Need help with GPU problems in NP8150!!! (HD 6990M)

Hi guys,

I need urgent help with a couple of problems that I've run into only recently with my laptop GPU.

First, let me tell you that I got a relative of mine to buy the laptop from the US for me when he was coming for a visit. It was bought from Sager's own website and it's been less than a month since I received it. I don't actually live in the US so i don't know if it would be possible for me to claim the warranty from them either (from where I live), which is why I'm asking you guys for help.

The problems that I have with it are:

1. The GPU fan recently stopped working. I used monitoring software and one of them (GPU-Z) says the fan is running at 0-2 RPM while the other (speedfan) says it's not running at all (0 RPM). I even tried updating the drivers for it but have had no luck.
Even though the GPU fan's not working, the other fans I think are instead working to cool it down because the GPU temperature does drop after a bit. Also, the fan was working fine a few days ago.

2. After updating the drivers, even though 1080p videos are now playing smoother, games that are otherwise not demanding at all are running noticeably choppier.

I'm sorry for making such a long post, but I would really appreciate it if you could read all of it and help me with the problems. It's really frustrating because I spent almost 1600 dollars on it and it already has problems.

 

If your fans were not functioning your laptop should have gone into thermal shutdown in minutes. You should only have 2 cooling fans total on your laptop, one should manage cooling the CPU, and the other should manage cooling your GPU.
Can you feel any airflow blowing through the vents on your laptop?

 

I've got a total of 6 vents (2 on the back of the laptop under the screen and 4 on the back of the keyboard). Only 4 of those vents actually have air flowing through them. One of the vents on the back of the keyboard that's in the middle and the one directly above it both have no air flow. Those are the ones that ventilate the GPU aren't they?

And why does GPU-Z say the GPU fan is running at 0 RPM?

Thanks for replying.

Edit: Can anyone that has the np8150 aswell check to see how many fans their laptop has that are working and reply? Thx.

 

You can't really feel air flowing through the bottom vents as they are just vents.

The ones you should be feeling are the 2 below the screen, and the 2 right below that two on the bottom.

If the fan was not working, you would literally get a thermal shutdown in minutes, which means GPU-Z is reporting the fan speed wrong which is not uncommon.

 

ok thx alot guys. what about the driver problem then?

 

monitoring software reporting fan rpm as 0-399 is pretty normal. it just doesnt detect properly.

try fn+1 and feel vents at the back of the laptop. left is cpu right is gpu.

 

I've checked a few times and GPU-Z actually showed the RPM at stable at 133 once.. Right now it's at 8... Does this mean anything?

Is there any other software I can check the RPM with that doesn't glitch?

Oh and wow yeah dude, they went crazy when i did fn+1.. So the vents below the keyboard are only for ventilation? And there's only 2 fans total (at the back of the screen)?

 

I can't say with certainty there is any software available that doesn't glitch, but maybe one of the more tech savvy modders can tell you for sure.

That is correct, there are 2 fans total on your laptop. The vents are all there to allow airflow to and from those fans and heatsinks.

 

What driver version are you running and what games are you running that are having the issues?

 

133 rpm isnt close to being anywhere a fan should be either. it should be in the 1000 range imo.

that said, it is reporting all the fan values wrongly so i wouldnt worry too much about it.

 

afaik our laptops fans cannot be controlled nor monitored effectively by software such as speedfan.

 

That's correct. There is no software out there at the moment that can interface with the EC which handles the fans on the current Clevo models. That's why you can't see accurate fan speed readings or adjust the speed. You get two options for speed: auto or max fans (with FN+1).

Bad fan speed readings are nothing to worry about.

 

even on my np8170 the fanspeed is static at 150rpm, regardless if it's in jet mode or not

 

Ok thanks alot guys! Sorry for being so stupid

About the drivers issue, catalyst manager says the version is 2011.1205.2215.39827.

My previous drivers were like 11 something and the games were running fine on them... Aren't the latest drivers supposed to perform better than the older ones?

One last question, does it hurt the fans/cpu if i run the fans on max speed? It helps with gaming right?

EDIT: One more thing guys, my laptop also came with Nvidia drivers pre-installed. Why was this when i have an amd gpu? And can i uninstall them?

 

New drivers don't always work better- there can sometimes be conflicts or incompatibilities. You may want to try a clean reinstall of the new drivers (uninstall them completely, reboot in safe mode and use driver sweeper to get rid of leftovers, reinstall). If that doesn't work, then just roll back to your old ones.

And no, it won't hurt the fans to run at max speed. Theoretically it will shorten the life of the fans themselves, but realistically it's not enough to matter. It's just quite noisy

No idea on the Nvidia drivers. You can just uninstall those.

 

I've already tried doing a clean install.. And I did use driver sweeper but not in safe mode (don't know how to get into safe mode on this pc). Problem with rolling back is that i don't remember what version the previous ones were. I don't wanna use system restore cos the only restore point i've got is one that's like a week old.. And I've installed lots of stuff after that.

Again, thanks alot for replying.

 

Driver sweeper in normal mode is a bad idea because most of the files needed to be removed are locked by the OS and usually they are removed after a reboot.
Do a clean removal of everything, uninstall all amd/ati related stuff and nvidia.
Also speaking of nvidia are you sure those aren't nvidia physix runtimes? Althought physix runs on gpu, it can run on CPU and its needed for some games even if you don't use it.
If that's physix you're talking about, then don't worry.

After you completely removed everything, reboot your laptop. Just after the initial bios screen, keep pressing F8 until you reach windows boot manager, then select safe mode from there.

Run driver sweeper under safe mode and be sure to check only the needed options (in this case Ati/AMD and nvidia options) then hit analyze and clean.
Reboot and you should be "clean" from Everything.

At that point install the drivers you want.

Just be sure to use latest driver sweeper app available at phyxion.net. It's only available there officially so stay away from other sites since they have mainly older versions.

Hope it helps and good luck.

 

That was very helpful. Thanks alot, everyone!
I'll try it and post back tomorrow.

 

whao kingpin oc legend is that you?

 

Ah no mate I'm not..or maybe yes...seriously nope.
We share a similar nickname and we worked together in the past, I had my slice of "legend" back in times but more and more restricted than him.
I was one of the first to get a desktop e8500 engraved in a shoe box running at 4,8ghz stable 24/7 totally by Air thought, if that means something
Thus the "Zero" in the nickname. That e8500 still goes strong

Or i can talk about an ES qx9650 stable at 4,2ghz with stock heat sink or an old Athlon single core running at 3ghz..but that's another story of the past

 

i tried it and the drivers uninstalled fine but the new ones still the same :[ and now even 1080p videos are choppy.
does it have compatibility issues with sager laptops? any1 with an np8150 running the latest drivers?