Dell 2005fpw Backlight Bleeding FIX

This is a post over on Hardforum, made by saltiness.
Can't believe it hasn't popped up over here yet.

2005fpw backlight bleeding fix:

"I found out about this from this french forum. It involves fixing or at least greatly reducing backlight bleed on the Dell 2005FPW. I decided to give it a shot as soon as my monitor arrived today. Mine had moderate backlight bleed, honestly it doesn't even bother me but I figured I might as well try and fix it...

Here are before and after shots - as you can see the bleeding is reduced a lot, although I think I could get rid of it almost completely if I went back and used more electrical tape but the monitor is kind of a pain in the butt to dismantle. (It most likely will void your warranty as well)

Before


After



Here's how I did it.

First, take the monitor off the stand and remove the 4 black screws on the VESA mount.



Next, here's the icky part - you must pop off the front bezel. It's held on by plastic clips. The easiest way to do this that I could find was to go in through the slits on the bottom of the monitor frame. Use one or two thin flathead screwdrivers. Start by prying into the slit and go inward toward the middle of the monitor to get the first clip undone. Basically once you get one clip undone you can just slide the screwdriver around the edge of the frame and pop off all the others. Take care not to scratch the s**t out the frame as it is pretty weak plastic.




So now you have all the clips undone, flip the monitor over (oh yeah, it's good to lay a towel down so you don't muck up the screen) and pull off the back - it should come off effortlessly.




Remove this little piece of metal covering some plugs. It pops off easily.




Here are the previously mentioned plugs, the french website called them neon connectors, I honestly don't know what the hell they are for but unplug them anyways so you can get the steel panel off.



Another icky part - carefully pull the circuitry off the front bezel. It's glued on but comes off relatively easily - just don't bend it too much. And don't worry - it sticks right back on.



Remove the 4 screws at each corner on the sides of the LCD panel. This will allow you to take off the steel apparatus that holds all the circuit boards.




As you're taking the steel apparatus off, unplug this little guy under it. Squeeze the metal clips on the sides to get it off. It's nice to have a friend or roommate to hold the steel part while you do this but it can be done alone.

The LCD panel reveals its true identity.




Flip the panel over. There's a steel frame around the whole thing held on by plastic and metal clips. Take this off.



Your monitor should now look like this.



Now, for the fixing. Get a roll of electrical tape, cut it in half width-wise. I found this easiest to do by cutting the tape while it was still on the roll with a razor blade, right down the middle. Apply tape to the very edge of the black part of the glass and wrap it around the edge of the frame. I didn't get a chance to experiment here, I just figured it's best to keep it off the black but over the silver. Feel free to mess around here. Apply this tape wherever you had bleeding or just do it all around the egde of the whole thing. Don't worry about getting tape on the plastic flaps on some of the egdes, it won't hurt it.





Ok, you're done fixing. Now put it all back together, remember to plug every thing back in that you unplugged (wide plug under the steel plate, 4 smaller plugs over the steel plate). Stick the circuit board for the front bezel buttons back in place, make sure it's lined up properly. Everything should snap and screw back together easily. Plug it back in and see how much better it is.

Some thoughts on my experience - I only regret not putting tape all the way around the LCD, I still have one spot of bleed on the bottom right. I'll probably end up fixing it later. I managed to undo all the clips without scratching anything, it doesn't look like it was ever opened. Is this all worth it? Who knows. I had fun though."


Who's gonna be the first to try it? I would, but dont have the time this week, someone give it a go!

DAMN! you got balls my friend, you got balls
your already the first
i wouldnt touch my monitor..iv only had it a few weeks plus there's no bleeding lol

but its good to know that there is a "fix" for those who are out of warrenty or those who are feeling adventurous lol

sweet! awesome find. Definetly some great info for 2005 users

I fully agree with d94... you've got more "huevos" than I do. Personally the backlight bleeding on mine doesn't seem too bad, so it's really not worth tearing apart my screen for a minor "fix" that in my case might not do much.

Also are the before and after pics yours or from the site? If they aren't yours I'd be interested to see what your results look like. Hope it worked well for you bro.

This is a good post for people who have problems with the bleeding. I am not brave enough to try this, but then again I am not having any problems with bleeding. I am sure this will help a lot of people. I know it helped you a lot I remember all the problems you were having a while back.

I didn't realize that fixing the backlight bleeding could seem so easy! Are there any negatives other than potential harm when it's apart? You would think that Dell would put some extra padding or something, like where saltiness put the tape, during manufacturing to reduce the bleed; they'll be sure to save themselves from plenty of returns.

It looks like an excellent fix alright.
I havent done it myself yet, those are the pics from the other forum.

And i'm not sure if I will either.
The only thing that would worry me would be getting the front bezel off the front of the LCD without scraping it.

I may try it some day, but not this week, exams n stuff on the way!

Alchemy1 said:

I remember all the problems you were having a while back.

Click to expand...

Yeah, here are the 2 panels i got nearly a year ago, they have been since returned:



Here's my current one, bleeding isn't as bad as it looks:


But i use it in a well lit area and rarely play dark games/DVDs.

that is awsome news, i would be willing to do that to a 2005 if i had bleeding issues.

Well, I took the plunge and just tried it out myself.
Have to say I see very little, if any, difference.

I had no black electrical tape, so I used red instead. Shortly after, I found some blue tape and put that ontop of the red.

Here are the "results":
Before:


After:


I see no difference at all it has to be said.
Can anyone else see anything?

Maybe you need to have black? I'm not exactly sure what the electrical tape is doing.. is it just padding the backlight against the frame? If thats the case maybe yours is just fastened to tightly... Maybe take the backlight off completely and reseat it

I, also would like to know exactly what the tape was aimed to achieve, we should be able to improve on this method for getting rid of blacklight bleed. It seems voodoomelon may have missed an important step that the other guy didn't mention?

I'm not even sure what causes backlight bleeding I'm guessing a backlight thats pressed to tightly against the panel, but I could be off.

Looks like your tape was not thick enough.

Hmmm, i'm sure the thickness of the tape was fine.
At the time, I had the same worries as many of you may have had, is the red tape thick enough?
I held it up to the light in the room and a fair amount of light traveled through the tape. However I held the blue tape up to the light and no light got through. So the red tape coupled with the blue tape almost certainly blocked all light coming through.

Although, having been one of few to actually dismantle a 2005fpw, I'm not so sure as to what the tape is supposed to do. Everyone is saying that it blocks out light, but what light? According to the instructions of the other site, it says that that the tape should be placed over the silver edge of the LCD panel. I see no reason as to why this would block out any light, all that i can see is that the tape covers the silver edge and thats it, whether is blocks magnetic interference or similar, I don't know.

Anyone else see the logic behind this mod?

bump... has this idea gotten anywhere?

Well, I have to say that I see a slight difference since i did it, not a massive differnce by any means, but the bleeding is maybe 25% less.