Hardware wxga to wxga+ laptop upgrade (14.1 inch)

[giantpune]

so, I've got my hands on a used HP nc6400 laptop. this thing comes with a WXGA 14.1" LCD that supports up to 1280 x 800 resolution. I see in their datasheets that an option was a WXGA+ 14.1" screen that supports 1440 x 900. Im wanting to switch the screen and any other necessary parts to slap this LCD in the laptop and get support for the higher resolution. HP's customer support is utter garbage. I called them up and they can't offer any support about anything useful.

Has anybody tried this? and if so, did it work? and what all was needed? I searched google and all i see is people asking the same question, but nobody ever says if they were successful, or even ended up trying the swap. If anybody actually owns a laptop with this screen ( HP part #418907-001 ), would you be willing to open your laptop and take some pictures and provide info so i can compare it against what i already have?

I dont care about the costs ( as long as it doent involve me buying a screen and not being able to use it ). And I dont care if your opinion is that the benefit is not worth the costs or effort. I just want to know if it will work. Im not afraid of opening the laptop up and soldering some wires and drimmeling away some plastic. I got the laptop for the sole purpose of haxxoring up.

 

[Deleted User]

Your best bet would be to post this sort of thread @ http://www.notebookreview.com (in the specific discussion forums).

 

[FAST6191]

I probably do not have anything helpful to say but I am going to waffle anyway- do post back with whatever ends up happening as I am curious.

Interesting- I have replaced several laptop screens including a whole bunch of HP ones and while that includes different backlights and different screen finishes on the flip side there are often multiple sub models (ignoring finishes) for the same overall model of laptop.
Obviously I do not need to mention the ever fun proprietary nature of laptop screens (and not even the "VGA port by any other name" version of proprietary) although on that line of though what about ripping apart a regular screen (many operate on 12V at currents you can slice off a DVD drive when it comes down to it- I usually buy ones without power supplies from a local computer shop) and wiring it up to the VGA out- you are already set to be making a custom mount and you could even do something fun like http://revision3.com/tbhs/airplanelaptop .
Flipping it again it is probably old enough to still be the proper options era and largely modular which then makes my concern be whether the probably nicely locked down BIOS handles/allows it- it does seem to be a business model which improves odds but HP do love their BIOS you can just about change the data and maybe one aspect of boot order in.

Also a curiosity I noticed when laptop screen replacement shopping the other day- searching for HP????? replacement gets you one price, HP repair manual number another price and actual part serial number another price all from the same people on the same site which in my case the latter turned out to be nearly half the price of the first with the other in the middle.

re: Customer support- this side of the early 90s (even then I am not sure it is anything other than a few good events and some rose tinted stuff happening) when has customer support had anyone of technical competence other than by happy accident?

In the end I hate suggesting it but most of these screen replacement people offer a weeks no hassle money back thing (mainly for the "wrong" submodel reason).

 

[Jamstruth]

I'd say its not a good idea to try and upgrade it yourself. WOuld require getting a hold of HP's own specific screen for your laptop, ripping it apart and replacing it. Even from somebody who's taken apart and reassembled several things in his life that's something I wouldn't want to do :S

 

[Scorpei]

Due to the fact that much of this is propetarian no documentation work there are a few things to see / think about to get this to work:
-What kind of grafics card is in there, and could it logically be assumed that it is not loaded with a bios with only support for one screen.
-What type of screen is in there now and how is it's signal sent over? You can generally not just swap some screen around as the pinout needs to be the same and the signalling too.
-What type of screen was used for the more luxurious version --> how similar is it.
-Does the new screen use the SAME connector!!!

Then you can simply try to find a screen that has the same resolution you want (and was preferably supported by the laptop in some version), uses a similar way of signallig and has the same pinout (or easily changable). And then just hope it will work. By the way if you are kind you will post the LVDS pinout you have found online, someone else might like to use it sometime

.

In essence it should work and I know of quite a few people who have done this.