Might have to return my NP5796.....

Hi all,

After receiving my new 5796 three days ago, I have been having bunch of weird problem:

1. I had the problem of connecting two USB-Powered harddrive, then I realized that I can't connect two drives to the 2 USB ports at the back at the same time. (I think the usb ports can't draw enough power (That is unusual for a modern laptop i think), that means I'll have to plug one on the side instead).

2. And then I found out the Intel Wifi 5300 sometimes takes forever to connect to the internet when Windows starts; sometimes it only take 2 seconds, sometimes it won't connect at all until i do the "diagnose and repair" thing.

3. I found out that when I plug in my other WD External harddrive (requires external power) via eSata, the whole computer would just freeze, or it will take forever to shutdown/startup Windows; okay, I was like "maybe I will use the USB for now then." The USB works fine, but whenever the WD drive goes to sleep after like 10 minutes and then I restart the computer, the whole computer would "freeze" after the bios screen unless I unplug the USB cord. That has never happened to my other computers and it is just weird!!!

Have anyone of 5793/5796 users have experienced the similar problem? If I can't solve these problems I might have to return my laptop and ask for a refund or something, maybe even get a NP5793 instead! But everything else (especially the screen) is just so perfect that I hate the give it up! Any ideas?

 

1) USB HDDs on any notebook will do the same thing if you are having one USB channel/hub to try to power two USB-powered drives.
- you must get a powered USB HUB or use one drive at a time.
- or if the notebook has different USB hubs on it, then you can power the drive in each section....

Example: you should be able to power each drive separately: (1) on the back USB ports, (the other) on the side USB ports.

2) that problem can be due to a few things:
- the hotspot or access point that you are connecting to(which I have experienced at my GF's place).... due to security measures, SSID spoofing, etc.
- software issue, try using a different driver... or try switch your way of connecting (either using the Window's Wireless Networking or Intel's Utility)

3) not sure what your issue is, maybe the HDD needs to be CHKDSK'ed.

 

For the 3rd issue with the hdd, the one when you plug in your drive and it takes ages to boot/shutdown I have exactly the same problem (on the 8660). I have a usb hard drive with 1 large linux partiton and 1 NTFS partition and I can boot without problems with it plugged in the back. I also have another har drive with a NTFS and a osX partition and this one will never boot right, just blocks the computer on a black screen. I'm no sure if is due to Vista trying to mount the osX partition or to Vista trying to scan the NTFS partition for errors. Also the same hard drive when I was plugging it in a different computer with vista would result in a "Do you want vista to scan the drive message"...
Anyway, try to plug it in and do a check disk on that drive (I was never patient enough to do it on mine, is a bit long) and maybe it will go away. I was always thinking is coming from using the drive with my osX that was screwing up the vista but now that you say it might be something else I'll look into it when I have time .

 

UPDATE: I disabled the legacy usb optioin in BIOS and the windows not booting up problem has gone. Wonder if this will affect any usb device. I know it is not the harddrive because I had a Gateway 7811fx and Dell 630m and it doesn't do that.

The wireless is still behaving weird though. I always have to use Fn+F11 (restart the WIFI module) after booting up windows or I don't get a connection. it is just weird coz it never happened on my other laptops. Anyway thanks helping me out.

 

Have you tried completely uninstalling, and then reinstalling, the wireless drivers?

 

Having the exact eSata problem. Even = teh suck in the Vista Recovery Environment. Something in the chipset me thinks.

 

Where did you get this notebook? If the problem is the USB ports, eSATA and chipset as everyone is mentioning then I would guess it was the ICH9M controller driver as that is what controlls all those things.

It is either corrupt, someone installed the wrong version or did not install this driver first and restart the system immediately after install. Unfortunately if a reinstall doesn't work, since it is the core of all other drivers you will probably have to reinstall the OS. I would not recommend the 1009 Intel driver that is floating around the internet. Use the 1008 off Intel's site instead.

kirbychiu: Your wireless problem sounds unrelated to the other issue. Go to your power options then advanced and see if the wireless controller is ever set to save power by shutting itself off. THat was an annoying trait of the 39xx series wireless cards and the Intel Wirless Utility. Now you have to set it specifically to do that, but the option is still there. Back to the INF driver, if it was not installed first it could be causing havok with all the other sriver installs on the system.

emike09: I am guessing that you may be getting stuck in the Vista PE environment if you are using a copy of Vista that is without SP1 on it. If that is the case read on. Many SATA and RAID controllers were not included at the intial release of Vista. Consequently the hard drives weren't found or some quasi level of support was given. Try slipstreaming your drivers for ICH9 into a Vista install disk using nLite or borrowing a Vista SP1 disk.

 

If you're still within the 30 day period and not happy with it then do yourself a favor and return it. But if it's a software issue - those are usually not too difficult to resolve.

 

Hmm, I tried the same things with my 5796 and could not duplicate
any of these issues, I tried with all 4 of my TB drives, connecting via USB, eSata and Firewire. Firewire was the only one to give me issues. When it reboots with them daisy chained on Firewire, it doesn't see 2 of the drives until I disconnect their power and reconnect it but since I use eSata to connect 3 of them and USB for one, I never noticed it until now.

Was the OS preinstalled?