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X240 - Screen Upgrade Won't Fit

X230-X280, X390 Series
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reddeviluk
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Location: STOCKTON ON TEES CLEVELAND, UK

X240 - Screen Upgrade Won't Fit

#1 Post by reddeviluk » Wed Jul 24, 2019 3:07 pm

Hi All, long time lurker, first time poster from the UK. A few weeks ago, I made the decision to replace my HUGE gaming laptop with a Thinkpad after being an off/on user at work and loving them. I set out my list of wants and found a perfect X240 with everything I wanted apart from it had the lower resolution screen, I read a few posts on here and discovered what (I thought) I needed to order so I found a company on eBay that seemed to show exactly what I needed:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/163403014097?ul_noapp=true

Anyway, it arrived today, I followed the well documented route and, you guessed it....it doesn't fit, by quite some margin.

The OLD screen has several stickers on it, which read:

FRU: 04X0433 (IVO PANEL)

The NEW one has lots of long numbers, but this one stands out:

NV125FHM-N82
25FHM9790BBCAA93K90466

But there is NO FRU on the new panel. I connected it anyway and it works perfect, it just doesn't physically fit where the old one was removed from being too narrow and too short.

Does anyone have any experience of this please?

Once this is sorted my next upgrades include new thermal paste and new battery....hope that is more straight-forward...lol

Thanks all,

Rich

RealBlackStuff
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Re: X240 - Screen Upgrade Won't Fit

#2 Post by RealBlackStuff » Thu Jul 25, 2019 12:12 am

Screens as used in X2x0 series measure: 290.5(W) × 170.7(H) mm
Your new screen has these dimensions.: 282.4(W) × 179.3(H) mm That looks like totally non-fitting.

Mind you, the above dimensions were found on http://www.panelook.com/modelcompare.ph ... 8760,23372 and need not be accurate.
Please measure both length and width of your old and new screens and give us the results.
According to https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comme ... t_on_bios/ that new screen should fit.
Is it IPS, i.e. if you look from any angle, are the colors still the same, or do they fade rapidly?

It looks like that outfit possibly sent you a fake screen with fake labels.
If so, return it and look for an outfit that does NOT say anything about "compatible" in its description.
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

PS: the old Boardroom website is still available on the Wayback Machine
.

reddeviluk
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Jul 24, 2019 2:52 pm
Location: STOCKTON ON TEES CLEVELAND, UK

Re: X240 - Screen Upgrade Won't Fit

#3 Post by reddeviluk » Thu Jul 25, 2019 1:31 pm

Thanks RealBlackStuff, I have been in touch with the supplier and they "sound" as shocked as I was. I've checked the new screen over and it works perfectly, it's 100% IPS, looks much nicer (doesn't fade regardless of angle) and the screen resolution automatically switches to 1080 in settings, so looks like everything works, apart from the size.

Measurement wise, this is what I've found:

Old Screen - 29.2(W) x 18.1(H)
New Screen 28.2(W) x 18(H)

Afraid I only had a tape measure to hand, so not 100% accurate, so the height is close, but the width is far out. The company have asked me to provide measurements to them of the outgoing screen so they can replace it with one that fits. How accurate do you think those measurements you provided are, when you said possibly not accurate, did you mean of the new screen?, would save me ripping mine apart again....lol

It appears like the new screen size is actually roughly the same, though it has no bezels and the outgoing screen does have bezels and that's the shortfall in size. I could almost tape the new screen to the rear of the lid and stick the outer edge back on and it would be fine, though that's far from ideal.

I'm a little mystified too be honest, like you said, I can only assume that what they're selling are fakes, but they're cheap, I guess you get what you pay for.

Rich

reddeviluk
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Jul 24, 2019 2:52 pm
Location: STOCKTON ON TEES CLEVELAND, UK

Re: X240 - Screen Upgrade Won't Fit

#4 Post by reddeviluk » Thu Jul 25, 2019 2:14 pm

Been reading up and several sites suggest that the best replacement panel is a LP125WF2-SPB2

https://www.displaytechnology.co.uk/butt ... 10-137.pdf

Looking on this tech spec sheet that panel has the following dimension

290.5(H, typ) × 170.7(V, typ) × 2.85(D,max) [mm]

Given that, if I pass that same information to the supplier I'm guessing they can sort me out?

Thanks again,

Rich

RealBlackStuff
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Re: X240 - Screen Upgrade Won't Fit

#5 Post by RealBlackStuff » Fri Jul 26, 2019 12:33 am

If you have Windows, run HWINFO to see exactly what screen that new one is.

290x170 mm is the correct size for those LCDs, plus/minus a mm or so.
The LP125WF2-SPB2 is a good FHD IPS screen.
This version uses less power: LP125WF2-SPB4.
And a newer version: LP125WF4-SPB1 (from Rev. 6 onward).
See also the first post here: viewtopic.php?f=43&t=122640, which can all use the same screens as the X240/X250.

Have you tried brightness-control on that new screen?
If you try to mount that new LCD exactly "centered", then put on the LCD-bezel, does that fit/work?

Before you buy another one, consider this:
the X240 has an LCD-whitelist in its BIOS, which however is ONLY relevant for brightness-control under Windows.
If you use Windows, the LCD MUST be an original Lenovo-approved screen with a FRU, and a LEN-ID in its EDID-chip, otherwise brightness-control will not work.
If you know how to flash the EDID-chip, you can correct this, but it's a rather convoluted procedure.
However, if you use Linux, you have nothing to worry about, brightness-control will work with any LCD.
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

PS: the old Boardroom website is still available on the Wayback Machine
.

reddeviluk
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Jul 24, 2019 2:52 pm
Location: STOCKTON ON TEES CLEVELAND, UK

Re: X240 - Screen Upgrade Won't Fit

#6 Post by reddeviluk » Fri Jul 26, 2019 2:47 pm

Thanks @RealBlackStuff, I've had a few emails to/from the seller and sadly they've decided to admit defeat, basically they don't have the size panel that I need so are happy to offer a full refund.

So I guess the hunt is on for a new seller who can supply one that will fit AND be a full replacement.

I'll carry on hunting online, sure someone MUST have bought one fairly recently that will tick the boxes.

Thanks again for all your help and advice.

Rich

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