MSI MS-1681 screen replacement tutorial

Hi everyone! While it is pretty simple to change the MSI MS-1681 laptop screen, people at various shops will charge you (or overcharge, should i say) over 300$, depending on the shop. And it will take about a week to get the job done.

With my friends at https://www.laptopscreen.com , you can do it yourself following their tutorials, or someone's tutorial like this one for example, for under 100$ (about 85$ including shipping and taxes in my case). I've made business with them a couple of times, and i still can't believe how fast they deliver their screens. Everytime, i got it under 3 business days after i made my online purchase using Paypal. The screens always been very well packed so far, so there's no worries there, no accident to date.

What is also cool is that you have a choice between matte or glossy finish, which is awesome because if you work in a very bright room, the glossy one will cause eye fatigue due to reflects, while the matte one won't reflect much of the ambient light. So most of the time, not only you or your customer will be happy that you can change your screen for way cheaper that it would cost you in store, but you also get to change it with a better alternative :)

 I will now guide you through the whole process of changing the screen on your MSI MS-1681 laptop.

#1, make sure that there is no power in the laptop. The power cord needs to be unplugued, else you might face some electric hazards that might hurt you, or ruin your laptop. You also need to remove the battery, then press on the power button for a certain time, until it's completely dead.

#2, gently remove the small rubber pads placed on each corners of the laptop screens so you can use them again when you will be done. Those rubber pads are there to protect the screen when the laptop closed, or if you close it too quickly, so they are quite important. The ones in the middle don't need to be removed since there's no screws behind them. Remove the 4 screws.

#3, you need to be very gentle on this one. Run your fingers around the middle ove the frame to unsnap the bezel. The best place to do so is usually on the interior left or right side of the bezel, as shown in the picture below. Unsnap it and then run run your fingers toward the top, in the space it created. You will hear it unsnap. Then, unsnap the top, then the other side, then the lower side. Once this is done, you will have access to the 10 screws surrounding the screen.

 #4, remove the 2 screws on the far upper corners, like shown in the image below. You need to remove those two before the ones on the side, because it will clear the screen from the cover of the case.

You can see here that the case is in the way of the 1st screw on the side. It does the same on both sides, that's why you need to remove thos on the upper corner first.

#5, remove the 4 screws located on both sides (4 on each side). As you can see in the picture below, the screen will no longer be attached to the case. But be careful, because it is still plugued.

 #6, gently remove the protective foam band from the screen. This protects the screen as well as the plug. Be careful not to ruin it, you will need to apply it to the brand new screen later.

 As you can see below, the original screen isn't always made by the company who fabricates the laptop. In this case, it's a Samsung screen on an MSI laptop ;)

 #7, remove the sticker that i'm holding in my hands in the picture below. It holds the connection in place. Then gently remove the connection from the old screen by pushing it away from the plug. The screen is now free from the plug. You can put it away.

#8, time to plug your new screen! Just put the connection in the plug, and when it's actually plugued, press gently on the sticker to make sure it won't move from there.

#9, put the black foam back (see pictures below step 6 if you don't remember where it's supposed to be)

#10, put the upper and lower screws on each sides. 

#11, at this point, to save you the hassle of having to take it appart all over again in the unlikely case that the new screen would be defective, your best bet would be to put back the battery and start the laptop to make sure everything is fine. As you can see below, evrything was ok, so now it's time to finish the job :)  You can now confidently put the 2 remaining screws in place on bot sides.

                            

#12, put the screws on the upper corners to fix the screen frame to the case. Like you probably noticed, there's 2 holes. You need to put the screws in the ones on the far corner, since the 2 upper screws of the frame will occupy the holes closer to the middle.

#12, resnap the frame in place starting from the bottom, then the sides, then the upper part of it. Make sure there's no gap between the inner frame, and the one on the back of the screen.Put back the screws on all 4 corners, then the 4 rubber pads that covers those screws, and you're all set! You just saved yourself at least 200 bucks :)