D901C / Sager 9260/9262 / Pro-Star 9191 Owners Thread

Yes Shyster1, were are still here. We were rejected by the Rapture for going to the dark side [Clevo]... AlanP

 

Lukeman, thank you! My motherboard revision is 5.0a. My understanding about the difference between the 5.x and the 4.x is that the 5.x supports some quad-core processors. I'm not sure about the video cards. I also have the 7950GTX...

Yea, it's all about upgrading our systems that are a bit long in the tooth now! =)

Also, AlanP do you have the NP9262?

 

If you contact [email protected] they can get you an inverter. I think they are about $75 with shipping.

Also, it may be your backlight lamp (bulb) that needs to be replaced and you may need a new screen.

If you need a new screen, you may want to take a look at 247laptoplcd.com <--That links to the monitor that my machine has. You may have a different screen than that one, so make sure you know what you have and they should have a replacement, should you need one.

 

Your serial number is on the bottom of your laptop, towards the back near the exhaust vents. At least mine is...

 

I still have my sager np9260, still rocking strong lol. thinking of selling it, any interest here?

 

They are a hard sell lately as despite being the awesome beast in their day, they are relatively weak and unimpressive now

 

unless you upgrade one of them.

 

Your post makes NO sense........

 

So there is no real sense is trying to sell one due to age?

 

You can sell it, just do not expect anywhere near what you paid for it

 

if you wait for some big corp. to make it for you, it doesn't.

 

No, it makes no sense because you said unless you connect a GTX 580 or something like that (should have quoted since you changed it)

 

unless you connect them to a powerful external card ... I hope it makes sense now, at least from the spelling point of view.

The point of my post was:
Why would you have to judge a laptop as being obsolete as long as it is not cpu bound with some decent external video card solution? Because we are cornered by corporations to spend more money on partial new technologies that become obsolete in a few months themselves?

and then some.

 

Well few issues there....first off you cannot connect it to an external video card that will outperform what It can take internally as the external card would be limited to PCIe x1 link.....secondly, that CPU (Core 2 Quad) IS obsolete (3 generations old now). While adequate for basic stuff modern stuff is MUCH more performance per watt

 

of course i am not talking about the barely PCIe x1 link (which disappeared anyway), while Q9650 and x3380 found their match only recently with the new (mobile) Sandy Bridge quads that are overkill for gaming anyway. In conclusion, I continue to like my D901C and its further chances.

 

Do not get me wrong it is still a great machine but has no resale value due to what is out now (A core i3 will beat those CPUs)

And your CPU was beat when the first gen i7 stuff came out (I was in the same boat with a QX9300)

 

Apparently D901C supports 1600Mhz Bus Speed but I have not found a record of somebody trying the QX9770:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/244111-will-qx9770-run.html#4

One member of a French forum has said that people in US have tried it unsuccessfully
but I haven't found anything on this.

 

I have actually heard that it specifically does NOT support 1600

Only upto 1333

 

Intel P965 so no 400mhz fsb support. That's only P45/x38/x48 i think

 

It was the inverter and I got one for $86 + shipping from Sparepart World: Notebook, Laptop and Netbook Harddrives, Keyboards, LCD screens, Power Supplies, CD Rom and DVD Drives!. It took 3 weeks for me to get it because it was shipped from Denmark

Also, Is there anywhere I can download drivers for my D901C after I install Windows 7 Professional 64-bit? Or dows anyone know if I load Windows XP and update all the drivers and then upgrade to Win7 will it work that way?

 

You can't upgrade to Win7 from WinXP like you can from WinVista to Win7. Installing Win7 over WinXP will require a fresh install, although from what I understand, you should be able to use the upgrade disc for the Win7 install instead of the regular version. Check out Microsoft's website to see what they recommend. There is some sort of backup tool they suggest you use before installing Win7 over WinXP.

I'm not sure where the drivers are that you are looking for, but if I come across them I will post a link here.

 

I appreciate any help I can get. My problem is that I am currently running Windows XP Pro 32-bit , I have all the updates and drivers loaded so that all the devices are working. What I am trying to do is to upgrade it to Windows XP Pro 64-bit or Windows 7 Pro 64-bit edition to maximize the RAM. I know if I update to Windows XP Pro 64-bit I will have no trouble with drivers as I already have them.

When I loaded Win7 Pro x64 I was able to utilize the native drivers for all the devices with the exception of the camera. I would also like to be able to install the Nvidia drivers for the two 8800M GTX I have in SLI but I could not find any support for them with Win7 OS.

 

You can get the Nvidia drivers from here, select the Win7 x64 type:
Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers

then set the SLI mode from the Nvidia Control Panel.

 

ok the x3380 is a xeon, can I just buy one and put it in and it will work? would i need to install any software?

 

Should work fine once installed.

 

Hello, I need a new GPU for my D901C and am split in between buying a Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M and Nvidia Quadro FX 3700M. As far as I understood, they are the same hardware-wise. However, I also read that most people flash their 3700M into a 280M with different rates of success. What is the advantage in doing this? I will be using my laptop mainly for gaming. My BIOS is from 24/8-08, does this mean that I should be able to install the 3700M and use it without any problems? The 3700M I am looking at is BIOS version 62.92.5C.00.05 ( http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=329205 and http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...ne-successfully-flashed-their-3700m-280m.html makes me think that this is an issue, especially as the card is a Lenovo). Is there any difference in performance, heat generation and performance between the 280M and 3700M? The 280M is almost twice the price of a 3700M - which one would be preferable?
Also, it has come to my attention that most people apply thermal paste to their GPUs. When I opened my machine, I saw that neither of the GPUs had any on them. Both of the GPUs are dead, likely from overheating. Is this a bad move from the retailer? Also, there is an offer for the 280M that includes a headpad (or thermal pad) - are these as effective as thermal paste at conducting heat and prolonging GPU life time?

 

I have never seen a 280M GTX PCB, but I have seen tiny differences (a few tiny IC's) between 8800M GTX/9800M GTX and 3700M. Therefore, it is not just a purely VBIOS problem.

 

As long as they are MXM 2.1 cards, the should fit into a MXM 2.1 slot on the motherboard. My apologies if I am misunderstanding you, but I am very sure both of the GPUs I mentioned are compatible with the D901C model.

 

Almost true.
280M GTX (MXM 2.1) should work even if it wasn't qualified officially to work with D901C. 3700M should work of the bat if you have the Clevo one; if you want to use a 3700M from another OEM you might have some problems, directly because of an incompatible LVDS vbios part or when flashing on it an unmodified 280M GTX vbios.

 

Can someone tell me where I can find an updated Bios for the D901C. All the ones I have found are over a year old.

 

Thanks for the reply. I ended up purchasing a GTX 280M from mxm-upgrade.com for 500 euros. Received it today and finished installing it and the new drivers literally minutes ago; there was no trouble doing this (although it was very nerve-wrecking for the inexperienced computer enthusiast), the video card was recognised as soon as the driver was installed and it's running at a nice 40-60 degrees centrigrade (haven't tried it's gaming capabilities yet).
Can't believe I'm finally over with this Kobalt nightmare, took nine months, approximately 800 euros and two hardware replacements made by myself, but seems I finally have a working machine again!

 

The newest that I am aware of are here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/556299-clevo-bios-older-models.html

I'm not sure if there are newer Bios than that.

 

Wow, grats! I hope the temps stay low while gaming! =)

 

I want to get a 280m GTX for my d901c...I contacted xoticpc and they said that sager would install it only if I mailed my computer into them...is there anything difficult about installing the card that I wouldn't be able to do it myself?

 

So, I was looking to upgrade the DVD-RW drive that came with my D901C but when I pulled the drive out it was not a standard SATA or IDE connector. My question is what the HELL is it? Second, has anyone upgraded their drive with a Blu-ray drive? If so, which model would you recommend due to the connector?

 

It should be the old PATA connector. Here is the standard Blue-Ray drive that was sold as the standard option by the Sager resellers:
Panasonic UJ-120 | eBay

Make sure it is the UJ-120 Panasonic (Mats hita) .
Make sure you do not confuse it with the newer UJ-210, UJ-220, etc.Those should work with a SATA connector, not with D901C's PATA connector.

 

Thank you very much. Really?! A PATA connector for a machine like this? Seems kind of messed up that they go that route when SATA was available.

 

Yes, SATA became the interface of choice for ODD's in 2008, after the original design of D901C (2007). It does have SATA for its internal disks.

 

The UJ-220 Panasonic Blue-Ray burner has the PATA interface and it will also work in D901C.

 

I've had no prior experience with replacing GPUs and managed to do it successfully. You need to be very delicate with how you handle the card and careful with the screws. The worst part is probably re-attaching the heatsink, as this had to be jerked into position while being on top of the GPU. I'd recommend using thermal paste as well - applied a moderate amount on top of my 280M GTX and it runs at 30-40 degrees iddle and 40-60 when playing Fallout New Vegas at 1920x1200 and ultra high graphics. Seems Kobalt Computers did not apply any thermal paste to my GPUs, explains the high temperatures I had before (although two 9800M GTX cards naturally produced more heat as well), I am afraid this is what lead to their death. Quite disappointing really.

As a side note, I turned on my laptop today and my hard drives running in RAID0 had failed and I was unable to boot. Restarted twice and suddenly it worked again. I have also been experiencing some infrequent clicking noises (they come and go) from what I think is one of my hard drives. A quick Google search suggested the terrifying risk that one of my hard drives is dying. Does anyone know of any preventive countermeasures I can take towards this issue (already did a backup)?

 

If you have a failing RAID0 disk you will loose the whole partition covered by the configuration (or affected failed sectors). This is why you generally put only OS and install applications on RAID0, the data partition should be on a third separate disk.

I would recommend you first do a backup of your RAID0 data partition - if any, then replace the failing disk, then reinstall all OS and applications, and finally recover your data from the backup.

 

Hello all.

After 2 and a half years of use, my 8800M GTX has died and resurrecting via baking has all but failed. My concern at the moment is the precious data stored within the drives running on RAID-0. I speculate that looking for a desktop mobo with ICH8R/ICH9R/ICH10R and "migrating" the array there might work but would you fellas have any other recommendations?

Thanks a lot in advance.

 

I installed a D901C(rev6.x) 9800mGTX in my old rev5.2 D901C.

No display on the built-in screen, so I pulled up an external monitor then it worked.

I tried 9800MGT vbios and GTX260m vbios.

Both could light up the built-in screen.
9800MGTX with 9800MGT vbios would crash or go flicking @ full load.
But with GTX260m(MXM2.1 version,62.92.78.00.08) vbios, 9800MGTX worked flawlessly.I also did some benchmark.

Spoiler

 

If you intend to use a desktop motherboard look at these adapter brackets for your HDD's:
Amazon.com: ssd adapter

You could also buy a newer Sager NP8170/Clevo P170HM laptop that also supports RAID0.

 

Hello all I have a rock xsl8/901c one of the gtx8800 cards has gone u/s does anyone know where I might buy just the card if possible needs to run sli with the remaining gtx8800 seller from uk would be nice thanks for looking

 

Was thinking about upgrading my processor on my D901C to a quad core. Was wondering if I just bought any LGA775 socket CPU it will work. Was looking at a Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600. Any suggestions?

 

If you are looking at a Q6600, just make sure it is G0 stepping(aka. SLACR).

 

Got it, thanks. Just wondering what is the difference between using a SLACR or a SL9UM besides the stepping. Does it really matter?

 

If I recall correctly, the only real benefits to the G0 SLACR stepping came with lower power consumption and higher overclocking potential. It's been a few years since I last worked with one though

AnandTech - Intel Core 2 Q6600 G0 Stepping: Cheap Quad Core Just Got Better

 

After running normal for 3 months, this old machine has decided to stop... working.

I don't know what has happened to it. HDD: checked, RAM: checked, GPU is normal, but still, it keeps freezing completely at the windows startup/loading screen several times. Can't type a single word.

And when it magically manages to start up properly into Windows 7, it still freeze here and then for no reason. Temp is normal...

I did format the hdd, reinstall a fresh copy of Windows, but it's still freezing after that.

Tips for this, anyone?


Edited: Another strange symptom: when I think it freezes, my USB mouse can't do anything but the touchpad mouse can move around... Wat happened? I tried plug all of my usb peripherals out but it's still the same. And also, it usually freezes in Windows 7 when I turn Yahoo messenger on or Skype is running...