NP9262 standing on its last leg

So my NP9262 has served me well over the years but it has plagued me with problems. First, the GPUs went bad. I've been able to keep themdby popping them in oven whenever they act up (it's gotten old though).

Unfortunately, due to age, my battery is completely dead and so I've been staying on AC power. Well, now a new issue has arisen. The computer would just randomly shut off without rhyme or reason. Eventually it got to the point where it wouldn't even power on. Finally, I've learned that it WILL power on but only when the AC adapter is NOT plugged in. Further, if I plug it in while it's booting up, it'll quit the booting process and shut off. Now get this, the battery still charges when the computer is off and adapter plugged in, but you can forget about powering it on with it plugged in.

I'm not sure where the issue is, the adapter or the motherboard. Has anyone else had this issue?! How did you fix it? I would just buy all the parts but I'm in the midst of a startup and funds are running out, so I don't want to spend a dime more than I need to.

I gotta say, I probably won't get another Sager given the problems. The construction is rather cheap. I've never dropped this machine or dropped anything on it, and yet there are cracks everywhere throughout the case. Even some of the connectors are very cheap and break apart just trying to disconnect them during disassembly. This machine was purchased in 2008 and is struggling. I have a Dell 2004 that still functions, and aside from it not charging the battery, it's in far better condition than my Sager that costed me twice as much.

 

A lot of that is probably materials fatigue from the dual gpus... I understand though. Be prepared to pay a lot more for the same performance from elsewhere though.

Gaming laptops are designed to get 3 maybe 4 years of life

Sent from my SPH-L900 using JellyBombed Tapatalk 2

 

Try removing the battery and just stay plugged in?

 

Tried that, doesn't work.

 

Consider this: although your Dell has lasted twice as long, has it given you twice as much enjoyment? I think not! I mean, faulty GPUs aside...

Anyways! To your problem! It is probably a motherboard VRM fault/power circuitry issue. As someone mentioned above, this is likely due to component fatigue and/or you have been using it in a warm climate all these years. I don't think there are many Clevo D901C/Sager NP9262 parts on eBay these days, and no resellers have parts (trust me on that one). Your NP9262 has served you to the best of its ability, and now it is on its death bed pleading for a worthy successor (P570WM!).

Slightly off-topic: I got my NP9262 back in May 2008, and it has had some issues but nothing to ever prevent it from functioning. I have never ever encountered an issue like you're describing (minus battery holding 0 charge). The worst that happens is if it is unplugged, it will lose all BIOS settings. I reckon the CMOS battery is dead, but it's not a huge deal since it rarely moves around these days. My NP9262 was in use 24/7 for 4.5 years until I moved on to a full-fledged X79 desktop. The NP9262 still sees some usage, but it is not non-stop like it used to be.

 

Power supplies can go bad too, they tend to have electrolytic capacitors that do loose performance as they age.

 

Same issue here - after 4 years of loyal service - suddenly one of the GPU's failed - so swapped out the main GPU with the second card which worked great for all of half an hour- and straight after I'm also getting these random power offs.
smells like pine wood to me - but maybe someone has an idea?

I was hoping for a lot more out of this machine - 2.5K is supposed to last more than 4 years surely...

 

welcome
adding a new post to a 7 month old thread might not get as many replies.
start a new thread and copy this thread link into your post.

we need as much info as possible
system spec, where you live, ambient room temps, temps before problem occured, do you clean fans out regulary, do you over clock.

 

Indeed. Also did you notice the light go out on the power brick?

 

Are you using any surge protectors?

 

Thank you all for your feedback -

Sorry for not introducing myself properly previously:

I'm Anthony, and live in Paris.

These are the specs (dxdiag):
clevo D900C - running windows XP SP3 (yes I know...)
Bios: 1.00.20
Q9550 (Quad core @ 2.83) - 4G RAM (3.326 in real terms)
2 x 320GB HD @ 7200 rpm (I think)
(now) single 8800M GTX

I do not overclock - and clean out the heatsinks and ventialtors very regularly. I don't even game that much anymore - however I (occasionally unfortunately) work in signal processing and use processor demanding applications.

The battery was taken out immediately when I bought it and has actually never been used... could this be an issue?

I use "basic" surge protection, ie a fused "quality" mutlisocket adapter (which I have been meaning since forever to upgrade to a proper inverter) - however the electrical installation here is up to standard (no dodgy wiring or spikes) - and the grid is decent of course in Paris.

I think heat is part of the problem and it has been very hot here (around 30C) - but today it is cooler and the problem remains.
However, the machine will run for roughly 10 minutes (from cool) before powering down. Thereafter It will only stay on for a few seconds. Could it be a specific component overheating?

Prior to this, the only time it had ever shut down because of heat as when I inadvertently blocked the airflow for the ventilators - and I'm pretty sure an alarm went off. This happened only once 3 years ago -

The light does not go out on the power brick - and of course, that is what I was secretly praying for.
I do not have a spare brick and the only Clevo retailer i know in France is about 30 miles out, if I have time next week I might go out there and ask them to plug it into another PSU and see if the problem remains.

I hope this info is useful - thank you for your feedback!

 

download some free monitoring software from my sig below.
i would recommend real temps, gpu-z, hwinfo64 and msi afterburner.
see what sort of temperatures you are getting with just brousing and then on high load and post results for us here.

also congratulations on being one of the few to have a working 8800gtx. last time i had one of those was in a alienware over 6 years ago.

 

thanks -
unfortunately the computer doesn't stay on for long enough for me to be able to run the applications properly (make the screenshots)

the main page of hwinfo showed no problems for the processor

however GPU-Z shows 94 °C on start-up and rising - does that seem a little hot?

EDIT: I found my battery and charged it and the GPU now idles around 65°C (however the battery doesn't seem to hold much charge anymore (whent from 90% to 85% in about 10 minutes).
as soon as I plug in the power brick, the GPU temperature starts rising immediately - which causes the crash.
I checked with HWinfo and it's only the GPU which is getting hotter. Would that be a PSU issue or GPU or MOBO or....?

 

5% in 10 minutes means your system can on average last 20 times that so 20x10 = 200 minutes or 3 hours 20 minutes which is not that bad.