Alienware M17x R3 (released in 2011)
I opened my laptop lid to find strange marks that looked as though an interior piece of the laptop overheated and melted the exterior. The melted area is near the touchpad. The left click button was also affected - it doesnt click properly anymore.
I turned it on and immediately noticed that the area around the touchpad began to get hotter. I quickly turned off the laptop after touching the touchpad and noticing it begin to grow hotter (I didn't want to risk anymore damage).
I opened the laptop and looked at what was directly under the melted but I don't know what to make of it. Here are some pictures of the damage and what is underneath.
This last image is a picture of what is directly behind the touchpad. There is what looks to be a cable and a connector near the affected area.
What could be causing this? What would I need to replace? Someone suggested to me that it might be the processor overheating because the laptop is 5 years old. However, the processor is not underneath the affected area, but the battery is. But when I removed the battery after quickly turning it off, the battery was not abnormally hot.