Ok it may or maynot be off topic but I am running Linux, and well. I got this new (used) laptop, hp 8460p running 1366x768 so I went and got me a new HD+ cable (maybe) and a new screen. the screen was busted when i got it. I have to tear apart my laptop to replace the cable.

after I got the cable in and laptop put back together I put the new 1600x900 screen in only to find it busted. Then I went sh*T that HD+ cable is not going to work with my old screen. I'm thinking only because I have to have a special HD+ cable to run a higher rez on a screen that supports it.


But I did not want to tear this laptop apart again so I can go back to my old screen until I get a replacement.

So I plugged it in and it works. Now I am wondering, is a HD+ cable backwards compatible or did I get the wrong cable?


I only ask because I am only working with part numbers. Google does not show it as a HD+ per se on one part number, but the other one that goes to the screen too was added to the people that I got it from.

my original cable and this new one part numbers do not match but this could be a generic HD+ cable I am working with, so part numbers can be confusing.


so the question is again:
is a HD+ cable backwards compatible?

if they are then I can be more assured that I do have the right one.

I have no experience with this particular bit of kit, but generally a cable is a cable is a cable. If the pinouts are correct and you have continuity in the circuits, the cable should work.

Part numbers are generally assigned by hardware retailers. Sony (just to pick a name) could sell a cable under one part number and Dalco (a hardware retailer, to pick another name) could sell the same cable under a different part number, and, in both cases, it could be the same darn cable manufactured in the same factory in somewhere or other.

Even it it was not manufactured in the same factory, if it was manufactured to the same specs, it should work.

Somewhere in my garage, I have a spool of cat 5. When I wired my old house for ethernet, I made my own cables. As long as the pinouts were correct and I had continuity, they worked just fine and are probably still working today.

A picture of me troubleshooting a display problem on a Panasonic CF-48 with a bad inverter to lcd cable.

http://i47.tinypic.com/nbybsj.jpg

My 1st step is to hook up a external lcd to make sure inverter is good. Then I replaced the bad lcd cable with a used one bought that was taken out of the exact same laptop.

That is how I fixed something with a problem like yours. If the backlight bulb is burned out. I use a flash light to look for a display on the laptop screen.

I do understand all of that you have told me. It is the same in buying things like a can of green beans: brand name, off brand, they all come from the same factory, the only big difference is the labeling.


I only questioning it more so because I've read the stories of people that did this type of upgrade (this is my first time in screens).

When they discovered that they were able to replace the standard 1366x782 (or whatever it is) with a higher one 1600x900 so they did only to find out that the cable that is in the laptop does not support what they are calling HD+ even HP's parts listings speak of it have give different part numbers for the reg cable and the HD+ cable and say you have to have a HD+ cable to run a HD+ screen.


SO there has to be a quirk somewhere within that the way things use to be scenario.