Aquiring a FRU04W1730 Cable

I've been looking for a FRU04W1730 internal Display Cable for my L520 Thinkpad for some time now. I almost was at a point where I'd just buy a broken Laptop with that cable to get it.

According to various threads on Reddit and some forums, those cables were easy to come by in the 2010s. But now they're almost unobtainable.

Anyways, tree weeks ago I found an Amazon Seller that claims to have one in stock. It was 45€, but since I've been looking for that cable for a year now I ordered it.

The shipping time was two months and I expected them to either cancel the order or just scam me.

Cancel the order they did not, because today I got a shipping number for it.

It was shipped two hours ago and I'm extremely curious if they actually put the cable I'm looking for in the box.

And they send me a FRU04W1729.

aka. the cable I already have.

Obviously, I also can't send it back for a replacement because Amazon only offers me a refund but not a replacement. (Which is illegal in Germany btw)

Let's see if support chat can help me.

They contacted the seller and will get back to me.

Update: The seller told them "lol, no" and they relayed that to me after reaching out again.

So I decided if I don't get my cable I'll at least be a pain in the ass about it. So I quoted some laws at them to see what happens next.

The seller ignored that message according to Amazon.

So I asked them to ask again.

They'll reach out to me on the 19th at the latest.
The same way they wanted to contact me today.

I just want a damn cable, why does this have to be so complicated.🫠

I was in contact with amazon about this on the 18th when they forwarded me the message from the seller telling me to pound sand.

I pointed out that the seller probably didn't understand the issue I was talking about because their reply didn't make a lot of sense. Amazon told me that they'll ask them about it and that they'll be in contact.

They reached out again today, telling me that there's nothing they can do when a seller is stubborn like this, and urged me to return it for a refund.

So that's what I did. Except that I would've had to pay for shipping because it goes directly to the seller instead of Amazon.

I asked them if there was a different way.

Just go the reply back that I can keep the Cable and they'll kick off the refund process without a return.

Sucks for the Seller I guess, but they kinda did this to themselves.

So now that this path didn't go anywhere I have to look into other ways to get that cable.

I already ordered two Cables from sibling models of the T520, hoping that they might do the trick.

Another option could be to make a custom cable.

I know the Pinout for the LVDS connector on the display from Its datasheet and also the Pinout for the Connector on the laptop motherboard from a boardview I found online.

But I don't know what connector it is or what plug I need for it.

It's a JAE part, but there's no part number on it. I also couldn't find a matching part from JAE on Mouser.

The next step would be to take some more measurements and hope there's a plug from a different manufacturer that fits.

The easiest way would probably be to disassemble the connector I already have, but it looks like the wires a glued in and I don't want to mess with that if I can help it.

Oh, and the date on my Microscope is wrong.

It thinks it's January 2016

I just got cold-called by someone that introduced himself as the CEO of the seller.

Why tf did Amazon give them my phone number? And who does he think he is to call me on a number he shouldn't even have?

As soon as he introduced himself I hung up and blocked the number. They had two weeks to make this right but only now after Amazon stole 45€ from them they actually do something.

I sent the seller an email (without Amazon inbetween) telling them why I hung up and that they can send me an email if the want to tell me something.

smol update: we had a short talk over email and he's genuinely sorry for this mess. Seems like a nice guy. I also apologized for hanging up on him.

Their webstore has another cable that would also work. He ordered it now from their supplier and will let me know it it's actually the right one or another mixup.

Lead time is two to three weeks, but let's hope this works out.

I hope that works out because the other option is a Czech seller that only ships within the Czech Republic.

They ship to pickup points too so I could drive there if need be.

I sent the Czech seller an email and now I've got a cable from them on the way as well.

This is going too well, I don't trust it.
Guess I'll find out soon enough what I missed.

The Czech seller dropped the ball and sent me the wrong cable.

I'm starting to see a pattern here.

Sent them an email asking for a replacement or a refund.

Let's see what their answer is.

And the goose chase continues.

I found a seller in the US that claims to have that cable in stock.

I'm seriously considering going back to my original idea of making the cable myself.

I guess if the Cables from the States and Greece are also the wrong ones, that's what I'll be doing next.

The Greece seller sent me a FRU45M2857

fuck me.

This is so frustrating! Why are all those people writing whatever on their store page?

The model number is right on the cable, there's no way every single one of them does this on accident.

The Czech seller hasn't gotten back to me (and probably won't).

I contacted the Greece one for a refund, let's see what they say about it.

Got an email from the Czech seller.

They told me to discard the cable and that they'd refund the money.

They also said that they thought that those cables were interchangeable and apologized.

I'd rather have the correct cable than the money, but what can you do.

I sent them a short reply thanking them for the refund.

If I were more artistically inclined I'd probably could make something out of all those wrong cables I collected over this ordeal.

I've got like 10 now or something.

The guy from Greece wants it to be shipped back before they refund me.

Fair enough, I guess. But after the cost of international shipping, It doesn't make financial sense to ship it back.

The American seller I was talking about earlier in the thread is actually from Singapore.

And they're weird.

They didn't process the order at all, until I reached out to them and asked what's going on.

Now they're asking me to send them a picture of the cable I ordered.

I assume they want to make sure that I'm replacing an existing one or something.

But why would they do this?

I have parts from a Framework Laptop 16 in my L520, and FW didn't give a damn about ordering parts for a Laptop I don't have.

On one of those days, I have to write a thread about the other upgrades I did to that laptop, but today is not that day.

I was going through eBay again to find either a laptop with that cable or the cable itself.

I found a L520 with the 1600x900 display (which means it has the right cable) from someone with the same name as the Amazon-seller that cold-called me at the beginning of this thread.

So that fuck did have what I was looking for after all, but never bothered to email me about it as promised.

I'm not gonna buy it from him, because as far as I'm concerned that information is just wrong again.

And there's another seller with three 1600x900 L520s' for between 160€ and 200€.

Screw that guy.

And then there's a seller on Kleinanzeigen (basically Germany's version of Craigslist) with one for 57€.

The price would be acceptable, but there's not really any other info.

I sent them a message and hope they have what I'm looking for.

Laptop had the wrong specs.

The Amazon-seller that sent me the wrong cable and talked to me on the phone afterwards sent me an email today.

He wants to know when and If I sent the cable back.

I have no clue if I did that because that was SIX MONTHS ago.

How bad do processes at a company have to be for this to happen?

If he replies asking for a tracking number or something, I'll ask him if he had time to check if the other compatible cable he sells is what it says on the listing.

Because he promised me to do so and let me know.

They actually did ask for a tracking number. I told them I couldn't help with that and that I think they're kinda audacious for contacting me about this so late.

The responded with a threatening (in size, as well as in wording) wall of text.

Luckily, Amazon has a checkbox in the "report this seller"-menu exactly for this.

I'm now chatting to Amazon support because I vaguely remember that they told me to not send it back.

I might be completely wrong, tho.

If they told me to keep it I very likely did that.
If they didn't I'm sure I sent it back.

I've been forwarded to a specialist now.

They told me to hang tight wile they're reading previous chat logs.

Turns out they didn't tell me to keep it. (Or this rep didn't want to admit to that)

Since I can't find a shipment receipt in my emails for the live of me, I guess I really didn't send it back. Oops.

Amazon and I now negotiated that I'll send it back as soon as the seller sends me a return label.

I still refuse to pay for shipping on something they screwed up.

You can't just ask me If I did a specific thing six months ago.

That's like asking me what I had for breakfast. How tf am I supposed to know? I wasn't there.

Amazon reached out to the seller about this and they didn't respond.

Amazon now told me they "can't offer me a solution" because of that and they'll let me know once the seller responds.

I'm totally fine with this. That way I don't have to look for that cable.

It's finally over.

Was it worth it?
No.
Was it fun?
Also No.
Will I do something like that again?
Yeah, probably.