must have inserted itself between the backlight and the screen, and by some physical "refraction" process, causes this "focusing" of light... or, second thought, that there was some dirt on the backlight that has been cleaned by the foam (only) at these places.

Now, of course, the questions : how will I fix this ?

Is there an easy way to open the lid of the PB to access the backlight and wipe the extra foam ? Or completely clean the backlight ?

Or might the cause be somewhere else ?

Or will I have to live with this, and wait until it dries ?

Any advice, experience or tips to access the screen are more than welcome.

Thanks in advance

Claude

PB G4 1.33 GHz, 17 inch, 1 GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8) LinkSys Router, 802.11g

PB G4 1.33 GHz, 17 inch, 1 GB RAM, Mac OS X (10.4.8), LinkSys Router, 802.11g

Posted on Jan 18, 2007 8:28 PM

Reply
10 replies

Jan 19, 2007 9:37 AM in response to Claude Cauwe

And to explain it better, I made some shots of the problem.

As you can see, there is NO decoloration in the spot at the right side of the screen (look at the powerPoint file icon : orange is bright enough). There is only a brighter light in the background.

PS : sorry if the picture are a bit too large, I only wanted to make the problem very visible)

User uploaded file
User uploaded file
User uploaded file



PB G4 1.33 GHz, 17 inch, 1 GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8) LinkSys Router, 802.11g

Jan 19, 2007 10:31 AM in response to Claude Cauwe

It does not look like that the foam has gone behind your screen... I guess you would need to use much foam to achieve this 😉

It more looks that you have wiped with too much pressure during cleaning, so the liquid crystals shifted away a bit. But this is just guessing and I will not try it of my own to reproduce this 😉
You may simply wait some days, maybe the liquid finds back to its original "residence".

Other reason could be that you sprayed the foam on the surface and kept them there for minutes; so this may have made the anti-reflection coating getting removed. Does the surface look different when the screen is dark (how does it feel when moving your fingers from a "normal" looking area to the strange ones) ?

For cleaning the screen, it is advised to spray the cleaning liquid to a towel or use a tamb towel only without any cleaner (personally I use glass cleaner, but don't spray it directly on the surface).

Jan 19, 2007 10:44 AM in response to tobias Eichner

Hallo, Tobias, and thank you for your reply, I was feeling a bit lonely in this thread 😉

To answer your questions, here is what I can say :

- perhaps I used too much pressure, but I'm not sure of that. Point noted, anyway.

- I indeed kept the foam in place for one minute or so, as the supplier says : wait until the foam begins to evaporate or to dry to chaive good results. But the surface is not different at all, nor looking with a steep angle with a light reflection, nor by 'touch' of the finger. It's all of a soft shiny surface.

- Most of the time, I used also glass cleaner (or water with a drop of vinegar), but this time, i was at the office and couldn't wait any longer ... :-s

Now, if the liquid doesn't get back in place by itself (isn't it supposed to blur the sight if it moved ?), I guess my last solution will be to replace the screen ?

Jan 19, 2007 1:07 PM in response to Claude Cauwe

Hallo, Tobias, and thank you for your reply, I was feeling a bit lonely in this
thread 😉


Confessed, your issue is not a usual one 😉

So since you used a special product to clean the screen, after some thinking, I would exclude this as a reason, although some of them are nothing else than glass cleaners sold for very high prices... Anyway, you also stated that the surface seems not to be damaged.

Now, if the liquid doesn't get back in place by itself (isn't it supposed to blur
the sight if it moved ?), I guess my last solution will be to replace the screen ?


Before replacing the screen, which is not quite easy (it requires you to swap the entire cover), you may try to "press" the liquid back in place - gently however. And no warranty taken over for this advise.

You may check out http://www.ifixit.com for prices and also extensive how-to guides, if you want to do this by yourself. I just noticed that they sell the LCD alone for some models, excluding case. Maybe sending them an e-mail can also bring more light into the issue, perhaps they have more useful advise.

Jan 22, 2007 10:11 PM in response to Claude Cauwe

I second the "too much pressure" comment. There is something called a "cell
gap" in LCD panels that has to be maintained at great precision by small spacers
between the glass layers. It looks like you may have disrupted the spacing from
applying too much pressure. It may eventually relax back to the original
position, but I can't think of any way to help it along. Good luck.

Jan 24, 2007 5:41 AM in response to BSteely

Thanks to both of you for your help.

Indeed, I think I have applied too much pressure -although I would never have imagined it. But sometimes you are not completely awoken when you do things 😉

Tobias, your idea of "massaging" the screen is not bad. I tried, it worked on several spots.

The problem will be to get the same "brightness" everywhere.

BSteely, this technical explaination is very interesting. I don't know the LCD structure quite well, but you seem to.
Thanks for this feedback, too.

I guess I'll have to live with the screen as it is now. Not too much of a problem, because it's not right in the middle of it, but it still is a pity.

Jan 24, 2007 1:39 PM in response to Claude Cauwe

BSteely, this technical explaination is very interesting. I don't know the LCD
structure quite well, but you seem to.


Just in the case you don't know what to do in your spare time, here are some good explanations how LCDs are working:

http://www.merck.de/servlet/PB/menu/1102190/index.html
http://www.merck.de/servlet/PB/menu/1236390/index.html

And two others as well (but with much advertising on their pages):
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2006/03/20/howcrt_and_lcd_monitorswork/1.html
http://www.howstuffworks.com/lcd.htm

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Brilliant patches after cleaning the display - what now ?

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