*** Official Clevo W230SS/Sager NP7338 Owner's Lounge ***

Yes, I'm sure of it. This series of laptops from Clevo have a reputation of having failed heatsinks - just look back several pages in this thread, and you'll find multiple instances of people having failed heatsinks.

 

After six months of owning this small beast colour on palmrest started fading. So i decided to use carbon vinyl but there are few different options so if somebody already did it can u recommend what type of carbon vinyl is the best for this?

 

Just going to make note of a great RMA experience I had with MySn/XMG

My laptop had the broken hinge issue as described in this thread.

I contacted them and they were happy to both fix it and pay for delivery too and from Germany (I'm in the UK) with a 48 hour express service where they would diagnose and attempt repairs within 2 days of recieving the laptop.

Took about a week in total and they completely replaced the chassis of the laptop such that it is basically like new. They also updated the bios (which may have deactivated windows 10 but that isn't their fault).

Overall I am extremely pleased with how I was treated throughout. Many thanks folks!

 

Hi,

Is anyone having problems with their Sager NP7338 when being on Youtube on the FIrefox web browser?

What ends up happening is FireFox will freeze with a "Not Responding" alert in brackets and then my fans will suddenly increase their speed whenever I start watching videos. It happens when I start watching videos as well on Youtube. Even when the comments below the video start loading my browser will have a "Not responding" tag line.

I tested watching Youtube videos on Internet Explorer and Chrome and I have no problems.

I've restarted Firefox to default settings and tried running Firefox in their safe mode.

I'm not sure if it's related but I did install the audio drivers for the laptop recently. Before that I didn't have any audio drivers installed.
But since then I've uninstalled the drivers and tested Firefox with youtube and I still encountered the problem.

Anyone encountered this problem? :S

 

Have you tried uninstalling firefox? Otherwise you can go to firefox.com and just refresh/update it through their site. That has worked for me with weird issues before. Also check to make sure that flash player is up to date too.

 

Two days ago, I have been repositioning the screen on my laptop I have been having vertical lines appear.
Usually, they disappear when I having finished repositioning the display but just now, the defect seems to be more permanent. See picture linked below:
http://imgur.com/OZR2afB

This morning, the problem seems to be getting worse
http://imgur.com/W6HUtpB

There are no issues with displaying to an external monitor via HDMI

Anyone else having similar issues or suggestions?

Computer is out of warranty by 2 months and the company I bought it off is no longer trading


Computer specs:
Processor: Intel i7-4710MQ Quad Core Haswell Processor 2.5 – 3.5Ghz Turbo
RAM: 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz System Memory
Hard Drive: 128GB mSATA Plextor SSD FAST
*Screen Size: 13.3-inch QHD+ LED IPS GLOSSY BACKLIT (3200x1800)*
Graphics Card: nVidia Geforce GTX860M 2GB GDDR5 Dedicated Graphics DX11
Networking: 802.11b/g/n WLAN, 10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN, Bluetooth
Operating System: NO OPERATING SYSTEM
Special Feature: 2x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0, E-SATA, HDMI, VGA. Creative X-FI MB3: Surround Sound. 2.0mp Webcam, Backlit Keyboard, nVidia Optimus Technology v1.2
Condition: Brand New in Box with 6 Cell Battery

 

If moving the display influences the lines then it's very likely to be the cable, either it has been pinched in the hinge and needs replacing or is coming loose from the connector and simply needs re-inserting.

 

Someone knows if Clevo (or Msyn or whatever) will finally give us Windows 10 drivers?
I loved the Sound Blaster Cinema

 

You can use the W230SD drivers, I think. Maybe @Prema can confirm that they can be used on the W230SS.

 

I tried, at least the Sound Blaster didn't work. Neither with that sound drivers, old ones SS, or new ones SS via Windows Update.

 

(I know SRSR333 already asked, but maybe you haven't seen it yet, Prema. If you have, sorry for asking again.)

Are you still considering porting fan control to the SS model? I have no idea how much work is involved, but I would love to see this happen!

 

It's on my list for sure. After all the W230SS will remain my own travel and couch system for a good while.

It's just that I have so many things on my BIOS to do list and get like 10 requests a day from people asking for a certain thing on a certain system to be supported...

 

That's so awesome! Thank you, Prema!

I can see from the comments on your blog--and the number of times your name is mentioned here--that you're in very high demand. Thanks for replying; thanks for having this feature on your list; and thanks for all of your BIOS work!

 

There is also the work he does in the back ground you don't see too

 

Got my keyboard replaced for free after Aftershock saw non-working keys. Now I can game... properly. Excellent.

 

Indeed excellent Hopefully that is the end to any issues for a bit, enjoy your gaming.

 

Do we have news about windows 10 drivers?

Are we sure they will make them at all?

 

There are w10 drivers at eurocom.com for m4

 

Thanks for the reply, it looks like the m4 is w230ss and w230sd,

"
VGA Technology: on-board NVIDIA GTX 860M or GTX960M; 2GB of DDR5 VRAM
"

Did anyone try to install it?

 

worked for me! the audio driver with soundblaster cinema 2!

Thanks!

 

Seems like some keys stopped working on my keyboard :/ anyone know why and how to fix it ?

 

Replace the keyboard. Send it in. No other way.

I had the exact problem a while ago (you could search this thread). I tried fixing it myself, and ended up having several broken keys and still not having found the problem. Thank goodness my reseller replaced it completely free of charge.

 

Hi guys, I have an issue with my external screen going black all of a sudden for exactly 3 seconds. I have the laptop LCD switch off, and two external Dell 21.5" IPS monitors, one via VGA (the one going black) and one via HDMI (which is ok).

This is not a new issue for me, but just in the past few days it is happening more frequently. Last year I had a similar setup, except that I had the HDMI plugged into a 42" LG TV, and the VGA was plugged into a 22" LG montior. The VGA would also flicker a few times a day.

At the moment it is happening every 10 minutes. The cable isn't loose, it doesn't go purple.

I am running Windows 10 build 10532, and Intel driver 10.18.15.xx which it says it the latest version.

 

Well,
The crappy hinge design managed to bite me in the arse after the plastic nutserts blew out on my left screen hinge. I use my laptop for Sysadmin duties, all day every day. Barely eked out a year on this Clevo.

Looking at the design, its clear that either an 8 year old kid engineered the mounting system, or the engineer in charge needs to have their hands cut off and eyes removed so they can never "engineer" anything again. Absolutely astonishing that a manufacture can overlook such a terrible design in 2015.
If it were 1998, maybe the design would have been sufficient but in this day and age, its just pathetic.

I got quoted $65 for the part + a staggering $30 for UPS ground from Xotic PC so I will unfortunately NOT be ordering a replacement part from Xotic.
I am contemplating using the fix described in this thread, as I don't want to order a replacement with the same terrible manufacturing defect as the one I am replacing. If I do order a replacement it will be through RJ tech.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/w230ss-xmg-p304-broken-hinge-dented-frame.768856/page-3

My last Clevo was a D800T back in the P4 era and don't think I can purchase another one knowing that they are simply not built intelligently.

The rest of the laptop is perfect for me, which is why this is such a disappointing issue to have.

 

I'm a sysadmin as well and use mine daily for work duties and weekends gaming when away from home and it's in perfect condition. Lots of 1 handed use, screen at weird angles etc.
Looks like you have a boatload of gunk built up on the hinge though.

You'd think it was new if not for the slight dulling of the silver on the palm rests. Can't help but think it's just a matter of care, or overestimating what the chassis could take. I'm pretty particular about mine though so it may just be that I'm more careful than the average user.

 

There could even have been an issue with the plastic used, it's not something I have seen a lot of.

The things with hinges is once one part has gone it puts extra stress on the other parts.

 

Worked for me too. Excellent. Thanks!

 

So I dropped $1K on a new Clevo W230SS. I got it, powered it on, and it worked. So I turned it off, got the SSD out of my old laptop, put it in and since it was right there, repasted the CPU and GPU. I put everything back together, powered it on and... Nothing. black screen, no post, no beeps, nothing. I removed the SSD, RAM, Battery, Wireless card, everything and still no post or boot. Feeling the CPU heatsink when booting I can feel it begin to warm up so im not inclined think anything is wrong with it, also the fan kicks on after a bit. Any ideas?

 

Try using an external display, either through VGA or HDMI. If you still don't see anything, it might be due to a fried motherboard (although I have no clue how that would happen on a brand new laptop).

 

It may also be a false contact/short circuit because of some paste being in the wrong place. (I don't know much, just had the same problem on another laptop, where it was actually an ill-soldered USB port which in the end triggered the same symptoms because it short-circuited the MB, forcing protective behaviour)

 

I got it. I had also popped the CPU out to have a look at the sexy i7 and hadn't twisted the lock back down all the way. I popped the RAM back in and boom, stuff happens now. Thanks guys

 

Ah yes, that old chestnut. I guess that wont happen anymore with the death of the mobile socket.

 

@Prema - I noticed Clevo has released new BIOS updates for the W230SS. Will we get one final update to Prema Mod for the W230SS? Maybe some fan profiles, minor tweaks? You mentioned something about the W230SD having fan control, and that might be ported over to the W230SS. Would be nice we GTX 860M stragglers started the new year with a new BIOS version too!

 

Hello everybody

I just bought a W230SD.

Someone ever tried to use the 3rd (or the 2nd) msata slot for something else than a msata ssd? In other words, the slot has only the sata lanes connected or there are also USB and/or pci express lanes connected?

Thank you so much

 

You have 1x Mini PCI-E + 2x Msata UNLESS you got the version where the 2nd mSATA is actually electrically USB. It would depend on where you got it and which model. Most likely it's mSATA.

 

Hey guys,

I am repasting with Diamond IC, I don't have any screwdrivers,

how do I define the screwdrivers I need so I can order them on amazon???

 

Clevo use standard phillips head screwdrivers, if you order a nice little set of them you will be covered. The only exception is the CPU socket key to remove the CPU, this is not required for a re-paste however.

 

Thanks,

Did anyone manage to install Ubuntu and get the sound working? I really want to get Linux Mint,

Ron.

 

Arch Linux user here. Sound worked (and still works) perfectly out of the box after my install just after I bought the w230ss from XMG last year, no extra configuration necessary... Can you provide any more details about your problem? Can you check if you have something muted in alsamixer and whatever Ubuntu uses to control pulseaudio?

 

Hello,

First thank you for this amazing thread, it's an absolute treasure of informations.
I have purchased online (i live in Switzerland, the online website is french) a Clevo W230SD (it's basicaly a W230SS, the retailer name for the laptop is : LDLC Mercure MB5), with an 960M GDDR5, wich seems on pair with my desktop card (a 750Ti), 8go of ram, an ssd, the typical configuration for this laptop but...
It has an Intel Core i3 4100M, the isn't a lot of informations on that CPU for gamign purpose (that will the the main purpose of the computer), but i figured out that if an "mobile" i3 is simply an "mobile" i5 (they both have HT) but the turbo feature is missing on the i3. I don't think that the 960M is powerful enough to put the i3 on it's knees. Is this correct ? Or the i3 is really behind an i5 ? The laptop is currently shipping and i really want to be sure (first laptop i bought at that price).

Thank you and have a really nice day`!

 

I had my computer plugged in for about 6 months,

now when I get to 30% of battery it shuts down(battery is out), it lasts like 1 hour,

1.Is there a way to fix it?
2.Where is a good deal for a battery? - Ive seen it for 70$ at amazon.

 

That's not a bad prce for an official battery, have you tried cycling it a few times?

 

Your battery may just be faulty, or it's simply not had a charge cycle in the last 6 months which is why the battery life has been so degraded - no way to fix this once it has happened. I would ask the company you bought the laptop from for a price and compare it to the Amazon offering

 

Ok, I have been having w230ss for more than a year and am still happy with it.

Howevre, I have noticed that GPU temps are getting higher and higher on stock. Basically, it throttles in Furmark. I use the default burn in test option (1280x1024), it has 29-30 fps in the beginning, but then, once the temperature reaches 93C, they drop to around 25-26 and stay on that around 92C.

I tried to re-paste with Arctic Silver 5 and it didn't really help.

There were earlier posts that said that some people never get above 70C. Is that really possible? I know that AS5 has burn-in time. I also know that there are better options which I will probably try in the future. But 25C difference? Really?

Would it be possible for those who still have it to report your Furmark temperatures after, say, 10 minutes burn in test on stock? I'm considering contacting the reseller and/or changing heatsink, but it would really help if I get some statistics before that. Thank you!

Update: After the test, I shut down the laptop and open the rear lid. It probably takes around 2 mins. Both heat pipes are hot; I can't hold my finger for a long time. So, they are at least 60C 2 minutes after the test, which probably means that they work as they should.

 

I advise a re-paste with a modern paste such as IC diamond, AC5 is pretty old at this point.

Note: All modern GPUs throttle in furmark, even the desktop ones and even if the frequency is displayed as full, they are skipping cycles etc to protect the chip.

 

Do not use Furmark. It's not good for health. It is extremely intensive and carries the possibility of physical, irreparable damage to your GPU. Consider Unigine Heaven or 3DMark 11/3DMark Fire Strike instead.

You probably have a worsening heatsink. 90°C is excessively high; there is nearly zero contact between your GPU die and the heatsink surface if your GPU gets this hot.

I'm not going to use Furmark, but I'll use The Witcher 3 to benchmark. See below for GPU temperatures:



Ignore the GPU core and memory clock readings - this screenshot was taken after the benchmark was closed, when the GPU went into a lower P-state and hence lower clocks. The highest temperature reached during gameplay was 80°C. This was primarily because of the GPU's proximity to the CPU, which was slightly hotter.

50°C is too hot for human hands already. Also, heatsinks are far more efficient at transferring heat than you think - short of liquid, moving metal (although there are cooling set-ups that apparently include this too), heatsinks are your next best bet for conductive transfer of heat. They should cool to 45°C or less within two minutes after quitting any program that stresses either chip.

 

hey guys! Does somebody got problems with the SoundBlaster Cinema again with the Windows 10 last major update? Here, the sounblaster cinema don't recognize the change between headphones or internal speakers after the update...

 

Thank you!

I have ordered a tube of GC Extreme, I will report about the results. Do you think I should consider replacing the heatsink?

BTW, CPU under max load (cpu burner button in Furmark, or Prime95) does not get above 85C.

 

Another Arch Linux user here as well, as noted by frikisama the sound works fine however there is one issue with the headphone jack that if the laptop goes to sleep (i.e. close the lid) and resumes the headphones stop working. There is a program available to fix this, in Arch it's packaged as init-headphone. You can view more information about the application on github ( https://github.com/Unrud/init-headphone-ubuntu) and the Ubuntu bug report ( https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alsa-driver/+bug/1313904/).

 

It could be the GPU heatpipe failing if the new paste does not help.