Clevo P775TM1-G Spare USB Lanes / Keyboard adressable RGB LED Mod

[DoenerBoy123]

Hello folks!

 

I’m currently modding my Clevo’s keyboard. Like on lots of these machines, my keyboard backlight burned out, and I’m not in the mood at all to buy a new keyboard just because of that. So far, I’ve completely replaced the stock LED strip with an addressable one. It works as intended and is a huge upgrade over the stock LEDs, but it’s still far from perfect. I’m controlling the LEDs with a Nollie 1 controller, which works with either SignalRGB or OpenRGB, completely bypassing Clevo’s crappy software.

The problem I’m facing now is finding an unused USB port to connect the controller to. I thought about using the webcam or fingerprint reader data lines, but I don’t want to lose any features for this mod.

So, the big question: does anyone know of unused pads on the motherboard that I could connect the controller to? That would be awesome for this mod! I’ll post a follow-up once I’m done with it.

 

Thanks!

[incendery]

Hey mate sounds like a great project!

Here's  a link to the service manual / schematic for the board, you might be able to find something unused on here 

https://www.e-weekly.co.uk/download/rnd/drivers/clevo/p775tm1/esm.pdf?lce

[DoenerBoy123]

Okay so I might found something promising. The service manual mentions a 3G/LTE port that also carries one usb 2.0 port. The pads of the slot seem to be present, but just left unused as this laptop never had an option for using WWAN network cards. To reach the usb pins I have to fully disassemble the laptop. I will give it a try the next days and report back whether those pins are actually working or not. If successful, I also gonna write a follow up regarding the keyboard ARGB mod as it might be quite useful for lots of people here, especially for those with dead keyboard backlights 

[DoenerBoy123]

I did some testing, and I can confirm that the USB lanes of the unpopulated LTE port (J_3G1, the B-key M.2 footprint labeled "3G/LTE" on the mainboard) are active and can be used for pretty much anything USB-related. I hooked up the ARGB controller to the USB lanes, and it worked right away with no issues.

The pins you need are:

• Pin 7: USB D+
• Pin 9: USB D−
• Pins 3, 5 and 11: GND(dont use them for power GND, just for reference)

The pins are located in the short section of the footprint (pins 1–11), on the odd-numbered row. To reach them, you have to remove the palm rest. Heads-up: there are two small screws hidden under the heatsink, so the heatsink has to come off first. I left those two screws out, as they don't add much to the stability, and it makes removing the palm rest much easier for future mods.

I used twisted cable pairs from an LVDS/eDP cable, as they're super small and high quality. I took the 5V from the SATA daughterboard. There's an unpopulated pad for a capacitor that is directly connected to 5V, which can be used easily for 5V and GND.

For me the next step is to install a small USB hub PCB inside that will be connected to those USB lanes, as I want to add another controller for more lighting zones (underglow). I also experimented with M.2 USB controllers, but I couldn't get them to work.

And now let's get to the keyboard mod, as this might be the most useful part of this thread.

 

It's a well-known problem that the keyboard backlight burns out over time. I don't know why, but I think either the LEDs are driven too hard or they're low-quality parts. Mine died too, and green was the only color that still kinda worked. Blue was completely burned out, and red wasn't that bright anymore either. I thought about buying a replacement keyboard, but that would have been just a temporary fix for this problem. So I took the keyboard out and disassembled the backlight.

I had some super small ARGB strips lying around, which came from those car LED strips you can press into the gaps of doors and dashboards. The strip has 34 individual LEDs, which translates to roughly that many zones, a big improvement compared to the original 4 zones. Like most LEDs, these fire straight up and not at an angle, but it turns out that's not a big deal here. I installed the strip with the LEDs facing up toward the keyboard, right at the diffuser. They don't fire into the diffuser at an angle like the original LEDs did. You can see it, as the lower part of the keyboard is slightly brighter, but it's barely noticeable. It's a PITA to put the keyboard backlight back together with these LEDs, as the lower part is slightly thicker than before, but once it's installed, you can call it a day.

As mentioned above, the controller is connected to SATA power and USB internally, which makes the mod super clean from the outside. The controller currently sits next to the internal M.2 port under the audio board, but it will be moved to a different part of the chassis, as there's plenty of room.

 

I'm not done yet, and there's room for optimization, but for now I think this is a good and lasting solution to this annoying problem. A huge benefit is that you can now control the keyboard via SignalRGB or OpenRGB. This gives you much more flexibility and much better effects (I'm mostly using screen ambience).

I also want to go further and install the same LEDs facing down toward the desk and shining out of the exhausts. My main laptop used to be an Alienware M18x, and I miss its lighting, which is why I want to take this further lol

 

(Forgot to make pics of 5V supply pins and the controller position. will add them when i have the laptop apart again)