Ratdude's Tablet Chronicles, Part III

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Tablet Chronicles, Part III

Update time!

(I'm typing this from said tablet)

Swapped the LVDS cable... so far, so good. Time will tell if this is an actual fix.

Still looking for good (and hopefully free) webcam software. I found some that works but only shoots in 640x480. Cheese, linux program for GNOME would be perfect but due to the video driver failure, I'm SOL in that case.

[dragos2009]

Re: Ratdude's Tablet Chronicles, Part III

i have found some of the webcam related software from dell if you want to give them a try just let me know how i can send them to you

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Tablet Chronicles, Part III

i have found some of the webcam related software from dell if you want to give them a try just let me know how i can send them to you

Email me through the forum function. Not posting my address as bots will find it. It's a gmail address that matches my username.

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Well shit... its messing up again. seems to be heat related too. Bad TCON board. Looks like if I want to fix it it needs a new panel. Dang it!

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Tablet Chronicles, Part III

Sadly, the files dragos2009 sent me didn't work. The dell webcam central/center software versions are camera specific, as they do that to keep people from using the software on things that wouldn't have been sold with it.

Also, I took another look at the panel... It looks like the issue is either a bad joint on the driver chip (too small to tell, too small to resolder with my equipment) or tab-to-panel failures as the hot-bar connections between the board and tabs looks good. It's gotten worse, as it's now plaid (horizontal lines too).

So yeah, once I have toy money I'll probably get a used panel assembly.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Tablet Chronicles, Part III

Well shit.

Finally got some money in the "fix the tablet fund" and damn me, the used screen listing went bye-bye. I can't find it. Looks like $50 for an LCD, and pray I don't bust the digitizer (or else add $20).

Since all my costs are sunk I really have to ask myself if it's worth it... But an original surface pro is so ***ing expensive! Then again, since they have ivy bridge i5's, no wonder... There are no free puppies...

Edit- out of stock everywhere... Kids, what we have here is BIN FOOD. Stupid POS

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Tablet Chronicles, Part III

I did find the LCDs in stock... sadly, they also have the digitizers attached, which means they think they're worth $80 a pop https://www.parts-people.com/index.p...=item&id=14073

I did see this, although IMHO it's too much for too little (and while I could best offer it down, the listed SSD size is inaccurate although irrelevant): http://www.ebay.com/itm/Microsoft-Su...4AAOSwh-1W1ob8

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Tablet Chronicles, Part III

Here we go... $35, seems to be in stock:

https://www.blisscomputers.net/dell-...EVoaAhTN8P8HAQ

I'll go ahead and pull the digitizer, and see if it comes off OK. If so, then I'll order said LCD.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Tablet Chronicles, Part III

Yay, all that was holding the screen was a little digitizer tape.

I'll order a screen then... $45 later ($10 shipping) and it's on order.

Some pics:

The bare naked digitizer + frame:



It's made from gorilla glass IIRC... I flexed it a bit while levering out the screen (without a hair dryer, I'm brave, lazy, and/or dumb) and it didn't crack. Also, the digitizer traces are intact... if anything does show in the picture, that's tape residue.

LED panel info:



IIRC this panel is model-specific, as the LVDS also carries the data lines for the digitizer. I did pop off the digitizer control board/cable just in case the new panel doesn't include them. Shame, LG IIRC makes good panels (although this may have been a freak failure).

[dan8139]

Re: Ratdude's Tablet Chronicles, Part III

Hope you have good luck with this thing, I hate modern tablet-type things and tend to refuse them as customer jobs.... at which point they'll hopefully give them to me and I can have a play ;-)

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Tablet Chronicles, Part III

Hope you have good luck with this thing, I hate modern tablet-type things and tend to refuse them as customer jobs.... at which point they'll hopefully give them to me and I can have a play ;-)

This unit is an exception, as it is more or less a netbook in the body of a laptop with Dell Latitude level ease of repair. The other two windows tablets (intel bay trail) are built using smartphone-like parts (lots of I2C and SDIO devices) and are mostly monolithic (main PCB, battery, screen, and digitizer, somtimes with speaker(s) and camera(s) modular). Those aren't fun to do HW work on as often they're bin food (like my 8" insignia due to poorly made and quasi-unobatanium glass digitizers).

Thad said, these sort of "pro tablets" (to include the various surface pro models) are worth some serious $ and often include serviceable parts. This Latitude ST has two mini PCIe slots (one for wifi/BT, one for WWAN) and a PCIe SATA slot (for the SSD), along with 2mm and 2.5mm screw construction. The screen was taped in, but otherwise everything is removable with screws and/or plastic tabs. It's a bit chunky but so nice to work on compared to newer, slimmer units.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Tablet Chronicles, Part III

Well... the screen came in, and it's a turd. What they did was they took a similar panel, and hacked in an adapter cable. Ok, sure... but guess what? No place to hook the digitizer controller!

I'm sure it's compatible video wise... but since the digitizer board attaches to the panel and connects to a special connector, I'd have no touchscreen.

I'll re-check the listing, but IIRC it says 100% compatible. I'll be asking for a refund, as this isn't. Edit- between a 20% restocking fee, the fact I had to cut the foil tape looking for the connector, and the return shipping, I'm fucked.

Stupid bin food...

[dan8139]

Re: Ratdude's Tablet Chronicles, Part III

Balls, I've had some of this bollox as well.... These things are a pain to fix. But like you, I'd be determined.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Tablet Chronicles, Part III

Actually, knock on FR4 (PCB stock), but the old screen has had minimal issues since the re-install. I got the lines briefly once, but otherwise it's done OK.

[dan8139]

Re: Ratdude's Tablet Chronicles, Part III

How's it going now? Still ok?

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Tablet Chronicles, Part III

Intermittent lines. Not as bad as before though.

TBH it's too anemic to really do much productive... It's no surface _ pro , that's for sure.

Better build quality than the bay trail tablets... but between 7 being more of a desktop/laptop OS and the old z series atom being underpowered, it's a novelty at best.

[Zenk]

Re: Ratdude's Tablet Chronicles, Part III

Hi.I just start learning C programming as 1st language.If i understand well that rca w101 v2 with win 10 is not very good for linux.I dont know about linux but from what i've read it is made out of C so was planning to give it a try.Too bad for that christmas gift tablet i received.May i ask if there is any tablet i could use to practice C programming?ie:edit,compile and run programs?ty

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Tablet Chronicles, Part III

Anything Bay trail is horrible for linux. Neither is the the tablet in this thread due to a lack of working graphics drivers.

That said, I'm sure there are free C compilers for windows out there...

But for C programming you want a desktop or a laptop. Touchscreens are awful for text coding. At the very least a physical keyboard is almost required to have a good coding experience.