M860TU problems - Troubleshooting thread

Good thing I'm planning to get my M860TU after I submit my thesis. Not that I would lose much work since I keep 3 identical copies in different places, but it would cost me half a day to reinstall things on a new HDD.

 

Has anyone returned their M860TU to Sager or their reseller to fix the keyboard from popping out? If so, was it an easy fix and how long did it take? I thought I could live with it, but every couple of weeks the top edge of the keyboard would pop out... it's the **** clips. They're so loose like they don't have any tension or something. I'm just afraid as weeks becomes months, the problem would only get worse.

 

depending on your reseller they may send you a new keyboard out and once you receive it you send them the knackered one back. as i said may do. you may get it charged to your credit card and then re imbursed.

 

It's not the keyboard that's the problem. It's the clips that's supposed to hold them down and that's part of the notebook which I don't think can be replaced on it's own.

 

i thought the clips were on the underside of the keyboard.
if they are in fact conected to the chassis and you are covered by warranty then get them to relace that instead.

 

I sent my notebook back yesterday to have the panel around the keyboard replaced. I'm missing it already

Back using my Asus Z70VA... **** this thing is sloooowwww.

 

Ok guys about the known conflict of the M860tu with linux (Ubuntu , Mandriva ) , i send an email to clevo and they replied to me this : "We regret to inform you that the CLEVO all products not support Linux OS. Therefore we can not help you something''. So i send them another email and ask them to come up with a solution(lets say o Bios update). When i have an answer i will inform you.

 

If they say they don't support it, they are NOT going to send you anything to make it work. The clue is in the fact that they don't support it

 

Troubleshoot this problem for me:

They shipped my laptop to some guy in California, who shares my first and last name. I'm in Ohio.

 

Hmm...Prostar epiQ pHail? Maybe he also have the address except its not in the same state and the shipping guy was too lazy to check the state? Or maybe its UPS fault? Anyway, I believe they should admit they made a mistake this time, a BIG mistake.

 

This is trully vexatious. I mean that i don't understand why . Ok , i don't expect for them to fully support Linux (drivers e.t.c.) but at least let me boot with a live cd of Linux (either for installation or for rescue procedure). I wish they have a solution...

 

You have to check on Linux forums for that. Since this is not the most popular laptop, I believe you'll have a hard time finding some working drivers. Also, since most of the components are brand new, there's shouldn't be a lot of drivers available. I tried to install Linux on an old desktop, took me 1hour to install the drivers for my Linksys adapter and 1h30 for the dial-up internet.

 

It's not a matter of drivers. I don't have a problem of a not working device/s. Try "Ubuntu refuses to boot on Clevo M860TU" in google. The laptop doesn't even boot with, as i know , any live cd of Linux. You can try for yourself. In Ubuntu for exable it manages to show the welcome screen where there are the options , "boot just to see our fancy desktop" or "install to experience the magic world of linux" , you choose and after a few seconds, reboot. IS THERE ANY WAY TO INSTALL ANY LINUX DISTRIBUTION ON CLEVO M860TU???

 

I've got Ubuntu Heron and now Intrepid running.

Use the alternate CD to install as the LiveCD never worked for me.

I also have to set a mem=4096m flag on the boot to get it to go.

 

Thanks man. I will try that. If it does work +1 rep for you!!!

Updated: with the mem=4096m i manage to boot with a normal (not alternate) x64 Ubuntu live cd for the first time!!! Now i think i can continue with the installation. I'll keep you posted. Thanks JagerQ. +1 rep!!!

Updated (2) : Now i am a happy owner of a dual boot Ubuntu / Vista Clevo. With the mem=4096m flag there was no problem during the installation even with the normal cd (not alternate). Than you again JagerQ!!!

 

With the Live CD, does Ubuntu actually see all 4GB of ram? Although I'm up and running, I only seem to have around 2 some odd GBs. It's not the usual 32/64 bit problem as I'm definately running the 64-bit OS.

 

Well now that you have mention it i see only 2,4Gb. d@mn. I'll try to come up with a solution. But tomorrow. With clear mind...

Update: unfortunately i wasn't able to fix the "memory issue". Afterall i am a little bit noob in Linux. Maybe someone else can help. Again...

 

I installed Ubuntu on my M860TU from USB Thumb Drive and everything seems to be working fine, (haven't tried CD) however I cant enable Nvidia drivers (as it is not set by default - have to enable it) but as soon as I do that it doesnt download anything and comes back to the option where I have to choose which driver I want to enable This is 8.10 Ubuntu. Thx

 

Aye guys.
I'm buying a NP8660 from Xoticpc.
And was wondering what you guys think from your experience.
Should I go with the 200GB 7200RPM HDD or the 320GB 5400RPM HDD?
Will there be a difference in the speed? (noticeablely).
320GB 5400RPM should run cooler, correct?
Thanks.

 

Because they don't support stuff they don't sell! Why would they!? IT *should* boot; you're not setting it up right with the right drivers, imo.

 

To be honest, it'll depend on which models, but generally the Hitachi 7k200 outperforms most 320GB 5400 RPMs, the other 200 GB 7200s perform similarly.

 

Go for the 5400RPM: cheaper, more storage, should be cooler, no big performance difference (but depends on the 7200RPM brand)

 

Its these:
~ 320GB 5400RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 8MB Cache) ( + 45 )
~ 200GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache) ( + 45 )

The 200GB has 8MB more Cache.
Which would you guys go with?
As you can see they're both the same price.

 

I went with the 320GB, although when I look back I regret not getting a 500GB for more space . I've never seen a difference in notebook hard drive speeds, so 5k drives are good enough for me.

 

The %#(!^*!*%(#! CLIPS are %#!(%!%!* )^#0^*@&@$! useless >_< My keyboard keeps popping up. Again... and again... and again. I'm this close to attempting to superglue my keyboard down.

Taking the keyboard out, blowing dust out of the area below it, and replacing it... strangely enough seems to make it better. For a while, at least.

 

Yeah I think I'm going with the 320GB 5400RPM.
Thanks guys.

Ah that really sucks Fong.
By the way, you might want to take "Pre-ordered:" out of your sig because you have it now don't you?

 

The cache doesn't really change a thing. At least, I don't notice the difference on my desktop.

 

Haha. With the laptop I'm on now, its like a 60GB with I don't know maybe 2MB cache and 4xxx something RPM.
I think anything would be a big difference for me Lol.

EDIT: Sweet this is my 300th post ;]

 

^ Actually, I didn't notice a single difference (speed, access time, whatever) coming from a 80GB 4K drive to this one .

 

Hm really?
When I download stuff off of the internet (Places like Megaupload, Rapidshare, etc) with this thing I get around 700KB/s with this.
The new harddrives are like that too?
Or does that have to do with internet connection?

 

That would be your connection, I'm no hard drive whiz but I think a drive's write speed is way faster than most download speeds.

 

Yeah I'm not sure what the Write speed is exactly but when I paste a movie thats the size of about 350MB to another folder, it takes about roughly 3-4minutes.
Normal?

 

Yeah that sounds alright to me, I'll go try it now and see.

 

Alright.
How'd you make out?

PS: I didn't paste it all the way, I just pressed paste and looked at the Time Remaining. It said 5 Minutes Remaining.

 

Well my old Fujitsu just died...it was the one with the 4k drive.

 

How bout your NP8660?
Feel like trying it on there for me?
Would like to see the difference.
Just press paste and let it go like 20seconds and see the remaining minutes.
The file I used to do that was 347MB and was 5minutes remaining after about 20sec. I just canceled it after that.
Thanks :]

 

It finished in 20 sec didn't see that coming. I guess there is a difference after all. I don't usually move large files around tough so I wouldn't have found out otherwise.

EDIT: I moved it from an external harddrive to the internal through eSATA so that might've made a difference

 

Whoa holy crap Lol.
Yeah that's a huge difference. Try moving that same file from the folder you put it in on the internal HDD and paste it onto another folder on the internal HDD. See the speed?
Than just delete it after your done.
So we can compare without any excuses for the speeds like using external and what not :]

 

It was instant NOW I see a difference. I never noticed these things during normal use, but that is a huge improvement.

 

Haha. Yeah I figured it had to be a pretty big improvement after all. How big was the file you moved btw?
You said you had a 320GB 5400RPM correct?
Thanks again for your help.

 

You don't have to download anything. As long as you activate the restricted drivers, they are activated. In order to see if they are activated try to choose the highest settings in the "appearence manager". If the effects are enabled then everything is ok...

 

If you simply move the file, windows simply changes where the file table points to the file without actually moving the data on the disk. To actually use the disk properly, copy/paste the file

 

I think that's what he did.
At least that's what I told him to do

 

Thats what I did . Just did it again copy and paste style and it took about 30 sec, a little less, but it's still pretty fast.

 

Haha yeah thought so.
Sounds pretty fast to me.

 

I sent my notebook back to Sager last week because of the same problem. The clips seem loose and not strong enough to hold the keyboard down. I was hoping that Sager would replace the panel around the keyboard since the clips are attached to it. But when I called this morning to ask the status, they told me that they did not replace the panel. Instead they put a piece of rubber on the keyboard for the clips to grip on. They assured me that this will fix the problem. I'll see once I get my notebook back and will let you know.

 

As long as it works...

 

Who's your reseller?

 

Doesn't really matter though, most of the Sager resellers have it sent from Sager, they don't actually seem to get their hands on the laptops.

Note, there's nothing wrong with that though. As long as Sager is willing to fix the issue, I don't see why that would be a problem.

 

That's what I did and imo you don't need to send the laptop in to fix this (fairly minor) issue. I added a piece of double thick electrical tape right in the area where the two top clips are (center, the problem ones for me) - that is, tiny pieces of tape attached to the keyboard/plate. The keyboard just isn't thick enough for it to stay clipped in or something.