Sager 5760 "knocking" sound and system stutter

Hello all:

I have a Sager 5760 purchased in December of 2006 (almost a year old).

Recently, and getting worse by the week, my system has started to experience a "stutter" in every application I run.
About once every half hour, the system will "freeze" for about 2 seconds.
This can happen in any situation, from simply browsing in windows explorer to full-on gaming.

Additionally, the freeze is sometimes followed up by a physical "knocking" sound. This sound originates (i think) about 1/2" below the arrow keys.
I can physically feel something hitting the silver plastic of the right-hand palm rest under the arrow keys.
It sounds like this:
Grab a standard pencil, hold it about 4" above the silver palmrest, and let the eraser end fall - it bounces once hard, and then has some minor reverberation after.

I don't know for sure that these items are related, because the "knock" sound doesn't always happen during a freeze, and sometimes happens without the freeze at all.

One time last week, the entire system froze solid after I heard the knocking sound. No BSOD, no error, no shutdown, no mouse countrol, just a perfect freeze.

I don't have any 5760 schematics, so i'm not sure exactly what component is below the right palm rest that could possibly have a part that would physically hit the casing.

Thanks in advance for any troubleshooting help or advice here.

 

Sounds like your Hard Drive is dying out on you.
This is a warning! So start backing up your information.

 

The hard disk in the NP5760 is located almost in the center of the system, so I'm not sure how it would be bumping the area underneath your arrow keys. It's the yellow circled device:



Still, this does sound like a failing hard drive based on the way the system is locking up and the sound that sometimes accompanies it. Are you still under warranty with Sager? You may want to consider contacting them to discuss trying to replace just your hard drive or to get an RMA to service the whole system because as masterbw said, this may be a warning of future problems.

You can reach Sager at 1-800-669-1624, 8:30AM to 5:30PM Pacific, Monday through Friday.

 

Joe, the schematic you have placed is not of the 5760. It looks like the 5760's smaller 15.4 inch cousin. The layout of the 5760 is slightly different.

If the 5760 is set up the way the 5720 is, and im sure it is because its the same chasis, then its most certainly your hard drive thats failing. If you flip your 5760 over, the area underneath where your right palm rest is located is indeed where the hard drive is located. I would suggest taking the earlier seggestion of backing up your data as soon as possible, because it sounds like that baby is about to go on you.

The good news is that swapping out a hard drive in a 5760 isnt all that difficult. If the laptop is still under warranty, im assuming it is, send it in for a replacement HDD before that warranty expires.


Poseign

 

Thanks for the input so far!

My Sager is still under warranty, as it's less than a year old and I also purchased it with the additional 3-year extended warranty.
I purchased this notebook through discountlaptops.com - do I contact them about service? Or do I call Sager directly for service?

Also, what can I expect to happen here?
Do I get a RMA from the reseller/sager and then ship the notebook to them?
How long would you guess i'll be without my system from ship date to return date? (I am an architect - all my income is based on daily production from autocad on my notebook).
Also, if the HDD needs to be completely replaced, will they simply return the notebook to me sans OS and I need to re-install everything myself?
Or do I also send them my original OS/driver discs to re-install for me?

Thanks again for any help, i'm really in the dark here.

 

Zhenya, the best way to solve your RMA is if you deal directly with that specific manufacturer (which is your hard drive manufacturer in this case).
Let me explain why.

Saves money, time and hassle
You can file RMA for the hard drive, take it out, and ship it to Hard Drive manufacturer directly. This will cut down the time you ship to Discountlaptop.com -> Sager -> HDD Manufacturer, then another 1 week, then send it back to you through that route it came thru. And you don't even need to ship the whole notebook back. You can avoid un-necessary shipping damage to your notebook, and keep it close to you.
You can do this. You --> Seagate/Hitachi/Toshiba --> You (1 week)

Just my two cents.

 

> Also, if the HDD needs to be completely replaced, will they simply return the notebook to me sans OS and I need to re-install everything myself?
Or do I also send them my original OS/driver discs to re-install for me?

This may sound a bit hard for you.
1. Buy a new 2.5" SATA HDD from ZipZoomFly.com, swap it, reinstall the whole thing. (You have less down-time)
2. Backup important data from your notebook using any External Hard Drive.
3. Send the defective HDD away and wait for it.

And, you are still using your system.
Do the reinstall yourself, it's better that way.