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I'm trying to find some use for a laptop with a dead motherboard here and reusing the LCD panel seems quite doable.

I bought a LCD controller board and it works just fine with its provided cable.

However, I would like to use the original ribbon cable because there are some extra functions on it and that's where I'm a bit stuck.

Indeed, the connector used on the "motherboard" part is quite thin and I'm having a hard time finding the name for such a connector. It has 50 pins on tow rows, each pin appearing to be spaced by 1/32 of an inch from its neighbor.

Here are two pictures:

http://obones.free.fr/elec/connector_female.jpg

http://obones.free.fr/elec/connector_male.jpg

The background is a paper sheet with a 5mmx5mm grid and what I'd like to be able to find is the male connector, the one on the motherboard.

Do any of you have any idea what brand/kind of connector this is?

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  • What is the brand and model of the LCD? Dec 18, 2015 at 14:06
  • So Laptop LCDs use a digital interface instead of the traditional VGA/DVI interface. If you Google it you should be able to find more information. That being said, that cable is most likely proprietary as the back-light and other sensors on the LCD like an ambient light sensor will most likely all come back on that single cable...
    – MadHatter
    Dec 18, 2015 at 14:56
  • Pin pitch is extremely useful when tracking down components in Digikey. I'll mention that you could try removing the connector from the motherboard with hot air, though there's a good chance the connector won't survive.
    – W5VO
    Dec 18, 2015 at 15:40

3 Answers 3

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The problem with interconnects is that there are literally thousands of them - thousands of modern ones, and thousands of "old" ones which are no longer used and are unavailable. Jake is onto the answer here... try to get a schematic or parts list for the motherboard and/or display. If you can get that, it will likely have the part number on it.

Technically this is known as a board-to-board or mezzanine connector. That particular one is keyed, which isn't uncommon, but may make it more difficult to locate. Maybe you can find something similar at Digikey (200,000), Mouser (16,000) or similar but there are many, many to search through.

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  • Thanks for the name of the connector kind, at least I know where to look. The laptop is from Compaq, but they are not very keen on giving details about their machines. Last time I tried, they said it was sensitive information and don't want to release it to the public... I guess I'll have to live with the cable that came with the VGA/LVDS adapter, just need to make it longer.
    – OBones
    Dec 28, 2015 at 8:12
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As @rdtsc points out, these are mezzanine type connectors, and there are a great many different ones. A quick browse on DigiKey (parameterised search for 0.8mm pitch, 50pin mezzanine connectors), the following look like likely candidates:

But it is really difficult to know that they are the exact ones, especially without accurate dimensions.

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If the motherboard is indeed dead, you can easily remove the connector that you want to salvage by using a product known as "Chip Quik". This is a low-temperature solder alloy that is specifically designed to contaminate the existing solder on the board so as to reduce the melt temperature to a very low value.

Note that you don't need a hot-air rework station to use this product - a standard soldering iron is all that you need. The contaminated solder remains molten for a very long time and you simply float the connector off the board.

Normally, neither the part being removed OR the PCB is damaged using this process.

I'm not sure if they still offer free samples (they used to) but it's worth checking out. The product page at the website has full details on how to use this product.

After you have removed the connector that you are salvaging, simply flood the connector pins with regular solder so as to wash off the low-temp alloy. The connector should be completely usable.

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  • Thanks for mentionning that product, it looks very interesting indeed. It does not seem they provide free samples anymore, I could not find a page for it. The price for it isn't that high, I'll just have to find a reseller around here to minimize shipping costs
    – OBones
    Dec 28, 2015 at 8:13

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