Can I turn my lcd laptop monitor into a desktop monitor?

Fright1 : Cool, keep us posted and please do us all a favor and take lots of pictures along the way to show how it is done! Good Luck!

 

ok well i got it, but then i opened up the lining on the bottom of my laptop and i see a broken tube.. (the backlight) :'( so it will be a nother day or 2 until i can get one of the others from my friend. but I will keep you posted.. except not with pictures as my camera's lens is screwed up for some reason but that is another project..

EDIT::: Okay. So i have a different backlight and also another of the broken one. but the one that broke seems to have 3 pinholes, while the inverter appears that it should be 2. well the other backlight i have has a 2pinhole setup, but is to big to put into that case. what should I do? It also wont start, probably due to a voltage problem or just being broken. Is it possible that i could solder the backlight of the right size onto the appropriate 2pinhole connector and have it work?

EDIT::: So I did solder them together, but it is still not turning on. could it be the inverter? how can i tell?

 

Well, I'm glad to see everyone is happy with my find, doesn't happen often enough . Did you buy the kit with the backlight inverter? I had to buy it seperate because I didn't know I needed it and thought I could use my stock one. One way to test it is to plug the cable for the lcd in correctly, unplug anything else connected to it, and plug in some source of video to it, dvd player, vga, game system, etc. and put a bright light behind it to see if its turning on.

 

lol ya im glad you did well I know the monitor works, just, the inverter is definitely not the one that comes with my modell.. (btw thx for reminding me to email him ) lol anywas ya rly thanks for posting it... you put me out 80 bucks lol

 

Hey Fright01, check your xfire, I added you, your msn didn't work. I may need one of your lcd's. I got my inverter today and plugged it up. Nothing but a lit up screen. Unplugged it, tried again and I got a black screen with lines. I plugged it into my pc and it started working fine...unitl I moved the lcd. I got the lines again and I tried doing what i did first. Nothing. Then I took it apart and reassembled it. And here comes teh advice I have. ALWAYS MAKE SURE THE CABLE IS PLUGGED IN CORRECTLY. Yes, thats right, I plugged it in one pin off, I got smoke, and now all I get is the blank lit up screen. I checked the bored for burn/damages and there was nothing. i checked my lcd for burns/damages, nothing. So idk if it just needs some don't mess with time or my lcd/logic board got fried. Well great, i noticed I heard a popping sound, and my power adapter was making it, so now I guess I should check on a warranty.

 

I've just finished going through this superb thread. It took me a while to do that but in the end I was able to gain enormous knowledge in the project I wanted to take part. I am interested in utilizing my old Laptop's LCD component(Dell Latitude 800 w/ 15" LCD Monitor). Now that I've proper info, I'm pretty sure that I can approach it without much of a hassle.

I'd like to add one thing to the discussion regarding those who have functioning Laptop and would like to use it as a secondary monitor to their PC. What they can do is get the Maxivista software (which costs roughly $30 for the latest version, which is v3), install the server component on the host PC and client on the Laptop in which you'd want the secondary display to appear. Some of the supported modes are cloning, using second display as extended display, sharing keyboard/mouse while using two computers in their own native operating system mode, remote control mode to name a few.

It doesn't require your host computer to have display card supporting secondary display. However it required you to have computers connected via network because it works through IP - pretty much in a fashion a screencast application operates.

You can view the demo in the company website http://www.maxivista.com/

Although this product looks impressive the fact that it is retail will limit only few of us to be able to afford it. I'm however waiting for Freeware / Open Source version developed by users which is as good as this one.

 

Hey, sry brad I didnt get either of the adds. I just asked my friend and he said he will need to talk to u bout it... readd me on msn fright01@hotmail.com Sry I went MIA for a while. but I was waiting to go back to school to get help from my good bro, the technician... But uhm... I havent done anything w/ it yet. So sry guys who wanted me to tell u how to do it im pretty much nub at modding so it might take me a while ne ways.

but yeah just re add me and ill hook u up.

 

i believe the problem is teh vertical sync. How do i fix it?
also i still have a few extra monitors

 

try to connect it to a PC and experiment with resolutions and refresh rates. looks like the converter electronics don't tell the video card/driver the possible resolutions and frequencies correctly.

My panel runs fine at 1024x786 60Hz.

Good to see that you're a step further though ...

 

Think it has enough fingerprints on it? Jk, but make sure the cable that connects it to the controller is correctly placed, nothing is too hot, and all the cables are firm. Also make sure the VGA cable or whatever video you are using cables are firmly attached to teh controller, this may cause things to not work also. WHne I get mine back from my return, yes they are replacing it finally, I am getting teh heatsink/fan off an old gfx card adn I'm attaching it with some thermal double sided tape because it was really hot when I was using it.

 

well this could be it, but the monitor is running in 59 mhz refresh rate according to the OSD on the conv. kit... its resolution is the normal 1024*768... But if I set the refresh rate w/ nvidia tools, would that force over the 59hz its putting out now?


Edit: Okay, so i figured out, yes it does overwrite the current settings... so I set it to 1024*768 with 70hz since thats the only other supported and 60 hz was being moved to 59 for some reason :\ well It all mostly good I guess... Just need to test it out on the consoles and uhm yeah... but there is something else maybe that could be tuned... It seems to be very blue on most things... well not alot, and also where this text would be there would be almost highlighting boxes running along then off the screen. I can try to take a picture but it doesnt seem to be showing up on the camera screen. Maybe if i try to get some good light but w/e it seems like it will work alright :\ it is also likely just this monitor. well I will be testing it. anyone want me for any reason immediately ill be on msn

ps: the settings on the color strengths are all equally set.

Edit: Edit: Well, the xbox is actually forcing 720*480 w/ 59hz so uhm. yeah. does anyone know any way to possible externally hack the 360 and change that stuff?

 

hey this is so cool, im so glad that this form finally got far enough in the last year and accually found a decently priced solution were all troubled with , anyways i was wondering A. how you are telling the dealer your screen info like is it after ordering or before do u send an email because i dont want to order it and have to send it back if my screen isnt supported so ..anwyays whats the deal

 

I received my repaired controller yesterday. They sent me back a new power supplt with over-under voltage protection, a new remote, and a new revised backlight. Everything works perfectly, except I might have to get a heatsink for the video encoder.

When ordering one, send an email to the seller, ricky wong or tywong on ebay, stating you would like to know if your cld model is supported, If it is, buy it and you will need to tell him the model again, make sure you get the exact model number, like mine is a LP133X7 (C2CC) and there are various other versions of the LP133X7, He shipped me the wrong cable at first. Then everything should be good. You will get a 1 yr warranty on it, and I suggest you place the cables on correctly and triple check them before you turn it on.

 

hi
i was thinking of adapting the 12" mon from an old toshiba satilite pro 490 cdt to vga, but after some more reading it seems a rather expensive thing to do, so i shall simply request the pinout for the wires and wait until i can afford a second[and larger than 17"] regular lcd moniter
this is becuase i had this awsomely unsane idea to take a lcd panel, but a hole in the side of my computer case, and adapt the lcd into it, shorten all its cords, removing its unescairy caseings, and turn it into a lan-party machine, handle on top, pouch on opposite side for cables and periphials, and so on
btw, ide like to be the first to make this, so dont steal my idea and claim it as your own, tell me if your liking it, ask, lol
but untill then the pinouts to a toshiba ltm12c270 lcd would be nice, just to see if i can do it with this one

ps: my username was intended to be "bluefoxx" originally, my usual alias, but it seems that was taken, so i was gonna use "acidfoxx" but typoed, if theres anyway i can get this fixed from "acisfoxx" to "acisfoxx"??...

 

Hello everyone.

Read this entire thread. Pretty useful stuff, just too bad it's repeated many times (makes the thread unnecessarily long..).

First, I want to add a little to the existing info. There are currently VGA LCD controller kits available on ebay for around $40-50. Then again, there are also full monitors for a similar price.. Just go to ebay.com and search for "LVDS controller" (without the quotes). And be sure to check that it supports your particular panel.

Next, my own question. I too have an LCD panel that I want to salvage, however its native resolution is 1400x1050, which is too high for VGA (which only supports up to 1280x1024 iirc). Running it at a non-native resolution would blur the image, which is not desirable. So I would like to reiterate the DVI to LVDS option that has been briefly mentioned here. Does anyone here has some practical information on how to connect the panel to DVI (not to VGA!)? For example, where could I find a suitable converter cheaply, or what other options do I have?

I would very much like to use this panel, as it is a very good panel, especially for its size (15"). So far the only thing I could find were a couple of converters for $500-600, which is way too expensive. Maybe I'll just try to find a broken monitor with DVI input if I can't find a coverter or some simpler method..

 

Hi guys,

I have read through this very informative thread.

I have a different but simpler need.

I would like to decouple the display and the base of my old laptop (Dell Inspiron 5160), so that I can place the display anywhere I like (sometimes as a digital picture frame). For this, I need to make the LCD cable longer than it is now. Since the connectors are way too tiny for me to mess with, I have tried he following simple idea: For each of the 25 wires of the parallel LCD cable, I cut the wire and then re-connected it with a longer wire. I got through 21 wires and it still worked, but failed after that.

Could anyone tell me why? (I am sure the reconnection was firm.)

Here are some more details:
- The 25 wires are of two colors: 8 blue + 17 red. 9 of the red ones go into the inverter; and all the blue ones go into the video.

- Each of them is a stranded-wire. Furthermore, each blue wire has an ultra-thin copper layer between the conducting strands and the outer insulation. (I am not sure whether the copper are electronically connected to the wire inside; neither do I know exactly what function the copper layer is serving.)

- Anyway, I successfully extended all 17 red ones and 4 blue ones, but failed the 5th blue one (The display now shows no text or image, except color changes: blue, green, red, grey.... I try a good LCD cable and the notebook and the display still work fine.)

Apparently, there is something about the blue wires (including the copper layer) that I don't know. By cutting and reconnecting the wire, I basically cut the copper layer into separate sections.

Your advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

A friend gave me a broken laptop a few days ago, and it turns out the only thing that was faulty was a snapped ribbon cable. Well, the laptop works fine through a VGA monitor, so I was wondering what I could do with the display.

I've read through some of this thread, and I understand I'd need a analog to digital/LVDS converter in order for it to receive output from another device..

but I was wondering, what about the possibility of hooking the display up to a parallel port (or usb port) with custom software acting as an 'emulator' of the laptops display controller? I'm guessing that the speed of the port wouldn't be enough to send a full frame video signal, but would it be enough to display *something* (not necessarily output from the graphics card, I'd be happy if I could just write a program which could draw to the display)? I'm guessing it would require some trickery, as the pinout of the controller on the laptop is 30pins, but does anyone think that this is possible, or worth it even?

 

- Z_F_W -
you need an Adapter card as we have been saying, it is not possible to make the small wires longer as that signal will not travel that far on that set of wires. you should have left them and got an input adapter card, mount it to the back of the panel, you hook in the wires from the LCD and then you can send a video signal to it from whatever you want (vga, tv, video cam, etc... depending on the adapter card you buy.) at this point the monitor becomes independant and all you have to do is supply power to it, and a input signal from your source which does not have to be a PC. as this discution has been going it is becoming easier and less expensive to get the adaptor cards, @ about $100 +or- $20 shipped. generaly the sellers ask for a monitor moedl number and a general description of the connectors so they can send the right ones.

-noelemahc- basicaly you need the same thing, an adaptor card found on ebay or in one of the links earlier in this thread should do just fine to get that monitor to be a free agent (meaning connect it to what you want, make it a TV, DVD monitor, spare PC monitor for 2 screens at a time, you get the point.) there are different cards with differnt inputs available and I have been seeing some nice ones that come with TV tuners and a remote control. they are not very thick and so you can make a nice little monitor if you mount it up and then cover it somehow.(perhaps make a custom casing for it all.)

as far as hooking it up to a parallel port or USB, if it were posible you would still need a card of some sort to do the translation, pin to pin would not work.

 

Kreyon,

Thank you very much for the answer.

For my needs, adding an Adapter card would be acceptable if it does not require a new case for the display. Could you please provide some pointers to where I can buy such an adapter card?

Thank.

z_f_w

 

the link is on page 10 of this thread.
here it is again:

http://www.kitsparts.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=608