Sager NP9377-S Display Problem

I bought a Sager NP9377-S (with a lot of extra options) from XoticPC during their Cyber December sale, and it seems to have recently (last 2 months) developed a problem with the display (the display was one of the things that was stock, though I did get the 980Ms in SLI).

Essentially, sometimes when I turn on the computer the screen is completely white (on but displaying nothing but white at maximum brightness). Changing brightness can dim it, but it is still blank even at minimum brightness. Eventually I hear the Windows welcome noise (running Win7 64bit), so it seems everything is still working, just nothing is getting through to the display itself. After a while though (a few minutes usually, if not then I restart and wait again), the normal display suddenly comes back and shows me my login screen and then everything is fine. Recently (today) I've noticed a new problem - when I first turned on the computer the display was fine, but after a few hours it began to flicker to higher than normal brightness - everything was still visible, but a little washed out when it did that - this actually happened a few minutes before this post, but it seems to have stabilized now that I'm writing it.

I read a little bit about this and it seems the most likely cause would be a loose cable between the screen and motherboard. The only thing I can think of that could happen is that something might come loose while I am carrying it, but then settles once I put the laptop down - though it working after a while still seems odd in that case. However, it only gets carried twice a week, and even then it is in a laptop backpack specifically designed for large laptops like this one - and I am careful while carrying it, so it really shouldn't cause this sort of issue so soon after buying it.

Anyway, could someone please help me accurately diagnose this and fix it if possible? I did get the extended 3-year warranty, so if absolutely necessary I will contact them and get it fixed, but I need this computer every day for University and work and having to send it off for who knows how long would be really inconvenient, so I'd rather try to fix this myself, especially if I just need to find and adjust a cable.

Right now I'm trying to figure out where exactly the display cable connects to the motherboard so I can see if that is the problem, though I haven't been able to find out where it is (and I don't want to just take everything apart to go looking for it before I know where it is - I've only taken off the main bottom panel and couldn't see it from there).

 

Hi Atomizer4

From my experience I can tell you that your problem could be one of these:
1. Defective LCD Screen.
2. Loose connection (Unseated ribbon cable) (between the video cable and the graphics card OR the video cable and the LCD screen) (99% the right possibility for your problem)
3. Graphics Card.

First; try to connect an external monitor to your laptop via the HDMI port on the backside (since you don't have a VGA Port).
Remove the battery and press the power button for 30 seconds then put it back.
Remove the battery and press the power button for 30 seconds then connect your AC Adapter without putting back your battery and power on your laptop and see if the problem persists.

Reseat the memory (RAM) modules (Check page 35 to 39), and since your laptop has an external graphics card, it could be (99% sure) a loose connection between the video cable and the graphics card OR the video cable and the LCD screen) download this ( http://repo.palkeo.com/clevo-mirror/P37xSM-A/P377SM-A_ESM.zip) which is a complete disassembly guide (Service manual to be precise) for your laptop model (Check Page 46_VGA cable).
If you're not familiar with notebook disassembly (obviously you're not), I highly advice you to RMA it since your laptop is under warranty.

It could be a virus or trojan (sounds weird) but it's true or a graphics card driver problem, and since you said that "sometimes when I turn on the computer the screen is completely white" these possibilities are out.

Good Luck

 

It could be only just loose so that as it warms up thermal expansion helps it connect.

 

Thanks a lot for linking that manual - and I do have some experience disassembling laptops, just not this one in particular (I had to re-oil the fans on my old one as they got completely clogged and stopped).

But anyway, it looks like I am going to have to RMA the laptop after all...

I had to move it again, only this time the screen would not eventually fix itself, and it stayed white for hours. And I found where the display connector to the motherboard should be in the manual, but it seems like I would need to take nearly everything apart to even look at it, which I really don't want to do - plus there is now a possibly more serious problem...

I found that plugging in an external monitor via HDMI works, though this led me to the new problem - many of my keystrokes were not going through while entering the password! I then shut it down and removed the keyboard (as shown in the manual - also my first time doing this on this particular computer) to see if maybe the keyboard cable was loose - turns out it was, but instead of the cable coming out of its connector, the whole connector was coming off the motherboard... so I'm guessing the monitor connector might have the same problem, and thermal expansion was fixing it before as Meaker suggested... so now I'm using the computer with both an external monitor and keyboard, essentially turning it into a desktop...

Is this kind of issue common? I keep hearing about Sagers being well built, but that doesn't seem to be the case here - or maybe I just got a bad motherboard, or some damage happened during assembly which got exacerbated by carrying it around?

Anyway, any tips for how to handle the RMA process (how long it might take, how to package it for sending, what to send with it)? I've never had to do that with a computer before, and I assume this will require a motherboard replacement...

 

Sorry to hear about the connection issues for the screen. To get the RMA going you'll want to use the "Contact" link on our site then "Request RMA" Fill out the form and submit it and we'll then get that set up with Sager. They typically reply within 24-48hrs and we'll then pass along the RMA instructions to you. It will include everything you need to send it back including estimated repair time and packing instructions.

 

I have finally gotten the issue resolved, and just thought I would post the results here:

Despite some small issues, I feel like XoticPC handled the RMA pretty well - the same does not go for Sager however. I filed the RMA and sent the system off at the very end of April, and got a quote from Sager on May 1st. It turns out that they wanted to replace the whole screen, the motherboard, and the cable between the two, plus the screen casing, which it turns out had some of the plastic cracked and falling off that I didn't even see. They also classified it all as "physical damage", and wanted me to pay for everything, despite the strong possibility that something may have been wrong already if the damage happened that easily. I tried explaining this and asking for at least some part of the cost being reduced, but I was told that Sager would not budge on that - so much for Sager laptops having good build quality I guess. They were also very vague with answering questions - I tried to determine if it was the display or cable that was the problem, and I never got a concrete answer - they just wanted to replace anything that looked damaged, and apparently the LCD had a scratch somewhere I didn't even notice. It seemed like they didn't even check to see what was actually causing the serious problems - I would probably not have minded a tiny scratch on the display if it meant not paying nearly $400 to get it replaced if it didn't need to be.

In the end I ended up just replacing everything and having to pay $1116 in total for the repairs and shipping, despite having gotten an extended warranty specifically to avoid this sort of problem. XoticPC was nice enough to offer free reskinning (since the back of the display case had to be replaced), as well as free shipping to their facility from Sager, so that was about $100 saved - but this is still ridiculous. There is no way that that amount of damage should happen from routine transportation of a laptop in a case specifically designed for it. Also, once I authorized that payment on May 26, I expected things to start moving and that I would receive my laptop within a few weeks - this was not the case. I checked back 2 weeks later after hearing nothing and not seeing the a charge, and it turned out that somehow they were not aware that I had authorized the payment and were still waiting on me, while I thought that it had already been taken care of, considering I did tell them to go ahead and charge me. I'm still not sure whose fault that delay was.

Then later, after being charged but still not hearing anything for another two weeks, I asked again what was going on, to be told that Sager still had it and was working on it - it hadn't even started skinning yet. I was finally told on June 30 that it hadn't come in to XoticPC yet, but as soon as anything happened, I would "be the first to know". So then another 2 weeks passed, and it seems that this is where XoticPC dropped the ball. I called XoticPC in the middle of July to see if there had been any news - only to be told by a person I had not spoken to before that the system had actually already been delivered to my house almost a week ago! Now, the address I had the package getting shipped to was actually not the address that I was staying at, it was my parent's address which was more likely to have someone there to sign for the package when it arrived (and they assumed I knew about it, so they didn't tell me when it arrived). So I had been waiting for news about my computer for almost a week after it had already arrived because XoticPC forgot to tell me that it had already been shipped or to provide a tracking number, even though I was promised that numerous times.

Overall, it took more than 2 and a half months to get repairs done on this computer, which seems like way too long for this sort of thing - and almost all of that time the computer spent at Sager. They took a very long time to actually repair the system, and were very slow with responding to questions - often inadequately. And then of course they made me pay for repairs that were most likely their own fault. Also, I got several other laptops from Sager as gifts for family members, and some of those have apparently had issues with the keyboard coming up recently - so I'm fairly certain that I won't be buying a Sager laptop again, the build quality seems to be a complete myth. I will however continue to use XoticPC most likely, as their service has been pretty good, aside from forgetting to inform me of the delivery. They did do the free reskinning, and they got that done fast as well compared to the time Sager took. So I think next time I will probably buy an MSI - the accidental damage warranty they have should cover any unusual damage like the kind my laptop got, though hopefully that will still be a long time from now.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post what the end result was, especially given that it's disappointing. How the various vendors deal with situations like these is so important with laptops, so I find it very helpful to know. I posted because I wanted to also encourage you to post in the reseller feedback forum (looking at the rules it appears fine - but a moderator please correct me if wrong). When I purchased my laptop, I mostly looked in the reseller feedback forum, so I'd hate for someone to miss your post, especially since there's some really valuable information in there.

 

Thanks for the feedback on your RMA. I apologize that there wasn't a notification of that when it shipped out, that is normally something that should be done every time. We do appreciate input like this. I will bring this up with our service team and make sure we are communicating everything properly, and try to make the process better where we can.

 

Some of these vendors are going to start losing sales and customers if Sager keeps this up, I have read various stories about laptops being shipped out broken though the Q&A should have if was done correctly spot the problem, I have also read various problems with people having problems with RMA's. I really hope that the vendors will have a serious talk to Sager about some of these problems sounds like you spent a TON of money when buying your laptop originally so getting the 3 year extended warranty is very smart but if paying all this money for a laptop and paying extra for a longer warranty for the end result being that you are going to have to spend AGAIN a ton of money to have something repaired that should have never been broken in the first place.........I pray I never have a problem with my np9377sm-a like you did with yours, I know if they told me during an RMA that I had physically damaged my laptop and I know for a fact I never did and they ask me to pay $1000+ I would just take that money and get a lawyer for sure, then spend time on social media forums facebook twitter etc telling everyone in the world what they did to me lol........and then for it to take close to 3 months that's almost 1/4th of a YEAR!!! Vendors you guys need to talk to Sager about the problems customers are having otherwise eventually it will end up hurting your bottomline/pocket...thanks for sharing you story!

 

Yeah, and if anybody is having issues with an order or RMA, feel free to reach out to me. Even if it is to get a status update, I will be glad to help out.