Microsoft Surface Pro 4 - screen bulge fixed, battery replaced, SSD upgraded!

[@michaelcaldwell4890]

Much appreciated. Got my son's surface back up and running with a new 2TB ssd as well as a new "FLAT" battery. Don't think I could have done this without someone like you!

[@JustMakeItNow]

Thanks Michael, I am glad that my video was helpful!

[@emcaco]

Omg you actually show the steps of putting it back together! Instead of saying "Just Do it In Reverse" and leaving people to rewind through the whole video. I appreciate it

[@JustMakeItNow]

I know, right? ;) Not all operations are easily reversible - e.g. if you break a glass, you can't say "and to fix it you just do the same thing in reverse". But some people complain that videos are too long, so you can't please everyone. I know I personally want to see reassembly, so that's why I put it in my videos. You can always skip parts that are not relevant, but you can't put back something that is not there.

[@rrwholloway]

This is exactly what I needed. A proper full teardown and reassembly, including motherboard removal.

[@JustMakeItNow]

Glad it was useful, hope your project went well ;)

[@rrwholloway]

Sort of. Screen is off successfully, but wow that antenna array is designed to be destroyed on removal! £20 for a new assembly and £36 for a new battery and I should have a fully working surface pro 4 once again.

[@JustMakeItNow]

Ha, I know what you mean! Before you splurge on new antenna strips, check if you can simply straighten them up. Unless you straight up cut/tear them on removal, these are just foil strips, if they're just bunched up you can unfold them back.

[@rrwholloway]

@@JustMakeItNow unfortunately it’s toast. The best advice i would give others is get a sharp knife and cut as close to the display assembly as you can. That black glue is sticky and horrible

[@rrwholloway]

@@JustMakeItNow what did you find was the best way to remove all the glue before reapplying new glue?

[@polarbearchp]

Thanks so much. Love the detail and the pictures shots were very good. Thanks again

[@JustMakeItNow]

Happy I could help!

[@pabloresplandesdeoliveira8108]

Incredible!. Thanks for the content, it was of a professional mastery and warned me about the care in the dismantling phase.

[@JustMakeItNow]

Great to hear!

[@mickstickwheeledwarrior]

Thanks for this video just got my first probook after years on older machines and this helped

[@JustMakeItNow]

Great to hear!

[@listendeaf]

OMG! Thank you!!!!!! Fixed my problem!

[@JustMakeItNow]

You're welcome!!

[@kevinyork4757]

AT 14:22 there is a lens and grommet missing from the left light sensor? There are three round holes in the antenna, the lens I am mentioning is on the left. there is no mention of what order to use to put it back together... it just came apart when opening. Can you help me out and tell me the correct way to put it back, now that my Surfaces is in pieces? Again it is not there at 37:38, but it is at 39:43. does that mean the grommet goes on the lens then it is placed in the antenna bracket???

[@JustMakeItNow]

I think you're talking about IR emitter (to the left of the IR camera, which is in the middle). The lens for the emitter goes on top of the antenna bracket, I _think_ it just snaps in (or held with a grommet, though I don't quite remember it). One thing I DO remember, is that these parts did go apart quite easily by themselves, so that's why you see them in one shot and not in another - these were fiddly to deal with while filming.

[@libertadmatos5780]

I appreciate the info. I just need this video to move a lot faster. Thank you. Brilliant!

[@JustMakeItNow]

That's what playback speed option is for ;)

[@tonis2u]

thanks you for this tutorial, can you tell me what type of bit you are using on the screw gun. I have taken apart an iMac and have the screwdriver for those screws, I am wondering if it's the same size.

[@JustMakeItNow]

I don't remember exactly, but I am pretty sure this Surface Pro 4 used T4/T5 bits (Torx). I don't know what was in your iMac, but there is good chance that it may not work. Apple tends to like using pentalobe screws, these bits won't work on Torx.

[@AsusMemopad-us5lk]

It's impossible to do such precise handwork with that fast music going on in the background! Would have preferred the walk-through with no music at all, and with closer real-time video of how the little connectors and adhesives come apart. Recommend using an ice cube tray or egg carton for tracking the screws and other small parts in their sequence of removal. Thanks for the video!

[@JustMakeItNow]

Thanks! You can mute sound and change playback speed in the player controls. The video is already pretty long, and if it would be 1x speed everywhere no one ever would click on it ;)

[@wenshengfan6670]

Thank you for the tutorial. But would you please tell me where you purchased the new battery and how much it cost?

[@JustMakeItNow]

I did buy my replacement battery through the local wholesale mobile repair supplier, so that probably won't be helpful to you. You can easily find these batteries online though, just search for "G3HTA027H" (this is the battery model number). They go for about $40-50 or so. I know for a fact that there are some on eBay, Aliexpress and even Amazon. Probably not OEMs, but I'd say it is still a pretty good deal to restore your Surface Pro 4 back to almost original condition. Hope it helps. Let me know if you have any other questions! ;)

[@wenshengfan6670]

@@JustMakeItNow Thank you for your reply. I found some eBay seller that carries this model number. I also have a Surface Book (model: 1703 / CS4-00001) with a similar issue. The right side of the screen is bulging. I would like to replace the battery too. Do you by any chance know the battery's model number? If not, is there a way to find it out? Thanks.

[@JustMakeItNow]

I don't own this model, but I believe there are several battery models that are compatible with your 1st gen Surface Book: G3HTA044H, DAK822470K, G3HTA020H. If you're disassembling your device anyway, the easiest would be to look at the existing battery number to be sure.

[@wenshengfan6670]

@@JustMakeItNow Thank you very much.

[@BobsWebofWonder]

Great video! Wish I had seen yours first.. Didn't know about isolating the battery. Now it won't power up. Any idea what has blown can I fix it?

[@JustMakeItNow]

Sorry to hear that :( This is not uncommon, unfortunately. First thing, check the battery connector pins, sometimes these get deformed during disassembly/reassembly, and this prevents solid contact. If that's not it, try your old battery (if it worked at all), sometimes aftermarket batteries are faulty from the get go. If none of the above helped, things get progressively more difficult; potential fixes will require hot air station and knowing what you're doing. Couple of common things that go bad during battery replacements are Schottky diodes on the charging circuit, or any number of fuses on the mainboard (some are marked as 0 Ohm resistors). If you're good with microsoldering, check out this page, they have a good summary of potential issues with SP4 power: www.aonemobiles.com.au/2020/03/microsoft-surface-pro-4-no-power-no-schematics-no-problem/. Good luck!

[@pastorlugo121]

Outstanding video. Thanks.

[@JustMakeItNow]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@JO-xq3kl]

I replaced ed two batteries on two surface pro 4 laptops and they all say battery not detected. they both switch on with ac power but when not plugged in they do not turn on.

[@JustMakeItNow]

This happens, unfortunately, especially with aftermarket batteries. First thing I'd check if the battery cable is seated properly. If no issues there (likely, as you can run on AC), then you can try to do hard reset, which goes something like this: . - Power off - Hold Volume Up and the Power button for 15 seconds. The Surface logo screen may flash, but continue to hold for 15 seconds. - Release the buttons - Wait 10 seconds - Power on the Surface . Also, while on AC, check if battery device shows up under Device Manager in Windows.

[@mohamadabuel-ezz3822]

Thanks very much. Very useful and educational video.

[@mohamadabuel-ezz3822]

Where can I find spare screws for Surface Pro 4

[@JustMakeItNow]

You are welcome!

[@JustMakeItNow]

IIRC all the inside screws are T3 and T4 drive, these might be difficult to find for cheap if you're only missing a few. I'd probably just get one of these laptop/watch/glasses repair kits which have an assortment of small screws. Those would likely be Philips heads rather than Torx, but for that kind of repair that won't matter.

[@mohamadabuel-ezz3822]

@@JustMakeItNow thanks for your reply. I''ll try to find it.

[@TubeROfUS]

Awesome video! Leaving a like and sub, keep it up man. How thick can the double sided tape be? 3mm too much?

[@JustMakeItNow]

Thanks for the sub! I actually used exactly 3mm wide tape in this video ;)

[@JustMakeItNow]

Just to be clear, 3mm is width, not thickness.

[@TubeROfUS]

I got some that is 1mm thick. The old one does not stick much anymore. Thinking about removing the old tape to make room for new stickier tape. What's your opinion?

[@JustMakeItNow]

Yeah, if the old adhesive is not sticking anymore, or is mangled up, it is better to remove and replace it. At the same time, you probably don't want to use super strong stuff in case you need to open it up again some time later.

[@TubeROfUS]

Trying to put it all back together. Good news is it's booting. However, it appears that the screen assembly may have been damaged during removal. I get flickering and lines all over the place. Those ribbon cables only attach one way or is it possible to clip them on out of position? Maybe that's what I did.

[@eedimil]

Hi i have surface pro 4 that is not working and i was planning on removing the battery and put it in another surface pro 4 that has a bloated battery.. Will it work?.. Thanks

[@JustMakeItNow]

Well, it depends ;) First of all, are you sure that battery is good in the not-working Surface? It does not need to be bloated or visibly damaged to get bad. More importantly, you'd have to be _really_ careful in removing the one that you intend to transplant - you'd want a lot of isopropyl and probably some heat. The thing is, most of the time when you remove the battery it is quite warped as you pull on the adhesive with quite a bit of force, and the batteries are very thin and pliable. I am sure it is possible, but it might be more work than you think. You can try this first, and then go for a replacement battery is it doesn't work. These batteries are not super expensive.

[@scottd9448]

Mine has only a slight bulge (maybe 2mm in the centre), but it is causing colour issues on the edges of the screen. I'm awaiting delivery of a heating pad & pry-tools. Do you think the screen will go back to normal after replacing the battery? Thanks for the great video!

[@JustMakeItNow]

Yeah, I forgot to mention that before complete screen delamination, swollen battery pushed up into LCD and this (as well as heat) caused visible discoloration on the screen. In my case, these were large yellowish areas - very visible on light backgrounds. After battery replacement these were completely gone, though it is not a guarantee. Be careful with the heat though, it is easy to permadamage LCD. Just because heating pad is supposed to be temperature controlled does not mean it is necessarily very good at it, especially if not calibrated.

[@scottd9448]

@@JustMakeItNow I already have an IR laser thermometer to check. Thanks for the tip!

[@JustMakeItNow]

Just keep in mind that pads may also have uneven heating due to the way heating element is embedded. Keep the temp settings a bit more conservative to be on the safe side, and you may still supplement it with more targeted heat from a heatgun. You should be good as with a swollen battery it is much easier to lift up the screen (which is the hardest part of the process).

[@sirJayGee]

Hi. I've done everything exactly as shown but when I try to power it up I get nothing. Even if it is plugged in. Did I fry my motherboard? Blow a fuse? How can I tell? Is it now a paper weight? Thanks.

[@JustMakeItNow]

It's possible :( One thing to make sure is that you properly connected the battery, and that the battery is in working order. Without battery connection the device won't work even if plugged in (AFAIR). You may try to connect your old battery if it was working, even if it wasn't working well. If that's not the issue, there is a good chance that you did blow either fuses or some diodes on the motherboard. This is not something that can be easily diagnosed or repaired. If you know what you're doing you can try to check for continuity on fuses (R000) or diodes, but the chances are not high. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to blow something on the motherboard if you're not super careful with connecting battery terminals - if these are slightly misaligned, bad things happen :( . Good luck!

[@sirJayGee]

@@JustMakeItNow thanks for the reply. I think I'll bring it to a professional tomorrow.

[@JustMakeItNow]

Nothing's wrong with that, hopefully you'll get it fixed. Would be great if you could post a comment as to what the issue was, in case it would be identified.

[@jerryc8135]

Good morning, where are you located? Do you do repairs if I send my surface pro to you? Thank you

[@JustMakeItNow]

Thanks for asking, but at this time I prefer not to accept mail-in repairs for liability reasons. I would recommend finding a local repair shop, so you have better options in case something goes wrong with the repair. Cheers!

[@danielb3500]

I need this fix for my surface pro 4 so bad. It just sits in a drawer now. Can you recommend someone/somewhere that can do this exact fix for me?

[@JustMakeItNow]

You're probably better off finding a local mobile repair shop, they should be able to do such job. If you go local, at least you will have someone to complain to if things don't go according to plan ;)

[@danielb3500]

@@JustMakeItNow thanks for the reply! You're a talented dude for sure. I'll check out my local options

[@ShawnKirk007]

What do you have the temperature set to on your heat station?

[@JustMakeItNow]

I had it on the lowest setting - 100C, though the source temperature is not that important. The important part is how hot your screen surface gets, that's why I was constantly checking it with my hand. You can go higher temps, this means you have to reduce heat application time. IIRC screen panels get permanent damage at about 80-100C, depending on screen technology (LCD, OLED).

[@ShawnKirk007]

@@JustMakeItNow Thanks. The kit comes in tomorrow along with a larger M.2 drive. So I'm fixing and upgrading all at once.

[@JustMakeItNow]

No worries. Just don't rush and it's going to be alright ;) Good luck!

[@CEMBerthoud]

Mine powers up but the screen is blank

[@JustMakeItNow]

Try to connect external screen, or access via Remote Desktop. It is possible that the screen is dead, but the rest is functional.

[@CEMBerthoud]

@@JustMakeItNow I tried that, and it works with an external monitor, the touch function works and the tablet works fine wit the external monitor. the tablet display lights up when powering on but is blank. It's not cracked. I check the display drivers all look good so I'm not sure what to do now.

[@JustMakeItNow]

Well, most of the tablet works, so that's a good sign ;) In your case it is most likely one of two things: either internal display cable is not seated properly in its socket, or the panel itself is dead. Just because it is not visibly cracked and digitizer works doesn't mean LCD panel is functional. I'd open up the case, try to reseat display cables and see if that helps. If not, replace the panel as the hard part (opening up) is already done.

[@championmenace]

How long does a fix like this last, if it's successful?

[@JustMakeItNow]

For as long as the new battery is going to function. This depends on battery, usage patterns etc. Can easily be several years if everything goes according to plan, which will probably exceed usable life of the device anyway. If not, replacing it the second time is a much easier procedure (unless you hardglued screen back in :) )

[@XxSBeeZyxX]

What kind of double sided tape is that? Do you have a specific recommendation?

[@JustMakeItNow]

Double-sided acrylic tape, the exact specs are not super critical as long as it fits dimension-wise, so 1-2mm wide with thin carriers. Usually this would be something from either 3M or Tesa, you can see in this video I used 3M 9448A tape, but Tesa tapes (something like 75620) would work just as well.

[@XxSBeeZyxX]

@@JustMakeItNow thanks dude

[@DaveS75]

What temperture setting did you use for the gun?

[@JustMakeItNow]

Pretty sure the lowest I could set my hot air station to, so that would be 100C=212F. You can get away with higher temperatures, it is all about how long you're staying over the same spot, and how much you're heating up the screen panel itself. Damaging screen due to overheating is the danger, other components wouldn't be damaged by these temperatures.

[@maythesciencebewithyou]

How high is the risk of the battery burning or exploding?

[@osamabeenllama3021]

where did you get the battery from

[@JustMakeItNow]

I got it from a local mobile repair supplier, but you can get these batteries from eBay, Amazon, Aliexpress and elsewhere. This is a relatively easy-to-find item, look for part number G3HTA027H or DYNR01.

[@AJTHIND]

read every comment , good job. I have this problem with i7 version I'm typing this on. Stupid Question: did you clone the surface before onto the new samsung SSD? Or did the msbios do a stock install? Also same issue with same gen Surface i7 Book Pro

[@JustMakeItNow]

Not a stupid question at all, I probably should have mentioned it. Yes, I did clone the drive. Don't remember the details, but I usually just boot up into live Linux from USB and dump existing drive onto network location. Then after swapping the drive I boot into live Linux again and restore the dump, and then re-adjust partition sizes if the new drive has more space than the old one.

[@jeffreymurillo3131]

Do you have a business of repairing these?

[@JustMakeItNow]

This is more of a hobby ;) Though I do sell some repaired stuff from time to time.

[@danielb3500]

@justmakeit I'd send you mine and pay you to fix this issue on my sp4

[@nynshawty5608]

Ive repaired dozens of surface pro's there is no need for heat guns. i can take the screen off in 5 min. All you need is a old ID card. Start at the top and swipe all the way around the screen. Ive repaired every surface model without breaking the screen ever

[@JustMakeItNow]

You must have some military-grade ID cards ;) I can see how you can cut adhesive cold once there is an opening (which is, in all fairness, the case in this video). This would be harder than heated, but would be doable, certainly if the device was opened before. But if the original adhesive is intact all around (e.g. no delamination yet), how do you start your cut without heat? The whole idea is to soften the adhesive so a part of the screen can be pulled with a suction cup and then you can insert your cutting tool. Without heat, how do you first insert the card in?

[@rrwholloway]

So do a video showing your incredible technique…?

[@daveys]

Not a truth challenge by me, but please could you post a video of how to do this if you’re ever doing one again? I’d like to open my SP4 up and I’m definitely reluctant to break it. Mine has the video wobbling fault.

[@registriert2012]

why on earth the terrible loud music???????

[@JustMakeItNow]

Can't please everybody... ;)

[@AJTHIND]

@@JustMakeItNow he was here for the music only

[@BrianBaccus]

Great information but you just take so long to get to the point I need to fix this not read a novel

[@JustMakeItNow]

Just like longer videos get comments that they need to be shorter and to a point, shorter DIY videos are full of comments that too much is skipped/fast forwarded, and viewers can't see exactly what is going on and follow the steps. Considering that you can't see what is not there, my approach is to do more detailed videos, and put in chapters for navigation. This way, if you want to zero in on something, you can, and you can skip/fast forward parts you are not interested in. And the viewers who like to see more details can do so as well. And believe it or not, some of us watch these videos for entertainment/education purposes, not because we need to fix something right away ;)

[@phildelfosse8085]

Well it is good to actually see the disasemly at Real speed these connectors are tricky to remove. THANKS !

[@AJTHIND]

have you heard of the FF feature? It's been around since before you were born. Very rude.