A31p display panel issues

[martin_boro]

Long story short, I have three A31Ps. One is pretty much built to my liking (maxed out) and works pretty well. I wanted to put together a second good notebook from the remaining two, but I got some "issues".

The build itself went pretty well, everything worked well, but after ~5 minutes, the backlight seemingly died. I tried replacing the inverter, replugging all of the cables, but nothing helped.
The GPU on it works fine, with no glitches. So it looks like the backlight itself is bad and I have to replace the panel.
Unfortunately, the second panel isn't much better and has reddish tint right after turning on and returns to normal over time. So I don't know how much time it has left.

Any ideas on how to fix it?

[ajkula66]

Any ideas on how to fix it?

You can replace the backlight itself (CCFL), there's a guide somewhere on this forum written by RealBlackStuff. Or you can swap in a replacement panel, which is likely going to be very difficult to source.

Good luck.

[martin_boro]

Thanks for the quick response.

That looks like a PITA job, but hey, at least I can't break it more
Any idea what are the specs of the tube I need? And a reliable place to buy it?

Also, would it be possible to replace it with someting more reliable, like LEDs?

[ajkula66]

Any idea what are the specs of the tube I need? And a reliable place to buy it?

No clue, but I'm certain that someone with knowledge of the process will chime in sooner or later.

Also, would it be possible to replace it with someting more reliable, like LEDs?

I believe so.

[Bondi]

CCFL repalcement guide is here. It's for A31, A31p should be similar. https://web.archive.org/web/20130302110 ... &Itemid=50
And here ia an old thread on the topic /viewtopic.php?t=64253

[martin_boro]

Thanks for the tips.

Also, a weird thing happened. The backlight on the good notebook failed too .
Is there a possibility that it's caused by something different? I mean two backlights failed on two different panels within four days?

And how much "runtime" can I expect from the new CCFLs?

[Bondi]

Guess they both failed due to age. I think you mentioned that the second one was already reddish. This is a symptom of coming death. According to my experience backlight failure on A31 series is very common. I have one with reddish backlight, the one I got for replacement had dark areas on the sides. Looks like these machines are heavily used during their lives and appear on the secondary market only when something goes out of order.
Re the lifetime of a CCFL tube - it's around 15000 hours.

[kfzhu1229]

Looks like these machines are heavily used during their lives and appear on the secondary market only when something goes out of order.

Well from my experience, I purchased a brand new IDTech UXGA panel for A3xp series and its backlight is also dead right on arrival. Purchased more of those UXGA panels used and their backlight are all dead. From my sample size of 4, those screens backlight are just not very durable. I followed the guide and replaced the backlight from all of them. Bought a lot of 3 CCFL tubes and extracted one from a working 15" XGA display. MAKE SURE TO SLIDE THE CCFL TUBE OUT ON THE SIDE INSTEAD OF SEPARATING THE ENTIRE SCREEN AND LIFT THE TUBE OUT OF THE SLOT, otherwise you end up with all sorts of issues with dusting, uneven backlight and having a hard time assembling the screen!

[RealBlackStuff]

Read my post viewtopic.php?f=31&t=88991 from a few years ago.
It'll describe the A31p CCFL-swap and is quite easy (at least for me).

[ajkula66]

Looks like these machines are heavily used during their lives and appear on the secondary market only when something goes out of order.

Well from my experience, I purchased a brand new IDTech UXGA panel for A3xp series and its backlight is also dead right on arrival. Purchased more of those UXGA panels used and their backlight are all dead. From my sample size of 4, those screens backlight are just not very durable.

Let's also not forget how old these systems are...the youngest one will be due for a "sweet 16" party this year.

As for a "brand new" ID Tech panel for A3x series...I don't believe I've seen one of those in many years. Probably a decade or so.

[martin_boro]

Read my post viewtopic.php?f=31&t=88991 from a few years ago.
It'll describe the A31p CCFL-swap and is quite easy (at least for me).

Thanks. I've already read it when Ajkula66 posted the tip.

As for "brand new" panels, just the shipping would be most likely more than the notebook is worth .

The only thing remains buying the lamps.
In the guide thread, there are some links to 305*2.0mm lamps, however most of the e-shops are US based.
How is ebay with "reliability"? It would cut the costs significantly.

[RealBlackStuff]

UK: http://backlightweb.co.uk/
Greece: https://www.digikey.gr/products/en/opto ... cfl-uv/104
Czech Republic: https://www.elsin.cz/en/e-shop/

[wujstefan]

Well you can go for a SHARP UXGa panel from Dell - I'm happy how it works and how it looks... and what it costs actually

I was also able to install both ID-Tech IPS UXGA from T43p and Hydis Led UXGA into it, but these are more expensive options. Sharp will hit you ~$30-35 I guess. And it's a very bright panel, requiring simple 1:1 swap - all you need is to look out at the cable - it's just a bit too long AFAIR and needs some bending.

[smf]

Bump. . .Srry. . . can I install a gloss screen and ditch the flat matte screen on my A31p, What shuld I get for best look. Any gloss screen units, with proper resolution for top quality known?

[ajkula66]

Bump. . .Srry. . . can I install a gloss screen and ditch the flat matte screen on my A31p, What shuld I get for best look. Any gloss screen units, with proper resolution for top quality known?

I can't think of a single glossy 1600x1200 panel.

Why would you want to get rid of the original screen to begin with ?

[smf]

a little yelloey..always liked the gloss look, I figured i'd fit my favorite thinkpad with one. kill one bird with two stones. . .

Bump. . .Srry. . . can I install a gloss screen and ditch the flat matte screen on my A31p, What shuld I get for best look. Any gloss screen units, with proper resolution for top quality known?

I can't think of a single glossy 1600x1200 panel.

Why would you want to get rid of the original screen to begin with ?

[Arc]

Well you can go for a SHARP UXGa panel from Dell - I'm happy how it works and how it looks... and what it costs actually

I was also able to install both ID-Tech IPS UXGA from T43p and Hydis Led UXGA into it, but these are more expensive options. Sharp will hit you ~$30-35 I guess. And it's a very bright panel, requiring simple 1:1 swap - all you need is to look out at the cable - it's just a bit too long AFAIR and needs some bending.

What's the exact number of the SHARP panel? LQ150U1LH22? I see one of these for sale. I gotta replace a screen too...

[RealBlackStuff]

Search eBay for Sharp screens with exactly this: (lq150u1lw22,lq150u1lw22n,9h753,n1563) -memory