Dell inspiron damage inside

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

My dell inspiron 8200 has some sort of heat flash or other damage to a
metal rail inside the unit (where the primary hard drive plugs in).
It's a longish metal bar with four holes cut out.

There's a picture, here:

http://www.hatrack.net/dell/DSCN1077.JPG

Has anyone else seen damage like this? Do you know what it could be
from?

It's not a spill, it's reasonably obvious from the picture, and it's
REALLY obvious in a close visual exam when the unit is open (nothing
flakes off like from a dried liquid, no drips through the plastic
cover on the bottom of keyboard, etc).

I'm not sure what could generate enough heat inside to cause this
marking on the metal?

Thanks,
Gwen