Compal LA-xxxx board numbers explained
Most Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo and Toshiba laptops are not designed by the brand on the lid. They are designed and built by an ODM — and Compal is one of the biggest. Compal's board number is printed on the PCB, and it is the single most useful thing to search for when you need a schematic, a boardview or a BIOS dump: one Compal board is often used in several models, sometimes from different brands.
What the number looks like
A Compal main board number has the form LA- + four characters + P:
| Example | Meaning |
|---|---|
LA-9101P | older numbering: four digits |
LA-E671P | newer numbering: a series letter + three digits |
LA-L99GP | newest boards also use letters in the last positions |
LS-K031P | LS instead of LA: a daughter board (USB/audio, power button or I/O board) |
The trailing P is part of the number. File names often drop it (LA-F771) or replace the dash with an underscore (LA_D801P); ChambersDesignInc.com normalises all of these to the same board page.
Lenovo boards built by LCFC — Lenovo's joint venture with Compal — use the same idea with NM- for main boards and NS- for sub-boards, for example NM-A091 (ThinkPad X240).
The project code in front of the number
Dell and HP schematics usually carry a short project code just before the board number, for example VAW01 LA-9101P or DDP80 LA-F711P. The project code names the laptop platform inside Compal; the LA number names the PCB. When you search, the LA number is the better key — the same project code is sometimes reused across revisions, while the board number changes when the PCB changes.
Revisions
Look for REV 1.0, REV 2.0 or R1A after the number. Dell boards add an (A00), (A01) suffix. Boards with the same LA number and a different revision usually share most of the schematic, but component values and the BIOS can differ, so match the revision when you flash a dump.
What the series letter tells you
Because ChambersDesignInc.com parses thousands of file names, it can show roughly when each series letter was in use. Many Compal schematic file names contain the schematic date, e.g. LA-B843P REV 1.0 2015-01-29. This table summarises those dates from the catalog:
| Series | Boards in the catalog | Typical date in file names |
|---|---|---|
| LA-1xxx … LA-9xxx (digits) | 2,130 | mostly 2009–2013 |
| LA-Axxx | 279 | 2013–2014 |
| LA-Bxxx | 388 | 2014 |
| LA-Cxxx | 446 | 2015–2016 |
| LA-Dxxx | 403 | 2015–2016 |
| LA-Exxx | 387 | 2016–2017 |
| LA-Fxxx | 371 | 2017–2018 |
| LA-Gxxx | 310 | 2018–2019 |
| LA-Hxxx | 252 | 2018–2020 |
| LA-Jxxx | 233 | 2019–2020 |
| LA-Kxxx | 263 | 2020–2021 |
| LA-Lxxx | 178 | 2021–2022 |
| LA-Mxxx | 82 | 2021–2023 |
There is no LA-I series in the catalog — the letter appears to be skipped, most likely because it is easily confused with the digit 1. So if a technician reads LA-I… off a board, it is almost always LA-1… or LA-L….
How to find the number on the board
The number is printed in the silkscreen, usually near an edge of the PCB or under the RAM slots, together with the revision. On Dell boards it is also on the schematic's title block. If the sticker on the bottom of the laptop is all you have, search for the model instead: ChambersDesignInc.com model pages list every board number linked to that model.
Using the board number on ChambersDesignInc.com
Search for the number in any form — LA-K034P, lak034p or just k034p. The board page lists every BIOS dump, schematic and boardview for it, the laptops that use it, and neighbouring boards from the same Compal series, which are often useful for comparison when the exact schematic is missing.
Board-level laptop repair technician and founder of Chambers Design Inc. Diagnoses power rails, reworks chipsets and reprograms BIOS chips, and maintains this catalog: the parser that reads public repair channels, the board-number cross-reference and the repair guides.