Unfortunate Cleaning Incident - Page 3

07-18-03, 07:10 PM

call dell tell them to replace it.. The situation of the thread starter was having windex soak into the screen area and screw up the digitizer. You spilled water into the button area, which would easily soak into the motherboard and damage the components.

one member dropped his pda in a bowl of water and it was still working

batuckan · 07-19-03, 12:50 AM

Hey folks,

I've been followng this thread, but I see no major problem with wiindex, unless the user just poured it on top of the axim.

I use rubbing alcohol or the standard glass cleaner with a clean towel. I usually dab some on the towel and wipe the screen with it. but can't see a little bit of cleaner on the screen to mess things up.. I used to do that all the time with my visor, and it still works just fine.

My suggestion, do a full backup on the pda. do a hard reset and restore from there. rerun the screen alignment utility and see what happens.

incidentally, I had one of the generic screen protectors that came with my axim, and my macguyver pencil would eventually just move the protector around and mess things up.. eventually, I just quit using the screen protector. My axim if not on the charger, in my hands is in it's case.

hth.

mike

edbro · 07-19-03, 01:22 AM

I dropped some ketchup on my screen and didn't notice it until it dried. So, I used a steel wool pad to get it off. But, then I had fine steel wool dust all over. So, I put my Axim in the dishwasher.

My question is this: I forgot to add Jet Dry so how do I get the water spots off the screen?

somedude&AdEll · 07-19-03, 02:46 PM

LMAO lol, eh i clean my screen with Delim e lime, VERY HARSH CLEANER!, used in carpet cleaning when removing gum and glue.
Dont use it in your dishwasher! Dont use it on your carpet, w/o proper extraction. Anyways I acidently left a small drop on a very old palm cant remember what it was called but it uses the same screens, ate the finish right off. I left this stuff on for like 10min w/o noticing it. But it gets everything off it so dont leave it on or you have everything off and more!

somedude&AdEll · 07-19-03, 02:47 PM

or you can have my cat lick it off 4 free, just pay for shipping/handling and gravy flavored cleaner expenses.

somedude&AdEll · 07-19-03, 02:49 PM

oh another thing it also needs to be cleaned back off with something else like Quick and Bright then comes the armor all, lol

Dologan0 · 09-14-04, 04:37 PM

Hmm... It seems this is a rather common accident...

I also happened to be stupid enough to put some alcohol directly on my X5's screen to clean it, and it leaked under it. A huge bubble formed and even though the thing still worked, the touch screen sensitivity was completely lost. Okay, the regular symptoms.
However, I happen to work in a laboratory where I have access to a vacuum "box" that is used to keep reagents moisture free, so I put it inside. The alcohol dried up in a few minutes and the touch sensitivity came back to life; however, a stain remained at the spot where the bubble had been. The stain apparently is some kind of icky residue from the evaporation. It looks bad, but is only visible with some light reflections or when the unit is off. The real, annoying problem is that if I press the screen on the stain, the two layers of the screen stick together again and the touch sensitivity is lost again. I've found I can fix this easily in the lab without having to put it in vacuum, just using the pump hose directly on the screen to 'suck' and separate the 'membranes'. Sucking with the mouth worked for me once, but the cleaning afterwards is messy and not worth it. :)
This is getting quite annoying not only for the bad aspect of the stain, but mainly because if the screen sticks away from a sucking device, I'm basically screwed for a while. So, I was thinking of deliberately introducing a liquid to rinse the stain and then vacuum-evaporate it; however, I am still doubting whether I should do it and what liquid to use. I could use distilled water, but I am afraid that water might not evaporate as readily and/or not dissolve the icky stain. I was thinking about using reagent grade isopropanol (which in theory should be purer than the ethanol I was using), but I don't know if it could damage the internal membrane irreversibly. I am also afraid that the stain might come not from an impurity of the original ethanol, but from something it dissolved along the way and so using isopropanol could just make the problem worse.
I could also play dumb and ask for a replacement, since the unit is still under warranty IIRC, but I don't know if they would buy it since the stain looks kinda... unnatural.
I know I'm stupid for pouring liquid directly on the screen, but I think it's a design flaw to make the screen so sensitive to it. What do you think I should do? Play dumb and call Dell, use isopropanol, use d. water or get used to the sticky screen and the stain?

Anyway, having ethanol (or water, or probably Windex, which contains isopropanol) under the screen DOES NOT kill it, but getting it out might be a problem (and there's the risk of residue, as you can see). For those without the benefit of a vacuum box, maybe something similar can be done with a vacuum cleaner and some recipient.

Dologan0 · 09-14-04, 06:15 PM

Hmm... Okay, I grew impatient and used the isopropanol... A few drops on the edge and it soon was under the screen...
Short story: managed to make the residue smaller and non-sticky, though still visible and in a central area. Touch sensitivity still works, screen material intact. Now that I know that it's safe, I might later do it again and try to move the residue to a corner where it's less noticeable.
In any case, it's much better now. The main stickiness problem has been solved and the stain is much less visible than before.

gadgetnerd · 09-14-04, 07:29 PM

What I do to clean the screen is get a piece of toilet paper mildly moist with water and quickly dry it off. If you don't quickly dry it, it leaves a mess worse than the fingerprints I cleaned off, and presumably it would get under the screen eventually, or evaporate. Probably the latter would happen first.