**Official Sager NP5160 / Clevo W150HNQ Owners' Lounge**

Thanks, yeah, it's been a long time since I bought a new laptop (last one was 6.5 years ago) and I had kind of forgotten about the teething problems. I wish laptop manufacturers would be more proactive in providing documentation and/or support and/or (wishful thinking) patches to the kernel and userland tools to support their products for Linux. But then again, almost nobody pays for the Linux kernel and tools so there is no money putting pressure on these companies to improve Linux support.

I didn't realize that Windows didn't even have fan control for this laptop so I am thinking that it will likely never happen in Linux. My best hope is to wait for Ivy Bridge and pray that Clevo provides BIOS updates to support Ivy Bridge and hopefully that will be a cooler and quieter result than the Sandy Bridge in this laptop.

I wonder when cpu frequency scaling support will be in Linux for Sandy Bridge and/or the W150HNQ motherboard. That would help me mitigate the fan noise alot too. This laptop is beautifully quiet when idling because the fan is completely off, and even the first 20 - 30 seconds of moderate use doesn't bring the fan online, if only I could extend that to a longer interval I might escape the fan the majority of the time.

One thing that could also improve is the lm_sensors output, there is very little detail available, just a single CPU temperature reading, and I am not sure if that's somewhat inaccurate or if the algorithm that the BIOS uses for controlling the fan is convoluted because the reported CPU temperature only loosely correlates with the fan speed (i.e. I've had the fan come on when the temperature reading was 42 degC, although usually it's off at that temperature, and I've also had the fan go off when the temperature reading was 56 degC, and usually the fan is on at that temperature. It's weird. It almost feels like the BIOS is taking into consideration the change in temperature over some unit time and tracking an expected temperature and turning the fan on proactively to avoid what it expects the temperature to rise to, not just turning it on or off according to the currently read temperature. Or something).

 

Has anyone successfully gotten the S/PDIF output to work? I can't get the light to come on.

I'm using a Monoprice toslink cable

 

I think I am going to try to get another battery for this thing, as a spare. It only last about 2-3 hours just surfing the internet. Thats a little short in my opinion
PS, the laptop is set up as default when delivered, except screen brightness turned down a little bit, one click on FN F8.
I only have about 20 hours of use on this latop

 

are you using power savings profile or uma only mode?

 

I dont go into Nvidia graphics card, as of yet at least. I use the mode when it boots up and is standard, which should be integrated graphics, not the 540 card correct?
The only power thing I changed was the CPU max to 99%.

 

The only evidence I have for it going 3 hours is I accidentally forgot to plug in one day and had high performance profile on. Almost 3 hours so I'm sure the 5160 can pull 4 hours, and close to 5 maybe.

 

Should I force it to UMA mode? Or just push the VGA button and make it green and stick with integrated graphics?

 

Changing to UMA mode should produce the green light on the VGA button, so either way works.

 

Thanks. I will give it a try. Hopefully for surfing the net, this will provide some more battery life.
In UMA mode, can you still adjust th screen and time it goes into sutting down display etc?

 

My battery last 3 hours tops just surfing the web. It will last just long enough to watch a movie with vlc in optimus mode. Not the best but it normally last long enough for my usage. Thats with the power settings to balanced, brightness is one step up from the darkest.

 

Yes you can. Right click on the little battery icon on your taskbar and select power options, in there you can select the UMA Mode > Change Plan Settings > Change advanced power settings and have fun.

 

For everyone who is interested in, there are new BIOS images:

1.03
ftp://cftp.clevo.com.tw/ALLBIOS/W1x0HNx/BIOS_103.zip
1.05
ftp://cftp.clevo.com.tw/ALLBIOS/W1x0HNx/BIOS_105.zip
1.08
ftp://cftp.clevo.com.tw/ALLBIOS/W1x0HNx/BIOS_108.zip

But no new EC image (so it seems, if one knows more I want to know).

 

Oooo...awesome. How do you know when BIOS updates for Sagers are out?

 

I don´t, but I tried if there are new BIOS images for the W1x0HNX and found these.

But I really want to know what is new in these BIOS images. So does anyone knows a way to find out?

 

The best way to find out is to email into your resellers support or email techsupport@sagernotebook direct with your Sager Serial # (only for Sager Branded Customers) and they can advise you the latest bios out. Non Sager Branded customers can only work with your reseller.

 

Hi all-

Sorry to be off topic here, couldn't find where I saw someone posting with the same HDD as me, might've been in another forum, but I'm pretty sure there's somebody else with a 5160 that has almost the same setup as me.

I've got a Crucial C300 128GB SSD in my NP5160 which runs fine with the exception that each cycle I use the computer it always lags for about 20 seconds, the white accessing HDD LED stays fully lit, and I can't move my mouse or do anything until after about 20 seconds, everything loads and is back to normal. It usually won't do it again until after shut down and next boot up. Not super horrible but wondering if anyone has also experienced this with any similar drives or could read this as a sign that there's a problem with the drive? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks! I have the latest firmware for the drive installed.

 

It might be the LPM acting up. Read this thread for more info:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/solid-state-drives-ssds-flash-storage/578915-crucial-m4-micron-c400-ssd-series-thread.html

Mr. Mysterious

 

@Justin

I have no Sager, but a Clevo from another reseller from Germany. Maybe someone from here and with a Sager could ask?!

 

I updated bios.




And now instead off NHQ the show NHM.
Is there any difference between NHQ and NHM?

 

The difference between the two is a different LCD front panel, one is glossy and the other one is matte finish like the B5130 before it. So no internal differences.

 

Someone knows what has been updated?

 

I believe it turns on VT-d, but besides that I don't know.

 

According to this post, that feature won't be enabled until the next BIOS release.

 

Talking about two different models, The 1.01.04 BIOS is AMI Aptio based and for the HR model, these are Phoenix Tiano BIOS's and for the HN model =)

 

Can anyone confirm or deny for me that the NP5165 has a multitouch trackpad or not?

 

I'm very sure that it has a multitouch trackpad, yes.

But you're posting in the wrong thread....

Mr. Mysterious

 

EDIT:

My mistake, I thought this model wasn't differentiated.

 

Your posting in the 5160 lounge...try the 5165 lounge.

 

So maybe I found something that changed with the BIOS version (I have now 1.08). There seems to be a problem with hibernate and w-lan.

Every time after hibernate, my w-lan doesn´t work as expected. Windows says that the w-lan is deactivated and when I then activated it (with the button) all found networks are shown (for a second or so) and then comes the image (in the left top corner) that w-lan is off and if I then activate it nothing happens (beside the image that w-lan is on).
I will test this with 1.05 and if there is the same problem I will go back to 1.03 (hoping that downgrading works).

 

Does anyone know what is brightness (in terms of nits) of the stock 1080P glossy screen on this laptop? I see everyone advertising 300 nits and so on, so just a little curious

 

I can't count the nits but it sure is bright. When on battery I can use it on the lowest level of brightness without losing image quality and during the night more than 60% can become uncomfortable.

 

Depending on which screen you got (There are a few that make up the "stock" glossy) will be anywhere between 250 - 300 nits

 

yeah i know... its blinding lol...

 

Lurker, first time poster.

I ordered a NP5160 with a core i5 and 1080P glossy screen to replace my 4 yr old inspiron 1520... it has served me well, but I believe it is time to retire it.

I hope the sager is as good as I have read... even though I will miss the awesome speakers my inspiron has with the reviews I've read...

 

well just recently i windows told me my hard disk was failing; speedfan said that it was the reallocated sector count. contacted sager, and they were able to do an advance shipment of a replacement hard disk. swapped it out, restored from a backup, and sent the bad drive back with the label already provided. pleasantly surprised at how smoothly that went.

 

Having a small power issue with my 5160. At around 20% battery I get a notification saying I should plug in soon. By around 18% my computer powers down is goes into hibernate/sleep mode. Is this normal behavior? I feel like I should have a good 30-45 minutes at 20% battery and I'm not getting it. Any ideas?

 

See if you can play with the settings under "Power options" and "advanced power options" in windows.

Mr. Mysterious

 

Right click the battery icon on your taskbar > power options > change plan settings > change advanced settings > battery (should be near the bottom).

Check to make sure the warnings are set at lower percentages and that your low battery/critical battery actions are set correctly.

 

Thanks this was exactly the problem. For some reason it was set to 18% hibernate. Thanks again!

 

I am having an issue with the wireless connectivity of the 5160. I've got the Centrino 6230 card and it seems to be excruciatingly slow then will drop the signal very frequently. Has anyone else had this type of problem? I know its not the router as all other devices are working normally.

 

There are a couple of things to check. Run a speedtest from the link below. Check to make sure the speeds about match what your ISP has you rated for, so you'll know whether the WAN is working correctly. To check the LAN settings, what is your router rated for? It'll most likely be 150 or 300Mbps.

http://speedtest.net/

To compare your router speeds to your connection speeds, left click on the taskbar wifi icon > right click on the connected network > status. It should be listed at the rated speed of your router, assuming you're close enough. If it's not, do the following things:


Properties button on the status window > configure > advanced. be sure that 2.4 and 5.2 channel width are set as auto, n mode is enabled, and transmit power is highest.

If you're still having issues, try power cycling your router, updating the router firmware, and reinstalling the drivers for the wireless.

 

I recognized that the "/" button of the num-block isn´t working right if you not release the key. What I mean is, all keys are sending repeatedly if you don´t release them, but this key isn´t and this is annoying.
Another thing is, if I press a key (and not release it) and try to move the mouse (touchpad) it works only the first time. After this it wont work until I release the key and so I can´t play games which use mouse (touchpad) and keyboard (e.g. Quake).

So can anyone confirm that?

 

I installed Windows 7 on my 8130 and everything went perfectly. However, I had issues using the same USB Windows 7 Ultimate x64 ISO on my 5160. After installing Windows 7, it'd restart as usual and instead of completing the installation, I'd be greeted with the normal splash screen as if I hadn't installed it earlier. The 100MB partition is visible, and ~8GB has been written, so the problem is it being unable to complete the installation.

I'm guessing it's to do with the boot order of my 5160, and my boot settings are my USB HDD, SSD, and SATA ODD in that order.

Any help?

 

Confirmed the "/" problem. No idea why it does that.

I don't have the second problem, though. I pressed "w", moved around the touchpad, and then continued to move while I pressed "a", "s", "d" and combinations thereof. Worked perfectly fine. Do you have this problem only in games?

 

I just found out that I don´t have both problems under Linux. The second problem could be a driver problem, so what touchpad driver do you use?

I always have the second problem, not just with games.

 

Device Manager shows Synaptics, 2/11/2010, v.15.0.8.0

 

Hey guys, sorry to interject. Got a question. I'm looking into one of these, i5 2520M, 540M, 8GB RAM, 500GB HDD. Hows the gaming? I'm coming from an m11x R1, the GPU on it has to be about 25% faster and the CPU... Holy. So, anything? Also, battery life? How is it? Thanks!

 

get the 2630m. where's the sdd? battery life is pretty good. not an all day machine though.

 

You want an all day PC?

Asus EEE PC 1005PR. 10hrs battery life.

Mr. Mysterious

 

i have an all day machine and then some. plugs into the wall quite nicely.