Changing LCD panel on W530

[Prickleyebush]

My W530 died suddenly and was completely unresponsive to all the usual tests so I asked a local repairer for a diagnosis and he decided it was a motherboard fault and beyond economic repair. I've bought a cheap replacement which lacked a battery and charger and that works fine. I've swapped my old hard drive so I now hav an SSD and also the keyboard so I have a backlit version now. Everything good so far. The next upgrade I'd like to try is to use the 1600x900 display from my old machine and fit it to the replacement one which only has a 1366x768 resolution panel (both 15.6 displays). This is a bit trickier for someone like me with limited experience so I'd like to know beforehand that it should work. Any advice gratefully received please.

[RealBlackStuff]

Get the illustrated W530 manual from the HMM link at the top of this page.

[Prickleyebush]

Thanks, I have the manual and I'm sure I can change the panel but I just wondered whether there was anything that might stop the higher resolution panel working beforehand.

[TPFanatic]

Just make sure you remove battery and AC then press the power button a few times to drain the capacitors before unplugging the LCD and/or cable, to prevent any blowing of the backlight fuse.

My understanding is all T/W520,530 can be upgraded from WXGA to the HD+ or FHD panels with no other change in parts. Personally I have done this on a T520 with no problem.

You have the option of swapping your entire lid assemblies or extricating and transplanting just the LCD. I think the latter is easier, the front bezel is easier to remove than the upper palmrest, then it's just taking the hinge rails out of the lid to remove the LCD from them. You only have to be careful removing the lid sensor from the left hinge, it's stuck on pretty good from the factory.

[Prickleyebush]

Just make sure you remove battery and AC then press the power button a few times to drain the capacitors before unplugging the LCD and/or cable, to prevent any blowing of the backlight fuse.

My understanding is all T/W520,530 can be upgraded from WXGA to the HD+ or FHD panels with no other change in parts. Personally I have done this on a T520 with no problem.

You have the option of swapping your entire lid assemblies or extricating and transplanting just the LCD. I think the latter is easier, the front bezel is easier to remove than the upper palmrest, then it's just taking the hinge rails out of the lid to remove the LCD from them. You only have to be careful removing the lid sensor from the left hinge, it's stuck on pretty good from the factory.

Thanks, that's really useful. I've been careful to follow your advice and successfully removed the LCD panel from the non-working machine. Tomorrow I'll try swapping the panels. I'll post again with the results.