would thinkpad ips adapters work on other laptops?

[astral]

i think it was the custom connector that the adapter used. the e6420 should just be standard.
im not giving up the IPS dream yet, i'm gonna look into the generic adapter.

[kfzhu1229]

i think it was the custom connector that the adapter used. the e6420 should just be standard.
im not giving up the IPS dream yet, i'm gonna look into the generic adapter.

Again I just think it's a bad idea when also the shape of the LCD screen is going to be completely different and present serious structural issues.
Oh before you go that far, have you tried test fitting your broken narrow bezel screen and see how on earth you're gonna fit that in? those narrow bezel screen have this chin that's the pcb for the lcd (those would be flipped over to the back in the more traditional screens like the one on the e6420

[astral]

My replacement adapter arrived and..... it's interesting. I bought it from the same seller, same listing as the first time but it's a different board. More interesting though, the cable it shipped with that goes from the motherboard to the adapter board appears to just be a STOCK HD+ T430 cable. It is labelled with FRU 04W1618, appears used, and looks just like the cable when I looked up photos.
How stupid would I be to try the new adapter in the E6420?
Like, it SHOULD work, shouldn't it? Or at the very least it shouldn't burn the dang board out like it did with the other one. I mean, the stock cable would have gone directly into the LCD. I'm not going to try it until I'm advised here, as I'm not in the mood to have to spend $50 again. What do y'all think?

As for fitting the chin into the E6420, we'll see. It may not work. If it doesn't fit, 1440 route it is.

[kfzhu1229]

As for fitting the chin into the E6420, we'll see. It may not work. If it doesn't fit, 1440 route it is.

I highly suggest you sort that out first before even trying the electrical side of things. The chin on those screens is EXTREMELY sensitive, if any part of the chin is being touched or mangled by the housing, the screen will die in a matter of days. Trust me I learnt this the hard way by taking a hinge repair of a crappy HP too far...
Also I am confused, you are using the E6420's LCD cable and then that adaptor and then eDP output for your experiment, right? Assuming your cable is HD+ version with dual channel LVDS

[astral]

I tried the stock screen (1366 TN) with the cable the adapter came with and it worked. I didn't care if I fried a terrible TN screen. So the cable IS standard. I'm gonna see... if it burns out in the E6420, I'll be mystified.

[astral]

As for fitting the chin into the E6420, we'll see. It may not work. If it doesn't fit, 1440 route it is.

I highly suggest you sort that out first before even trying the electrical side of things. The chin on those screens is EXTREMELY sensitive, if any part of the chin is being touched or mangled by the housing, the screen will die in a matter of days. Trust me I learnt this the hard way by taking a hinge repair of a crappy HP too far...
Also I am confused, you are using the E6420's LCD cable and then that adaptor and then eDP output for your experiment, right? Assuming your cable is HD+ version with dual channel LVDS

I'll see if it fits first. I think there might have been a little bit of structuring in the way but I could just break that off, it wasn't integral. I'll take the housing apart again and check.

And yes, I would be going E6420 cable > adapter > EDP screen. This new adapter uses the standard pinout (otherwise my 1366 TN stock panel wouldn't have worked with the cable it came with) so it shouldn't fry anything. The E6420 has its stock 1600x900 panel so it has the proper dual channel LVDS cable in it.

[astral]

also yep... can now confirm that the mishap from last time did indeed kill my slightly faulty spare IPS panel.

[astral]

chin will not fit in the e6420 without modifications, but I think it would if I removed a few cable routing metal tabs. I'd have to snip them off, and reroute one cable, but I think it would work.

[astral]

The IPS adapter in question works on the E6420. It booted into windows, 1080p IPS goodness. Seeing a screen that good on this thing has filled me with more determination to make this mod work. I now need another one of those adapters, and another IPS display (rip). Mounting will be a challenge, but I'll find a way to make it secure. The screen should fit if I bend or break away four cable routing tabs, then I just have to mount it in a way where it is secure. 3D printing may come involved, we'll see.

[kfzhu1229]

The IPS adapter in question works on the E6420. It booted into windows, 1080p IPS goodness. Seeing a screen that good on this thing has filled me with more determination to make this mod work. I now need another one of those adapters, and another IPS display (rip). Mounting will be a challenge, but I'll find a way to make it secure. The screen should fit if I bend or break away four cable routing tabs, then I just have to mount it in a way where it is secure. 3D printing may come involved, we'll see.

If you do decide to go down that route, maybe you can consider taking a cracked 14.0" thick boarder LCD and harvest its metal frame and cut away the bottom part for the chin to poke through. But this looks like something I wouldn't trust bringing with me on the roads, and that could be a dealbreaker for a durable latitude laptop like that
you're gonna need to cut off the 4 ear tabs (or bend them sideways if you got the skills to do that), may be tricky since you could very well crack the screen if you don't do that properly.

[astral]

I'm definitely going to have to get creative w/ regard to mounting. If I end up breaking an IPS panel, that's on me. Since it might be a while before I actually get a second screen and adapter, I might try using my T430's stock panel in the meantime. It's a thin 1366 panel with the chin, so I could use that as a testbed for getting mounting figured out. I would try to get it fitted, then road test it for a few months. If it breaks, it's a garbage panel so it wouldn't be a huge loss.
Even still, I'm not too terribly worried. this thing's missing a battery and never leaves the house. The most hardship it has to endure is being taken up and down the stairs...

In response to your idea of harvesting a thick bezel - I could do that. Problem is, I don't have a dead panel of that size. I'd have to harvest it from my working 1600x900 panel which I'd rather not do. I also don't have a dremel I could use to cut the bottom part out. I'm thinking right now that I tape the top mounting holes down to the antennae, or bond those parts together in some way that would be stronger than tape. Then I'd need a shim for the bottom, of which I could probably find some sort of scrap that would work. I could probably do a better job with 3D printing but I don't have CAD skills to design a part. Either way, I'll make it work.

[kfzhu1229]

In response to your idea of harvesting a thick bezel - I could do that. Problem is, I don't have a dead panel of that size. I'd have to harvest it from my working 1600x900 panel which I'd rather not do. I also don't have a dremel I could use to cut the bottom part out. I'm thinking right now that I tape the top mounting holes down to the antennae, or bond those parts together in some way that would be stronger than tape. Then I'd need a shim for the bottom, of which I could probably find some sort of scrap that would work. I could probably do a better job with 3D printing but I don't have CAD skills to design a part. Either way, I'll make it work.

yeah right, well a dead panel of that size really could help because not only can you use the bezel but you can also use the sheets and layers to make the screen thicker so that structurally there wouldn't be a huge gap behind the screen. if you are desperate for a dead panel of that size just find locally a dead Acer aspire 474x/475x series or something like an HP probook 6460b 6470b (notorious for hinge failure) for dirt cheap, or you can find the cheapest Inspiron 1440 you can find so that if all fails and you do go for a second Inspiron 1440 to harvest its screen you'll have enough parts to piece together one complete inspiron 1440 and sell it off or something.
I suggest you sell off your current 1600x900 panel when you figured out something reliable already, it's actually a pretty easy sell once you mention that it's an exact Dell P/N replacement for E6420/E6430, ONLY when you upgrade the LCD cable as well - don't want stupid buyers to complain your screen doesn't work while it's the LCD cable's problem.