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Anyone interested in a Hi-def (1920 x 1200) mod for PB/MBP?
- Thread starter baxterbrittle
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Sweet - I go away for a week and come back to find someone that has had success - great work, belldandy.
I'm going to give this a shot tomorrow with a panel from a Dell D800 - think it's a Toshiba. If it works, I'll let everyone know. I have a source that will sell these at a reasonable price if anyone is interested.
(oh, and people that are having issues with the stock panel: I may have a spare stock panel here shortly, hopefully
)
I'm going to give this a shot tomorrow with a panel from a Dell D800 - think it's a Toshiba. If it works, I'll let everyone know. I have a source that will sell these at a reasonable price if anyone is interested.
(oh, and people that are having issues with the stock panel: I may have a spare stock panel here shortly, hopefully
)
If more people begin having success with this I will definitely want to purchase a panel, and I'm sure that a great many others will as well.
Sweet - I go away for a week and come back to find someone that has had success - great work, belldandy.
I'm going to give this a shot tomorrow with a panel from a Dell D800 - think it's a Toshiba. If it works, I'll let everyone know. I have a source that will sell these at a reasonable price if anyone is interested.
(oh, and people that are having issues with the stock panel: I may have a spare stock panel here shortly, hopefully
Samsung LTN154P1 doesn't "just work"
After getting excited enough to purchase a screen off of eBay, and just installing it today, sadly, it wasn't the correct model. While it's probably possible to find a clock frequency that'll work with this display, it didn't begin as well as the Toshiba model that belldandy got working.
This screen is a 1680x1050 WSXGA+ and Windows does detect the resolution, but the colors were wrong. Probably not hard to fix, but I wasn't interested in spending a lot of time to get this model working.
One interesting note on the Samsung; the Dell brackets at the top and bottom weren't welded on, they were screwed on, although one of them was screwed on from the inside out, so it would still require some fiddling to get it off. If the appropriate Samsung WUXGA screen were available, it would likely have the same brackets which at least limits the "rework" necessary to get it into the box. Otherwise, backlight and signal cables fit perfectly.
I'm trying to return this display to the seller on eBay as it's not the one described, nor the one that I want, but if anyone is interested in using this as a starting point, I can at least confirm that it appears to show the same kind of promise that the others do, although the timing still needs to be "discovered", and this would probably require more exploration in Windows. It's in very good shape and comes with the full Dell 8600 top case assembly (housing, inverter, clutches and cable). PM me if interested.
After getting excited enough to purchase a screen off of eBay, and just installing it today, sadly, it wasn't the correct model. While it's probably possible to find a clock frequency that'll work with this display, it didn't begin as well as the Toshiba model that belldandy got working.
This screen is a 1680x1050 WSXGA+ and Windows does detect the resolution, but the colors were wrong. Probably not hard to fix, but I wasn't interested in spending a lot of time to get this model working.
One interesting note on the Samsung; the Dell brackets at the top and bottom weren't welded on, they were screwed on, although one of them was screwed on from the inside out, so it would still require some fiddling to get it off. If the appropriate Samsung WUXGA screen were available, it would likely have the same brackets which at least limits the "rework" necessary to get it into the box. Otherwise, backlight and signal cables fit perfectly.
I'm trying to return this display to the seller on eBay as it's not the one described, nor the one that I want, but if anyone is interested in using this as a starting point, I can at least confirm that it appears to show the same kind of promise that the others do, although the timing still needs to be "discovered", and this would probably require more exploration in Windows. It's in very good shape and comes with the full Dell 8600 top case assembly (housing, inverter, clutches and cable). PM me if interested.
I can confirm that the WUXGA Samsung Panel does NOT WORK with Belldandy's "method". Michael, in case you were wondering, those are not screws in the brackets, they're pop rivets. Easy to file off though.
If the seller will not allow you to return it... to get the color working in Windows you need to reset the PRAM (Apple-Alt-P-R at startup) and then hold down Alt and (with the blank screen) tab over to Windows and start it. This is the only way to keep OS X from fiddling with the BIOS/EFI settings and messing up the color.
Ok, so for those wondering...
Belldandy's SwitchResX solution yields the same results with my Samsung panel that we've had since... well I guess around page 3 or so. We successfully get the sync rate working but end up with the horrible discoloration.
So it comes down to one of two things... either that Toshiba panel is wonderful and uniquely works with OS X... or belldandy's a fraud. I'd like to think the former is true, but I don't have the money to buy the Toshiba panel and try it out again. As far as I know, my logic board has somehow messed up any panels I try to put in anyway with the white line interlace crap. I need another notebook to stick the display in to find out if it's actually the display that somehow broke... but since it happened after messing with the DeviceID stuff, I'm guessing something was written to the EFI.
I may be buying some "broken" MBP pieces on eBay and fiddling with them... so if I end up getting a working logic board we'll give it another go and see what's up with my Samsung panel.
If anyone's willing to throw down the cash and test out the Toshiba panel... I eagerly await the answers. I've already been through two panels, it's someone else's turn to waste money =p
I repeat, belldandy's solution DOES NOT WORK WITH ANY PANEL -- it is UNIQUE to the Toshiba panel, if working at all.
- Secret person that the mods hate.
I have the exact same panel as bellandy, and I am trying to get it to work. I've had little luck so far, though the situation is improving. Right now, I have it working with ****ed up colors, but I am typing this post from the very laptop in question unaided.
Well, I have things more or less set up exactly as belldandy's stuff, but it doesn't seem to get the colors right. I'll post screen shots and a photo in an hour or so.
Well, I have things more or less set up exactly as belldandy's stuff, but it doesn't seem to get the colors right. I'll post screen shots and a photo in an hour or so.
Do you remember which Samsung panel it was? I have a LQ154M1LW.
I do believe that the secret to the color issues lies in the '/System/Library/Displays/Overrides/DisplayVendorID' trickery. Belldandy, can you shed some insight on how you got the values for this file?
I won't have time to crack my 'book open until the weekend, but I'm up for some experimenting.
Gah, I got sidetracked and won't be able to post screenshots until tomorrow.
I have indeed added a driver override as belldandy suggested before I even started messing with SwitchResX. It works to some extent - brightness controls work perfectly via the keyboard and System Prefences, but the color seems pretty much snafu'ed. And doing all of these has also snafu'ed it in windows as well (though a PRAM reset fixes it, that would be a pain to have to do every time I start windows and reset everything in both OSes), so I'm gettting pretty close to just saying ehf it and going back to the default display.
...About that...the display I removed got damaged and doesn't work properly, so I'm wondering where I can get a new one cheapest. There's no way Apple will replace it at this point. I haven't tried, but considering what they'll find...it's just a waste of time. Thoughts?
I have indeed added a driver override as belldandy suggested before I even started messing with SwitchResX. It works to some extent - brightness controls work perfectly via the keyboard and System Prefences, but the color seems pretty much snafu'ed. And doing all of these has also snafu'ed it in windows as well (though a PRAM reset fixes it, that would be a pain to have to do every time I start windows and reset everything in both OSes), so I'm gettting pretty close to just saying ehf it and going back to the default display.
...About that...the display I removed got damaged and doesn't work properly, so I'm wondering where I can get a new one cheapest. There's no way Apple will replace it at this point. I haven't tried, but considering what they'll find...it's just a waste of time. Thoughts?
It seems the consensus is that either belldandy has forgotten to mention a step to overcome the color issue... or belldandy's going through a whole lot of work to get us re-excited for no reason
Where are you belldandy! We're hoping for the better!
Where are you belldandy! We're hoping for the better!
I know this has been discussed earlier in this thread, but isn't this all just a matter of figuring out what the front porch, sync width, back porch and scan rates (H and V) are for each screen? If they work perfectly well in XP, is there not some SwitchResX-like XP utility which will reveal the functioning values for plugging into OS X (via SwitchResX)?
A second success!
I am excitedly writing to tell you that Belldandy may have been telling the truth.
Last weekend, I bought a new 15.4" MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.33. This laptop replaces a previous 15.4" PowerBook 1.67. Apart from the low resolution in the screen, I am very happy with the new MacBook Pro.
I bought a Samsung LT154U1-L03 panel on eBay. The folks that sold me the panel apparently have many more. I was extremely happy with the quality of the panel. There were no fingerprints, scratches, or any other defects visible in the panel when it arrived. The only way that I knew it had been used was because the plastic film on the front had been removed and reapplied at some point. This particular vendor allowed me to use the Buy Now or Best Offer. My best offer was for a panel that (1) had no dead pixels and (2) had no visible marring or scratching when the panel was turned on.
To get this all working, I did all of the following in the order listed below.
1. Start with a clean, uncrowded area (you will notice in the pictures that I didn't do this. If I had, I would not have had to search as hard as I did when I dropped screws). Make sure you have an external monitor. Without an external monitor, I don't think it is possible to do this upgrade because you will need to change some settings after you install the new panel. It may have helped that my external monitor is a Dell 2407FPW (24" 1900x1200).
1.1 You can save yourself a lot of hassel if you connect your external monitor to your MacBook right now. Make sure you can see an image. In the System Preferences, under Displays, there is a tab for Arrangement. Make sure that mirrored is NOT checked. Also drag the white bar at the top of one of the display boxes so that the menu bar appears on the external monitor.
2. I took apart my MacBook Pro. I used the guides at http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/MacBook-Pro/Display. The guides provided the information that I needed in order to safely get the screen detached from the body. You do not (and I would urge you not) to remove the memory, the harddrive, or the Superdrive. You can safely skip those pages because (1) those parts aren't in the way, and (2) if it ain't broken, why touch it?
3. The ifixit guides do not show you how to take apart the actual LCD assembly.
3.1 Start by removing the two screws located on the lower right and lower left of the display.
3.2 After seeing a guide somewhere on using bamboo chopsticks to open a Mac Mini, I have started to use these extensively because they tend not to mar the pretty surfaces. Using a chopstick or a flat screwdrivew, GENTLY and SLOWLY pry the display apart starting where the screws are. I can't give you many tips here, but the slower you go, the better. There are three catch points on the left and right sides of the display that hold it together.
3.3 It turns out that the display is held in with 4 black screws on the left and 4 black screws on the right. In addition, there is some sticky tape across the top and the bottom of the display. It was this sticky tape that caused the most problems for me.
3.4 I ended up completely disassembling the display housing because I didn't know that once the 8 black screws were removed, that I could push the display out. If you choose not to completely disassemble the panel, you will need to be extremely careful with the wires.
3.5 There are probably many many ways to get the display out. My suggestion is not to use your fingers. LCD panels are not meant for you to push on the display side with any kind of force. I used a book that was very close to the side of the panel, but a little bit smaller. I put a towel on the book and set it on the table. Then I put the LCD panel with the display side facing the towel (to protect it from scratching. As gently as I could, I pushed down on the outside edges of the metal frame surrounding the panel. It is a very scary sound as you hear the LCD panel separating from the tape. Once the panel has been removed set it aside. If your WUXGA panel came with some protective film, I suggest that you transfer it to your original mac book panel.
4. At this point, I did not reassemble my MacBook Pro. I've worked with these metal cases in the past and everytime you mess with them, you usually bend something a little. I simply turned the original display bezel (with the camera still in it) upside down and connected the display to the inverter and to my MacBook.
5. I reconnected everything but did not snap the keyboard back in (but I did reconnect the cable).
6. I choose to leave the battery out (and when it comes time to reset the PRAM, you will be thankful).
7. Before connecting the mag power thing, I carefully went over the fixit guides and made sure that everything was correctly connected. I made the decision to reconnect the antennas because (having taken several EE courses in college) I know that you can damage radio transmitters without the antennas correctly connected. Whether that applies here or not, I choose not to find out with my MacBook.
8. The last thing that I connected was the DVI cable from my external LCD panel. I was very disappointed when I turned the power on that everything did not magically work.
9. I connected my ethernet cable and downloaded SwitchResX. I should have done this before I started. It will require a reboot after you install SwitchResX.
10. I followed the directions that baxterbrittle posted to http://www.macmod.com/content/view/786/221/. I don't know if this step was required, but it is what I did. For what it is worth, my manufacturer was 00004ca3 and my model number was 00003155.
11. Because I my external LCD panel was also 1920x1200, I used the System Preferences to setup a new color profile. Since the displays were mirrored and because they were both 1920x1200, I could go through the display calibration for the new panel by looking at the external panel. If anyone knows where this file is saved, I would be happy to upload it for anyone who wants it.
12. I rebooted again and, in this reboot reset the PRAM. For those who don't know how, you remove the battery, disconnect the power supply, and hold the power button on the MacBook Pro down for at least 5 seconds. I choose to use 10 seconds to make sure I got it right.
13. On this reboot, things still did not work right, -- basically I still had no display. I fired up SwitchResX and figured out how it worked. I scoured the Internet looking for a data sheet for this LCD panel and could not find one anywhere. Then I created 3 new profiles for 1920x1200. All three were for 56hz, but each one used a different simplified setting -- CVT-RB, CVT, and GTF. CVT-RB is the one that ended up working, so I don't think you need the other two.
14. I realized that when I clicked the apply button, it required a reboot.
15. On this reboot, things were different. First, I saw the gray boot screen with the spiny thing on both monitors. Then, I saw the panel go black.
16. Logging in on the external monitor, I went into System Preferences, Displays, and switched the frequency for the display to 56 hz. All of a sudden, everything worked and here I am writing about my success.
17. When I rebooted again (to make sure this was not a fluke) and with the external monitor not connected, everything worked. The only "wierd" thing is that the boot screen with the spiny thing is a little grainy and the spiiny thing has weird colors.
I wanted to upload some pictures, but didn't feel like shrinking them to fit what this BBS software will allow. You can find some pictures I took at http://pysite.net.
If anyone has any questions, I'll answer them in the morning. I haven't put my MBP together yet because I still need to remove the stupid ears/tabs.
I wanted to thank Baxterbrittle especially, and everyone else who provided useful information. This would not have been possible without all of your posts. Thanks.
If you happen to be near Seattle, WA and want to see my 1920x1200 MacFrankenBook Pro, I would be happy to convince skeptics this is real.
I am excitedly writing to tell you that Belldandy may have been telling the truth.
Last weekend, I bought a new 15.4" MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.33. This laptop replaces a previous 15.4" PowerBook 1.67. Apart from the low resolution in the screen, I am very happy with the new MacBook Pro.
I bought a Samsung LT154U1-L03 panel on eBay. The folks that sold me the panel apparently have many more. I was extremely happy with the quality of the panel. There were no fingerprints, scratches, or any other defects visible in the panel when it arrived. The only way that I knew it had been used was because the plastic film on the front had been removed and reapplied at some point. This particular vendor allowed me to use the Buy Now or Best Offer. My best offer was for a panel that (1) had no dead pixels and (2) had no visible marring or scratching when the panel was turned on.
To get this all working, I did all of the following in the order listed below.
1. Start with a clean, uncrowded area (you will notice in the pictures that I didn't do this. If I had, I would not have had to search as hard as I did when I dropped screws). Make sure you have an external monitor. Without an external monitor, I don't think it is possible to do this upgrade because you will need to change some settings after you install the new panel. It may have helped that my external monitor is a Dell 2407FPW (24" 1900x1200).
1.1 You can save yourself a lot of hassel if you connect your external monitor to your MacBook right now. Make sure you can see an image. In the System Preferences, under Displays, there is a tab for Arrangement. Make sure that mirrored is NOT checked. Also drag the white bar at the top of one of the display boxes so that the menu bar appears on the external monitor.
2. I took apart my MacBook Pro. I used the guides at http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/MacBook-Pro/Display. The guides provided the information that I needed in order to safely get the screen detached from the body. You do not (and I would urge you not) to remove the memory, the harddrive, or the Superdrive. You can safely skip those pages because (1) those parts aren't in the way, and (2) if it ain't broken, why touch it?
3. The ifixit guides do not show you how to take apart the actual LCD assembly.
3.1 Start by removing the two screws located on the lower right and lower left of the display.
3.2 After seeing a guide somewhere on using bamboo chopsticks to open a Mac Mini, I have started to use these extensively because they tend not to mar the pretty surfaces. Using a chopstick or a flat screwdrivew, GENTLY and SLOWLY pry the display apart starting where the screws are. I can't give you many tips here, but the slower you go, the better. There are three catch points on the left and right sides of the display that hold it together.
3.3 It turns out that the display is held in with 4 black screws on the left and 4 black screws on the right. In addition, there is some sticky tape across the top and the bottom of the display. It was this sticky tape that caused the most problems for me.
3.4 I ended up completely disassembling the display housing because I didn't know that once the 8 black screws were removed, that I could push the display out. If you choose not to completely disassemble the panel, you will need to be extremely careful with the wires.
3.5 There are probably many many ways to get the display out. My suggestion is not to use your fingers. LCD panels are not meant for you to push on the display side with any kind of force. I used a book that was very close to the side of the panel, but a little bit smaller. I put a towel on the book and set it on the table. Then I put the LCD panel with the display side facing the towel (to protect it from scratching. As gently as I could, I pushed down on the outside edges of the metal frame surrounding the panel. It is a very scary sound as you hear the LCD panel separating from the tape. Once the panel has been removed set it aside. If your WUXGA panel came with some protective film, I suggest that you transfer it to your original mac book panel.
4. At this point, I did not reassemble my MacBook Pro. I've worked with these metal cases in the past and everytime you mess with them, you usually bend something a little. I simply turned the original display bezel (with the camera still in it) upside down and connected the display to the inverter and to my MacBook.
5. I reconnected everything but did not snap the keyboard back in (but I did reconnect the cable).
6. I choose to leave the battery out (and when it comes time to reset the PRAM, you will be thankful).
7. Before connecting the mag power thing, I carefully went over the fixit guides and made sure that everything was correctly connected. I made the decision to reconnect the antennas because (having taken several EE courses in college) I know that you can damage radio transmitters without the antennas correctly connected. Whether that applies here or not, I choose not to find out with my MacBook.
8. The last thing that I connected was the DVI cable from my external LCD panel. I was very disappointed when I turned the power on that everything did not magically work.
9. I connected my ethernet cable and downloaded SwitchResX. I should have done this before I started. It will require a reboot after you install SwitchResX.
10. I followed the directions that baxterbrittle posted to http://www.macmod.com/content/view/786/221/. I don't know if this step was required, but it is what I did. For what it is worth, my manufacturer was 00004ca3 and my model number was 00003155.
11. Because I my external LCD panel was also 1920x1200, I used the System Preferences to setup a new color profile. Since the displays were mirrored and because they were both 1920x1200, I could go through the display calibration for the new panel by looking at the external panel. If anyone knows where this file is saved, I would be happy to upload it for anyone who wants it.
12. I rebooted again and, in this reboot reset the PRAM. For those who don't know how, you remove the battery, disconnect the power supply, and hold the power button on the MacBook Pro down for at least 5 seconds. I choose to use 10 seconds to make sure I got it right.
13. On this reboot, things still did not work right, -- basically I still had no display. I fired up SwitchResX and figured out how it worked. I scoured the Internet looking for a data sheet for this LCD panel and could not find one anywhere. Then I created 3 new profiles for 1920x1200. All three were for 56hz, but each one used a different simplified setting -- CVT-RB, CVT, and GTF. CVT-RB is the one that ended up working, so I don't think you need the other two.
14. I realized that when I clicked the apply button, it required a reboot.
15. On this reboot, things were different. First, I saw the gray boot screen with the spiny thing on both monitors. Then, I saw the panel go black.
16. Logging in on the external monitor, I went into System Preferences, Displays, and switched the frequency for the display to 56 hz. All of a sudden, everything worked and here I am writing about my success.
17. When I rebooted again (to make sure this was not a fluke) and with the external monitor not connected, everything worked. The only "wierd" thing is that the boot screen with the spiny thing is a little grainy and the spiiny thing has weird colors.
I wanted to upload some pictures, but didn't feel like shrinking them to fit what this BBS software will allow. You can find some pictures I took at http://pysite.net.
If anyone has any questions, I'll answer them in the morning. I haven't put my MBP together yet because I still need to remove the stupid ears/tabs.
I wanted to thank Baxterbrittle especially, and everyone else who provided useful information. This would not have been possible without all of your posts. Thanks.
If you happen to be near Seattle, WA and want to see my 1920x1200 MacFrankenBook Pro, I would be happy to convince skeptics this is real.
Narzola,
Could you please post pictures of the end of the cable that connects to the computer? I'm looking at LCD's on ebay and don't want to buy one that has the wrong connector. Thanks.
Could you please post pictures of the end of the cable that connects to the computer? I'm looking at LCD's on ebay and don't want to buy one that has the wrong connector. Thanks.
Thanks for posting that information narzola. I am more convinced now that it does work. how much was the ebay panel including shipping and can you possibly PM me the seller or at least post it here for all of us to share
G/J on the mod! I goto pick up my refreshed 2.16ghz mbp CD today, 1499, cant afford the new c2d Everything that I've read suggests that all of the LCDs noted on http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15376 are compatible. The unit that I bought is the Samsung LTN154U1-L03. If I could have found the Sharp LQ154M1LW02 I would have gotten that one instead because it has a little more brightness.
For my MBP C2D, the Samsung LTN154U1-L03 was an exact replacement for the original panel (well, except for the resolution). The place where the LVDS cable connected was exactly the same and the inverter cable was exactly the same type.
I just finished closing things up so I won't feel like taking it apart again unless I have to. I'm about to go to bed, but when I wake, I'll take a picture of the MBP original panel so you can see where and what the original connectors (which you are trying to match) look like.
Thanks for posting that information narzola. I am more convinced now that it does work. how much was the ebay panel including shipping and can you possibly PM me the seller or at least post it here for all of us to share
The auction that I won was this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...MEWN:IT&viewitem=&item=220045248743&rd=1&rd=1. The seller has 11 more panels left. At this moment there are about 2 days left on the auction.
I submitted a Best Offer of $200 + shipping with two conditions: (1) no dead pixels and (2) no scratches or marring visible with the display on. I think these are factory refurbished panels because they are so completely clean they don't look like they have ever been used.
So, maybe the CVT-RB settings are they key.
I have exactly the same panel as you, so I guess I'll give it a try again today.
I imagine my panel is still going to be vertically interlaced because of whatever happened to it, but I figure since I've been the one working on it from the beginning... I should probably give it a conclusion too =p
I still can't recreate these results. I have followed your steps perfectly. I must be missing something. I am still getting the bad colors. The only thing I can't do is create a color profile using the Dell external. wondering if the new C2D is a little more forgiving.