R-51 Display Garbled

[Bruce Guttman]

I have an R51, 2889-CTO (Configure to Order; thanks ). It came as a P&R on Ebay. CPU and fan, not much else. Put a memory stick in it and fired it up and I get a grayish screen.

Swapped out the screen for an old broken T-41 screen I keep around for testing and it lights up fine. Screen is readable and I can enter BIOS and set the thing. So I need to replace something in the LCD.

Tried swapping the Inverter with another T series VGA and it's exactly the same. Note that neither inverter has the number listed in the HMM. Original was 27K9950 and test was 26P8464. HMM calls for 91P7335.

The LCD and cable don't appear to be damaged. The cable is the correct part number as is the LCD (Hydis HT14X19-110).

I'm a little confused about the System Board. Where the T's have a graphics BGA, this thing has a very small quad pack labeled Chrontel. Is this the graphics?

To get to my main question. What could be wrong with the LCD or cable to cause this apparent loss of screen synchronization? Should I try replacing the cable? Or would I be better off using this System Board to fix my T-41 with a bad graphics BGA (which I've been saving to try the Reflow process)?

I also note this thing doesn't have a 1394 (FireWire) connector. Wasn't that standard in the R's?

Thanks for any help.

[Harryc]

What's the FRU# on the system board? It should be visible under the memory slot on the bottom of the machine.

[Bruce Guttman]

Thanks for coming to my assistance, Harry.

I haven't pulled the Planar out yet (how's that for IBM speak? ). I was hoping maybe I had the wrong inverter in the LCD for starters, but I would have expected the T40 inverter to work. These CTO systems can be a bugger to figure out, I suspect.

I think I'm going to opt for Plan B and will pull the System Board and put it in the T41 that refuses to come back from Standby (even though memory tests good and temperature seems to be around 40 degrees). Should make a nice workable unit.

Incidentally, this machine has an odd Ultrabay. It looks like there is some kind of tape fascia on it. Is this so it will look right with a UltraSlim CD?

I went back and reviewed your R50 Project for reference (even though it is a 15 inch and mine is a 14).

[Harryc]

As far as being a bugger to figure out, you need to see what system board you have there to start. Either find and provide the FRU# or PM me the serial # and I'll look it up.

[Bruce Guttman]

PM sent with S/N.

More testing: I took the cable that was attached to the T-4x XGA screen (Samsung, broken) and put it on the R-51 LCD. Still get this same result. Looks almost like the interlacing is messed up on a TV. I am short of XGA 14" displays to try simply replacing the XGA; I think more and more this will become a system board in a T-41. Make a nice lappy for casual use (bedroom, etc.). Since this System Board doesn't have FireWire, I don't have to worry about any special connections.

[Bruce Guttman]

Well, the System Board has found a new home in a T42. It's a Celeron (didn't know they still used those things in the T4x/R5x series) but it works and it's better than the board that it replaced that wouldn't light up (F2 checks good; no idea why the thing is dead). Does the Celeron board take Pentium M's as well?

Wish I knew why the display was so weird, but I guess that's life. No idea whether the CCFL can be harvested easily; they seem pretty well crimped in place.

Thanks for all help.

[ajkula66]

Yep, that R51 board will take a Pentium M CPU, no questions asked.