Sager 9262 problems... What board do I actually have?

Hello all,

First post here. I purchased a Sager NP9262 through PC Torque back in January of this year. I have had ongoing issues since purchase with the 9800M GTX's driver freezing.

I have had the same problem both in Vista Ultimate x64 and now in Windows Pro 7 x64. I have tried every different driver version (release, beta, and modded) that I can find, and while some perform better than others, the problem where the driver stops responding persists consistently in all configurations.

The problem will always occur when attempting to switch between 2D and 3D applications using Alt+Tab, but also often occurs if any 2D program is run prior to running a 3D application/game. When doing so, the driver stops responding shortly after entering 3D mode. If caught quickly enough, I can sometimes Alt+Tab to the desktop in time to see the taskbar notification of the fact that the driver has stopped responding, however, more often, the system locks up and requires hitting Ctrl+Alt+Del to get out of 3D mode. Usually it requires multiple attempts at Ctrl+Alt+Del and switching back to the 3D app before the driver starts responding normally again. Sometimes no amount of attempting to reset the driver will work, in which case either the 3D app will be closed by Windows, or else I go blue screen. But even when the driver does start responding, again, performance does not appear quite up to snuff, and framerates are lower than what I think I should be getting.

I've finally decided to contact Sager support before my warranty runs out (today is Sunday, so the call will have to wait), but in gathering info to give them, I noticed something odd which I never bothered to note before. My system should be built on a D901C board (it says so both in my PC Torque order and on the bottom of my machine), however when I look at DXdiag info, the board is identified as a D900C (BIOS Revision: D900C 1.00.20S LS2).

Could DXdiag be reporting my board incorrectly, or do I really have a D900C in there? Might this be a cause of my issues, and is there any other way to find my actual board model?

Any comments/suggestions are much appreciated.

 

Welcome to the NBR forums.

Firstly, there is a huge misconception about the model number for a long time now.

I went over the model number thing in my Clevo Guide.

There is only D901C .... with black chassis.

What you see in the software level would be "D900C" (is should say D9C or D90xC to denote that its for all models)... which is all D901C notebooks.
- so you will see D900C in the software/BIOS regardless which ever chassis you have.

However, the physical "D900C" (which was to be a blue chassis) was never shipped out or mass produced... it was Clevo's call.

So you and everyone else that has this notebook should just consider it a D901C.
- but there are different motherboard revisions.... judging from your specs you have the latest motherboard revision.
___________

As for your issue, make sure your BIOS is up-to-date.... and your driver issues is a bit tough to troubleshoot since the games you might be playing might not be fully compatible with Win6 (Vista) or Win7.

If those games are older games, that can happen. Just make sure you have the latest patches for those games and hope that it will fix the issues.

Newer and upcoming games should not have such issues, but can still happen.

Drivers should be fully removed before installing another version.
- if you do not fully removed the remnants of a previous driver.... issues can occur.

 

Thank you much for the reply, Gophn.

Apologies, I realize I misread the info in your guide re the D900C/D901C. Thanks for the clarification, and at least I can strike that out as an issue. I do plan to attempt to update the BIOS on my board, and a most-recent ISO is the first thing I planned to ask Sager support to send.

I have been using DriverSweeper between each driver install and always make sure I'm starting from a generic card in Device Manager.

The oldest game I'm currently playing is BioShock, and interestingly, that is the one game which suffers least from the driver freezes. Those most prone (i.e. just about everything else I have) include: CoD World at War; WoW; LotRO; Fallen Earth; Left 4 Dead; and Fallout 3 (although that one has enough other issues to be unreliable, and I think it has become unstable under Win7). 3Dmark Vantage also suffers regularly from the freeze when going into the first GPU bench scene.

 

I have to ask you a few questions?

1) When was the last time you opened up your notebook to thoroughly clean out the vents and fans?

2) Do you monitor your temps... especially while in-game?

3) Have your made a new application of thermal compound for the GPU (and/or CPU)?

If the answer is no to both, then you need to do it now.

here is my typical post:
And for lockups... make sure to do some hardware testing:
- for HDD: go to START > Programs > Accessories > right-click on "Command Prompt" and choose "Run as administrator"
...... (in Command Prompt) type: CHDSK C: /F
...... then say YES, and restart your computer to let Windows fix any HDD errors that might have occurred from crashes or lockups
- for Memory: get MemTest86+, burn the bootable ISO onto a CD, and let your system auto boot from the CD to check for any memory errors.

here is my typical post:

___________________________

If you are overheating... usually any temp over 90C degrees is bad.

when was the last time that you cleaned out the fans and vents thoroughly...?

if never, then thats why.

1) remove battery
2) remove/unscrew the panels on the bottom of the notebook to get to fans and vents ( if possible, if not its okay.. skip step 5)
3) use flashlight to look through vents for the dust (if you cant see the light on the other end, then the vents are clogged up)
4) go outside, get some compressed air (cans or compressor @ 50 PSI) and give the vents a good airing out all directions ( concentrating on the vents)
.... you might want to brace the fan blade(s) when airing it out (with a toothpick or paperclip to prevent it from spinning out too much)
.... or use short bursts (1-2 secs) of air instead of bracing the fans.
5) go get some Q-tips and swab the fan blades and the area around it
6) then go do a second airing with compressed air (all directions again focusing on the fans and vents) to push out the dust that was dislodged from the Q-tips

7*) Now go use the flashlight again and look through the vents (shine the flashlight from the fan, you look through the other end) for anymore dust clogs.

8) Then start up the notebook... and let the fans cycle up (use the Fan Toggle at max speed if your system has it) to push out any other dust that might have been stuck.

If all goes well you should be able to close up the notebook and...

you're done.

*repeat this step until its cleaned out.

Thats pretty much it.

Just make sure to do this every two-three months... it should take about 15-20min per cleaning if you want to be thorough.
________________________

Gaming notebooks are a new thing, you must realize that you have to take some extra care of them over typical use notebooks:

1) Battery: to maintain the longevity of any rechargeable battery
- you must NEVER overcharge it [especially for long durations of time while it still be in use] by keeping it plugged into AC
- remember to give a full charge cycle (discharge it under 50% and charge it back to full) once a week if you constantly leave it plugged in.
- OR you can just charge it to 50%+ and remove the battery and store in cool dry place.. not the fridge [remember to use it occasionally 3-4 time a year to charge and discharge it].

2.) Heat: to prevent a healthy notebook from overheating
- ALWAYS use the notebook on a clean, hard & flat surface
- NEVER use on soft surfaces (laps, beds, couch, etc.) that can block the fans on the bottom
- RECOMMENDED to be used on a notebook cooler... namely the Zalman ZM-NC1000 or ZM-NC2000
- check your fans underneath occasionally (at least once a month or two) for any dust clogs [clean them out with Q-tips and air cans/compressors]
- do a yearly re-application of thermal compound for the GPU (and CPU if you want)
- ALWAYS monitor the temps (CPU, GPU, HDD, etc..) to watch for fluctuations, which would indicate overheating by dust usually

By doing these simple things, your entire system will easily last for more than 3 years.

 

I do monitor my temps, and GPU currently averages around 65°C on most games. I have to run something very demanding like FurMark on Xtreme Burn to get temps to rise into the mid-70s. I was getting spikes into the 80s about a month and a half ago, at which time I opened up the bottom panel and blew out the vents. Even though I couldn't see any visible clogging, this did bring the temps back down to their current levels.

No, this I have not done. I did also want to try reseating the card, but I'm unsure as to how much I can play around in there without voiding warranty. Would you suggest changing the compound even if temps don't appear to be an issue?

I did a CHKDSK /f/r a week ago, and it turns out there are 4 bad sectors on one of the drives, and these are now mapped. They are in the last 20% of the drive, and no data had ever been written to them, however I do wonder if this is part of the problem. I'm sorry that I didn't do a full surface scan earlier, since I now don't know whether the sectors were bad at the time of purchase, however there have been no drops or mishaps to precipitate them. There was no corruption found in any existing data.

I haven't used MemTest86+, but I have run the Vista/Win7 Windows Memory Diagnostic (which runs on startup from DOS) several times in various configurations with no problems found. I'll give MemTest86+ a try.

Hehe, I actually I did read your post shortly after purchasing the machine. My battery has been residing at 50% charge in a cool, dry place since about March, and I performed the above-mentioned vent-blowing pretty much per your instructions.

While I don't use a cooler, my laptop stand has a wavy, corrugated surface below the vents on the bottom plate which allows for good airflow. When I did try a friend's Zalman (I forget which model), I got no noticeable reduction in temps, so I'm a little hesitant about getting one.

Thanks very much again for the reply, and for the welcome to the boards.

 

Well... you sure are knowledgeable. ... Great.

if its not memory errors... then...

as for the bad sectors... that can cause issues... but if you made a partition around those bad sectors.

Maybe try to install a spare HDD and see if the same issue happens.

 

Welcome to NBR!

I had a similar problem to yours at the beginning of the year after updating the drivers on my cards. I was also experiencing a BSOD whenever the drivers were tasked with handling video. Are you using Nvidia or Laptopvideo2go drivers?

EDIT: sorry, re-read your first post and answered the question myself.

Well, although you seem very knowledgeable and have probably done this already, the only way in which i managed to stop the drivers from freezing was to do a full sweep in safe mode (using driversweeper) and then re-installing the driver. This solved the problem and the issue has never appeared since, regardless of how long they're in use. I hope this helps