Dead Clevo

As i type to you my $2500 Clevo is dead next to me. I am hoping to tap some of the great knowledge i have found on these forums.

Here are my system specs.
Clevo D9K
AMD 64 X2 4200+
NVidia 7800GTX 256MB
Corsair 2x 1GB PC3200
80GB 7200rpm Ultra ATA100


THE SITUATION:

I am a heavy gamer and often load out the gpu while playing. I can dual box even triple box WoW in window mode (no i'm not a gold farmer ) on my machine and have recently started C&C Tiberium Wars. (sorry not a big FPS fan)

About a week ago i noticed a problem with my video card heatsink fan not running and the gpu under my left palm getting super hot after about 30 min of running. I immediately called tech support and was informed my warranty was expired by 2 months. This is not my first cpu or laptop (i have a graveyard in my basement of obsolete equipment) so i decided to tinker.

I removed the coverplate, pulled the heatsink/fan and removed the gpu. Nothing looked damaged (aside from some heat type discoloration on the heatsink) and fan spun easily. Cleaned all parts with compressed air, reinstalled the gpu board and heatsink.

Cpu started up fine, cooling fan kicked in and i was happy. All was normal for several hours when cpu shut down spontaniously. Nothing was hot or abnormal. I rebooted and noticed the gpu cooling fan was not running again and the gpu got extremely hot. Again i pulled it apart and reseated the connections. Tried to reboot without letting it cool first (stupid me) and it immedietly shut down. I let it cool for several hours and tried it again and now there is no boot. The blue ring around the power button comes on for about 15 secs and then the system shuts back down... no video/sound/beebs, nothing.


QUESTIONS:

I'm sure i fried the vid card. But what would have caused the cooling fan to not kick in? I'm thinking the fan is burnt out too.
Any ideas on how the fan is controlled?
Is it reset by rebooting?
Is the thermostat electronic on the MoBo or mechanical in the heatsink?
Can i replace the vid card? (i've noticed the large discussion about how gpu's are not upgradeable)
Could i have damaged the MoBo?
Can i replace the gpu card with a 7950gtx 512mb card?

After reading about this system it still seems to be a strong notebook/desktop replacement and would like to get it running again. Unfortunately i cannot get any more information about my system than what i posted because it does not boot even to the bios.

I am up for whatever info or ideas you can throw at me.

Thank you in advance,
Chris

 

You can replace the GPU. Yours is one of the few laptops that can. You wrote that you took the graphics card out. It should be availalbe as a spare part. But it will cost alot.
It is hard to say what is damanged, mainboard, graphics card, fan. They might all be fried or only one of them.

 

Yes, ur lucky, 8700M GT is out soon and it fits ur notebook (I believe even a 8800M will fit ur notebook if anyis available).
BTW, do you use an additional notebook cooler as well? It is best to do so.

 

It's not sure if you can replace your Gpu with a 8800M but you can defenitly replace your gpu for a go 7800GTX, a go 7900GTX or a go 7950GTX.

And i'm not sure about the 8700M GT, but i think lunateck is right that you can use that gpu too in your notebook.

 

If you bought the laptop through a credit card you might be eligible for an extended warranty through your credit card provider. You'll have to call them up to see if they do this. There is a big thread about this in one of the forum sections, but I cant seem to find it.

 

I'm going to move this thread to the Clevo forum for you so you get more feedback.

 

ok....

1) the D900K only tops out at 7950GTX (must do BIOS update before upgrading), which goes for around $500.
2) have you tried using Fn+F2 to toggle all fans to max speed?
3) have do done any temp monitoring (CPU, GPU, etc..) like i have been adamant about for this last year?!? If you do not monitor your temps, then its your fault for not noticing red flags for overheating issues... from dust clogs and such.
4) do you use a notebook cooler... preferably one that actually gives airflow to the GPU compartment? Look towards the Zalman ZM-NC1000... its the only one I would recommend for the Clevo D900 series.

 

Hey Gophn is the ZM-NC1000 big enough for a D900C? i.e. 17"?

 

It will fit and better, that's what he told me.

 

yes I recommend the Zalman ZM-NC1000 for any 17" notebook... its just the best... have yet to see anything better.

 

I just ordered a Zalman ZM-NC1000. It certainly looks nice, and from the review it looks like it should fit the bill. Thanks Gophn!

 

A lot of great info thanks! I purchased it with my debit card from my checking, so i'll call my bank.

i dont use any type of external cooling, gophn, but am also going to probably get one now LOL. i regularly clean the fans and vents on my computers Like i said, i never noticed anything getting hot but it could have been minute enough where i didn't notice it to the touch. I looked in my bios (where it is on my desktop) for temp monitoring of the cpu but didn't see it. Also on my desktop the NVidia software monitored the gpu temp. Not so on my Clevo.

Also thanks for the heads up pulsar on the new equipment comming out. I may put this on the back burner for a bit and hope the price drops for the 7950gtx when the new 8 series hits.

As far as trouble shooting the bad component(s) are there any recommendations about where i can send it? This could get expensive quick buying parts to see if they're bad. I've been leaning towards R&J Tech.

My biggest regret is not finding these forums sooner. Probably could have saved a big chunk of cash. I'm quickly learning that notebooks are a completely different beast from desktops.

Thanks again,
Chris

 

Just use RivaTuner for your notebook to monitor the GPU temps.

Guide here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=81852

I do not believe that the prices will get any lower... seeing that the D900K/T videocard modules are proprietary... compared to the new Clevo D900C using standardized MXM videocards.

I would not get it yet though.. maybe your videocard is still good, you should try:
- get the RivaTuner to should the OSD (on-screen display) temps while gaming to see at what temp does the videocard start to downclock itself.
- use Fn+F2 to toggle the fans to Max Speed
- and underclock a little your 7800GTX (using Coolbits) to help prevent overheats by limiting the clock speeds.

You can troubleshoot it yourself if you feel that you are competent [about hardware] enough.

you can read what I did:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=81257

I would recommend to contact the following Clevo vendors/distributors:
(in this order)
- Sager
- Pro-Star
- Eurocom

RJtech is a great reseller for buying notebook barebones and components (like the replacement videocard), but I would recommend the other 3 that was listed above, because they are the big 3 Clevo distributors for North America.

Read more info on Clevo and resellers in the Clevo Guide.

 

Read your thread. I had a similar sequence of events. I ran fine for the longest time, no skips or slow downs. After i installed and ran the new C&C tiberium wars i noticed what you explained as the slowdown effect of a few seconds at random points. I tuned down the settings in-game (alot) and the problem went away. But this was only recently so maybe the card was going bad like yours.

Still, at this point the system wont boot as i explained in my first post. So to get anything tested as being good/bad i'll need new parts to swap out.

Would a bad wired (shorted) gpu heat sink cause the system not to start?

I'm assuming the mobo has no onboard vid to default to. So if the gpu or vid card is bad the system may not boot.

I did find a copy of my original invoice and the mobo is a VIA K8T890 + VT8237A Chipset.

One more question, is there a master reset button? Maybe some kind of failsafe has been enacted and no amount of tinkering will get the system to boot.

EDIT: I may contact Sager and see if thier tech support can walk me thru some stuff.

 

you can try and do what I did in my thread (like reseating the components... mainly the videocard).

But I do believe that the vidoecard needs to get swapped... which mine did (with warranty).

Then it has not had a problem since.

No real fail-safe system boot button.

The system will halt if there are any errors.

Its a good idea to ask a vendor (like Sager) about repair or videocard swaps.

 

I got a piece of advice, to check the clock on the front of the machine. I was told if it is running, then the mobo may be fine.

I did one better. the built in cd player on the front panel lights up, turns on and plays music.

The system still doesn't boot, but i'm confident that the mobo is fine. I'll take your advice and reseat the vid card again tomorrow a few times.

If i get it to boot, i'll try the fn+f2 trick you suggested to test the fan.

Thanks Gophn.