Thinkpads Forum

Here is a strange question for you. Strange in that I am not even sure of what exactly is going on, and if my imagination s running wild, etc.
So, maybe this post is actually meaningless

I have a 600E.
A few months ago, the paint from parts pf the speaker gill wore off, revealing a shiny surface below. I don't know how it happened.
So I was disappointed that I wasn't careful enough.
But, as the weeks went by (about 2), I noticed that the chipped area seemed to decrease in size.
Now I paid more attention. Within another two weeks, the silver area has completely covered itself back in the black color.

Now, I thought I was dreaming, and honestly thought that perhaps I forgot that I "painted" it (for example) with a permanent marker, or something else.

But, 10 days ago I accidentally scratched off another small patch near the speaker, an area about 1cm long and several mm wide. So, the shiny surface was easily visible underneath.

HOWEVER, this once again seems to be slowly covering itself back up with this black rubbery coating, and as of this evening, is almost completely sealed back up, looking exactly like the surrounding material

All right, I know what you're all thinking
You're thinking that this is completely normal, and why the heck am I worked up about it. Well, could someone explain how this surface regrows/redistributes its coating? I am baffled.

Paul

It's ALIVE

Did you lend someone your thinkpad?

Nope, I did not lend it to anyone. I am the sole user. Besides, the re-covering is gradual and linear with time, so it is not a sudden change. Unless someone sneaks in every day to my apartment to just add a bit of material


By the way: I thought that perhaps my skin rubs off a bit of material, and deposits it back over the scratched areas (since this all is right under the palm). Seems too farfetched though to be the case.

hmm wth..

Well, I guess it's time to call Mulder and Scully.

Regards,
G-Man

Try washing your hands before using your TP...

Ed Gibbs

Take some pictures. I wanna see

Torque wrote:Take some pictures. I wanna see

Yeah, good idea. Take one before and after the "healing".

Regards,
G-Man

Wash my hands??! Ah, that must be it! Of course...I forgot that I work in a black rubber factory, and my hands are always coated


Okay, so it seems that most of you don't think this is usual. I do not own a digital camera, however I may be able to borrow one. I'd have to do it in the next day or two, because there is only a tiny sliver of silver left, and it looks like it'll heal up pretty soon.

In case some of you are wondering--if most people haven't had their TP do this--no, I'm not just pulling your leg!

All right, well, until the photos, any thoughts would be appreciated. Oh: is it possible that the material underneath is comprised intentionally of some composite metal that oxidizes to a black color, for example? I think this unlikely, because the growth of the color starts usually at one edge, and expands slowly inwards...whereas some oxidization would uniformly coat the entire surface as it progresses.

Haven't you been told that you're suppose to wash your hands after you change the oil in your car?

Really though, I have a 600E that my son uses...the rubberized palm rest is peeling and our solution is to put stickers on it...other wise it doesn't heal itself like yours is doing.

If I were you, I'd either call Oral Robers or the Vatican.
I believe you have a true miracle on your hands...it defies all logic and physics.

Betcha'll thought I forgot, eh?


Well, I wasn't making it up, and so obviously I eventually got around to posting this.

Lucky for me another part of the rubber peeled off.

Here is one photo of a damaged area; you can vaguely see the left part of the speaker grill already healed.

For what it's worth, the entire silver area is now covered up. When I get around to it, I'll take another photo (again, I don't have a digital camera) so that you can see it totally covered.

Edit again:
http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=11/32422540812.jpg&s=x12
[img]Edit: OKay, so why the heck does this picture not show up?....[/img]

Try posting a link, instead of the picture. Besides, you can't post a pic without a warning in the title line of the thread, per posting policies.

Anyway, I really am curious to see this.

I wish one of my 600Es would automatically heal.

could it possibly be there is another black surface under the silver and as the silver wears off that is showing through.

But seriously though I think this was on an episode of the X files.

[quote="Kyocera"]could it possibly be there is another black surface under the silver and as the silver wears off that is showing through.

But seriously though I think this was on an episode of the X files.[/quote]


That is certainly the most plausible explanation! And it is easily tested, if anyone wants to try it However I no longer have silver surfaces, so probably I have worn it away to the black underneath. You are probably right, and that is exactly what is happening.

However, then I wonder why it becomes black from the edges inwards. I would think it would get black in the middle, where it is most exposed to contact.

I truly think that the thinkpad has some self-healing capabilities.


For example, my "B" key nearly went dead after I played the PC emulator version gameboy advanced & punched the key so much.


I'm still proud of the fact that the keyboard works, although several keys feel very weak.


Anyway, the problem with the B button was that it would push back up & type only if I pressed in the very center.


If I pushed my finger on top left/right corners of the key, it would just sink in that spot & the entire key wouldn't go down & come back.

For weeks, I made sure that I didn't use the "B" key (I probably did, accidentally).

Then I found out that B key began to work again. It's slightly sunk, but it still works.

Only problem is that my left ultranav mouse button doesn't work well right now & it doesn't seem to heal itself.

Even if it doesn't heal, thinkpads' covers are very easy to wipe with. My brother colored it with a highlighter and in desperation I tried to wipe it off--> it did -in a few swipes.

The first time I laid hands on the R30 that eventually became mine it was supposedly dead as you please; wouldn't boot; etc. I turned it on and it immediately got further than its previous owners had seen it in a long time. After a prolonged session in CHKDISK; it eventualy booted to the login (much to the amazement of its then-owners) and worked well from there for several years after a little more work. I think time may have finally caught up to it; it goes into the shop tomorrow to diagnose some disk oddness...

FWIW, when I got my ThinkPad 600E from a fellow forum member, there were two spots on the bevel of my wristpad that had paint worn off and some silver color visible. Over time, the paint around the area has thinned out some and the silver color worn away and that has helped to make the spots less visible. However, you can still see them when the keyboard isn't being used.

This reminds me of a thread I read at the BMW forums (www.bimmerwerkz.com)...
A guy that was living in England or Glasgow had a Fiat in collegeduring the 1980s and lived in a all mens dorm. He had a full day of construction work and school and would leave his house everyday at 8am and return home at 10pm park his car and leave the keys in the visor and the car open and would be so exhausted that he would go right to bed. This was his schedule for about 2 years. During school breaks and summer. He would stay on at the dorm and just work all day...

Now he always noticed during the winter season that his car would be always warm in the mornings when he was about to drive off to work as if the car was anticipating his return. He though his car was alive. Until one day he came down at 7.50am in the morning and his car wasn't there. As he's about to cal the police at 7.55am He sees his car coming down the road and runs out...apparantly his roommate who worked nights would drive his car to work whiles the guy was sleeping and return his car to the exact spot every ,orning at 7.30am when he got back. This went on for two years without the owner ever suspecting. But on this day the roomate had hit some really bad traffic and came back later than he wanted.

So....odd huh?

Delmarco wrote:So....odd huh?

If you say so... yeah.

:::

More like a ghost story......

:::

Thought I'd bring this thread back from th dead after an incident on my ThinkPad 600. About a week ago, I dropped sometihng near the wristpad that scraped away some of the rubber paint and you could see the metallic plastic under that. After using for a few days the metallic stuff wore away but you could still tell there was missing paint. However, now, if you look, you can't tell anything has happened at all! The area where the paint had scraped away even feels the way it did before the incident. I'm guessing that because te scrape was over such a small area, the paint around, as pressure was put on it, spread out to cover the area. There's a larger area with paint missing just a centimeter under this "phantom" spot where paint had scraped off before I received the computer (in September 2006) and never healed.

perhaps the metallic surface oxidizes and became black?

bestisfree wrote:perhaps the metallic surface oxidizes and became black?

Bingo. You have this thing called body chemistry.... acids from your hands/sweat will do this.

The 600's were notorious for being sensitive to some of the skin care products women would always slather on their hands...We had two women in the office that had the entire palm areas of the chassis peal from a reaction to what ever lotions they were using....ODD>

But My guess is the exposed silver areas are getting etched black again by the acids being deposited through normal use.

My body chemistry is such that my secretions eat through paint, dye, plastic, and certain types of metal without the aid of rogue hand products.

This has not been good for my ThinkPad, or my glasses, or my dark towels.