Fixing up a laptop

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 7:41 pm

I got a Lifebook S6120 (1.6GHz, 512MB ram, 40GB HD) for free from my cousin last weekend. The backlight is dead/dying, the battery is completely dead, couple keys missing from the keyboard (just ctrl type ones), and the power port was messed up to the point that you had to hold it in a certain place to get it to work. And I have to get all of her pictures off the hard drive.
I took it apart and fixed the power port, the missing keys are manageable, and I'm copying the files to my desktop right now.
So now I need help with the backlight and battery.
The backlight flickers so that the total light is about 25% of what it would normally be. After about 15-20 minutes of use, the backlight craps out and I have to hibernate and turn it back on to get it to come back on (for a short time, again). It sounds like its the inverter (the tan part with the wire in it) that is bad, I can hear it making a static sort of sound. Could I just replace it with an equivalent one?
I was thinking of replacing the battery's cells with some off dealextreme. But, I've heard that if the cells are removed/dead, that the protection board will permanently be dead. What are the chances of that being the case? I don't want to shell out $30-50 for new cells if they won't work.

Kurt_ · Post by **Kurt_** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 9:13 pm

1) This sounds like a job for an ub3R LED mod. We skimp out on them because it saves power, but if you load your screen with LEDs, you can get it brighter than before for the same amount of power used. Just find a nice bright type of LEDs. Some are far brighter than others.

2) Yeah, Tim tried to swap the cells in his R40 (41?), and it didn't take. I'd research this further on google. Or try hooking up an 18V (or whatever) line to where the batteries go, and see if you still get a voltage. Or just suck it up and buy a new battery. Or hardwire one to the power jack in with a regulator.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 11:10 pm

Replacing the inverter is easier, though.

I stuck 18, 3mm LEDs in my breadboard and powered them up, they lit up my room more than a 15" CRT on a white screen. They only used about a watt, which I'm pretty sure is less than a CCFL. Tomorrow I'll take the CCFL out and try the LEDs.
The 6 cells are wired in 3 sets in parallel, of 2 cells in series, for an output voltage of 10.8v. I'll try hooking up a ~3.7v source to the three places on the protection board to see if it still powers up. A new battery would only be $50-60, which isn't that bad for a laptop battery. I'll wait and see how the screen turns out before deciding if a new battery is worth it, I may just turn it into a desktop and use an external monitor if the screen doesn't turn out.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 5:22 pm

I have successfully LED modded it. It isn't super bright (about the same as the lowest backlight setting on a normal laptop), but its definitely better than before. I wouldn't recommend trying it unless you have to.
I found a 16v line that went to the inverter, so I decided to use that to power the LEDs. I put 5 LEDs plus a resistor in series, and put 3 of those in parallel with each other. I found that the 16v line is always powered when the laptop is plugged in, I added a switch to it so I can turn off the backlight without unplugging it. I'm not sure what it'll do on battery power, but I'm kinda planning on this just being a temporary solution. I might try out those LED strips or EL wire at a later time, but this was a free solution.
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j279/ ... e1ac1d.jpg
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j279/ ... 0c4744.jpg
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j279/ ... eac257.jpg
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j279/ ... 6a73f9.jpg

Kurt_ · Post by **Kurt_** » Sat Nov 08, 2008 11:27 am

Only 5? I was thinking more along the lines of at least 16. Or a nice LED strip like the PSP uses.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Sat Nov 08, 2008 1:56 pm

Kurt_ wrote:Only 5? I was thinking more along the lines of at least 16. Or a nice LED strip like the PSP uses.

There are 15 total. I worded that a little weird.
I've looked into 3mm LED strips, but they're all too wide, I haven't found any that are on a strip less than ~5mm wide. I think the thinnest strip I've found was .5". I'll see if I can find any SMT LED strips. Size shouldn't be a problem with those, but I'm not sure if they'd be bright enough. The plus is that I'd be able to have them on the bottom and one of the sides (ribbons for LCD are on top and left side).
I'm also considering EL wire. I could run some of the 5mm size along the bottom and right size, but theres the question of brightness again. Or, I could get the thinnest stuff I can and run it up and down in a wave behind the light box. I'm just not sure how much power it would require to be bright enough (I know I'd need an inverter).