M4800 Owner's Thread

The old cable should work. I have not done the upgrade on the eDP connector but all other vendors (i.e. lenovo) do not require a different eDP cable when going from 720p to 1080p.

 

Here is a photo of the eDP cable on the 1920x1080 IPS - note this laptop also has a webcam and mic.

 

unfortunately the screen stays blank upon switching the panel from 1366x768 to 1080p panel (30pin connector). My cable is the same as the one in your picture but it doesn't seem to work This is the same result as reported in this reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/3ggtn9/lcd_panel_upgrade/cwwom11

 

Why would Dell source 2 different motherboards for the 1366x768 and 1920 x1080panel???? It does not make much sense. I know Dell had a different motherboard for the 3200x1800 screen but the LVDS cable versions did not differ between the 768 and 1080 versions. I will see if I can get my hands on a m4800 with 720p eDP and switch cables to see if that works.

 

I was able to line up a eDP 1366x768 m4800. I will take the eDP cable and screen from the 1080p m4800 and see if I can get it to work in the 1366x768 m4800. I will post my results tomorrow.

 

Ok - did some more digging on this. The older motherboard used in the m4800 appears to be LA-9771P Dell PN: 5TRC8 Date: 2013-9-25:

http://www.waresphere.com/store/motherboard-for-dell-precision-m4800-la-9771p-5trc8.html

The newer board appears to be LA-9772P Dell PN: C3V2K Date 2014-09-01 - this matches the board in my 1920x1080 IPS m4800:

http://www.waresphere.com/store/c3v2k-dell-precision-m4800-motherboard-la-9772p.html

I cannot find any description that indicates there are different versions of this board for different resolutions. If you google the part # it appears there are a number for sale and none of the descriptions mention a resolution. My guess is that there has to be something with the cable from the motherboard to the LCD panel.


UPDATE:

After reviewing the pictures for the older and newer motherboard, it appears that the connector for the eDP/LVDS cable from the motherboards are identical. I think dell simply used the same LVDS motherboard connector and changed the cable. The new cable converts to a 30 pin LCD panel. Since Dell had 2 versions of the original LVDS cable, I imagine they have 2 versions of the new one.

 

I like your reasoning.

Our cables appear to be identical although there is a slightly different number next to the 2D barcode if you look carefully. Don't know if that is significant?

For the record CPU-Z identifies my mainboard as 0V5GVY A00. I've not taken the bottom half of the machine apart to see whats inside.

The cables aren't that expensive. I can get one from Ebay for about £20 (~$30) -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-OEM-G...960162?hash=item3d0b33f7a2:g:1wQAAOSwabhUU6vj

Now if you're suggesting there might be some different versions it might be tricky to get hold of the correct one.

I really really appreciate your help with this - so lucky for me to have found someone with the right level of understanding

 

Good news!!! I tested the 1080p m4800 ips panel in 2 other m4800's with 1366x768 tn panels and the 1080p ips panel worked without ANY issues - NO eDP cable change needed. One m4800 had a webcam, was an i7, and had an nvidia 1100m gpu. The other was an i5 with no webcam and firepro gpu. I did not have any problems with the 1080p ips display physically fitting in either of the other m4800s that had the 1366x768 tn panel. This was mentioned as an issue in this thread - perhaps they ordered the wrong panel:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/3ggtn9/lcd_panel_upgrade/cwwom11

Anyhow, below are photos from the I7 Nvidia 1100m with webcam:
The original m4800 with the 1080p IPS panel is on the left. The m4800 on the right has the 1366x768 tn panel:


This next photo shows both m4800s with the panels out - they are identical:


This is a close-up of the eDP cable for the original 1080p m4800


This is a close-up of the eDP cable for the 1366x768 TN m4800


The photo shows the 1080p IPS screen in the original 1366x768 m4800 - no issues! The cable was not changed.

Continues in the next thread....limited to 5 photo uploads.

 

This final photo shows the 1920x1080 resolution on the original 4800 with 1366x768 TN panel:


The results were the same with both m4800s. I have ordered replacement 1080p IPS panels from laptopscreen.com and will post the result of upgrading both of these 1366x768 m4800s once they arrive.

 

How many pins are on the LCD connector of your cable? 30 or 40? All of my new m4800s have 30 pin connectors.