So what's the deal on the second mSata? Sager vs. Clevo listing?

So I know was some said issues with the 2nd mSata and something to do with it being controlled via another chip but do we have any update?

Most Clevo builders list it but Sager still does not. This makes one suspect it's only an issue on the Sager modified bios?

Is it just specific devices not compatible or indeed it could drop anything used randomly as is reported the bug with it? How are the Clevo builders not showing issues but Sager not, unless the above is true?

Just wondering as expecting to get one of the newer models soon.

 

It's the Sagers built on P1xxSM Clevos. The W230ST and P37xSM builds are offered with two mSATA slots as useable. They are physically there in the other models.

One change from a Clevo builder, OriginPC now only lists one mSATA slot for their Eon 17-S while having two mSATA slots on the Eon 15-S. It was available when I first checked about a month ago.

 

You just have to be nice to the 2nd mSATA, there are certain brands that work in there and some that don't Also RAID has to be done carefully.. We still use it and allow you to use it

 

So, VisionTek and Samsung mSATA are a go. Any others you tried?

EDIT: I see the Crucial M4 in the configurator too .

 

Sager does not use the second mSATA drive now per Clevo's suggestion. The (P4) mSATA port is showing instability issues, where the connected drive has a chance of randomly dropping data connection. This was confirmed by Clevo so its not a Sager only issue. Sager has chosen not to make that second mSATA slot until the stability can be resolved.

 

Sager Resellers list two mSATA slots for the NP7330 and NP93x0 models, What is different about the NP82x0 models? Physical differences, BIOS, driver?

 

Isn't this a similar reason why the original Sandy Bridge chips were recalled?

 

That was intel who recalled them though. I heard, could be wrong, that the second msata is on another controller? I think at one point Xotic mention it would be fixed in the future but I know they just repeat what they are told so I hope this really can be fixed with a FW/Bios upgrade but none can say for sure until it is fixed as who knows, they might find an issue. In which case, say they make a new revision, what happens to the early adopters? we get shafted?

It's one of the selling points of the new machines, extra slot. The CPU speed of this gen vs. last is the same, and in some cases slightly worse, only iGPU got better.. Now they remove the listing of the extra slot which technically covers them if a new revision MB comes out. "Well sorry, we didn't list 2 when you purchased, your not elg., you have to by the P157SMv2 to get it or whatever Sager calls it hah"

Guess time will tell. These new models seem to have some issues. Fan profile problems, some users reporting heat issues. I just placed my order for one last week and now question it. The 780m are underclocked and running no faster vs a 680mx it turns out etc.. ugh.. why can't I have cake and eat it too! lol

 

Since the intel issue involved both SATA 6Gbps ports that were by far the most likely to be the primary drive's connection then no it's not really the same.

 

The second mSATA slots are now fully functional, the models have been slightly renamed to reflect this and they now end with a 5 instead of a 0, i.e NP8250 is now NP8255.

 

Was there merely a firmware update from Sager to enable support for the P4 port or are these revised models? The reason I am asking is mainly for owners of the previously sold NP8250, NP8270 and NP8290 models. Will they be able to enable the second mSATA or will a second mSATA only be available on the newer models?

 

wow, that's not good.

That means it was probably a mobo hardware change.

I must say I am upset at Sager.

I just got my laptop, still have not even taken out of the box all the way and now read this. So this means I would have to eat the shipping costs if I wanted to exchange it...

Always seems if not one thing it's the next :/

 

Extremely disappointing.

 

It was only advertised as having 1 slot and the problems made public to ensure people knew what they were getting.

 

Here is my take though.

End of the day I really blame Clevo as they STILL and ALWAYS have listed both on the models, but because they don't deal directly we have to go through resellers. So I would think resellers would be able to force Clevo to do a recall or eat the cost of any, esp a larger one like Sager but it sounds like just another shaft to us. If you ask me on Clevo's part it's false advertisement. Sager tried to cover themselves by removing the verbiage on the site but where this fails is the manual advertises it still as does the manufacture.

Best part is I emailed Sager and asked if any updates, they had none, today got my laptop from UPS and today find this out... Talk about a middle finger from life..

I understand for some this won't be a big deal, they may not care or have had any plans to use but I was really looking forward to. I hope Clevo does the right thing like Intel did and recalls and pays for this...

 

Well, this has been my first experience with this type of laptop. I liked the reseller I purchased my Sager from and I was quite careful in deciding who I bought from as I read about some very rude and unaccommodating reps from other resellers (I'm sure they know who they are). But there was a question mark around this mSATA issue for some time. We took a gamble and lost. Hopefully, this Sager I purchased will last longer than a few years, but I doubt I'll be buying another and not just because of this particular mSATA issue.

 

I have no issues with my reseller, just hope Sager, which is the largest distributor in the US of Clevo is able to put some pressure on them and take care of those of us that do want this feature.

This is my second laptop from them (if I end up keeping, still sitting in it's box at this point). The first one I liked but could have had a few things improved on but I accepted nothing is perfect. I figured 2 models later things could only get better but seems not. It's kind of like 1 step forward 2 back with them. They found out very early on about this issue though and still list these with both and continued to pump them out. At least Sager tried to handle it better but honestly most people that are familiar that Sager is Clevo may not have caught this unless seeing a post, assuming everyone reads forums. If I look at specs on Clevo site and know that Sager model XX is that model and all manuals and service docs mention it one would think that's what you're getting?

Such is life though it seems. The big big companies are worried about record profits and not quality.
It saddens me but next purchase might not be Clevo based.

FWIW Sager did what they could I guess and they have taken care of me when I had to exchange my other laptop 3 times due to DoA and later replace the MB and GPU so they are a great company but just seems like they either don't give Clevo much input or Clevo doesn't care to listen to them as much, though I am sure they do value them...

Oh well, enough of my rants.
Glad it's sorted out so no one else has to worry about it and I am sure most people don't care, it's just those few of us that did

 

Will anyone say what the actual problem was? What's physically different about the 82x5 vs 82x0? Sager, through Xoticpc said it was a problem on the Clevo end. Mythlogic, said they didn't see any issues. Mythlogic, are you selling this new Clevo?

Sorry for you guys that bought early. Like you Bryan, I saw two mSATA on the Clevo site. It's listed as a Factory Option. At first I thought Sager screwed up and ordered one mSATA slot I asked about the one mSATA slot on June 4 in the 170/177 owner's thread because Mythlogic had two mSATA slots and the 1st post shows one. The Sager resellers didn't even know there was an issue then. Well, the second slot was there all along but you know the rest. I waited, seeing this outcome with no early solution. The silence was deafening.

Hopefully, Clevo/Sager will do right by you guys. They are charging the same price for two useable mSATA slots that they charged you for one. Of course, the first choice, IMO is a recall. The next choice would be some kind of refund.

I may have to re-think a Clevo/Sager purchase. I'm going to wait to buy to see how they handle this. It will be terrible if they just sweep you guys under the rug. They sold a known gimped version for the same price.

 

So... I've just purchased yesterday. Not from Sager. They don't operate in my country. I bought from PWN PCs. Am I safe? I assume it'll start being built today.

It's not a huge deal for me (I'm using the SATA slots for SSDs) but I would never like to know that I have faulty hardware. I want to know I've bought something 100% functional.

 

If its still sealed in the box call ups back up and say you want to refuse the box and it'll be shipped back at no expense. If you crack the seal then you can't do a refusal.

 

Its just a standard motherboard revision, I forget the specific one, but in all honesty we didn't treat this motherboard revision any more seriously than the EM's or HM's. Each of those went through probably 4 different production motherboard revisions in its lifespan that either changed something slightly or changed compatibility (The P180's did that badly between two revisions, whole sets of SODIMMS stopped working). Usually clevo doesn't even tell people when they rev the board, you just look at the revision sticker and go "huh that changed, guess we'll find out whats different" The "new" board has been shipping from Clevo for a few weeks, so if I'm guessing (Again just guessing as don't have definitive timeframes) if you have a laptop with a 8970m in it you probably have a newer revision board, just because those are the newest "made"

But as we've said before, we were really quite careful in the early models to select the most stable mSATA's that we could get (Hi PM841) for these models as we knew mSATA's were potentially going to be an issue and we <knock on wood> haven't seen this issue because of it on ours, so while the new "revision" settles in just allows us to offer more choices in mSATA.

 

Well I just RMAed a Crucial M4 256 mSATA because the computer (P157SM) would not recognize/find it. Is that type of problem one of the results of this "issue"? Is the Crucial going to work when it is returned either as a new or refurbished unit? And if not am I just SOL?

This is a gaming notebook and I had planned on storing games as well as video encoding/editing software on that extra mSATA in order to work and play while away from home. Kinda disappointed right now.

 

Does the new revision include a chipset revision to fix that USB 3 bug? <3

 

I don't think intel released that yet.

 

Intel released C2 stepping on July 15th in limited qty is my understanding and that they should be widespread out in Aug/Sept timeframe.

The USB issues doesn't impact most though.

I am somewhat shocked Clevo didn't just wait to do the new rev with that as now they will have 3 MB rev in the first few months of launch lol. Oh well, I guess this way gets things out the door and money in and for some people the mSATA doesn't matter and others the USB3 sleep bug doesn't.

 

The new revision chipset wont need a PCB revision.

 

No but it normally gets a new revision anyway, and really thats one of those "silent" ones so it could have been fixed already and they just didn't tell anyone

 

Oh, brother. You'd think that a company that builds a communication machine would communicate with it's people. But Clevo is not unique in this regard. It seems, knowing this would be a good selling point for the builders and resellers.

Will the Crucial m500 480GB mSATA and/or Intel 525/530 mSATA going to be among the additional choices?

 

It's a new revision Clevo motherboard. I'd contact your builder and be sure it's the 100% functional you paid for.

 

Try this from Crucial:
Why did my SSD "disappear" from my system? - Crucial Community

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/727014-anyone-p15xsm-np82x0-what-your-mb-rev.html

Just looking for some others who can check as depending on what you have some might have the new rev already and not know it based on what info I have gotten from Sager directly but just trying to see what others are showing before I share too much though I dunno why not that it matters much lol

 

You tease

 

Oh fine... lol V3.5A and above have the mSATA issue resolved. They have been actually shipping for the last few weeks, at least from Sager... So it's possible recent buyers got it... I dunno about other sellers that sell them though, that's for them to say what they are sending/have.

I lucked out and mine that shipped last Monday included the new rev

Odd that it was such a delay in them announcing it though unless Clevo just didn't tell them till late lol

 

I ordered mine in like early June.

 

Wow! Good for you! No "void" stickers :thumbsup:

Thanks for getting the MB info! When/If I order a Clevo/Sager I will look to be sure.

As we have learned in this thread Clevo's communication bites. Can't say that Sager is any better.

 

What did your reseller say? You paid the same price for a gimped unit that they are charging for a fully functional unit. They should make this right for the early buyers. They know who they are. .

 

Well, I got it from GentechPC. And while they seem nice, I doubt they'd take responsibility for it since I see it does say "1 mSATA" on their site. Not sure if it was like that when I bought it, but I assume so. When I was shopping for the laptop, I was under the assumption from people (some of whom actually are representatives) on this message board that all it took was one simple BIOS update or something and it'll get the 2nd mSATA up and running. Seemed like very intentional deception. A lesson learned I guess. Like I said, I took a gamble on a non-mainstream brand and it backfired. Happens I guess.

 

Did the "remove/replace, power down and wait" thing several times. Still no luck. Talked to Tech Support which walked me through some other stuff. No go again. RMAed, per tech support.

 

FWIW this is not ANY of the resellers fault. This is an Clevo issue and that said MOST resellers listed only ONE mSATA to help properly inform the customers and avoid false advertising.

If one purchased it and at the time it said 1 they are not obligated to do anything. Things happen.

Look at Intel, the haswell has a USB flaw. Every single one of us has a flawed chipset. Guess what? Not everyone is going to get a replacement MB when it's fixed.

Time and money went into these products and for the most part the flaws do not impact the majority of the users, thus why they got released.

Not everyone is going to use the 2nd mSATA, so why should they hold off on selling these? That said, even those with older rev board doesn't mean you WILL have issues. You could use 2nd slot and have 0 problems.

End of the day I say it's just another Clevo failure. Now if you have issues, contact your reseller. If it's related to something fixed in a rev they can see if Clevo would be willing to eat the cost of swapping it and possibly offer you something.
If you're not having issues, don't worry I guess. I agree and hated the thought also of getting an older one because my life is full of issues, if something bad can happen it will lol but I lucked out. I took the chance on the purchase just as all you did.

I also asked Sager 3 weeks ago about the mSATA status. They in no way promised me it would be FW/Bios fix. In fact they advised me at the time Clevo isn't sure how it will be fixed meaning it could be HW. In this case it was.

 

Thanks for the update. good luck with the new drive.

 

With the crucial the easiest way to reset them is to run in the bios for 20 mins which powers the drive but does not transmit data to it, this state triggers a reset on the M4.

 

OK, I installed the new (refurbished and probably the one I sent back) drive which came with the latest firmware update. Went into disk management and the new drive was there. Initialized and formatted. The top of my screen indicated the drive was there and formatting. Then an icon flashed at the bottom right of y screen and I'm relatively certain it was the Intel Rapid Start or Rapid Storage indicator. I looked up from it and the drive was gone. It is nowhere to be found on my system at least using my limited knowledge. I did the Crucial "let it run in BIOS mode for 20 minutes, power down, remove the drive for 30 seconds, reinstall the drive, power back up and do the process again". Went through this SIX times. Still no drive once it boots up. Sometimes the drive shows up in the BIOS, other times it does not. Sometimes it shows up on the screen just prior to Windows starting, sometimes it does not. At this time I feel it's the port, not the drive. My desktop does not have an mSATA port so I can't check the drive in another system. I would like to know how many people are actually experiencing a problem with the number 4 port.

 

I guess everyone is honoring the "Warranty Void" sticker on their new Clevos in order to protect their warranties, and rightfully so. Is Mythlogic the only reseller that is shipping these troublesome models without the Void sticker protecting the offending port # four? Are there any other Mythlogic owners who have tried to install a drive in this port and if so did it work? Everyone is talking about the problem but there doesn't appear to be anyone, other than myself, who has actually tried to use the port. And I'm definitely having a problem which I have outlined earlier.

 

Did you try the M4 in the other slot?
I know it will cost you, but there are mSATA to SATA adapters. You can try it on your desktop. Here's a Newegg listing of all mSATA, drives, adapters, MBs etc.

Newegg.com - msata ssd

 

Thanks Bullrun. I'll check out Newegg. But the fact remains, my reseller told me the second mSATA port would work even when I questioned them about the issue while my laptop was still in the build process. I'll probably send it back to them to see if they can get it functioning the way they told me it would. If not, I would consider it a defect and therefore covered under warranty. They were great during the whole build process and in handling some minor issues I had after delivery. They have an excellent reputation and I'm confident they will maintain this level of customer service and do the right thing.

 

If they were saying it would work they should honour it. Good luck.

 

Hello, I was planning on buying a P150SM from hawkforce.de

LUNA2 P150SM - HawkForce - Best Mobile Solution

I see they only offer 1 mSATA slot, just noticed when I rechecked. I would be ordering it with a 8970M. I emailed the reseller, which is very nice and communicative, to ask him if he could tell me the motherboard revision on their laptops. Hope they dont have tha faulty ones :SS. Will keep you updated. What do you guys think?

EDIT 1: Well took a better look, and saw this:

mSATA SSDs
SSD 128GB Crucial M4 mSATA III + 119,00 EUR
SSD 256GB Crucial M4 mSATA III + 199,00 EUR
SSD 128GB + 128GB Crucial M4 mSATA III + 229,00 EUR
SSD 128GB + 256GB Crucial M4 mSATA III + 299,00 EUR
SSD 256GB + 256GB Crucial M4 mSATA III + 379,00 EUR

As you can see, they offer single and DUAL SSDs on mSATA, all Crucial. Hmmm....

 

No, the offer to pair a 2.5" SSD and mSATA by the look.

You can do that since both perform the same.

 

I dont think they refer to a 2,5 SSD since all that is in the mSATA section of the notebook configurator, and not in the harddrive, and this laptop only has 1 2,5" inch bay.

Take a look: LUNA2 P150SM - HawkForce - Best Mobile Solution

 

Santech, italian reseller, offers them with 2x mSATA.

You can check here: SANTECH G37

I ordered mine with 2x Intel 525 in RAID0 and 2x Samsung 840 Pro in RAID0.

At first they offered them only with 1 mSATA disk, but since about 1-2 weeks, they offer them also with the second mSATA. I guess they started to get the new mb revision.