New M7700 (D900T) owner looking for help. Technical issues.

Hello guys

I'm still a newbie here, but I've been following a lot of thereads.

Abouth a month ago I had a qoustion, about my soontobe laptop:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=319661

I finally got that laptop, shipping took a lot of time from the US to Europe.

It is an Alienware Aerea-51 M7700, ( Clevo D900T).

I started this thread, to ask the pros, while I'm trying to revive my old dream machine. So any help is really appreciated.

I bought it knowing that it has a bad GPU, and there is no Hard Drive in it beacouse of some laws in some countrys. But it should have TV-tuner, and Double layer burner.

Before receiving the laptop, I bought a 7950GTX on ebay.de (don't have it yet), wich turns out to be a good choice, couse I have V5.3 motherboard, and 220W adaptor.
I bought a W.D. Scorpio Black 320GB Hdrive on ebay.com, wich turns out to be a bad choice, couse I read here, that it can only do 3Gb/s, and my M7700 MB is 1.5Gb/s. Anywas I didn't got that eather, It's somwhere above the North Atlantic right now.

There some other problems with it, for wich I am seeking help here.

So, I got the machine, I pressed the power button, and the blue light came on, the fans started working, the HD led was on (no hard drive in it). The optical drive was spinning too. But nothing on the screen.
After taking it apart, cleaning, and so on, it got to the bios screen, but it was grainy (with the defective GPU).
After tacking out the BIOS battery, and after fooling around with BIOS settings, the picture was good for 5 minutes. Then it turned grainy again while I was in the BIOS.
Now somethimes it shows the grainy screen, somethimes nothing at all, and once a week, after reinserting the GPU, and pressing YES on "RESET CONFIGURATION DATA" in BIOS it actually looks good.

So now I know that I have a CLEVO D900T with a defective Graphics Card.
That card is a GeForce 6800 Ultra, and it has been repaired before, couse I can see solderings on it. I will sell it, if someone wants to repair it, for $50.

I think that the other pieces of the laptop are good, couse I put my Toshiba's Hard drive in it, and it tried to boot to XP (grainy, but I could read Windows XP starting, or whatever it says), but after a few seconds it showd blue screen, and restarted. Every time. I think this is normal, for a system with a bad GPU, and another systems Windows .

Now for the problems

I noticed that the Audio DJ is not working. It turns on, but only shows: 00. 00:00. You can adjust the wolume though. But you can't open the optical drive when in Audio DJ mode. It opens when the system starts (before BIOS). I put a CD in than, and left it there. I turned on the Audio DJ, it span the CD, but nothing on the blue LCD. 00. 00:00.
So I went into the BIOS to look at the optical drive settings, ad it said no optical drive. (Like in the picture) There is a Sony/Nec Double-Layer RW installed.
I tried everything, like reseting BIOS, reinsert the DVD-rom, even put my old Toshiba's Teac DVD-RW drive in, and still nothing.
It opens and closes when I start the system. So I tried to put a Windows install disc in it, and doesn't booted. It span it a few times, and that's it.

Now I'm worried about not being able to install Windows on it, when I'll have a hard drive in it.

I'm suspecting that there is something wrong with the BIOS. Or is it the Motherboard?
Can anybody help me?

One more question. I want to update the bios, but I don't have a floppy drive. So can I use a flash drive? Maybe with this program:
http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=197

Can I do some damage with a bootable flash drive?

Here are some pics:

1. My new sweetheart
2. When it's grainy
3. When it's working (Optical drive not recognised)
4. System info

 

Firstly, it might not just be a defective videocard, have you tried to connect the system to an external monitor to see if the artifacts are still the same?
- if the external monitor looks better, then it might be the LCD cable:
check LCD cable in M7700

It might be a bad idea since only Seagate SATA-II (300MB/s) actually has a jumper on it to switch to SATA-I (150MB/s) mode.... which makes it much more backwards compatible.

you can upgrade the firmware for the AudioDJ.

Not sure why your optical drives are not being picked up in the BIOS.

I would do the "Reset Configuration Data" again... then try to update the BIOS and hopefully it would fix the issue.

yes you can, theres a guide here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=246530

 

Thank you Gophn

I've read some of you're threads, and you seem like the real Clevo enthusiast.

I tried to reattach the LCD cable a few days ago, but it nothing changed.
The changes accour, when I reattach the Graphics card.
But I'll try with an external monitor.

Also I tried the M7700 optical drive in my Toshiba, and it worked fine.

With a Bios upgrade?

 

A BIOS update would usually include the AudioDJ firmware with it.

Although there are separate firmware updates as well (independent of the BIOS)

 

Gophn

What kind of Seagates do you have?

I want to buy one like this.
http://cgi.ebay.com/SEAGATE-Momentus-7200-3-320GB-2-5-Mobile-Hard-Drive_W0QQitemZ350139430570QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCC_Drives_Storage_Internal?hash=item350139430570&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1240|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50

Will it work?

How can I link pages properly?

 

it should work fine.

just make sure to set the jumper to 150MB/s (1.5GB/s) mode

here's a pic from Momentus manual:

 

You can use a sata 3.0Gb drive in your system. I have three Hitachi 7K320's all sata 3.0 and two of them worked in my D900K, so they should work in your D900T.
I really do not advise using a floppy drive to upgrade the bios. Try going through USB/cd. A defective floppy drive killed my D900K motherboard and now I am paying through the nose to fix it.

Have you physically checked that the optical drive is connected?
Open the harddrive bay, and remove the harddrive caddy.
On the left side there is a PCB attached by two small screws, which holds the optical drive riser card in. If this little piece is loose, the optical drive may be just pushing against it causing the riser to bend.
Make sure that the optical drive is connected properly.

K-TRON

 

Gophn

Thank you

K-TRON

I hope the Scorpio Black will work. I have doubts because of this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=276006
Maybe it just needs a BIOS upgrade.

About the optical drive. It has to be connected, couse it opens and closes, and it spins the CD when I turn the system on. It even spins it with the Audio Dj. It just doesn't see it in the BIOS, and doesn't play it in A Dj.

I will do a BIOS update with flash drive, when my 7950GTX will arrive.
Btw I now have 6800 Ultra, and I bought the 7950 without the heat sink. I hope I can use the old heatsink on the new card (guess with a lot of thermal paste).

 

That is odd, the harddrive should work, because both of my 7K320's are SATA II. Maybe the first revision boards only support the SATA I drives, but I know my D900K worked with the SATA II drives I had.
Your best bet is to install the harddrive, and if it does not work, than you need a sata I drive.

I think your optical drives may be hardware related (meaning the optical drive has a problem)
Do you have an external optical drive, or a standard optical drive and a usb to ide cable?
If so connect a normal optical drive to your system and you can install the operating system over usb. It may take time, but if it works, you know the problem was related to a messed up internal optical drive.

All D900T and D900K cards use the same heatsink, so it is just a matter of switching them.
DOnt use a ton of paste, because too much could prevent heat from transferring to the heatsink efficiently.

K-TRON

 

I don't received the Hard drive yet, but still hoping to work.

I tried the optical drive in my other laptop, and it was working fine.

I'm thinking about creating an USB flesh drive, with bootable windows on it


I got my 7950GTX today, and installed in the system. Now the picture is not grainy anymore, the BIOS looks OK.
But in the system informations (BIOS) doesn't know what GPU it has


So now I need the following help.

I want to upgrade the BIOS. I found the BIOS somwhere on the net, couse I don't have a Eurocom password.

I hope I downloaded the right files.
After unzipping I found:

- Autoexec
- D9R12.wph
- phlash16

I can't use plash16, becouse I don't have Windows, or a HD in the system. So I'll do it with the USB flash drive.
My motherboard is V5.3 so I hope everything will be OK.

 

I do everything like described, but it won't flash the Bios

All it's saying is:

File Open Failed on F:\BIOS.wph
PRESS ANY KEY TO EXIT

Maybe it's not the good bios file, becouse the name is not BIOS.wph, it's D9R12.wph.

What do you guys think?

Can somebody help me with the right one?

 

Can't upgrade the bios. Can anybody help?
Main problem is that I do not have any good BIOS files.

Where can I download them?

 

Any help?

Please. I'm getting desperate here.

 

have you tried burning the BIOS to a CD and booting from there? might be the USB stick messing things up...

 

Yes, I tried. But the problem is that my BIOS doesn't see the optical drives. That's one of the factors why I need a BIOS update. Both my optical drives work fine in other laptops
I'll have to try with an USB-optical drive, but I don't have one.

But the problem is that I'm still getting the same error message, when I use a bootable flash drive:

---------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------

File Open Failed on C:\BIOS.wph
PRESS ANY KEY TO EXIT

--------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------

 

you might need to manually change the name of the WPH file itself, or edit the BAT (batch) file to reflect the correct file name.

 

HEHEHEHEEEE SUCCESSSS

I made it with the D9R12 file.

The problem was that there is no need for another folder on the bootable device, as stated here.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=246530

You copy the BIOS files to the root folder and that's it.

So now my old AW will say proudly in the System information: 7950GTX.

One big problem tough: How do I get back my Alienware sturtup screen?
It just says Pentium 4 now.

O, and one more thing. Still no optical driveS in bios, and still no Audio Dj. Despite my optical drives working nicely in other systems.
It could be motherboard related?

 

you have to get it through Alienware.... you have the original Clevo BIOS... with the re-branded splashscreen.

it could be, check this thread out:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=332520

 

NO, it's not that. I saw that part. On my system it's in its place.

This is my last problem with this laptop before finishing the rebuild, so here are the things.

1.Both optical devices function fine in other systems.

2.Audio Dj: When I turn AD on, it spins both drives. I can open them from the butten located on them, but will not open from the A Dj button. It spins them for ever, but no music.

3. When I start the system they both spin for a while, then nothing. In the Bios the setting is automatic on both, and I can't change it. I have photos, but I can't upload them, couse the XP on my old laptop is dying.

What could it be? Should I take out the MB, and take a closer look?

 

if the optical drives spin up, then that mean they are connected and are getting power.

you can try to find the latest AudioDJ firmware update... and flash it.

then if that still does not work, re-seat the optical module that is between the motherboard and the optical drives themselves.

 

Nice tips. Thanks.

Where can I find a firmware for the A Dj?

 

I have the D900K AudioDJ firmware update... I do not think its 100% compatible with the D900T AudioDJ.... I looked into the BIOS batch files and it says D9K...etc.

You can contact Alienware support.

 

I have to buy something from them, or else they won't help me
It's the way it goes.

I'll miss my Toshiba years, with great support and 4 day motherboard replacement...

Thanks tough.

 

you can contact a Clevo service center.

http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/about/worlds_s.asp

 

Thank you, I'll try that. Hope they are nicer.

 

Merry Christmas guys.

 

Selling my broken 6800 Ultra:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=230316133086

 

Hello

I still could not find an audio dj firmware.
Here are some pics. Two DVD-rom drives are in the system.

Gophn

Can you please upload the A dj firmware what you have? I know it's for the D900k, but I would still like to try it.

Thanks

Where can I buy a mini PCI TV-tuner, couse the seller told me it has it, but now I see that it isn't there?

 

some pics:

 

I thought that the rev 5.3 can´t handle the GO7950 GTX, only the newer motherboard versions 6.1n and 6.2 are capable to deliver enought power to accomplish the huge demand of this video card. Please correct me if I´m wrong.

Best regards and Happy new year

 

I thought so too. But then I've read here that you can.
http://ztronics.com/vmchk/motherboards/sager-laptop/sager-np9890-clevod900t-v5.3-mb/flypage.tpl.html
You just have to have the 220 Watt power adaptor. You see it working with the latest BIOS version, in the picture.

Happy new year to you too.

 

After dealing with Z-TRONICS personally, I must say that some of what they say is completely untrue. They do not sell new boards either. When I bought my "new" motherboard from them I received a board which was clearly used. The screwholes were worn, the heatsink for the chipset was scratched and the board was bent on the corners. So obviously I returned my board to them. I bought another and that turned out dead, so I am waiting for the third one from them.

So dont trust what you read on their website. You need the latest revision 5 and 6 series boards to support the 7950GTX.

megszalott,
the D900T and the D900K use the exact same audio DJ controller. I have one from a D900T and one from my own D900K, and they are both exactly the same. Send a PM to Gophn, and try updating the audio Dj. It should work without any problems.

The tv tuner can be bought through RJTECH, I think they still sell it as an accessory.
The tuner is a Avermedia M103 tuner.

K-TRON

 

Thanks for the reply.
I'll try to conract Gophn, for the Audio Dj firmware.

On the other hand you can see the 7950 GTX working on my V5.3 mobo. Check out the pictures in this thread.

 

Yeah I meant 5 and 6 revision boards. The revision 4 d900t boards will not recognize the 7950GTX

I just talked with Z-Tronics and they are sending me another replacement motherboard, so hopefully within a week I will get another one.

K-TRON

 

I wish you luck. I followed you're threads about costumizing your Voodoo. Nice paintjob.

 

If you have the 7950GTX video card, wish you to get the V6.2N reversion MB out there. Because that is the latest version outhere.

 

D900T

1.00.12 BIOS:
ftp://sftp.clevo.com.tw/ALLBIOS/D900T/D9T_R12.zip

 

I just bought one V6.2N from ebay for $398.00 brand new.
Save me lot time to dealed with bunch of guys in ztronics.

 

1+
as far as i know, it works fine with 6.1 and 6.2, with the other ones it may overheat.

 

I will buy a 6.2 motherboard in the near future, but I spent a too much on the laptop just now.

I took the D900t to a laptop repair shop, where I know the guys, and they are good. They told me that the laptop doesn't see the DVD-rom drives becouse a motherboard problem.

The problem is with an IC, wich controls the CD-DVD-rom drives. They told me that they can change it, but I have to find and buy an IC like that. The problem is, that there is nothing written on the IC, and they don't know where to find one.

So please somebody out there knows who is the manufacturer of that IC, so I can buy one, and resolve this whole issue. Gophn maybe?


I started up the system last week, booting Ubuntu from a flash drive. Everything went well. It could play videos nicely.

 

It should be possible to fix.
All you need is the service manual for the D900T. It will state what chips are on the motherboard. When found, go to Mouser electronics and you will find the part. They have billions of micro controllers and electronic odds and ends. I am sure they will have what you need.

You just need a service manual, I dont have one for the D900T, maybe Gophn has one.

K-TRON

 

Thanks K-tron, you made my day

I was thinking about buying a broken motherboard, and change the IC.

 

Reply from Clevo support:


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Re:
Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:55 AM
From:
"Service" <[email protected]>
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To:
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Hi:



Unfortunately this information is not allowed release to the public. We do have new motherboard in stock if you are interested.



Best Regards



Goldenstar Computer UK Ltd

Service Team

寄件者: baczoni csongor [mailto:[email protected]]
寄件日期: 2009年1月22日 1:07 上午
收件者: [email protected]
主旨:



Hello


I have a Clevo D900t notebook (motherboard version 5.3), and recently I have some problems with it. I doesn't recognise the optical drives. I tried everything, including BIOS update, but nothing worked. The DVD-roms are good, I tested them in an other laptop. Since my warranty is over, I took the D900t to a laptop repair shop, where I know the guys, and they are good. They told me that the laptop doesn't see the DVD-rom drives becouse of a motherboard problem.

The problem is with an IC, wich controls the CD-DVD-rom drives. They told me that they can change it, but I have to find and buy an IC like that. The problem is, that there is nothing written on the IC, and they don't know where to find one. I hope you can tell me something about that IC, so I can buy a replacement.
Thank you kindly for your help

Csongor Baczoni

 

So, I installed Vista via USB-stick. The system runs flowlessly, with every driver installed. Still no CD-rom, but that's not a big problem now.

I'm having other problems. I bought this 7950 GTX with a lot of money, and I can't play GTA IV. I have DX10 installed,but this application tells me that the 7950 GTX can only support DX9c, and Pixel Shader 3, and that is the problem. Is it?
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

The GTA keeps crashing before start, with this error message:

FATAL ERROR: RESC10

One other thing. I got the 7950 driver from here, and it is working great, with this one, with other games.
http://www.eurocom.com/support/drivers/Vista/d900k_vista_drivers.htm

But I tried to install the latest Vista driver from Nvidia, and it won't install, telling me that no such hardver found, or something.

Anybody with an answer.

 

well.... the 7950GTX is a DX9 card.... not a DX10 card.

the Geforce 8 series began the DX10 support.

there is not real way to force the 7950GTX to run DX10.

.... but there are ways to force a game to run in DX9 mode.

I believe GTA4 is playing in DX9 mode in Vista and XP.

get a driver from laptopvideo2go:
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showforum=93

choose one that corresponds with your OS.

Example: if you are running Vista 64-bit,
...... choose "v17x.xx VISTA 64bit | CLEVO"

 

So, I installed Vista via USB-stick. The system runs flowlessly, with every driver installed. Still no CD-rom, but that's not a big problem now.

I'm having other problems. I bought this 7950 GTX with a lot of money, and I can't play GTA IV. I have DX10 installed,but this application tells me that the 7950 GTX can only support DX9c, and Pixel Shader 3, and that is the problem. Is it?
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

The GTA keeps crashing before start, with this error message:

FATAL ERROR: RESC10

One other thing. I got the 7950 driver from here, and it is working great, with this one, with other games.
http://www.eurocom.com/support/drivers/Vista/d900k_vista_drivers.htm

But I tried to install the latest Vista driver from Nvidia, and it won't install, telling me that no such hardver found, or something.

Anybody with an answer.

 

Sorry for posting twice.

 

Thanks Gophn, you're always there

I installed the GTA IV to another laptop with IGP, and it started. It couldn't be played, but it started. I have an old driver version (7....) on the d900 so I hope it will fix it.

 

I am pretty sure that the latest drivers are around the 176.xx values,
so youre best bet is starting around their

Good luck,

K-TRON

 

Just an update.
On the D900K, the version 4.0, 4.1, 4.2 boards only support SATA 150
The 5.1 and 5.2 boards support SATA 300.
If you have a SATA 300 drive which does not have a jumper, you can still use the drive in a 4.X revision board.
In my case, my replacement motherboard was a 4.2, and my hard drives are Hitachi 7K320 SATA 300 drives.
I downloaded Hitachi Feature Tool, and used a system which can read SATA 300 drives. I booted to the CD image, Hitachi provides.
You can download it here: (Use Nero to burn the CD image)

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#featuretool

Than I changed the SATA speed to SATA 150 mode.
Please not you need to ENABLE SPEED SPECTRUM, when doing this, or else it will not work.

Then install your drives in your D900K/D900T, and the system will see the drives as SATA 150 drives.

I hope this helps,
I relayed this info to the guys at Z-TRONICS, so now they will be able to properly test boards.

K-TRON