GS60 screen and glowing dragon replacement + BLB repair

So most of us that have purchased the 3K GS60 have experienced some backlight bleed - some worse than others. Others have the FHD version and may wish to manually upgrade the screen to 3k/4k or vice versa. The purpose of this post is to show that the screen can in fact be changed out pretty easily. I was also able to eliminate some of my backlight bleed in the upper right corner. In addition, I took the plunge and removed the ugly glowing dragon badge and replaced it with something...well... a little better for now. Read on if you're interested and PLEASE read completely before attempting. You may change your mind when you read all there is to know.

Stuff needed:
-4 sheets of paper
-scotch and packaging tape
-plastic removal tool
-hairdryer or glue softening tool for electronics
-phillips and flathead screwdriver
-2 or 3mm cell phone tape(maybe)
-label backing paper(the stuff you stick stickers to and they don't permanently stick). I peeled all the mailing labels off an Avery brand page.

If you're doing this to fix backlight bleed, the first thing you're going to want to do is get 4 sheets of paper and tape them to the 4 edges of your screen. Then go into a dark room and turn your laptop on a black screen. Write on the pieces of paper where the bleed is and give it a severity score of 1-10. The reason I am telling you to do this instead of take pictures is because pictures speak nothing about backlight bleed. You have to have absolute perfect lighting conditions and a DSLR with a tripod to even get a hint of how things imrpove(which is why I don't have before and after pictures to show you...). Once done, label each page with what edge you used and take them off to use later.

So the first obstacle was the bezel. I got the idea on how to remove the bezel from this video: MSI GS70 Screen Replacement How To - By 365 - YouTube

Ignore everything past the bezel removal because it's different. His bezel came off WAY easier than mine did though. It's mainly because the GS60 bezel has a lot of tape around the edges and his did not. So there are two battles to fight when removing the bezel: tape and cheap plastic hooks. You'll want to be extremely careful not to damage too many of the hooks otherwise you'll be stuck relying on tape. Proceed at your own risk.

I apologize in advance for not taking a full video of my removal but I didn't have a second set of hands at the time. The key is to start in the middle top or middle bottom to undo one of the hooks there. After that the others come off relatively easily. The tape just gets in the way, but once you loosed it, it's not so bad. I started at the bottom, but in hindsight it would have been better to start at the top due to the corner hooks on the lower right and left corners. Those corners are the biggest risk for breaking, so take your time with those. They are both vertical and horizontal so it takes a downward and outward pressure to undo them, while lifting the screen. Video of how to peel the bezel is here: https://vimeo.com/111014799

Once your bezel is off, your screen will look like this


At this point, you should power on your laptop and evaluate the backlight bleed again. Chances are you already see some improvements(I did). If you have corner bleed, that won't be fixed just yet, but the top and bottom edge bleed might look a little better. The cause of mine was the poor taping job of my bezel. There were globs of tape in some spots that put uneven pressure on the edges of the edges of the screen, causing bleed.


The fix is to remove the glob and make it as flat as possible. In hindsight, I think I should have removed all the tape all together and just relied on the hooks because there are some spots that the tape pulls back on the screen, causing the same pressure in the opposite direction => causing bleed. My bleed isn't nearly as bad before and doesn't bother me anymore, so I'm leaving it be. If someone attempts this and wants to try removing all the tape, I'd like to hear how it worked out for you. Make sure to buy a roll of 2mm cell phone tape on eBay if you want to replace the tape at all.



Now for corner bleed, you probably have a bent frame from poor mounting. There are 4 points holding the screen in place. Two metal tabs at the top and two mounting screws at the bottom. If the screen is not perfectly mounted, you'll have a huge amount of backlight bleed in one of those corners. I had some on the upper right hand corner. Simply removing the bottom screws and removing and replacing the panel, fixed it completely for me. I would imagine others might have to manipulate things a little so some other options are to remove your screen completely and make sure the frame is not bent. A quick diagnosis to see if the frame is bent is to remove it from the lid and power it on again. If the bleed still exists, the frame is bent. If it is gone, it was improperly mounted or the mounts are uneven. Remove the two screws on the bottom and the screen comes out like this: https://vimeo.com/111014798

So if you have a bent frame, there are a couple pointers I learned from my QNIX. The LCD is super delicate so trying to bend it yourself isn't recommended. The best way to attempt a fix is to remove it completely, lay it on a flat surface and place heavy books on all 4 edges(or on the whole panel if the book is big enough). Please use sense to not put something so heavy that it cracks the panel. Hopefully that solves the issue. If you're dealing with a mount problem, you might be able to bend the tabs a little or even manipulate things by loosening the bottom screws a little. YMMV.

When I took my screen off, I noticed something interesting:


That logo looked like it would come off so I took a stab at removing it. I used a hairdryer to warm things up a little and pushed out from the inside using a plastic removal tool. You'll probably not want to overdo the hairdryer otherwise you risk warping the lid. Once I got an edge free, it came off easily. Be super careful to keep the glue on the badge - you'll want it for later when you resell your unit and it will tear the graphics right off the edge if the glue stays behind. If you have your sticker backing paper, you'll want to stick your badge to it now and keep it in a safe place. Now you have a nice shield shaped opening on your lid! Slap some packaging tape on it to keep it save until you're ready to put something else over it. Next post will talk about what I did with the opening.

 

Stuff you'll need:
-decals - make extras because you'll mess up
-squeegee or credit card
-colored film
-stronger clear film(overhead projector transparency film worked great)
-exacto knife
-something to cut on
-patience

For the lid decal, you'll need to make sure it's large enough to cover the edges and the openings are small enough to be within the field of the backlight. I decided to go with a cat with blue eyes for now. Why not, right? I got my decal from this guy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/201513619/cat-decal-halloween-costume-for-macbook?ref=market
I made a special request to have the eyes moved .9 inches apart so the eyes wouldn't be cut off by the edge of the shield. Really, just pick anything you want to see but note that if you pick a light color, the light will bleed through it so you'll need to create a dark backing for the decal in the shape of the shield and then manually cut out the openings(or just get two decals one black and stick the light one on top). I chose black because I wanted to make something cool but not something that sticks out like crazy.

Next I took my shield dragon badge and used an exacto knife to trim the backing paper to be flush with the edge of the shield(this is where that backing paper comes in handy). Then I took the blue film and cut out a couple shield shaped blue film pieces by placing the shield on top and cut around the edges. You might need to trim a little extra to get it to fit into the shield shape on your laptop lid. Improvise! Because my blue film was weak, I also cut out a shield from some clear transparency paper, which was a heavier weight.


I cleaned around the edges of the lid opening, placed the blue film on bottom and then the clear shield film on top. They fit nicely into the slot on the lid. Then I applied the decal and worked out the bubbles. It took a couple times to get it to look decent, which is why I recommend having a few samples to mess with first. I also chose that hard transparency paper because working the bubbles out of the thin film was impossible. Once it was done, I had a pretty decent result.


I'm not 100% happy yet but I'm certainly happier than before and I have some good ideas cooking. A couple things I noticed is it's really hard to avoid the shield indentation within your decal. I was thinking of either building it into a design or finding a way to fill in the cracks(maybe putty?) I'm also getting a 3D printer in January, so I'm hoping I can make a thin shield that fits perfectly in the slot to fill in the gaps. Either way, this is a work in progress that I wanted to share. Maybe some of you can try it an come up with something cool. Good luck, and if you need help, feel free to ask!

BTW, the guy who sold me the decals was super nice and helpful. He also send me a lot of extra samples which I was able to do some trial and error with. I haven't checked his other designs but I assume he can probably print anything you send his way.

 

Love your guide!

I finally made my decision to go for the GS60, but I want to use it for my job and can't have the badge on it. I had set my mind already on replacing the badge myself, but wasn't sure yet if it was realistic to do. Seeing now your guide that it sticks only with a little bit of glue and has a whole hole behind it really showed that it is good possible. I'm going to make by own badge using carbon fiber and make my own shapes in it. I might even make a few extra for other people I saw who are also desperately looking for other badges. When I have my GS60, and will do the badge thing can I place it here in your topic?

 

Please do! I'm also working on another idea but I'm waiting on my 3D printer to come in. Hopefully next month.

 

i have 3k edition, but i need 1920x1080. i bought SAMSUNG LTN156HL01-102 but it has a different connector, how to connect it?

 

That's an eDP panel. You need LVDS. Might want to ask on the main thread what model Samsung panel you need. That panel you have is for the Asus Q500 series

 

Actually he has a higher lane count eDP connector, he could step up to a 4k panel and just run it at 1080p.

 

Where did you get this panel? I'm looking for this panel everywhere nobody has it in US, at least not that I can find it and this should havee 30 pin eDP connector.

 

found on amazon. i can sell you it (14days for post).

 

can you specify the panel model for me? need 1080 ips/pls.
my panel:

 

You should ask on the gs60 thread for someone with a fhd pls screen to give you their screen model

 

what country are you from? in US all I could find is direct replacement for Samsung panel, but no one has actual Samsung panel, even if they list Samsung, they ship LG or something else compatible .
BTW your panel has 4 line eDP connector, so either you need screen with such connector (most 1080p panels have 2 line eDP connector) or some type of adapter, but I have not seen one yet.

 

i'm from Ukraine. i bought it here: http://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-LTN156HL01-SUBSTITUTE-REPLACEMENT-LTN156HL01-102/dp/B00U6U9VWW

 

I called them before, they told me it is LG screen, not Samsung (substitute replacement), actually had argument with the lady from that company, how could they advertise Samsung and sell LG, so the screen they send you is probably LG or AU.

 

omg you right. before:

after:

 

found here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...glowing-dragon-replacement-blb-repair.764708/

Spoiler: specs

SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS

The laptop provided came with the following specifications:

15.6" Samsung LTN156HL01 1080p Matte LCD
Intel i7-4710HQ CPU
Nvidia GeForce GTX 970m 6GB GDDR5 GPU
2x8GB DDR3 1600
128GB mSATA SSD
1TB 7200RPM HDD
Killer 1525 802.11AC wireless adapter
Windows 8.1 64-bit

you said:

i need change my 3k display to fullhd. How can i do this?

 

Can someone please verify that this will be compatible with my 2QE-040XFR 1080p? Don't want to end up ordering it and then it having the wrong connection like ljolkjlkjlkjlkj's situation.

https://www.laptopscreen.com/English/model/MSI/GS60 GHOST PRO 3K/

 

Hey. Did you buy that one? I want to change the 4k for the matte 1080. Would that change solve the 48Hz to 60?

 

No I didn't buy it in the end .. I ordered an XMG P505 with a 3k screen and 980m instead

 

Thanks for responding. Nice laptop you got there.
By the way. Do you know if I change the screen 4k for the 1080p, would I get 60Hz with the 1080p?cheers

 

Yes it would. You'll need the 2 lane edp cable though. The 4 lane one on the 4k monitor won't fit.

 

thanks,

will this one do it?
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/pro...-5mm-two-Lanes-30Pin/1681128_32288997169.html

 

It's not that simple. There are so many varieties. It would be best to source it from msi

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

No, they all use eDP, it's the number of lanes on the cable. You need the 2 lane eDP cable for your model.

 

I know this thread hasn't been active for a while, but I was wondering if anyone can provide the model number of the matte 1080p panel that would work on the Ghost Pto 4k 2qe.
Also, once the Dragon badge is removed, is there just a hole that exposes the back of the monitor (or some form of shielding)?

Thanks!

 

not sure on a screen model since the connectors are probably different than the fhd model.

If you remove the shield, there will be a shield shaped hole. I wrote a post a long time ago about removing it.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...glowing-dragon-replacement-blb-repair.764708/

 

I did see a site with a few models, however it only specifies the number of pins on the 1080p display and not the 4k (which I'm assuming is 60 pins or somewhat).

Is the 4k model the same as the 3k? I might as well go for that since that panel doesn't have the refresh rate limitation and apparently has better color accuracy.

 

The 3k panel is really nice. I had it for a year and a half with no regrets. I'm not sure if the connectors are the same though, sorry. It's something you could email Tom ho about at msi and see if there are wires for other screens.

 

Is there a way to do the logo removal without taking apart the screen (from the front) and can you supply more pictures of this?

 

My system is long sold, so no more pictures, sorry. It's possible though. I'd recommended using a heat sock or something, to loosen the glue. Then you can probably pry it out. Just don't use metal or you'll hurt the lid. Plastic phone opening tools will probably do the trick.