How to Use a Laptop Screen as an External Monitor?

Before all of you jump on me, I've done some basic searching and I know the short answer is "NO." I'm looking for the longer answer that says "here's why it won't work" or "here's why that's a dumb idea."

Here's what I know:
-LCD screens use a digital signal. I will probably need to connect to it via some sort of DVI connector.
-I will need some flavor of a power supply for it (this may be a problem due to a dead motherboard)

Here's what I have:
-An 18 month old Sager NP2090 with a dead motherboard (doesn't POST, but I suspect the GPU along with everything else in it still works).
-A new Asus G50 with VGA and HDMI (and USB, but that sounds frustrating) outputs.
-A bit of free time.

So... anyone know have any ideas on how to turn the old screen into a monitor?

Thanks,
Duct Tape Dude

 

i've been wondering the same thing...i have a dead inspiron 8600 but the screen is perfect. (spilled beer on keyboard, fried mobo i think)

seems a shame to waste it cos its a WUXGA screen

 

im sure you could take it to bits and try connecting the ribbon cable to a DVI cable directly. have a look on instructables, there might be something of use on there.

 

if you found out what each bit of the cable did, you could get a vga head and wire it up

 

Thanks for the responses, guys!

I've been searching around Instructables for a little bit but everything requires a motherboard that I've seen so far...

Yeah that doesn't sound too bad, I just don't know where to find a wiring diagram for my lcd

 

Don't look for a wiring diagram for your LCD, look for a wiring diagram for your MOBO. Then just compare the connectors.

 

Not that I don't support a good modding or hardware hacking project, but it might be a better idea to sell your Sager or even just the screen. I don't know what they would go for on ebay, but you should be able to get another money to buy a nice new monitor.

I'd hate to see you do more damage to your Sager, and it would be a shame if you damaged your Asus machine by accident.

If you do attempt to use the Sager screen as an external monitor, I advise that you be as careful as possible. Sorry I can't help with your project, although I do remember an article featured on Hackaday probably a few months ago where someone did something like what you are trying to do.

Just be careful, and good luck!

 

Sorry I can’t give you any valuable input, but I don’t see much a of a point in trying to salvage a 15.4” notebook screen when 17” external monitors are sold below $100 mark.

 

Yeah, I agree with you, PhoenixFX.

 

Yeah I've considered selling it but there is a somewhat noticeable bright spot on the screen itself. Looking at eBay I could probably get ~$50 for it at most...

I'll rummage around Hackaday and see what I can find. And I won't do anything stupid to this laptop, it's too nice to die at the hands of a n00b.
Thanks!

Completely true, but where is the fun in that?

 

Wow. I would have thought you could get at least $100 for the screen, but apparently now. What about the rest of your Sager? Are you planning to do anything with it? You could always sell the whole thing or part it out on ebay.

Let me know how the project goes!

 

Yes, JPZ is right.

Sell it for parts, the CPU alone will give you more than $50, I just checked eBay CPU prices, a T7200 series goes for more than $100. Then you can sell the LCD for again close to $100, if you have a removable high end graphics card then you can sell that too. Then you can sell the parts like the chassis, palm rest, keyboard, optical drive etc.. I'm sure you can find more than $200 if you do it right. I have seen people selling even tiny bits and pieces, like screws, VGA port connectors etc... because you never know who might need an extra spare part.

 

I just noticed the OP's signature- he's already trying to find people who want parts from his Sager.

 

I'm hoping to get about $200+ together from this mess. I just need a digital camera to help me sell everything, which I conveniently forgot at college.

Yeah, I have all sorts of interesting things here. I'm keeping the hard drive (put it into the second bay of my Asus) but everything else I can part with. Want anything?


Thanks for your responses again

-------
In other news, a solid hour or so has turned up the inevitable: it is indeed ridiculously more expensive to try and do this from what I know at the moment. Apparently while you can use a DVI cable, it's quite difficult to find the pinouts for the LCD I have. Even if I found the pinouts, it's not certain that everything would match up to a perfect DVI connection. That aside, an inverter board is needed to power everything since LCD backlights are apparently 5-12v AC instead of DC. Go figure.

Two places I found helpful, for anyone else's reference:
http://www.ocforums.com/archive/index.php/t-181128.html
http://www.physicsforums.com/archive/index.php/t-252231.html

 

i wonder how much i could get for an inspiron 8600 WUXGA panel complete with mint condition back cover and bezel

 

Some goes for as high as $140.