Upgrading t60 xga to sxga+ 14.1"

[robp4p]

Today, I tried to swap a sxga HT14P12 (HyDis TFT) lcd panel from my t43 to my t60 which originally had an xga lcd panel. When the t60 booted up there was a strange green tint to everything and the resolution was way off (possibly still 1024x768?).

I put the sxga panel back in my t43 and it works just fine.

I did not swap inverters, as the cable is different on the t43 and t60.

Any ideas why this would not work? If the inverter is the problem, do you know the FRU to replace in the t60 to get the panel to work?

I would really like to get the t60 upgraded to a higher resolution panel, but I have not seen a confirmed success story of doing this.

Help appreciated!

[Troels]

Hi

Unlike the T4x series, the resolution and other specifications are determined by the EDID of the LCD. This EDID is stored in a 256 byte EEPROM located on the LCD panel itself.
The HT14P12 does contain a stock EDID from the factory, but it was never used for anything on the T4x series. On the T4x, only the resolution could be determined by the means of different cables where one connectoion was cut in one, and another here and there.

Now that you put it into the T60, the BIOS tries to find a specifc string of manufacturer code set by lenovo - which just isn't there.
This can explain the green tint which is more or less done on intention. The intent of having this "protection" is that they can sell you a replacement screen, and to cut down on the amount of different cables.
You're very lucky you even got an image on the LCD at all in the T60.

The inverter card is independent of panel resolution, it is - like the LCD cable a comon part, with a part. no 41W1010.


So how to make it work?
We'll need to find someone with a T60 and a SXGA+ 14.1" display which can run the Phoenix EDID designer and extract the EDID data from registry (Tools -> Extract registry EDID) and send you the binary data.

You will need an Parallel->I2C device as shown in http://www.lancos.com/e2p/easyI2Cbus.gif and the latest beta of PonyProg2000: http://www.lancos.com/ppwin95.html
Then you can reprogram the EDID of your T43 LCD with a copy of an EDID from a T6x, and then your T43 LCD will work as if it was an original T6x LCD.