Was stalking a stink bug on tv, then noticed the back of the set. Got spots
around the plastic, as if bugs left muddy looking patches, or something
growing. I don't think the the bugs did it, and I don't have moisture
problems. Can't figure. ??

Greg

gregz wrote:
Was stalking a stink bug on tv, then noticed the back of the set. Got spots
around the plastic, as if bugs left muddy looking patches, or something
growing. I don't think the the bugs did it, and I don't have moisture
problems. Can't figure. ??

Greg

poop?

does it wipe off with a moist rag?

Cydrome Leader wrote:
gregz wrote:
Was stalking a stink bug on tv, then noticed the back of the set. Got spots
around the plastic, as if bugs left muddy looking patches, or something
growing. I don't think the the bugs did it, and I don't have moisture
problems. Can't figure. ??

Greg

poop?

does it wipe off with a moist rag?

Seems water soluble. They come off by scraping, or crushes into dust. I
don't see this anywhere else.

http://zekfrivolous.com/spots/page_01.htm

Greg

gregz wrote:
Cydrome Leader wrote:
gregz wrote:
Was stalking a stink bug on tv, then noticed the back of the set. Got spots
around the plastic, as if bugs left muddy looking patches, or something
growing. I don't think the the bugs did it, and I don't have moisture
problems. Can't figure. ??

Greg

poop?

does it wipe off with a moist rag?

Seems water soluble. They come off by scraping, or crushes into dust. I
don't see this anywhere else.

http://zekfrivolous.com/spots/page_01.htm

Greg

very weird, never seen anything like that.

On 10/15/2012 08:39 PM, gregz wrote:
Cydrome wrote:
wrote:
Was stalking a stink bug on tv, then noticed the back of the set. Got spots
around the plastic, as if bugs left muddy looking patches, or something
growing. I don't think the the bugs did it, and I don't have moisture
problems. Can't figure. ??

Greg

poop?

does it wipe off with a moist rag?

Seems water soluble. They come off by scraping, or crushes into dust. I
don't see this anywhere else.

http://zekfrivolous.com/spots/page_01.htm

Greg

Somebody sneezed on the back of the set?

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal Consultant
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics

160 North State Road #203
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510

hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net

"gregz" wrote in message
...
Was stalking a stink bug on tv, then noticed the back of the set. Got
spots
around the plastic, as if bugs left muddy looking patches, or something
growing. I don't think the the bugs did it, and I don't have moisture
problems. Can't figure. ??

Greg


Back in the day many moons ago, when crt sets like this came into the shop
showing "spots", we put them in plastic garbage bags, then sprayed bug
killer in and let them sit for a couple days. They were usually full of
dead cockroaches when the back was removed.

Klaatu wrote:
"gregz" wrote in message
...
Was stalking a stink bug on tv, then noticed the back of the set. Got
spots
around the plastic, as if bugs left muddy looking patches, or something
growing. I don't think the the bugs did it, and I don't have moisture
problems. Can't figure. ??

Greg


Back in the day many moons ago, when crt sets like this came into the shop
showing "spots", we put them in plastic garbage bags, then sprayed bug
killer in and let them sit for a couple days. They were usually full of
dead cockroaches when the back was removed.

I prefered knock off blu-shower on roaches. You could tell by looking a
customer if you had to lay out newspaper on the bench before opening stuff
up.

They stopped accepting cable decoder box returns at the HQ of a cable
company here as it lit up the office. They put the boxes under a tarp and
roach bombed them over at the warehouse or something like that.

Anyways, that stuff doesn't look like cockroach poop at all. It looks like
the crud you get when moving ceiling tiles around, but that would not make
splotches or coat the back of a TV set.

Cydrome Leader wrote:
Klaatu wrote:
"gregz" wrote in message
...
Was stalking a stink bug on tv, then noticed the back of the set. Got
spots
around the plastic, as if bugs left muddy looking patches, or something
growing. I don't think the the bugs did it, and I don't have moisture
problems. Can't figure. ??

Greg


Back in the day many moons ago, when crt sets like this came into the shop
showing "spots", we put them in plastic garbage bags, then sprayed bug
killer in and let them sit for a couple days. They were usually full of
dead cockroaches when the back was removed.

I prefered knock off blu-shower on roaches. You could tell by looking a
customer if you had to lay out newspaper on the bench before opening stuff
up.

They stopped accepting cable decoder box returns at the HQ of a cable
company here as it lit up the office. They put the boxes under a tarp and
roach bombed them over at the warehouse or something like that.

Anyways, that stuff doesn't look like cockroach poop at all. It looks like
the crud you get when moving ceiling tiles around, but that would not make
splotches or coat the back of a TV set.

I had another smaller visio in same position, no spots. Current is coby.

Greg

On Tue, 16 Oct 2012 00:39:42 +0000 (UTC), gregz
wrote:

Seems water soluble. They come off by scraping, or crushes into dust. I
don't see this anywhere else.
http://zekfrivolous.com/spots/page_01.htm
Greg

[Begin Sherlock Holmes mode]

Since your removal methods did not affect the underlying plastic, and
since plastic is not water soluble, I'll assume that it's not
something originating from inside the plastic. I'll also assume that
there was no spots on the front of the TV, or you would have mentioned
and photographed it.

Mold growth tends to be flat, while your spots have considerable
depth. The irregular shape and consistent color eliminates food
splatter. The lack of any deposits on the metal mounting bracket
indicate that it wasn't delivered by any airborne means (such as
plaster, Fix-all, cooking flour, ceiling tile patch, etc). The
partial photo of the bracket suggests that it's a wall mount bracket.
I would normally guess(tm) a spider infestation, but spider droppings
are usually black or brown, not white. The also land on horizontal
surfaces, not vertical.

So, what likes to stick to vertical plastic surfaces, doesn't stick to
painted metal, is white, powdery, and has to be scraped off. Bingo.
Packing material. The TV was probably stuffed back into its shipping
box without the usual plastic bag. While styrofoam is not water
soluble, some of the recycled paper fake peanuts can be cleaned off.
Same with the packing made from pop corn, soy, agricultural waste. To
sterilize it, the stuff is sometimes bleached. The metal mounting
bracket was added later, which explains why there's no packing
material stuck to it. The person that installed the TV on the wall
cleaned the visible front of the TV, but left the back a mess.
Humidity cycling eventually hardened the packing material. Nobody
noticed until the TV was removed from the wall.

"When you eliminate all other possibilities, what remains, no matter
how improbable, is the answer." (Sherlock Holmes).

Incidentally, I have a rather nice Olympus microscope in the office
that I occasionally use for such computer forensics.

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

gregz wrote:
Cydrome Leader wrote:
Klaatu wrote:
"gregz" wrote in message
...
Was stalking a stink bug on tv, then noticed the back of the set. Got
spots
around the plastic, as if bugs left muddy looking patches, or something
growing. I don't think the the bugs did it, and I don't have moisture
problems. Can't figure. ??

Greg


Back in the day many moons ago, when crt sets like this came into the shop
showing "spots", we put them in plastic garbage bags, then sprayed bug
killer in and let them sit for a couple days. They were usually full of
dead cockroaches when the back was removed.

I prefered knock off blu-shower on roaches. You could tell by looking a
customer if you had to lay out newspaper on the bench before opening stuff
up.

They stopped accepting cable decoder box returns at the HQ of a cable
company here as it lit up the office. They put the boxes under a tarp and
roach bombed them over at the warehouse or something like that.

Anyways, that stuff doesn't look like cockroach poop at all. It looks like
the crud you get when moving ceiling tiles around, but that would not make
splotches or coat the back of a TV set.

I had another smaller visio in same position, no spots. Current is coby.

maybe it's melamine and asbestos leaching out of the chinese plastic?

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Tue, 16 Oct 2012 00:39:42 +0000 (UTC), gregz
wrote:

Seems water soluble. They come off by scraping, or crushes into dust. I
don't see this anywhere else.
http://zekfrivolous.com/spots/page_01.htm
Greg

[Begin Sherlock Holmes mode]

Since your removal methods did not affect the underlying plastic, and
since plastic is not water soluble, I'll assume that it's not
something originating from inside the plastic. I'll also assume that
there was no spots on the front of the TV, or you would have mentioned
and photographed it.

Mold growth tends to be flat, while your spots have considerable
depth. The irregular shape and consistent color eliminates food
splatter. The lack of any deposits on the metal mounting bracket
indicate that it wasn't delivered by any airborne means (such as
plaster, Fix-all, cooking flour, ceiling tile patch, etc). The
partial photo of the bracket suggests that it's a wall mount bracket.
I would normally guess(tm) a spider infestation, but spider droppings
are usually black or brown, not white. The also land on horizontal
surfaces, not vertical.

So, what likes to stick to vertical plastic surfaces, doesn't stick to
painted metal, is white, powdery, and has to be scraped off. Bingo.
Packing material. The TV was probably stuffed back into its shipping
box without the usual plastic bag. While styrofoam is not water
soluble, some of the recycled paper fake peanuts can be cleaned off.
Same with the packing made from pop corn, soy, agricultural waste. To
sterilize it, the stuff is sometimes bleached. The metal mounting
bracket was added later, which explains why there's no packing
material stuck to it. The person that installed the TV on the wall
cleaned the visible front of the TV, but left the back a mess.
Humidity cycling eventually hardened the packing material. Nobody
noticed until the TV was removed from the wall.

"When you eliminate all other possibilities, what remains, no matter
how improbable, is the answer." (Sherlock Holmes).

Incidentally, I have a rather nice Olympus microscope in the office
that I occasionally use for such computer forensics.

I'd buy this explanation.

On Wed, 17 Oct 2012 17:19:33 +0000 (UTC), Cydrome Leader
wrote:

I'd buy this explanation.

I'll send you an invoice.

I was wondering how to verify my guess. If there's enough of the
white stuff available, try setting fire to it. If it's a paper or soy
derived product, it will char, burn, and crumble to ash. If it's
styrofoam, it will melt, burn, and then harden into something that
feels like a lump of hard plastic. If it's spider droppings, it will
stink like manure. If it's drywall, fix-all, or texturing, nothing
will happen.

Incidentally, you can also use this method to distinguish between
natural fibers and synthetic fibers.
http://www.fullercommercial.com/training/carpetcare/fiber_identification.asp
--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Wed, 17 Oct 2012 17:19:33 +0000 (UTC), Cydrome Leader
wrote:

I'd buy this explanation.

I'll send you an invoice.

I was wondering how to verify my guess. If there's enough of the
white stuff available, try setting fire to it. If it's a paper or soy
derived product, it will char, burn, and crumble to ash. If it's
styrofoam, it will melt, burn, and then harden into something that
feels like a lump of hard plastic. If it's spider droppings, it will
stink like manure. If it's drywall, fix-all, or texturing, nothing
will happen.

Incidentally, you can also use this method to distinguish between
natural fibers and synthetic fibers.
http://www.fullercommercial.com/training/carpetcare/fiber_identification.asp

I never though about burning nylon smelling like "Boiling green vegetables
(string beans or celery)".

strange.

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Tue, 16 Oct 2012 00:39:42 +0000 (UTC), gregz
wrote:

Seems water soluble. They come off by scraping, or crushes into dust. I
don't see this anywhere else.
http://zekfrivolous.com/spots/page_01.htm
Greg

[Begin Sherlock Holmes mode]

Since your removal methods did not affect the underlying plastic, and
since plastic is not water soluble, I'll assume that it's not
something originating from inside the plastic. I'll also assume that
there was no spots on the front of the TV, or you would have mentioned
and photographed it.

Mold growth tends to be flat, while your spots have considerable
depth. The irregular shape and consistent color eliminates food
splatter. The lack of any deposits on the metal mounting bracket
indicate that it wasn't delivered by any airborne means (such as
plaster, Fix-all, cooking flour, ceiling tile patch, etc). The
partial photo of the bracket suggests that it's a wall mount bracket.
I would normally guess(tm) a spider infestation, but spider droppings
are usually black or brown, not white. The also land on horizontal
surfaces, not vertical.

So, what likes to stick to vertical plastic surfaces, doesn't stick to
painted metal, is white, powdery, and has to be scraped off. Bingo.
Packing material. The TV was probably stuffed back into its shipping
box without the usual plastic bag. While styrofoam is not water
soluble, some of the recycled paper fake peanuts can be cleaned off.
Same with the packing made from pop corn, soy, agricultural waste. To
sterilize it, the stuff is sometimes bleached. The metal mounting
bracket was added later, which explains why there's no packing
material stuck to it. The person that installed the TV on the wall
cleaned the visible front of the TV, but left the back a mess.
Humidity cycling eventually hardened the packing material. Nobody
noticed until the TV was removed from the wall.

"When you eliminate all other possibilities, what remains, no matter
how improbable, is the answer." (Sherlock Holmes).

Incidentally, I have a rather nice Olympus microscope in the office
that I occasionally use for such computer forensics.

Brilliant investigation. The stuff was not there when installed a year ago.
I don't currently have a microscope, but I'll try to get whatever
magnification I can come up with. The stuff sticks pretty well. I would
hate to look inside.

Greg

On Thu, 18 Oct 2012 00:14:46 +0000 (UTC), gregz
wrote:

Brilliant investigation.

Thanks. Sherlock did it better.

The stuff was not there when installed a year ago.

Oops. That blows my packing material theory. The packing material
would need to have been stuck to the plastic case when it was first
installed. Argh.

I don't currently have a microscope, but I'll try to get whatever
magnification I can come up with. The stuff sticks pretty well.

How about something simpler? Can you determine the texture? Is is
hard as a rock, grainy, more like ashes, crumbly, greasy, mushy, etc?
Does it feel heavy (like sand) or is it light (like ashes). Might was
well determine if it's water soluable.

I would hate to look inside.

I don't think it will bite.

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Thu, 18 Oct 2012 00:14:46 +0000 (UTC), gregz
wrote:

Brilliant investigation.

Thanks. Sherlock did it better.

The stuff was not there when installed a year ago.

Oops. That blows my packing material theory. The packing material
would need to have been stuck to the plastic case when it was first
installed. Argh.

I don't currently have a microscope, but I'll try to get whatever
magnification I can come up with. The stuff sticks pretty well.

How about something simpler? Can you determine the texture? Is is
hard as a rock, grainy, more like ashes, crumbly, greasy, mushy, etc?
Does it feel heavy (like sand) or is it light (like ashes). Might was
well determine if it's water soluable.

I would hate to look inside.

I don't think it will bite.

The texture is firm. It will smash with fingernail to dust. I think it
dissolves from what I see. More testing.

Greg

On Friday, October 12, 2012 7:04:02 PM UTC-5, GS wrote:
Was stalking a stink bug on tv, then noticed the back of the set. Got spots

around the plastic, as if bugs left muddy looking patches, or something

growing. I don't think the the bugs did it, and I don't have moisture

problems. Can't figure. ??



Greg

We have the same thing on the back of our TV. Wiped it off once and it's back. ?? Not from bugs. Almost looks like mold but it is not. We don't have this on any other surface. It's flaky.

wrote:
On Friday, October 12, 2012 7:04:02 PM UTC-5, GS wrote:
Was stalking a stink bug on tv, then noticed the back of the set. Got spots

around the plastic, as if bugs left muddy looking patches, or something

growing. I don't think the the bugs did it, and I don't have moisture

problems. Can't figure. ??



Greg

We have the same thing on the back of our TV. Wiped it off once and it's
back. ?? Not from bugs. Almost looks like mold but it is not. We don't
have this on any other surface. It's flaky.

I still have the tv. Must be something in the plastic ?

Greg

On Wednesday, October 17, 2012 8:05:50 PM UTC-7, GS wrote:

[about odd deposits]

The texture is firm. It will smash with fingernail to dust. I think it
dissolves from what I see. More testing.

So, have you got a popcorn finish on your ceiling? And, has
it taken some damage?