Thinkpads Forum

While watching a movie on my Optoma HD65 projector, my thinkpad (which was outputting VGA) fell off of the coffee table. The VGA cable, which was screwed in firmly to the thinkpad's VGA port, took the brunt of the fall and must have broken the solder joints.

I have been searching for high resolution pics to no avail - what does the VGA connection look like on the motherboard? Is it similar to a desktop graphics card where it is anchored with 15 big pins? Or is it some kind of micro-connector? I am a very experienced solderer and I need to know if the connectors are big enough to be hand soldered. I have opened up the laptop to check, but the magnesium rollcage is blocking my view and this is currently my only computer, so I'd like to be sure before removing the motherboard.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

It would be REALLY hard to replace. It is a surface mount device with 15 pins plus mounting posts that are pinched together before the board is zapped in an infrared oven. If you have an infrared rework station, you might be able to straighten the mounting posts while you use a desoldering tool to remove the solder from the posts. Then you can unsolder the pins and remove it. I doubt you will be able to find the replacement part unless you get one from a broken board.

If you mainly use the vga connection for presentations and office related activities an easy solution could be to get a display link device. No soldering required.

Another option is a port replicator (or docking station), which has its own VGA out.