*** Official Sager NP8150/Clevo P150HM Owners Lounge ***

any news on 780m compatibility?

prema make it work?

 

Hoping you guys can help me with my p150hm...

About 4 days ago it stopped booting up. Actually right at the start, it booted up, the keyboard would not respond; i managed to log in using on screen keyboard, but shortly thereafter it gave a hardware failure notice. Since then it does one of two things: (a) the led light will come on and it will do nothing. It won't respond to the power button a second time, I need to disconnect either battery or power cord to switch that off. Or (b) the led will come on, the fans will fire up, and they will get up to a decent speed and then everything will shut down.

I have tested that it's not the hard drive, and I've tested both my ram chips individually and reseated them. I took it into a couple of repair shops and they are saying its the GPU (nvidia 580m); they did try the oven trick on it, but to no avail. Unfortunately I'm currently in Mongolia, so shipping back to manufacturer is out of question at this stage. It also means they weren't really able to fix it here.

I would say I'm pretty familiar with the guts of this machine right now. What I need is a bit of guidance on how to determine if it is indeed the GPU or something else. If I can sort out what the problem is, I can import some parts to fix it.

 

Can somebody tell me if the heatsink used for AMD and nVidia videocards are the same?

 

Is the wifi card of this laptop upgradeable to an 802.11ac Intel card?

 

I dont know of any limitations that it wouldnt be.

 

Are there available Intel 802.11ac cards already?

 

Yes the Intel 7260 is one.

 

I would assume they are not compatible. They are pretty cheap from ebay however.

 

They will have different thermal pad arrangements. Also the two types of card use different X-brackets.

 

I see, then I should buy one, but I couldn't find any on ebay. At RJTech all the shipping options to my country are too expensive. 75$ shipping for a 60$ piece of metal.

 

You could contact your reseller to see if they can order you parts.

 

Greetings Posters:
I have had my Sager since I ordered it from LPC Digital (thanks Larry) after the sandy bridge MB problem and have lurked on this forum since day one. This forum is a vital resource and aids us all. Many thanks to all the retailers who post regularly. My computer has performed flawlessly all this time and I completely satisfied with my decision to get it. No doubt, part of my success is due to the advice many of you have taken the time to post.

It is now getting long in the tooth and Rome II is giving me gpu temps in the upper 90's. I am ready to pull the trigger on a new video card. And I have read with great interest the instructions posted by jaybee83.

All I want to know is: Can these procedures work on an HD 8970M?

 

I would get a 7970m instead. They are the same card but the 8970m is clocked slightly higher but that is something you can modify for free.

 

Yep, not even a respin on the 8970M so it's not even got a better chance of overclocking well.

 

Ah, too bad. The 8970 is only $40 more. I guess I'll go for the known stability. Thanks.

 

Hey guys, dunno if its the best place to post this but im new here.

Does anyone know if any of the upgrades ( amd8970.gtx770 or others) can help me having a dual link dvi connection or even getting a display port out of it, even if p150hm doesnt have displayport output behind. I need to use a 144hz monitor with the p150hm

thanks

 

Displayport needs a physical port on the motherboard.

 

Does anyone else run with two hard drives and have an issue with the secondary drive not appearing after a reboot following any update to drivers or Windows 7? Essentially it seems like anytime a driver is touched, or perhaps the registry, my secondary drive is not detected after a reboot. A subsequent powering off and back on again brings it back. My main drive is a Crucial 256 C300 SSD and the secondary drive is just a typical 7200RPM (don't remember the manufacturer off hand). I also have windows setup such that the libraries (Documents, Pictures, etc.) are mapped to the secondary drive rather than the primary where the OS is installed. I've had this laptop for quite a while and it has always done it. Curious if anyone else sees it.

 

That's pretty strange in my opinion. Is it a repeatable in any way or is there a degree of randomness to it?

 

How long have you had the drive? Maybe you should run CrystalDiskInfo and make sure it's still healthy.

You could also try re-seating it.

My secondary HDD never cuts out or anything but I don't map folders to it (except Steam and music libraries).

 

Could check to see if there is a new bios version.

 

Pretty much whenever I have to do a reboot caused by a driver change. It happens consistently with a GPU driver or windows update, for instance.

This has been doing it since day one. In fact, when I first received the laptop I had called Mythlogic thinking that they had forgotten to install the secondary drive because it was not showing up. They assured me that they did install one and suggested re-seating it. I did so and it came up fine. However, I believe that was all coincidental. What I suspect actually happened is that they finished installing some Windows updates right before it shipped, and when I powered it on the drive was exhibiting this failure to appear upon first rebeoot syndrome, and only needed that second reboot and not to be reseated at all. I've never had a problem with it being recognized except after a forced reboot from some kind of driver update.

I'm pretty sure I got the latest when I upgraded from my 485m to my 680m. The problem was there with the original bios and continues with the recent one.

Thanks for the responses.

 

@JasonNH

Probably best just to get in touch with Mythlogic directly so they can have you run through a few things to determine cause. That is unless they find you on here first! I'm sure they'll be able to help you out.

 

I already did and they have not had any other reports of it, which is why I came here.

 

Yeah, pretty strange and I haven't heard anybody else reporting it either.

 

Would you please use CrystalDiskInfo so we could get the make and model of the HDD (or you can get it from the drive itself)? It might be a known issue.

Does it disconnect while you're in Windows or only upon rebooting? You might try using windows explorer or having something open that's located on the drive and seeing if it disconnects while the file or program is open.

 

Here is the information for the drive. It never really disconnects. It just does not show up at all in Windows following a reboot after a driver or Windows update. It's like Windows doesn't see it at all. I should do more digging next time and see what shows up in the device manager, et. al. I checked Samsung for a possible firmware update and there does not appear to be one.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(2) SAMSUNG HM640JJ
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Model : SAMSUNG HM640JJ
Firmware : 2AK10001
Serial Number : S2FTJDRB200428
Disk Size : 640.1 GB (8.4/137.4/640.1/640.1)
Buffer Size : 16384 KB
Queue Depth : 32
# of Sectors : 1250263728
Rotation Rate : 7200 RPM
Interface : Serial ATA
Major Version : ATA8-ACS
Minor Version : ATA8-ACS version 6
Transfer Mode : SATA/300
Power On Hours : 6867 hours
Power On Count : 2633 count
Temparature : 29 C (84 F)
Health Status : Good
Features : S.M.A.R.T., APM, AAM, 48bit LBA, NCQ
APM Level : 0080h [OFF]
AAM Level : FE00h [OFF]

 

I may have missed it but did you do any SMART tests to check the drive health or for any bad sectors or anything like that?

Newegg reviews (although probably not that reliable) show a lot of people that have drives that arrived DOA or died within a year (as does Amazon).

 

Yeah typically hard drives do not get firmware updates.

 

Well I mostly just a lurker but after recently upgrading to a 680M and I want to share some information that I wish was around before I started this whole thing. So let me start at the beginning:

Two weekends ago I decided that while my old Dell 24" 1200p display was nice its 15" brother on the laptop was just to small. Don't get me wrong when I m traveling I like the size of my 15" notebook but for home desk use I wanted something a little bigger. After doing a little research I decided upon the ViewSonic VP2770 a 1440p display. Though there were two issues: Issue one was that from everything I read my AMD Radeon HD 6990M would not display to three screens at once (this is true it would not) and I was fine with this. Issue two was that I needed a Dual Link DVI port in order to output 1440p (the HDMI on the laptop is not capable of anything higher than 1200p.) So after looking through the literature the NP8150 says it supports Dual Link DVI so great I put the order in. Well my new monitor arrives and guess what after searching for issues about it I finally come to the conclusion that the AMD Radeon HD 6990M is a POS since I have been reading about lots of dead 6990Ms and that it doesn't support Dual Link DVI on my new 27" 1440p monitor. Though in my search I did see a couple posts about the NVIDIA GTX 485M supporting Dual Link DVI on the NP 8150. So I decided to take a chance and upgrade to a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M and it payed off!!! I am now staring at three gorgeous screens: the 15" laptop at 1080p, the 27" ViewSonic at 1440p actually using Dual Link DVI, and the 24" Dell at 1200p. Yes all three monitors work at the same time and the DVI port is now actually a Dual Link DVI port.

Cliff Notes:
AMD Radeon HD 6990M:
1. Will only display to two screens at once (pick two: laptop screen, DVI, or HDMI)
2. The DVI on the 6990 is NOT a Dual Link DVI port (it will not display resolutions over 1200p)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M
1. Will output to all 3 screens at once (Laptop, HDMI, and Dual Link DVI)
2. The DVI port is now actually a Dual Link DVI port.

 

Hey Everyone I got a question for ya'll. So I've seen a couple people doing upgrades from 6990m to the gtx 680m. My question is what about the 780m? Does anyone know if I just buy it and install will I just have to uninstall the current 6990m and shutdown the np8150, install the 780m and "POOF" everything will work fine? (meaning after I install the 780m, turn the computer back on and install the nvidia driver everything will work.) I did talk to a Sager tech rep on the phone and he said it should work it just wouldn't be supported.... I currently have windows 8 installed Everything is working fine, but I really want a card that can handle 2013 graphics (like crysis 3 ultra specs). Currently my 6990m can't handle the Cry Engine 3 load, I have to put everything at low specs

Thanks in advance!

 

Pretty well reported on here that those upgrades to the 780m will not work at this time. The Sager rep may have just misunderstood what you're asking. The models will not support the 7xx line of cards at this time.

 

With the original vbios on it the sager 680M would be a slot in upgrade.

 

After I installed my new GTX 675M, my CPU fan is louder than before, it's running a lot faster.
The temperatures are always at 45C to 52C and it's running at, I would say, 60% to 70% of speed.
Before, it would only speed up at 65C and more.

I haven't changed my EC or my BIOS, is there any EC I could try that has a better fan profile?

 

Well try updating to the latest set in the legacy bios thread.

 

Ok cool thanks guys! Yeah I figured the 680m would be the best as I saw there are some sold with the VBIOS already setup on it for the np8150. Thanks!

 

Not a problem, you can have some real fun with an unlocked vbios too.

 

I have what seems to be a dead gpu. Any input would be appreciated.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/735665-another-6990m-bites-dust.html

 

Did you manage to upgrade to the Intel card?

 

Anyone playing BF4 on their 6990m? Tips for frame rate increase? Can't justify spending the money on a 680m just for one game. I'm playing on medium at ~40fps and low at ~45-60fps. My FOV is 90, no motion blur, no vsync

 

I'd look out for the usual suspects that impact framerate. Shadows, DOF, that sort of thing.

 

Hello all, fellow 8150 owner here. Got it Dec 2011 so almost two years.

Last week I installed new drivers for my 6990M and brought my laptop out for a clean with canned air (y'know, prepping for BF4). After these things the screen started getting horizontal lines, and the screen got "split" (half of the left would go to the right) occasionally, and after 3 days or so the whole thing went kaput. I could see the Sager screen, and boot in Safe Mode (and tried to roll back drivers), but not anything beyond that. No Windows boot sound, etc.

After reading through the P150 manual (and looking around the net) I took the card out (dislodging the thermal pads and thermal paste in doing so), and put it back in, and rebooted it - this time the screen was completely gone, couldn't see the Sager logo, but surprisingly it went into Windows(!) as I could hear the login sound and I could Alt-F4 to shutdown. Very peculiar. No video access in any case.

After reading the past 30 or so pages of this thread it seems very likely that:
1) the 6990M is crapped out
2) it's been quite a horror story for a lot of other people too

I've contacted several overseas suppliers, am based in New Zealand so the closest for me is Aus, plus the laptop supplier I got from Malaysia. While they both recommended that I get another 6990M, one of the suppliers said I could do the 675M as well (some commenters have said I can only stick to AMD cards because of mobo). I've seen some people comment about the 7970M (which imho would be good as an upgrade, and I've seen some upgrade kits on ebay) but the other suppliers didn't seem to recommend it, and I presume its because there needs to be a new BIOS installed etc.

Does anyone know why/how the laptop has performed the way it did? I'm about 99% sure it's the GPU but somehow being able to boot into Windows made me think that there was another way of solving the problem lol Also is it worth the effort/money trying to get the 7970M in when I can't install a new BIOS (as I have no video)?

Would appreciate any 2c that anyone can give the pains of living in a country with no Sager companies...

 

I can relate. It was really stressful for me to get a new card to replace my dead 6990M since there is no reseller in my country that would sell a card to me. I chose to get a 675M on e-bay since I was short on money and I didn't want a 7970M. I believe the 7970M might have the same problems as the 6990M and die after 1-1.5 year.

As for your card, it's really dead. These are the common symptoms of a dead GPU.

Best of luck!

 

Thanks a lot for that Luxw - and there was no problem getting that 675M in? That's probably the option I will go for, the 7970M seems like a bit of a hassle and there's the risk of a premature failure as well. I was offered an option to upgrade to the 680M but for $360 I didn't think it was worth the price.

 

I would definitely go for a 680M for $360 if I had the option.
If are able to get a Clevo 675M, then go for it.

The problem with the 675M is that there's only a few made for Clevo, and a bunch made for Alienware.
Without knowing that Alienware's card wouldn't work on Clevo laptops I bought a 675M that was pulled from an Alienware. For my luck, it worked. But there's a case in this same forum that someone bought one from the same seller as I did (on e-Bay) and his didn't work.

Also I experience a lot of trouble with drivers, most of them don't install. I tried a bunch from laptopvideo2go and now I'm using an outdated driver.

Anyway, I hope you can make your mind and get a new card

 

It's actually $360 more than the 675M, I misspoke ($799 vs $439)

I'm getting the card from Metabox in Australia, so they should know what to do, at least I do hope so!
Fingers crossed that the latest driver will be ok for BF4, that's all...

Thanks for your advice!

 

Hey everyone,

Anyone knows if an MSI GTX 670M "Type B" would work with a Sager NP8150? Planning to buy that and sell my NP8150 at a loss...

Or, are there any potential buyers for an NP8150 minus a GPU?

 

If I recall that card will work with a BIOS flash that you can email your reseller for.

 

Hi Everyone,

Can i updgrade my GTX 560m to an AMD 8970m or GTX 770m on my CLEVO P150HMx?

And have you any suggestions where i can buy one of these cards? Have found some on ebay but if there's written: Compatible with M17x Alienware, is it also compatible with my mainboard?

Greetings
Black

 

The 7xx series wont work in older generation clevo/sager models unfortunately. The best bet is finding an HM compatible 7970M (same chip as the 8970M). It needs to have the right bios on it to work, if you can get the correct heatsink too that would be a bonus.