Rgb Led LP171WU5 for 8730w anyone could help me?

Hi there to everybody!
I'd like to swap the original ccfl lcd in my 8730w with a rgb led panel.
This laptop is capable of driving it withy any mainboard using a specific cable, given that it's available from hp with a rgb led called "dreamcolor". I already gave a look at service manual and I'm 100% sure of what I'm saying.
I made many searches on the net and the panel used in the dreamcolor machine is the "LP171WU5 TL B1" that is a matte one.
Then I've found TL A1 (glossy) and TL A2 (matte) versions that "should be" made fot apple laptops. See here for Apple reference
Is there anybody out there who know if all of them are rgb led panels and they only differ for being sold to different manfacturers or if they have an difference?
PDF from philips with lp171wu5 family
Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Hello
I also have a 8730w with CCFL LCD. I want to update to dream color.
Have you changed your panel rcboyit ?

 

rcboyit, I would also like to find out your impressions about the Dreamcolor panel, since you had both in your machine. How does yours compare in terms of background backlight color purity? I mean, looking at a completely white screen, do you notice color mottling in the lower left and right corners? What is the batch code of your screen? Care to comment?

 

Ok here are my 2 cents for all of you who might be interested in this subject.

First: if you want to upgrade look for the lp171wu5-tlb1. I found some datasheets on the net (I can post them here in case someone is interested) and you can clearly see that pin connector of tlb1 and tla1 are completely different so I don't think tla1 or tla2 will work. tlb1 is the way to go, I have it and it works fine.

Second: I bought my lp171wu5-tlb1 on ebay from taiwan (you can easily find the seller on ebay) but now he has no more screens so you have to look somewhere else. I bought the cable too on ebay from the usa for a very low price. He sell cable and light sensor together. Well, at least he sold, I can send you his mail in case you are interested.

Third: screen quality. Honestly it depends on what you are looking for and what you have right now. I had the lp171wu3-tlb1 in my 8730w that is quite good, not much brighter but acceptable, quite even backlight too. A friend of mine has another screen on his 8730w and it's horrible to say the least. You can find it in the official lounge has other people has commented its horrible quality. Sorry but right now I don't remember the code.
Right now I'm testing a lp171wu1 (sorry but I don't know the rest of the code, it's a matte screen) on a dell m6400 and find it very good, very bright. Colors are a bit washed out anyway.

And finally what I really think about the rgb led screen. It's very bright, maybe the brightest screen I've ever seen on a laptop but colors are way off. If you use the "hp mobile display assistant" to set colorspace and leave the "full colorspace" reds are way too saturate and green a bit too much. If you select "adobe rgb colorspace" colors are washed out. I think that to take the best out of this screen a color calibrator would be the best. But I don't have it and it's expensive. Remember that a color profile is used only in specific programs (like photoshop) and the OS or other programs like Office won't take care of it so you'll have to deal with it.

Anyway the real big problem for me with rgb led screen is the "rainbow effect". If you know what it is you know how annoying it is, but if you don't go reading wikipedia for a good description of the problem. Basically you see white colors with a halo of red or green around and I can assure you it's very annoying in the long run. If you take a web page with a white text on black screen and you suffer, like I do, the rainbow effect it will be a real pain to read. Even black text on white background is annoying and if I move my head while watching the screen I can see red and green shadows all over the screen. It has not been described that much, but if you look for it on the net you'll find some other users who have this problem. So imho the best would be to find someone who has it and test it thoroughly.

Last but not least! Since installing the rgbled screen my laptop suffer the famous battery drain problem (battery discharging fast while laptop is off) and yes, I have the lower left pink effect too (manufacturing date week 21/2008). Backlight is not that even too and black are a bit greyish (many people say the black is black, well no, not on mine at least)

So to make a long story short... Try the upgrade if it's going to be cheap. I paid less than 200 euros for cable and screen (don't trust hp, you don't need the other back cover, it will fit perfectly on the ccfl cover) so it was acceptable. If only I had bought it from hp as an upgrade for the price they asked at the time it came out I would surely have thrown it to their heads and asked for a refund.

I think I said it all. If you are interested in something else drop me a line. When you read my post keep in mind I'm a very picky user, you could find good what I find unacceptable!

 

I saw pictures of both versions and I agree with your asessment about general brightness and intensity! The non Dreamcolor is quite dim compared to the the DC

I believe you're mistaken on that last bit. In reality, HP Mobile Display Assistant actually loads the selected color profile on startup, so if you make a custom one it should get loaded on startup as well. For the rest I basically agree with you: The native colorspace is extremely saturated and contrasty, almost painfully so. However, I have found that the best results can be attained using sRGB color space, not Adobe. What I dislike, however, is not being able to tweak each color independently like I am able to on my present, low end Toshiba laptop (I have independent curves for each of the three primary colors, resulting in realistic colors, albeit with the fairly low saturation and contrast limitations of the CCFL lit TN panel). I find it unconsionable that this function is missing from the "hp mobile display assistant"! You'd think that they could have included the code within that 11MB bloatware install package...

I did notice this effect somewhat, it is akin to chromatic fringing. Do you wear glasses by any chance? I have only seen it at high contrast, and I believe this is a diffraction effect due to the very small dot pitch of the WUXGA screen. I have not been able to actually see it on a picture. Have you tried tweaking Windows font smoothing or simply turning it off? I believe that should help.

From my reseach on the issue, IIRC this is definitely an issue with screens of that run (week 21, 2008). I have read, I don't remember where, that HP had been aware of the problem and newer batches of this screen did not exhibit the problem. Although I have instructed HP Canada to KEEP my laptop UNTIL they had found a GOOD screen with NO background color issues, they have now sent it back to me after replacing the LCD yet again and I will sure find out when I receive my laptop back tomorrow

Compared to my three year old laptop and my wife's two year old laptop, the two screens I have had shortly were both very, very black. Compared to a laptop of a newer generation would obviously be a very different thing, of course.

I really appreciate your input. I am a very picky user as well, as I work with pictures every day (I am still using a 15 year old 21 inch Trinitron CRT for exacting work because I have not found anything that can match its high fidelity)

 

Mmhhh the hp mobile display assistant is able only to choose between those three presets or custom made white point color profiles. Not a full color profile. the good part is that they are applied to everything, OS interface, browser, whatever. But a real ICC color profile can only be loaded within the OS or the specific program you are interested in, but is applied only to some programs who do use color profiles.

Have you tried the Nvidia color panel? It has the ability to edit single color curves on the rgbled panel, but not on the standard ccfl panel.

Yes I do wear glasses but some friends who don't have noticed that effect too. It's very similar to fringing you are right. It's more visible on high contrast images as you say, but I see it even while browsing and that's annoying. Tried to turn off smoothing but with no effect.

Yes I read something about an unlucky batch...good luck with HP anyway. From what I've read here and on other forum you are lucky if you get back a working laptop. They (as many others, I'm not blaming HP) have no idea about quality control, otherwise they would have never sold a panel like this for this price saying it is for photographers and the like. That's why I only buy laptops to be repaired or to be upgraded and I do the work by myself. I enjoy it and I trust much more my hands and my way of working than that of most the "technicians" that are out there

I too have a old sony trinitron crt and it's a workhorse, it was one of the most expensive things around that time, but it was worth it.

 

OK, now I know what you mean. And I have been able to tweak the output slightly using the nVidia control panel (Yes, I finally got the laptop back)

Oops, that's what I meant. Have done so and got some decent results, however I much prefer a graphical, curve like editor. As for something more universal, believe it or not, the old Adobe Gamma works just fine under Vista

I looked into it and have only noticed it on very high contrast tests (such as some in the Nokia Monitor Test). But it is true that there is a strange "blasted" light effect that can be seen.

In my opinion, the "Dreamcolor 1" is still an experimental product and I would definitely, strongly recommend anyone wishing to acquire a laptop with this panel to see it for themselves first, and I would also strongly advise anyone who is in the market right now for the 8740w with Dreamcolor 2, to wait and see it for themselves. If it's like the Dreamcolor 1, it's simply not worth the premium, unless you are, like me, looking for something that will stand out in a brightly lit location (After my on-site visits I make picture presentations to my clients in restaurants and coffee shops, and my old CCFL backlit laptop just isn't bright enough when ambient light is strong as is often the case in these situations).

If the second generation Dreamcolor turns out to be a truly as good as HP touts it to be, I will definitely be looking for a way to replace the Dreamcolor 1 with it. I hope someone makes a hands on test comparing both screens.

Indeed, as usual, marketing is way off base. And as much as customer service is great on the phone, the repair people are not so great, to say the least. Last time they managed to bend the switch cover, this time the laptop came back with tape still on the cover and one of the keyboard screws hadn't been tightened. I find it incredible for such a supposedly "high-end" product, that service is so poor. We tend to insult the Chinese for their "cheap workmanship" but I'm sorry, service in America (or Canada) once again proves to be much worse.

As for getting a used laptop instead of a new one (this one I got was basically as new, there are no scratches anywhere except some very faint marks on the power supply and on the back of the case ), I guess this is an excellent idea. I do that for my vehicles, I have replaced parts on my digicams and assembled a few from several dead ones so I don't see why I couldn't graduate to laptops next.

Agreed. I got three of them, all vintage 1996 or so, two with excellent focus that turned out to be good enough to drive the screen all the way up to 2048x1536 (its resolution actually surpasses its stated .26mm dot pitch)! Unfortunately, I am not able to get the laptop to drive it at 2048x1536 like my old Windows 98 system can. I've tried tweaking the values in the registry and in the INF file like I did on my Windows 98 machine, but am not getting success with Vista. Would you have an idea on how to get this to work? The screen lists itself at a maximum of 1600x1200 on the Vista machine, and the laptop is supposedly able to run an external monitor on its VGA connector at a maximum of 2048x1536.

 

OT:

If you have experience on repairing digicams and similar, graduating to laptop is a matter of an afternoon. Most of the time you'll find disassembly guides and so it's really easy to change a part or repair something or upgrade some parts.

As for the monitor you could try "Powerstrip". It's a very useful utiliry for tweaking videocards and resolution. I used it to connect my pc to a projector with its native resolution and it worked great. Give it a try.

 

Man, you deserve a Million Thanks! *Shaking rcboyit's arm off*

To think that I used to know this app from the old Windows 95 days... I had completely forgotten about it!

It worked like a charm to set the external monitor at its proper setting and for the laptop, I was able to get the DreamColor screen set up exactly the way I want, without sacrificing dynamic range and luminosity! It's now like night and day, the pictures are accurate without being washed out, I can now start to enjoy my new laptop

To others wanting the best color for your DreamColor screen: Powerstrip by Entech is a MUST!!!

Where's the Thank You button?! [edit; never mind, found the rep button ]

 

I'll be replacing the screen on my 8730w soon.

I'm debating on whether I should upgrade to DC LP171WU5 or just buy another LP171WU3 like the one I have now.

What do you guys think?
Is it still worth it, despite the problems the DC has?
Or should I stick with the original LCD?

Has anyone else upgraded recently to DC screen?

 

In short, if you have the proper card setup for it, and if you can replace a panel that turns out to be excessively uneven, go for it, how can you go wrong for $120?

But the best person to answer would definitely be rcboyit, as he's seen the difference between the two.

 

Hi , i ve this screen LP171WU3 TL B1 and i ve bought this one LP171WU5 TL B1.
I find that the cable to connect to the screen and mother Board is this one : HP 6017B0175901 or Cble 495607-001.
Do we need something else to make the led screen working ?
I don t get what is the light sensor ? do we need this ?

Cheers

 

Hi ,
In this thread : http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...32-rgb-led-lp171wu5-anyone-could-help-me.html ,A guy explain how he ve done the experience to change his display to a dream color and it seems to work .

rcboyit say that if you ve this screen on your 8730w LP171WU3 TL B1 you can update it with this display LP171WU5 TL B1 wich is the dream color one.
I find that the cable to connect to the screen and mother Board is this one : HP 6017B0175901 or Cble 495607-001.

Does someone ve done this and know what do we need else to make the led screen working ?
Light sensor ? If yes what is the reference of this products ?

 

The sensor is for automatic dimming of the backlight under low ambient light. When active, under bright ambient light it will make the backlight brighter as well. It works well for me.

Sorry I can't help you with the dismantle and upgrade (you do have the maintenance and repair manual, don't you?), your best bet would be to PM rcboyit, since he moved on and doesn't have this laptop anymore, he may not be watching this old thread anymore.

As for myself, I maintain my assessment of the Dreamcolor LED screen. Once adjusted with the HP Mobile Display assistant and the colors tweaked with Powerstrip, it's outstanding for pictures and videos, but on a white browser window or office document, the bottom color unevenness, although fairly minimal, is definitely annoying. And that's after having tried three different panels, they all turned out to have the same uneven background coloring (my third panel looking best of the three I've had so I decided to keep that one).

In other words, good luck, as you may not like the result after the change. Brighter, definitely, but what about the color unevenness at the bottom and especially the lower left corner? It's definitely a must see and, IMO, definitely NOT worth the $400 premium HP was asking for this screen when it came out. No matter what you do, make sure you don't damage the old parts when you take the laptop apart, in case you can't stand the new screen. And do take pictures and post them up like I did (notice that these photos were of the worst screen I had and were enhanced and coloring is a bit exaggerated because it is near impossible to represent the brightness of the screen properly). I certainly would be interested to have a good look at your screen...

 

Thx for reply , i ll definitely post some photo after the upgrade , as I bought Screen : LP171WU5 TL B1 (i hope it is the last generation.)

Cable : HP 6017B0175901 or 495607-001

Ambient Light Sensor : 6050A2220601

No, i don t ve the manual reply . but i think i can manage . Just need to know if something is missing, in the elements i already ve, to make the screen working .
When i see the conectic of the cable and screen it seems that nothing is missing , but i m wondering if there s a hardware part to connect on the mother board too.( wich i don t think so )

 

When installed use the HP Mobile Display Assistant, click Options, Asset ID and it should tell you exactly what display part number and production week it was made (mine is exactly the same panel from week 21, 2008).

BTW you NEED the Display Assistant to select the color space you want to work in, but you cannot tweak the color response curve with this bloatware! For that, use Entech's Powerstrip (it's MUCH better than nvidia's lame control panel!

Of course it's all assuming you do have the nVidia 2700 or 3700 video card! If I'm not mistaken, the DC panel only works with these two cards...

BTW, HP Mobile Display Assistant is pure garbage as far as software is concerned. Not only is it bloatware (over 20MB installed for something that only selects the color space (it won't let me create one, don't even expect any color or brightness adujstment)), it is also slow and buggy (it doesn't even conform to windows standard, for example it doesn't come up in a standard window or on a tab).

Cable: 495607-001
Ambient light sensor board: 495029-001

That's from HP's 8730w Service and Maintenance Manual, it's got a few not very detailed, but usable schematics.

 

Hi i ve connect all the part but the screen doesn t start ? my Old screen with his cable works ? But the led one doesn t work ?
Am i doing someting wrong ?
Is there a hardware part missing ?
Are they really compatible ?
Is the screen not working ? Or the light ambient sensor ?
I do not think the led cable ve a trouble ?

Do i ve to change something in the bios ?

 

Possibly, and you may have to update it. HP did when they replaced my DC screen. Start the laptop, pres [Esc], [F1] and check the BIOS version. I am assuming your video card IS compatible with th DC screen (MUST be nVidia FX2700 or 3700)...

 

Yes fx2700.

Thx i ll ve a look.

 

maybe you have to reset the BIOS anyway? (I think you can do it unplugging the power and removing the battery and press the power button for 10 seconds, or is this a myth?)

by resetting I do not mean to reset the values, just to clear things up...

 

Sorry guys I'm not using an 8730w, but I have some questions to upgrade my machine screen, would you help me please?

1. My old screen has partnumber: LP171WU4-TLA1, it's a WLED screen, so can I replace it by the LP171WU5-TLA1 (or A2)?

2. Would you tell me the difference between TLA1, TLA2 and TLB1 please? I did search on some forums they say TLA1 is glossy, TLA2 is matte but no ideas about the difference between TLA2 and TLB1.

3. I see the LP171WU5 are RGB-LED screen, so will all of them (TLA1, TLA2, TLB1) are RGB-LED or the TLB1 one only?

Any help would be most appreciated, thank you.

 

bios is upadted to the last version but still don t work .

I do not undersand what i ll ve to change in the bios set up to make the screen start. Is the led screen using more energy ? Can we change in the bios the energy who goes true the mother board for the screen.

It possible also that the is screen faulty or the light ambient sensor .

I wish rcboyit would be around to Help

 

Different panels, different cables, but also different video cards. We need to know more. rcboyit did this job on an 8730w, I doubt it would work on any other laptop.

 

I wish I could help more, but let's start with the obvious: your screen won't start as in no light whatsoever, right? If so carefully look at your cabling. I doubt the whole thing is dead, you should have at least some signs of life if your cables are OK. No life, no power. Look at the cables and connections again.

 

Yes, they're different panels, but I think the LP171WU4-TLA1 is a LED (not CCFL) panel, so it should be easier to do the same job than rcboyit did, shouldn't it?

About the cable, I did search on the internet and found that the two panel above (WU4 and WU5) have the same data connector (40 pins), but I don't know if there's any differences between TLA1, TLA2 and TLB1, could you tell me please?

My notebook is the classic late 2008 17" MacBook Pro, it was equipped by an nVidia GeForce 8600M GT, so I think it fine.

 

The panel on the 8730w with Dreamcolor is of the same family, indeed, and it is a matte screen, I remember looking it up back in the days I was researching the DC panel prior to my acquisition of my 8730w, but it is NOT the same as that on a MacBook Pro! On the HP 8730w, the number is LP171WU 5-TLB1, on the MacBook Pro, it is LP171WU 1-TLB1. Easy to confuse, isn't it?

Look at this this Apple Support forum post for starters, it lists quite a few screens compatible with your laptop, hopefully you may find it useful.

I wish i could help more, but found very little from the manufacturer.

 

The panel LP171WU1-TLB1 is from the model Late 2007, and it's CFFL, not LED. Since Oct 2008, 17" MBP uses LED-backlit WUXGA panel for all models. Currently, the late 2008 model has LP171WU4-TLA1, the 2009 and 2010 model is using LP171WU6-TLA1, some use LT170CT10 from Samsung, which offers 75% color gamut.

I did search on the internet and found the LP171WU5 was added to the LG products since late 2008, and the LP171WU6 (not the bad U7) was after then. I chose it before it's the RGB LED panel for notebook only from LG 'til now.

I took a look on some photos and saw the back of the LP171WU5-TLA2, the logic board used the same as LP171WU5-TLA1, so I hoped they could be replaced by the other.







Maybe they're not the same, but I think they're at the same family, same "LED", so the same connector. That's why I really would like to mod the screen.

 

I did everything i can , but it still doesn t work ! I think the screen s defectuous.

Ok i ve send the screen back and i ve order a new cable and light ambient sensor , and i ll buy a new screen to see ! now it does not work and it was suppose to; then it might be a defectuous screen ! or a defectuous ambient light sensor or cable ! i ll ve a tcheck !

 

sorry I've been away for a while!
the light sensor part number is in the service manual, I don't have it right now so I can't help you.
Cable, sensor and lcd are all you need BUT as already said you must have Nvidia card and a release mainboard. I had a preproduction mainboard that was not working with dreamcolor, but a full release was perfect. Are you sure you have a release unit?

 

Hi rcboyit, sorry to answer this late i was not in my place and thx for reply.

My graphic card is a fx2700m, but i don t know about the mother board ! I bought my 8730w in december 2009 ( must be a release one or ?)

What do i ve to do, to know if my mainboard is a release one or a preproduction unit?

 

My mainboard Version is KBC Version 91.25

 

where have you bought your 8730w? does it have any official warranty? have you ever updated your bios with success?
if you answered yes to any of these questions then you have 100% a release unit. otherwise let me know.
what exact model of screen do you have? ONLY lp171wu5-tlb1 is known to work fine. I don't remember which one you have.

 

I bought my 8730w from Hp France, in 2009 december ,i ve a full 3 years warranty , ( i send it 3 time in warranty )i ve updated my bios with success manytime . My screen s a lp171wu3-tlb1 and i bought the lp171wu5-tlb1 .

may be the ambient light sensor was not working or the screen was out of order too , that s'the reason why it didn t work.

Did you change something in the bios, to make the screen start ?

 

It s working now

 

Wow! Good for you! Would you care to expand on it? What happened? What did you discover?

 

congrats guy!!! Could you please tell us the steps?