Hi all,

Last week I bought a Texas Instruments Extensa 450 in quite bad shape, the LCD suffers vinegar syndrome, and the laptop has no VGA output port.

I'm planning to repair the LCD with new films, it's a job I've done in the past a couple of times, but I'd really love to have a VGA port at service...

According to the user manual, an external VGA port is built in the optional port replicator, which I don't own...

Now I wonder if I can build a DIY VGA port, soldering 10 wires to the 10 signal/ground pins of a VGA plug, as in the scheme attached herein.

I mean 10 wires because 5 pins are not in use.

How to chech the correct pins with a multimeter, to find RGB output, RGB input and H-sync and V-sync on the mainboard?

Should I check the pins with the laptop turned on? Is it easier to disassemble the mainboard and see which copper paths coming from the video chip go to the port replicator?

Thanks in advance
Tommy