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

I undo the heatsinks right know. You are right, the CPU heatsink doesn't touch the die. Maybe I will remove the circular clips on the screws or change the screws (i have some other).

Thanks for the advice

 

Washers or lapping can help.

 

I have a w230ss,
I tried an update of the bios and the keyboard works but I have a black screen
I have a key in fat32, with the bios with the version 1.03.08, but without result.
FN + B key> the key is taken into account (flashing LED) then nothing.
How did you rename the bios so that the laptop takes it into account.

Regards,
Jordan

 

Hi,

I didn't needed to rename the bios. I used the original bios from here. I installed both the bios and EC. The usb key has to be bootable, i used the software Rufus to do the job.

 

Hi,
Thank you for the link,
despite numerous trials, nothing new.

In your case, the laptop started from time to time.

 

I have a programmable box for eeprom,
if i find what is the bios chip i could do something

 

Next to the south bridge I think.

 

Hi,
After increasing the cooling system using a second headpipe / fan from another labtop,
I wanted to try to overclock my I7 4712qm (37w tdp)
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-intel-haswell-cpu-microcode-bug-hack.790177/

my labtop had the prema bios W230SS_33_32_PM_v1.1
I modified the previous bios of prema W230SS_33_31_PM_v1
During the flash of the gpu, the control has to find 2 files with the wrong size
Have you ever had this problem?

https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-CLEVO-BIOS-Mods?page=3
I read that prema informed that the FN + B boot only works with the official bios name.
Does somebody have an idea?

Good day to you

 

The vbios is packaged into the bios? Did you run a check on each file before flashing?

 

Sorry but no, I realize that the laptop bios are more complicated than the old ATI 2900 of the time.

 

Yeah things have moved on bit since then lol.

 

Can this laptop run two external monitors at the same time? I know the second one would have to be used with VGA, but still.

 

Yes you could but the internal may need to go off. It depends how it is wired.

 

Hi,
I succeeded last night.
With schematic,
I have removed the chip from the bios U 28 amic a25lq32a
and reprogrammed the original bios.
Unable to program if the chip is on the motherboard.
Thank you for your help.

 

Nicely done, all working now?

 

Yes, all working now

 

Well if you want to play some more you can and recover if you need to.

 

Hello everyone!

So, I still use my w230ss everyday! <3 the screen went black a year ago though, the LCD backlight stopped working! :'(
Now I'm using it with an external monitor.
I was doing a little maintenance on it, changing the paste to get better thermal results and I decided to play a little bit with the CPU, trying to undervolt. But I'm getting this screen on the BIOS:




Does any one knows why I'm getting this? I was thinking in flashing again the PREMA BIOS, but I wasn't able to find an download link to the PREMA MOD, seems like his website is down
If anyone know how to solve this or where I can find the PREMA BIOS I would be very happy!

(( https://premamod.com/)

Thanks
sry for any english mistakes, not my first language...

 

Flash back? What about the backup taken before flashing?

 

Right... But I don't have a backup D:

I flashed the prema mod a long time ago, without researching too much about it :/
I definitely should have made a backup... but I didn't.

I remember that I flashed trying to improve battery life, and I successfully undervolt it at the time, but I don't know what happened in order to get that library error.

 

The Prema BIOS files are no longer publicly available.

 

Did you try undervolting using Intel xtu? I used it on mine and it worked without having to monkey w the bios

Sent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk

 

My machine is still going, I used it as a main pc while i was sick.
i7 4700
860M ( It was a ST that the reseller swapped motherboard to the SS model hence the older cpu)
12GB RAM
512GB Samsung 850EVO
256GB Crucial Msata
128GB OCZ Nocti Msata

Unfortunately my laptop CPU keeps hitting 92-93 while just browsing the web - I've repasted it recently and still no dice

also the battery now does not charge I bought a new chinabrand battery and a new Delta psu both didn't help.

I wonder if that sort of issue is repairable?

 

Could be the heatsink has a failed heat pipe.

 

Temps are normal by not UnderVolting or Reduce Package Power . . . iam on same HardWare Config

You can try disable under Windows 0s when in use to Disable Boost by set max ClockFrequenz @ 99% .
When bios unlocked under Options for CpuConfiguration you can tweak Package Power Settings .

Cpu Power Limit1 - 35
Cpu Power Limit1 Time - 28
Cpu Power Limit2 - 45

Unlikely Undervolting even with Unlocked Bios is 0nly with XTU possible !
ICC Function requires special IntelMe version wich is chiped within Prema Bios but is buggy for all other Function they need ME . (So no ICC not that terible because . . . )

There is a " New" ME Version after Years and maybe not that buggy like the Versions before

https://www.win-raid.com/t596f39-Intel-Management-Engine-Drivers-Firmware-amp-System-Tools.html

https://mega.nz/file/jcFQVAxL#w-3xqV0rJnVk-1cBqwqatMaboXiVydgZOQLyYCa_oNI

Have further on good Time by clevo w230sd/ st/ ss ! ! !

 

Hello good people! Has anyone changed LCD cable on their W230SS full HD screen?
My good old W230SS' LCD cable appears to have gone bad and I have found one cheapest selling on Aliexpress which is stated to be compatible with W230SS but upon examination and comparison with my old cable I see that my cable has less pins on the connector than the one that is selling on Aliexpress. Can't tell anything about others I have found selling online because there are no close-up pictures so I can't compare the pins.
My question is though, is it going to work if it has MORE pins in a connector that goes into the motherboard than my LCD cable? Connectors themselves are same size and form-factor it's just the number of pins inside that appears to be different.

 

Should be a part number on the cable?

 

Part number is the same actually but pin number appears to be different

 

Probably not listed quite right then.

 

Hey guys!

New owner of a W230ss here.

I am trying to squeeze it as much as possible. Part of the plan is to get a 4940mx processor and a egpu and overclock. Managing temperatures could be an issue, kryonaut has worked excellently well up until now with the old 4710mq, but I fear it might not be enough for the 57W tdp of a 4940mx specially if I overclock...So I am looking into liquid metal.

The thing is I don't really know what the heatsink is made of. The distributor says copper, the seller of the part says aluminum/copper and so do other distributors I have contacted. The pipes seem to be aluminum with plated copper, but the heatsink is a mistery...

So I think I'll bite the bullet, buy a spare part and coat the contact point with liquid metal to see how it reacts over time. Outside the laptop, of course. I'll keep you posted with the results!

https://m.es.aliexpress.com/item/32780082297.html

 

The contact plate will be copper, fins aluminium. That sort of thing.

 

Thanks for the info, @Meaker! I scratched the plate a little on the edge and there seems to be no silverish hue underneath, but it is still hard to discern. I understand that copper conducts heat very well but alluminum dissipates it better. In that scenario, the arrangement you describe would make sense. The pipes seem to be copper-plated alluminum and the fins just the same, with an even thinner layer and lots of surface exposed.

I still don't feel too confident about applying liquid metal directly to the heatsink I have inside my laptop for fear of it being actually alluminum with a layer of copper. If the liquid metal seeps...I could find a nice, brittle puzzle inside one day =/.

I might still buy a spare part and try it outside the laptop, tho.

 

It's solid copper on this model.

Mine has been liquid metaled from the start, so about six years (running i7-4930MX). Weirdly enough I did have to repaste once since the copper apparently soaks up a bit of the galinstan, but without destroying it as with aluminium. Performance should actually improve a bit then, one should think.

 

This is fantastic information. Thanks!

Knowing this I can apply it directly on my laptop. I expect it to be soaked in by the copper and have to reapply relatively soon. It just seems to work like that with copper. But once it "saturates" the plate it will last a long time, theoretically.

Can I know more about your application? Did you use some kind of coating to avoid shorts? Tape? Foam dams? How were the temperatures? If you move the laptop around...Does the LM run off the chip? Anything worth mentioning?

Knowing about this can help me manage risks, as we know liquid metal is no joke =/.

 

Less is more with liquid metal but barriers are a good idea for beginners or the careful

 

Yes, but recently learned we might be committing patent-infringement when doing so:
WO2020162417 - ELECTRONIC APPARATUS, SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE, INSULATING SHEET, AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE

Did tape over the conductors first (also part of the aforementioned patent ...). You just use four strips of electrical tape and apply them close to all sides of the die, covering all exposed smd components and conductive pads.

Don't use a dam on the W230SS, but have done so on every other system and you really ought not to skip that step. Cleaned off a few drops here and there soon after applying lm and this would easily have been prevented from occurring in the first place (no harm done, but the few minutes saved isn't really worth the hassle). Have a few sheets of thermal pads with varying thickness that I use for dams now; cut a large square/rectangle and then make a cutout a little larger than the particular die you want to cover. It's just a matter of selecting the proper thickness of the pads. Could use pretty much anything else of course, as long as it's a bit compressible or moldable. Should have a bit of nail varnish confiscated somewhere for the same purpose, but unfortunately couldn't find it yesterday. Could search these forums for other alternatives and use whichever you think is easiest to apply.

Don't really record temps before and after, tbh. Liquid metal always wins in the thermal department, so don't really see the need; even if a system doesn't thermal throttle then you still have the bonus of lower fan speeds and thus a quieter system. Also bought it in bulk and so don't really need to penny-pinch; anyone that brings me their or a friend's dear-'ol Core 2 Duo system for a pimp-up gets lm for the ride.

 

I would say I qualify as both =). I was actually planning to use foam as suggested by Mr.Fox in a youtube clip. Was also afraid the foam would contribute to heating around the die but it seems temps are just the same than without it (I cut a couple barriers as a test and placed them, without liquid metal). These are the pads I used:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aerzetix-R...eywords=fan+filter+foam&qid=1603707899&sr=8-1

I think they are used in things like power supplies to avoid dust coming in while allowing airflow. They are not very dense when uncompressed (you can see through the pores), but compress very well and I don't think liquid metal will go past their granularity when compressed.

As fate would have it, the conductonaut I ordered came with two foam pads in the box that seem thicker while also very compressible. If the lighter ones don't work, I can try those.

Oh, and I will also be using silicone conformal coating and kapton tape just to be sure.

I take the "less is more" to heart here: if temps happen to be bad, I can just reopen and apply a little more. Hell, I might even not put a drop on the plate itself, only on the die. Reason being that mine has a lot of pressure to it. When I have applied paste in the past, no matter how thin, it always scurries to the sides after mounting on the cpu.

So a thin, paint-like layer without pools is what I will be aiming for.

About the patent thing, I'll read it more carefully when I have some time to spare.

@t456, did your application leave some drops around then? That doesn't sound very comforting =/. Do you think it could have been prevented by applying less?

 

Metal Liquid (Conductonaut) on mine too. Works perfectly.

 

Nice to know!

 

Now that the 4940mx is on the way, I just realized I might need a new power supply. The one that came with my W230ss is 120w for the stock 47 W TDP processor. The 4940mx I will be installing on it is a 57 W TDP, but I don't know if it will require power beyond the original 120 W. The absolute minimum I've seen on other machines that run it was 170/180 W and sometimes it is over 200 W, although that seems to be on 15"/17" laptops. Any thoughts on that?

 

It's nice to have headroom and there are more options these days for bricks.

 

Sure, but how much headroom is enough?

I'm sure there are options, but I am struggling to find guidelines about this for laptops in general and this one in particular.

I've seen there are some calculators around, but the relevant components are not listed. On the datasheets I can find TDP's of components but I understand those are used as a gauge for thermal solutions rather than as a measure for power consumption.

 

Depends on the environment and how spikey your load is. The less loaded a pay the cooler it will be.

 

Yep. Figured as much.

I was just thinking of getting one with the maximum wattage I can find (that would be around 230W) for that voltage. That way I have a lot of headroom for things like overclocking and power spikes.
I contacted the distributor and they suggest a minimum of 180W, so that would be 50W over that.

 

Seems reasonable. For my crazy antics I modified a 330w brick but was overkill.

 

Haha. I don't know what is more striking to me: the "330w" or the "modified". They both speak of burning houses to me lol.

As far as the Wizdom of Them InterWebz goes tho... There is no overkill except for your wallet. The only things that matter are voltage (has to be the same ideally) and polarity. Amps can be the same or higher. If the resulting wattage is bigger than "stock" that is fine. And there is also the matter of efficiency, which seems tricky considering fluctuations in power consumption.

I think I've seen 330w ones with the right power jack dimensions and polarity around. Might try one of those, but it feels a little excessive as I doubt I am going to be able to overclock the 4940mx much on my W230ss.

 

Just desoldered the cable and properly attached a new one.

 

I suppose if you have the know-how you could pull it off! It appears I won't be needing to pick the smoky pencil if I decide to go that route:

https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32970...tedetail&spm=2114.12057483.0.0.6fcc263ccWhPRS

 

Yeah it had a torx security bit, was the revision not limiting output without a ground signal from Dell and used a high quality donor for the replacement cable. Soldered it in and it looked new. I put up a guide ages ago.

 

Hmm. That's interesting. There is a lot of homework for me to do in the power supply department.

Might geek up on it sometime. That guide I might search for, too. The 230W adapter is on the way, I'll see how that one goes.

I have my hands full at the moment making preparations to apply liquid metal to the 4940mx. I also have to install the Prema Bios I received ( courtesy of @Prema) a few days ago.

I am trying to cover my back in case something fails before I attempt the installation of the modded bios. The readme on it covers all the basics for installing it, but I still have to do some research for ****ups and the like =/. This will be my first flash after all and I am told there is a risk of making the laptop unoperative.