Sager NP9261 screen problems

Help! I was loading a game of crysis when right before the map started I noticed the bottom of the loading screen having some weird green thing going on(changing, more like flickering) and when the map was loaded most parts of the map did the same. When I went back to XP I noticed the screen flickering. (I've actually noticed this before one or two days ago but thought nothing of it.)
I pulled out the AC cord just in case that could be the problem and I didn't experience it afterwards, though after trying crysis out again to see how it did, it seems that didn't make a difference as the green artefacts were hanging around again and going back to XP gave me more screen flickering than before. I rebooted my pc and it started off with all these white horizontal lines moving across the screen and after a few secs the entire screen was white(gray-white, I could still see it boot).

As you can imagine I'm now afraid to turn on the laptop as I don't want to mess things up more than they are atm. Can anyone help me out? In the case that it's a hardware malfunction, would it be possible that for instance deviltech in germany could fix it while I ordered this at XoticPC?(I'm in the Netherlands, and I assume I'd have to pay them to fix it for me)

 

You could try taking off the bottom panel and resetting the video cards. It is not difficult and the manual has the instructions on how to this. You might also want to check the GPU temps to see if they are to high. Also if you are overclocking the video step back to defaults. I would also clean the fans and the heat sinks as well as the vents. I am not sure this will help but it is a good starting point. I have had all of these exhibit the symptoms you have at one time or another.

 

My 1st thoughts are to ask if you are overclocking or not? If so then back off a bit.

2nd can you give us more info? I.e. operating system, system specs etc? What video driver version etc?

 

Sorry bout that, I knew I forgot something.
here's my specs:
Q6700 2.66 GHz
2 GB RAM
Geforce 7950 GTX 512 MB
the rest of the stuff..

Running Windows XP Pro and I believe the most popular video driver that runs on XP. Sorry couldn't check because laptopvideo2go is kinda down and I'm too chicken to turn on my laptop right now. Oh and I'm not overclocking.

Small side question, do I have to have the fans on max everytime I play games? That's what I do and I play alot of games so I wonder how soon do I have to clean the dust inside if I play games a couple of hours everyday?(I do set it back to auto when not playing games)

I'm gonna do the things kl5167 suggests, thanks for giving me some hope that I don't have to send it back to get it fixed

 

I typically just turn in max fans when gaming or doing video compression. I also keep an eye out on the temps as well. This laptop runs fairly cool but when the CPU runs at 70% or more it does warm up a lot.

 

I just reinserted the videocard(thats what I thought you meant by resetting?) and I still noticed some of the flickering while booting and a weird glitchy thing in the windows xp logo, i'm in windows now and it seems ok, but that doesn't mean its fixed. I didn't clean the vents yet because I only have this laptop for a bit more than a week. What do you use to see the GPU temperature? and what temperature is too hot for this CPU? mine is idling at 49 celcius and I see it jump to 54 occasionally.

oh and I'm using forceware driver 165.01

 

I use either nvmonitor or rivatuner. If I remember right just at 70C is the max but this varies a bit from system to system. I have one that sits at 58 and the other at 50. I run my system a lot in is on probably 18 hours a day. In gaming it goes up to 60C or so.

 

That was my next thought. Good add Eurocom!

 

Hi Psych0F0x,

Check out this old thread: (9260 Screen problem):

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=162444

I had a very similar problem to the rest of the guys. However, the green artifacts you are having are unfamliar to me, but the foggy horizontal bands are. The first thing I suggest is to replace your graphic driver with the one you got from XoticPC (94.22 for my Sli setup) and see if the problem persists.

Question: How long have you had your machine for before the problem started, and does tapping the LCD screen on both sides effect the position/or temporarily clear up the white bands?

I was in the same situation as you. I bought my laptop in my sig from XoticPc
and I live in the UK so I didn't want to have to pay shipping both ways to get it fixed, especially since I had only had it for a week and half. I contacted XoticPC, but since they are only a local reseller of Sager machines ( http://www.sagernotebook.com/default.php ) they said for me to get in touch with their support dept (which I had to look up myself) - i.e. once the've sold you the machine all problems are Sagers, including warranty fixes.

I had a really good experience with a guy called Allen at Sager who was very patient and helpful. I sent dig cam screen shots of the problem to him (that gradually got worst from only on boot-up screen to anything that was black or really dark in colour- e.g. internet pages and games). He got me to flash the video cards I had with new vBIOS, but that didn't sort out the problem. After some more discussion he sent me a video cable (connects your motherboard to the LCD) and instructions for installation, because he understood it would be a pain for me to send in. It was a fiddly job, but I managed to replace it with no problem. After the replacement I haven't experienced any screen problems. I'm not sure if it was the cable or something else that was lose in there but either way it sorted it out. By the way thanks again Allen (and techs who took the pictures for how to do the replacement), nice to think that not everyone associated with big commercial companies are arseholes.

I hope this help you out some. Whatever you do don't panic and start messing with things from every random suggestion. Also your computer has a top-of-the-line ventilation system with adjustable fans (four fans and vents) and unless your fans aren't working you shouldn't be having any temp problems (fn+1 toggles fans from auto to full power).

Funny I was thinking of posting someting similar soon as I have only replaced the cable about 2 week ago.

 

I removed the gfx driver and installed a tweakforce 163.67 driver. I only noticed a couple of moving horizontal lines when rebooting afterwards and this small part of the windows logo was glitching (it's the red spot in the flag and I've seen it do that before one or two times) after that I only noticed some weird skinning errors in crysis that could be dismissed as a bug? anyway after that I haven't noticed any of these problems anymore(knock on wood).

Btw, the green glitching also appeared like in the screenshot natasdrol posted in that old topic ( weird hole in the bioshock screenshot)
And another thing, I think the screen flickering(not meaning the moving horizontal lines) began after I installed newer graphics drivers.

Thanks everybody for all the help, as soon as I get the glitching thing i'll hook up my other monitor and see if it shows up too. And i'll try the tapping/getting a new LCD cable through sager. If this problem persists, you'll see me post in this thread again

 

update:
I just booted my lappy and I got the white lines again, so I tapped the screen and the lines reacted to it(they went away after a while so tapping caused them to briefly reappear) I guess its the LCD cable then?

 

Sounds like it Psych0F0x. If it changes when you tap the screen the LCD cable could be loose in its connection.

 

Sounds like the same thing. How long have you had your laptop for?
What I found is for some reason that the white lines would slowly clear up and eventually came back as strong (or stronger) then they were originally in a 1.5 week cycle from one extreme to the other. So don't be fooled by this, unless you get lucky.

When I replaced the original cable I couldn't find anything loose or out of place with one exception a small piece of metal component shaped a bit like an old fashioned razor blade attached to the back of the LCD panel that had somehow come loose and got jammed under a small magnet on the back of the front LCD case. The magnet should hold it in place, but not have metal underneath it. Might of been me when I removed the outer casing, not sure.

If you end up having to replace the LCD cable yourself let me know and I can give you some hints and tips for the awkward stuff, and hopefully you won't break any of the clips that hold your keyboard in place like I did.

 

i've had this laptop for about 1.5 weeks though some friends of mine ordered it for me and brought it to me, they didn't experience anything then though they didn't really use it that much. So this laptop has been used for about 2.5 weeks then. With "cycle from one extreme to the other" you mean it's gone and then suddenly you get it in its most extreme form?

I've been playing some half life 2 and I sometimes noticed some very slight glitching while using the flashlight and tapping kinda agitates it and then lessens or dissappears.

So I guess I should somehow get a cable? call sager?

I don't break things when taking stuff apart. I lose the screws :X
how'd you fix the keyboard?

 

There are 4 clips that hold the keyboard in place. One at near each corner. You move them by sliding them away from the keyboard and toward the housing of the unit. (Best way I know how to describe it) I was a bit confused myself when I looked at them.

 

From one extreme to the other I mean: from no foggy bands and then gradually back to whole foggy screen (usually only on seen on black dark backgrounds usually). The clips that held my keyboard on were flimsy. When trying to snap it back on (gently) two on the left side came off which means keys immediately around the ESC button are raised higher than normal. It's noticeable but not unbearable. I did email Sager but didn't get a reply yet. Not sure how easy it is to fix as the clips come out of the chassis. I might field this question on the forum.

The screws are tiny, put them in a jar or something and the cushion pads covering the screws around the inner rim.

 

a piece of styrofoam works great for tiny screws use a sharpie to label the area and press the screws into the styrofoam. i do this when i have a number of screws for different areas so i know where they go back in

 

I like that. Quite a nice idea. As long as the screws aren't white, lol.

 

Cool idea. So where do I call to now that I need a cable? Just sager in US? or are they closer?(I'm in the Netherlands)

 

Go to the Sager web page that I gave you earlier and enter their support section. You can email them (include full name and laptop serial no.) or phone them. I didn't call them because of hugh UK to US time difference, so I did it all by email. Don't just say give me a video cable. You'll have to describe the problem, when it first occurred, how persistent it is (they may ask for snapshots of screen)etc. They will need to know it is the same problem before giving you the same solution. Some different problems exhibit the same symptoms. However, I think they must of logged a few of these same problems already by the sound of it.

 

I still didn't get the cable because I need an invoice number and since a friend in america ordered it for me and he can't find the number, am I screwed? or can I get one with just the serial number?

 

Try the serial number it should work.

 

They asked me for my serial No. which was good enough.