]]> http://www.andrewwylie.net/2012/01/22/flatland-at-the-courts/feed/ 0 http://www.andrewwylie.net/2012/01/21/razer-abyssus-led-removal/ http://www.andrewwylie.net/2012/01/21/razer-abyssus-led-removal/#comments Sun, 22 Jan 2012 04:22:53 +0000 Andrew http://www.andrewwylie.net/?p=231 Not too long ago I picked up a Razer Abyssus gaming mouse as I was getting more into gaming throughout the winter months. I choose the mouse as it had hardware controls for the DPI and polling rate, and there weren’t a dozen or so extra buttons to worry about. To me this meant no [...]]]> Not too long ago I picked up a Razer Abyssus gaming mouse as I was getting more into gaming throughout the winter months. I choose the mouse as it had hardware controls for the DPI and polling rate, and there weren’t a dozen or so extra buttons to worry about. To me this meant no need to install any extra drivers to configure the settings, which would allow simple plug and play functionality.

One thing about the mouse which I didn’t like was the blue LED it had. There was no way to disable it. Not in the software, and there was no hardware switch to turn it off either. So like I always do, I decided to take matters into my own hands and make some adjustments to remove the LED. Searching on the internet I found several brief outlines on how to do this, with not much documentation. So I’m going to do a walk-through of the process, with pictures! Oh, and just to let you know this will void your warranty, for which I take no responsibility.

So let’s get started. To open the mouse, there is a single screw located under the large glide pad at the front of the mouse. I used a utility knife to slice/wedge the foot loose, and as shown in the picture some of the glue from the glide pad remained on the mouse in my case. After loosening the screw turn the mouse upright and remove the top case by lifting from the front and then pulling forward. Again, make sure to do this with the mouse upright as the circuit board is kept in place by pressure from the top case. After the mouse is opened be careful not to pull the top case too far away from the bottom half as they are joined by the LED cable. To remove the LED cable from the circuit board, simply pull on the connector while applying pressure on the circuit board to keep it from being unseated. After doing this, the bottom and top half should be completely separated. Now we take the top half and remove the LED circuit board. This again is quite simple as the plastic clips just need to be bent back momentarily to allow the LED board to be removed. At this point in time we have successfully removed the LED from our mouse.

Now when I did this I was unsure if the removal of the LED circuit board would cause some trouble with the functioning of the mouse, since there was now space to allow light to shine in on the internal components. To make sure this was not a problem I separated the two top layers from each other and then applied electrical tape underneath the Razer logo to stop light from getting in. To separate the two top layers apply pressure to the four plastic hooks at the front side of the mouse. Then lift and separate them at the front, and push the top grip section backward off of the top plastic section. At this point I applied electrical tape to the top grip section underneath the Razer logo to stop light from entering the mouse.

Now we should put the mouse back together. First, the top grip section and top plastic section should snap back together. Do this by making sure that the two prongs at the back of the top plastic section are slid into the corresponding slots in the top grip section, and then push the two top sections together at the front. Next, the top and bottom half of the mouse should fit snug against each other after tightening the screw at the front of the mouse. Again, there are two prongs at the back of the top case which secure to the back of the bottom half of the mouse case to keep them together. Slide the prongs into their corresponding slots, and then close the sections together at the front of the mouse and tighten up the screw. Finally, take the glide pad which was removed and place it back on the mouse. Now you should be ready to get back to using your Razer Abyssus, without the hassle of a perpetual blue glow!