Laptop LCD upgrade (M6805)

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pissboy

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I picked up a laptop recently off my brother (he ran it over with his car). The only problem is the cracked LCD. It is an emachines athlon 64 M6805. It has a 1280x800 LCD in it and I have opened it up to find the LCD is a Samsung LTN154X1. I found out that that screen is also used by Dell, Compaq, and other vendors. I did also find out that the other companies sell their models with a few LCD options, one being the Samsung LTN154U1. The U1 model has the same connectors/etc, and higher resolution 1920x1200.

So I guess my question is has anyone else done this? I found I can get a used pull of each of those screens and still pay less than new. So I guess if it doesnt work I wont be paying any more than buying it new, and can just ebay the unused one.
 
That would be awesome if you get it to work...if you do it, pics would be greatly appreciated...
 
Wow, let us know how it goes and where we could get the same. I love my m6805, but if I could get a higher screen resolution I'd do it in a heart beat...
 
alright, I managed to get my question answered today with a call to earthlcd. They pointed out that the interface on my panel (LVDS 1ch) is not compatible with the one on the higher res panel (LVDS 2ch). So I guess 1280x800 it is.
 
doh that sucks, but I knew there had to be a reason this hadn't been done before...good job with all the research and stuff though, too bad it didn't pan out...
 
TheCzar said:
doh that sucks, but I knew there had to be a reason this hadn't been done before...good job with all the research and stuff though, too bad it didn't pan out...
Click to expand...

OTOH, I did find out that the Compaq, HP, and Dell systems that use this screen also have the 2 channel connector needed for the higher res panel. It might be of use to them. I believe dell 5800 or 5900 something, and compaq R3000Z? Those are off the top of my head though..
 
I have wondered the same basic thing about my Toshiba Tecra 8200 and I did find an LTN141P*-L01 that has the same 1 channel lvds controller as mine. My panel's model is LTN141X8-L01. Supposedly it will work fine, but I really need to find out if the BIOS should be reflashed for the video card.

I would lose my stretch function, too.
 
MisterDNA said:
I have wondered the same basic thing about my Toshiba Tecra 8200 and I did find an LTN141P*-L01 that has the same 1 channel lvds controller as mine. My panel's model is LTN141X8-L01. Supposedly it will work fine, but I really need to find out if the BIOS should be reflashed for the video card.

I would lose my stretch function, too.
Click to expand...

http://www.samsung.com/Products/TFTLCD/NotePC/LTN141P1/LTN141P1.htm
http://www.samsung.com/Products/TFTLCD/NotePC/LTN141X8/LTN141X8.htm

looks like that panel is LVDS(2ch) and your panel is LVDS(1ch).
 
I have a Gateway 7415GX which has basically the same components as the eMachines M68xx series, and various others.

Here is a good BIOS site that lists other companies that re-brand the Arima w730-k8
http://www.rmecc.com/~v2/em/

BTW, the head of product development at gateway now use to be the president of Arima, go figure why most of gateways lineup is based of this brand now.

The thing these machines all have in common is they are Armia to the core, other than some bios boot strings and plastic logos on the chassis.

I too have looked in to replacing the default LCD panel, which is a Samsung LTN154X1.

Here is the entire Samsung laptop product catalog link 1st, followed by the default panel installed in all w730-k8's 2nd, finally followed by the panel we want to upgrade to 3rd.

Samsung laptop LCD panel family
Samsung 1280x800 default w730-K8 panel
Samsung 1920x1200 beauty!

Ok, what we notice it that the panels are the exact same form-factor so we know that physical installation will not be a problem. But what we do notice is that the larger panel has a "2 channel" LVDS interface, while the old panel only has a "1 channel" interface.

We now dig deeper, what the heck is the difference between 1 and 2 channels? Logically a bigger screen may need more channels right? Is this going to stop us dead in our tracks due to some integrated piece of hardware or some video card problem?

No my friends, we can upgrade! Let’s find out why.

Looking in to what piece of hardware on the motherboard is responsible for this LVDS interface, and what exactly its limitations are, we find it is the job of the video card. Sweet! All of these AMD64 lappies have some form of ATI Radeon 9500 or higher. Ok, now we go to ATI's site and look at the specs:

Radeon Mobility 9600 Specifications

Under the "Razor-Sharp Visual Quality" section this is what is says:
Integrated dual-channel LVDS, with support for notebook LCD panels as up to QXGA resolutions (2048x1536)

Now we are playing with fire! Our hardware will fully support this panel, even with only 32mb of ram. Ok, so why the hell do we have support people from companies that represent these re-labeled beasts telling us we cant upgrade?

Bottom line. The little cable that runs from your motherboards 30 pin LVDS connector only has 13 wires leading to the LCD panel. I have completely ransacked my 7415gx to verify this information.

So get a new cable and a new beautiful panel and enjoy!

BTW taking apart your laptop should only be done if you at least think you know what your doing:) It's real easy to break something, especially prying the double sided tape of the original LCD panel.
 
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