Thinkpads Forum

I wanted to convert my X200s into a ULV or LV i5 or i7, so I bought an X201 Tablet motherboard. However, the limited information I have found online have suggested this may not be a very straight forward swap. Can anyone enlighten me as to what would be involved in this?

Thanks

There is another older thread with a similar situation, but the English isnt the best. I will summarize here. Please let me know if my summary hits all the points, or if any of the info is inaccurate. Thread is at http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=114688

1 -

X201T haven't 2nd left USB and the fan is sitting in other place, But i haven't noticed that mainboard sits lower. YES i have tried to put HSF from X201 to X201T mainboard - but power connector don't want it.

# maybe only splicing wires is needed?

2 -

X201T have standoffs for video interposer board. And they are prevent normal connecting of flex PCB cable of X201 LCD. Right way is to remove this standofs. But i havent right equipment. And i have removed metall bracket (it is glued to) from flex PCB.

# so a standoff must be removed; how would this be achieved, a drill?

3 -

there is connector fo stilus switch and it is prevent normal sitting of tablet mainboard in nontalet chassis. It must be removed and mainboard must be insulated in that place.

# seems simple enough

Other issues involve Bluetooth and the fingerprint scanner, none of which I care about. If it matters, OS will be Debian. My X200s has 1440x900 display, will I have to do anything special with the X201 tablet mainboard or will this display just work?

4 -

I have broken (removed) standoffs near LCD connector and LCD connector fitted Ok.

# This is leading me to believe my LCD will work with the new board

Hi!

Why an tablet mainboard? You'd better would have bought an X201 I7, like i did, then take the panel from the X200s and change it with the panel from the X201. So as a result you would have an X201 I7 WXGA+.

Simple but straight to the point...

Kindly regards,

Pandora

Why an tablet mainboard?

I foolishly assumed the X201 Tablet mainboard was the same as the X201s, and hastily purchased one as it was the last one the seller had left.

You'd better would have bought an X201 I7

I wanted an "s" model for the lighter weight, and X201s models are very rare

Hello there. This quote is from my old posts. We have some talk in PMs with OP and i want to write here some conclusions from there.
First of all - i have made transplantation of mobo from X201 tablet to X201 normal notebook. I know that there success stories of transplanting X201 mobo to X200 body - so this topics must be read first.

* yes i have drilled standoffs. But be very careful - they are fragile it is bette to use electric screwdriver than normal drill. I have drilled with set of drills from 3 to 5 mm and then cut rest of standoffs with pliers.
* yes this hybrid is working, but not normal
* yes ThinkLight is working out of the box on tablet mobo

bad things:
- some leds (icons under the screen) behave not normal. I think they blink SDIO data instead of real things because tablet mobo use some leds pins to digitally communicate with digitizer and MPC board.
- bluetooth in lid unworkable. It is on the USB bus but without control signals from mainboard it can't start.
- notebook can start only with AC connected. And it sense "lid closed" switch as power on button tablet mobo think that power on button is in lid). So it can be turned by opening the lid .
- i haven't even try WXGA+ on x201t mobo but i know that normal X201 can drive X200s WXGA+ and X201t Tablet can drive normal X201 WXGA. This both panels (with LCD harness) are electrically compatible.

Possible things to try
1 WXGA+ on 201 tablet (i can try it in a couple of days) -> tested
2 find where is magnet for lid closed sensor and remove it (i can try it in a couple of days)
3 find out how to send bluetooth control signals to screen connector (OP doesn't need it - but it is like a cherry on a cake;)
4 find out how send standard led signals and get lid closed signal instead SDIO digital data to LID (hard way)
4.5 or try to place tablets MPC board (lead board) in X201 LID (very hard way)

PS
I have schematics for X200, X200 tablet and X201, but haven't for X201 tablet. If some one have it - send me PM.


---------Added----------------
1 WXGA+ on 201 tablet won't work. Image is squashed horizontally and some miscoloration become Need some more testing to check LCD itself (i'll try it on a normal X200(1)). Something like this was happening when plugging SXGA+ LCD (from X61tablet) to X61. and in that case BIOS patching helped.

More hints about power.
When you first connect AC - prong light is on. If you start ThinkPad prong indicator goes off but HDD and (Z) indicators work as normal and you can disconnect AC. Moreover if you shut down OS (power off Thinkpad) prong indicator comes on, even if only battery present You can start this hybrid Thinkpad with any power source if prong indicator is on. Battery indicator flashes but very dim and for a half a second when battery is charging. Along with prong light caps lock light is on but very dim.

So YES if once started hybrid can be treated as normal notebook with battery power.

Perhaps the standard X201 bios can be written to the X201 tablet, which has had some success on the X41/X41t.

Looking at the schematics, here are the differences between the LCD connectors of the X200t and regular X200:

pin...x200t...............x200

49....PWRSWITCH.....LID_SWITCH
4......X......................BT_BUSY
14....X......................BDC LED S
16....X......................BDC_ON
18....X......................WIFI_BUSY
20....X.....................-BDC_PRESENCE
34..-IIC_CTRLR_REQ...-LEDSUS
36...-PLTRST_FAR......ACDC_LED*
38....UP_SCL............LEDFUEL0
40....UP_SDA...........LEDFUEL1
46....DG_TXD...........LEDCPSLOCK*
48....DG_RXD...........LEDNUMLOCK*

*goes to separate IC before going to LED
BDC stands for Bluetooth Daughter Card

cobalt60 wrote:

Why an tablet mainboard?

I foolishly assumed the X201 Tablet mainboard was the same as the X201s, and hastily purchased one as it was the last one the seller had left.

You'd better would have bought an X201 I7

I wanted an "s" model for the lighter weight, and X201s models are very rare

That wouldn't been a real good cause for me....unless the x201 has stereo......and even the most powerful I7 of the X201(s)......the little less weight wouldn't count for me....and the i7 on the X201 is even also very rare.

So the X201 i have created does make much more sense to me and is much less complicated to create.

Greets,

PT

That wouldn't been a real good cause for me....unless the x201 has stereo......and even the most powerful I7 of the X201(s)......the little less weight wouldn't count for me....and the i7 on the X201 is even also very rare.

This is replacing a Toshiba AC100, which was the perfect size for me. However, the soldered 512MB RAM and 1024x600 resolution were not good enough.
AC100 is 1.7lbs, while X200s is 2.5lbs (with smallest battery), 50% heavier. The AC100 was fanless, and I wanted something to replace it that was also fanless, but ULV i5 will have to be as close as I can get. The ULV i5 is way more powerful than I need, even if only clocked at 1.07GHz (AC100 is dual-core 1GHz ARM and is fast enough)

So the X201 i have created does make much more sense to me and is much less complicated to create.

Had I chosen the non-tablet mainboard, the conversion would have been straightforward.

cobalt60 wrote: 49....PWRSWITCH.....LID_SWITCH

Yes - LID switch emulates power button press when lid is closed (not opened).
So when you shut off hybrid Thinkpad and close LID - it starts up again But when you simple close lid with working OS it can go to sleep (see power management configuration).

cobalt60 wrote: 4......X......................BT_BUSY
14....X......................BDC LED S
16....X......................BDC_ON
18....X......................WIFI_BUSY
20....X.....................-BDC_PRESENCE

No bluetooth control signals in screen connector - bluetooth cant, work.

cobalt60 wrote: 34..-IIC_CTRLR_REQ...-LEDSUS
36...-PLTRST_FAR......ACDC_LED*
38....UP_SCL............LEDFUEL0
40....UP_SDA...........LEDFUEL1
46....DG_TXD...........LEDCPSLOCK*
48....DG_RXD...........LEDNUMLOCK*

That's why leds works anormal...

Thanks for this chart so we cnow what to do.

OP could always sell the tablet mainboard here or on Ebay.

Alternate option, get a dead X200 tablet or a BIOS-locked one since there's no need for the mainboard. I've been considering the same thing
since it's so inexpensive.