T540p WXGA to FHD LCD upgrade question

[Eric Giles]

I have a decently spec'd T540p that has the standard WXGA LCD screen which I would like to upgrade to a FHD panel. I've read through many posts on this and have decided on the AU Optronics B156HAN01.2 panel.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned from those that have performed this upgrade is in regards to the LCD cable. The Lenovo FRU list shows that the LCD cable for the FHD panels is 04X5540, which is a different part than what the FRU list shows for the standard panel. Being they are all eDP the connectors should match properly, but is there a reason why there would be a different cable for each panel type? Maybe the connector on the back of the panels are in different locations, so a different cable is needed?

Guess I am really just wondering if I must order a new LCD cable, or can make do with the one I have.

[ajkula66]

While I don't have the answer that you're looking for, please allow me to throw a question at you:

Have you seen (in person) the FHD panel that ships in these machines?

I have and wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Panasonic 3K IPS one, on the other hand, is very, very nice.

My $0.02 only...

Happy upgrading.

[Eric Giles]

Hi George-

While I haven't seen the factory supplied panel in person, I have definitely read from others experiences how bad it is. The AU Optronics panel I am planning to buy isn't the factory supplied panel, but it is known to work in the T540p/W540 and the Y50. It is an IPS display and is much better than the factory FHD panel.

It would be interesting to see if this is the same IPS panel that Lenovo started installing in the newer Y50 models due to all the complaints the previous FHD panel received.

[ajkula66]

The AU Optronics panel I am planning to buy isn't the factory supplied panel, but it is known to work in the T540p/W540 and the Y50. It is an IPS display and is much better than the factory FHD panel.

My apologies for derailing your perfectly good thread for no reason. I should've known that your mileage with ThinkPads would prevent you from pursuing such a lame "upgrade".

Best of luck with the intended course of action and please keep us posted.

[Eric Giles]

Time for an update. I went ahead and ordered the FHD LCD cable 04X5540 from a seller located in China on ebay. This was far cheaper ($15 shipped) than what I was finding from other sources. I am still waiting on it to arrive.

I ordered an AU Optronics B156HAN01.2 from a seller on Amazon and it arrived today. I went ahead and removed the LCD bezel from the T540p just to check fitment, and....it's not going to properly fit.

Come to find out...Lenovo manufactured different upper screen lid assemblies for the different LCD panel options. The FHD panel will not properly mount to the standard HD LCD panel attachment points. I wish I had seen this information earlier-or at least looked closer at the HMM-but I never saw this mentioned anywhere. The correct screen lid assembly for an FHD slim LCD panel is 04X5521. This requires a new LCD bezel, which is 04X5523. The different screen lid assembly also requires different hinges...they are listed as hinges for the slim/thin LCD, and are required due to the screen assembly having different screw mounting points for the hinges.

What started as a relatively economical upgrade has doubled in cost. Now I will say that the T540p I am upgrading is owned by my employer, so to me the cost of the laptop was 'free', and I am able to do with it as I wish. But once I go through ordering all the necessary parts, and include the cost of the Tx50 physical button touchpad, the total upgrade cost will be around $210.

Hopefully this additional information will be help others looking to perform this upgrade. I will update this once I receive and install all of the additional part.

[Eric Giles]

I've been out of town for a few weeks, but when I returned the rest of the parts I had ordered for the upgrade had arrived. I had ordered a complete used T540P FHD lid assembly on eBay that included the hinges and webcam, but not the front bezel. I installed the AU Optronics IPS 1080p screen with the new FHD LCD cable into the lid. Next, I removed the keyboard and keyboard bezel assembly and installed the new 3 button Trackpad I had ordered from eBay seller cicichen594.

After putting everything back together, it all works perfectly. The three button trackpad is a such a welcome improvement over the original Clickpad...the three physical buttons work just like the one's on our Thinkpads for years. I will say that the driver I used doesn't have a sensitivity adjustment for the Trackpoint pointer (the speed adjustment option is there), so it doesn't move quite a fast as I am used to. I am using the driver that everyone has been having success with (n19gx10w.exe). Maybe there is another driver that would work better with the added sensitivity option built-in, but I haven't spent time experimenting as of yet. But where most people were receiving a 3 button touchpad with the hardware ID of LENOO36, mine shows as LEN0034 from Alps.

The screen itself seems to be excellent, with great viewing angles and color reproduction. It is a great improvement over the original WXGA screen, and from all accounts much better than the factory FHD panel that Lenovo supplies. The only missing piece is the front LCD bezel, but I have sourced a used bezel and it should arrive in a few days.

For those that have a T540p with the WXGA LCD and are looking to upgrade, this info should help you on your upgrade path. Note that it may be cheaper (and definitely easier) to source an entire used FHD lid assembly with cables for the upgrade, but at the time I started this there wasn't one available that I could find.

[axur-delmeria]

Congratulations on your successful upgrade!

I've noticed that HMMs starting from the '40 generation do not include the detailed FRU parts listing. This may be one reason you didn't realize that the FHD upgrade required a entirely different lid assembly.

[Eric Giles]

Congratulations on your successful upgrade!

I've noticed that HMMs starting from the '40 generation do not include the detailed FRU parts listing. This may be one reason you didn't realize that the FHD upgrade required a entirely different lid assembly.

Thank you! That's exactly what happened....it wasn't until later when I found the FRU parts list that I determined there were different parts required.