Travel Technology - Laptop LCD goes partially black. Help

Laptop LCD goes partially black. Help

Something really wierd and scary happened last night to my laptop's LCD screen. I woke up to find the righthand bottom corner electronically stained with what appared to be black dissolve. There was nothing physically on the screen but it looked like someone had smeared black tar or ink on my computer screen.

Luckily, tapping the screen with my fingers caused the darkness to gradually disapate (now it's all gone), but I'm still left wondering what the hell happened. Is this a serious issue with my LCD? Does it need to be replaced? The computer is only 1.5years old.

Other points to mention about the laptop:
I do keep it on a lot (mostly for downloading)
It has a loud (hot) fan which causes some overheating, and in order to keep the noise down (because I stay with many people), I sometimes close the laptop and cover the computer with as pillow or a blanket. It reducez the fan noise and I make to sure to always leave a pathway for the hot air to escape.

I've been doing this for a while now, and the blackness only appeared last night.

What is the blackness? What caused it? How can I avoid seeing it again? Also, if it does have to do with the overheating caused by the computer's fan (what can I do to keep the noise down without causing such a disruption with the LCD)?

sometimes if the screen heats up, it will go black. (or if the
backlight is not functioning properly)


to verify.. simply try to blow some cool air when it turns dark.. and see if it
disappears. I dont think its very damaging. but overheating may have
some other issues with the computer. Make sure they have good air
circulation underneath and near the air vents.

LCDs are certainly heat-sensitive. In the current heat wave, at temps of 100F+, the small LCD on my Nokia cell phone has done exactly the same thing. If you move your laptop to a temperature-controlled zone and this still occurs, you have a defective LCD screen -- perhaps a rupture in the membrane that contains the liquid crystals that help spell LCD -- and it must be replaced.

I would vote for the heat issue unless it happens again.

Heat is the number three enemy of laptops (dropping and spills one and two). Don't ever put it away on standby or cover it or anything to keep the airflow from flowing.

Buy or make something to slightly raise the laptop from the table surface 1/8'-1/4". It will definately improve the airflow. I use the 3/4" round rubberpads under each laptop corner (or sometimes just the back) normally used to keep items from slipping.

MisterNice