Though I'm sure it was meant for the best, I wouldn't recommend using bug spray near the tablet. That stench can stay for dayyyyssss. Unless you use one of those odorless ones, I guess you could give it a shot (leaving it in the same room [a cardboard box] as the sprayed spot). How is the performance on the tablet? Any changes?

Colorado is for the most part dry, isn't it? Though admitidly I don't know much about the rockies.

I think what could help the most is if you were to "analyze" what type of liquid/substance it is. I'm no professional on how to do it (and I wouldn't recommend tasting it!) but smell... look... i don't know. At least if you could find a way from differentiating an organic compound from a synthetic one it would be a big boost to your investigation.

Thanks all. I can't believe I didn't notice this, and those of you who got a laugh are sure to continue laughing.......

I just found a rotting banana in the bottom of the big pocket of my backpack where I keep the tablet. It must have been there for days, maybe a week. What a ****ing tool I am!

While I'm no expert in these things, my guess is that the banana let off some gas or other that may--right?--have latched onto card/inside of the slot? But then, is it weird that the ONLY place exhibiting the symptom is on the INSIDE of the tablet?

Well, I think we have an explanation for the bug crawling around, then.

Remember, time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana!

Thank you! (not trying to be rude)

lm2, I'm gonna mark this as DONOTEAT and put it down to experience.

You do need to fumigate your device but I honestly don't know the real way to do it.
as for the moisture, you need to get it dried out asap.
If you are not brave enough to take it apart, get it into the airing cupboard or above your boiler or somewhere else.
you need to stop the rot, clean the contacts of the mmc board as much as possible - keep putting thick card in until its clean (we had to do this with the smart card slot on the cable box).

On the upside, at least you know the cause.



Warning sign icon because banana skins are dangerous.

I'm definitely not confident about taking the thing apart. The slot seems dried out, and the external slot seems to be the only place obviously affected. I realize that the optimal thing would be to Thoughtfix it (i.e., Johnny 5 Disassemble), but with that out of the picture, I'm not sure there's much more I can do. If anyone has any other suggestions, please post them!

lm2, just do the best you can and hope its enough, most devices can survive more abuse than you think, just dry and clean and carry on if its not obviously broken.


whenever we go camping all the equipment is double checked and cleaned and repacked for the next time, strange stuff like this can happen anytime.

You learn the hardway at first, but luckily it was a pocket of a bag - we once arrived at a campsite and setup the tent to discover "something" had been left in one of the pockets of the tent and had eaten through whilst it was rolled up, we spent the night with a gaping hole near the door.

damned good job it wasn't raining.

Take care with your equipment and think in future, what is normal at home doesn't fly when you are in the wild.
And I suggest you get a lockable baggie in future for your electronics - imagine what would'v happened if you went through a river or had a major storm.

Use an (or a couple) of ear buds to clean up the slot.
I had to do that once to get some sand out of the battery/mmc slot of my camera after a day at the beach...

lm2, please get us photos.
yabbas is right.
this thread is useless without them.

There's nothing left to see. Sorry I didn't think about it before.

And it's not useless for me.