*** OFFICIAL Sager NP8760 / Clevo W870CU Owners Lounge ***

Hey guys! New here! Just got this laptop on ebay pretty much brand new (not even a fingerprint on it) for 375 bucks. Only downside is the battery it came with was bulged (already knew it was a bad battery). He included it so I knew what to look for. I can't put it in obviously because of the bulge but it teeter tottering is super irritating.

SO, question!!

I don't use batteries. I find them to be useless on things like this. Anyone here have an empty shell for sale? OR know where I can get one? Stupid design to place the battery there and have it help hold the laptop level -.- I'm really not keen on the idea of paying 160 bucks for a useless battery.

 

Awesome! I paid more in thousands for mine when they first came out.

About your battery case question... With some patience and a guitar pick (or similar plastic tool), you can separate your existing battery case and remove the obese battery guts. I recommend using a bit of heat when you try to remove the battery as it is glued to the plastic case).

Good luck!

 

ha uh...nvm....looked at it, appeared I only needed the bottom part of the battery, not the rest, just to act as a "cover" to use the extra foot.

Grabbed a knife and just hulk ripped the thing apart, saw a spark from the circuit board, would 100% not recommend doing it this way lmao.

Got what I wanted though! lol! Took me all of uh..10 minutes. Worse that could have happened is punctured the battery and caused a nuclear explosion in my office but I was careful where the knife was pointing.

 

Good day all

I have a 4 years old machine clevo w860cu ( i5-520m, 4GB now changed to 8 GB, dvd, nvidia gtx 285m). No battery now, as last user posted, I make same solution here
Since 1 year, I have random reboots with no reason. Tested memory but with no fails. 2 months ago changed original 4 GB memory (2x2) to 8 GB (2x4), but nothing changed, sometimes is stable as a rock, sometimes reboots 5 times a day.
I have no idea what to do, as windows information from failures is too "generic". Maybe power supply is not good, maybe is motherboard, I have no idea.

Could you pls help me? I have W7 original, no bios updated.
W7 was reinstalled from scratch 3 different times, so it's not windows fault (at least it seems )

Thanks

 

Does the PSU have an LED? Keep it on the desk and with a restart see if it blinks.

 

I'd also install some temp monitor. It's a semi older laptop, could be the thermal paste has dried up and the days it restarts the most are the days you're putting your cpu under more pressure.

 

Since the battery no longer holds a charge it could be a power line issue. Getting a small UPS may help out.

 

It's possible the battery may have been hiding an issue, but either the VRMs are getting on or the brick is struggling most likely.

 

Thanks for replying. no battery, only psu, it has a led but no any blinks I think.
Installed a temp application but no need, restart when no activity, no hot, no hot temps.
Maybe I need to replace thermal paste. But then no understand why sometimes reboots but sometimes no, even when playing.
Thanks

 

Different loads or ambient conditions.

 

Maybe a new PSU will be fine. Ebay, amazon... Where to find? Maybe a generic one

 

You could also try reaching out to the reseller you got it from (if you did), or Sager directly to try to purchase an OEM one. Otherwise, those sites would be worth checking.

 

Not possible, as my reseller closed.
My AC adapter is hipro hp-ow120f13 (18.5V, 6.5A / 120W).
Trying to see voltage but BIOS shows nothing about this.

I located clevo shop in Portugal ( http://www.clevocenter.com/), but AC adapters are different. Also located AC adapter in ebay.

I want to check voltage before buying another AC adapter, any idea how to do it?
BIOS shows no voltage. I have not last BIOS, but I don't think updating bios would help.

 

No need; generic is fine, as long as it's ~19V and minimum 120W. Universal adapter will have all types of plugs. Might also be a poor connection with the DC jack; zero battery = zero tolerance, after all. Try duct tape first.

 

I actually use a targus brick on my machine, tests showed it as 92% efficient but it is only a 65w machine.

 

Checked AC adapter voltage with multimeter, shows 19.65V instead 18.5V (AC adapter specs are 18.5V / 6.5A). Hipron brand.
Installed Hardware monitor to read motherboard sensors, but only reads cpu + gpu temps, no voltages, no rpm fans. It seems motherboard is not supported or can't read.
67-77ºC CPU when playing SC2, 60ºC GPU (take note it's hot summer here, 30ºC outside).



Also opened laptop in order to change CPU thermal paste. When doing, I saw one strange thing.
GPU has its "air round hole" opened OK, but CPU hasn't, there is a "black plastic" there closing air hole then no air can enter. Is this ok? The plastic is inside laptoc cover and it's glued to cover.

I will post a photo if you like.

 

You could only really check the PSU properly by measuring the load voltage, even faulty bricks can produce their rated voltage at no load.

 

Hello to anyone who is still watching.

I am upgrading my Clevo W870CU as best I can.

My model appears to be a 150W variation, from what I can tell. Officially there is 120W and 180W but mine seems to sit in the middle.

What is to stop me putting in a GTX 980M or a 970M in place of my current GTX 470?

My GTX 470M appears to use 75W;

the 980M 100W;

and the 970M 81W.

Would that extra 6W or 15W cause much trouble?

 

Firmware compatibility is the main issue. I believe people has success with the 680m.

 

Noooooo. Hmm is there a way around that? I ama click away from getting a 980M to try.

What do I need to do?

 

You would be the first to try putting such a modern card into it that I am aware. @Prema any ideas on this one?

 

I would like to give it a try. The GTX 480M was an option (back in the day) and that was a 100W card sooo power wise it should be fine.

However now you mentioned the firmware part I am worried it might just be outright rejected.

What would I need to Flash it?

 

Just want to ask, what processor are you currently running? Asking because any modern high end card like a 970M may not be worth messing with if you know there will be a CPU bottleneck. Other than the firmware, I guess you will also need to find a GPU heatsink to cool the card and fit on the chassis. I doubt the stock GPU heatsink will fit on a newer Maxwell card but can't be sure.

 

It's still going to help in demanding titles but the return will be reducing for your dollars.

 

I've got the 840QM in there but got my eye on 640M or even 940XM, haven't decided yet. Sadly I don't have many options for CPU.

I have overlayed images and there doesn't appear to be great difference in placement so I am hopeful the existing heatsink will fit with some, persuasion.

Good thinking about the bottleneck I didn't even twig that I got so excited.

 

It's more of an experiment. It's been over a decade since I upgraded anything, so much has changed. I need to start somewhere and my current notebook is best start. If I brick it I'll just have good excuse to buy new one.

 

Best of luck with it, but maybe fin a place that will let you return it?

 

I got hold of a GTX 770M (Dell). It fits like a glove, so no issues there. It has similar (if not less) power consumption then the existing one, so that shouldn't be an issue.

When I turn the notebook on, the screen remained blank/black and I hear 2 short beeps.

The GPU/CPU fans start to spin and the screen continues to remain blank/black but then the beeping starts up again, this time it becomes continuous until the notebook powers off after sometime has passed.

Concerned I replaced the older graphics card to see what would happened and it works perfectly first time.

I then tried uninstalling the older device and its drivers so that Windows is forced to see it as "Standard VGA Graphics Adapter".

I try the new card again but the same issue repeats.

I get the feeling the screen is prompting me for something but because it is blank I don't know what to do.

Any suggestions?

CLEVO 870CU
BIOS 1.00.18
EC 1.00.11

P.S. Starting to wish I'd tried HD 7970M, that seems to have good feedback.

 

I am wondering if anyone has the technical manual. The link privided early in this thread no longer works.

Thanks in advance.

 

Here is a link to the service manual: http://elektrotanya.com/clevo_w860cu_w870cu.pdf/download.html . I tried it out and it works!

 

I do not know why, but I was having a very hard time finding it. Every site I checked seemed to have every manual but that one. Thank you, again.

 

Ok. I can not seem to get this labtop repaired on my own. Anyone have any suggestions where I could send it for repair?

If I can not get it repaired it may be time to start trying to find another laptop and part this one out.

Thanks,
Richard

 

Hi there guys,

don't take me wrong please by digging this post but, any kind soul has any idea where can I get an heatsink for gtx 460m for a clevo w870cu? I mean, I've searched everywhere already and just can't find anything. Not even the store that sold me out the 460m on ebay.

I will be eternally grateful.

Thank you!

 

Hey there, luckily I have been tweaking my W870CU recently so still get buzzed from here.

Your best bet is eBay, failing that Eurocom still have parts (for a steep cost); http://www.eurocom.com/ec/upgrade(2,298,0)ec

I reached the conclusion it would be better to invest in better notebook.

Regards, Bester.

 

When the machine gets this old then parts can get pretty hard to locate. You could always contact them and see if you could work something out.

 

I'll contact them to see what they got!

Thanks dudes. I was just looking for something original before I put my hands on work and cut the heatsink I got for the 'artifacted' gtx 280m and then none will work lol
Probably I'll try to put the 280m first on the oven. I dunno..

 

The UK repair company managed to fix this old machine, I have a new motherboard now, it cost me around 350 pounds to fix it; new motherboard, keyboard, top case and labour.

I've noticed that while my new beast uses the white le GHz range under AIDA stress test, i5-560m would stop at 2.6 and will only go to 3.2 when not under stress test. Any ideas?

 

I am planning to give this machine to my girlfriend for Graphics Design and Illustration work. I hope it will last her at least 1-2 years. I've already spend around 400GBP to fix the laptops. Is it worth to invest another 150 to upgrade to i7-620m and 16Gb RAM?

 

It's likely hitting TDP limits under heavy load.

As for the upgrade it's your call but I think you have already put enough into it as a £550 machine would out perform it.

 

I'm still using Clevo W870 in 2017, originally delivered in jan/2010.

A number of parts were replaced over time:

• PSU for Asus 180W (same voltage as original) for safety reasons, I didn't consider the original 120W PSU sufficient after battery died
• battery replaced once 3 years ago, it can no longer be ordered. I could use new one.
  
• DVD/BluRay drive died 2 years ago, replaced with new one
• Nvidia GTX 280M died month ago, replaced with new unused ATI 5870. 280M had to be underclocked to work properly for at least 3 years until it started showing artifacts during boot, random OS freezing making it unusable.

It seems LCD screens are still available and motherboards probably too.

Upgrades:

• processor Core i7 820QM got upgraded with 920XM, since they are very cheap today. 820QM was sold. 940XM costs 100 euro more for additional 133Mhz - not worth it.
  
• Nvidia GTX 280M got replaced with ATI 5870. ATI 5870 can be purchased quite cheaply, even new ones. I didn't want to risk higher power GPUs and wreck the old motherboard. Better GPUs are also a lot more expensive. ATI 5870 is sufficient for my needs. The original 280M heatsink had to be modified as I was unable to find heatsink for ATI. Some grinding and cutting of the copper heatsink was necessary and bending of the aluminum sides outwards to make the heatsink fit the GPU core flat. It seems to work best without any thermal pads, just thermal paste on gpu core. I tried thermal pads of various thicknesses and it never fit well (one sensor reported 10-20'C higher idle temperature). Idle temperatures 55-60'C on all 3 GPU sensors.
• 16GB RAM, I used 2x Kingston 8GB DDR3L 1600MHz HyperX Impact CL9, although in this laptop it can only run at 1333Mhz and CL8. No memory will run at 1600Mhz in this laptop.

I originally purchased Clevo mainly to be able to replace parts as they die after warranty. So far it seems to work well.

 

Always good to hear old systems still purring along nicely, especially when it took some elbow grease to make it so (typing this from one, btw).

Stripped my own battery in the name of research (*ahem*), but have got everything ready to make a fresh battery pack for someone else's system (with a bit more capacity, too). Just need to solder it back together, but other stuff keeps stealing priority ... Anyway, when confirmed to be working I'll drop a few notes to follow, in case you don't mind a diy solution.

 

It would be cool if a place specialised in high capacity custom batteries for things, did a high quality 3d print with the board from the original.

 

How did you remove it from the case? I am trying to make a hollow battery cover, but cannot separate it.

 

With patience, unfortunately. It is glued together, but gently start in the various corners using a sharp knife. Wedge a little and a small section will 'pop' free, but if takes too much force (the plastic's thin and will bent easily) then start on another corner. There's no screws anywhere and the slide-lock can stay in place, but it is better to remove it since it will give access to another glued section.

Ah, right; the pouch cells themselves are glued to the battery cover as well. This must be the worst-possible design for refreshing the cells. An ipad is easier ...

Got the re-soldered battery working, btw. Have to run some tests and make some photos first. If you can wait; also made some of the separated battery case, that may make it easier to tell where the dividing line is between bottom and top cover.

 

Hey guys, I also own a W870CU dinosaur since 2010, or better to say a XMG7.c from mysn (Schenker). At the moment there is a i7 740qm, 8G RAM and a GTX 470M inside, which is almost to slow for playing recent games.
I'm from germany, so do you know sellers in europe which still sell a 7970M or GTX 680M? On eBay I just found used ones for 350+ which is too much for a 5+ years old graphics card.
First attempt I made was a used 7970M from a dell for 50 bucks but, surprise, I could not get it working.
Battlefield 1 is not even really playable at 720p and minimum settings (~30 fps), so I need to upgrade
Other question, does even here someone sell such a graphics card?
Greets

 

You wont find anything cheaper from a shop, you would need to keep a look out on places like the members market.

 

I'm wondering if someone ever put a 680m into the W870CU? It shows in Bios "VGA Card: unkown" and shuts down after ~1:30 mins, but I can boot to windows in that time. vbios is 29 from clevo and its also a clevo card. I thought it works in the W870Cu series
So it seems to me, even if it should in the HM series,which also has no igpu, here it doesn't. Maybe I should invest modding the bios and ec to allow this card..

 

It's never that simple with MXM Which revision of card have you got?

 

It's Version 1.1, but I think I should investigate modding the bios of the machine, adding the PID and VID of the card to the "whitelist" of the bios file, maybe then I have luck
Unfortunately, there is no modded bios for this machine already on the internet.

 

I don't think the power supply could handle it...