WTF? I'm fairly sure this isn't my doing</wrong!, see below>. I take good care of my n800 and, at any rate, no other part of the tablet--interior or exterior--exhibits this problem.

Nevertheless, today I took out my 8gb SanDisk card to toss it in the card reader and discovered that it was covered in a mildly sticky liquid. Folding up a piece of paper and sticking it into the slot revealed that the inside of the slot was pretty slimy too. WTFFFFFFFF???????!!!!!!

I also noticed the other day that a small green bug crawled out of the side of the screen, turned around, and crawled back in. I've heard that ants like to crawl into laptop keyboards---something about the electrical charge emitted by the machine.

Can it be that some colony of slimy bugs has set up shop inside my tablet?????? Anyone EVER have a similar thing happen? What should I do to ensure the safety of my beloved NIT?

you sure its not sweat from being in your pocket too much? ^^

Maybe she just likes you a lot...

i couldn't help myself

I got same problem in my SD slot - Slimy Green Insect!

Sorry to hear about your problem lm2 and dkwatts.

Talking about electronics, I believe it would probably have to do with the heat generated by the electronics, it is possible, but I think that would also mean that you left your tablet outside or on the grass or in some jungle. I'm not sure how such a "bug" (lit. lol) crept into your tablet otherwise.

At first I thought it might have been battery acid, Check your battery, make sure it's fine. It should be noted that there are other "batteries" in the tablet (capacitors mainly). If one of those blew or leaked, then you're in for serious trouble (RMA type).

I'm not sure I can offer any other useful advice. It is quite rare that an electronic device starts leaking slime. Either way, it can't be good

--Jon

Does that mean, dkwatts, that you don't have my problem? Well then, thanks for the solidarity.

Thanks for the suggestions, Jon. I didn't leave the tablet outside, but I did just take it on its first major trip--up into the rockies in CO. The battery appear fine, and there are no similar symptoms with the internal slot.

This is f-ing weird. And scary: I don't want my tablet to leak to death!

Have you checked if anyone has already filed anything against this problem? https://bugs.maemo.org/
If not, might be an idea to start your own tracker entry.

As for real suggestions,

stop leaving it in damp places, i once got a similar moist phone after leaving it in the old car over the weekend.
Most recently my youngest made our electronics wet with his own little stream, watch for this with siblings/children/pets.


as for the bugs calling it home, it might be possible to use ant spray or something similar - not on the device directly, but nearby and covered over (put it in a box, put some spray in and close the lid).
Dunno if that would work or what it would do to the device though..

Thanks for givin me the biggest laugh of the night so far.

Photos please

I'd be inclined to blame a leaking/blown capacitor at first, but I'm not sure there's one about (near that slot), and the slimy green bug angle could be, too.

The first stage of N800 disassembly (popping the faceplate off) should reveal evidence of any such infestation, and is pretty easy to do, and low-risk. Just do it over a table to catch the d-pad & buttons from the front panel; I always forget those are a separate piece until I turn it over and they fall off. Thoughtfix's video shows how.