CF-30 and mixed bag o' nuts day

hey all ,

today has been one of those days where ya just wish (at times) you could crawl into bed and pull the covers over your head ...

quite some time back i posted that i had bought a CF-30 battery from a chinese outfit ... it (finally) arrived today .
i popped the battery in my '30 and it showed a 75% charge ... fair enough .
i plugged in the power adapter and it commenced to start charging the battery ...
i checked several times during the charging cycle and the battery was not overly warm ... just slightly warm .
the next test(s) will be to cycle between charge and discharge and see what happens .
it may crap out , or not ... time will tell .

i got an email from my "health insurance provider" ... the two meds that were recently prescribed for me are (now) covered and they are sending me a reimbursement check .
heh ... you don't want to know the price of them ... let's just say they were each "three figures to the left of the decimal point" .

i started fixing a laptop for a young fellow a couple of weeks ago ... i ordered up the lcd back and bezel , it arrived in four days and was "not as advertised" (wrong size) .
i set the wheels in motion to return it and get a refund and i started looking for another back and bezel ...
i finally found what i was looking for , ordered it up and it arrived today (WOOT !) ...
the package was kinked in the middle (lousy packaging) ... yeppers , it is broken ... so , back it goes .
now i get to find yet another source for the stuff .

i got a call from one of the local IT guys ... don't know him from adam's dog .
it seems he got my name from one of the instructors .
he works at the local college and hires out as well (or something like that ... not too clear on it) .
he just got the college job a short time ago and is performing "area beautification" (aka : cleaning out piles 'o crap) .
he asked me if i would like to look at some stuff and put a bid in on something i liked .
sure ... nothing to loose . i headed on down to the college .
i got to digging around and found some neat stuff .
in the mix was a couple of familiar looking items ... lcds that looked familiar along with a keyboard and a bottom cover for what looked like a CF-30 .
the lcds looked clean (they were wrapped in paper towel) ... no scratches .
i wrote down the numbers and told him i would get back to him on them in addition to the "bids" i had placed on a couple of other items .
he gave me a few items out of the bone-pile and we parted company .
when i got home i pulled the back on my '30 and the number on that display matched the two at the college ! sweet !
i called the guy and put in my "bids" ... he put me on hold for a couple of minutes and then said the stuff was mine .
i high-tailed it down there and picked up the stuff .

when i got back home i popped the lcd in that '30 i am building for my friend ... it has the technicolor rainbow , just like the other display produced (but it is a different number) !
man , at this point the only thing i can think of is that the touch screen is not for the display and there is a real screw-up going on .
i tried cross referencing the number on the touch screen ... nothing turns up .

the number of the lcd/back light assemblies and the unit inside of my '30 is : L5F30515P00
the number of the bad lcd (smeared and scratched) that works with the touch screen in the '30 i am building is : L5F30812P00 .
the touch screen interface does function with these *new" units .
is there some information *somewhere* that tells what display goes with what numbers on those touch screen displays ?

 

The touchscreen should work in any unit where you have the touchscreen PCB... You can swap LCDs around from a number of machines that work. BUT... Remember that the CF-30 LCD is a 1000NIT screen when equipped with the touchscreen! (From the factory) You should be able to swap the TS PCB from LCD to LCD if correct.

I hope the ChiCom battery doesn't explode, you get your meds and can find a suitable LCD...

 

A project for someone.

Do you know what motherboard you are using.....I understand it's a custom build....it may help to find a reference in a parts list. (Panasonic)

 

The 3051 is what I shot the other day inside a CF-30CCS5BM. Three service manuals don't list the LCD number.

Double post since NBR won't let me edit.

Good luck. Ummm is that scratch in the lens too or only in the screen protector. Sorry had to ask.

J'd

 

"a 1000NIT screen ..."
i think of rid-x when i see that ... and the joker that brought lice into the barracks in boot .
:laugh:

i called the college guy back and described the '30 to him asked if he had seen anything that looked like it .
sadly , he had not seen anything like it laying around .

where is the motherboard number located ?
i have the model and serial numbers from the bottom unit :
CF-30F3SAXAM
8KKSB05729
but these seem to lead to nowhere .

some good news ...
the reimbursement check showed up late yesterday via fed-ex (!?) .
the email was not too far in advance of the check !
i'll take it ... the total of the two amounts to "four digits to the left of the decimal point" .
so , it is back to parts hunting .

 

It's NON touch so only a 500 nit screen.

CF-30F3SAXAM
Status:
DISCONTINUED
MSRP:
$3,499
Description: WinXP (Vista COA), Intel Core 2 Duo L7500 1.60GHz (Centrino), 13.3" XGA Non Touch, 80GB, 1GB, Intel 802.11a/b/g, TPM1.2, Bluetooth, Wireless Ready, No Drive

 

So what does a 1,000 nit LCD act like when plugged into a 500 nit mobo? That 3 is the key.

Editor is fixed. Is there a number under the ram? End edit.

 

It works like a 1000nit...the nits are determined by the number of ccfl tubes.

500 = 1 tube and 1 inverter with 1 output
1000= 2 tubes and inverter has 2 outputs

They interchange just like swapping a touchcreen top to a non touchscreen unit..

1000 nit lcd's are a PITA to convert to led's

All the nitwit's seem to be hanging near me lately....

I seem to have all the wit about nits..

 

what yer sayin' is that it's really buggin' ya ?
:laugh:

the numbers under the ram are :
0FL79770
DL3UP1630

the displays i have are 1Knit types .
i am thinking that the touch screen is wrong ... and i have no idea what it is actually for .
it does marry up and work with the MK1 type interface ... what did the MK2 and MK3 units use ?

did the MK1/2 and 3 all use the same connectors to the motherboard ?
i see a lot of "CF-30" stuff on greasebay but no mention of the MK1, 2 or 3 .

now for the 64 dollar question ...
will the touch and display (the whole lid one might say) from a '31 or a '29 work on a '30 ?

 

Whole lid swap ...no

semi educated guess......Mk1 and Mk2 lcd and touchscreen are matte finish...Mk3 are glossy....

The harness for the mk2 and mk3 is different than a mk1
Motherboard connector is different

All nits no gnats

 

semi educated ?
i use the SWAG method ... Silly Wild Arsed Guess .

it is looking like i am going to pull my '30 lid apart and get the numbers off of the touch screen ...
i do not know if this will do any good as i came up with a dry well in checking the numbers of the other touch screen .
there has to be some information tied to those numbers .

while i have my '30 apart i will swap out the lcd and see what happens .
at least i will have a start on what displays can be used with what .
thankfully , the lcd assemblies can be swapped out in a fairly easy manner as opposed to *some* other installations .

 

i did some recon at coosbay :
Panasonic Toughbook CF 30 LCD Front Bezel 13 3" DFKF0272 24 5EAN | eBay

the guy had two of them , the one i bought was 21 bucks .
the ribbon cable from the touch screen looks like the same thing as mine (kapton and end connector) .
there was not a clear shot of the numbers on the touch screen itself .
in theory , this should work ...
/me scans the sky for evidence of aviating members of the porcine family .

 

Instead of chasing ur tail....
Why not buy a new Touchpanel for the specific model you is wurkin on? You'll waste $50.00 tryin to save a nickle..

speakin from experience

 

I'm confused....not the first time believe it or don't so it's Terminology Time.

Starting from the front on a CF-30 upper.
1.Bezel (the metal part)
2.Sceen protector (removable with no effect on Touchscreen)
3.Touch Panel composed of several layers..."glass", touch circuit (if so equipped),and another glass like piece to sandwich the circuitry. Non-touch just have the screen protector and a single thicker piece of glass.
4.LCD Green in front white on back with green electrical thingy across the top back and a TSPCB in lower left (looking from the back.) If no TSPCB ....just an empty place for it with two sets of wires taped down it's non-touch and 500 nit.

I am writing this 'cause I had what you linked to and I thought you needed the lcd (which I do not have). Maybe someone has a link to an exploded view.

J'd ...to get on the same page...or,

if we can't explain it then take a picture. definitely NOT talking down to you sir, or anyone else.

 

ask and ye shall receive

 

the actual touch panel (glass piece) has been hard to find as a stand alone item .
there has been , from time to time , a few of the whole "lid assemblies" (the front bezel , lcd , touch screen , electrical components and back) ... there is one on ebay but the "screen" looks terrible .
i found two of the front bezels with the touch screen assembly "in place" (basically , the lid assembly had been almost gutted) .

i bought one of the latter (K9) with/in the hopes that the lcds (E35) i have will work with it .
the two lcd/backlight assemblies (E35) that i picked up the other day have the same model number as the one in my perfectly working '30 , plus that little pc interface card for the touch screen (K9-2) is the same .
i am going with the SWAG that because the K9-2 or K9-2-3 is stuck in place with a double sticky backed tape that these would not normally be removed from a gutted K9 assembly .
(patience , a thin piece of stiff plastic and some naphtha work for removal)

the K9-2 assembly seems to be the crux of the maladies encountered .
as i mentioned , i did not have any luck with the numbers that are on the K9-2 unit itself .
a data base/list of these numbers and the "lcds" (E-35) that will work together or at least what is found in combination in each model/production run would be helpful .
an example of what i am talking about was used in the sony projection televisions ...
the model numbers were the same for all of a particular type of set (sans a single letter denoting cabinet color/finish)
when changes in circuitry and optics (which happens from time to time) were made in the production lines it was delineated by a starting and ending serial number ...
in other words , any model of set that fell withing a certain range of serial numbers had particular items/changes incorporated .
the lens assemblies were one of these items that one had to be careful of , the next being the high voltage divider/sampler .

the reason i say "hope" is due to the fact that in this case the final proof will be a working unit .
i do not mind entering into murky waters as long as i know in advance what i may possibly be in for .

it is ok to plan the plan ... just don't plan the outcome .

i received a call from my friend ... he has a couple of his peers and contemporaries that are interested in "having" one of these for their own .
they looked on greasebay and were overwhelmed by what was available and some of the prices commanded .
i dunno ... most other aspects of these units is straight forward (as it were) , by comparison the display/lcd/touch screen issues are the bugaboo .

 

Here you go

New Replacement for Panasonic Toughbook CF 29 CF29 CF 30 CF30 Touch Screen Panel | eBay

New Replacement for Panasonic Toughbook CF 29 CF29 CF 30 CF30 Touch Screen Panel | eBay

 

thanks for the links shawn ... not a bad price .
i put them on my "watch list" .

in the event that the the touch screen in the bezel i purchased does not work i will order up one of those touch screens .
the bezel that i currently have is not the best cosmetically ... it would take some prep and a couple of coats of paint to sanitize it .
the bezel i ordered is much better cosmetically ... so , it is not a total loss .
if it were a build for myself i would use some semi-gloss black to re-finish it but as it is for a friend ... well , that is a different story .

i found a good replacement for that black foam double sticky tape ... at least on a local level .
i used some stuff made by 3M ... it works a little too good !
i had to use a very light dusting of talcum powder and some rubbing to cut the adhesion level of the side facing the touch screen .
a black "magic marker" darkens the edges of the foam nicely .

ps ... i just checked ... a complete lid that i had been eye-balling was/had become not listed ... now it is !
grrrrrrrr ....
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Panasonic-T...Laptop_Screens_LCD_Panels&hash=item19f605a985

 

sadlmkr : "I am writing this 'cause I had what you linked to and I thought you needed the lcd (which I do not have)."

i forgot this when i wrote the above .
i may need a touch screen in the future ... depending on if i want to tackle building two more machines ('30s) .

asides ... i am currently (i'll take the pun) running discharge/recharge cycle number four on that chinese battery ... so far , so good .

 

i have been looking for that anti-glare and protective material for the surface ...
i swear i remember seeing some on yellowbay and it was not shipped from china .
... i can't find it ...
/must remember to put items on "watch list"

 

http://www.amazon.com/POSRUS-Panasonic-Toughbook-Antiglare-Protector/dp/B004XTXGE6

Has anyone used these?

 

don't know about any details of these sellers..

New CF 29 CF 30 CF 74 GD6000 GD8000 VR 2 Laptop Screen Protector Scratch Guard | eBay

New CF 29 GD6000 GD8000 VR 2 CF 30 CF 74 Tough Laptop Screen Protector Guard X5 | eBay

13 3" Laptop Toughbook Monitor Screen Protector CF 30 CF 29 CF 31 CF 52 RDSP13 3 | eBay

ANTIGLARE Touch Screen Protector for Panasonic Toughbook 31 CF 31 | eBay

 

thanks for the links ...
man , i looked for a half hour on goosebay and only came up with some chinese outfit .

heh heh heh ... "POSRUS" ... as in : POS-R-US
:laugh:

it looks like these two are the same outfit :
http://www.amazon.com/POSRUS-Panasonic-Toughbook-Antiglare-Protector/dp/B004XTXGE6
ANTIGLARE Touch Screen Protector for Panasonic Toughbook 31 CF 31 | eBay

this guy is fairly new but does have some toughbook items/parts/units :
New CF 29 GD6000 GD8000 VR 2 CF 30 CF 74 Tough Laptop Screen Protector Guard X5 | eBay

i am going to give the zsl outfit a try ...
i figure that the price is a cheap enough gamble .
i'll report back on the quality .

one thing that bugs me about most of the sellers of the '30 (etc) touchscreens is that they might mention "scuffs and scratches" but seldom describe if the damage is only to the screen protector itself .

 

screenpatronous2 is the guy I used to buy them from. Closest to stock I have found. But I think they are just screen protectors... Not anti-glare. For instance... My CF-31 has a blue hue to it... Something the other stock screen protectors don't seem to have. I have noticed that when I have had these on CF-30s (with a blue tint) that the finger use on the screen wears through the blue hue and I basically wash the rest of it off with ammonia and alcohol. (Not Jack!)

I have heard stories of people putting these on in steamy bathrooms to knock down the dust so they don't get bubbles. But the best way I have found is to use my special Toughbook cleaning solution... 75% water & 25% Isopropyl alcohol (91% variety) and a 5-6 drops of nice smelling hand soap. Just take your old screen protector off (GENTLY!) clean around the edges really well. Lay your screen back flat and spray a light mist of the solution on the screen and then peel the backing off and lay your new protector in place. Make sure it is centered properly! Then use a squeegee (or credit card) to squeegee out the solution toward the edges, starting from the middle. I keep a paper towel handy to soak up the solution that comes out of the edges. Make sure you get out all the solution... You'll be able to tell.

After letting it sit overnight... It is perfect and ready to go! Now it is ready for ornery cops or booger fingered kids.

 

hmmm ... a steamy bathroom and a squeegee ... now there is a visual !
:laugh:

man , i remember trying to keep down dust and skin flakes back when i did chemical photography .
35 mm negatives were easy to clean but enlarging would blow up a speck of dust to the size of a pebble !
4X5 , 8X10 and other "large sized" formats were easier to deal with .
it was a constant fight to keep the darkroom as free of dust as possible .

there was an "anti-static" gun available that consisted of a small amount of a radioactive isotope that did work/help short term .
a similar device was once sold as a "dust remover" for vinyl records .

i am wondering how some of that film that is used on glass panes and car windows would work .
it is available in a wide range of tints and "depth" .

i use the same basic solution to clean a lot of equipment ...
24 ounces water
8 ounces isoproplyl
1 ounce of "non-anything" ammonia
10 drops of unscented plain dish washing liquid

on the subject of "screen color temperature" ...
yep ... the tinting of any kind (other than neutral) will affect the color temperature .
most laptops , as they come out of the box , are very hot on blue .
in short , the color temperature and curve sucks .
while vista does have some selectable color response curves , W7 does include a simple "color response adjustment" section .
the video GPU manufacturers started including a basic color temperature/tracking section several years ago , but these are usually lacking .
then again , one has to consider the technology of the lcd (and back light type) being used ...
"you can't polish a t**d" .

 

And they used to use x-rays to fit shoes... Until peoples feet starting falling off!






I'd stick with the OEM screen protector. Optically clear and built tough!

 

yep ... and don't forget the microwave diathermy machines .
i wonder how many eyeballs were cooked ?

heh ... a physician donated one of his old machines to my science class when i in the eighth grade .
(that was a lot of years ago)
i actually rebuilt/repaired it , got credit for it and then it was dismantled .

 

A hint from someone....if a speck of dust (as a bubble) appears lift the edge and remove with a piece of scotch tape. The sticky side. lol

 

A good tip in a pinch... But my method squeegees out all the dust. I've done 10+ using that method and it always ends up perfect. ... And I don't have a clean room! I did the last one on the kitchen counter!

 

"did the last one on the kitchen counter!"

you must be single .

 

Hey Blair,

The recipe's need to be stickied somehow

Thanks,

Jeff ...have you tried Jack?...

 

Nope... Happily Married. She is aware of my Toughbook addiction. Right now I have 5 CF-30s, 2 CF-19s and 1 CF-31 in the living room. I've been cleaning and loading the CF-30s with 250GB SSDs and 4GB RAM and am getting ready to have a fire sale on Feebay! I think I have 7 of them ready to go... All legit W7 COAs, DVD Rams, Emissive keyboards and GPS. All low hour, super, super clean. Most look like new. I have another 10 or so CF-30s in the basement storage area in various states of readiness... Plus a few more CF-29s, CF-H1s and a while lot of other stuff I won't see until the new house is built and I can unpack everything to my shop.

Anyway... I used to have a shop in my basement where I did all this. Now I am in a rental while waiting for the house to be built. So I work at my desk in my living room!

 

i hear ya ...
i used to have my own room for all my electronic/radio and comp stuff .
it was *decided* that room would be better serving as a bedroom .
i moved quite a bit of my operation into the living room and a lot of stuff went into a shed .
yesterday i needed a base and heat sink assembly for an AMD processor ... i went out to the shed ...
after looking for the box o' heat sink assemblies for a half hour i gave up .

 

the bezel/touchscreen that i ordered up arrived this afternoon .
i put it in place and installed a lcd with the same number as the one in my '30 .
it works ... no technicolor swirlies ! the touch screen portion works ok , just needs calibration .
the color was hot on green so i took it down some in the intel graphics panel .
it is still greenish as opposed to my '30 (with 1800 hours) .
i have three other lcd/backlight panel assemblies that i am going to try now that i have the known correct touch screen in place .
(and i can start making a *compatibility* list)
perhaps one of these will have a bit better color response in the ccfls .
i might order up a set or two of the ccfls and swap them out .

one thing i noticed ...
when i have the display setting back in the bios set to *high* , there is no brightness adjustment , the display runs at maximum brightness only .

invigorated by this advance , i ordered up a complete lid assembly about a half hour ago .
i do believe that i may try my hand at building at least one more machine .
i have that old wing-nut bottom unit with the locked bios that i can play with to test the "new" lid assembly when it arrives .
i will have to find a good bottom unit ... with a dvd drive and caddy .

if all goes well with this unit i will place it in my friend's hands on wednesday .
believe you me , it is a relief to be able to do that ...
this project has drug out long enough .

 

the screen protector arrived yesterday .
it was in a bubble pack envelope sandwiched between two sheets of cardboard .
it is in good shape , clear as a bell and .010" thick .

the display/lid i ordered up the other day has a perfectly good factory style protector in place (surprise surprise) .
so , i will not have a chance to use this clear protector until i (re)build a display/touchscreen that needs one .

for the price and what it is , it is worth it in my book .
now , to find a good price on on a factory styled protector .
there is an outfit in town that handles that window tinting film ... i think i'll stop by and see what they have .

 

What do you mean by factory styled protector?

 

it would be similar to or very close to the "original" as it comes from the factory or "OEM" .
one can have latitude in the design ...
say the anti-reflective coating(s) and the amount of absorption and color response shift , but basically it would perform in a similar manner to a/the "out of the box" unit .

one thing i will say about the coatings on the OEM covers ... they are very durable .
they certainly hold up better than the coatings on these modern high-dollar plastic lenses in glasses .
my gf has to get a new set of glasses every year (along with other people) as the lenses start to develop a permanent fogging ...
one can soak them in water for a few minutes and the fogging will start to go away but upon sitting they go right back to the same translucent state .

my insurance provides me with a new set of plastic lens spectacles every year .
a set of *real* photo-gray (they call it "transition" today) continuous grind (no line prescription change) and coated glass spectacles run me about 300 clamarinos .
my 'scrip has not changed a helluva lot in the last 30 years ... i still have a "knock around" set from that time period that i use to avoid damaging my "good" sets .