>Can a PB5300ce ACTIVE LCD be used to replace a PB5300cs PASSIVE LCD? > >Anyone ever try it? > >Do you have to have the 5300ce motherboard/vram to do so? > >Thanks.
I have tried it. It doesn't work on my 5300cs with 512K VRAM. 512K of VRAM just isn't enough memory to drive 800x600 pixels in thousands of colors (or 256 colors, for that matter). It won't work on a 5300cs. In my experience, I get either a completely black screen, grey screen, checkerboard screen, or 1/4 of the screen inflated to full-screen size, the rest of the screen not drawing. One in 3 boots (after resetting the power manager by removing the power supply unit from the logic board and reseating it) with extensions disabled, succeeds in drawing an 800x600 display in 256 colors on my 5300cs, but this is unreliable and not always reproducible. YMMV. A 1MB VRAM logic board should take the CE display just fine, but no 5300cs I know of ever shipped with 1MB of VRAM. I've tried "upgrading" my 5300cs logic board to 1MB of VRAM by soldering in an extra 512K on the empty pads, but after a few months of troubleshooting it (the extra 512K never being recognized), I got lazy and haven't touched it since December. Maybe when I get the will power (or a new darn screen, again being too lazy), I will play with it some more. In short, it seems that even an "upgraded" 1MB logic board won't drive a CE display, but I can't be sure. The ce/cs logic boards are otherwise identical (well, save for the missing extra 8MB of RAM on the cs mobo), and except for ROM limitations (I haven't done a ROM dump to compare as yet, since I can't even get the CS to reliably boot with with working screen), I can't see any reason why it shouldn't work. ... Of course, there is the possibility that I fried the extra VRAM along the way, but I'm pretty careful about that sort of thing - no wool socks while petting the dog on dry winter days while shuffling my feet on high shag carpets and rubbing a balloon in my hair... Now there's a picture... ;-) Peace, Drew ----------------------------------------------------- Wow, that's quite a mental image you threw at me. Thanks for the laugh. Now, this may be a stupid question (but no question is stupid when you don't know the answer), does adding a new video card (in this case a Focus MV16EN w/1MB vram) help in adding the active LCD to a 5300cs? Or does the onboard vram count alone regardless? Thanks. Will -- _______________________________________________ http://www.operamail.com Now with OperaMail Premium for only US$29.99/yr Powered by Outblaze -- PowerBooks is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A | -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PowerBooks list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/powerbooks.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/powerbooks%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
