TONGFANG GK5CN5Z / GK5CN6Z / GK5CQ7Z / GK5CP0Z

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to give an update to anyone out there who is having issues with Ubuntu not detecing external displays. Make sure you disable secure boot, this was what kept me from being able to go to an external monitor.

 

Yes I had the same issue, not sure what the problem is but I am assuming it is hardware related. I just ended up disabling the light bar because it bothered me. Is there a firmware fix for it out there somewhere?

 

Based on your post, It looks like the email address is a no go for support.
(my bad - according to "PhatPharaoh", they just take awhile...)

On the Overpowered website the support number is 1-800-379-3820. 9AM-4PM M-F Pacific Standard Time. The wait times can be pretty bad. The first time I called the wait was 50 min. and the last time was 25 min. Otherwise, the CSR was North American English based and very helpful. The call took me 10 minutes tops. Have your serial number and date of purchase ready. Apparently, we are responsible for the shipping and cost to the service center in Huntington Beach, CA and they cover shipping to return it.

If you have the box you got it in, I would absolutely use that as, per the pdf instruction sheet they sent me, you must also send the accessories that it came with. (power adaptor, cables etc...) with customer info note and proof of purchase receipt (maybe invoice or order page printed online from Walmart?).

Once I explained that I reinstalled drivers, rebooted and all the pc things, they confirmed a hardware failure and generated a service transaction code.

Be warned, on the Overpowered FB, a couple users have stated they have waited months for their laptop to be sent back, but I have no personal or corroborated experience to back it up otherwise. They state two to four weeks, but I have been fooled before.

Good Luck fellow crappy laptop owner!

(P.S. Your post was the only Walmart Overpowered post I encountered confirming my problem and had to expand my search with Tongfang to see if it was the chassis and not just Overpowered. My warranty also expires soon and I hope I don't see any more problems once I get my device back. I will update so there are some data points not just for OP but for all Tongfang peoples.)

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so the email did work, it just took them a long time to respond. they just sent me the same instruction sheet that you mentioned. they say 2-4 weeks so hopefully that is all it takes, but due to covid and them not being a big brand, I doubt they will meet that time frame. I am going to start to backup all my files and restore everything to factory settings and remove the extra 16gb stick of ram I added before shipping it back. I hope removing the actual sticker wont really void the warranty since all I did was add the RAM to it lol

 

Glad you got ahold of them. Haha, you reminded me that I also added a stick of ram! I will have to remove it as well just in case. I'm doing the same as you with the backup and system wipe to factory settings. I am hoping shipping won't be too bad cause it sucks we have to pay to send it but, Walmart meh. I had set my warranty sticker aside for the moment but can't find it now...

On another thread, they said Eluktronics replaced their mainboard with a 9750H. Too bad I bought an Overpowered. lol

Theres a US law that prohibits manufactures from voiding warranties based on those stickers (If they give us crap, mention the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act fo 1975) but, I guess we will see. I'll keep ya updated. I hope this story ends well. lol

Good luck bro!

Source:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/ftc-warranty-stickers-illegal/
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilear...arranty_void_stickers_have_no_legal_standing/

 

My sticker got damaged when I removed it to put the RAM in, so I don't even have one anymore, but hopefully they wont care. I heard of that law before, but it's good to see it so I can mention it in case they don't want to fix it. I would love if they upgraded us to a 9750h too haha

I am going to go buy an external drive (hopefully this weekend) and then send it out early this coming week. I'll keep you updated too, good luck to us both!

 

Hello! I'm about to reset my OP LP2 (GK5CN6Z), I have the 1.05 BIOS and I was wondering what is the most recommended BIOS for this laptop? Should I stay with the one i have, or would I get better performance with another one. I would like to add that I use the computer mostly for audio related things, I do a lot of music livestreaming (audio interface connected with 2 condenser microphones), I need my USBs to work properly, I've been having some issues with them lately, they turn off for a second sometimes even though I have all the power saving options off. Thank you to everyone that has helped on this thread, I've learned a lot reading it!

 

Hi, I was wondering is it possible to mix ram size on GK5CN6Z model (i7 gtx1060)?
Currently my system is running on single stick 16GB 2666mhz ram, and planning to add another 8gb 2666mhz to make it dual channel. Is it possible?

 

Years later I know, however I cannot get this to work either. Driving me crazy

 

It is possible, but you will only have duel channel for the first 8 gb ram and the rest will be single channel. I would recommend getting a 16gb stick instead of 8gb they are relatively cheap ~$50 or so if you can.

 

finally got my stick of ram out and backed up all my files. Going to wipe the laptop and send it in tomorrow! wish me luck haha... any luck with yours so far?

 

It's funny that your sending it tomorrow because I have been procrastinating and was like.. OK Ill get it over with... So Friday the 13'th it is lol

I was freaking out trying to not have to buy a back-up drive and realized a lot of my files are system files and programs. So backed-up, removed ram and also shipping it out tomorrow. What shipping service you gonna use?

Edit: Got it shipped out. I hated paying for the shipping. lol I wonder if we will get any correspondence when they receive it?

 

I got busy and couldn't send it out yesterday, so I guess I'll have to wait until Monday, but I got the ram out, backed it up, and wiped it to new. I was planning to use USPS, but I want to see what company is cheapest with tracking and insurance.

 

Ugh. My shipment came out weighing over 9 lbs, so I spent $55 for USPS 2-Day with $700 additional insurance. (Had no idea how much I should have done it for, because eBay sellers can have them for $600 - $800 last I checked) I was trying to get it over with, so there it is. lol If I hear anything I'll let you know...

 

Does someone know if this laptop has the "WAKE ON POWER" function? I have the unlocked BIOS with all the extra settings but I can't find anything.
I'm looking for a solution to boot the laptop without having to open the lid.

 

Yea mine was pretty similar. I did USPS with tracking and $800 insurance just to be safe and it ended up being $47 w/ tax, but it was not 2 day shipping. They said it should arrive there on Monday.

 

Just a word of advice for anyone who will ship their laptops in the future. Do not use USPS... mine was was supposed to get to OP on Monday and still has not arrived and won't be delivered today. It lists nothing but "in transit" on the tracking as well. UPS ground also is cheaper if you don't do the 3 day shipping just standard ground shipping and is faster as well.

 

So funny story, I am also on the same boat as you guys now. Got OP in 2018 after doing a lot of research (Bob's video helped at the time). I have since used the laptop almost everyday and played a bunch of games that were GPU intensive. Well, last week I was playing destiny 2 and laptop rebooted in bios and flickering issues described in previous posts happened. I am so glad I was able to find this forum lol and even more so that I wasnt the only one with this issue. I saw yours and chiFlips posts and called op the next day. After being on hold for 4 hours, someone picked up, got my information and gave me instructions on how to send it to their CA office.

Sadly, I did all of that and sent it through USPS early morning... before I saw this post. It's supposed to arrive there on monday and because I asked for additional insurance on the package, they need a signature on delivery. Hopefully, that isnt a problem for them. I guess I am going to now patiently wait for.. 3? Maybe 4 weeks ? And hopefully I get everything back in one piece. First time doing a warranty on a laptop..kinda anxious. Will post here if I get updates on the issue itself or when its resolved.

 

Yup, sadly it has not arrived there for me yet. It wont go until Monday at the earliest which will be a week late... I wonder if I can contact them and ask for a partial refund or something since it was so expensive already lol

 

Okay, I got notification that it arrived and it was signed for. Will try to do an email follow up within the next few days.

 

same happened to me as well. they delivered it yesterday morning which was a week later than they initially told me it would be delivered, but luckily still within my warranty period. Will keep you guys updated once I hear anything back from OP.

 

Glad everything worked out. I hate shipping things that are fragile, like these laptops. At least they take care of the cost back.

Welcome to the club! I feel like there are going to be a lot of angry Overpowered owners after everyones warranty expires and either they didn't know or just started to experience problems. Mine got there a couple weeks ago and just got off the phone with support.

So... Support (literally the same dude I initially spoke to haha) told me that they received it and that they could not repair it... Umm. So they are going to try and send me a replacement. Oh man. lol. I am scared that if they send me a laptop with the same flaw.. in two years, I'll just be in the same boat.

I was reading on that thread that the problem is the chipset that Tongfang used for the 8750H board. If they send another one, it will still have the same chipset...

He told me in about a week that I would receive an e-mail with a status update. Wish you guys luck. lol

 

I wonder how many spare laptops they have to issue it to people who have this problem. I mean when I spoke with the support person, I was no. 40 in line and it did take me 4 hours to reach an individual. Part of me thought atleast half of the people waiting in line ahead of me were having either this or some random issue ... right before their warranty expires in December... because you know.. they ran out if I am remembering correctly(idk if it was ever restocked after that.) I was going to contact them again tommorow by email and see if they got started on it... but seems like maybe I should wait till early next week to fo so.

 

You two and I think a random guy who made a comment to the Overpowered FB page are all that I know of who have reached out. So our outcomes will be the only ones I know. The other thread is about the same chassis/model but through another seller (Eluktronics) and they swapped the motherboards to 9750H boards. I would love that, but I don't think we will get so lucky.

I am mainly worried about getting a replacement laptop that is just going to have the same issue. I know Overpowered never released any other updated models, but Walmart does sell another line of laptops called Evoo that look almost as if they were Overpowered laptops. It would be nice if we were issued ones that aren't susceptible to the backlight issue, because none of us will be under warranty if it happens again in two years. lol. When I spoke to them, it sounded like they didn't have back-stock to just ship out but was looking for "inventory". They have mad mine for almost two weeks now and this is the first I heard that it was "unfixable". Hopefully it's inventory that doesn't have the same defect...

Ugh. Literally right before the warranty expires. Really... lol

Guess we will just have to see. I'll update if I hear anything else, hopefully in a couple weeks. (I hope)

 

They just emailed me to confirm they received my laptop and that a tech is working on it now, but if the problem is the chipset, then likely most of the 8th gen i7 laptops will have the same issue eventually... hoping that isn't the case, but I wouldn't be surprised. Did they happen to mention the warranty situation on the laptops they send back? Wonder if getting one of those units will extend our warranty out a bit since we are already at the end of our warranty on the original units.

Edit: Also, others in this thread prior to the 3 of us had the same issue. Not sure what happened with them specifically, bec I didn't want to read 500 pages, but they said it was the same chipset issue. Not sure if any of them had the issue a 2nd time on the 2nd laptops though,

 

Called OP today. They said the unit could not be fixed so they are replacing it. As far as when I will recieve it or if it will be genuinely new.. I have no idea. No idea about the warranty either.

 

I have the 8750H with the 1060 6GB and the fans have been going absolutely wild lately. It actually turned itself off once due to thermals while I was just browsing through discord. Anyone else having heat issues with this laptop? Thinking about repasting to help things...

 

Hi, i have an Overpowered laptop, the i7/1060 variant, i dont live in the US (rather, i live in argentina with its importing issues and such) and i have been having thermal issues since forever. About a year and a half ago i repasted with MasterGel and as many others i had severe thermal performance degradation with time. I repasted again but stopped there beacause of a screw that was close to stripping (basically i wanted to "save it" so i could get a replacement or something).
Ive used the laptop anyways and i have taken as much care of lowering temps as i could. I have it undervolted both on cpu and gpu for as long as i remember and as much as it can handle.

Right now, the 1060 is limited to the lowest speed msi afterburner allows at the lowest voltage that was stable, and the cpu is limited to a tdp of 45w.
Still, temperatures are insane. When a combined load is applied, both cpu/gpu get to 90c in a few minutes and stay there regardless of fan speed.

I think, because of the use ive given to this laptop at such temps (maybe im wrong tho, hopefully) that the gpu is starting to fail. I have frequent crashes and blue screens when gaming at high temps and it has gotten to a point where i cant use the laptop entirely because it will eventually crash.

Have there been cases of the gpu needing a reballing? I am aware of the possibility of needing to do this as ive done it on my grandpas laptop once (old hp amd apu+gpu laptop, you know how they get..) and as much as i would feel very uncomfortable having to do that on mine, at least i understand the procedure i guess.

Maybe it could be something else? ssd/windows install problems are not likely because i ran the laptop off a usb-to-sata cable hooked to an ssd for a couple days with a spare to test exactly that and the issues remained, and in the middle of this struggle i had to format and reinstall windows on my main drive because of a virus my father installed triying to pirate 3d-max.

Im getting kinda desperate. If it takes getting+appliying liquid metal im all up for it. I will take as much care as needed so that it doesnt eventually fry the laptop. At this point im up for whatever it takes to get my precious laptop back, seriously.

Thanks in advance to anyone reading this!

 

Hey, I've got a GK5CN6Z from Walmart. I have a few issues, all of which seem to be related. Firstly, and most annoyingly, booting from either hibernation or power off on battery takes three tries. Each time the laptop seems to get slightly further into the process, before failing.
- The first time the power LED turns on, then blinks off
- The second time the power LED turns on, then the keyboard light turns on (blue), then the fans activate, then they all fail again
- The third time the laptop finally turns on, though it takes longer than it does when working properly on wall power.
The second issue is that occasionally, the keyboard backlight will revert to solid blue when starting up (hibernation only). This seems to be a hit-or-miss.
The third issue is that the keyboard will occasionally stop working. The backslash (\) key returns a return key, the right alt, shift, and control keys all fail. This can happen while actively using the machine.
Finally, the keyboard will occasionally start to drop inputs. I think this is a problem with power, as the problem ceases if I lower the keyboard backlight brightness to 50%. The keys most affected are shift, d, 8, and m.
None of these issues happen often enough to be seriously harmful, but they are a huge pain. I have tried many troubleshooting steps:
- Reset BIOS (Modded N.1.05)
- Change/Uninstall/Reinstall Control Center - I have tried all major variants of the control center, including third-party tools like Revcenter and MyApp. These issues occur regardless
- Update/Roll Back Windows - I have yet to perform a total reinstall, because its a pain.
- Change/Reset power plans - Nothing seems to work. The issue (particularly the sleeping problems) happen whether or not Fast Boot and Fast Startup are enabled.
- Reseat battery/CMOS - I am considering ordering a replacement CMOS battery, and possibly a keyboard ribbon cable.
Things I have yet to try:
- Removing undervolt - The 8750h has been able to handle a really aggressive undervolt (-250), so I might tone that down, even if thermals go up.
- Reinstall windows
- Change RAM
- Change boot drive

Thanks to anyone who can help!

Edit: I've also run OEMSevtool multiple times, with and without all the control centers, which I make sure to completely remove.

 

This doesn't sound right. I'd check that you have proper mounting pressure, that both fans are spinning at full speed, and that there's not too much dust built up in your ducts.
What control center version are you using?
I completely removed the power limit on my identical model and it runs fine, barely cracking 85 degrees while pulling at least 65 watts on CPU.
I hope the GPU's not dead. Then reballing would be your only hope before getting a new model.

 

I hope so too, it would really break my heart to lose it to heat. I kept it as clean as i could and was very gentle with the fans, which im sure spin as much as the first day i got it.
I considered it could be mounting pressure, but the screws are those that lock when they reach the correct mounting pressure (well, the supposed one i guess) so i never pushed them further.

i searched for mounting pressure here in the thread and someone had to use tin foil to increase it a bit to achieve actually adecuate pressure, so my hopes are there. For now ill have to look for a set of screws to replace mine, possibly something to use to get the stripped one out if i cant just unscrew it, and ill try to be very carefull appliying mastergel again and adding a minimal amount of either aluminium foil or something like that.

 

Oh right, control center. I tried the alternate one in this thread some time ago but this issue started with and persisted with the default OP one on balanced + windows balanced mode with UV on CPU+GPU.
Really, it progressed from a really good result after about 10 mins on prime95 (a bit less than 70c on 20-somthing C ambient temps on my room) to instantly going up to 95c and throttling.

 

I have yet to hear back from OP about my unit, even though they said they received it and were working on it. Going to try to give them a call in the morning and see if there is any update. Hoping to hear some good news lol

 

Sorry I missed this. I never got it working again and had to disable the light bar. My laptop is crashing randomly due to suspected hardware issues so I just RMAed it, adding this small issue to the list of defects to repair.

FedEx shipping was affordable for me from the East Coast, $27 with $850 in insurance with my slightly discounted rate. I used the original box to ship.

 

So I just got an email from EVOO support instead of OverPowered lol and they said they were able to fix my laptop. They didn't provide any details about what was wrong or what they did, but I guess we will see when it arrives. The tracking says it should arrive this weekend.

 

Do you know what the relationship between EVOO and Overpowered is?

 

Wow... that's really fast. I did email them on monday since they had never contacted me after receiving my machine. I have yet to hear back from them. Guess I will check on them again tommorow by phone. Thanks for the update.

 

I am not 100% sure but I assume they are the same company or owned by the same people since the laptops are identical except the EVOO ones are newer models. Also, their support seems like it is connected which is why they emailed me from EVOO support.

No problem. I am surprised it was done so fast too. Hopefully it will come with paperwork saying what they found the issue to be and what was done to fix it, but the biggest thing is, I hope there is no recurrence of the issue after I get it because my warranty expires in like a month.

 

I also wonder if the machine comes with a short term extended warranty like 30 days or so? I also wanted to ask you, was this the first time you were contacted by email? I mean other than emailing you with RMA information ?

 

I'm not sure what happens if they botch the repair. My laptop is arriving there on the 14th and it expires a few days after that.

 

2nd time for me .the first was them saying they received it and were working on it.

 

That is my concern as well. I will ask them if there is a warranty extension after we get it back or what happens if the same issue happens again.

 

Hmmm. I also have not heard a thing. I guess I will be calling as well. (So, I called. lol)

So, you inspired me to call today and check again, because since since sending mine in, I haven't been contacted, so I just keep calling them lol. I was told that they are still looking for inventory to replace mine with and they will email me (at the latest 12/15) when something changes. sigh

 

I guess that it's a good thing that you're getting a new unit. They told me they were able to repair mine which doesn't really make sense for the issue it had since everyone was saying it was a chipset issue...that's why I am concerned it may happen again when I get it back.

 

Does anyone have a link to the latest bios/ec for the GK5CP0Z config `i7 9750h with rtx 2060

I don't care which manufacture it's from I just want the latest update for this motherboard

 

Any updates ? I still have not receieved a single email reply from them. What number and email do you guys use to get in contact with OP? This is week 3 for me, feels like they should have a relevant update by now -_-.

 

1-800-379-3820 is the number I have been calling.

They have never once emailed me or called me other than the initial email with the return instructions lol. When I called a week ago, they told me to call back if I didn't hear back by 12/16 and now I'm calling again waiting for an hour on the phone... I'll update this post after I they finally answer sigh.

 

Dam.. yea the phones have a long wait. I thought you had recieved your laptop last weekend ? My warranty expires tommorow, so really getting anxious on what that means for me.

 

So they know that they have had to replace my computer for at least a couple weeks now and no one can tell me anything other than, we are working on it lol.

The guy on support said he escalated it to his managers and I should receive an e-mail in the next couple of days. I'm calling again in two days. lol. After that, my daily routine is going to be a daily Tech support call until I get a tracking number. Yup...

Support received computer on 11/16 - Said they couldn't fix on 12/1 and was looking for replacement - and now literally can't tell me anything new on 12/16.

 

Sorry I had you confused with PhatPharoah lol.. yea I am going to be in the same boat soon too.