Adding touch screen to a CF-29

The new toy has not even arrived and I am already itching to mod it. The only hesitation I had when I bought it was the lack of touch screen. I have access to a complete and functional touch panel on a parts machine. What I cannot seem to locate is any threads where anyone has added a touchscreen to a non-touch model. Does it require a new motherboard or can I just plug it in. I found a thread for the CF-28 that made it sound like a direct swap and add drivers, but I cannot locate anything for the 29.

 

Its almost the same. Just swap the whole panel if you have an spare one and load the driver. It means you can swap a touchscreen panel to a non touchscreen unit and vice versa.


ohlip

 

Yep, confirming what Teo just said. I have and MK2 with a TS and an MKIV without, I put the touchscreen on the MKIV and the non-touch on the MK2 just as Teo said, replacing the entire lid. Then it was just a matter of DLing and installing the TS driver and both machines are working perfect. It was VERY easy to swap the lids. Mod away with confidence...

 

I have personally done this on my old CF-29 back in the day. I just swapped it out like any other normal screen swap that I have done thousands of times and it just worked as soon as I loaded the touchscreen drivers.

I had a model CF-29e3kgzkm if I remember correctly. I ended up using drivers from a CF-29etkgzkm

 

Check out Robs post count
JB007
777
and
7



Alex

 

pause a bet, Rob! or you may go to vegas but don't forget us when you hit the jackpot.



teo

 

lolerz








<-------- not any more

 

You can start deleting your old posts to keep the number the same Rob
Start with the old posts that you have given out wrong or inacurate infomation lol


Alex

 

Thanks Alex, you're a real pal!!!

I'm going to start deleting Toughbook stuff on my server!! RAWR!! lol

 

Thanks guys. I probably would have tried it anyways, but it is always to know that it will work BEFORE you spend hours of cussing at an inanimate object.

 

Wyrm... It is VERY easy to do... But you need to make sure you have the proper tools to work on it or you may strip the screws. If you plan on working on your Toughbook you should buy a good set of Wiha screwdrivers. They can be had for about $15 on ebay.

So... With that said... Remove the four screws to remove the keyboard holder... Pull your keyboard out GENTLY as it has most likely been taped down. Try not to bend it. It you do bend it a little you can usually bend it back into shape. Then the screws for the two hinges and then the plate beneath the keyboard. Unplug the keyboard and put it aside.

You have two BIG screws on the back.. One on each side. You can remove them first. You will then want to CAREFULLY remove the black and white wifi wires and the two connections for the monitor that plug into the mobo. Now remove the two screws on each side that hold down the hinges. You MUST be careful when removing the LCD assembly. Normally what I do is to unplug the wires and then close the LCD almost all the way closed.... Then start pulling up a little until the hinges clear the body of the laptop. There are hinge "guides" that go down into the body of the laptop. These are held in place by those two big screws. You will need to have freed up the wires a little so that when you pull out the LCD hinge guides you can also pull out the plastic LCD and wifi wire cable "keeper" that funnels the wires into the laptop neatly. (And protects them). You can now start carefully feeding the wires and LCD cables out of the laptop. You will notice that the back of the passthrough quite limits the space to get the large connector ends through. It CAN be done with a little wiggling and maybe a dental pick to point the wires the right way.

Reassembly is the reverse of that. MAKE SURE that you remember which wifi wires go where. When you start to fish the LCD connectors down make sure that they go through freely! One of them is easy to bend and they BOTH have VERY small wires that feed into the connectors. You cannot pull on these or you risk snapping them or pulling them out. Also... Make sure that you feed the LCD and wifi plastic keeper back down correctly and that it plugs in willingly and is not a force fit. You don't want to pinch the wires. The keeper allows you to kind of wrap them around it and plug in place.

Overall this is a very easy swap and should take you maybe 20 -30 minutes to swap both back and forth. Maybe less if you aren't worried about putting the non-touch LCD back on your parts unit.

Oh... And make sure that you leave your hinge screws just a little loose until you make sure that you can close your LCD with no problem. Once closed you can then tighten them down snugly. If you want to use locktite... Use the blue and not the red. Blue is the only locktite used on the Toughbook.

 

That is exactly how I did it as well, except I did unscrew the pass thru to allow
for more wiggle room. Just do as TB said and you should be fine. Another tip is that I wrote down where all the plugs went, this helped during reassembly.

 

Thanks for the full rundown Rick. That should make things a little easier. I had gone as far as opening up the lid, but the hints for the wiring will be very useful.

LOL, yes. Red Loctite is mainly used when you want practice with a drill and easy-out somewhere down the road.