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    Determining some problems on my Sager NP5125.

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Simon, Dec 14, 2011.

  1. Simon

    Simon Notebook Evangelist

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    First of all, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, so please move this thread to the correct section if needed.

    My notebook is a Sager NP5125 (as said in title) with the following specifications:
    CPU: Intel i5-450m
    RAM: 8 GB RAM
    HDD: 500 GB HDD
    GFX: Intel HD with GeForce 330M

    Anyways, I have had this laptop for around 2 years and I am out of warranty. The problems that I have currently are:
    Loose DC Jack (have to wiggle around or push down to obtain power)
    GFX Card Dying (unsure)

    How I have been using the laptop:
    It has been connected HDMI to a TV for the first year, but then the TV's HDMI port died out (I think so, won't broadcast image when another computer is hooked up also) and it is now connected to the same TV through VGA (image is kind of fuzzy). Additionally, I have been playing League of Legends, DotA2, and Starcraft 2 on this laptop and noticed that the FPS started dropping over time. I usually get 60 FPS on HIGH for League of Legends (the game I play most now) but am now only getting around 40 FPS on VERY LOW for League of Legends.

    I have been considered building a ViDOCK for the computer, but there is no express port for it to connect to and I need my WiFi adapter to connect to the internet at my apartment.

    Yeah, I'm confused. I'm not exactly sure what I should do, so I would like your suggestions, thanks.
     
  2. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Well running some diagnostics (temperatures for a start), think about if these problems happened around a driver update.

    So yeah basically look at the problem. These are always the steps to follow.

    1. Notice a problem.
    2. Identify the cause of the problem.
    3. Try and fix the problem (if not go back to 2)
     
  3. Simon

    Simon Notebook Evangelist

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    Alright, I'll try that.

    I'm not sure on how to fix the DC Jack problem, so I'll just start with the graphics one first. I'll uninstall the current graphics drivers and reinstall with the stock ones and see how that works. The current temperatures of the CPU is around 30~50C from idle to full load, HDD is at a constant 35C, GMCH (I assume it's the GPU?) is around 40~60C, and the PCH is at a constant 60~70C.

    Additionally, I found that out of the 8GB I have, only 6.24GB is usable, which I'm not sure why. I ran MEMTEST and no errors were found on the RAM. Are there any programs that can test my GPU?
     
  4. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Your integrated graphics will pinch some.

    Does GPU-Z pick up the Nvidia graphics.
     
  5. Simon

    Simon Notebook Evangelist

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    What do you mean by pinch some?

    Yes, GPU-Z does pick up both graphics cards.
    When I go to sensors, the load (GPU, Memory, and Video) was like 270%, which was really weird. Additionally, the temperature is around 60C.
     
  6. Ari3sgr3gg0

    Ari3sgr3gg0 Notebook Consultant

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    Make sure to clean out fans as well, and the dc jack will require some soldering skills and a complete teardown.
     
  7. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Some of your system memory is kept for the integrated graphics so wont show up as available system ram.