I think my CF-74 touchscreen is dead

Hi - been reading for a bit but this was my first post. I've had a CF-74 for about 4.5 years. It was a birthday present from my then girlfriend (now my wife) who watched as I fried an HP laptop while onstage with my band at the time due to faulty venue power. She felt really bad for me and got me this. It's been rock solid ever since. I've been using Linux exclusively on it since late 2007 or so and everything (except for the modem) has worked flawlessly. Short of the lack of the ability to upgrade from the 80GB hard drive (according to Panasonic tech support and my own testing) and the fact that it's not the best gamer laptop, I've been more than happy with it.

However, sometime after my last upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04, my touchscreen started to get wonky. It wouldn't track my finger or the stylus correctly. Eventually it just stopped working. I attributed it to a faulty xorg config, so I didn't worry about it. Well, I did some more recent experimentation lately and while I can "see" the hardware when I probe /proc/bus/input/devices, it sees the hardware:

Code:

I: Bus=0003 Vendor=0430 Product=0501 Version=0100
N: Name="Fujitsu Takamisawa USB Touch Panel"
P: Phys=usb-0000:00:1d.1-2/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.1/usb3/3-2/3-2:1.0/input/input7
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse1 event7 js0 
B: EV=1b
B: KEY=70000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: ABS=3
B: MSC=10

but it just doesn't want to work. I did a test by running a live CD of 9.10 (which I know worked flawlessly at one time) and tried the touchscreen calibration app - it loads, but just doesn't detect any actual activity.

From reading some of the posts on here, it doesn't seem like it's that uncommon of an occurrence. I've got the front bezel off the screen right now and don't see anything obvious (frayed wires, bent ribbons, blown caps/resistors, etc).

Other than places like Ebay, are there any good source for non-warranty parts? Anyone have an idea what a touchscreen overlay or the control board would run?

 

On this note - does anyone have a service manual for the CF-74 lying around?

The revision I have is: CF-74CCBAXBM

 

Welcome to the forum....Check this site out Future proof Tim’s laptop service manuals He has a few of them and they are FREE
He has the one you need...I just checked:yes:

 

The cf-74 touchscreen is prone to failure, I have 2 cf-74's with non-functional touchscreens
If you really need it to work, the repair won't be cheap
Heartland Services
Is the service center



Alex

 

thanks guys... I downloaded the service manual and will take a look at it shortly. As far as doing the actual repair, I've got no problem doing it myself. I've been repairing laptops for more than 12 years now and have been warranty certified on Dell, Toshiba, and IBM machines at different points of my career. This was my first time pulling a Toughbook apart, but really, it's not that much different than other machines, once you get past the physical construction of it.

I just called Heartland - They want $128.08 for the controller board and $187.54 for the panel itself. At this point, I'm thinking (hoping) that it's just the panel and not both. Now I just have to decide whether it's worth $190 just to get my Touchscreen back on this 4+ year old laptop, or whether I should maybe look into just moving onto a new one and letting my son inherit this one.

 

The Cf-74 is an expensive laptop new or used so the part cost is not too out of line if you must have this feature

To me the touchscreen is not that necessary

They are a must have for use in a vehicle and on the tablet models , but I hate having to clean the screens

You are right on the panel being the most likely failure



Alex

 

CF-74CCBAXBM Description:
Intel Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz (Centrino), 13.3" XGA Touchscreen - 460 nit, 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD, Intel 802.11a+b+g WLAN, DVD/CDRW Combo Optical Drive, Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2

 

yea - it's definitely just a convenience thing... It came in handy a lot when I was a gigging musician (I would run software synthesizers on it and I could manipulate the controls directly from the screen while playing, which was really cool). More often than not these days, I would use it when browsing the web because I'm more of a typer and I'd use it as basically an extension of the keyboard. Plus, Ubuntu's Netbook remix UI is an absolutely awesome experience using a touch screen.

The one thing I've always wished for, however, would have been a swivel screen, so I could hide the keyboard. That's kind of what's making me think about something like the Thinkpad X201 if I decided to get something new. Plus, it's a lot less expensive than my CF-74 was (and less than 1/2 of something like a CF-19 would be). It's not a Toughbook, though.

Plus, I would miss the handle.