Replacing the Nomad screen

[jonjandran]

Tired of that pathetic Nomad screen? Wish you had a nice new Lcd in there? Well now you can.

First things first. Get rid of the old Lcd.
Open up the Nomad. You will need a security bit for the bottom/middle screw. After you open the Nomad , pull the circuit board up and you will see the Lcd. Pull it of and then pull of the lcd cable attached to the main board.

http://jonjandran.com/pics/jonjandran/nomad9.JPG

Now you just ruined your Nomad. Just kidding :)

Here is the new Lcd we will be using :
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.20415
It is $50 shipped.

http://www.dealextreme.com/productimages/sku_20415_2.jpg

When we take it apart it will look like this :
http://jonjandran.com/pics/jonjandran/de4.JPG

Now what you want to do is get out your hot glue gun and glue the new Lcd into place. Make sure you get it centered. be aware the Lcd hole on the Nomad is slightly slanted so the Lcd will be slightly slanted when mounted.

http://jonjandran.com/pics/jonjandran/nomad1.JPG

Now it's time to solder the wires necessary to power the screen and get video to it.
You will be soldering 4 wires. 2 grounds, power, and video. the 2 ground wires go to the same spot on the Lcd's board.

http://jonjandran.com/pics/jonjandran/nomad8.JPG

Here is where the wires will be soldered to the Nomad's board :

http://jonjandran.com/pics/jonjandran/nomad3.JPG

And some closeups :

http://jonjandran.com/pics/jonjandran/nomad4.JPG

http://jonjandran.com/pics/jonjandran/nomad5.JPG

After it is wired you will want to mount the Lcd's board on top of the Lcd. I put a small piece of paper between them to protect against shorts. You can then hot glue the 4 corners to hold it in place. :

http://jonjandran.com/pics/jonjandran/nomad2.JPG

Now put the Nomad back together. Make sure the wires are crimped anywhere, or in the way of the buttons.

[jonjandran]

Plug it in and see the new Lcd in all it's glory.

http://jonjandran.com/pics/jonjandran/nomad6.JPG

http://jonjandran.com/pics/jonjandran/nomad7.JPG

[jb143]

Pretty cool, I was thinking of doing something similar myself. I was thinking of tapping RGB but this looks much easier.

Questions...It looks like your tapping the video signal off the video out port. How does this affect hooking it to a tv? Does the brightness knob do anything at this point? Do you disable the CCL high voltage? or is that on the Nomads LCD?...I can't remember. And the main thing...how does it affect battery life? I'd imagine it would increase it drastically if the new screen uses LED backlighting.

[ooXxXoo]

Great screen replacement...I've been looking for a good size matching one for months....Questions though, how bad is the new LCD screen lag with the Genesis/Nomad low resolution (if most likely there any)?....
....Excellent clean job indeed..
...

[jonjandran]

It doesn't affect hooking it up to a tv. Just like using a splitter and running 2 tv's off one rca. Same thing.

Nope brightness nob now does nothing. Doesn't need to because this screen is plenty bright as-is.

The high voltage is on the Lcd so it comes off.

Battery life is now terrific with a total of 230mA being drawn now.

And there is no noticeable lag whatsoever anymore :)

[jonjandran]

Just wanted to post a pic of what the screen normally looks like with the regular Nomad screen:

http://jonjandran.com/pics/jonjandran/NomadOldScreen.JPG

[gumbyandpals]

Have you looked into using RGB for the LCD? Is there any part information printed on top of the ICs that might give some information as to which pins output RGB (if I could find the datasheets)?

[jonjandran]

Have you looked into using RGB for the LCD? Is there any part information printed on top of the ICs that might give some information as to which pins output RGB (if I could find the datasheets)?

I guess I could try it , but composite looks so good, I really don't think it would be much of an improvement on such a small screen.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

Do you know if there's any cheaper LCDs that work? Or has anyone tried one? I know I sound like a real cheapskate, but I do have several projects going right now, so the less I spend the better. I'll eventually do this, but I'd like to do it sooner rather than later.

[jb143]

$50 shipped seems pretty cheap to me. For my engineering senior project a few years ago we bought a composite LCD module(no case to remove, just the screen and circuit board) for $120. Looking for one now, it's hard to find anything in the $50 price range that can accept a composite or RGB signal. They're all just digital input that needs additional circuitry to work with a standard input.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

$50 shipped seems pretty cheap to me. For my engineering senior project a few years ago we bought a composite LCD module(no case to remove, just the screen and circuit board) for $120. Looking for one now, it's hard to find anything in the $50 price range that can accept a composite or RGB signal. They're all just digital input that needs additional circuitry to work with a standard input.

I sort of figured. But just for perspective, I bought a new 22'" LCD monitor for my computer a little over a month ago for $90.

[jonjandran]

You can get the same 3.5" on Ebay for around $30 shipped.

This one also works just fine but you will have to find the pinouts yourself :)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260514350704&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.com%3A80%2F%3F_from%3DR4 0%26_trksid%3Dp4712.m38.l1313%26_nkw%3D26051435070 4%26_sacat%3DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1

[TheDomesticInstitution]

You can get the same 3.5" on Ebay for around $30 shipped.

This one also works just fine but you will have to find the pinouts yourself :)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260514350704&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.com%3A80%2F%3F_from%3DR4 0%26_trksid%3Dp4712.m38.l1313%26_nkw%3D26051435070 4%26_sacat%3DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1

Thanks a lot. I noticed that the resolutions on the dealextreme unit are different than the one you linked on ebay- but I guess it doesn't quite matter? I looked around on ebay a bit, but only found one like the deal extreme monitor and it was $48 before shipping (http://cgi.ebay.com/3-5-Inch-2-CH-Video-Digital-TFT-LCD-Portable-Monitor_W0QQitemZ260531271291QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH _DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3ca8dfb67b).

[jonjandran]

First rule of fight club......don't believe ANYTHING dealextreme says :)

[Oldskool]

Bump for an awesome (necessary) mod for the Nomad. I am not normally into modding, but this one is for an excellent cause.

[remowilliams]

Has anyone who has tried this had any display issues?

For the most part it seems fantastic :) , but on Test Drive II the intro, car selection, course selection, and 'intermission' station screens and round scoring all exhibit severe graphics shearing off to the right hand side. Is this something that is a known issue?

[Leo_A]

Has anyone who has tried this had any display issues?

For the most part it seems fantastic :) , but on Test Drive II the intro, car selection, course selection, and 'intermission' station screens and round scoring all exhibit severe graphics shearing off to the right hand side. Is this something that is a known issue?

Sounds like the LCD screen you used doesn't care for the resolution that game is putting out. Doubt it's a Nomad issue.

[remowilliams]

Sounds like the LCD screen you used doesn't care for the resolution that game is putting out. Doubt it's a Nomad issue.

It's the screen shown in this thread. I figured it's probably a resolution issue, but wanted to see if anyone else has noticed the same thing.

Also I haven't exactly run through the entire Genesis library during testing and was wondering if other games that could have similar output might be affected...

[Leo_A]

It's the screen shown in this thread. I figured it's probably a resolution issue, but wanted to see if anyone else has noticed the same thing.

Also I haven't exactly run through the entire Genesis library during testing and was wondering if other games that could have similar output might be affected...

An easy way to confirm that it indeed is a resolution issue with the LCD screen would be to output the game to a tv. If the problem doesn't happen when using tv/out, then you can be certain it isn't some oddity with the Nomad hardware that causes it not to play the game correctly.

[remowilliams]

An easy way to confirm that it indeed is a resolution issue with the LCD screen would be to output the game to a tv

Yes it does output correctly using AV out to an external display, so it's definitely some sort of limitation or something on the replacement LCD.

[MarioMania]

One thing that bugs me..

Why when you turn the Nomad with the new screen it sats "AV" on the top right of the screen

[jonjandran]

One thing that bugs me..

Why when you turn the Nomad with the new screen it sats "AV" on the top right of the screen

It has 2 composite inputs so it cycles through AV1 and AV2. No way to get rid of it on some of the screens.

[Oldskool]

That doesn't really bug me.

As far as the resolution, I don't think it's EXACTLY like the original Nomad screen.

[remowilliams]

One thing that bugs me..

Why when you turn the Nomad with the new screen it sats "AV" on the top right of the screen

The far more annoying issue is with games that blank the screen or something instead of blacking it, which causes that AV1/AV2/bluescreen to keep showing itself during level skips, deaths, etc.

I'd say the annoyances are still far outweighed by the positives though. The replacement LCD is an incredible leap in clarity and quality.

[jonjandran]

The far more annoying issue is with games that blank the screen or something instead of blacking it, which causes that AV1/AV2/bluescreen to keep showing itself during level skips, deaths, etc.

I'd say the annoyances are still far outweighed by the positives though. The replacement LCD is an incredible leap in clarity and quality.

Hmm I imagine there is a solder point to disable the second input.

[BetaWolf47]

Does this screen also work with Game Gear?

[jonjandran]

Does this screen also work with Game Gear?


No there is really no way to get a new Lcd in a Gamegear.

Yes there is a way to get Rgb out of a GG, and yes there is a way to convert it to Composite. But there is really no easy way to get all of that and a new 3.5" Lcd in a Gamegear. I have my doubts that a new 3.5" Lcd would fit by itself in a GG.

[Oldskool]

That really sucks because I would die to have a new LCD screen in my Game Gear. Jonjandran, have you ever done a cap replacement on a Game Gear? Seems that is really the problem with the video quality on these things. I guess all of the game gears have degraded over time.

[Oldskool]

The far more annoying issue is with games that blank the screen or something instead of blacking it, which causes that AV1/AV2/bluescreen to keep showing itself during level skips, deaths, etc.

I'd say the annoyances are still far outweighed by the positives though. The replacement LCD is an incredible leap in clarity and quality.

I've never had that issue with mine. What game were you playing when that happened? Maybe I should try it and see what happens.

[megasdkirby]

Ironically, I've necer seen the AV1 or similar messages while playing.

Man, I love this mod.... :)

[Sinizar]

Thank you for the images on how to do this. I just spent the morning modding and the afternoon playing. It turned out great! Playing Pier Solar on it. :) I don't know how people play games on the old screen. It is so bad, this one is beautiful!

The only addition I will add is keep a red sharpie on stand by. When it comes to aligning the screen, leave the protector plastic on the screen so you can draw margins on it with the sharpie where the screen actually displays the game. It has a small bar all the way around it, and if you don't line it up perfectly before the hot glue you are going to end up doing it over until you get it aligned.

[gcl1984]

awsome mod, just ordered a screen

[Polygon]

Had I thought about this or seen this thread three weeks ago, I would still have my Nomad.

Great work! :)

[jonjandran]

Thank you for the images on how to do this. I just spent the morning modding and the afternoon playing. It turned out great! Playing Pier Solar on it. :) I don't know how people play games on the old screen. It is so bad, this one is beautiful!

The only addition I will add is keep a red sharpie on stand by. When it comes to aligning the screen, leave the protector plastic on the screen so you can draw margins on it with the sharpie where the screen actually displays the game. It has a small bar all the way around it, and if you don't line it up perfectly before the hot glue you are going to end up doing it over until you get it aligned.

Actually I do it a bit differently. I hook everything up. Then I put hot glue on two corners of the screen. Quickly before the glue dries I turn on the system and line the screen up. Glue dries and I glue the other two corners. Perfect screen every time.

[raylydiard]

I got to get other nomad some day and just have this screen replaced i wonder about atari lynx screens?

[c0ldb33r]

jonjandran - if you're going to do some more of these mods, please let us know.

I'd be interested in having it done.

Anyone else?

[gcl1984]

just finished mine up and it looks amazing. Big Thanks jonjandran for the info...
I used a slightly different screen. Its the one that comes with a sunction cup mount that screws into the back of the screen. it also has one video input and an on off switch on its side.i removed the switch and just jumpered it.also with this one i was able to just glue in its front plastic bezel into the nomad, then the screen circuit board uses 3 screws to hold it in place instead of glue.

[Oldskool]

Nice, do you have any pictures of this different screen that you used? During the mod, or any pictures of the screen after the mod?

[raylydiard]

I have a pile of nomads comeing soon with broken screens.