Artifacting during bootup NP9377sm-a(p377sm-a) Win10

Hello,

So I got some weird stuff happening, I would say 4 months ago my display failed it had something to do with Nvidia Drivers and windows 10...no problem I @pat@XOTICPC /Alex/Barry over at XoticPC set me up to have it sent back to Sager so Sager fixes it and gets it back to me within a week super impressed...well now for the past 3 months give or take during boot up and sometimes during shutdowns or restarts I am getting strange Artifacting now this has never actually happened in Windows or in games....it only happens during start up right after the Sager logo towards the middle of the screen there is a 1-2inch artifact that goes all the way across the screen left to right and it appears really fast and goes away now this is happening every time I start my laptop from a shutdown it also happens sometimes right as windows closes during a restart but towards the top of the screen and it is smaller about a quarter of an inch or less and goes all the way across....I really am not sure what to make of it but it just bugs me because it has never happened in windows and I just don't want a sudden and total failure to happen again....now that a tutorial vid was posted on installing the 120hz display that I have I feel confident I could install it myself if it does fail but I really don't want to put it in until my warranty is up and I have over a year or so left so does this happen to anyone else or does anyone know whats going on? and is there a fix? Thanks guys!

Brent

*Edit* - I have added a crappy video of whats happening sorry for the quality but the video serves its purpose and you can see what is happening when I boot my laptop this also happens during shutdown/restart.

 

it is really easy to switch display if you take your time. But it's a strange issue. I would contact xoticpc and ask them if you can do yourself without avoiding the warranty a bios update with official or Prema Mod.

 

Changing the display or updating to prema? Is updating the bios required to get the 120hz display to boot? not sure what I should do....I would really like to get it fixed so it works in the same way I got it from the factory....

 

Both no you can update bios before or after as you want. But i don't know if you lose warranty for bios update.

 

The BIOS update doesn't necessarily void your warranty, but a bad flash may not be covered and installing your own screen is unlikely to be covered (particularly if you damage something). The artifacting you mentioned sounds like bad video RAM.

 

Sent you a PM Brent. I'll be checking in to this and either myself or Barry will get back to you on it. I'm pretty sure I know the answer on the BIOS and warranty, but just want to confirm it with someone else as well so I don't tell you bad info.

 

@Prostar Computer bad video ram that does not sound good to me wonder what could cause that and if there is a fix or if that is the problem how could it be verified? thanks for your input this is exactly the type of thing I was looking for when I started this tread, I was looking for others input on what this could be because to me it doesn't really seem like a display problem or a bios problem because It doesn't happen inside of windows its a brand new display and I can't think of what in the bios could cause that problem when the bios have never been messed with or changed .... thanks for your input if you have any other ideas that would be great!

@pat@XOTICPC thanks for looking into this again...I think it would be a great idea to ask sager about this problem and maybe even mention something about the video ram and if there is a way to test that or not....thanks everyone, take care!

 

Do you get any artifacts in games at all?

 

to be honest, I have only played games for maybe 2-4 hrs in the past 2 months only because my dad recently just had his second re-lung transplant (a double lung transplant, which is his 2nd) and I have moved back home with him to help take care of him since he was in the hospital for 4 months and he is just now started to b eable to walk with a walker so he needs a lot of help and I haven't had much time but I played the blackops 3 and fallout for very briefly and I didn't notice any artifacts at all for the short amount of time I did play the games...but I would really like to get this figured out

 

I would run it through a couple of runs of the uniengine vally benchmark, if it all looks good then it's more likely a firmware/2d clocks issue.

 

Dang, I hope he's on the up and up. That's good of you to look after him.

Test your games out a little more, time permitting. The issue could show up with temperature increase, so you may need a good 30 mins - hour to get a good test in. Benchmarks would be a good way to test too; run one and leave it alone for a bit if you don't have time to dedicate to a game.

 

thanks guys I am going to send the vally unigine test for a hour later this evening, if anyone has anymore suggestions please let me know....^^^ Yes he is on the up and up lol he was a machinest his whole life never smoked ever and the company he was working for (which is owned by a senator here in Ohio) was bringing in chemicals they weren't suppose to use during the evening time well they burnt 88% of his lungs covering them in scar tissue so about 7 years ago he had a single lung transplant then about a year and a half ago his lung went into chronic rejection they tried everything they could to reverse it but nothing helped so he had what they call a retransplant this time he got 2 new lungs and it has been a battle every step of the way now his kidneys are in failure from all the crazy meds he has to take and since he was on steroids for so long he also has diabetes so he has to go to dialysis 3 days a week for 4 hrs (at least) and u have no clue how hard it is to find healthy food he can eat for someone who is diabetic and has kidney failure plus he was in a hospital bed for close to 4 months so it is taking him forever to build up strength to walk and do anything so I have been taking care of him and it isn't easy but hes been a great father and it is the least I could do, I wish I could do more for him really......ANYWAYS enough of that lol thanks guys!

 

May he get well soon and stay strong

 

Meaker sorry what firmware/2d clock issues? what does that pertain to my display or ?? I didn't see any artifacts when I ran Unigine valley constantly on the highest settings for over an hour.... :/ any other tests you recommend I try? I am tryin my best with my small amount of knowledge to pick some from you
Thanks

Well I had a chance to run Unigine Valley for over an hour this evening and I saw no artifacts at all.....so guys I am stumped, are there any other tests or benchmarks that might be useful and narrowing down what this weird artifact problem I am having outside of windows could be...??

 

Meaker sorry what firmware/2d clock issues? what does that pertain to my display or ?? I didn't see any artifacts when I ran Unigine valley constantly on the highest settings for over an hour.... :/ any other tests you recommend I try? I am tryin my best with my small amount of knowledge to pick some from you
Thanks

Well I had a chance to run Unigine Valley for over an hour this evening and I saw no artifacts at all.....so guys I am stumped, are there any other tests or benchmarks that might be useful and narrowing down what this weird artifact problem I am having outside of windows could be...??

 

Your card has a variety of power states, each state has defined clocks vs voltages. The higher states may be find but if your 2d clocks voltage is a tad low if can cause the issues you are seeing. This would be a setting in the video bios, you could ask about getting an updated vbios from your reseller if there is one available or try one of the modified overclockers files out there.

 

Okay thanks so much for explaining that to me further now I understand what you are talking about and its funny you say that about the bios because I was told by @pat@XOTICPC that they also thought it could be some type of bios corruption, and that they could email me the new bios or I could flash the prema mod bios, which I would do in a heart beat but the only thing that makes me warry is that if something goes wrong in the process (and I have never flashed bios before) the warranty wouldn't cover that, now just putting new bios on doesn't void the warranty only if something happens in the process the warranty won't cover it to be fixed. Well since there is some type of bios corruption that is possibly causing this that makes me extra scared because I would think that would make the chances of something going wrong even greater? what do you think?
*edit* I see now you were talking about vbios well someone at xotic thinks it could be something in the system bios which is what I was talking about....mmm so confused...now

 

Both are worth a try

 

I'll check and see if I can get a vbios for you.

 

@Meaker @pat@XOTICPC

Well I added a short video of whats happening during bootups this also happens sometimes during a shutdown/restart right after windows cloes and/or right before windows loads, I wish I could edit the topic to say I added a video :/... here is the video again if you don't wanna go back to the first page...thanks

 

If it's just a short burst like that then it's not to worry, the graphics driver has to initialise. If the corruption is more sustained then I would worry.

 

@Meaker How can I tell or find out if the corruption is more sustained?, Did you watch the video? That is what happens almost everytime I boot and/or restart/shutdown...sorry I am just lost when it comes to this I have never experienced a problem like this before in all my years, I am worried that since there is already possible bios/vbios corruption that if I go to flash new bios/vbios that the current corruption could mess something up and then I am left with a really really expensive brick....

 

Yes I watched the video, it was just a flicker before the OS loaded the desktop and enabled 3d output. The drivers kick in, your desktop is partially 3d after all and the clocks are put in super low idle too.

 

Yah I am sure it is loading up the drivers but it never use to do that....and it also does it when I am shutting down or restarting what would cause it to do that then?...I have the np9377sm-a which doesn't have the 3d emitter......

 

I recognize that... I haven't seen it for years... Check your BIOS and make sure CSM is off. If it's off, turn it on.

Its the nVidia driver initializing the display. It's something I haven't seen since the ancient 7800GT and 8800GTS. If it works fine afterwards, its likely an issue with the handoff from EFI VGA to the nVidia driver. I wouldn't RMA at this point but I would document it officially with Xotic and Sager.

 

Okay I just restarted into bios and I don't see anything that could be labeled CSM, what is it? I just have the regular stock bios that came with my laptop so there aren't very many different options at all. Yes I have contacted Xotic a week or so ago and they should have documented it with Sager they want me to try update the bios but at the same time tell me if something happens in the update process I am screwed so thats not really an option I am looking at because if there is some sort of corruption going on in the current bios then my luck I would be halfway through installing the newer bios and something would go wrong and then I would be stuck with a really........really expensive brick......and it seems to have started after I had to RMA it 2.5 months ago when the display stopped working...

 

Go to biosmods.wordpress.com and grab the easy stock P377SM-A package Prema made. As long as you follow instructions to the letter (including unplugging the power from the machine when it shuts off after the update), the chance of a brick is next to nothing. You will lose the Sager logo but Clevo and Sager BIOSes are interchangeable and a machine with a Clevo BIOS does not void your warranty through Xotic or Sager. It is very easy to mess up with the files they send you. Prema makes every step automatic through linked batch files.

With that said, there is always a risk of a motherboard brick whether it's from Sager with their logo or from Clevo with their logo. Replacement motherboard can run you upwards of 350 bucks if you brick it. I've provided pics of my BIOS to show where the setting is in my stock 1.03.10LS1.

It may not exist on older versions, I can't remember.




My machine freezes randomly when the CSM is enabled.

 

Okay yah thanks, I looked in the bios under UEIF and there is no CSM setting a couple more settings related to IPv4 ipv6 but nothing about CSM but thanks for the screenshots! If I am going to flash new bios I might as well flash premamod because I don't think using that voids the warranty just as I said if something happens in the process I am not covered, but is the premamod custom bios as easy as flashing the stock p377sm0a package you were speaking about? If it is I might just try that later today. My bios is 1.03.05LSS1, I still don't understand what could have caused this to start happening in the first place.....before I sent my laptop back to sager for a RMA because the display stopped working this glitch never happened ever...now after they return it to me it happens all the time...strange....anyways thanks so much Ethrem for your help and input, if you think of anything else feel free to let me know take care!

Brent

 

Using PremaMod can void your warranty, use his stock image!

 

are you sure I thought I was told it was okay to use it as long as nothing went wrong during the flashing process you would still be cover?
@pat@XOTICPC could you clarify this? If I use premamod and nothing goes wrong during the bios flashing process would my warranty be okay or would using premamod bios void the warranty? Thanks

 

I'm pretty sure it should be fine as long as nothing goes wrong during the flashing.

Your CSM freezes? Ouch... I run CSM just fine with no freezing...

 

Yah that's what I thought too but I definitely want to be sure about that before I do anything...honestly I might just do a Rma I spent a ton of money on this beast and I really don't want to break it ...I'm just so undecided on what to do if I put the 120 ha display in which I am thinking of doing this coming weekend do I need new bios for it to be recognized and work?

And what is this csm that you speak of? What does it do?

@Ethrem i really think your entire laptop is a lemon because you have had so many different problems with it

In everyone's opinion what should I do? Rma or take the risk flashing bios which I have never done before and risk breaking a close to 4K laptop?

 

I personally would just get Eurocom to install it because I know they install hardware on laptops that weren't even bought by them, but that may void your warranty with your reseller. I'm not sure if you need Prema's BIOS, but 1 of the 3 or 4 reasons I only buy Clevo laptops is for Prema's BIOS and vBIOS mods.

I mean, if you brick your laptop from flashing, they just replace your motherboard which will cost you like $200-400, that is a far cry from $4000 if you ask me. I guess it depends on if your reseller does void warranty for having modded BIOS/vBIOS or not, but I personally know that mine doesn't, and Prema has even been working closely with them to provide BIOSes for them.

CSM is Compatibility Support Module, it provides legacy BIOS compatibility and legacy BIOS features.

 

Xotic does not specifically void your warranty for a flashed BIOS, nor does Sager, unless they can link a hardware failure to a BIOS flash. It is very much an at-your-risk game.

However!

@Brent R. Did you keep your RMA box? If you did, bring it to the UPS store with the prepaid label (which they will give you no problem since they think it's a BIOS issue) and pack it in front of them. Take pictures, they'll almost always let you do that, then use the same RMA box, affix the label, voila! No shipping charges at all and its insured.

Again though, I do not believe there is a hardware defect, I know that handoff well. I would advise you to never put Linux on there if you don't want to see it. I'd have @Prema help me dump my full BIOS for you, MD5 and SHA1 checksum it, and upload it for you but should anything go wrong I'd hate to be responsible. If Xotic has documented it, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

I'd personally just live with the flash since it's not causing any harm.

 

Agreed completely although he is actually on a really old sBIOS... Not saying it would fix it but who knows?

The problem is that ethically I can't endorse flashing and say there's no risk even with a Prema package. If he can run Heaven on custom, ultra, extreme tesselation, x8, and full screen and come back each 30 minutes until it has been a total of his maximum gaming session, I don't see an actual issue. It's one of (or a combination of) windows 10, nVidia, or Clevo's poor EFI implementation on our machines.

Just as an FYI, when I was running the Insider Preview and had 8.1 set as my primary, the Windows 10 loader would cause my screen to flash twice before it entered Windows.

 

My opinion is just that, if it's working in all use cases then why risk it? Even if the firmware is a little out of date if it works then there is no real issue.

 

Exactly how I feel. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. It would be a different story if it was doing it in games or testing. That flash I'm very familiar with. I don't know why his machine is doing it but back in the day it happened whenever the BIOS handed off to Windows or Linux when the nVidia driver took over.

 

Would I gain any sysem performance from flashing newer bios? Will installing the 120hz display I have fix the problem? Xotic has my issue documented so I will most likely just leave it alone and install my 120hz display. Thanks guys

 

1) No, almost definitely not.
2) Possibly.

Wow, that's pretty different from my policy. My policy is if it ain't broke, break it, then learn how ti fix it and fix it so then you know how to fix it in the future if it ever happens.

 

It would resolve the slight bug you have, I would not really classify it as a problem, it seems almost too harsh a word

 

You want my P377SM-A? Because I guarantee you that you would change your opinion after something broke without you touching a setting.

The BIOS update actually does indeed have a performance boost... I'm not running Prema which would normally increase the graphics performance yet my current system is about even with a stock Prema system. I would have flashed Prema if it wasn't for the fact that this system is such a headache running stock and its pretty sure I'm going to have issues again. Call me a pessimistic person but you haven't seen the issues I've had since day one.

 

LMFAOOOO I'm sorry, I feel REALLY bad for you but that honestly made me laugh really hard in real life. However, I do honestly kind of like breaking my things because then I learn how to fix them, and that's a useful skill. A week ago I messed up my Linux home server and I had to reinstall, but I at least learned nto to do something. I also almost messed up my sudoers file as well because of a PuTTY glitch, but luckily I was able to fix it without needing to reinstall.

Your motherboard has been replaced, right? I'm not sure how you're STILL having issues after replacing multiple GPUs, motherboard(s), etc..

 

It does kind of remind me of trigger in only fools and horses and his broom.

If you are happy to fix it then feel free, most people are not prepared to go through the hassle of bringing back a bricked system.

 

I think it hasn't been replaced... That's what Ethrem thought when he got it back..