My Computer is DEAD. Is it my CARD?

Hi, I am having serious issues with my Sager 9262. The problem first started here..

http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...ta-64-black-screen-death-hdd-failure-cry.html

But now it seems that I have narrowed some of that down.

Problem: My computer freezes after VISTA boots up. SOmetimes after 5 mins , sometimes always, sometimes after 30 mins.

With my Nvidia 8800 turned on, it freezes up almost 110% (with a blue, black, or grey screen). Ded.

VISTA64 will load if my NVIDIA card is disabled. But in the morning , the first time i booted up my broken computer, VISTA64 would live for about 5-10 mins (nvidia card turned off).

Then If i waitied 20 mins or so, the comp would start and survive for an average of 3 mins.

Im using a Zalman cooler under this beast, but i decided to put a big housefan to the back of the laptop. This has extended the life of the PC exponentially. But yet it always crashes.

So im wondering. What is the problem here? My nvidia card is turned off so if that is the problem (which i thought was the problem), why is the laptop still crashing.

Also, putting a fan to the back of the comp expands the life of the thing, so it must be a cooling/heating issue??

Please help, as I live in Japan (small village) and want to pinpoint the source of the problem without spending hundreds on shipping to the USA.

Comp illeterate,

ithxan

 

"With my Nvidia 8800 turned on, it freezes up almost 110% ( with a blue, black, or grey screen). Ded." Your GPU died. You will need to replace it.

 

U can bake ur card to prolong the life.

 

Hi. I have a sager 9260, which has the same D900c clevo chassis as the 9262. I've had this laptop for about 3.5 years now and have had several issues with it (the video cable, LCD screen, stuck keys, and overheating).

For overheating, what happened to me is I would have a blue or black screen, or what ever image was up on the screen would freeze resulting in a hard crash. I did notice that after 6 months my computer was getting hotter and hotter when playing graphics intensive games.

I opened up the back of my computer to access the fans to find that the vents for both my graphics cards (7950GTXs) were 95-100% blocked with a matt of dust. The vents for the processor and ram were partially blocked. Also the blades of the four fans had accumulated a lot of dust on them. After cleaning everything with q-tips (ear bud sticks) and booting it up, it was like having a new laptop. It was cool to the touch and the fans hardly came on any more. I now have a fan cleaning session about every 3-4 months.

To tell you the truth I paid so much money for this laptop when I got it that I just naturally thought the fans/vents were designed to prevent/minimise this sort of problem, I was wrong. Essentially if you get overheating you should check out the condition of the fans/vents. If overheating is left for too long, the life-time of the graphics card(s) become significantly shortened.

If you decide to do this then make sure you unplug your laptop and take the battery out before opening the back panel that leads to graphics cards etc. I hope this helps.

 

if you need to buy a new vga card, it might be an idea to check with mcj in japan, as they are also carrying high end Clevo Modells.

 

Three questions:

1- How do I definitively determine that the problem is my graphics card?

I would assume that one way is to take it to the shop here in my little village and have them swap out the card for another one, but I get the feeling that they wont have a US model lying around.

2-Assuming that the problem is with my Nvidia 8800, why does my computer still crash after I have disabled it? Why is it causing my Sager 9262 to overheat?

3-Am I causing further harm to my laptop by running it now? It crashes every time due to overheating but I can still use it for 30 mins or so with a housefan directed to the back of the unit.

Thanks as always for the help!

 

Hello,

Please try to run some tests for the video card and for your RAM memory . These tests can be run directly from a cd without booting in windows (it will boot from CD).

I apologize I can not give links but with a little digging on google you will find free tools for testing. Though you will need a different computer to make the cd with the tools.

P

 

Ok so I updated the drivers for my nvidia 8800m gtx and then enabled it. Restarted and comp barely makes it past the vista login screen. It seems to be causing the problem.

But I still would like to know why, even with my card disabled/uninstalled, why does my comp still crash after 45 mins or so??

The comp should run fine with the card off, right? Is there another problem?

I dint think it's dust, either. I took it to a repair shop and they opened it up. I assume they would have cleaned any dust.

 

The computer still uses the video card even if you disable it from windows, otherwise it would show anything. When you disable from windows you only disable the proper driver and as a result the computer will use a generic driver with only 2D graphics. SO your card it is still use but only for basic tasks.

The simptoms you described are consistent as well with you cpu overheating or memory problems.

If you are putting your fans to maximum (Fn+1) from the moment computer boots does it still crash?


P

 

Try running a few ram and graphic stressing tests. Try reformatting the hard drive.

 

With the fans on full blast it will crash in about 10 mins. With the fans on full blast and a housefan behind my notebook it will crash in about 30-40 mins.

With my Nvidia 8800m card ENABLED , windows wont even boot.

I downloaded a processor heat sensor program and all 4 were at about 67C with the housefan.

Ive wiped my whole system clean and it still crashes.

TheCodeBreaker - can you provide me with some links please? Im a bit of a computer noob. And your going to eat me for breakfast, arent you?

 

Your 8800 is bad bake it or replace/upgrade it.

 

in my little village in Japan there arent too many us-style ovens. And the few that are here im sure the health densitive Japanese would never let me bake the card for fear of toxins etc, even if it is safe.

And all i have is a toaster oven. Is it possible to do it with a toaster oven?

Also, if i have to replace the card, where can I find one not on ebay? It seems these cards are hard to find! I have no idea why, if they only last 2 years or so!

thanks !

Pasoleatis - actually, ive never tried the fn+1 fan option before, i just assumed my fans were on full blast.

To answer your question again, Ive had my comp on for almost 3 hours now (Nvidia card disabled of course) with the fans on full and a house fan behind my sager.

Real temp is giving my 4 processors a temp of 53 degrees C at the moment.

 

Hello,

It is very expensive to get a replacement. A new card would be about 800 $. It is cheaper to have a 280m gtx card (half price). Some people tried it.

 

will it play new games?

 

The 280m is a better card than the 8800m so yeah if it fit in your type of laptop then it will play new games just fine.

Here is a site that lists mobile cards and ranks them.
Notebookcheck: Mobile Graphics Cards - Benchmark List

You should search for threads on other people who have baked the 8800m cause I think certain parts of the card may need to be taken off so they don't melt. Also I believe the thermal paste will need to be removed before and reapplied after baking.

 

I know one place, http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/D901c.html . I had no experince with them. If you use the forum search I know there is a thread which has a llong list of companies which sell video cards.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam.../371002-where-buy-notebook-graphic-cards.html
Takinginto account that the computer works longer with Fn+1 activated the problem might be with other parts not with the video card. I recommend a test of the video card and the RAM memory before spending money.

 

Thanks for the links and info so far.

Pasoleatis, how do i test the video card if its not activated? Windows wont load unles its disabled.

And how do i test memory?

Forgive my noobness!

 

Hello,

In order to make the RAM memory test use this program Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

For testing the video card ram use http://mikelab.kiev.ua/PROGRAMS/vmt.zip

These programs will run before loading windows. They consist of bootable cd images. You have to write them to cd ( http://www.google.ro/#hl=ro&source=...=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=cfdbd482ecb9c28c) and then boot from cd and run the tests.

P

 

Thanks a million. Ill try it when I get home from work today. Ill post the results asap!

 

One more thing, before doing anything else. The first thing to do is to clean your fans and radiators. It implies taking away the fans, but it is very simple. (just a few screws,it is in the manual). If the main problem is overheating it sis very important to clean it. Maybe the video card it is not broken, but because of the dust it does not get enought air to stay cool.

 

I had my comp looked at at a local computer shop before posting here, and midway through I saw they had it opened up. I assume they cleaned all the dust. Ill check tomorrow (im currently drinking at an izakaya -its friday here! and sending from my phone).

But I must say again, Windows WONT load when my Nvidia card is enabled (in Device Manager).

When its disabled, it runs for as long as need be (with your Fn+1 plus housefan behind the unit). But will crash when it gets too hot.

Watching movies the processors run around 65-70C (Realtemp).

 

Could easly be that the Thermal paste on the GPU is in need of being replaced. If this is the case, it wont transfer heat away from the GPU to the heatsink as it used too. I have had this happen on other laptop Acer 6930g - had same problem and it was only 1 year old. After replacing the thermal paste it was as good as new.

I would suggest, reseating the card, cleaning the old paste off the GPU and apply new. Once back together - give it another try.

There are guides somewhere on here you can follow, its straight forward procedure, but you do require a small headed screwdriver to remove the heatsinks.

Also as pasoleatis said - I would check the vents and fans for dust, there is everychance the computer shop has not cleaned it out.

Bracken

 

So I guess it should be something like this:

- check the fans for clots just in case (easy to do, not longer then 10 min);
- reseating the card (difficult);
- if those does not solve the problem, make the memory and video card tests with memtes86 and vmt;

if the problem is not yet solve after those steps then you can start considering replacing the video (baking it) card if it is the one broken

When the card is disabled in windows it practically runs a very low speed and it does not heat, when the card is not disable it runs at the full speed and gets warm faster.

P