T43 1871 XGA upgrade

[mlandis]

Hi,

First, I'd like to say that his forum is pretty amazing. It's been a great resource.

I have a T43 Thinkpad (model 1871) with an Intel GPU. It has a 14.1 inch XGA LCD. Some posters have mentioned (without a link reference) that it is impossible upgrade this type of T43 to an SXGA+ or UXGA LCD.

Can anyone provide evidence that this sort of upgrade doesn't work? Or even better -- can someone show me that you can upgrade from XGA?

I'm desperately hoping to upgrade. If I can't, I'm going to have to buy an external monitor. 1024x800 is the pits.

Your pal,

Michael

[schen]

I have a T43 Thinkpad (model 1871) with an Intel GPU. It has a 14.1 inch XGA LCD. Some posters have mentioned (without a link reference) that it is impossible upgrade this type of T43 to an SXGA+ or UXGA LCD.

Can anyone provide evidence that this sort of upgrade doesn't work? Or even better -- can someone show me that you can upgrade from XGA?

I'm a bit curious about this as well since I have in my possession an R52 (basically a T43 twin internally) with an Intel GPU which runs a SXGA+ screen, so I'm not at all certain that "it is impossible". If it actually runs, the switch isn't difficult at all. Before I moved to my current T42p which came with a SXGA+ panel, I was using a regular T41 which came with a XGA screen. I bought a T42p "working pull" screen assembly and swapped them out. It worked like a charm!

[ajkula66]

IBM (to the best of my belief) purposely disabled the boards on Intel-powered T43s so they couldn't be upgraded with higher-resolution LCDs. If you read through the T4x series forum, you will see that absolutely everyone (and that includes some members armed with a lot of knowledge) ended up hitting the cement wall trying this upgrade. White screen, no picture, seems to be the most common result AFAIK...

Go through the ltwbook and you'll see that all official offerings were in XGA only, regardless of the screen size...not so on R52s that schen was referring to...why, no clue...

[mlandis]

Hi ajkula66,

Thanks for the reply, very informative. I've been looking through these forums for evidence that it doesn't work, searching for stuff like "t43 intel sxga upgrade" -- no luck.

I'm seeing many people say they've heard it won' t work but I can't find any primary sources. Can you point me in the direct of any first-hand experience with failed installations?

Thanks again,

M

[ajkula66]

Well, you'll just have to search harder, because there are posts referring to that issue...

First hand, I have a neighbour to whom I sold a machine quite similar to yours, along with an "upgrade kit" (SXGA+ LCD and cable, actually a complete but stripped ATi-based T43 with GPU issue) and that never worked. He eventually went back to XGA and sold everything, then bought another ATi-based T43 from me...

To put it this way: I've owned more T43/p machines than most members of this forum would get to see in five lifetimes. Had anyone successfully completed the task that you're interested in, I'd likely know about it...

Is it doable? Sure. You just have to figure out what exactly was disabled on the motherboard to prevent it from "recognizing" a higher-resolution LCD...

Good luck.

[mlandis]

Thank you for sharing your expertise.

M

[SteveS]

ajkula66 wrote:

IBM (to the best of my belief) purposely disabled the boards on Intel-powered T43s so they couldn't be upgraded with higher-resolution LCDs.

While I have not checked out the GPU data sheet, I am not sure that IBM disabled the SXGA mode in the chip. 1050 X 1400 is kind of an odd resolution, and I suspect that the Intel chip never supported it to start with.

Personally, I run away from any T43 with an Intel GPU. IMO, it lowers the value substantially. In addition to not supporting SXGA+, it does not support DVI output when docked, forcing you to use analog mode with an external LCD monitor. Digital mode, with a direct 1 for 1 map to the pixels, is always superior to analog which relies on precise gain settings to keep the pixels from skewing.

[Johan]

Michael:

It seems that dedmeet actually did manage to upgrade an Intel GMA-900 GPU based T43 (model 1871-FWG) from its XGA to a SXGA+ LCD as described in the thread Upgrade t43 xga screen to sxga (or other) (see the post of Mon Aug 06, 2007 8:29 pm). More specifically the video card in that T43 was a ”Mobile Intel(R) 915GM/GMS, 910GML” (as reported in the post of Mon Jul 23, 2007 3:49 am). Note however that this is/was a 15” T43… the panels in 14.1” T43’s may perhaps be/behave different (??).

Johan

[ajkula66]

A couple of things here:

1) If you read through the whole thread you'll see that the issues were NOT resolved...until the BIOS was modified and patched. While doing that you're a nanosecond away from bricking the machine...not worth it in my opinion.

2) Intel chip in question DOES support SXGA+...my daughter has HP NC6220 with the same GPU and 14" SXGA+ and I own a T43 that was Lenovo's testbed with Intel board and 15" SXGA+ IPS FlexView LCD...

Can anyone show me a fully working T43 with Intel board that they upgraded with a higher-resolution LCD? I'll gladly admit I was wrong once that happens...

[dedmeet]

Can anyone show me a fully working T43 with Intel board that they upgraded with a higher-resolution LCD? I'll gladly admit I was wrong once that happens...

Sorry, could not help myself.....and sorry for reviving such an old post.....

I can ,

in fact I am typing this message on the same T43 that i upgraded in 2007 from XGA to SXGA+ (as mentioned in the other posts).
The only issue I have ever had with my laptop, since the upgrade, was to replace my battery, and that is unrelated

I still use it today for coding/development work when I need to be on the move.

[Harryc]

@dedmeet, I read through your entire original thread, and since the OP asked, nobody has gotten a 15" UXGA+ LCD to work correctly on an Intel T43. Secondly, while you did get a 15" SXGA+ LCD to work, you used the 915 resolution BIOS patch, which is a solution only available to Linux. So if the OP (or anyone else) wanted to try this SXGA+ conversion, it has not been proven to work on windows. Now, if you could load windows and test it .. .

[dedmeet]

@dedmeet, I read through your entire original thread, and since the OP asked, nobody has gotten a 15" UXGA+ LCD to work correctly on an Intel T43.

As far as I know, correct, I tried, and would not recommend that upgrade. I think SXGA+ is the highest it can upgrade to.

Secondly, while you did get a 15" SXGA+ LCD to work, you used the 915 resolution BIOS patch, which is a solution only available to Linux. So if the OP (or anyone else) wanted to try this SXGA+ conversion, it has not been proven to work on windows.

Ah, well, did not notice this was for windows. You do need a bios patch as the built in resolutions do not support the SXGA+ panels native resolution.
As mentioned, to date no ill effect, so many nanoseconds had passed, and I still have not bricked my T43....

Now, if you could load windows and test it .. .

One day I just might, but it is not likely. The laptop is too much in active use.
I don't even know if I still have my recovery discs to reload windows with.

[ajkula66]

Well, kudos to you for proving me wrong, at least partially...

Since the start of this thread I became aware of the several other Intel-based units that left the factory with 15 IPS LCDs...they are still to be considered extremely rare, though...

Windows test on your machine would be an interesting one, though...