Question Bubbles in LCD monitor... what is this?

[Perene]

What can account for that? These bubbles only appear when I turn the monitor ON:

https://i.postimg.cc/28PQhxRh/IMG-0381.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/W1gMnJTK/IMG-0382.jpg

I replaced the current HDMI cable and it stayed the same. Also a microfiber cleaning cloth for electronics (dampened) didn't change anything.

The monitor is at least 10 years old: W2452V.

A few things, though, changed recently (and before these changes these bubbles NEVER appeared):

Motherboard replaced (old one died - was Gigabyte H97M-D3H and now it's H81T-Intel)

Video card (R7 265) was removed (apparently it died, too, and now I am using the onboard video from the i7 4770.

Also before I never used HDMI, only the DVI cable.

I was going to try seeing if using VGA would change anything, but before I do that I want to ask here if this is a sign this monitor will die (why?) or if there's some hardware flaw (in the MB or the CPU) that has nothing to do with the LCD.

P.S.

Changing the monitor's source from HDMI to VGA also didn't change anything. Bubbles still there. I had never used VGA before, and will never rely on it again, because it's a bizarre yellow similar to f.LUX when using a warmer color. I was wondering if I could just plug this computer into any LCD television, if this would work. If it does right when I do it then I could also check if this is hardware or software related. Please clarify if I can do this.

And if I can plug this W2452V monitor into a notebook which already is using its own video onboard. Currently I don't have another PC for testing purposes.

 

[mnewsham]

My guess is mildew or mold growth.

I doubt anything electronic would cause that. Either from the monitor itself, or the PC it's hooked up to.

 

[Perene]

My guess is mildew or mold growth.

I doubt anything electronic would cause that. Either from the monitor itself, or the PC it's hooked up to.

Up to a month ago these bubbles didn't appear ANYWHERE. But 1 month ago I was using another motherboard and relying on the R7 video card, not the onboard video from the i7 4770. That's why I insisted in asking if the monitor isn't perfectly OK but something else is causing this.

I know it doesn't make any sense to ask this for such an old monitor that if it were a person would have close to 100 years old, still these things don't happen without a reason and all of sudden. Could it be because I moved this LCD to plug the HDMI cable? I put the screen side down for that.

I also used a dampened cleaning cloth with water (not much, of course, slightly wet) but may have put just a bit of hand sanitizer sprayed in it.

 

[samboy]

My guess is mildew or mold growth.

I doubt anything electronic would cause that. Either from the monitor itself, or the PC it's hooked up to.

I concur....... I have a couple of DELL U3011 monitors, around 10 years old, that has a couple of these "bubbles" that look very similar to your pictures; although not nearly as bad as yours. I expect that mold has managed to get into the layers somehow. Perfectly usable and really not a problem unless you let it bug you! I suspect that these are there all the time......... try displaying a complete white and black image to check.

 

[aigomorla]

it could be the glue on the polorizing film between the screen coming out.
Ive seen it happen when the monitor is left prolonged exposure to sun.

 

[Perene]

I was able to plug this old LCD into a TV, which I think it's 720p only because it worked with the 1366x768, and when changed to 1920 the image was worse. At 1366 all icons filled the screen, so a better TV would be suitable for Windows 10. The image doesn't present any sign of bubbles, so it's OK.

Is this the ultimate proof this monitor isolated from the rest has a defect? I don't understand how this happened. It could only be due to these two:

1) I also used a dampened cleaning cloth with water (not much, of course, slightly wet) but may have put just a bit of hand sanitizer sprayed in it.

2) Could it be because I moved this LCD to plug the HDMI cable? I put the screen side down for that.

I am not seeing a 3rd possibility, because it's highly unlikely the monitor would just create these cloud spots all of sudden after 2 hardware changes. If this is what happened then it's a huge coincidence.

 

[UsandThem]

1) I also used a dampened cleaning cloth with water (not much, of course, slightly wet) but may have put just a bit of hand sanitizer sprayed in it.

2) Could it be because I moved this LCD to plug the HDMI cable? I put the screen side down for that.

Those two things you listed should never be done to a monitor, so it is possible either one of those could have caused your issues.

They sell cleaners specifically clean LCD displays, and using water or hand sanitizer is a very, very bad idea.

 

[Perene]

Those two things you listed should never be done to a monitor, so it is possible either one of those could have caused your issues.

They sell cleaners specifically clean LCD displays, and using water or hand sanitizer is a very, very bad idea.

Don't know about the hand sanitizer, which is made of 70% alcohol if I am not mistaken, however common water can't do this sort of thing as far as I know. Because I've been using on my iPAD Pro when some dirt can't be removed with a dry cloth. But you should never rub hard (only gently) and never use anything besides a microfiber cloth for electronics. Even so the ammount of water should be very little.

I think it's highly unlikely water could do this, don't know about the sanitizer, because I always heard that using any product that is composed of anything besides water could ruin the screen, no matter which product we are talking about.

This is one of the first things everyone should know before even buying an electronic. The problem here is that I am not sure if even a small quantity of this sanitizer was present in this cloth when I used to clean the screen. If it was then this could only be the reason for these cloud spots, since everything else was ruled out, except using this monitor in another PC or going back to the DVI cable, or using a video card.

 

[aigomorla]

I am not seeing a 3rd possibility,

its the glue on the polarizing film.
It can bubble like that over time from heat / age / defect.
Mostly seen if your monitor is left in direct sunlight.

But see this is a sever case of it.

This is the result of the glue cure messing up and lifting causing a bubble between the LCD and the film.

There isn't much you can do about it outside RMA.
You could try to remove the film and then reattempt, but its too much work IMO.

 

[NickelPlate]

 

[maddie]

its the glue on the polarizing film.
It can bubble like that over time from heat / age / defect.
Mostly seen if your monitor is left in direct sunlight.

But see this is a sever case of it.

This is the result of the glue cure messing up and lifting causing a bubble between the LCD and the film.

There isn't much you can do about it outside RMA.
You could try to remove the film and then reattempt, but its too much work IMO.

What a coincidence. I'm going to remove the antiglare film from a friend's monitor that is showing these same defects. He wants to do it but is scared for his DIY attempt.

Are you sure it's the polarizing film that's the problem?

 

[aigomorla]

Are you sure it's the polarizing film that's the problem?

its the adhesive that attaches the film to the lcd.
and its a mess and headache fixing it.
Most of the time its that, unless you pressed a heat source to the lcd, and the plastic melted causing the bubble.

Trust me, your best off getting a new monitor then trying to diy fix the polarizer film. Just don't expect much and get ready to buy the new screen. If you look at YouTube video's, removing the film in the first place is a nightmare, and installing a new one after cleaning it up, is even worse.

Its a lot worse then a cell phone digitizer overlay because you got a large as heck surface area, and those can only be done correct with a machine or very steady hands with 0 lint in the air.

 

[Perene]

While it was a huge coincidence this happened RIGHT BEFORE the bubbles started to appear:

Question - Can a dead video card damage a motherboard?

I had an old Gigabyte H97M-D3H (MB) that died after years being oxidized, suffice to say the computer case accumulated dust/dirt and wasn't cleaned over the years. Also using the i7 4770 CPU. I was using the PC one day and all of sudden the video became fuzzy and then not even went to BIOS...

forums.anandtech.com

The death of the old MB and GPU was just a coincidence. What damaged the old W2452V monitor for good was the use of a hand sanitizer with these ingredients:
- Ethyl alcohol 70%, denatonium benzoate and water

I always heard about any chemical product (no matter which one) having the power to damage permanently (and seriously) any screen where it was applied. In this case I didn't apply to the screen directly. What went wrong was this:

- Once a week I clean this bedroom with your usual microfiber cloth moisted with water. The top of this monitor (its bezels) is always cleaned with this cloth.

But I may have inadvertently sprayed this hand sanitizer into this cloth, so it probably once applied to the top of it just spread to the inside of this LCD. Or something worse: I may have applied to the top of the screen anyway, even if just touched slightly. A mere touch of this cloth would be enough in my view to damage it.

So, as amazing as it sounds, until yesterday this (probably) 10 year monitor was OK... until this happened. Bottom line is to never leave these chemical products in any way close to any screen you have. The damage is permanent and I think the center is now worse. It's not just a few bubbles, there's an "Oort cloud" surrounding them, exactly like the severe case @aigomorla showed.

Really unfortunate, because I was hoping this was another hardware defective. I was going to get rid of this LCD anyway, yet now I lost even more money after this incident...

 

[UsandThem]

Really unfortunate, because I was hoping this was another hardware defective. I was going to get rid of this LCD anyway, yet now I lost even more money after this incident...

Then wouldn't you be glad it was just the LCD (and not more damaged/defective PC components) that was damaged due to using chemicals on it if you were going to get rid of the LCD anyways?

 

[Perene]

Then wouldn't you be glad it was just the LCD (and not more damaged/defective PC components) that was damaged due to using chemicals on it if you were going to get rid of the LCD anyways?

Even if you sell crappy old hardware you can get some money, however once you have these spots then you automatically lose money... and besides that I was postponing replacing the monitor and all the old hardware for now...

What I am glad is to have found out that we shouldn't let these hand sanitizers or any chemical product anywhere near the monitor screen. Hand sanitizers after the pandemic became ubiquituous, so if you think that spraying your hands in the bedroom or putting just a little bit in a microfiber cloth and spreading in the LCD bezels isn't going to do any harm, look at my pictures again...

At least this didn't happen with a new monitor.