Replacing D900K Sager MOBO

I bought a used D900K mobo. Installed it. It booted as an alienware mobo but has an issue where the video displays like a 15" rather than the 17" and has vertical colored bars on the right side. Switched back to the old board and the video is fine. The reason for replacing is the HDD interface is bad. Any ideas???? It seems to me that I got a bad mobo. But since my Sager has the geForce 7800 could the alienware board need a BIOS change, or does that matter, if the alienware originally had a different video card??

 

In the BIOS, there is a load factory defaults setting on the last page, try that.
There is also another load settings selection in the middle somewhere. Select that as well. It should revert back to 17"
There was never a D900T or D900K offered with a 15" screen.
So there is a problem somewhere.
Are you sure that the LCD is connected properly to the motherboard?

There should be three wires coming from the lid connecting to the motherboard
1 is the 4-5 pin USB wire for the webcam
2 is the 9-11 pin wire for the screen inverter
3 is the large 24-30 pin wire for the video signal.

The third is the largest connection and the one furthest to the left. Make sure it is seated properly in the slot.
Then grab a pen cap (plastic bic pen)
whittle the tip down so that it is narrow, maybe a 1/24" diameter
Then use the pen cap to push down the wires in the connector.
Sometimes a wire doesnt get connected all of the way and results in screen errata.

If you cant get it working, I would contact the place where you purchased a replacement motherboard and ask for a replacement board which works. Obviously tell them the situation, and you are unhappy, and so forth

Good luck,

K-TRON

 

Thanks K-TRON.

Everything seems to be well connected. You mentioned another load selection settings in the middle somewhere, I believe that to be the " reset configuration data " selection, its the only other reset I could find.

I tried the resets and checked the connections to no avail.

It is strange because everything is presented perfectly on the screen except that it measures exactly 15 inches diagonally with the remaining left side, color barred out.

Do you think flashing the latest Sager Bios would be worth trying?

Thanks for the help,

JH

 

Worth a try. It seems like it thinks it has a lower res screen attached. Perhaps the alienwares used such a screen?

 

I would contact the place where you purchased the motherboard first.
They might not take it back if you try flashing the BIOS.

If the seller is not willing to exchange motherboards, Bios flashing is basically your last resort.
The latest Clevo D900K bios is 1.00.09

K-TRON

 

I called the seller when I ordered the board and they said they had several untested boards on hand with no way to test them and if it didn't work they would exchange or refund and I also have this in writing at their EBAY site. I figured for $99 I would give it a try.

I have emailed Sager for their most recent BIOS, and asked them a couple of questions.

My SAGER has the 1920X1200 WUXGA screen. Maybe the alienware board is set at WSXGA or WXGA+.

JH

 

theriko,

You're right about the alienware screen res. They sold the D900K in the lower resolutions.

JH

 

With any luck the plain clevo/sager bios will work then.

If you post in the Clevo bios thread you should get a response pretty quickly.

 

So I successfully updated the bios to the latest SAGER. Still has the video issue. Otherwise, everything works. The nVidia control panel shows the max screen resolution as 1600X1200. #@%!!! For whatever reason, it seems to think I have a smaller monitor. Again, no video issues with my old board.

 

I shipped the board to the seller for replacement.I spoke to him and he said that he bought several Alienware boards in bulk, untested, and that some had been returned with issues, mostly dead boards. I'll give another one a try.

 

Keep us posted,
I hope the next board works out for you?

What service are you using? - Z-TRONICS?

K-TRON

 

Guys... I think the "preserve aspect ratio" option is ON. Try changing the screen resolution. If that does not work, open the nvidia control panel and set it to "FULL SCREEN".