I wasn't planning on making a video about this.
But then I realized that this is a good opportunity
to show what I've discovered.
So we're gonna have to kind of do it in reverse.
Let's get Undone.
[offbeat music]
♪ Gerald Undone ♪
♪ He's crazy ♪
What's up Donk Squad?
I'm Gerald Undone,
and today I have torn my monitor apart.
What I've got here is a BenQ 24 inch LED display.
For a while now on my screen, I've had this kind of like,
one brighter spot.
It seems like when you look at the panel,
like it's coming from further in the back of the panel.
And it just seems like a little white glow behind,
not like there's like a dead pixel up front.
I read some things that said
"oh maybe there's pressure on the back" or whatever.
So I took the monitor apart initially before.
And I used a suction cup,
and pulled on the front of the screen,
pulled on the back of the screen,
and I did the rubbing technique, the tapping--
and it never went away.
But sometimes when you pull on the back of the screen,
it kind of got lighter.
So that's what made me think
it's definitely further to the back.
Then I was watching some videos of how some people...
fixed their, you know, big LCD panels
and they had to take them all apart,
and they pull these big screens out
and wash them and everything.
But they were able to locate what the problem was.
So I took this monitor all apart,
and I think I figured out what the problem is.
Because it's in about the right location.
Here, have a look.
So what we have here,
this is the very, very, very back panel
of the LED monitor.
And then above here are two separate sheets.
You can see I lift one up,
they're kind of like,
they look like a diffusion kind of screen,
that I don't know if it like, softens a light,
or what its purpose is, or it evens the light out.
But there's a couple of those sheets
and the very bottom is this.
And this is the actual, the panel part.
And on this bottom part-- so for me,
it would be all the way in the back like I said,
I found a mark.
Now, I'm gonna have to adjust the exposure.
The easiest way for me to see it was
when I was using sunglasses.
That's why I have multiple pairs of glasses
on my head right now, because it's highly reflective.
Now I'm gonna try and find it again.
Okay. There, do you see that little like,
fleck of hair, or whatever it looks like?
A tiny little scratch, just below the blue pick shape?
Right there.
Do you see it?
I believe that's what was causing all of the problem.
Now, I don't know yet because I haven't one:
even seen if I can get it off and two:
if once I do get it off, if it fixes everything, or three:
if I can even put this damn thing back together
the way that I took it apart.
so that's gonna be what the video is.
like I said, in reverse.
So I've got a really gentle,
really soft lens cleaning cloth here.
And if I need it just a little bit of like,
lens solution there's not much to this at all,
so it shouldn't cause any issues.
But I'm just gonna see if I can just gently wipe it away.
So when I touch it a little bit with my fingernail,
I can feel it like, it's a little bit--
almost like you're scratching at a little piece of tape.
Now hopefully that doesn't mean that it's a scratch,
because if so there's not much I can do about that.
I hope instead that it's like just a bit
of gunk built onto it.
So unfortunately so far it does not seem to be coming off.
I watched another video where they suggested you
use a little toothpaste, maybe because of the abrasive
qualities of toothpaste to fix it.
So at this point I don't think I've got anything to lose.
It seems like there's a scratch in the bottom panel
which would indicate that this was damaged during manufacture,
and I should have RMA'd it.
But I've had this monitor for over a year now,
so I don't think returning it is in the cards for me.
I'm not really sure what the warranty is from BenQ.
But I'm gonna give the old toothpaste thing a try
and we'll see.
Okay, so I'm gonna switch back to the lens cleaning solution
because now there's some weird toothpaste residue on it.
I don't see it.
Holy crap, this might have worked.
Okay, so I can still kind of see it a little bit,
but what it seems that the toothpaste did is maybe
like flat-- like almost like a sanding.
It kind of like smooth it out and evened it.
And now it's much less kind of shadowy.
When I was shining the flashlight at a certain angle,
I wish I could show you this but there's just no way
to film it effectively, because it's weird angles
of light and stuff like that.
And you almost need sunglasses to be able to see it.
But basically, the way that the flashlight
was coming in it was hitting the scratch
and then the scratch was putting a shadow
on the paper layer below.
But now, after the toothpaste operation--
which just to explain, all I did was grab
a cotton bud Q-Tip thing, and I put just a little bit
like less than a-- like half a pea-size
or whatever of toothpaste on.
I just worked in little circles...
over the area.
And uh, now there's not near as much of a shadow
being cast by it, and it's--
you can't feel it to the touch.
So hopefully, you know,
even if it's still a problem,
it's significantly less of a problem.
So, I'm gonna do one last little coat
of the toothpaste stuff.
I'm gonna switch angles with the camera now.
And uh, I'm gonna reassemble the monitor.
And in reassembling it, I will tell you the steps
I did in order to get it apart to this state, here we go.
Okay, so I have a little bit more toothpaste here
and I'm just gonna try to work the spot one more time.
Gotta find it again first.
This is a good sign,
that I'm having difficulty of locating it.
Okay I see it.
Let's put a little toothpaste on it to mark it.
And then, I'll just work it in.
Just little circles.
I mean it's not like I've perfected this.
I don't know, I'm doing circles.
-[chuckling] -Do whatever you want!
Probably should be taking your monitor apart
in the first place but...
So I'm putting a little bit of,
a little bit of pressure on it.
Hoping that maybe the toothpaste will
sand it down a little bit further
or whatever it's doing.
Fill in the grooves a little bit better.
Because I think if I remember correctly,
toothpaste has like little shards of something
like a silicate or plastic or glass or something
Probably-- probably not glass.
That uh, is what cleans and whitens your teeth.
That's-- that's what polishes them.
So I guess that's what we're trying to do here is polish.
Polish this uh,
the monitor's teeth!
So let's grab any of the residual...
...toothpaste...
with a couple...
...cotton swabs here.
And then I'll hit it one more time with lens cleaner.
And then just...
...use my rag...
...to polish that up.
All right, I can barely see that at all now.
I am noticing though that now
there's a little bit of dust on the panel.
so I think...
...an important step would be to remove
all of the... anything on the screen.
Any dust, any uh...
...fibers...
just give it a couple once-overs,
because I think anything that's on the panel
at this point is going to show up...
...on the screen.
[Bob Ross]: Shake them off...
[paintbrush thudding on metal]
[chuckling]
...and just beat the devil out of 'em.
[Gerald]: I don't see anything else on the panel,
so I'm gonna put down the first one of...
there's two of these...
...plasticky sheet things.
I'll just give this one,
I'll give each of these a gentle little wipe...
...as well.
Just to make sure that we aren't adding any...
...new contaminants down onto the underside.
So, all I did when I removed these is,
I just- I didn't remove this black clip from here,
because I didn't want to take the whole thing apart.
I only lifted the side that doesn't have
the cables and wires on it.
This would be I guess, the top side up here.
This is the top side of the monitor.
This is the bottom side,
and the bottom side has the controls and everything.
So this is still actually connected here,
I just kind of like unfolded it.
There's little pins in the corners that, uh,
that the thing has little holes for,
to let you know when it's sitting in the right spot.
And I think that that's right.
It overlaps the uh, the other screen really well.
So we'll wipe this one off.
This part's pretty intuitive.
Just keep track of the direction
that you take the things off in, basically.
This one's a lot thicker
and shinier...
than the middle layer.
Well, there's two layers here actually.
[plastic rustling]
So I didn't notice this the first time...
...but there's actually,
there's two layers.
This one is now just like the other one.
[plastic rustling]
So I'll put it in the same...
[plastic whooshing]
...and clip it down on those little pins.
Every screen might be a little bit different,
but this is...
All right, so now that that's back in there
I am noticing just a little fleck of something.
There.
Came right off. Good.
Okay, so hopefully... that's that.
Now, the way that I got to this stage;
this black clip that goes around it.
So there's just a simple little retaining clip
that runs along around it.
You just push that back down.
[clips snapping]
Just snaps into place.
To get all of these parts off, I would recommend using
a plastic clip separator thing like this.
This is basically just a really thick guitar pick.
Or you can use one like this.
It just has like a flat head on it that you can use
to get in there and pry the things open.
This will stop you from chewing everything up with metal.
You don't wanna use a metal screwdriver
'cause you'll tear it apart.
Okay, so now we put the...
screen part back down on it...
...and....
[snapping]
I'm gonna give this part a wipe off too.
All right, it looks clean to me...
so...
[pins clicking]
Bring that back down...
onto here.
And this part is the part that you see
when you look at the screen.
And then this is a metal frame that comes around
pretty much all the different models of screens
they always have some kind of metal casing on them.
This is like the bezel for the display basically.
Just kind of gonna... clip it in the same way
that you would anything else.
Pull it a little bit to the side,
and get the...
...clips to latch on.
Make sure it's all clipped in.
Now this here is that insulation tape stuff
I was talking about that I said I didn't want to remove,
'cause it just seemed like a big chore.
So I left the stuff on, which is why I was able to open it
kind of like a book, but not pull it completely apart.
This is the bottom.
I'm gonna...
turn that around, orienting myself.
There's a couple little attachments here.
Uh, so now we need the bezel.
This is the front bezel... of the screen.
The panel sits in here.
[plastic thudding]
From my experience you want to remove the back
and leave it front down.
You don't want to remove the front
because you can't get at anything, so...
We're gonna clip everything down into the front bezel.
Okay, now this part is the part that has
all the connections and it's the power,
and that kind of stuff.
So it just sat here,
and there's a little recess for it at the bottom
you let you know where to put
the part for the stand, for the base.
I think before this plate piece was sat down
this piece was kind of...
[tape crackling]
...glued down like this.
And then this piece was set in overtop.
And then this little doohickey we just plugged into the side.
Be gentle when you plug in and unplug those things.
And then there was this...
...ribbon cable, which was--
there's a pretty easy, straightforward
connection thing for it right here.
Just try to be gentle...
like I said each monitor might have a different--
different layout, but you got to just memorize...
...the connections that you've plugged in and unplugged,
and be gentle with everything.
And then this piece was plugged in over here.
This is a simp-- this is a cable you see
in a lot of situations, laptops, whatever.
Clip that in,
and then this piece of tape just kind of,
I dunno, stuck those things down.
All right, so from the best of my memory,
it was something like this.
-Hopefully. -[laughing wheeze]
And then...
you've got the back...
...which just clips in.
And this is the part-- This is probably the most
time-consuming part, was getting this apart.
Which was...
separating all the little--
So I'm just pushing it down now,
and it's clipping back in.
But, when you go to take it apart...
...as I'm sure you've seen with other things,
there's a little groove along the top here,
and that's where you want to use your pick
and you know, get in there and pop it.
Or use that stick thing I was talking about,
and just get in there and gently pry it.
But you got to go all the way around...
[clips snapping]
in order to separate it.
All right, so once it looks
pretty well together--
there was only three screws on this guy.
One of them you put in down here first,
and then the base was a simple slide lock one.
We slide that in.
[plastic rustling and thudding]
Locks in place.
And then two more screws.
And that's all back together.
So I'm really hoping here, that uh-- [chuckles]
That not only did we fix the problem,
but that the monitor still works
and isn't worse than it was before.
I don't like messing around with screens
and panels like that, because in my experience,
sometimes you do more harm than good.
I did my best to keep them in pristine condition
and improve upon them but who's to say for sure?
So, I'm just gonna hook this back up now.
[metallic clicking]
I'm about to turn it back on.
I'll know right away whether the problem is fixed.
Fingers crossed, I didn't screw everything up.
Here we go.
-[clicking] -Whoo!
Did you see for a second there how half of the screen
was like, gray or whatever, I was like--
[metallic squelching and ominous whooshing]
"Oh my god, I blew the panel!"
But seems to be working. Okay, let's check for the spot.
Now, I showed you a photo at the beginning.
That's the only sort of evidence I have of the spot.
But whenever the there was a white screen up
it was really, really pronounced.
So if I open up Google...
I think we got it!
It was right here, if you remember in the photo.
It was like right around there,
and it was just brighter than everything else.
I don't see anything wrong with it
or any imperfections at all.
This would be a great success.
Nice!
[relaxed techno music]
♪