Rest in pieces

[unixronin]

cymrullewes' Thinkpad 600E died last night.  It got knocked down onto the floor (again), landing this time directly on its Linksys WPC54G wireless card, splitting the card's casing open and driving it into the machine hard enough to bend two of the four screws that hold the card cage in place and tear one of the mounting ears.  It wouldn't boot after we picked it up.

After cymrullewes almost completely disassembled it, presuming it dead, and fixing the card cage, I took a look at it and couldn't find any obvious physical damage apart from the somewhat mangled card cage and one broken lug on the case.  Perhaps surprisingly, I was able to repair the card cage, and didn't find anything else visibly needing fixing, so I put it back together (with a little head-scratching at some screws I couldn't account for, because I hadn't realized there were screws on the back edge of the case).  To our surprise, it worked.

For a while.  Maybe an hour.  Then the display started acting progressively more and more weirdly, then started displaying only a pink band down the right side of the screen, then just four white horizontal lines, then two, and eventually quit altogether.  And it hasn't displayed a thing since.  The backlight is still working fine, and by connecting an external monitor I've verified that the graphics adapter is still working perfectly, but the screen is dead.  Something in the LCD screen must have cracked, and progressively failed once powered up again.  (I note that no cracks are visible in the screen itself.)

So ... anyone know of any inexpensive sources for a 13.3" XGA LCD screen to fit a Thinkpad 600E?

Update:

We're currently shooting for a used Thinkpad T20 off eBay as a more cost-effective replacement.

Comments

[unix-jedi.livejournal.com]

My understanding - Ain't No Such Beast.

In terms of spare parts, those things are expensive enough that it's really not worthwhile to replace them.

Maybe someone else can help... But I've always considered laptops with display issues to be toast, if not under active warranty...

But, so I'm not totally worthless: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=VGN-S580P-R&cm_mmc=geekmail-_-daily_html-_-20aug07_SONYDEAL-_-SONYDEALmain

Probably cheaper than repair.

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

Honey, it's a Thinkpad. This is the 3rd time it's crashed and it keeps bouncing back. I use it to sit on the couch and chat and read e-mail. If I could get flash working with slackware 11 and firefox then I'd probably use it for more websurfing too.

[unix-jedi.livejournal.com]

Install Gentoo!

Well, I'm glad to see that my info is totally out of date - I didn't think things had changed THAT much in the ..well, maybe it's been longer than I thought since I was dealing with/talking about those kind of parts...

I've been trying to get time to write up my latest laptop experience...

Yep, my newest work laptop is.. well.. Running.. a... variant of ... Mach and FreeBSD...

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

Actually, he's install gentoo on his Thinkpad. I'm not sure that I want something where I have to build world or emerge. :-)

[tomatoe333.livejournal.com]

Ubuntu FTW!

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think his Thinkpad came with Kubuntu on it.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

A non-booting Kubuntu install. There turned out to be two different hardware quirks I had to work around to get a working installation on it.

For reference:

1. The Thinkpad i1300 has an OHCI-compliant USB host controller which, however, will lock the machine hard if probed as OHCI. Workaround: Install with nousb, then configure it as a UHCI USB host controller. You'll lose a tiny amount of functionality, but it'll work, and you'll probably never miss the few added features of OHCI.


2. The Thinkpad i1300's ALi IDE controller is buggy, and if booted from a generic Linux kernel, will fail to mount the CD to complete the installation after booting from it. Workaround: when installing, boot with append="ide0=ata66 ide1=ata66 ide2=ata66 ide3=ata66", then build a custom kernel with the appropriate ALi chipset patches.

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

I still find that preferable to chancing an in place upgrade, or the reinstall cycle. I had a system that spent five years as an up to date gentoo install. I have yet to be able to accomplish anything like that with any other distro.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the sort of thing I have in mind ... never having to do a full reinstall again, and having something else take care of the dependency tree for me.

[mrmeval.livejournal.com]

http://stderr.org/pipermail/thinkpad/2004-February/008593.html

Quote:
"The part numbers for the 600E displays are:

LCD Panel (DBU) 05K9398
LCD Panel (HITACHI) 05K9466
LCD Panel (LG) 05K9519
LCD Panel (Samsung) 05K9546"

From that I found

http://www.calhountech.com/search/index.php?part=05K9398
39.60

http://www.calhountech.com/search/index.php?part=05K9466
75.24

http://www.calhountech.com/search/index.php?part=05K9519
69-155

http://www.calhountech.com/search/index.php?part=05K9546
67.32

Seems to be a reasonably priced company with a better website and prices than many.

[unix-jedi.livejournal.com]

Wow.

Ok, my data is obviously out of date. :)

[mrmeval.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure it's not a fishing site and that they won't quote higher. I just saw the 'live quote' button....Found one on Ebay for 9+15S&H but it's not a 'buy it now'

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Appreciate the thought, but basically all the information/experience I have of Vaios is that they're very definitely light-duty consumer-grade laptops, and fall apart rapidly under any kind of heavy use.

We're currently looking at a used Thinkpad T20 on eBay.

[laurarey.livejournal.com]

Hmmm....David (peck) has a Vaio which he's had for probably close to ten years. It's been carted around on the motorcycle, even when the motorcycle didn't stay upright, exposed to coding on the dock at the cottage....and it still keeps going. David is very hard on laptops.

[mrmeval.livejournal.com]

Since you know it's broken go ahead and disassemble it to the LCD. Use your own technique to mark where the screws go. On the back of the LCD assembly will be a number. I'm not sure if this Compaq one I have will work but I'd send it at no charge.

Its a Hitachi LGM9901ZWCC

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

This screen is IBM P/N 05K9516, FRU P/N 05K9519, actual panel is LG LP133X3. I understand IBM FRU 46L2209 (Philips 46L2208) will also fit. I can't find any specs on that Hitachi panel to determine whether it's compatible or not.

[mrmeval.livejournal.com]

http://www.impactcomputers.com/05k9519.html
149 from them

[mrmeval.livejournal.com]

http://cgi.ebay.com/05K9516-05K9519-IBM-600-600X-LP133X3-13-3-LCD-screen_W0QQitemZ290151440821QQihZ019QQcategoryZ42188QQcmdZViewItem
So far its $9+15S&H

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there's quite a few in various conditions of assembly on eBay, including one brand-new philips LCD panel for $29. Right now, we have top bid at $31 on a Thinkpad T20 that's probably a much better deal than replacing the screen, if we can get it (P3/550, max 512MB, 14.1" XGA vs. P2/266, max 288MB, 13.3" XGA).

[mrmeval.livejournal.com]

Good luck. That's way better than laptops have been in the past.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I have little doubt there'll be the typical eBay last-five-minutes bidding frenzy ... it's too good a deal. :p

[lonewolf545.livejournal.com]

Let me see what model Julie's is, it hasn't been used for several years. I forget what problem she was having with it that caused us to replace it, but you're welcome to use it for spare parts.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

It'd be welcome, if compatible. So far, we're top bid on a Thinkpad T20 that'll be a great deal if nobody snipes us.

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

I recommend a T23. I love mine, now _quietude_'s. They are a bit faster.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Well, if we were wishlist shopping with a blank check, we'd just go out and buy a couple of new T60s. :) But the T20 is what's available in that price range....

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

Last I checked, the T2? series were all in the same general price range. Kind of like the break in memory prices, they climb fairly linearly, and then a big jump to the newest technology. The T2? series all used to be within about $150.00 of each other when I bought the T23. For just a bit more money, you could get a nicer system. It is really hard to upgrade components in laptops. (Even though I usually replace the drive...)

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, sure, if we could pick and choose. This particular T20 just happens to be on eBay at a too-good-to-pass-up price, so far. (I suspect it'll succumb to the usual eBay bidding frenzy and the price will shoot up by possibly as much as several hundred dollars in the last two minutes, pushing it far beyond what we can spare right now, but hey ... we could get lucky, and the auction snipers could all be watching newer, zoomier Thinkpads.)



(I hate and detest auction snipers. But that's a rant for another time. I'd like to see eBay institute a policy where no auction can close until there have been no new bids for five minutes ... but I doubt eBay will ever do that, because they make too much money off the last-second bidding frenzies.)

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

I have largely given up on doing business with ebay for just those reasons.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, me too. We occasionally venture there, but only occasionally.

[outtamyskull.livejournal.com]

Toshiba = Good

I've had mine three or more years, is been dropped numerous times, thrown a couple times (in my bag), sat on, and slept on...