White powder-like substance found inside Powerbook G3

So, about 5 years ago I bought a secondhand G3 Pismo but because of battery/AC adaptor problems and the fact that it's hard to find replacement parts in my area, I stowed it away in a cupboard for the past 4 years.

Today, I took it out with the intention of opening it up in an attempt to salvage the harddrive but when I took it out of the cardboard box, there was this weird smell that seemed vaguely chemical, some white powdery substance within the laptop, and the screen seemed to have "melted".

What is going on? Is it normal for a laptop of this age to be doing something like this? And is it safe to continue or will I have to take a chemical bath to prevent my skin from melting off?

battery leakage
coke spilled in it
blown capacitors


I would not handle that stuff without gloves.
Personally, it would go into the trash bin.

I've not seen that on a Pismo before. All that is common due to age and storage is the PRAM battery under the keyboard failing. It will not start up with a flat PRAM battery unless you pull it's connector from the logic board. The battery is encapsulated in brown shrinked plastic film, so would be unlikely to have leaked. Any chance of a photo of the 'melted' LCD?