Got myself a Thinkpad W530 motherboard with K2000M with my name on it.

w530-motherboard

Literally!

I initially bought this motherboard to replace the original one in my existing W530 laptop with K1000M GPU. I even took it apart and got the motherboard out. However, I wasn't able to get it to work somehow. As I'm using it to make my living and cannot risk having it not working, I decided to put the old board back and called a day.

So I decided to source the parts elsewhere and build it from scratch.

The bare minimum

To get the new motherboard to show some sign of life, I need at least:

  • CMOS battery -- doesn't even have to be for Thinkpad as long as it got JST-2 connector
  • DC power socket & power supply of at least 135 watt
  • cooler -- doesn't seem to turn on without the fan being plugged in
  • keyboard -- for its power button
  • LCD screen -- 15.6 inch with 40-pin LVDS

I actually only needed the screen to see that it works as I wasn't able to figure out how to get the output from anywhere else (not even external monitor for the early boot). The 15.6 inch size isn't strictly required; however, I want it to be placed nicely along with the rest of the component.

As for the cooler, I had to look strcictly for W530, as the T530 may not have the discrete GPU.

Parts from T510

I got a dirt cheap T510 complete case online that literally smelled like garbage. Took me a few thorough wipe of alcohol and acetone as well a few days of airing out to get the smell away. To my disappointment, not everything could be used in this project.

Incompatible:

  • middle frame -- screws & sockets placements
  • bottom case -- ports (e.g. DP & modem)
  • screen cable -- connector socket; 20 series one would do

Compatible:

  • screen cover + joint
  • bottom HDD & RAM covers
  • DC power socket -- got the plain barrel connector
  • screen bezel -- different LED indicators for different series
  • LED sub-board + connector -- different LED indicators for different series
  • palmrest -- must match the keyboard (e.g. xx20 keyboard on xx30 palmrest won't work)

While the T520/W520 screen connector would work, for the middle frame and the bottom case I wouldn't risk it, so I got the ones specific for T530/W530.

The plain barrel connector means that I cannot have the 185 watt power supply.

cardboard-setup

At least it's good to know that the board I ordered was good!

Putting the parts together

Aside from that, from my research, I could get:

  • IO daughterboard: T510 is incompatible due to different connector socket, the T520/W520 seems to be of the same form factor, but I'm not risking it
  • Speaker: compatibility among all the 15 inch models of 10, 20, and 30 series, but not with the 12 and 14 inch counterparts -- got mine from a T510
  • Ultrabay accessory: got an extra drive caddy to expand my storage instead of the boring DVD drive

with-bottom-case

Got the chassis now!

As for the LED indicators, each series is different, so if I'm to be faithful to the 30 series, I'm gonna need the LED sub-board and the bezel sticker (not the whole bezel). However, since the bezel I got is quite damaged, I'm opted for a new one anyway. Without the right LED sub-board the WiFi indicator won't show, though. Oh well...

I also bought a new RAM cover since the one I got was cracked. For some reason, the latches was a tiny bit too long, so it wasn't closing properly. Nothing a little filing-off wouldn't fix!

To be more proper, I got myself the T530 palmrest.

almost-complete

After putting the palmrest, I realized that the keyboard wasn't fitting properly. This is the consequence of cheaping out, I guess...

At the moment of writing, I haven't replaced the keyboard; neither was the LED sub-board; but it's alive!

Update (18-07-2023)

I was able to get the keyboard to fit by bending some metal notches on the keyboard edges!

keyboard-fitted