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

its not about the fan noise but more of the ratteling that drives me crazy,
i guess i will try the Liquid metal but just to be safe how do you spot a bad heatsink??

 

im already undervolting the cpu with -50mv, even when i disabled the turbo boost the gpu still reaches 92C, but it helped with the cpu temps

 

Consider replacing your heatsink, though I dunno which reseller might still have them in stock. 'Tis a very old machine, the W230SS. Come July, this series will be half a decade old.

 

Tbh im thinking of just replacing the fan and cutting my losses, maybe resell it for the fraction of the price and buy something new, the gpu is already showing its age

 

I'm still using W230SS as daily driver , overclocked (3.4GHz all cores) and undervolted (-85mv) with Intel XTU , 80~85C when gaming , fan speed at 70% probably . I could reduce temp even further by changing fan speed to max (Clevo Control Center) but I can't stand the noice
My room has AC though
I'm not going to upgrade any time soon , still waiting for DDR5

 

Bit of a wait for that but if you are still going strong then fair enough

 

i managed to fix the ratteling noise temporarly by disessembling the fan, now it works like a charm that will buy me some time untill my order ships.
i undervolted the cpu and downclock it to x29 and disabled turbo boost, but the GPU still thermal Throttle at 92C
i really need to find a solution for the high temps,

 

Weird , my GPU rarely hit 70C . CPU usually run hotter than GPU
Make sure your heatsink is properly seated

 

If could be a bad heatsink.

 

Hello all,

I have a W230SS that potentially has a failed EC (unable to change keyboard backlight, battery cannot be detected, Fn + 1 for setting fan to maximum does not work). I tried flashing an older BIOS version but now it fails to boot. Is there a way to recover from this situation?

 

No, your BIOS is corrupt, you need to flash the chip manually most likely. Why not update the ECU rather than flashing the BIOS?

 

Hi Meaker, thanks for your reply. I did try to re-flash the EC but there was no improvement. Can I use a USB external flasher tool, like the CH341A programmer, to flash the BIOS directly?

 

That's going to be your best option.

 

Thanks Meaker. I have tried the Fn+B trick but it doesn't seem to work. I was wondering, if all three LEDs are blinking without any sounds, does this mean the BIOS is corrupted or the EC as well?

 

Would you say the w230ss is still good a good buy for 500usd in 2018?
My last machine was an aw 13 r3 with gtx1080 which I sold due to it's deceptively large footprint and high CPU issues exceeding 100%.
I know this system is a downgrade but it's nearly 1/3 the cost of my previous system plus despite both having 13" displays, the depth is significantly shorter. In fact, the aw was taller than most standard 15" systems.
I once owned the w230st with the 960m and had issues with trackpad issue. Sometimes one half of it would get unresponsive.
I've also heard the 860m can be overclocked safely to performance on par with a 970m.

 

You might be better off if you can find a machine with the Intel + Vega chip or the new Ryzen APUs in.

 

No, the 860m is inferior compared to something like a 1080ti desktop GPU for $200 which blows it away. You will struggle to play AAA titles.

I'm still using my W230SS but mostly as a torrent downloading machine, it really needs a windows reinstallation. I just started playing Diablo III but I haven't game on it much, I think I played Wolfenstein a few years ago, that was the last game.

The major limiting factor is the HDMI 1.4a port, which means I can't even do a soft upgrade by starting with a new WQHD monitor, I am stuck on 1080p. I don't really need a gaming laptop anymore, I use a Samsung TabPro S most of the time, it has an OLED screen so it is amazing for browsing and watching videos, even with a slow processor it still handles 30 chrome tabs, and has a touchscreen as well, I love it. That's why my Clevo has been neglected for the past year.

I was looking to replace the Clevo with a small desktop PC and the system worked out to be US$1000 including a screen, which is more than I want to spend right now: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/zan5hin/saved/#view=7mRsZL so in the meantime, I bought a secondhand PS4 Slim (my first ever console) and Last of Us Remastered and Horizon Zero Dawn, so will just start gaming on a PS4 because it's cheaper for now, and I want to try some of these exclusive titles. Between that and Diablo III, I will keep the Clevo for a while longer until I get a new job and the 11 series Nvidia GPUs come out and I can afford to go to 4K 144hz quantum dot gaming.

 

As long as it has no issue , Yes . I've been using it for 4 years straight . Still waiting for GDDR6 and DDR5 Ram

W230SS run hot though . You need to repaste it with Liquid Metal (Thermal Grizzy Conductonaut). If you don't , it will overheat within seconds

Not sure if it can be as fast as GTX 970M , I flashed a new bios on GTX 860M , it can play pretty much every single game out there at medium-high settings . Resolution may vary , somewhere between 900p and 1080p depending on the game , sometimes I have to use custom resolution : 1440x810 (via Intel Graphic Control Center) to be able to run game at high settings

 

Though I do agree that the HDMI 1.4a port is a little limiting given that your limited 4K 30hz. That spec HDMI port however, does in fact support WQHD just fine. I have used the laptop with that port for years on a 1440p monitor and it runs that resolution just fine. Mind you, at 60hz only. You might be using an older cable if you've tried it on that type of monitor before though.

 

My small machine can do my 1440p monitor at 60Hz with HDMI 1.4a.

 

So long, fellow W230SS guys—I sold it in December, and I purchased a Dell Precision 7530 with the specs listed in my signature. Twice as fast on the CPU front, nearly thrice as fast on the GPU. It was a good three and a half years with that machine, and my new Dells' keyboard is very reminiscent of that, except with a numpad, which is very welcome. I don't think I'll be going back to Clevo for a while, as I've got a killer warranty on this machine...

 

Almost 3 grand for that specs
And Intel 8 cores 16 threads CPU is coming ...soon

 

If it was December that was a while ago.

 

I was waiting for Volta/Turing/Ampere or whatever—I presumed that nVidia would release their consumer GPUs around April or June. Clearly I was wrong. I needed a notebook, so I got it. It's extremely fast and powerful, so it's good enough for me

 

It's certainly a solid upgrade over the 960m and the like.

 

Sup folks,

I decided to comment in here after years of not showing up.

My Clevo W230 SD (Sager NP 7339) lasted until November 2017, purchased April 2015. The laptop stopped booting up (likely due to motherboard/soldering issues from heat). It's not really worth fixing as a replacement mobo is $400, and you can get a laptop with a 1060 for $700 these days.

 

Years? You never showed up before

The extended warranty could have saved it.

 

I used to own one of these and my dad telling me he would give/trade me for his that he never gamed on and lightly used.

If I took him up on the offer, how does one get the latest Prema Bios for one of these things? @Prema (could someone send it to me with his blessing?)

Whats the best paste to apply to these? Is it still the Innovation Cooling Diamond"7 Carat"? or Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut High Performance Thermal Grease?

I loved this little thing when I owned it a few years back (sold it off in 2015) sad to see this formfactor never really took off after these came out...(Looks like the alienware 13 is dead too)

Thanks!

 

Any reasonable paste will do like the ones you listed.

 

I have to admit my w230ss has been one of my favorite laptops ever. I'm finally agonizing over trying to replace it. It's still going strong, but the 860m is getting a bit dated for gaming. I'm waiting for a review of the new P960ED since that looks to be the new sweet spot. It's a shame they dropped the 14" form factor.

 

In terms of volume the 15.6" are not far off.

 

I'm in the same boat and would love to see a refresh. On the other hand, I've been comparing my w230ss frame to modern 15.6" laptops, and it's much closer than I expected. Especially with the shift to thinner bezels. The w230ss feels like it's from a different era compared to my wife's X1 extreme or my work yoga 260. Makes you realize how much "dead space" there is on the case.

 

It IS a different era, it has been quite a few years!

 

I know what you mean. I stopped by the microsoft store on the way home from work to check out some of my options. The new msi 15.6 stealth looked like a great machine, but i didn't like the hinge design. I carry my laptop in a backpack everywhere and the plastic hinges had way too much flex in them. I could see them breaking easily. The razer 15 impressed me with its fit and finish. I also liked the speakers on it. Its only drawback was the small solid state drive. I chatted w razer to make sure the new 2060 razer drive would be able to be swapped out for a 1tb and the grudgingly said yes, but really wanted to talk more about dmg not covered under warranty then answering my drive question. For $2000 machine they should stand behind their products a bit better. I have multiple clevos laying about that all still work. D900T, D900F, w230ss, etc.. All have been fantastic machines w no problems.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

 

Hi guys,
my xmg LCD is broken and I'd like to fix it
do you have any good spare part reseller that can easily ship to Bangkok, Thailand?

Thanks,
J

 

Search for the model of panel on the likes of Ebay it should come up.

 

I hope someone can help - I am trying to work out if my 860m is fried. Recently i gave my perfectly working W230SS to my stepson to use - he had it 3 or 4 days and now it seems the 860m is broken. At first I wondered if he had upgraded nvidia drivers as he installed quite a few games. I have done several clean installs of both 8.1 and win 10 using only the drivers that were supplied from Clevo/PC Specialist website, but every time the nvidia drivers are loaded the machine will not boot properly or it just hangs. If I dont load the Intel 4600 driver I can load certain versions of Nvidia driver and run the Nvidia control panel without any issue, but no game or app will use the 860m.

As soon as I then load the 4600 driver everything grinds to a halt. Unfortunately I do not have the @Prema modded bios, so i have no options in the bios whatso ever. I have flashed bios with latest from Clevo which flashed the vbios of the 860m fine, but still I cannot use it. It is detected fine in the bios. GPU-z will not run properly. I have even tried to install ubuntu but that just hangs on install.

Just to clarify I have tried many different versions of Nvidia and Intel 4600 drivers - looked at other posts across the internet and tried suggestions of different versions. Maybe someone can let me know the versions of chipset/4600/860m drivers that are working for them?

Another note is that the OS that I am trying to install are the latest downloaded from Microsoft direct so wondered if maybe something in the latest builds may be causing the issue.

Is there any software that can be used pre-boot of windows that can help diagnose the GPU chip?

Hope someone can help - many thanks in advance

Dave

 

Yes, sounds like the nvidia chip is dead.

 

I have the 17” version of this machine with the 860m. Still going strong, great laptop. Only issue is the fans are almost always at full speed even when just web browsing.

 

Have you cleaned/repasted it recently?

 

Nah, planning on upgrading to a 2070 in the nearish future anyway so probably won’t bother

 

Worth doing as having a healthy 2nd machine is always useful.

 

Hey @Prema I'm looking to OC my w230ss - where can I find a copy of your bios? It seems to be the one to use (really, the only one to use).

I think I read somewhere you do vbios too - I've got an 860m if you have something handy for that!

Thanks

 

Hi everyone,

I have an issue on boot. My computer won't boot.

What is working :
keyboard blacklight
fn+1 (hotkey)
fan
Hdd

What is not working :
screen backlight
screen

but something the computer start after 30mins on.
I am thinking about an Intel video card issue. I have to tri it with an external screen, I haven't that.
Or maybe a bios bug (1.03.06). I could acces the bios only 1 time.
It seems like to graphic card won't start, or maybe a conflict with a peripheric.

Do you have any idea?

 

I updated the bios with the version 1.03.08 and it working.

 

Nice catch, I'm glad you got it to boot to be able to do that, were you just lucky?

 

Lucky yes, or patient (or very patient)

I waited for about 30 mins each time until it boots. First time into the UEFI to allow the SSD with the new UEFI to boot. Then wait for 30 mins again to boot on the SSD.

I was happy to see the computer booting directly after.

Next step, Conductonaut, undervolt GPU and CPU, check °C then maybe change CPU, Raid0 with 2 Msata, and Dual Sodimm Kingston.
This will use some spare parts I have.

 

Just be careful with the liquid metal, have you checked that the contact is good between the chips and the heatsinks?

 

Don't worry, this is not my first time. I use all the time the conductonaut rather the kryonaut when the heatsinks are made with copper.

Not yet, i have to remove the heatsink to check it. This is the next step because i have to disassemble the laptop to change the chassis (broken where the screen is screwed).

This is a nice little laptop. I bought it few days ago.

 

Worth checking otherwise the liquid metal could hurt rather than help.