HP envy 17 - 2D to 3D screen conversion.

Hello dear all-knowing forum members.
I have a HP envy 17 2090el with a cracked screen.

I want to replace the cracked FHD 2D display with a 3D FHD one. From what I saw from the service manual I will have to get the whole top assembley. I found one at a really good price ($120) in china .

The main question is, will it work? Is it the same LCD connector on the motherboard, will I be able to install the drivers, or should I just buy the same lcd panel ?

Thank you

 

You might be better off asking the question in the 2xxx thread but I don't see why it shouldn't work. As long as the display is the same that they put into the 17 2xxx 3D.

It should be the same connector. .. not that it matter but it does seem to look like the same connected from the last time I opened up the machine.

Just make sure it is the same screen they use on the 3D models.

 

Thanks for you answer.
I had a second look at the service manual and I found that they separated the motherboard in two categories, 2D and 3D.

So it dosen't look promising, unless somebody did this swap before, i will buy the same LCD panel.

 

The 6850m does have 1GB GDDR5. Thermal material is the blue pad they use between heatsink and gpu/cpu.

There are people that have done this I think. Don't quote me on it but I would search the 2xxx forum.

 

i cannot tell for sure whether it will work or not, since with your model the BIOS is the place where it may or may not work (whitelist), but you definitely have to look for the exact HP internal product numbers!
i have replaced my cracked 3D screen on my envy 17 (1195ea) with another 3D one i bought online from the states, and it works great. but i had a really hard time finding the exact HP product number, which is CRUCIAL!

the reason for this is following:
there are lots of displays, which share the same vendor product number (i even beleive the same EAN!), however they are not all meant (and suitable!) for any notebook that originally has one of them factory-built!
i had such an experience with my old elitebook - bought the exact same LGP display online, but when trying to replace th old one i noticed that the cable for the backlight was too short to reach the jack, since this specific display was meant for a dell notebook. and it wasnt my fault, it was the online shop's fault, since they thought if the vendor's product number is same, its the same display and it fits into any notebook which this display is compatible with - WRONG.

therefore you need to look for the HP internal product number for the display - just ask HP support or look at the service and maintenance guide of your specific notebook model, since this one identifies the exact display meant for your notebook, and not the equal display, but eventually meant for another notebook.

regarding 3D - non-3D: if it was the envy 3200 series, it definitely would not work. with the 2000 series i am not sure, since as you already noticed, the motherboards differ, but id give it a try and ask HP support to check that (in case you get in touch with a really friendly one who would do you this favor, since this is not something they are supposed to do, understandably).

and one last warning: if you havent already opened the lid, watch out when seperating the plastic front screen from the display itself, since in my case it was glued so firmly onto it, that i first thought this was impossible to do, and then after realizing theres no alternative, i needed to puncture the space between them with a screwdriver, which made me scratch the front screen on several places, so now i have some scratches on the front screen, luckily only on its edges, so it isnt that visible, but still theyre notieable, especially when light shines on the display - looks like grease stripes :/

 

I searched the 2000 series forum, but I could not find any mention of this problem. The main reason I think this information is not available is because who wanted a 3D display bought the laptop with that screen, considering it was only a 70$ difference.

I don't know if a HP support guy would know to tell me if it would work or not, I'm confident that they don't know the difference between motherboards and why there's one for 2D and one for 3D, that would require engineering knowledge. The only way to find out is trial and error unfortunately. I was hopping that somebody did this maneuver before.

Regarding the LCD replacement, I saw that the LCD is glued to the front glass/plastic shield, I'm planning to gently heat the back and front hopefully it will come of easy.

 

You need to open the display assembly anyways, so now is a good time to crack it open and learn how the panel is replaced: if you break something you can order replacement plastics at the same time

 

yeah but as i said, if you happen to get in touch with a really nice support contact, you may be lucky and they will ask the tech department whether it is possible. i once even had a tech guy as a support contact at the envy support, and he was able to give much more and better answers than the usual support does.

i think the worst thing that may happen is that the 3D function simply wont work, and the display will run @ 60hz. but theres definitely a chance that it will work, since there is no obvious difference in hardware between the non-3D and 3D models, except the display, and a different motherboard product number, but this doesnt have to mean much, since maybe its just different to distinguish between the necessary spare parts for 3D and non-D models and fill the stock accordingly.

 

I don't want to separate the LCD yet so dust wont set between the LCD and front glass and be trapped there, that would give me nightmares, lol.

There problem is i'm not from US, i'm from EU and I have no past success with tech support. You may be right with the naming scheme but there could also be additional hardware/software changes to justify the different part number.



I hope I don't brake any rules.
Here is the complete top half 3D assembly
USED FOR Envy 3D 17 "COMPLETE LCD Panel Screen Display Assembly 620775 001 Excellent-in Laptop LCD Screen from Computer & Networking on Aliexpress.com

And this is the broken 2D screen I have AU Optronics B173HW01 V5 17 3" New Laptop Screen | eBay

Both are about 101$

I'm not the gambling type, so if nobody can confirm that it's 100% compatible swap I'll stick with what I have, though I could resell the assembley if it's not compatible, but that's to much hassle and lost waiting time.

 

Out of curiosity what limitations are there on the 3200 if going from 2D to 3D?

I wouldn't have thought that there is an issue with the 2xxx motherboards. All share the same firmware and at the end of the day they all have the same graphics card. Windows will recognize a new display etc .. you will have to buy TriDef 3D... which you need for some games to show up in 3D.

Movies are no problem considering you are using the PowerDVD player.

The only thing that would worry me is the connector which in my honest opinion should be the same.

 

in the 3200 3D series, the display is directly connected to the radon gpu, which is why switchable graphics doesnt work, whereas in the 3200 non-3D the display is connected to the motherboard, which is why switchable graphics works there. but to be honest i am not sure whether one could simply connect the display into the gpu on the non-3D... but i doubt it, since it definitely is not the same connector.

the problem i could think of with the 2000 series (and 1000 & 3000) is the BIOS whitelist, which sets all allowed hardware for the respective models, and afaik it does distinguish between different models of the same line, ie. eg. envy 2000 3D and non-3D, especially if hardware is different, which obviously is between the 3D and non-3D ones. also not just the motherboards seem to be different, also the display cable kits are - 3D is a different one than FHD/HD+. but as said before, this doesnt need to be the case.

 

Thank you for your reply! I didn't even know that the 32xx series might have more trouble with GFX switching than the driver issues with the 2xxx! HP really likes trouble when it comes to these situations.

I remember there being talk of whitelists when we were putting newer Intel Centrino wireless cards into the system but there wasn't a problem in the end.

 

The LCD cables are different because the 3D display has a 50 pin connector and the FHD one has a 40 pin connector, also there has to be an IR emitter for the glasses witch I didn't saw in the service manual.

 

There was a time when the Envy 17 3D displays were in low supply. Some people who had their screens broken were told that they could get them repaired with normal 2D version or wait.

I tried searching .. but it looks like your best bet is to find that one tech support guy that might be able to speak to the repair center. They don't normally do that but you get some cases where they will.

Besides when I was reporting the CPU throttling and Wifi / pc freezes that occurred early on, the "premium" support was very hot on the issue and transferred me to really knowledgeable techies. I think if you try calling them you will find the answer you seek for.

I doubt there is one version of the motherboard with and without IR input... too costly to manufacture. Chances are that they are all the same motherboard with the worst case being a blacklist + different connector (which seems unlikely if they were willing to replace models to 2D versions).

Edit: Maybe they changed the display wiring too during those repairs when the 3D screens were scarce.

Too many questions.. :/ ..