*** Official Sager NP8170/Clevo P170HM Owners Lounge ***

Eee gads, all these posts about problems with peoples' Sager laptops is making me kind of nervous about buying one myself. Maybe I might just go with an Asus since they have a good reputation for reliability.
Sorry about your boot problem, SomeGuy111. Why don't you just call them Monday morning?

 

Yeah now it just keeps shutting off and on by its own. Oh god this is a nightmare to wake up to. I shelled out 2k+ for this and waited over 40 days to get my hands on it and this is what I get.

The guys at XoticPC were very helpful in my previous queries but this is just something on a different level. Sorry about the outrage but that's exactly how I am right now... outraged. Way to ruin a Christmas.

 

This should fix your problem:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/602681-clevo-p170hm-cmos-reset.html

Try it overnight if it doesn´t work immediately.

Good luck

 

1. There's over 4,500 posts in this thread. You have to expect some of them to be about problems. You'd have to read the entire thread to get the full picture of how many people are experiencing problems.

2. Uh, about the bolded, the G53 and G74 have been horrible, from a build quality and reliability standpoint. Just go on Newegg or Amazon and look at customer reviews. Asus is a tier below Clevo and Dell/Alienware right now.

 

Just placed my order for a 8170 from Reflexnotebooks. After almost five years, time to update my good ol' M570RU. You've served me well!

Cheers to another five years before I can't run the latest games at all.

 

Alright this might sound dumb but i cant get bing to give me some relative results. If i get the P170hm with the 120hrz 3d matte display + glasses, Will i need to use the glasses all the time in order for it too look normal? for example, if im browsing YouTube do i need to have the glasses on in order to see clearly or do you only need the glasses for watching say a 3d blu-ray movie?

 

You only need the glasses when you're viewing 3D content. Regular usage like web browsing and such won't require them and everything will be the same as you'd expect on any monitor (albeit with the 120hz refresh rate).

 

True, you're right. I shouldn't stereotype Sager based off of only a few posts regarding problems. Maybe I should give them a try and if I don't like Sager, I can just return it and get my money back and go down to my local Fry's Electronics store and pick up an Asus. It annoys me how indecisive I can be at times.

 

8170 is my 2nd sager laptop. it is true that i prefer the warranty policy of asus, 2 years international, and the availability of their service center in my area of stay, but the specs of the sager just makes the problem seems worth it

 

this laptop will end up being used a bit with some autocad programs, but i read somewhere that the 6990m wasnt supported by alot of the cad programs. Does anyone on here with this GPU do any work on any cad programs? like autodesk, revit, etc...

 

It should not be a problem. However, you may be able to reflash the vBIOS to an AMD FirePro M8900, which is the same physical GPU/card as a 6970M, but for business class systems/drivers. Do a google search for the specifics.

Scott-

 

Alright thanks! im headed to school next year for engineering and i know that cad will be a part of that so i wanted to make sure i would be able to run it!

 

I know that the Nvidia Cuda Cores really come alive with my 3d rendering

 

Did that require any special tweaks? Autodesk seems completely unaware that my 460M even exists (of course you could be using completely different programs for all I know) . . .

 

Ok so my laptop decided to work yesterday and after shutting it down just before going to sleep, I now wake up to find that it does not even turn on. The power indicators in the front don't even light up. It's as good as dead now I suppose... seemed this thing only had a 2-3 week period of lifespan. Just great.

So how long does the RMA process take? Do I have to wait another 30-35+ days? The folks over at the US still haven't woken up I suppose and I'm just stressed out too much, so I'm at least hoping to get some info here by the time they wake up.

 

Did you do that, yet?

 

Trying it now but I was about to get a heart attack when I saw the two cables (red and black) just snap out of place... am I really doomed now? I mean they seem to be able to snap back into place, is there still hope if I snap them back into place?

 

Just to add to this, snapped them back into place now but it still doesn't seem to turn on.

 

Keep power line, the small round one and the big Notebook battery disconnected for some more time... also you may try to re-fit the RAM...

 

Thank you for the response. I just had a chat with Xotic PC support and they basically said it isn't an issue. I did also try to keep both the small round thing and the notebook battery (I removed it a couple of days ago anyhow) as well but it didn't seem to work.

As for the RAM I don't really want to push my luck either, and to be honest I don't think the issue is with that as the 2 little lights on the front that light up don't anymore ever since I've begun having this issue. They told me to contact service in which I suppose an RMA is going to be in order now. I just hope the next laptop I get won't die in a matter of 2-3 weeks

 

Without seeing it, it sounds as though either your power supply or motherboard is dead (hence the no lights on the front). Your retailer should get it taken care of though. It also shouldn't take that long for an RMA either. The longest part will be that it's over Christmas/New Years.

 

Anyone have a direct link to the Clevo Bisoncam software? I can't get anything to download from Clevo's website.

 

does anybody have a good transport backpack for your laptop? ive been looking around for something pretty durable that will fit this and havnt really found anything all that interesting...

 

First and foremost, I literally just bought my Sager NP8170 at Powernotebooks and have had a truly great experience with them so far. No joke, good bunch of people, that lot.

Anyway, I had to compromise on the display in order to get the AMD 6990m (matte was only available in 120hz 3d, so it was only available to Nvidia GPU's). Is glossy objectively worse than matte, or is it just a matter of preference?

 

It's definitely a matter of preference. I have the 95% glossy on my personal machine and I don't like matte. The glossy appears to have darker/truer blacks and better contrast than matte, so it's better for photo viewing and editing. Everyone has preferences though. The biggest downside to glossy is that you need to have it at max brightness when outside to combat glare, but how often are you really planning to play games outside on a beach or something?

 

i see it as a matter of preference, but here is a quick you tube video comparing the difference on a pair of mac books i found useful.
Glossy vs. Matte - YouTube

 

I'd recommend the Alienware Orion backpack. I've been toting mine around in that fairly happily and it has a checkpoint ready compartment.

 

Both my laptops have glossy screens. I installed the Viewguard matte screen protector. I sorta get the best of both worlds. I get great colors while not seeing my face looking back at me.

 

I'm currently using a Deuter Giga Flat, but I really should have gotten the office, the flat is too...well, flat to include books when I have the laptop in it.

 

MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service

 

Bought my NP8170 at PowerNotebooks.com. i7-2760, 8 GB RAM, Nvidia 580m. I especially like the video card, hehe.

 

The office looks perfect thanks!

 

I have this exact same problem that just happened to me tonight. I've also had my laptop right around the same amount of time you have, just about 3 weeks. It also always stays on my desk, so no rough handling or anything like that.

I shut down my laptop a few days ago and haven't used it until tonight. Before I did anything, the front power status light was an amber color. I hit the power button but nothing happened at all, it didn't start up or anything, and I noticed the power status light had gone off and wouldn't come back on.

I checked all the a/c power connections and tried it on different power outlets, but still nothing. I unplugged and plugged back in the end of the power cord that plugs into the power brick itself a few times, and after a few tries the power status light came back on as well as the battery status light, both amber.

I hit the power button again and it started up this time, but the screen wouldn't come on at all. The power status light turned blue. Eventually, it shut down on its own. I tried this a few times.

This might have been a major mistake, but I removed the battery while the laptop was off but still connected to the power supply. As soon as I lifted the battery out, a quiet pop sound came from the power brick and it smelled like smoke.

Sorry for the long post, but I guess I just messed up my power supply. I did manage to find the correct power supply to purchase online as a replacement here and here for $125 plus shipping (although they almost seem like the same site now that I look more closely) - model# FSP220-ABAN1 by FSP Group.

Would it be best to just RMA it to xoticpc? I do have the 2 year extended warranty. Or would it be faster/cheaper to just buy a replacement power supply? Would it possibly damage my laptop by not using the power supply that came directly from Sager? I'm hoping the power supply is the only problem anyway. I hope I didn't fry the whole laptop.

PS: Just wanted to note that I've had a great experience with both this laptop and xoticpc! I do believe this is just a power supply failure and hope I can get it fixed soon.

 

rma the charger back to your reseller, that way you have extra 1 spare psu for traveling.

 

@puffinpenguin, sorry to hear about the problems with your AC adapter...let me know if you need info on how to set up the RMA, we've got a form you can fill out on our website.

 

Thanks JP! Is it the form here? Would I enter in the product serial # for the notebook itself or is there one for the ac adapter too? (sorry, I would have just checked for one myself but I don't have it with me right now) Would I select in-warranty repair or return for exchange? Oh and I guess if I'm just sending back the ac adapter, I need a much smaller box than the original packaging the laptop came in.

Thanks again

(I was going to just pm so as to not clog up the forum, but I couldn't find a pm button, lol)

 

No problem, you found it! You'll want to enter the serial number on the notebook itself. Also, select the in-warranty repair since the computer is still very new.

Also you won't be able to PM till 5 posts, I believe, but not to worry you can email me too if needed. Plus other people may have the same questions so no harm no foul

 

Just bought a new Sager NP8170 from powernotebooks.com on the 15th. I'm really looking forward to replacing my old M570RU!

 

hey guys i thought id post in here as i recently took delivery of my P170HM3 (upgraded from a P151HM1) and I am loving the 120hz, 580m, & RAID 0 SSD's its seriosuly could be a desktop replacement for me!

 

That's the machine that I'm wanting to buy; NP8170. I'm thinking about buying from GenTechPC because I've heard they have great customer service and support.
Grechie, what games are you playing on your P170? And how well do they perform?

 

any of you guys tried the machine on the following games.

saint row 3rd
batman arkham city

 

does the HDMI port only work as a "Out" port or does it work as an "in" too?

 

Out only. To get signal in, I believe, you need to purchase an accessory that runs video in through the USB.

 

I've seen little bits of stuff here and there saying Sager will offer backlit keyboards next year.
It is possible to swap the current keyboard with a backlit one?
My common sense tells me its physically impossible with the space it currently has, but just to make sure.

 

Actually I don't think the current motherboards will support it, with our ASUS laptops that have backlit keyboards there is a separate ribbon to power the LEDs. The current Sager motherboards lack that input (and ribbon obviously).

That is if Sager uses the same type of backlit keyboard as ASUS of course.

 

Sorry. It has already been confirmed that you will not be able to swap your current model to a backlit one. Sorry again.
_

 

Aww
Maybe in 5 years when I plan to change laptops again...

 

Played saints row before (really boring game though in my opinion) and it ran fine on all settings on highest except no AA and AO set to low, 1920x108.
I could without a doubt have set AO to max and have a good framerate still, but I probably won't start the game once more so I don't know how well that would work.



Do anyone have any guesses on how big a chance there will be that this laptop will be able to handle a HD7xxxm?

 

I've been playing Arkham City for 3 weeks. My system has the AMD 6970. DX11 is unplayable even after the "patch". The built in benchmark goes as low as 7 fps and averages in the low to mid 20s.

DX10 plays well with the lowest frame rate in the high 20s and the average in the 40s (iirc). This is at 1920x1200 on an external monitor with all the effects on highest settings and AAx2.

I've just left on a vacation without the notebook so I'm posting from memory. Bottom line is I'm able to play Arkham City just fine.

Ira

 

Has anybody tried playing The Witcher 2 on a NP8170? If so, how high can the graphics be pushed while still maintaining good frame rate?