Anyone interested in a Hi-def (1920 x 1200) mod for PB/MBP?

craigatkinson · Jun 27, 2006

My powerbook will still be under Applecare for another year. I'm not sure I want to sacrifice the Applecare. I'm only thinking in advance to when Applecare is over. Plus it's going to be my wife's computer. I don't know if she'll allow me to go rip roaring into it. 🙂

david06 · Jun 28, 2006

I'm going to get Applecare even though I'm doing this. No reason you can't swap the original panel back in if you have to send the computer in.

Fearless Leader · Jun 29, 2006

man cant wait to get my MBP 😀 and have the fourth or fith hd MBP. The scary thing is my g5 isn't going to be as powerful, fast, or have any where near the resolution of this relativly tiny laptop (well coming from an 7 pound 1 1/2" thick gateway its small...)

hey baxter, does the screen still look crisp if you drop it back to 1440 by 900?

also since its driving 154% as many pixels will my fps in WoW drop in half?

vv-tim · Jun 29, 2006

Ok, some good news and some bad news. I'm typing right now from my 1920x1200 display MacBook Pro.

The bad news is that I'm in Windows. Mac OS X and the bootloader won't even appear on the 1920x1200 resolution screen. I took a shot in the dark and decided to hold down alt and try booting into Windows... sure enough, here it is. The resolution is glorious. To those who say you can't read it... haha 😉

More bad news... my computer is in several pieces right now... and I think in all my messing with the LCD trying to pry it apart, I screwed up the backlight (so it's very uneven). I'm going to try to at least fix the backlight and pry off the inverter (that I'm not using -- the one from the original screen works)... then maybe I'll spend a few days working in Windows to decide whether it's worth the screen real estate to not use OS X :/

If anyone has had this problem and fixed it!!! Let me know 🙂

Some strange news... I now have CPU whine in Windows?? I could have sworn that wasn't there before, haha.

vv-tim · Jun 29, 2006

Back with my old screen in Mac OS X. My problem is now mainly getting the brackets off the new LCD without tearing it up (I've already bent the frame too much 🙁 ).

I guess I'll work on that. I know baxter said to bend it or something... but mine won't bend without bending case as well... *sigh*

RichP · Jun 29, 2006

No OSX is a very bad thing for an Apple laptop. I cant really imagine apple making any sort of firmware/software "block" certain resolutions going to the panel unless it supports it (Noone even thought of this mod until baxter mentioned it!). Obviously the hardware does, because its running in windows (and its also nice to know the stock inverter works)

I wonder if the 1680x1050 panels would work in a MBP 15", considering that is the resolution of the 17"

vv-tim · Jun 29, 2006

RichP said:
No OSX is a very bad thing for an Apple laptop. I cant really imagine apple making any sort of firmware/software "block" certain resolutions going to the panel unless it supports it (Noone even thought of this mod until baxter mentioned it!). Obviously the hardware does, because its running in windows (and its also nice to know the stock inverter works)

I wonder if the 1680x1050 panels would work in a MBP 15", considering that is the resolution of the 17"

I'm just fairly confused...

I mean, baxter says he has it working in his Powerbook. Maybe he did something to get it working that he forgot to mention? I'm not sure.

I really dig Mac OS X... but I also REALLY dig 1920x1200 resolution, haha.

baxterbrittle · Jun 29, 2006

RichP said:
No OSX is a very bad thing for an Apple laptop. I cant really imagine apple making any sort of firmware/software "block" certain resolutions going to the panel unless it supports it (Noone even thought of this mod until baxter mentioned it!). Obviously the hardware does, because its running in windows (and its also nice to know the stock inverter works)

I wonder if the 1680x1050 panels would work in a MBP 15", considering that is the resolution of the 17"

Yes but Apple did block dual display capability on iMacs, eMacs and iBooks that was simply built in to the OS - nothing to do with firmware. vv-Tim can you boot into OS X with an external display? any will do. OS X may simply be trying to run the panel at an unsupported resolution. If you boot with external display and then put it on mirror (F7) then you can at least check system profiler to see what it reports and try a few different resolutions. This does seem really odd though that it doesn't work.

Also in which direction are you trying to bend the tabs? If you bend them towards the front or rear of the panel you will destroy the outer trim if your not careful. You need to tear the tabs along the length of the panel - by rolling them up using some pliers after making a groove in them where you want to cut.

I've just had a thought - The panel you have now (Hi-Def) does not support the resolution of your old panel. If your computer doesn't see that there is a change of display (it assumes your old one is in there) It will be operating at that resolution. Try doing a PRAM reset and try the external display thing. The other thing you can try - if you don't have an external, is set the resolution to a common one (maybe 1024 x 768) and then swap the panels. Though the PRAM reset will probably do the same thing. Also If you can't get the internal display to work you can try switchres X which enables you to run unsupported resolutions/refresh rates. Let me know how you get on.

baxterbrittle · Jun 29, 2006

vv-tim said:
Ok, some good news and some bad news. I'm typing right now from my 1920x1200 display MacBook Pro.

The bad news is that I'm in Windows. Mac OS X and the bootloader won't even appear on the 1920x1200 resolution screen. I took a shot in the dark and decided to hold down alt and try booting into Windows... sure enough, here it is. The resolution is glorious. To those who say you can't read it... haha 😉

More bad news... my computer is in several pieces right now... and I think in all my messing with the LCD trying to pry it apart, I screwed up the backlight (so it's very uneven). I'm going to try to at least fix the backlight and pry off the inverter (that I'm not using -- the one from the original screen works)... then maybe I'll spend a few days working in Windows to decide whether it's worth the screen real estate to not use OS X :/

If anyone has had this problem and fixed it!!! Let me know 🙂

Some strange news... I now have CPU whine in Windows?? I could have sworn that wasn't there before, haha.

Do not what ever you do take apart the MBP's display. You will need it for warranty claims etc... Also its pretty risky. You can normally buy a cracked LCD off ebay for stuff all - maybe that's a better bet. You don't want to end up with 2 panels that you can't use. The whole reason I've been condoning this mod is it's reversable. It's always going to be hard being the first to do something but it will be worth it - you've seen how nice the res is now lets figure out how to get that to work seemlessly.

vv-tim · Jun 29, 2006

baxterbrittle said:
Do not what ever you do take apart the MBP's display. You will need it for warranty claims etc... Also its pretty risky. You can normally buy a cracked LCD off ebay for stuff all - maybe that's a better bet. You don't want to end up with 2 panels that you can't use. The whole reason I've been condoning this mod is it's reversable. It's always going to be hard being the first to do something but it will be worth it - you've seen how nice the res is now lets figure out how to get that to work seemlessly.

I've already taken apart the MBP display and all. I pretty much shot the warranty when I replaced the thermal paste, hard drive, etc.

I've taken it apart and put it together 3 times now and managed to not break the display or anything else (maybe I'm just lucky, haha) so I'm alright.

I'll have to try the PRAM thing. My dad said he'd help me get the brackets off... hopefully I can fix up the backlighting on the new display (the left and right sides are kinda dim)...

I don't have (noone in my house does, I believe) a DVI display, so I gotta find my DVI->VGA connector and if the PRAM reset doesn't work, I'll try hooking it up to an external monitor. I'll try everything out tomorrow hopefully.

baxterbrittle · Jun 29, 2006

vv-tim said:
I've already taken apart the MBP display and all. I pretty much shot the warranty when I replaced the thermal paste, hard drive, etc.

I've taken it apart and put it together 3 times now and managed to not break the display or anything else (maybe I'm just lucky, haha) so I'm alright.

I'll have to try the PRAM thing. My dad said he'd help me get the brackets off... hopefully I can fix up the backlighting on the new display (the left and right sides are kinda dim)...

I don't have (noone in my house does, I believe) a DVI display, so I gotta find my DVI->VGA connector and if the PRAM reset doesn't work, I'll try hooking it up to an external monitor. I'll try everything out tomorrow hopefully.

That's good but I still don't recommend taking off the backlight - Not an easy procedure at all. Also risk of damage is very high high. If you want to try it get a backlight from a dead panel and fit that - at least you'll still have a display to go back to if things go horribly wrong.

vv-tim · Jun 29, 2006

baxterbrittle said:
That's good but I still don't recommend taking off the backlight - Not an easy procedure at all. Also risk of damage is very high high. If you want to try it get a backlight from a dead panel and fit that - at least you'll still have a display to go back to if things go horribly wrong.

Oh, I don't mean to take the backlight tubes from my working display at all. I'll keep the 1440x900 display for backup at least 😛

baxterbrittle · Jun 29, 2006

vv-tim said:
Oh, I don't mean to take the backlight tubes from my working display at all. I'll keep the 1440x900 display for backup at least 😛

Oh good - had me worried there. Anyway i've drawn some really dodgy diagrams of how to remove the tabs - hope they help.

vv-tim · Jun 29, 2006

baxterbrittle said:
Oh good - had me worried there. Anyway i've drawn some really dodgy diagrams of how to remove the tabs - hope they help.

Thanks 🙂 Now I've gotta find some pliers... what's a good way to groove the area that I'm looking to tear?

baxterbrittle · Jun 29, 2006

vv-tim said:
Thanks 🙂 Now I've gotta find some pliers... what's a good way to groove the area that I'm looking to tear?

I just used wire cutters because the cutting part is off to one side you can get the groove close to the panel. They just need to make enough of an impression so that it will tear along that line.

Fearless Leader · Jun 29, 2006

i cant wait to hear the results 🙂

david06 · Jun 30, 2006

Apple service = morons.

I told the phone tech that I had CPU whine and I wanted the logic board replaced since the newer revision boards reduce or eliminate the issue. He set up a service ticket. I put a note in with the computer describing exactly what the problem is, and a few things to make them realize that it's not an inverter whine problem (NOISE DOES NOT CHANGE WITH BRIGHTNESS, ONLY PROCESSOR USE) and yet they still replace "612-0020 ASSY, INVERTER, NCC, MBPRO15."

It's going to be a while until I try the screen thing. This machine is going to be sent back until they fix it.

vv-tim · Jun 30, 2006

david06 said:
Apple service = morons.

I told the phone tech that I had CPU whine and I wanted the logic board replaced since the newer revision boards reduce or eliminate the issue. He set up a service ticket. I put a note in with the computer describing exactly what the problem is, and a few things to make them realize that it's not an inverter whine problem (NOISE DOES NOT CHANGE WITH BRIGHTNESS, ONLY PROCESSOR USE) and yet they still replace "612-0020 ASSY, INVERTER, NCC, MBPRO15."

It's going to be a while until I try the screen thing. This machine is going to be sent back until they fix it.

Makes you wonder if they even try it out before they "service" it 😛

Didn't get around to trying the PRAM thing today. Maybe tomorrow morning though.

david06 · Jun 30, 2006

I just got off the phone with a product specialist (tier 2 technician) who said "I'm making a note to replace the logic board on this and if the tech cares about his job he will..." so hopefully a functional, silent MBP will be here soon ready for a new screen.

vv-tim · Jul 3, 2006

Ok, so I finally got around to fixing things today.

My dad drilled out the pop rivets and we got the brackets right off the LCD casing. Unfortunately I think I'd already damaged the casing enough to screw up the backlight quite a bit... so I've got a quite uneven backlight that's dim on the sides. I'll need to get a new LCD panel for sure.

The bad news: Doesn't work in OS X. I reset the PRAM and used an external monitor to boot into OS X. Once you're in OS X if you change any settings (i.e. changing your boot order to Windows first) it'll update your settings.

This allows the usage of the new panel on the MBP. UNFORTUNATELY it also terribly screws up all the color... in both Windows and the boot loader.

Notice I don't mention OS X... that's because once we get into OS X, you simply get a black screen again.

So... to anyone interested in this mod... it's confirmed that the LG Phillips panel DOES NOT WORK IN OS X. This is a panel commonly found in Dell Latitude / Precision laptops.

I'm presently using it in Windows and it's running fine (other than the backlight issue that I caused).

When I get the money I'll be buying the Toshiba screen and trying it out... since I know how to get the brackets off now and everything else, should be a 20 minute job swapping panels.

baxterbrittle · Jul 4, 2006

Pictures - Finally!!!

Here are some pics I took today when I took the machine apart for the first time since I started this thread. I was wrong about my panel... I think I first said it was a Sharp but then changed my mind to toshiba because I looked up the ebay lisrting for the one I bought and it said toshiba. Anyway it's a sharp after all. Couple of things - today I spent many an hour trying different locations for the Airport and bluetooth antennae as the location changed between PB and MBP. So after much mucking about I have mounted them behind the screen. There is not much metal in the screen to block signals ertc.. so that works really well and am very happy with that.

vv-Tim if your going to try another panel I suggest the Sharp as it at least works on mine so it's probably the best choice. Having said that I cannot guarantee that it will work I just believe that it will.

I am enjoying this screen so much that my Quad is now on ebay and I will most probably be getting a MBP to put this screen into. It really is the perfect balance of power and portability with heaps of screen rteal estate. It's funny I sometimes test the other resolutions when other people ask about running at lower res and the text and everything looks huge!! It does scale down the image very well for those whom are interested in running lower res's but I find now that everything looks so klunky even at 1600 x 1000! Which is still higher res than MBP standard display.

Anyways vv-Tim hope it works out - can you post some pics of the display going all funny coloured etc...

baxterbrittle · Jul 4, 2006

More Pics

Here are some more

vv-tim · Jul 4, 2006

Baxter, I think I read earlier that you spliced that inverter connection, right? It used to be the two pronged connection?

I'll try to post some screen shots of the whackiness.

I'm waiting for some payments for my music equipment to come in so I can pick up a Sharp display and try it out.

craigatkinson · Jul 4, 2006

I Have ordered a macbook pro. Would I be able to perform this LCD upgrade without voiding the warranty? I mean, I know it would void the warranty if I sent it back with the LCD still in place, but would I be able to put the old LCD back in and send it back without them knowing I had replaced it?

Would something like this work?

http://cgi.ebay.com/DELL-Inspiron-8500-8600-WUXGA-15-4-LCD-COMPLETE-KIT_W0QQitemZ290002788150QQihZ019QQcategoryZ42187QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

If not, where can I by an LCD that would work?

And more question...(sorry they keep coming up as I think about it)

My macbook pro only has the 128 mb video card. Is it sufficient to run an WUXGA LCD?

vv-tim · Jul 4, 2006

We can't guarantee it won't "void" your warranty, but if you put the old LCD back in, chances are they won't really know.

As to the eBay auction... there's a chance that is an LG Phillips panel, so we can't guarantee it will work. My experience with the LG Phillips is that it won't work in OS X.

128MB of VRAM is plenty capable of 1920x1200. I was running World of Warcraft (in Windows) at 1920x1200 with maxed settings (overclocked the card to 430/400 though).

Apparently the other day I bid on a Samsung LCD, so I guess I'll be trying out the Samsung and letting everyone know how it goes.

If not... the Sharp panel is next... unless I run out of money.

Anyone interested in a Hi-def (1920 x 1200) mod for PB/MBP?

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