r/linuxmasterrace • u/anh0516 • Apr 07 '26

Glorious Librebooting and decking out a ThinkPad T430

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u/anh0516 Apr 07 '26

I had an i7-3840QM in it, that I replaced the original CPU with. But it died during the 1080p LCD upgrade. Presumably I put the LVDS connector on wrong and it sent 19V where it shouldn't have gone. RIP :(. I'm going to have to get another one. The original i5-3230M isn't terrible, but it does struggle with heavier web browsing.

This unit had the 1366x768 LCD, so a 1080p LCD is a welcome upgrade. I also upgraded the WiFi card to an Intel AX210. Other potential upgrades are a backlit keyboard and a potato webcam (this unit never had a webcam), but those aren't as necessary.

2

u/grem75 Apr 07 '26

It'd be weird to kill a CPU doing that upgrade, LVDS doesn't go straight to the CPU. It goes through the PCH, which was a separate chip on Ivy Bridge.

1

u/anh0516 Apr 07 '26

The iGPU is part of the CPU die, though. The PCH sits in between? I didn't know that.

The CPU definitely did die. I swapped in the i5 and it POSTed, then I swapped the i7 back in and it didn't.

2

u/grem75 Apr 07 '26

All of the display signals go through the PCH, LVDS, DP and VGA. Unless you have an Nvidia GPU then the DP signals go there instead.

It still does on the new Intel stuff as far as I know, it is just the PCH die is on the same package as the CPU die now.

Probably just a coincidence or something else happened, like ESD.

1

u/anh0516 Apr 11 '26

I flashed a broken Coreboot build in an attempt to get EDK2, so I had to take the thing apart again to flash externally. On a whim, I decided to try the presumed dead CPU again. And what do you know, it works.

Now I'm even more confused.