Sager NP9262/Clevo 901c malfunction

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum. I have that notebook about month and a half ago. On the first week my AC adapter was fried. I've purchased a new one and I didn't have any problems, until today ...

Today a I've noticed a strange smell like something is burning(maybe cables, I'm not sure). I've turned off the notebook to figure out where it came from. It was from it. After a few hours I've try to use it again. After several minutes it turned itself off. I've tried several times but after a few minutes of working it's always turning itself off. I've checked the temperatures on Power Saver mode because I was trying to minimize the loading but they all seem to be fine:
- 52-55 degrees by Celsius for the 4 cores
- 49-51 for the ACPI
- 59-61 for the two 9800 GTs (SLI)
I didn't checked only the temperatures shown by HD Tune for the two hard drivers in RAID but they seemed fine, nothing was burning under my arms.

I'm using it on a notebook cooler I've purchased with the notebook(2 months ago) for good air ventilation. I don't remember if it was working during the first notice of the smell however.

I've tried it only on battery and it seemed to work longer. There was some smell but I'm not sure if it was generated at the moment or it was just sitting there from the time before I unpluged it from the power. At some point I've plugged the AC adapter in because the battery was running over and it turned off again. Currently it has no battery and I think it it's not recharging at all.

The worst news:

I've removed the battery. It can't power on at all. When I returned the battery in it powers on for less than a second and turns off. I think there's no charge at the battery anymore to keep it alive longer.

Do you have any ideas what can cause that strange behaviour?

Cheers

 

well.... sounds like your power adapter is gone. (speculation of course)
sounds like you we're running off the battery for the last 1 hour and the battery went dead..since it was not being charged.

or

charging circuit is fried...but then that wouldn't really keep the notebook from turning on...(in most cases)

 

I'm using it from time to time to fully discharge it and after that recharge it again. I think it's not recharging anymore but due to power circuit because even when I remove the battery the notebook can't power on. When I press the power button without the battery it blinks orange. When it's not pressed its constantly orange. With the battery inside its led its always orange which is supposed to meanthat its recharging. But now when I try to power it on with the battery inside and on power it almost immedieately turns off.

 

sounds like repair work...unless you can some how charge up your batter somewhere...just enough for the batter to stay on per say for a minute or two...then you would have a better idea which way to go....did you smell the adapter to make sure it doesn't smell burned?

 

Yes, the smell was deffinetely coming from inside the notebook. If I can recharge it a little bit I can boot it for a while to see some info like BIOS version the guys from Clevo requested but now I can't see it(I'm not sure why they need it). If I use the adapter directly with the battery removed then it can't boot at all so I think it's a cicruit problem too.

I'm thinking wether the original AC adapter delivered some damage to the notebook when it fried out on the first week after the purchase. And it was just a bomb with a time mechanism. I've purchased brand new adapter to replace the first one because I was leaving the USA and there was no time to wait for the replacement.

 

then that may very well be what happen...looks like RMA material to me....

 

Clevo would probably like to see BIOS version information to determine what motherboard you have I bet.

 

Hi,

I'm back again with the same new old problem. I've got my laptop repaired about a month ago and they told my my motherboard was replaced. I even paid for a 3rd HDD while they were repairing it. But about a hour ago I smelled that something is melting down. The notebook shut itself off while I was trying to turn it off.

It was used with power surge protector from Belkin on a Zalman NC2000 notebook cooler with the cooler fans on max and all notebook fans on max too via Fn-1. It was not feeling hot at all during the work process. I turned it on to check the temperatures and they were all under 60C degrees. The difference from the last time was that it was not shutting itself off when plugging the AC adapter. It says that the battery is recharging but it actually goes down. I have 2 AC adapters and the results are the same with both of them.

Even I have it repaired again I think I'll be afraid using it while having a though that a new malfunction will appear again

Any hints what to do/check?

Thank you

 

strange, i have my 9262 plugged in and on 24/7 and its been like 3 months already and its perfect. your temperatures should be safe but i like to keep my temperatures in the 40-50C area, 60C only when gaming. Though I doubt thats why its burning up. I'd ask to have the whole thing replaced, having it coming back and forth is like a witch hunt, they keep replacing until it stops erroring, who knows where the actual problem is. Hope you get your problem fixed

 

yes, sometimes mine is on 24/ too. Sometimes I'm leaving it all day working with 4 CPU cores on max during video encoding and it does not reached 60C. I'm around these only during gaming too. I guess I just have bad luck but I'm not sure if I want the whole thing replaced or my money back. I'm in Europe and sending it each time to the USA is a pain in the ***. And this is my 3rd RMA with this one. I have another one from Sager NP2096 which is working just fine however under the same conditions where the Clevo is used.

 

in your case... image the drives to an external hard drive. then see if you can get a refund to get another one or straight exchange. it would be different if the place was like right there, but in your case...it probably isn't. and it takes a few weeks to send back and forth.

if you get another one, then your back in business inside of 20 to 50 minutes.

just a suggestion and not a what you should do....

 

Yes, I was thinking about the exchange scenario too. But I think they will want me to pay both ways and for 12lbs it will cost me like buying a normal notebook. And I will live in fear wondering if there will be a new strike and when The other option is to send it only one way and get the refund if available.

Also I do not need image of the drives because I have all I need in backup. I can also take them out in a case of straight exchange so this is not an issue for me at all.

My main dilema is I know what the problem is because it's exactly the same as the last time. The internal PSU is fried and maybe some integral scheme connected to it. Maybe there's no other damage because it works just fine on battery. So I think there's a chance to be fixed here but then I will definetly loose my warranty.

That's why I'm waiting customer support to tell me what my options are ...

 

how old is it and what are the specs?

 

I've purchased it in the beginning of Sep 2008:

17" 1920x1200
Core 2 Quad @ 2.83Ghz
2x9800GT @ 512MB in SLI
4GB RAM
2x200GB in RAID 0 + 250GB, all @ 7200(I didn't have time to put the 3rd one in the raid array)
DVD burner, tv tuner and the other usual stuff

1 fried AC Adapter during the first week
1 fried internal PSU after 1.5 month(they told me the motherboard was replaced)
1 fried internal PSU again(I think) after another 1.5 month

bad experience, huh?

 

that was the exact same setup i started out with, then upgraded to what i have now.

you sure your not having power surges in your home?

 

deffinetely not, I buyed surge protector from Belkin to use it with the Clevo just in case. And if there are some power surges aren't they supposed to strike the AC adapter first?

I also have another NP2096 from Sager (purchased together) which works under same conditions in the house without any problems at all.

You have quite impressive 3d marks score Are they using the NP9262+9800GTX SLI?

 

gotta ask these things because one never knows.
and the other computer works fine under same conditions....hummm, wonder if the motherboard was really replaced the first time....

yes to the last question.

 

I was wondering if it was replaced at all the first time too. But I thought that they do not solder in the USA and just replace. However this is something I will never know I think ...

 

I have some news from the reseller. They want to replace the motherboard again with a new revision(which Clevo is going to send them) that will prevent it from burning in Europe's 220 volts. I asked them if Clevo can send the motherboard to me so I can replace it by myself without dealing with shipping to the states

 

it never hurts to ask. send them an email or give one of their repair centers a call

 

That's odd. Does this mean that all people who are using it in Europe and bought it from US are going to have problems?

PL

 

I don't know what's the big deal. On the recharger is mentioned that it works with 100-240 volts. However they told me that if during one month after the replacement the motherboard burns again not due to voltage power input they will refund me.

And no luck with sending the motherboard directly to me Not surprised, it was more than a joke actually. Everyone knows Clevo does not deal with end users and the reseller will want to made the replace

 

Not necessarily, but it does suggest that you might want to be more than a little extra careful with the system if you purchased it from a U.S. reseller - investing in a little travel transformer to step the voltage down to U.S. voltage probably wouldn't be a bad idea.

 

Well, there are such power convertors here:

http://k99bg.com/Default.asp?Operation=2&Art_ID=KONVERTOR 220V/110V

I'm not sure if it will help. Also Sager changed my motherboard with a new revision which they told me will work fine in Europe. So there's a risk of the opposite effect of using this revision with lower voltage

I'm expecting the notebook tomorrow to test the new revision. It took me 5 weeks sending it back and forth for repair and a bunch of money ...

 

In what region do you use it? I have mine purchased in the states but I'm using it in Europe. So my motherboard was fried 2 times. I just took it half an hour ago from RMA with new revision of the motherboard which Sager told me should be ok in Europe. And I'm going to try this out

 

Hmm, so finally I'm not the only one with that problem. After my first RMA my also worked brilliantly for a few weeks and then ... it happened again. Now I have just get it after the new RMA and see how long it will work brilliantly. I'm not willing to send it for another RMA especially that it costs me too much money, time and efforts because I'm in Europe. Maybe we should stay in touch

How long since you've got it after your RMA?

 

My M570RU is a US build, and works fine in the UK. If there is a problem running off 220/230V then it's the power supplys fault, not the mobo, as it means that the power supply isn't outputting the same voltage/current if its on 110/220V. Which it should, as it is autoswitching and made to do this.

I think that this is your reseller not wanting to admit that something else is actually causing the problem.

 

There was someone posting here and they've deleted his account so it seems as I'm talking with myself

They are deffinetely trying not to admit it. I was emaling with some guy from Sager and he told me they will make sure it will not happen again with a new motherboard revision for Europe. He also told me that if it happens again I'll get all my money back which I wanted to be expressed in a written acknowledgment. I also wanted my warranty to be extended because half of it is already gone and he told me that I have to wait for his boss to return to take care of these 2 issues.

And guess what: for about a month he was telling me my boss is now in Europe, he's now in Taiwan or he's not currently here. And finally when he is back he refused both which means they are expecting this to happen again and they are not willing to give my money back expressing it with this:

"That is Sager warranty policy, Sager can't give you extended warranty so there is no written statement."

So I gave them a "bag full of money" for a notebook which I was able to use about 2 out of 6 months due to travelling back and forth 3 times for repair. And they are trying to tell me that it's normal or I am getting something wrong? What's left is another 6 months of *warranty* with the bad feeling that this will happen again and I can't do nothing about it.

What do you think, what options do I have?

 

I've been in Iraq for quite a while now, and run on 220v with mine, no problem. I did learn something when I bought a PS3 though.... I used a surge protector that I bought in the USA, with a step down transformer, and completely nuked 2 PS3's, and finally the surge protector itself, before I figure out the problem. Luckily, I was able to exchange the PS3. Now it's plugged into a stepdown transformer. For some reason, surge protectors sold in the USA are different internally than overseas models. My Sager has been running great plugged right into the wall.

 

If you are in Europe, why don't you try to contact some Clevo resellers and buy a AC adapter from them?

 

uuh, the AC adapter was the first RMA and I already buyed another one so I have 2 now. If you read my later post you'll see that after that my motherboard died 2 times ...

 

xenomeno, Clevo has a branch in Germany and the UK that could have helped you. See this link:

http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/about/worlds_s.asp

If it's a problem of "American to USA" i'm sure they'll know something about it. Try asking them!

 

Yes, I know. I actually contacted Clevo(Taiwan) and they told me I should deal only with my reseller Sager while in the warranty period. The problem is it's keeping having RMAs and I'm keeping shipping for repair back and forth. I requested from them to extend my warranty but they have refused and they even stopped responding to my emails. So I'm thinking of contacting some institutions to deal with them.