*** Official Clevo P177SM-P170SM / Sager NP8290-8270 Owner's Lounge ***

4930mx samples vary chip to chip, but you should be definitely running cooler than that. Like Meaker said, it is about driving the undervolt because the VRMs and power system of the 170 is poor in regards to handling decent overclocks
on the 4930/4940mx chips.

I find the chip will current throttle around 3.8 on all cores before temps are even an issue running CB15 / Wprime w/ a -100uv on a cherry 4930mx I have (Score = ~745). a 4940 qdqh which will bog out even worse at 3.6 (Score = ~710). I didn't even bother trying conductonaut because
temps aren't the issue and this was with Kryonaut and Nanogrease. Pushing PL and offsets up really make no difference as the system will cap out at ~57w regardless.

 

The one I did when someone paid me to tweak their system was 3.9Ghz 24/7. That's with a thermal pad adjustment, repaste and modified firmware on the p370sm.

 

https://imgur.com/v3dxuID
https://imgur.com/dvPjzzH

Please help, its been some time and I want this baby back working, appreciate your time

 

Looks like the missing device is at the bottom right of your first picture?

 

Missing device? There is nothing missing there, im looking for the backlight fuse on this...
Any help would be appreciated

 

You can follow this method to easily unlock the bios options yourself:

https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thr...-MSI-BIOS-to-unlock-full-features-UEFI-Aptio4

 

Just under c208 and that might be a scorch mark next to that.

 

Yea, certainly looks like it could be, but I never touched it there and the backlight issue appeared when i tried to upgrade to a 120hz screen, which didnt work and lost my backlight with the old screen. I doubt that its a problem, but will check with a multimeter

 

Worth checking out certainly. Could be why a fuse would go.

 

i checked it, one end goes to the ground the other doesnt. It's not a fuse as theres alot of pads that look similar, I can see how someone would confuse this with a knocked out fuse pad.

Does someone know the location of the backlight fuse on this motherboard? I heard Prema had issues with something similar, maybe he can help? Thanks

 

i got an used p177sma without a dgpu. device starts but then begins to beep. so a dgpu is somehow required.
1: or is there a way to use the p177sma only with the igpu as a temporary solution?
2: i have a faulty ati 6990m as spare part. will it be accepted so i can boot and run the notebook?
3: is a quadro k610m compadtible with the p177sma?

 

1. Only with a specifically modified BIOS.
2.Possibly could work, depends if it gives a signal to the temp sensor.
3.Not sure on the top of my head.

 

is such a modified BIOS out there somewhere?
but in the end even if i would have such a special BIOS i could not flash it because of the 30sec shutdown. right?
so i guess my best chance is the ati 6990m. was partly functional in my p150hm before removal so should do the trick.

the cheapest officially supported gpu for p177sma is the quadro k1100m. or is there an even more cheaper gpu?

 

Prema made a couple specifically for people but not generally out there. You could try a lower end quadro, it's just not guaranteed to work.

 

my old partly dead 6990m did the job for now.
what do you mean by lower end quadro?
in the official documents kepler quadros are listed with the k1000m being the lowest (but nowhere to find)
is there any proof that a fermi quadro will work?

 

No but the quadros do tend to be the most compatible. Though a 1100m might be the best just to be sure it works.

 

I installed a Dell M1000M in my daughter's P377SM-A and it works fine. I just had to mod the drivers.

I tested it in her fiance's P177SM-A, and it worked fine too.

But then again it was a Dell card I bought from Doraltech (Origin PC surplus seller) that was clearly config'd for Sager use as it had the MXM3.0B Spreader pre-installed, a copper shim and a custom vbios.

I bought another Dell M1000M from another vendor that is pure, stock Dell, so I'll try that one later this week to see if it works right out of the box like the other one did.

 

good to know. But a m1000m is quite pricy right now. Will keep an eye open for a good offer.
a k3000m is very common as an used part these days. Perfomance should be above average.

 

Hi Guys, new poster here, was just after some advice. I've had a bit of a look but couldn't find info on this problem anywhere, so I apologise in advance if i'm rehashing a previous query. I got hold of a Metabox Clevo P170SM and it will no longer start up. When you turn it on, the fans start up, power light and looks like internet light are on, but then it just flashes the three lights closest to the power light 4 times, then restarts, does it again them shuts down.
I can't find any reference to the error codes for this machine anywhere, but I have changed out the ram, HD, and the video card, but it still does the same thing.
Anyone know anything about this? or where I can find a list of the error codes....
Thanks heaps, and great thread to be going for so long

 

Does taking out any of the parts change the behaviour at all?

 

No, doesn't seem to... I've changed HD, and Ram. I've removed the cd rom, network and bluetooth cards and graphics card. The battery is dead, so I'm running it off the adaptor (which appears to be outputing the correct voltage). It still does the flashing thing. If I knew what that code/flashes indicated, I'd know where to start. I'm assuming if the motherboard was dead I wouldn't get anything out of it..... I was thinking maybe bios, but not sure how i can check that... The guy I got it off said he used to use it for coding/graphic work and that it just stopped one day. There is no external damage that i can see....

 

What about removing the CPU?

 

No I haven't tried that...

 

Worth giving a go, it could be the CPU power circuitry is bad.

 

OK, tried pulling the CPU... hit the power button and I get a green power light momentarily, then it goes back to orange... thats it. I don't have another CPU to swap out and try. so I want to check the PS and make sure it's not being pulled down on startup... If it needs a motherboard (or cpu) parts are getting hard to find :/

 

Are any of the phases shorted? Do you have a multimeter?

 

Dear forum readers,

My GTX 880M died recently on my P170SM. While I consider buying a whole new machine, possibly the X170SM-G w/ RTX 2080 Super, the prices dramatically increased, now I would have to pay 50%(!) more than what I paid for my current computer in 2014. Moreover, there are reports about graphical/underperformance problems, that convinced me to put my order on hold.

That's why I'm considering an upgrade to a GTX 980M instead. From what I've read the 980M seems to be most recent officially supported on the P170SM, but I still have a few questions :

1. Should get a new BIOS or will my current one still work ? My Linux kernel says : DMI: Notebook P17SM-A /P17SM-A , BIOS 4.6.5 03/27/2014
2. Should I get a new heatsink ?
3. I found this, the description says it should work on my machine, plus there's a six months warranty. I usually wouldn't buy there, but in other places the price is tripled. At €200 I can consider upgrading, but if I have to pay €600, that's just too much. Any advices ?

 

Depends on the price and typically the xx70 series is the best bang for buck. Can't comment on any individual seller.

 

If the machine was doing what it needed to do before the GPU went to the great Silicon afterlife, why drop a crapton of money when a replacement GPU will get you up and running? Considering a 970m/980m/1060/1070 makes the economic sense.

A 970m > 880m at the cheapest and coolest points and is faster overall and still runs the newest iteration of Nvidia drivers.

Obviously a 980m and beyond will give you even more of a punch.

1. Your BIOS should be fine, but in the process of upgrading your GPU it never hurts to update to the newest BIOS for your system. When I upgraded my son in law's P170SM-A from an 870m -> 970m I also updated his BIOS before the update.
2. Your old heatsink will work fine.
3. As long as it is a Clevo or MSI 980m (IE NOT a Dell OEM card), you should have no problems getting it up and running.

 

Many thanks for your replies !

Yea you're obviously right and I may very well change my mind regarding my future laptop and get an RTX 2070, but concerning my old current one, I would prefer the most recent. After all, it's not like the 980m just came out, and I have been frustrated with my 880m's performance limits playing some games in recent years, hence that boost would be welcome.

In the present case, the problem may not be the seller, but the manufacturer : while the chip is obviously Nvidia and the VRAM is Samsung, the rest is a mystery ! But since the comments are positive I'm probably going to take the risk.

In fact I have been frustrated by the performance limits while playing some games. Moreover, as my laptop gets older, more and more components are going to fail at some point. I already replaced my CPU fan, and have to regularly re-oil my GPU fan (unfortunately I didn't find a reliable replacement fan yet). Clearly, the fans are not the P17SM's strong point, I didn't have such a problem with my previous M571RU-U and its 8800M GTX during its whole life.

I never did an MXM replacement before, so I prefer to play safe with the 980m.

I've had too many problems with BIOS/vBIOS updates in the past (my first bad experience being with an HP BIOS that was officially supported for my model). Except for overclocking, seems to me it brings at best very minor benefits.

Hmmm, I think it's a Beijing card, but in the comments I saw a happy Clevo owner so I'll probably take the risk !

One last question, any advices about the thermal paste ? I'm hesitating between using the one that will be included with my 980m package, and a super efficient one like the Grizzly Conductonaut (which I suppose would be OK since I have a copper heatsink).

 

Thermal grizzly kyro IMO unless you intend to hammer the 980m. It's much more efficient than the 880m.

 

Thanks for your reply. Having been frustrated to often by thermal throttling with my now-defunct GPU, I may still resort to the hammer on the fly

I see there are packages with only 1g of thermal paste, it that supposed to be enough ? Tbh I never pasted anything before, so the quantities are unclear to me.

Another question still on the topic of heat management, the original fans in my laptop have either died (my CPU's) or are showing signs of their old age. I replaced my CPU's fan a long time ago with a chinese one (the brand is Sunon) and it works well, but I've been less lucky with my GPU's fan replacement (brand DBJBA) that is less powerful than the original as the temperatures say, hence I still use the original, but I have to re-oil it periodically. I've tried to find fans of the original brand (A-Power), but my original laptop reseller has none left in stock, and the only places where I found some are in China. I don't trust them as I fear they will send me a counterfeit copy.

Do you know of a place where I could get those original fans ? Sager for example ? I don't see the offer on their site, but maybe they have some in stock they would be ready to sell ?

Fwiw, here are my fan's references :

• CPU : 6-23-AX510-012 (A-POWER BS6005HS-U0D)
• GPU : 6-31-X720S-101 (A-POWER BS6005MS-U94)

My laptop is a P170SM, or P170SM-A maybe, since the BIOS says P17SM-A, I don't know what the difference is between both models...

 

With liquid metal less is more, you can have to soak the metal with a few applications but that's better than too much which can leak and kill the board.

Contact before application must be perfect, it won't tolerate a gap.

 

Put this way, that's rather frightening, especially for a beginner... I may use the Grizzly Kryonaut after all

 

It is, I would start with that and worry about liquid metal if you want to keep at it.

 

Yes, I'm convinced. Moreover, the Conductonaut is corrosive in some cases. From what I've read, while contact with aluminium should be avoided at all costs, it corrodes copper as well, much much less indeed, but since I'm not considering any form of overclocking, the Kryonaut should be largely enough !

While I'm at it, I will repaste my CPU too. I suppose it will be welcome, after six years...

Concerning the BIOS, I'm not keen on flashing a new one, but maybe I will if there are clear benefits. However, on Clevo's website I don't see any BIOS upgrades for my P17SM-A. Is there any other place where I can see BIOS updates with changelogs ?

 

Is there any sourcebook or service manual available?

 

There is, everything can be found here, drivers and manuals, for various models of Clevos : https://www.clevo.com.tw/clevo_down.asp

EDIT : My bad, I don't see any manual there, though I'm pretty sure it used to be there a few years ago...

 

It's not really corroding the copper as such but not worth worrying about if you don't need to.

 

I finally did replace my GTX 880M with a GTX 980M (plus I repasted my CPU), and it seems to work well (though I didn't put it under high stress yet), however I encountered a few problems :

1. My 880M was attached with screws to some unexpected metal casing so on one side there's the sink, on the other one there's the metal casing. The screws go into the same holes as the ones for the sink, but on the opposite side, and are very small. However, they don't fit in my 980M any more... I could have decided to ditch the casing and put back the GPU alone, but I suppose it's here for a reason (maybe to protect components on the PCB below from the heat ?) so I've put it anyway, and it seems fastened enough without the screws. Is that a bad or a good idea ? Note that between the GPU and the casing, there are additional thermal pads for the memory modules.
2. Being the newbie I am, I thought about the thermal paste but not the thermal pads that are used for peripheral components. There was some included with my new card, but only one thickness, while there were two thicknesses used, so I had to reuse some thermal padding already in place, that was slightly damaged and/or dirty. I assumed that would not be too much of a problem since we're not at the same temperature levels as in the main die. Am I right ? And is there any way I could diagnose peripheral components, such as memory, overheating ?
   
3. My current BIOS doesn't recognise the 980M. It says something like "GPU : unknown". I suppose that could be expected, but would an update with the latest official BIOS for my product (P170SM-A) have it identified again ? Latest seems to be EC 1.03.09 and BIOS 1.03.11.

EDIT :

Yes, here : https://repo.palkeo.com/clevo-mirror/

 

Hi everyone! So about 2 years ago I bought parts to make myself a working P170SM.
Today I started tinkering with the laptop and first thing was to put in the latest revision motherboard, I think it's v3.6A in the barebone that I have.
However, I've noticed that many of the connectors of the barebone didn't match those of the new motherboard. The barebone was V2.1.

Does anyone here have any knowledge with these laptops? It's so hard to know what parts I need in order to make this thing work.

 

SM-a and SM models have some different connector places, correct. It was a fairly significant board revision.

 

@Blacky Maybe the P170SM-A service manual could be of some help to you ? Along with servicing procedures of course, it contains some info about components, and valid configurations (which the user manual contains as well) : https://repo.palkeo.com/clevo-mirror/P1xxSM-A/P170SM-A_ESM.zip

I wonder if that could help too : https://eurocom.com/ec/components(285)CLEVO_P170SMA_SAGER_NP8278

 

You would want a matching board to the chassis.

 

@Meaker@Sager Hi. How many versions of this laptop are there?
I am so confused. I also found different motherboard revisions. Like D03A V3.6 and D03B V3.2. Eurocom said that D03B is the latest version, but then why does the D03A have a higher number?
I did find the compatible sound board for my motherboard revision, I just need a compatible mSATA module, and I think I am good to go.
Might as well buy a barebone with the latest motherboard revision and make the rest of the laptop myself. So far only Eurocom seems still sell these.
@NovHak
I did check the manual, it only has the latest motherboard revision. It also does not contain a history of motherboard revisions.

 

Two major ones, the SM and the SM-a.

 

And which one is the newer versions? SM-A ?

 

The -a which added the official extra mSATA port.

 

You're awesome! Thank you.

 

No problem, has been some time since I was involved with these