Black smudge on laptop screen

December 25, 2010 2:42 PM

My laptop (Acer Aspire 3810T) fell about 2 feet onto a carpeted floor. It was closed, but now I have a black smudge on the bottom right corner of the screen (by the way, the smudge disappeared after a few minutes, but has now reappeared and is not going away). It is annoying but I can still work with it since it is not completely opaque. After extensive googling and chatting with Acer support, I think the LCD may have ruptured. However, can I continue using the laptop or is the display going to get progressively worse and die soon? Although it is still within the warranty period, I think I may have to pay for repairs (since the techs may figure out that it was dropped). Thank you in advance.
posted by prenominal to computers & internet (4 answers total)

I dunno if it's the same injury, but I've damaged my screen by keeping the laptop compressed in an overstuffed backpack, resulting in similarly smudged areas. In my case, at least, leaving this website on overnight solved it.
posted by foursentences at 7:31 PM on December 25, 2010

I've had things like that happen before, usually accompanying a cracked screen. Sounds like it is a rupture in the LCD. From my experience it shouldn't get any worse barring further trauma to the screen. I've had displays last a year or more like that. As long as you don't push at the spot & make it leak more liquid crystals out anyway. I've done that too. Don't do that.
posted by scalefree at 9:16 PM on December 25, 2010

Look inside the smudge for a crack line.

Will it get worse? You never know with LCDs.

If it starts to get worse, I would get it changed pretty quickly if the notebook is a keeper. The LCD juice seems to ruin plastic. (The LCD on my rearview mirror leaked juice one hot day and did a number on the plastic fascia below it.)
posted by gjc at 9:30 PM on December 25, 2010

It's getting worse already and it's only three months old, so I'm sending it in for repairs. I did try the website foursentences recommended, but it did not work, unfortunately. And even more unfortunately, I may have (gently) poked at the screen before reading scalefree's response. Thanks for the responses!
posted by prenominal at 10:45 PM on December 29, 2010