Sager video problems

In January 2012 I bought a Sager NP8170/Clevo P170HM with a 6990m and have been very happy with it. However, once in the last few weeks I got some weird tiling on the screen. A restart later and everything was fine. Today when I came home though, the machine wouldn't boot up. When I restarted it, the Sager logo on power on was covered in green horizontal lines and it wouldn't let me into Windows. A few system restore points later in Safe Mode and I am able to boot into Windows - but only once I went into device manager and deleted by Catalyst drivers. Assuming that this was connected to the problem, I downloaded the latest version and installed it. Upon a restart, I once again couldn't get into Windows. I then headed back to safe mode and deleted the drivers again, and lo! it booted into Windows just fine although the green lines are now vertical bands and I'm using whatever generic video drivers Windows installed. Now, I understand that the 6990m is notorious for burning out. However, the software-side issues coupled with the fact that my screen captures do not show any unusual lines or artifacts am making me start to wonder about this conclusion. Any ideas on what might be happening, and why, if the GPU is dying, Windows is having a hard time booting up with the official drivers?

Thanks.

Code:

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System Information
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Time of this report: 10/11/2013, 23:31:10
       Machine name: LUCAS-PC
   Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.130318-1533)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: CLEVO                           
       System Model: P170HMx
               BIOS: BIOS Date: 08/09/11 15:50:13 Ver: 04.06.04
          Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2670QM CPU @ 2.20GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.2GHz
             Memory: 12288MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 12266MB RAM
          Page File: 3161MB used, 21367MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\Windows
    DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
   User DPI Setting: 120 DPI (125 percent)
 System DPI Setting: 120 DPI (125 percent)
    DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
     DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
      Display Tab 1: No problems found.
        Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
        Sound Tab 2: No problems found.
          Input Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D:    0/4 (retail)
DirectDraw:  0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (retail)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (retail)
DirectPlay:  0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow:  0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
          Card name:
       Manufacturer:
          Chip type:
           DAC type:
         Device Key: Enum\
     Display Memory: n/a
   Dedicated Memory: n/a
      Shared Memory: n/a
       Current Mode: 1400 x 1050 (32 bit) (1Hz)
        Driver Name:
Driver File Version:  ()
     Driver Version:
        DDI Version: unknown
       Driver Model: unknown
  Driver Attributes: Final Retail
   Driver Date/Size: , 0 bytes
        WHQL Logo'd: n/a
    WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
  Device Identifier: {D7B70EE0-4340-11CF-B123-B03DAEC2CB35}
          Vendor ID: 0x0000
          Device ID: 0x0000
          SubSys ID: 0x00000000
        Revision ID: 0x0000
 Driver Strong Name: Unknown
     Rank Of Driver: Unknown
        Video Accel:
      Deinterlace Caps: n/a
       D3D9 Overlay: n/a
            DXVA-HD: n/a
       DDraw Status: Not Available
         D3D Status: Not Available
         AGP Status: Not Available

 

It depends. Get and external monitor and hook it up to your laptop. If you experience the same issues, it's most likely the video card.
If not, it's something else.

Best think is to contact your reseller and tell them about the issue.

 

I sent a message to the reseller last night although since it's a long weekend here in Canada I don't expect anything until Tuesday at the earliest. I've thought about connecting it to another monitor but I'm still a little baffled as to how I will go about doing this - I live across the country (from where I have all my computer stuff) in a city where I have no friends or contacts and all I literally have is my computer, a week's worth of clothing, and a large pile of books. I'll have to see what I can find.

In the event that the GPU is indeed dead, what do you think I could replace it with? I bought this one to play games on, but the games I have played over the last year have mostly been Morrowind, Skyrim, Dishonoured, and Crusader Kings II, and mostly Crusader Kings II. It seems to me that the 6990 might have been a bit excessive for that game line up. What's out there that might work in a Clevo, not cost too much, and offer comparable power?

 

Something like a 570M maybe, a little slower at stock but should be cheap.

 

Having now tested it on another monitor, I can say that the lines show up there too, so the GPU is almost certainly the culprit. If I can get some paste it might be worth trying to bake the card.

 

Worth a shot, paste is usually not too hard to find.

 

Try to bake it. I've baked mine twice already, lasted 2 month. Gives me enough time to find a replacement for it. I wonder though, nvidia had this problem with 7xxxM and 8xxxM and xbox360 same thing, can we get AMD to do something about the 6990M?

 

I was hoping to do it tonight but the store that I was thinking would have it is under renovation. I'll get some tomorrow. Regarding the baking and assuming that it starts to function properly again (here's hoping!) afterwards, how should I treat the card after I put it back in? Should I go easy on it for a while, or be burning it back in with some more intensive use?

My main hope is that it'll live for a couple of months, which will give me time to get back home and get a replacement card. Since this notebook needs to last until I'm done with my Ph.D. I'm thinking a 7970m might not be a bad investment since I'm afraid another 6990m will just burn out.

 

The card should run cooler than before with the same performance, assuming the solder is the problem. Can't say for sure how long it will last, but mine did 2 months before I baked it again. I was using it just like before. Since the stress comes from temperature change, probably last longer if you don't game on it.

 

Repasting really won't make much of a difference in his case. What he can do, is to resit the card, it could be a problem from there, I had it once with my card, but it's very rare.
Resitting, doesn't mean just taking the card out of the MXM slot and putting it back. You have to take the card out, clean it's connectors with iso-propyl alcohol and also vacuum/clean the MXM slot.

 

If you have a fairly steady hand, own a level, and have a decent "eye" for level - I'ev had a much better rate of success using a heat gun to reflow cards. I'm pretty sure I could reflow a PS3 in my sleep - or at least blindfolded!! lol

Do some research - if its dead anyway - there is no harm in trying! Remember - your removing the GPU from the laptop before putting it in the oven or taking the heat gun to it.

Research! Temperature, especially for the heat gun method is very important. Having a handheld IR temp gun is really nice - but not 100% necessary.

 

Thanks for all the comments. I bought the paste intending to repaste when I put it back in after baking - I've never removed the GPU and I've just assumed it needs to be repasted to the heatsink. I wanted to resit the card the other day, but not knowing whether I needed more paste or not I decided against it until I could buy some.

@MKEGuy: I wish I had that sort of technology. I'm away at school and all I have is a screwdriver on a pocket knife. Since the card seems to be toast anyway I guess it's worth the risk. As it is, all it's good for is word processing at the moment and even that isn't much fun given the low resolution and green bars through the screen.

@godlyatheist: What temperature and for how long did you bake yours? I'm seeing variations on the internet, although nothing too radically different.

 

I used my baking oven, 385F for 4 min(put it in when the oven reaches that temp). You want to clean off the residual paste first so they don't cake. There will be a little burning smell since the double sided tape that holds the xbracket in place will will burn a little bit. Good luck.

 

Lol my second reflow lasted less than 2 weeks. Gonna leave it be and wait for my 7970 to arrive. 2 weeks without a computer is gonna suck.

 

That's why I haven't done this yet. I'm afraid it's just going to croak completely on me, and then I'll be really screwed. My computer is my only link to the outside world as I don't have a phone, and if it were to die on me doing my work at the university library would be very problematic as the computers are five floors away from where all the books I need are. I'm contemplating just living with the green lines and general useless of anything other than internet/word processing for a few months.

Any thoughts on what might just be the cheapest, piece of junk card I could put in this thing just so it stays alive?

 

Your card is gonna die whether you bake it or not. It's usually a sudden death. I think the cheapest card is the nvidia 560M, which is around $100-150 on ebay. I dono if the amd heatsink will work with it though.

 

If you can put up with it how it is now then I would wait for the card to arrive rather than risking a second baking too.

 

Just as a quick note about the 6990- personally, I would say that if that particular GPU fails then look into options to replace it with either an upgrade from AMD or an NVIDIA if your unit will take it. That card had a rather dubious production run for a long time and, for whatever reason, I have seen a lot (compared to normal GPU failure rates) of those go down. Supposedly, AMD tried to make them more reliable later on in their production but personally, unless the replacement was free from AMD, I'd opt out of buying another one of those real quick. Some are okay, some are just risky business. Hope that helps you in your decision making!

 

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.Those cards seem to have had a lot of problems. I'd rather not buy another lemon and have it croak on me in a year even it it's under warranty. Since I spent nearly $2000CDN on this machine not quite two years ago, it seems like a shame to hamper its power with something less than a 79xx card that is at least better than my dying 6990m.

 

I think you will be surprised just how much faster the 7970M is.

 

From the benchmarks the 7970m should double the 6990m's performance. I really don't need the performance anymore since I don't play demanding games. I was able to run Crysis 3 at "high" with the 6990m so I just hope the 7970m last longer and all will be good.

 

Well it runs cooler and will mean you can grab any title coming up and know you wont struggle.

 

It lives (for the moment)! I followed godlyatheist's instructions (4 min. at 385) and it started right up just fine. Thanks for all the help. Once my reseller gets back to me, I'll tell them I want a 7970. I figure it'll be the best investment, since I'd like this computer to run for at least the next four years. It doesn't need to run new games at top specs, but I would like it to at least run them decently three or four years down the road.

 

I'm glad it worked. Just don't run any demanding load on it if you wanna prolong the life. The card is even more sensitive to heat cycling now. Btw, I haven't had luck buying 7970m from any reseller, they are all saying out of stock since august.

 

Due to the power of the chip compared to the consoles I think it should remain relevant for a while.

 

My 7970m upgrade didn't work so well. It's a first batch clevo card but it will not post when I installed it in my machine. Can't flash anything cuz it doesn't post.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk 4

 

My reseller said they'd contact Sager to get some prices, but they haven't gotten back to me and it's been nearly 10 days. Is Sager just slow with these things, or do you think I should pester them some more? Are you able to order these cards, Meaker?

 

Not myself, you can either check ebay or your own reseller. Sager themselves are not known to be quick about such things, after 10 days though it's reasonable to try again maybe?

Godlyatheist you need to make sure the card has the HM vbios on it, are you sure it's not just booting up without display?

 

I thought my trouble was over when I got a Clevo card, it's not. It's a Clevo card with stock Dell vbios that was pulled from a M17x R3. It's not the vbios because my CPU fan will not turn on when the card is inserted, something is making the machine behaving that way. The previous Dell card made both the GPU and CPU fan not turn on and triggered a thermal shutdown. Even though it's a Clevo card it's not compatible. I don even think swapping the vbios chip will help but we'll see (i've pmed svl7 to see if he has any idea). With the Dell card, I get video and can boot into windows before the shutdown occurs, using either the stock Dell vbios or the modded HM bios. Basically if the machine doesn't boot I'm pretty sure vbios is not gonna solve the problem.

I guess be wary Xui, when you upgrade your card. I'm tempted to just pay the full price and buy a pre-configured one from Eurocom on ebay (do they even guarantee the cards to work?).

 

If it's a clevo card putting a ROM chip on the card with a clevo HM vbios would sort your issues. Certain emergency bios recovery services can also de-solder the chip, program it and then put it back on for you.

 

Do you have experience with this? The card is one of the initial batch where Clevo hand soldered on some capacitors. I'm kinda in a hurry to make my pc work so if this fix works I have the tools at work to solder bios chip and flash them. I just need to be sure. Else I'd just get one from Eurocom and cross Clevo off my shopping list for the next time.

 

It's currently beyond my soldering experience though I have been reading up on it I doubt you want me to practise on your card ^-^

I did use an emergency recovery service here in the UK a couple of times and it was done very quickly, I think with the right equipment you can use the JTAG pins to program it without even removing it.

 

If you have a buddy with an SLI system then she/he could also just flash the card with Clevo vBIOS for you.

 

So once the vbios is flashed my notebook will actually boot? I thought this was an easy deal to plug and flash but my luck has been bad so far (2 strikes).

The most important question is, can you be my buddy with an SLI system?

Edit: got a 680M coming, let's hope green is better than red...I'm keeping a hammer ready just in case. Also, could still use a friend with SLI

 

Unfortunately, the card is back to acting up. It's still functioning once I remove the drivers, but barely. I'm afraid another bake might be the end of it. My reseller offered me another 6990m for $550, which I thought was far too much for an unreliable card, and far too much considering that the 7970m sells for that on eBay.

I have seen some cards on eBay that say they work on the Clevo 150PM. Does anyone know if that also applies to the 170?

 

For $475 you can buy a completely new 7970m kit that's plug and play from eurocom, and sell the extra heatsink. If you wanna take a little risk, you can buy a 7970 from the forum for $300-350. I dono of a 150PM model, but the 150HM and 170HM are the same.

First though, bake it for a bit longer like 6 min @ 385F and see how it goes.

 

From my understanding, the 170 has a problematic BIOS for upgrades and thus requires the flashing, whereas the 150 is more flexible. Or so what I am understanding from the emails of the people at Eurocom. Something in the $300-400 range is much more reasonable, at least.

I have an ca. late 2007 Eurocom notebook at home. Unfortunately, I do not have any model numbers, but it has a 7950 GTX in it. I recall thinking that this card was one of the earlier MXM models. Is MXM backwards-compatible? Obviously, installing such a thing (assuming it's even possible) would temporary end this computer's use as a gaming machine, but it would keep it alive until I have some idea in which direction my life is headed once all the PhD stuff is sorted out in spring 2014.

 

The eurocom cards are preflashed. The 7950m gtx is a different format and won't fit in your machine. Just bake it again for now. Not gaming won't save the card, I don't even know if it will prolong its life. It's been a week after my 3rd reflow and I'm already seeing occasional distortion even for youtube (I've not stressed the card).

IMO, the best way to spend your money right now is to buy a cheap Dell/Lenovo refurb for like $200-250. You will be guaranteed a working computer instead of worrying if the new video card will be compatible (my 680M is still not installed cuz I'm missing the x bracket). Plus you will be spending less money right now. When you are done with your academic career you can then decide if you want to 1) fix the p170hm 2) get a new beast 3) sell/keep the cheapo with minimal loss. The only reason I upgraded is because I like the screen on my P150HM and I have no immediate need for another computer, else i'd have bought a new one.

 

I've been in touch with the Eurocom people. They're hesitant about flashing it for a p170hm, but they're looking into it.

I had a thought: I have an i7-2670QM CPU. That should have an Intel Integrated Graphics 3000 in it, right? I assume, based on the way ICQ used to work, that it's switched off so long as there is a dedicated graphics card installed. Can I just remove my 6990m for the moment and at least do my word processing and related non-gaming tasks without these green bars down my screen?

 

There are no circuit on the motherboard to make the integrated graphics work, else I'd be rocking it already instead of buying the 680M

 

The folks over at Eurocom are not very enthusiastic about getting the 7970m to work on the 170, although plenty of success has been reported for the 150. Way to go, Clevo. No BIOS update to allow upgrades and no connectivity for the GPU in the CPU.

Basically, does anyone have any idea as to what the cheapest, junkiest card would be that I could put in here (without having to worry about any flashing, ideally) just to keep the machine alive until a solution is forthcoming?

 

The P150hm was released with the 5870 as the base card, you can try finding a clevo one. The dell version is red so look for green. Nvidia side was the 460m?