New D901C (Sager NP9262) at home, help plz

Hi guys, My friend just recieved his new D901C system due to my recommendation. I would like to ask about couple of questions he was asking for.

Here are the specs:
Q9650
4GB DDR2
1x320GB Seagate momentus 7200.3 (another one will be added)
9800M GTX 1GB GDDR3

1. Could you please post the links for the latest drivers and and other sw
(HDD storage manager, GPU driver - Are nvidia's official one working on 9800M GTX?, Sound card, chipset etc)

2.He owns one HDD (I dont remember whether SSD or the regular one)
Is it difficult to add his 2.5'' hdd to that beast? Does it require any bios,
jumper or any other kind of system set up except the physical addition of the
disk?

3. He is planning to set up RAID 0 set up. What is required for it and how to do that?

He is newbie and I dont have any experience with this system (raid in notebook).

Thank you all kindly for any help.

 

From Sager:
http://74.212.252.103/pages/notebooks/download.cfm?ProductType=9262

As for videocard drivers,
- www.nvidia.com (get the mobile ones)
- www.laptopvideo2go.com

extremely easy.

All shown in the user's manual.

should also be in the User's Manual.

RAID-0 will require at least two HDDs (preferably the same kind)

Then you have to set the RAID array (in the RAID configuration tool) when the system boots up.

Then you install Windows, and will need to have the SATA RAID drivers ready to insert during the installation so that the Windows installation will see the RAID array properly.... easiest with Vista since you can just use the Drivers CD when asked.

XP is a bit more annoying since it requires a Floppy.... so instead, you would just use nLite to slipstream the SATA RAID drivers into the XP CD, then burn it and you will not need to worry about the floppy or anything.

 

Thank you for your help Gophn. I knew you will help me out

Someone told me that official nv drivers does not work with 9800M GTX.
(not listed or something) is it truth?

How to get to that "RAID configuration tool" ? Is it in the BIOS?
He is using Vista, so all he has do is to set RAID X in RAID configuration tool
and during the windows installation insert driver CD (included with nb) where the SATA RAID drivers are, right ?

Thank you very much Gophn!

 

it does work, if you get the notebook Nvidia drivers... not desktop.

thats pretty much it.

 

Okay, we added another 320GB HDD into the hdd bay nr.1.
He decided to not run RAID but AHCI mode. So we went to the BIOS setup
and in advanced settings changed from Normal to AHCI.

After the windows installation, we first installed official nv driver 179.48 and restarted computer.

Unfortunatelly system did not boot up. We are stucked on black screen with flashing cursor. We even did not see the microsoft logo etc. When he tried
to change AHCI to normal, system will show BSOD and restart session comes after that.

Another strange thing is that in first seconds of boot it stops for like 5s and you can see Installing AHCI, every time.

My M860TU does not do that.

Please help us out :-(

 

If you change the between normal an AHCI mode you need to reinstall the OS.

Pl

 

Yes I know that but its not the point. It takes more than 10s to get to Bios, each restart the system is doing "installing AHCI". Also if AHCI is choosen, I see only one HDD between my boot options which is under SCSI and not IDE HDD (IDE HDD is visible under normal settings, which I cant use because OS installation under ahci)

I dont know what caused it.
I have now opened laptop and HDD is pretty hot.
There are two drives in one HDD bay (second is right under the first one)
and there is nothing between them.

I tried 10s holding power button without battery and reset in bios.
I will try to install OS on normal (not AHCI)

EDIT: I reinstalled OS and during the booting I got this screen message:

Realtek gigabyte ethernet controller.

"Media test failiure, check cable"
"Exiting PXE ROM"

And than systemm boot up. I can see only one HDD in my computer,
I am having alot of issues! Temp of HDDs is 56C, which is very high.

Please help me :-(

 

From the first post I understand that the computer was working when you got it. What happened after? Are you sure the second hdd was installed properly? There is another bay for hdd under the battery, it will not get so hot there.
Restore the original settings in BIOS to the default ones. Remove the second hdd and check that the first one is connected proerply.
Reinstall the OS only with the first hdd.
If there is no problem add the second hdd in the bay under the battery.
Make sure all the cables are connected properly.

PL

 

sounds like maybe the drive you added was not configured right. did you format it before installing it? and how? how did you set up the raid array?

so under ide you can see both drives??

 

I configured harddrive. It works.
I am just worried about high temps -51-52C
Now running normal hdd settings (no ahci)

Everything else seems to be working properly.
Thank you guys,you are so helpful...

 

If the hdds are near eache otherr you get this high tempertures. It will help a laptop cooler.

 

Well, you have the same laptop
What are your temps? (especially of those two hdds)

 

My HDD also stays at 52C on a constat small use (10%). Hits 60 under heavy load, otherwise it is alright . It's a Fujitsu.