T40 (2374-72U) LCD (11P8350, XGA) replacement

[JamesHale007]

Hello - and first thanks for hosting this forum.
Was/is a relief to find somewhere to ask (hopefully) good technical questions.

I have a few Thinkpad models (at work) and one (T40 2374-72U) at home. The T40 has a cracked LCD (it lost an argument with my 4 year old) and am trying to get this replaced.

Not knowing about 'access ibm' utility - i took the lcd off to find that the current panel is LP141X14 from Phillips.

The pricing (from IBM) is almost same for the XGA and the SXGA+ model LCD panel - (99P6737) - which is in the T42 (2373-M1U) i have at work.

Video card is the RADEON 7500 - which seems to be same in T40s with SXGA+ screens.

My question is: are there reasons that I could not purchase the SXGA+ lcd panel and install it in my T40?

Apologies if this is in a FAQ somewhere - i did look for it.
THanks,
/james

[geobel]

It might work, but inverter for XGA panel may be different from the one for SXGA+ panel (check HMM).

Gosha

[JamesHale007]

When i had the T40 apart then took opportunity to write down as many FRUs as i could find - the inverter was one of them i did think might be relevant.

Current inverter is 26P8464 which, i found somewhere, seemed to be the inverter for T40 models shipping with 14.1 SXGA+ screens.

If the only issue was that i needed a different inverter then that is ok if could just purchase the correct one. Am hoping to make a few improvements to this machine anyway, just hoping to find out if this is a known dead end - like the cable connectors are different or some other 'doh' moments. Any pointers to FAQ or other materials gladly received.

Prices for the XGA and SXGA+ (even UXGA) LCD panels do not seem to differ by much so is worth some pain for a better machine. Any experiences or pointers to UXGA LCDs?

Have found a couple of places offering 'compatible' LCDs to the 14.1 XGA (92P6726) for a good deal less money. Has anyone had good/bad experiences with other replacement LCDs? Have seen references that these are sometimes LCDs recovered from dead laptops... seems a false economy.

Luckily I have another (T42 - 2372-M1U) that I could risk messing up to pull the 92P6737 and try in the T40. Then could put both my machines at risk... but will gladly post back the success or otherwise.

Thanks for any available points and your time.
/james

[JamesHale007]

perhaps am mistaken on the inverter - checking again the reference for current on (26P8464) seem to be XGA only - there is another listed (93P4161) that more expressly says for SXGA+ and is about $20

[JamesHale007]

update to this thread - i have a dozen older thinkpads of which many have 14" screens - so i took the first of them apart to see if i can swap the lcd panel for the LP141X14 (A1) that is cracked in my T40.

am willing to change out a few items - partly to learn more - and to save a few hundred $$ - but the T40 cable to the board on back of the current LCD has more pins than the one from the (XGA) older thinkpad. working backwards i don't see a reasonable way to swap out other components (and figure the board on back of the lcd would be too brittle to change, if that would work at all).

if none of the (x4 more, different models) older thinkpads have the more-pins cable then is this an obvious difference that tells me am at a dead-end? any way to tell which of the models might use the LP141X14 and same cabling?

apologies if this information is available in a different thread - i looked around for awhile but didn't find it - any pointers gladly received. if no better direction available will take the other thinkpads apart for parts and report back if any success.

thanks,
/james

[kyrotech]

You need to change the LCD Cable to the SXGA one, but the inverter is the same for all T40 series.

Inverter card (FRU 26P8464)
LCD cable assembly SXGA+ (91P6787)

Easy to change