MSI GS63VR offers a sleek black display for enhanced stealth.
MSI GS63VR offers a sleek black display for enhanced stealth.
Hello, I’m working on upgrading an MSI GS63VR with the I7-6700 processor and GTX 1060 graphics. It originally came with a 256GB SATA M.2 SSD and a 1TB hard drive. After giving it a thorough clean, I didn’t replace the thermal pads. I swapped out the faulty CPU fan, upgraded the M.2 slot to a Samsung 970 Evo plus a 1TB drive, and replaced the old hard drive with a Crucial MX500 1TB SSD. I also added a new hinge cover on the back since the previous one was missing. Windows 10 was reinstalled via USB. His previous drive had a strange dual-boot setup with both Windows 10 and 11. If you boot into 10, it would restart and then show the selection menu again; choosing 11 would launch normally. I sent him a photo to let him see his laptop running and confirm everything was set up correctly.
A short while later, after a reboot when some drivers were updated, the screen froze. It had to restart again because of an update. Around the 35% mark, thick green horizontal bars appeared near the top, shifting slightly right, with black, white, and blue lines moving vertically. It stayed like this for a while during the mid-update, so I hesitated to restart it, hoping the update would finish without issue. Once I powered it back on, the fan started, the keyboard lit up, but it kept flashing endlessly until I held down the power button.
After turning it off and back on, the fan spun again, the keyboard stayed illuminated, yet it never stabilized. No matter how long I waited, the monitor wouldn’t display anything. I tried connecting an external monitor, but it didn’t receive a signal.
I’m not a specialist with laptops—more of a desktop user—but I’ve refurbished several in the past few years. Recently, I found a damaged HP 10th Gen i7 in a trash bin, completely drained, no power adapter, RAM, storage, and a bent heat pipe. After a week, it came back to life and is now my main machine. That experience gives me confidence, but I’m deeply concerned I might have damaged his laptop. This could cost me a lot, which is tough since I’m juggling part-time work and doing this as a side gig to cover expenses. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I'm confident the owner prefers a dual boot setup. Have you attempted a clean installation of Windows 11? It's also a good idea to test with the internal HDD disconnected. If you need to troubleshoot their current configuration, when the computer starts and displays the Manufacturer Logo splash screen, boot from a USB flash drive using the Windows Installer. Select your language, then repair your system. This will open the Troubleshooting menu, go to Advanced, then Advanced Startup, and enable Low Resolution Mode. Launch the computer normally. If successful, obtain the appropriate Video Adapter driver for your model.
I performed a fresh setup of Windows 10 onto the new Samsung drive. I plan to install using the 2.5 crucial SSD without it connected, just to see if it helps. Right now, the biggest problem is that the monitor appears black and won’t turn on because it crashed during startup.
When you turn on the computer, do you see the MSI Logo splash at startup? Or does everything appear completely dark? If the splash appears but then the screen turns black, Windows might be set to high resolution and the video driver needs updating. If there’s no logo and the screen is all black, it could indicate a motherboard issue.
I experienced the same problem just three minutes ago. It might be related to the CMOS battery. Try turning it off and holding the power button for about 30 to 50 seconds, then wait 5 seconds before turning it back on if it doesn’t resolve the issue—I’m worried about the outcome.
Next, I considered RAM. If you figured it out, congratulations! Great job. Let me know what you think.
I installed the Samsung NVME in another desktop setup I was developing, and everything started working properly. It raises a concern about a potential underlying issue with the MSI laptop that might reappear later. Any advice?