Musty smell

[matn__]

Hi! I was watching forum for a few years and yesterday I decided to register, so hello to everyone!

I have strange problem with T42 i've bought about a week ago. The wind from fan smells musty. I think laptop was stored in
high humidity. Chassis was in stain so i changed everything except mobo and I feel it when it's heating. And this is my question: Do you have any solutions how to get rid of the smell?

[shawross]

Welcome to the Forum.

The CPU fan from memory has a sponge seal where it goes into the side. This may have retained some moisture and might be giving the musky smell. This probably will eventually go away especially as the system remains powered on and heats up.

[jaspen-meyer]

Welcome to the Forum.

The CPU fan from memory has a sponge seal where it goes into the side. This may have retained some moisture and might be giving the musky smell. This probably will eventually go away especially as the system remains powered on and heats up.

Check the smell of the battery. Batteries in these machine smell strange.

[matn__]

It is definitely from mobo. It is working all time and still smells. Is isopropanol good to try clean it?

[shawross]

Have you removed the keyboard to have a look?

I would be tempted to remove the CPU fan to check if sponge seal is the cause of the smell. You can put new thermal paste on the CPU while you are there and maybe lightly oil the fan bearing also if it is too noisy.

[wujstefan]

Try to investigate: disassemble the unit leaving it open w/ keyboard connected but not fixed. You would know from which part of you machine this comes.

If you're not into it, the best way I may propose is buying some contact-cleaning liquid, like this one:
https://sklep.avt.pl/kontakt-wl-200ml.html

From experience while it is actually not something meant for cleaning it gets rid of some poor smells, like the typical 600X chemical smell. Evaporates quickly leaving only its own, pretty neutral, smell (and even that not for long).

Or just dump the smelly thing, invest $20 in a new but poor-shaped unit and move all the parts you're sure do NOT smell bad

[TankPad]

This is pretty common if someone has had a spill on the keyboard in the past. I've worked on many company laptops that would make you vomit when you see inside. I've seen thick mould in a few and it can smell pretty bad. One recent one was packed with some kind of animal hair. It was really thick and stank.

[matn__]

Thank you for your replies. Problem solved. I've cleaned whole mobo with isopropanol and now i can't feel any smell.