Latest mod: QXGA (2048x1536) on my new T43p!

[Troels]

Hmm, yeah that is probably as new as you can find.

Well, someone either individual or company might be able to replace the ccfl for you, but that will be yet another investment, and that would be a bit unfair, since one should assume it is working well after just 50 hours.
I would probably try to contact the seller...
Either way, if the seller won't take it back - keep the panel or sell it - it still has a value for those who can repair it, and need one, especially in the future when they become even harder to get.

[obarriel]

The seller has said he will replace the panel with a new one . I will send this back, I hope it will work with a new panel.

[obarriel]

Well the new panel arrived. Today I have installed it. No issues this time. Everything about installation is a bit tricky not only because the panel is slightly thicker, also because the lcd cable has not exactly the same shape that the T4xp. But it is not so hard, only matter of time. I left the original t42p inverter.

Why thinklight is orange?

QXGA panel looks awesome. I thought it would be more difficult getting used it.
img]http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq13 ... 42p012.jpg[/img]

And some more photos:
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq13 ... 42p014.jpg
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq13 ... 42p021.jpg
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq13 ... 42p016.jpg
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq13 ... 42p015.jpg


Left: T60p (UXGA), Right: T42p (QXGA)

[Troels]

Glad you got a new panel and that it is now working
Those are some nice comparison pics
Hope that you got a good QXGA with no light leakage, dust specs or any visual defects, but it seems so from the pics.

The orange/amber thinklight has received complaints from some during the years, while many like it - i believe it is only amber on R5x models, some R6x models and the X4x... as to why it is amber and not white, nobody really knows. Maybe someone at the flex cable manufacturing plant screwed up and ordered a million surface-mount LEDs with the wrong color without knowing of the mistake before the reel was opened and used.

[chazz]

NNNoooo!!!!
I,,I,I.. must resist this post
mmmust resist ..

good to know the good old QXGA can fit into a T43P..
thanks PW
now I must resisttt...

[obarriel]

And also a T42p can get a QXGA (And any 15'' T42 or T43, even those with 7500 I suppose).

Troels my QXGA panel looks good. No dead pixels. The only imperfection I notice is that in the left side there is area about 1 cm width (from top to bottom, it is not the typical bottom dark corners of flexview displays) that is slighly darker than the rest. It is only noticeable with a white (or very clear) background and it is much less darker than the typical dark corners of flexview, but it is here. Other than that is perfect (no dark corners at all) and brighter that my old uxga, which I suppose was getting old.

[Maccess]

It's a T43p 15 inch chassis. I thought that's worth noting, not a T43 on a 14" chassis.

[JoeJoeJoeJoeJoe]

I used to think the UXGA screen on my newly acquired T43p was very cool! But now, after having read this forum, I feel like throwing my computer out the window! Lol! Would anyone be as kind to post mod instructions?

[David_r]

Most of the newer platform uses cable select to set the controller output resolution. If you know the cable select setting of the R50p QXGA cable, may be you can modify the T4x cable to the same setting and drive this QXGA panel.

These selects are small holes punched in the flex or zero ohm resistor shunts soldered on the cable near the MB connector.

Below are cable select schemes for A30/A31, T30 and R5x:

A30/A31
Pins 1 2 3 4
XGA S S O S
SXGA+S S O O
UXGA O O S O

T30
Pins 1 2 3 4
XGA S S O S
SXGA+S O S O

T4x/R5x
Pins 2 3 4 5
XGA S S O S
SXGA+S O S S
UXGA O O S S
QXGA ??

Pin one counted from the end looks to be GND on the R5x cable. The A30/A31 cable punched holes are very easy to see on the edge. I don't know whether there are other electrical differences in the cables such as single byte or double byte LVDS issues.

Most of these cables are available already set for different resolutions. But there is no QXGA cable for T4x, I wonder if you can try it and tell us if it works?

Edit: added T4x SXGA+ shunts.

I bought new R50p QXGA cable. There is no holes or resistors. Cable pin scheme looks like S S S S.

[David_r]

I succesfuly replace my UXGA to QXGA panel.

There is no chance to use orginal UXGA ribbon (with changing selecting scheme) - QXGA ribbon is 3cm (1in) shorter.
Only one solution to is replace switch and rewire it.

[ikari_01]

I just successfully modded my T43p (2668-H8U) with a IAQX10N panel
Just after plugging the panel the screen was 1600x1200 in the upper left corner though.
After some fiddling I can confirm that the config pin setting for QXGA is "S S S S", so just a blotch of solder on the first 3 connector pins is enough.
I reused the original T43p cable+inverter from the 1600x1200 panel. The cable is a little bit too long but it can be stuffed below the panel, just before the plastic part that guides the flat cable out of the display assembly. Then the thinklight portion of the flat cable will be too short but that can be resolved by peeling it off (it's folded & glued to the part of the cable that connects to the panel) and refolding it to gain some length.

The EDID block in the BIOS seems to only specify a 49.3Hz screen mode. The Windows display driver doesn't seem to care and uses 60Hz anyway but I could not get the Xorg radeon driver to display 60Hz out of the box. It rejected my modeline even with "IgnoreEDID" enabled.
fglrx wasn't an option since it does not really support any recent kernels.
I used the EDID block from thinkwiki.org and patched the pixel clock to get a 60Hz mode. The bytes to be patched are @0x36 and 0x37. They read 29 40 and should be patched to DB 4C. The panel doesn't mind the higher pixel clock.
Here's the prepared EDID block in binary format for convenience. It has to be loaded using the "CustomEDID" "LVDS:<filename>" option.

[pianowizard]

Today, I did something that I had thought would never happen: I sold this QXGA T43p! This QXGA T43p, like the 14.1" UXGA T42 and the XGA 240Z that I still have, was among my five favorite Thinkpads ever. But after I replaced my main rigs to desktops in Dec 2008, the T43p had been just collecting dust, and so I decided to sell it several days ago.

I still use the 240Z and T42 occasionally, though the former may be replaced with a Sony netbook within a few months.