P370SM-A upgrade to 120Hz screen

Hi all,
I've recently acquired a P370SM from CEG, and I'm now considering to upgrade the screen to a 120Hz one.

I've then been to many threads of this forum, and from the post of various users (including but not limited to Kolias, Syceo, and D2 Ultima), here's what I've understood :

- I should first check my motherboard to determine if I have the 50 pin EDP available
- If this is the case, I could check with CEG if they can sell an EDP cable (namely Wirecable (EDP) for LG 3D panel reference 6-43-P37E1-020-J on the P370SM3 service manual)
- If available, I may then look for the LCD screen itself, the LP173WF2-TPB1 from http://www.lcd4laptop.co.uk of any similar provider (in case CEG cannot provide me the screen at a decent price).
- When all points above are met.... replace the screen... and bang, I finally have a display which is more in adequation with my laptop general specs

This leads me to few questions :
- Did I misunderstand something, or am I correct with my way to proceed?
- Is there an other display which may be better than the LP173WF2-TPB1, and would be fully compliant with my laptop model, in term of size, screwholes, compatibility)?
- Will I face flickering or other display issues in game session (ok, for this one, I don't ask for a permanent confirmation, but if those who've already upgraded their screen, or those who've ordered a SLI 980 with a 120Hz display can confirm they did not experienced a full nightmare... that would be appreciated).

Thanks in advance for your help

 

I can at least tell you those steps look about right.

 

I have the 120hz display and cable but am too scared to attempt to install it...I would like more info also if anyone has any thanks...if its not easy to do I am not sure I am going to keep the 120hz display

 

I've found a youtube demo related to a full disassembly of a P150, which is globally the same.
A step by step similar to what's in the service manual would have been great (on the video, it's hard to see where are located all screws, it's easy to forget one, to waste time or to break something.)
I'm wondering if there's a easier way to access to the EDP cable plug than disassembling everything including heatsinks, GPU and CPU.

 

could you please post the video? Thanks

 

here you have the replacement screen :

Moreover, the most relevant step by step guide I've found to remove the top cover (necessary to put the edp one in place) is the P170 service manual ( http://repo.palkeo.com/clevo-mirror/P1xxEM/). Unfortunately, the top cover removal is not detailed in the P370 one

 

Yah that video shows the very easy part it doesn't show how to get to the motherboard and plugin the new cable, that is the part I am leery of myself because from what I have seen it looks like you have to almost completely dismantle the laptop to get to the motherboard. If it was as simply as sliding out the display yah np but this is totally different than that...thanks so much though any help is better than 0 I may just have to sell the display I like the one the laptop came with anyways just everyone was saying this and that but when I got it I feel completely different I think it looks wonderful best laptop display I have ever had...agian Thanks

 

you should check the P170 service manual, as the chapter "remove top cover" is quite descriptive. It isn't the exact model we own, but that gives the right approach.

 

I have the service manual to this laptop and from the way it looks it looks quite involved and I don't want to break something and ruin my whole warranty but hey thanks I will check that manual out also to see if it looks close to the same, I really wish xotic would install it for me or I knew someone who I could trust to install it but it isn't top priority I really like this display so much so if I don't find a way to install the 120hz display soon I might just sell it and the cable I got for it, I dunno why xotic won't do the install though :/

 

Generally we don't do upgrades on parts that we aren't ordering in ourselves. There can be issues if the part arrives and it is damaged, or if it isn't compatible with the system and causes issues. So we don't do that in general.

 

Unfortunately we do not offer installing parts that were purchased elsewhere. If you sent it in for us to do, and we did damage that part we would be responsible for it. And since it was not something we sold, we can not take that risk.

 

It's not all that difficult, can't break anything as long as you don't resort to force and proceed sans haste.

Alternative option is to take the whole bunch to any pc/laptop store that does their repairs in-house. Should set you back no more than $50, considering that the procedure takes no more than half an hour.

 

Hey Pat,

Thanks for a better explaination about this but I have the model number part number for the panel and cable and it is the same as other who have it in their laptops now so it wouldn't cause any issues, do you think that if I take any liability away from you then, maybe just maybe you guys could install it?

 

Go ahead and email me your model number and serial number of your computer, as well as the screen model you have. I'll check in to it. I'm doubtful on it, but I'll ask around and see if we can help.

 

Just a quick feedback to say that the change of my screen to a 120Hz one worked fine.
Only important things are :
- a lot of patience, and do things carefully.
- I've disassembled in this order : battery - component bay - ODD - Disk bay - keyboard - CPU fan and heatsink - GPU 1 heatsink - GPU 1 fan - GPU 2 heatsink - GPU 2 fan - GPU 1 and GPU2 cards - screen - top cover. Reassemble in the reverse order.
- the service manual of the P170 gives you a good idea of what is needed to remove the top cover. To summarize : remove almost every component - unscrew every screw located at the border - use a screwdriver to gently detach the clips you see (mainly on battery location) - try to remove the top cover. If it blocks.... check again where is resists, you've probably missed a screw
- the screen replacement video of the P150 that you can find on the net are very useful : follow it carefully and there will be no bad surprise.
- Isolate screws of components between each other, it's always easier to determine how many screws are specific to a fan, a heatsink, etc.
- there are 3 different lengths of screws for the top cover : identify their location when you unscrew otherwise you'll be in trouble when reassembling (basically : 4 screws are longer on corner of the back side. 2 screws are shorter under the ODD location.
- when removing the top cover, do not force : if it doesn't come, it's probably because you missed a screw somewhere.

As result, the screen is great. Counterpart is that :
- the brightness keys do not work anymore (no effect)
- the hotkey program crashes if I try to launch it : it's automatically changed by windows and my personalized keyboard color is ok, but I've an issue with brightness.dll when I try to maximize it from the taskbar.
I don't know if other 120Hz users on a P37xSM have experienced the same issue.

Do not hesitate to contact me if you need more info.

 

thanks for this, I have the screen and cable but for now I am just going to leave things how I got them to keep my warranty and because I honestly have no probs having 60fps in games maybe after my warranty is up in a few years and I am more experienced with things I might try to install it but for now I am going to leave things how they are but thanks so much for the info I am sure there are others who will find this info very very helpful!!!

 

Have you tried re-installing the hotkey software?

 

Yes I've tried, with the lastest version on clevo site, and the result (version 3.10.23) was even worse : hotkey was still crashing and I lost my keyboard color.
I also noticed that the hotkey version I have from the installation CD provided by CEG may be slightly different (icon differs). I'll double check the version and I'll try again.
An other option I'm considering is to extract the brightness.dll from the P37XSM3 (version 8.0135) hotkey software and to replace only this file... do you think it could work?

 

It's worth a shot, that or simply try the whole package from the SM3.