STEP BY STEP GUIDE FOR REPLACING ACER TM8200 LCD

LEGAL DESCLAIMER:

(short version)
I will not take ANY responsibility for ANY: damage, loss, malfunction, disappointments, misguided expectations, bodily or mental injury or death, etc.,etc.,etc.... when following this guide (see any good layer for a long version). You are probably voiding your warranty by doing this. If you have nothing to loose, all the power to you. Otherwise, DON'T BALME ME FOR YOUR PROBLEMS.
This is DO IT ON YOUR OWN RISK kind of a guide.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED !!!!

Well, if you decided to do this, here are the steps and some pics to help you along the way.

[TOOLS]
Philips screwdriver - in a good condition, not anything you have excavated from the depths of you basement, that has not seen the light of day since the last time you had to pry open that can of latex paint.

small precision flat screwdriver (like the ones for eyeglasses), or exacto knife

patience, steady hands, and a lot of nerve when taking apart a $2,500.00 laptop - possibly in a very near future - an expensive paperweight.

[STEP1]
I probably shouldn't say that, but... disconnect power AND battery:



[STEP2]
Remove the small rubber protectors (indicated by red arrows) using the precision flat screwdriver, or exacto knife (please don't use kitchen knifes, forks or any other utensils). Just pry it lightly on one side, don't force the tip of the screwdriver too deep, as it will remove the glue layer off the rubber protector, and we do want to put them back. Notice that the 2 bottom protectors are slanted. This is so they can follow the curvature of the plastic. Pay attention to how they should go back in place in order not to protrude from the plastic. Once all 6 protectors have been removed, unscrew the screws with the Philips screwdriver.



[STEP3]
Now we need to remove the plastic bezel around the existing LCD. Start pulling (NOT with all your might!) lightly at the bezel (direction: toward you - kind of like a lid on a can) LCD along the inside of the screen (see green arrows - were you should start). Pay attention to the screen latch (red arrow) as it will interfere with the bezel removal. You will need to slide the latch into open position in order to continue bezel removal. Don't rush this!!! or you will break the bezel. ALSO SEE STEP 4 BEFORE DOING IT.



[STEP4]
After we pry the bezel off, we need to be careful, because there is a cable for the microphone (see green arrow) that's attached to the back of the bezel and going thru the right hinge (see the red arrow). So just tip the bezel over and lay it flat on top of the keyboard.

DO NOT TRY TO SEPARATE THE TOP LID FROM THE BACK OF THE LCD AT THIS POINT - DAMAGE WILL OCCUR IF YOU DO!!!

The blue arrow indicates the screen connector to the inverter. (we will disconnect this in step 6)



[STEP5]
Lay the new screen on top of the keyboard and compare the size and mount points of the new screen with the old one. This is important, as the new screen becomes part of the structural integrity of the whole screen/lid assembly. (see color of the arrows). If these don't match: ABORT!ABORT!ABORT!



[STEP6]
Disconnect the web cam cable located by the left hinge. Also disconnect the inverter connection (see step 4 picture - blue arrow)



[A WORD ABOUT SCREWS]
Before we proceed further. There are 3 types of screws used here, and we have to pay attention which ones came out of where. Take a look at the picture. The screw on the left represents the first 6 screws that hold the bezel in place. The middle screw represents the 4 screws holding the top of the lid to the hinges (we are going to remove them in step 7). The right screw represents the 4 screws holding the screen to the side rails (we are going to remove these in step 11). Pay special attention not to mix the left and middle screws.



[STEP7]
Now we can unscrew the screws that hold the top lid to the hinges. First let's unscrew the top screws on both sides of the LCD (indicated by green arrow) then the bottom screws (indicated by the red arrow). It would help if you lay the screen all the way back and support it underneath the lid, so it doesn't separate by itself when you remove the screws, as it might rip some cables off.



[STEP8]
The keyword in the next few steps is GENTLEY AND SLOWLY!!!

Now you can pray the lid off the back of the LCD, by GENTLY tilting the LCD (as if you would be closing the laptop) Continue to support the lid with something, so it doesn't just dangle there. (I used a bubble wrap)



[STEP9]
GENTLEY remove the tape that secures the video signal connector to the back of the panel (see the red arrow). You don't have to remove the whole tape, in fact I would probably not recommend it. It sticks pretty well and you might damaged something by ripping it fully off. Partial removal will work just fine here. Uncover enough to be able to pull the connector out.




[STEP10]
GENTLEY move the video signal cable away from the LCD. Also pay attention to the cable on the bottom (see the red arrow) It is also taped to the back of the LCD screen. This one you will have to remove fully (again GENTLY!!!) This is the cable that supplies power to the inverter and web cam.



[STEP11]
Now we can unscrew the 4 screws that hold the screen to the rails (2 on each side)




LOOK MA! No screen! ... OH, $#!+ what have I done!!!



[STEP12]
OK, don't panic. Let's take the new screen, attach it back to the rails (pay attention to the orientation of the screen - top,down; front,back; you wouldn't want to cover the front of your new screen with a nice fiberglass lid, now would you). Once the screen is secured to the rails, reattach the video signal cable (see the red arrow) and tape back the power cable on the bottom of the LCD. (see the green arrows). You might want to secure the video signal cable plug with some additional tape. I don't think duct tape would be a good idea here, I used a common blue masking tape, as it can be pealed off if necessary without undo damage.



[STEP13]
Reattach power connection from inverter and web cam cable.




[STEP14]
Reattach the top lid, screw back the 4 screws on the hinges that were removed in step 7. And if your screen came with a protector, now is the time to remove it. Now, just make sure that in fact there is a protector on top of the screen before you attempt to remove it. Not all the replacement screens will ship with the protector in place, so don't assume that there is one. (If you have to dig in with your 24" hunting knife into the screen, chances are the protector ain't there !)



[STEP15]
Put the bezel back in place and fire it up to see if it works (cross yourself 3 times and spit behind your left shoulder, sacrificial chicken might not be a bad idea at this point). If everything works fine replace the 6 bezel screws and the rubber protectors. Again, pay attention to the orientation of the bottom two.



[FINISH]

Hope this helps. Enjoy.

man thanks a lot for the step by step, looks crazy technical but I'm sure just takes a lot of patience.

If I do this and it makes me bald, though, it's all on you!!!

;-)

Update: Forgot to say: amazing job! That's the best guide I've seen for something like this in some time.

Phew! You don't need to go skydiving to get an adrenaline rush, transplanting LCDs does the job!

It seems that most LCDs share very similar mounting points so I was able to take the WUXGA screen out of my D800 and swap it with the 8204's WSXGA and it's fantastic now! No lines, better viewing angles, better colours... The lot!

Thanks for all the effort you put into the guide, getting the screen out of the Acer was much tricker than getting it out of the Dell!

Now I'm off to watch some 1080 HD videos at native resolution

you = awesome.

fantastic tutorial

Here's the request to others that have done the same thing.

Please post your replacement screen model numbers so others can easily find, buy and replace their 8200 screens if they so choose.

Mine was fairly expensive, others might be cheeper. Also other screens might be found on eBay

The screen from my Dell was a Toshiba U0674 (it's WUXGA):
http://www.screentekinc.com/Dell-U0674.html

It fitted perfectly and although isn't the brightest screen about it has very good viewing angles and none of the lines the Samsung screen had. There's also very little rippling even when the screen is twisted quite significantly.

All in all, I think I've solved all the problems with my Acer so thanks again for making sure the screen change was feasible!

I make screen replacement without step 6 & 7.
Step 5->11->8->9...

Fantastic post!! you rock!!!!!

If when my 8204 comes back from Acer and they havnt fixed the grey lines I'll attempt to put the 15.4" WUXGA (1920x1200) from my Inspiron 8500 in it.

ditto! Thanks for this; I'm not too unhappy with the screen since the BIOS update brightened it up but this will be a great reference for the future, just in case...

Oh, my, I'd say: if Acer knew about it, it would DEFINITELY void the warranty. Certainly, if you send it in for service with the alternative LCD in place, they would question things a bit.

I suppose a more specific question would be: does replacing the LCD require removing anything that would indicate to Acer that the warranty has been voided (e.g., any warranty tape is cut)?

If you are carefull when removing screws (not to scuff them) there should be no tell tell signs that you did this. You can put back the original screen and nobody should be the wiser. (except you ofcourse ) But I personaly think that if yo decide to do this, bite the bullet and accept the responsibilty that IT IS GOING TO VOID your warranty, so if something goes wrong you are on your own.

This is Acer we're talking about, you think they'll notice

The Doctor:

Could you please post pictures of the WUXGA screen. I'm sure folks here would like to see how the machine looks with the high res screen. I know I would

also side by side shot comparison? thanks