[Ti] Cleaning ink off screen?

Kynan Shook kshook at cae.wisc.edu
Fri Apr 23 11:31:03 PDT 2004


No!  Alcohol = bad!
You should only clean your screen with water, or if you really want to, 
some commercial product that contains no alcohol or ammonia.  See the 
Apple article below.  I believe that Alcohol can wear off the coating 
on the screen (you might not notice this happening), discolor it, and 
damage the plastics in the screen and the case materials too.  See the 
article linked below for Apple's official statement...

As for iKlear, it doesn't have any alcohol (of course).  Looking at 
their Material Safety Data Sheet, it's 83% water, and has two other 
ingredients (one at 2%, one at 15%), which they don't name.  Plus, it's 
boiling point, specific gravity, vapor density, etc is essentially 
identical to water.  Later in the MSDS, they mention Methyl Paraben (C8 
H8 O3), a crystal which is used in soaps and detergents (check your 
shampoo!), among other things.  They also mention Silicon Dioxide as a 
decomposition product, so there's something with Si in there too; 
perhaps something to keep the Methyl Paraben (aka Benzoic Acid) 
properly distributed throughout the water, since it doesn't dissolve.  
I had a fun discussion with a friend of mine majoring in Materials 
Science and Engineering hypothesizing about what's in it, etc.

As far as the mark on your screen, give Apple a call, the sooner the 
better, and tell them that there's a mark from the repair that you 
haven't been able to clean off yourself; hopefully they'll be nice 
about it, despite the fact that a number of people try to take 
advantage of such generosity as well.

And nothing is going to help with that stuck pixel; it's certainly a 
transistor that is broken (can never be turned on, so the pixel can't 
be darkened).  And, unless you plan on trying to do some microscopic 
laser surgery to implant a new transistor in the middle of your screen 
(HA!), there's not much you can do.  Oh, and don't forget that you have 
to hook that transistor up to a wire running vertically, a wire running 
horizontally, and a capacitor or two, all embedded right in the middle 
of your screen (and yes, you're looking right through a few hundred 
thousand or million of them as you read my message).

Here's the article Apple has about LCD cleaning:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60446


Peter Krug <pkrug at mac.com> writes:
>> The downside is that there's now an inch-long mark on the lower left 
>> corner
>> of the screen that appears to be ink. I suspect that if I notify Apple
>> they'll deny responsibility, and my initial attempt at taking it off 
>> with
>> water and then iKlear did nothing. Is it safe to try something 
>> stronger, and
>> if so, any suggestions?
>
> Bill,
>
> I routinely clean my screen with water then 70% Isopropanol (rubbing
> alcohol).  I have noticed no ill effects on my screen (but for some
> reason it doesn't help with my stuck blue pixel...)
>
> Hope this helps (and that iKlear isn't just 70% isopropanol)



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