R40 LCD upgrade to SXGA

[voneschenbach]

Hi All,

I have a R40 2681-KLU with dying LCD - I have been contemplating attempting to replace it with a SXGA+. Question: do I replace just the LCD, or both the LCD plus inverter cable? I am assuming that the connection from the planer is the same regardless of inverter cable...

Finally, what part numbers do I look for in eBay land?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[ajkula66]

You will need to change both the cable and inverter for this conversion, but I wouldn't count too much on finding these parts in eBay land.

All the FRUs are in HMM, download a copy and good luck...

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-45899

[voneschenbach]

Thanks George - I'll take a look. I was hoping to hear stories of swaps between other SXGA LCD assemblies like the T40/1/2/3 as there seem to be a lot of those on eBay lately.

[schen]

I just did a swap on my T41 from XGA to SXGA+, although I really don't think that my experience will help much in this regard. I picked an entire T41p SXGA+ on ebay pretty inexpensively (you are right, in that I see a lot of those on ebay lately). When the T41 showed up I took it apart (I was planning on doing a lot of other upgrades anyway), so I took off the screen and put the other one on. It was pretty straightforward since it was an entire assembly. I even had the added benefit of having a Bluetooth antenna in the new lid so I just have to add the CDC. Of course there was an unexpected detour when I found that the new assembly had broken screw mounts, so I ended up having to swap the hinge from the original display. Other than that, it was pretty simple.

I really think, your situation is pretty different unless you can find a complete R40 SXGA+ assembly thats "ready to go". The R4x isn't a model I'm familiar with so I wouldn't be able to comment on the availability of those. I'll defer to George on that since he's the resident expert on all things A & R.

Just as a guess though (so you can take it for what it's worth), I'll bet that assemblies are vitually non-existent since the R40 was never really targeted toward the "high-end' market, in which case you'll have to find the correct raw screen and correct cable which might be a trick in an of itself. A good way to do that is the find high-res screen from an equivilent higher-end unit of that production era (such as A2x/T2x, A3x/T30, R4x/T4x) and find something that fits. In most cases, if you can get the correct cable/inverter/screen combo, you've won most of the battle. I just think it'll be more difficult with the R40 in that they were the last of the Acer built machines before the Lenovo designs and therefore a bit of an orphan.

Good luck with it.

[voneschenbach]

Thanks schen - I appreciate you relating your experiences with this process. I had no idea that the R40s were made by ACER!

It's a pity as I inherited a very nice example of one of the last R40s built - it really is a quite solid machine, if a bit huge, but the screen realestate is not great for the 15" size.

[schen]

Thanks schen - I appreciate you relating your experiences with this process. I had no idea that the R40s were made by ACER!

It's a pity as I inherited a very nice example of one of the last R40s built - it really is a quite solid machine, if a bit huge, but the screen realestate is not great for the 15" size.

Don't get me wrong; I actually like the R40 quite a bit (especially the later P M models). I bought one for a family member 2 years ago and it's going strong. You can tell their lineage by looking at where the A/C plug is on the back (opposite of where virtually every other modern TP has theirs). Those plugs are also one of their weaknesses. They tended to develop cold-solder joints and become damaged. This was a flaw going all the way back to the earlier Acer contracted TPs such as the 390 and iSeries. Otherwise, they are quite solid: Just be careful with putting strain on those plugs!

That being said; all TPs have design weaknesses of one kind or another. 600 and their battery systems, the dreaded MWAVE modems on the 760s, the T20s and the blink of death, and of course the R50s and T40s with the ATI BGA chip issues. The list goes on....., but they are still a far cry better than the alternative! I've supported, Dells, Toshibas, Sonys etc. and when I've had the choice, I've always ordered ThinkPads!

[ajkula66]

The problem here is that while 14" LCDs are interchangeable with T2x series units, 15" units are a huge question mark at least to the best of my knowledge.

What you might have a shot with, is a 15" Samsung non-IPS from A30 and A31 SXGA+ units. These can be found on fleabay for around $70 the last time I checked. Once again, you're on your own here, this is nothing more than an assumption on my part.

Good luck.