Replacement SXGA screen for my T40

Message

renderful · #1 Post by **renderful** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 11:18 pm

I just got a T40 2373PU7, and since I have the XGA screen I can only get a resolution of 1024x768.

I have a few questions about upgrading it.

Where is a good place to buy a replacement screen? What do I need to look for in screen specifications? What is a good price? Good instructions for replacing it myself? Will simply replacing the screen give me the 1450xwhatever resolution if I am using the Radeon 7500?

I've heard that it's not too hard to modify these things.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

marcos · #2 Post by **marcos** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 12:24 am

renderful,
I will tell you the money part of the matter. An ebay search for "t40 sxga+ lcd", for active and expired items, reveals that it can be had for as low as $350 + shipping. The good news is that your current xga lcd, if flawless, can be worth a couple hundreds bucks or more.
I'm not sure if you need to change the cable as well, surely other do and will chime in.

cmarti · #3 Post by **cmarti** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:39 am

Renderful,

You will have to replace also the cable you will need this:

The SXGA cable is 91P6787 and the LCD is 92P6760

And will work fine wih your current motherboard.

tim S · #4 Post by **tim S** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 10:21 am

I think getting the "larger" screen will slow things down a lot, plus it may not resolve correctly, unless you get a motherboard with more video memory on it.
The reason IBM puts more memory in laptops with more resolution is not for speed, but to make sure all those extra pixels get sufficient oomph.
So exchanging screens without a motherboard change is not worthwhile.
Tim S

brentpresley · #5 Post by **brentpresley** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 11:02 am

tim S wrote:I think getting the "larger" screen will slow things down a lot, plus it may not resolve correctly, unless you get a motherboard with more video memory on it.
The reason IBM puts more memory in laptops with more resolution is not for speed, but to make sure all those extra pixels get sufficient oomph.
So exchanging screens without a motherboard change is not worthwhile.
Tim S

This is completely incorrect. I have done the upgrade from XGA to SXGA on a T40 with 32MB ATI 7500 and there is no performance loss by going to the higher resolution. Not exactly like anyone will be gaming on a 7500.

IF YOU ARE PATIENT you can get the LCD for about $250 shipped and you will get about $175 back out of a PERFECT XGA screen.

You DO NOT need to upgrade the LCD inverter (it works with both the SXGA and XGA screens).

You MUST upgrade the LCD cable.

lithium726 · #6 Post by **lithium726** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 11:06 am

tim S wrote:I think getting the "larger" screen will slow things down a lot, plus it may not resolve correctly, unless you get a motherboard with more video memory on it.
The reason IBM puts more memory in laptops with more resolution is not for speed, but to make sure all those extra pixels get sufficient oomph.
So exchanging screens without a motherboard change is not worthwhile.
Tim S

wrong. its completly fine. as i recall, you need something like 8mb (maybe 16mb) to display 1600x1200. 32mb is just fine, and i have not had any problems with it. the A2xp series notebooks have 16mb vram and a UXGA 15" screen. the T22 was also avaliable with the SXGA+ screen, and that thing had a measly 8mb savage chip under the hood.

i got my (new) panel for $180 and IBM never charged me for the cable. i might get out of this for nothing

oh, and i can play hl2 on the 7500 just fine

havent tried it at 1400x1050 yet though...

cmarti · #7 Post by **cmarti** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 11:25 am

Renderful,

Contact this seller:

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrp ... Zitthinker

I get mine from her for $150.00 and the shipping was extremely fast.

The cable i ordered it from IBM $16.00 next day shipping for $9.00.

So good luck!! Do it it will work excelent and the difference is big.

Carlos..

nikemen · #8 Post by **nikemen** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 1:47 pm

Wow, I thought this would be possible, but never really researched it Having used an XGA T41 2373-4gu for a couple of years, I said to myself that I would always go up to SXGA when I get my next unit.

Don't really want 15", but the 14" would be fine.

For the money, i'd jump on it now.

It looks like someone even went to WXGA? Is that correct?

lithium726 · #9 Post by **lithium726** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 4:45 pm

cmarti,

thats who i got my LCD from too - did you get it for 150 shipped, or 180 (with the $30 shipping?)

WXGA is not possible. you can only put LCDS that come on the T4x series in there, so the IBM XGA or SXGA+ panels.

cmarti · #10 Post by **cmarti** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 5:03 pm

You are correct the price for the LCD was 150.00 + shipping 30.00

renderful · #11 Post by **renderful** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 5:27 pm

Thanks guys, this is amazing!

Very glad to hear that it's so inexpensive.

Does anyone have any insight into installing the screen?

lithium726 · #12 Post by **lithium726** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 6:27 pm

use the HMM, definatly. helps a bundle.

you have to take out the keyboard, then the palm rest, then the keyboard bezel. after that, you have to take off three screws from the bottom front of the keyboard bezel, there are two at the top of hte bezel (where the wifi antenna is) and there are 6 on the side. the six hold the LCD retention in, and there are 4 screws holding the LCD in the retention. there is one screw holding the retention into the LCD backing, and there is one screw holding the LCD inverter down. it can get messy, be sure to keep track of the screws and be careful with the screw caps. IBM ships all new screw caps with the LCd cable, and the FRU for that can be found in the T43 HMM.

be careful around the LCD latches, you have to squeeze the Thinklight under there and it can come dislodged, so make sure its working right. good luck! i actually have a 2373PU7 too

renderful · #13 Post by **renderful** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:10 pm

Thanks lithium, exactly what I was looking for.

I'm so happy, I can upgrade this thing forever!

I got it for $661 shipped(Thanks uBid!) and it looks and feels BRAND NEW with a battery with only 4 cycles, so I'm really glad to see that I can keep upgrading it, and probably keep using it for 3-5 years. Upgrades are a decent price at that!

Another question not worth it's own thread:
Can I upgrade the on-board memory? This thing has 512, and the expansion slot is full. I'd hate to be able to only upgrade it to 1.25gb. There must be a way!

brentpresley · #14 Post by **brentpresley** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:13 pm

renderful wrote: Another question not worth it's thread:
Can I upgrade the on-board memory? This thing has 512, and the expansion slot is full. I'd hate to be able to only upgrade it to 1.25gb. There must be a way!

Will accept a total of 2GB (2 x 1GB). The second slot is under the keyboard.

lithium726 · #15 Post by **lithium726** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 10:06 pm

yeah, i got mine for $725 shipped from IBM

ive got my buddy sending me a dothan for it, throwing a gig of ram in it, this screen, and then im gonna give it to my sister when i can go for a T60. Im having fun with it, its worlds faster than my T23, and my sister is going to LOVE it. shes on a p3 933 with integrated i810 graphics and a 15" XGA right now

as brent said, the extra memory slot is under the keyboard. in addtion to this, if you want better wireless, the MPCI slot is under the touchpad (palmrest), but you must use an IBM branded card, they have a modified CMOS on their cards and it wont accept generics without a bios hack.

in addition to this, the T40,41, and 42 all use the same system board and BIOS. You can throw a dothan up to 2.1ghz with the 400mhz FSB in there

brentpresley · #16 Post by **brentpresley** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 11:06 pm

lithium726 wrote: in addition to this, the T40,41, and 42 all use the same system board and BIOS. You can throw a dothan up to 2.1ghz with the 400mhz FSB in there

Correct. Just note that you MUST upgrade both the BIOS and Embedded Controller to the latest versions for the Dothans to work. Lots of the earlier revisions don't work with these new chips.

Replacement SXGA screen for my T40

Replacement SXGA screen for my T40

wow!

Who is online