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Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

X200/X201/X220 (including equivalent tablet models) and X300/X301 Series
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nitrocaster
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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#301 Post by nitrocaster » Wed Mar 22, 2017 7:30 am

frstua wrote:Found this on Taobao:
http://taobao.ua/p/0U3FO9aCKdQba

But didn't found any info about this on youtube or somewhere else (except chinesse forum).

What do you think?
IIRC, I mentioned that somewhere. Back in the beginning of 2016 I planned to buy one of those kits, but the seller refused to sell me the kit itself (aside from that he wasn't particularly responsive at all) so I started my own project. Eventually I got a pre-owned Chinese kit and found that for some reason it doesn't work with my AUO display. It also had a pretty cheap and unreliable design which I couldn't trust without gluing the adapter board to the motherboard with epoxy, which I didn't really want to do.
Want to buy X220/X230 FHD mod kit? Read this before sending me a PM!
T60 | X230 i7-3520M FHD Win10

nitrocaster
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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#302 Post by nitrocaster » Wed Mar 22, 2017 7:33 am

boutch55555 wrote:I noticed some weird behaviour using the battery slab. No picture in bios when plugged on boot, lose image in Windows when inserted. It does work in Debian though, both from boot & inserted. Tried changing the default display in bios, same result. Is the fix just covering all the DOCKB_* pins (every odd pin 69-105) ?
What do you mean by a 'battery slab'? A slice battery?
Want to buy X220/X230 FHD mod kit? Read this before sending me a PM!
T60 | X230 i7-3520M FHD Win10

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#303 Post by boutch55555 » Wed Mar 22, 2017 7:34 am

Yeah, the 19+ slice.

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#304 Post by nitrocaster » Wed Mar 22, 2017 8:40 am

Check if it has DP#2 pins. If so, they have to be taped.
Want to buy X220/X230 FHD mod kit? Read this before sending me a PM!
T60 | X230 i7-3520M FHD Win10

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#305 Post by sdellysse » Wed Mar 22, 2017 1:31 pm

I'd like to be in on the 3rd batch as well. Just got my X220 and it's a great machine for my uses but 1366x768 is killing me after being used to a 1920x1200 display the last few years.

EDIT: Or if anyone wants to give up their spot in line I'll gladly take it :mrgreen:

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#306 Post by phage » Thu Mar 23, 2017 11:04 am

Just a curiosity, what is the general time window for development for the tablet versions?
Would we be able to help in some way, possibly to chip in for a motherboard for you, @nitrocaster? Certainly no rush.

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#307 Post by inq » Fri Mar 24, 2017 6:26 am

nitrocaster wrote:
TankPad wrote:I could be wrong, but i think the whole point is that the new FHD screen IS your docked output, so you lose the ability to dock by using the kit. I'm open to correction on that, but that's the understanding i got. :)
Wrong. You can always dock with single DP station and you can also dock with double DP station after you tape certain pins inside the docking connector. The manual has to be updated on that, as inq mentioned.
How can this be done? Which pins do I have to tape? What does tape mean?

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#308 Post by nitrocaster » Fri Mar 24, 2017 6:34 am

inq: ATM I don't have good pictures that could help you understand that, but I'll try to find time and add a note on that to the manual. Maybe some experienced users like boutch55555 could figure that out and post some pictures too.
phage wrote:Just a curiosity, what is the general time window for development for the tablet versions?
Would we be able to help in some way, possibly to chip in for a motherboard for you, @nitrocaster? Certainly no rush.
About a month to make a prototype. The motherboard itself won't be enough - you need to fit the adapter board so that it doesn't get in the way of installing the keyboard and makes possible to use the same eDP cable that I ship with non-tablet kits.
Want to buy X220/X230 FHD mod kit? Read this before sending me a PM!
T60 | X230 i7-3520M FHD Win10

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#309 Post by boutch55555 » Fri Mar 24, 2017 6:43 am

inq wrote:How can this be done? Which pins do I have to tape? What does tape mean?
Like this : http://imgur.com/XjGmbz3

Zoom in, you need to put tape between the red lines. I put too much but don't care since they aren't used for the battery, only for dock.

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#310 Post by rkan » Fri Mar 24, 2017 9:55 am

Any update on the March 15 ~ETA? Was the last Google Form a preorder thing? I'd like to know if I'm on it..
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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#311 Post by TankPad » Fri Mar 24, 2017 1:05 pm

nitrocaster wrote:
TankPad wrote:I could be wrong, but i think the whole point is that the new FHD screen IS your docked output, so you lose the ability to dock by using the kit. I'm open to correction on that, but that's the understanding i got. :)
Wrong. You can always dock with single DP station and you can also dock with double DP station after you tape certain pins inside the docking connector. The manual has to be updated on that, as inq mentioned.
Ah, thanks for the info. Looking forward to building one of your kits. :)
| 701c | X220 | T420 | X230 | T430s | W540

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#312 Post by BalthazzarCorr » Sat Mar 25, 2017 2:03 am

Hey I am new here and I was wandering do you have a set number manufactured (pre-ordered) . I am very interested of your kit

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#313 Post by vim_all_day » Sat Mar 25, 2017 2:48 pm

Greetings! New member here. I discovered this thread via Reddit and am very interested in an FHD upgrade kit for my X220.

Thanks for the great work, can't wait to get this thing upgraded!

TheChuckster
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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#314 Post by TheChuckster » Sun Mar 26, 2017 11:15 pm

How goes the fuses?

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#315 Post by SlavicPolski » Wed Mar 29, 2017 10:33 am

Been interested in this topic and even thought of trying to make my own adapter pcb but then I saw people were already doing this!

I am willing to sign up for one of your batches when one becomes available and order it on the spot.
How active is the OP in terms of progress updates and batch production?

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#316 Post by vim_all_day » Wed Mar 29, 2017 10:38 am

SlavicPolski wrote:I am willing to sign up for one of your batches when one becomes available and order it on the spot.
How active is the OP in terms of progress updates and batch production?
OP is fairly active, I think it's suppliers that take some time. I'd be interested in making my own PCB as well, but it's a bit over my head...

3rd batch should have been sometime this month, but so far nothing.

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#317 Post by boutch55555 » Wed Mar 29, 2017 10:54 am

So, I finally fixed rewt's kit, it's installed on a i7 x220 motherboard so I listed it on ebay : http://www.ebay.ca/itm/-/332168181597

Since I don't like making too much money off other people's work, the first 30$ will go to rewt to pay for the kit (I already sent 20$). The next 110$ will pay for the motherboard. Next 50$ is for my time fixing it. Anything over that will be split 50/50 between nitro and myself.

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#318 Post by life_on_marx » Thu Mar 30, 2017 9:10 am

Hello everyone and congrats to nitro for the amazing job that he has been doing.
I would like to sign up for one of your batches when one becomes available and order it on the spot.

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#319 Post by theterminator93 » Thu Mar 30, 2017 9:31 am

At this point all I want is to make sure I have it ready to go before a trip to Japan at the end of October... :|
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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#320 Post by snottierwhale » Mon Apr 03, 2017 12:09 am

Hey I'm new here, I saw this mod on reddit. I'm definitely interested in picking up one of the next mods. I ended up with the TN panel so that is the only thing I am unsatisfied about. Got a new keyboard (kinda wish i got backlit), 12Gb of ram, and today i just got a 256gb 850 evo. This laptop is great on Arch.

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#321 Post by paperfactory » Mon Apr 03, 2017 3:27 am

Did anyone get the modkit running in a hackintosh macos environment?
Everything seems well till the apple loading screen, then the screen goes black.
Could it be that the system doesn’t get the right EDID?

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#322 Post by nitrocaster » Mon Apr 03, 2017 4:07 am

I guess that's something with the display config, like it starts in dual display mode but then switches to single display mode. Hook up an external display and see what's happening.
Want to buy X220/X230 FHD mod kit? Read this before sending me a PM!
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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#323 Post by TheChuckster » Mon Apr 03, 2017 11:35 pm

snottierwhale wrote:Hey I'm new here, I saw this mod on reddit. I'm definitely interested in picking up one of the next mods. I ended up with the TN panel so that is the only thing I am unsatisfied about. Got a new keyboard (kinda wish i got backlit), 12Gb of ram, and today i just got a 256gb 850 evo. This laptop is great on Arch.
What DE/WM are you using? Might consider installing Arch on mine as well.

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#324 Post by recyclojunk64 » Tue Apr 04, 2017 11:58 pm

TheChuckster wrote:
snottierwhale wrote:Hey I'm new here, I saw this mod on reddit. I'm definitely interested in picking up one of the next mods. I ended up with the TN panel so that is the only thing I am unsatisfied about. Got a new keyboard (kinda wish i got backlit), 12Gb of ram, and today i just got a 256gb 850 evo. This laptop is great on Arch.
What DE/WM are you using? Might consider installing Arch on mine as well.
Also running Linux here, Manjaro (which is based on Arch) with KDE on my x220t. Can't recommend KDE enough, I'd say it's the best DE in existence for anyone who's a power user. There's features and customisations for pretty much everything (just look at kwin-rules for example) and the theming is very consistent, even with GTK applications. There were quite a lot of bugs when KDE 5 first came out, but as of 5.9 it's relatively bug-free.

nitrocaster wrote:If that's true, I could take an attempt to make a prototype. In tablet versions of X220/X230 LCD cable is combined with the camera cable. Since I'll be using standard eDP cable, camera cable would have to be separated from the combined cable and connected to the adapter board. Anyway, I would need to get a working tablet to design and test the kit. If you want it right now - use plain X220/X230.
I'm not in that much of a hurry, I think I'll wait it out for the tablet version kit. Did you want any pics of the inside of the multitouch version tablet screen?

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#325 Post by snottierwhale » Wed Apr 05, 2017 2:02 am

TheChuckster wrote: What DE/WM are you using? Might consider installing Arch on mine as well.
I'm using xfce4. I switched from mate(on laptop) and gnome(desktop). It is low on resources but provides great functionallty.

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#326 Post by TheChuckster » Wed Apr 05, 2017 12:35 pm

Ah, I was looking at Openbox. Used to be a huge Fluxbox fan back in the day when I was still running Gentoo. Wonder how FHD mod will fare with Linux.

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#327 Post by nitrocaster » Thu Apr 06, 2017 2:55 am

Good news: I got the fuses.
Want to buy X220/X230 FHD mod kit? Read this before sending me a PM!
T60 | X230 i7-3520M FHD Win10

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#328 Post by frstua » Thu Apr 06, 2017 6:49 am

nitrocaster wrote:Good news: I got the fuses.
Good news!

So, the pre-order will be opened soon?

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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#329 Post by nitrocaster » Thu Apr 06, 2017 6:32 pm

Not really. Today I finished assembling 24 boards (from 120). I hoped to complete it quickly by using a stencil (which became much more important since the new design uses smaller passive components), but I'm not getting a sustainable quality, so for now I just solder every single part manually. But I'll try to find a way to use a stencil again.

With the first batch I begun to accept payments after the whole batch was ready. Maybe it would make sense to split the current batch into sub-batches and dispatch them separately. We'll see.
Want to buy X220/X230 FHD mod kit? Read this before sending me a PM!
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Re: Upgrading X220/X230 to FHD 1080p

#330 Post by TankPad » Thu Apr 06, 2017 7:07 pm

Great stuff. Looking forward to hearing more on these. :D
| 701c | X220 | T420 | X230 | T430s | W540

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