Salty Burning Smell Coming From My Laptop's Keyboard

[Alex.]

Lately I noticed a salty, burning smell coming from my laptop's keyboard, whenever I leave it on for 20 minutes or so and it begins to warm up a bit. I took a look on Google about this, and it narrowed down to either the battery spilling acid, or some components beginning to melt. The battery is in the bottom left corner of the base, not under the keyboard, and it is brand new - although the laptop itself isn't, which I bought used, made in ~2000.

Did any of you hear or experience something like this, and is there a remedy? The sad thing is that an old adapter brick I had lying around started emitting this same kind of smell, and it got to the point of it stinking up the whole room. I tend to believe this isn't going to go away or stay at the same level, but get worse as time passes. I'd hate to see my poor laptop die such a stinky death

 

[slaanesh]

I'd unplug it, pull out the battery and open it up to have a look. Look for obvious burny/hot/smelly things.

(Hopefully the "magic smoke" in your computer is still sealed within, because as you well know, your computer will stop working if it escapes).

 

[Blah]

Its probably the battery. On my brother's laptop which is a couple years newer than yours, its batteries hardly work at all.

 

[Alex.]

All right, I'll remove the battery and see if that makes a difference. Thanks!

 

[saehn]

(Hopefully the "magic smoke" in your computer is still sealed within, because as you well know, your computer will stop working if it escapes).

This is true. The chips contain the magic smoke. How did you know know this!? Knowest thou the witchery of the bits? Beware the Epoxy of Blackness, for it obfuscates knowledge.

 

[slygamer]

Stop typing so fast.

 

[___]

maybe you could use your laptop as an effective rodent repellend if it stops working but still stinks?

 

[fawny]

Salts of strong acids and strong bases are non-volatile and odorless, while salts of either weak acids or weak bases may smell after the conjugate acid (e.g. acetates like acetic acid (vinegar) and cyanides like hydrogen cyanide (almonds)) or the conjugate base (e.g. ammonium salts like ammonia) of the component ions. That slow, partial decomposition is usually accelerated by presence of water, since hydrolysis is the other half of the reversible reaction equation of formation of weak salts.

Stop washing your keyboard ?

 

[PokeParadox]

salty... erm... stop doing that thing near your computer :lol:

My guess is the battery too btw.

 

[sam fisher]

As mentioned above, you can't usually smell most salts.

 

[Alex.]

I used salty as the closest resembling attribute of the smell in terms of recognizability, not scientific accuracy, professor. ;-)

Anywho even without the battery inserted it still stinks, I aired it out and will continue to do so for the next day or so, and see if anything changes.

 

[Ganepark32]

Next time cover ur keyboard with plastic sheeting! My god man, there could be children watching. So yeh stop doing that thing ur doing or plastic sheeting.

 

[nickspoon]

(Hopefully the "magic smoke" in your computer is still sealed within, because as you well know, your computer will stop working if it escapes).

Hooray for in-jokes.

 

[Alex.]

Maybe it's time to start making backups of all my work, it will probably croak soon. The CD drive is already half dead. So much for being a cheapass and buying the cheapest laptop I could find :-(

 

[thumpgun]

i think your laptop is overheating, is the fan still working
the plastic lightbulb holders give off the same smell when you leave the light on to long...

 

[Alex.]

i think your laptop is overheating, is the fan still working
the plastic lightbulb holders give off the same smell when you leave the light on to long...

Yes, that's the smell I'm talking about! The fan is as noisy as ever, perhaps there's some dust caught in it tough, I'll open it up and have a look. Thanks for the advice

 

[WarmFluffyUK]

i think your laptop is overheating, is the fan still working
the plastic lightbulb holders give off the same smell when you leave the light on to long...

Yes, that's the smell I'm talking about! The fan is as noisy as ever, perhaps there's some dust caught in it tough, I'll open it up and have a look. Thanks for the advice

Get a Hoover and try sucking the dust out of the vents. Some laptops have a little trap door on the bottom that allows you access to the fan to clean it and the vent it leads too. I have sometimes seen a thick carpet of dust blocking the outlet and this causes the overheating. With some laptops you have to remove the keyboard to allow access, usually you have to clip off a strip above the keyboard which allows you to remove the screws.

As always, if you intend opening the unit, be very careful and do ground yourself beforehand to reduce the risk of zapping components due to static discharge from your body.

Another thing to remember, when using your laptop, be careful never to block the vents. If you are using it on your lap, take a look underneath first to see if there are vents on the bottom, if there are, don't cover them. I have also seen people using them in the carry case, this blocks the bottom and all around the sides of the unit, and they wonder why it keeps freezing :lol: