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

Display never turns on.

I've moved the LCD from a Thinkpad T61p to my MacBook pro and am not having any luck getting the display to work. The machine seems to startup but the display never turns on. I've tried reseting the PRAM using the instructions on Apples site (unplug, remove battery, hold power for 5 seconds). It's been a few years since I used macs a lot so not sure where to start. Can anyone help me with determining if the display I'm trying to use will work or not. I'm working with a MacBook Pro 15" that was purchased in Feb 07.

The screen i'm using is a WUXGA. it's a Samsung Model number LTN15U2-L05.

Anything would help at this point!

Thanks.

UPDATE: After some tinkering I actually got this to work. I went back and started reading through the entire post and only made it up to page 15 before I stumbled upon something that worked. Here is a description of how things worked for me.

After putting in the Samsung LTN15U2-L05 screen I got no display. Just a black screen. I tried resetting the PRAM but nothing seemed to work.

I was using an external monitor to do some things while swapping screens out. I never got the monitor to work while the LTN15U2-L05 was installed.

On accident I switched the LCD panels while the machine was in sleep and not turned off. I hit the space bar and the machine came up and the LTN15U2-L05 screen worked. But I had the screwed up colors that many have reported before.

I had not read the posts far enough to see this so I thought maybe it was a connection thing. I then noticed somehow I managed to break the monitor plug a little. Nothing major just the plastic.

I just unplugged the external monitor with the LTN15U2-L05 plugged up and when the screen reset it just magically worked!!! I have no idea what caused this.

I'm afraid of resetting the PRAM right now because I'm worried that will break thing. So for now I'm going to put everything back together and just be happy it's working. :)

If anyone has any ideas on why this worked let me know. My only guess is that when the screen readjusted from showing Mirror Mode it just picked up the correct settings from the monitor.

So the official status on the Samsung LTN15U2-L05 is that it works. I'll get a screen shot up once I get everything put back together.
 
Pictures

As promised here are some shots of my MacBook post Mod. :)

Picture of laptop. Sorry for the low light.
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Screenshot of desktop.
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Now the MacBook will officially replace my other machine for work. :) Windows XP works fine with 1920 x 1200. I'm still confused why it just started working but don't care at this point because it is working.
 
Great job

Congratulations rkfinley79. Glad to see another successful attempt here. I have a couple of questions regarding your work:

1. Did you do the SwitchResX, ATIinject or other steps in the whole process ?

2. Do you think the resolution of the external monitor matters?

Thank you.
 
Over a week

and still loving my HD goodness.. however my laptop has shut itself off randomly about 4x now.. and its starting to concern me.. I've taken the topcase off and checked and rerouted a few cables I thought might be getting pinched.. I noticed this morning that there are 2 settings above maximum brightness.. I wonder if its trying to send too much juice to the inverter or something so I set it to the one below maximum (same level of brightness)... lets hope that fixes it... I really don't want to go back to 1440 lol

otherwise maybe my logicboard is going.. and those are spensive!
 
Hi,

Please forgive me for briefly hijacking this thread, but you guys are the experts on disassembling the LCD bezel...

I have a crackling sound in the middle of my display bezel when I close it, at about 30 degrees. I suspect that it's either the LCD panel that's loose or, the more I think about it, the cable in the back that goes along the middle. When I press on the back of the bezel as I'm closing it, there is no sound at all.

My question: is there a way to open it up without removing the whole display bezel? I saw a guide to just removing the back part, but I haven't been able to unscrew those little screws at the bottom. Is there a good tool you'd recommend for that? If I could just get in, I could tape the cable down, or adjust whatever it is that is making that annoying noise!

Thanks for advice!
 
update

It's beena few days and I wanted to give an update on my level of success with the LCD swap.

First to answer a few questions. I did not have to use SwitchResX or ATIinject in order to get the screen to work. I did have issues at first and like I said in my previous post I got it to work kind of randomly.

When I first did the swap I got no display what so ever. The screen was just Black. I then hooked up an external monitor and was able to get the screen to come up but it had the crazy colors that people have mentioned many times (there are screen shotsin one of the posts). At that point I was going back and forth between the LCD panels to test things. I would shut down, swap cable, and restart. One of the times I did this I thought the machine was shut down but it was actually just in sleep mode. When I went to turn it on I hit the space bar out of habit and realized it was up and running. I then unplugged the external monitor and when OS X readjusted the resolution to get out of mirror mode it just worked. The screen had full colors and was showing 1920x1200.

I restarted into Windows to see if it was the same and sure enough it was. At this point I was stoked and just accepted it as "working"


Now for the update. Everything seems to be good except one problem. Which is a pretty big one for me. When I put the machine to sleep under Windows XP it comes back up with the 'Crazy Colors.' Luckily the solution is to just restart the machine and the colors are fine. But this means I no longer have the option to use sleep under Windows. This is a pretty big issue for me at work since I move around a lot and need to be able to shut the machine and run to a meeting or other building.

If anyone has any ideas please let me know! If I really need to do the ATIinject thing that's cool but honestly I don't understand what that is. I only got so far in the posts and I never found one that clearly explained it.

Someone REALLY needs to put a summary of how to get this working somewhere. 35 pages of posts in a forum is just way to hard to figure things out. If anyone has the time that would be awesome. I think a great way to organize it would be to have a simple overview of the process and then break it down by screen type used for the Mod. People that got it to work with each screen can put in their process for that screen. It would be much more organized and easier for people to get going with the process.

----------------
MacBook Pro 15"
w/ Samsung LTN15U2-L05 screen Mod (1920x1200)
 
This all looks very nice, but what about all of us without pro models? Anyone know of a higher resolution panel that would work in a normal macbook?
 
Powerstrip for XP

rkfinley79 said:
Now for the update. Everything seems to be good except one problem. Which is a pretty big one for me. When I put the machine to sleep under Windows XP it comes back up with the 'Crazy Colors.' Luckily the solution is to just restart the machine and the colors are fine. But this means I no longer have the option to use sleep under Windows. This is a pretty big issue for me at work since I move around a lot and need to be able to shut the machine and run to a meeting or other building.
Click to expand...

For XP, you may want to try a program called powerstrip. You can set up a hot key so when you come out of sleep, it will refresh to normal colors.
 
nycbjr said:
I got mine from browngranite.. good folks.. fast shipping..
Click to expand...

I spoke to the guy there. He told me that they are not allowed to sell the Samsung LTN154U2-L07 and have to ship a compatible one with a different product number instead. Did you look at the panel, is it an original Samsung?
 
I wonder if the GMA X3100 supports higher res screens. I'm seriously tempted to try this on my Lenovo N200. I've got a somewhat hideously low-res 1280x800 15.4" screen in there (I say hideously low res because I'm used to 12" 1280x800 laptops) - I know Lenovo ship N200s with 1440x900 screens, but not 1920x1200s...

There's a Lenovo 13.3" machine with a 1440x900 screen, so they must exist too. This is a potential mod for MacBook owners too then.

I did once try connecting a 12.1" 1280x800 screen to a 12" PowerBook, but it didn't work, although it was a Rev.A - maybe I'd have had more luck with an FX5200 12", and it wouldn't be very useful anyway, since a widescreen 12" is a completely different shape to the 4:3...
 
PDE said:
Hi,
My question: is there a way to open it up without removing the whole display bezel? I saw a guide to just removing the back part, but I haven't been able to unscrew those little screws at the bottom. Is there a good tool you'd recommend for that? If I could just get in, I could tape the cable down, or adjust whatever it is that is making that annoying noise!

Thanks for advice!
Click to expand...

I used a tiny little screwdriver, the kind you would tighten up eyeglass frames with. Go at an angle from the side of the screen and do little quarter turns. It takes awhile to get the screws out, taking the top case off is probably a lot easier method :)
 
Azurael said:
I wonder if the GMA X3100 supports higher res screens. I'm seriously tempted to try this on my Lenovo N200. I've got a somewhat hideously low-res 1280x800 15.4" screen in there (I say hideously low res because I'm used to 12" 1280x800 laptops) - I know Lenovo ship N200s with 1440x900 screens, but not 1920x1200s...

There's a Lenovo 13.3" machine with a 1440x900 screen, so they must exist too. This is a potential mod for MacBook owners too then.

I did once try connecting a 12.1" 1280x800 screen to a 12" PowerBook, but it didn't work, although it was a Rev.A - maybe I'd have had more luck with an FX5200 12", and it wouldn't be very useful anyway, since a widescreen 12" is a completely different shape to the 4:3...
Click to expand...

Well, that new lenovo uses an LED backlight, so it will be thinner than the CCFL backlit models. It also uses a different connector from a CCFL backlight.

Aside from that though.

The MacBook with the GMA950 (so about half as powerful as the X3100 that you are talking about) can drive an external 1920*1200 screen along with its internal 1280*800... so I would bet that you could drop any screen you want into that thing, bearing in mind that the higher the res, the less likely you will be able to say.... play HD video on it.
 
melmo said:
I used a tiny little screwdriver, the kind you would tighten up eyeglass frames with. Go at an angle from the side of the screen and do little quarter turns. It takes awhile to get the screws out, taking the top case off is probably a lot easier method :)
Click to expand...

Thanks, I can see that it takes time given how little space there is. I'll try that though and see if I can do it. Taking the entire display off seems a little daunting to me since I'm not use to working inside a laptop.

cheers,
 
rkfinley79 said:
Someone REALLY needs to put a summary of how to get this working somewhere. 35 pages of posts in a forum is just way to hard to figure things out. If anyone has the time that would be awesome. I think a great way to organize it would be to have a simple overview of the process and then break it down by screen type used for the Mod. People that got it to work with each screen can put in their process for that screen. It would be much more organized and easier for people to get going with the process.
Click to expand...

It's a nice idea, but it would be hard to do... basically I think there have been so many different experiences as different people have done different things that have worked for them... there's no systematicity and no really true and tested method. Or even set of methods. What I did was bookmark specific pages that referenced methods for specific things, e.g. using ATIinject and SwitchResX.
 
I may be stupid but...

Ok, so my MBP has a dying backlight. It comes on and off even after replacing the inverter board, so I figure it has to be the screen.

While trying to spend less than $600 on an apple screen I stumbled across your thread. Brilliant. This is for me.

I have read the first 15 pages and the last 5 or 6 but it is giving me a headache (and the backlight isn't helping much) so thought I would ask because I can't seem to work it out myself:

Leo 10.5.1 = "Just Works" ... for some people only? Is there any rhyme or reason as to who needs the inject and SwitchResX? I can't seem to see one...

Some helpful person linked to the nice looking LP154WU1 which is stupidly cheap .... does it or does it not work? I'm thinking no, but the link wasn't flamed so is it Yes with Leo?

If I buy any old screen with the same spec as the apple one I'm swapping out as a spare it won't hit any of these problems (matching the response time and resolution) and i'll be able to mess about with the other one to get it working in my spare time?


Thanks,

S

*rant* 54 weeks and the screen dies. 54 weeks! Thanks Steve! */rant*
 
Progress

Machine: The first generation MBP 15 CD 1.83, OSX 10.4.11 with up-to-date software and firmware, windows xp, and linux tri-boot using rEFIt.
Panel: SAMSUNG LTN154U2-L04 from www.ztronics.com
Procedures:
a. Hook up an external monitor, mirror the internal/external displays, set the external display as the main display, then put the computer to SLEEP. Thanks to rkfinley79 for the tip
b. Using the instructions from http://www.screentekinc.com/lcd-removal-instructions_en,macbookpro.shtml to disassemble the LCD housing. Some of the steps are not easy, such as you need a very tiny blade screw driver to remove the two screws at the bottom corner of the bezel panel; you need to be careful when removing the top shell which is held tight; Be careful when disconnecting the cables; Be slow and VERY PATIENT to remove the screen held by the glue - I had to use a blade to separate the LCD screen from the bezel without benting the bezel because the glue is very strong (MAYNOT BE THE BEST WAY, TAKE YOUR OWN RISK).
YOU SHOULD CONSIDER TO DISCONNECT THE CABLES ONLY AND HOOK UP YOUR NEW LCD PANEL TO TEST IF IT WORKS BEFORE YOU REMOVE THE ORIGINAL LCD PANEL FROM THE HOUSING.

c. After the new lcd is installed with the external monitor also in place (Not sure if necessary), wake up the computer and the new panel just worked.

Keyboard backlit: full working
Brightness control: not working. Currently (or permanently) I am using shade to adjust the screen brightness. Thanks to bryanus for the info http://www.charcoaldesign.co.uk/shades
Windows XP: full working including brightness control
I tried multiple conditions of reboot, sleep/wake with/without external monitor in both mac os X and win xp with no issues occured.

Summary: Without SwithchResX, ATIinject and override file (I believe they are good stuff but a little bit too advanced for me to understand how they are working), the SAMSUNG WUXGA panel is in near full working order. Thanks to this thread and all the people contributed, I can't image to do this without all the info here. Good luck buddies!
 
Upgrade to Leopard before or after installing new panel?

So my SAMSUNG LTN154U2-L04 is arriving in 2 days

I have MBP Core Duo 2.0 (The O.G. one), 10.4.11

Would I be better off upgrading to Leopard first and then installing the new panel or vice-versa

I get the feeling from recent posts that upgrading to Leopard first (as then I *shouldn't* need to perform any trickery to get it to work) is the smart move but thought it would be wise to ask...?

TIA

Matt
 
Hey guys, I'm in the middle of putting together a guide for all of this so you don't have to weed through 35 pages to get the info you need. I also just got my upgrade to a Core 2 and I'm going to move my 07 (glossy) over to it and see if it "just works" like a few have described. if it does then it means that people with the original core duos have to use the ATIinject.kext and those witih Core2's do not. (with leopard).

I should have the guide done by next week.

Cheers
 
That would be great! I have been following this thread since the first day it was posted. I have been waiting for someone to put together step by step instructions on how to perform the mod. I'm not completely satisfied with the results people are having though. I would really like the brightness control to work properly before I perform the mod, but we'll have to see what happens. In addition to a guide, I think it would be awesome if someone put together some sort of video performing the entire modification.

nycbjr said:
Hey guys, I'm in the middle of putting together a guide for all of this so you don't have to weed through 35 pages to get the info you need. I also just got my upgrade to a Core 2 and I'm going to move my 07 (glossy) over to it and see if it "just works" like a few have described. if it does then it means that people with the original core duos have to use the ATIinject.kext and those witih Core2's do not. (with leopard).

I should have the guide done by next week.

Cheers
Click to expand...
 
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