Sager NP2096 Owners Lounge

Does anyone know if xoticpc.com by any chance accepts payment plans?

 

No they do not. I believe the acceptable forms of payment include check, credit card, and wire transfer.

 

Thanks a lot.

 

Has any one tried to update the BIOS of the NP2096 with the new bios file on compal's website for the JHL90( http://www.compal.com/asp/driver_dnd/index.htm)?

If so, how did you do it? From a dos boot disk or in windows?

Any Difference?

Thanks

 

Hey can you guys comment on the latest drivers that haven't had ANY problems? The latest drivers that work with every game?
Thanks!

 

Hey what programs do you use for your webcams?

 

I must be seeing something you're not. From what I gather, the latest bios is 1.07 and that's the one with came with my system so I'm not sure if that's the new one you're talking about.

I am currently using the 178.15 drivers and they're incredible. My GPU idles at 49-51C! However, I just did a clean system install so haven't tested games just yet. I hear everything's fine though.

I use Debut:
http://www.nchsoftware.com/capture/index.html

 

So I have had the NP2096 for a few days. Overall it is a pretty nice machine, but I must admit I am a bit disappointed. Performance isn't quite what I expected. It almost seems like a downgrade from my Asus G1.

Here is my config:

P8600
2 Gigs Ram
200gb 7000RPM HDD
9600m GT (obviously)
Vista Ult 32bit

I ordered another stick of ram and am waiting for it to arrive, I expect it will solve some of my performance issues. I am also disappointed at how hot the machine gets while gaming. Playing the same game on the same settings (WOW) this get a lot hotter than my G1. I am thinking of going back to the asus. Even when just browsing the internet and going through files this computer stutters. I upgraded because I want a laptop that will run smooth. Anyone know if there is anything I am doing wrong? Maybe a driver update somewhere? I am running Bios 1.07 and 179.13 for my vid driver.

Thanks,
Dan

 

How hot does your machine get? Got any screenshots of temps?

My temps range from 62-66C with no cooler. What I do when I go home and I don't bring my cooler with me, I prop up my notebook by using a small book right underneath the battery and my GPU temp goes down to about 59C. With a cooler, my GPU temps get down to 49-52C so it is a noticeable difference. I'd recommend getting a Zalman NC1000.

 

Just hit 93 while playing wow. The room I am in is pretty cold and the laptop is propped up to allow airflow from under. I wouldn't even mind the temp of the GPU as much but it is uncomfortable to play a game for more than 15-20 minutes because it gets too hot to leave my wrist there.

 

Hmm, I would say it looks normal but personally I'd be worried as well. The highest I've seen my GPU temp is in the high 70s after playing Crysis. But keep in mind, I'm always using the cooler when I'm gaming so as you can see it makes a pretty big difference.

 

Aside form the temperature issues, how is your performance? I have been surprised at how long it takes to open a program once I click on the shortcut. Also, I am a photographer and use Adobe lightroom a lot and was surprised at how much this laptop stutters when going through pictures or doing any editing. Perhaps there is a driver that is better suited for these applications?

 

^--^
What is your configuration?

Do you have Intel Turbo 2.0 with those applications that you use most pinned to it?

 

has anyone put ubuntu on their 2096? i have mine set up with both ubuntu and vista. however, i cannot figure out how to get the wireless to work when i'm in ubuntu and thus have had to use vista for the past month.

has anyone else had this issue? if so, what is the solution to it?

this is my first time on linux, so i'm not completely comfortable poking around.

thanks!

 

That's very strange. My notebook is blazing fast and I've never had any complaints regarding performance. I have a P9500 and 4GB of RAM but it shouldn't make such a dramatic difference. Also, I made sure to remove all of the unnecessary background processes and startup applications so try doing that and see if it helps.

 

No turbo mem, didn't get it because I heard it was more trouble than it's worth. I don't have very many startup apps at all. It's not like the notebook is extremely slow or anything, but it is much slower than my old Asus G1 which had a T7200 2Gigs of ram and a Geforce Go 7700.

 

Need a Zalman NC2000 Cooler ... problem fixed! Read the folowing Thread!

NBR Cooling Central
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=263039

G!

 

Aw there's gonwk...did you have fun squealing to your mommy Chaz about my avatar? You must feel so much better now

You'll probably run along and report this post too lol

I think that extra gig of RAM will be helpful for you but again, I'm very surprised that your system isn't that fast. If you do end up getting a cooler, don't get the NC2000 get the NC1000. It's cheaper and it fits this notebook just fine.

 

mr president, judging by your temps i think the nc1000 is better than the 2000, i currently am using the 2000 and idle gpu is around 65 with load from 80-88 depending on the game

 

You know, I have heard that the NC1000 cools better than the NC2000. I even read about reasons why this is true but I don't recall them off the top of my head. What drivers are you using?

 

Guys, I am having a horrible time getting the turbo memory set up. When I go to open the program I get an error message stating: It appears that the Intel Turbo memory is not functioning properly or is not present.

I have tried installing the newest drivers directly from the website and nothing ever changes. Both boxes are grayed in the memory controller.

Any help would be great. I love the laptop so far but it makes me sick to my stomach to think I spent 80 bucks on something that I can't get to work. I could have saved that money or upgraded another component.

 

Welcome to the forum reishi

Your best solution would be to call your vendor's tech support for help and warranty support.

 

Hi V,

2096 is 14.11" wide so may be the NC2000 it is a better fit ... at least your laptop is not hanging over the cooler. And NC2000 actually should give you a much better cooling ... see this thread below ...

The 15.4” Smackdown: Zalman NC1000 VS NC2000 *detailed*
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=281575

G!

 

i was using 177.92, just upgraded to 179.13. so far idle temps are the same, ill try under load later.

 

The 178.15 drivers dropped my temps pretty good, though not by much from 178.13. I wonder if the assembly of these notebooks varies in some way, because a few users have had great temps while others have had relatively high temps.

 

did the 178.15 drivers just come out? i dont remember seeing them... ill check it out. i think my temps also have something to do with where/how my laptop is setup on my desk; i have a feeling it would run alot cooler in the middle of the room when the ac is on anyways im fine as long as the temps dont get up to 90C.

//edit: i have just discovered that with my external monitor, gpu temps idle at around 66C, while without it (as in disabled in windows properties) it idles around 54C... ill check under load this weekend.

 

@ bartytewart:

The link to Cooling Central that gonwk just posted really helps with the temp.
I followed most of the stuff on there (aside from buying a cooler... maybe I should
get on that) and I lowered all my temps about 20 degrees. Undervolting, especially,
really made a big difference.

 

undervolting makes an amazing difference for cpu temps, mine idle at like 24C now and never go above 41C... im pretty sure when i tested it the first time with orthos it got up to around 80.

has anyone ever underclocked/undervolted a gpu before? im considering it, i dont mind my load temps but i feel like 66C for idle is too high

 

Well, I ended up with some bad news. After I called the tech support, it appears that the ACHI was never engaged on the HD before I installed Vista. I would have done it before I installed the OS but I didn't know that it was required to utilize the piece of hardware. At any rate, I don't want to even think about re-installing the OS at this point since I am in the middle of a semester and have already got close to 50 gigs worth of stuff on the drive.

A piece of paper that instructed the purchaser of any special steps required to utilize an extra piece of hardware that added almost 100 dollars to the price of the laptop would have been great though.

On a side note though, I installed Rivatuner to monitor my temps in games and the GPU gets up to 95 degrees. So I added a laptop cooler and that dropped it down to 92 degrees. Is this as bad as it sounds in my head because it sounds pretty bad in my head?

 

idoubtit: I already had read that and have undervolted and am loving the temps of the cpu. I have heard you cannot undervold a gpu but i am not sure about that.

Reishi: I am not sure if this works or not but I came across this article a little bit ago if you wanna check it out. It sounds like this guy enabled AHCI after windows installation.

http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=444831

 

You can undervolt a GPU via bios flash.

 

Yikes, makes me glad I haven't purchased a cooler yet. What kind are you using? My GPU hit's the same and actually get's hotter if I don't have the back propped up while playing.

 

Awesome. I will try that as soon as I get back to the house.

I really hope it works. Even if the Turbo Memory is still undecided as far as its usefulness, I would love to be able to make that decision for myself.

 

My first impression after 3 days:
-Amazing,powerfull,durable jhl90

my hard drive is seagate 250gb/5400rbm .....there is something weired ....i can hear its voice even without any activity!!!!!!!!!

Temp. with usual web surf and working :
cpu:45
gpu:55
HD:42

what last nvidia drive work on jhl90?

 

i have tried everything from 177.92 to 179.15 and they all work (as well as some others). some might not work with specific programs though, you need to find out for yourself. for example, i use 177.92 because battlefield 2142 has artifacting with every other driver i have tried.

 

Bad news... I can turn on my laptop but nothing is showing on my screen. The last thing I remember doing is putting the computer into hibernate.
Does anyone have a solution to this? or is my laptop dead after about 2 months...

 

Man, I hope the latter isn't the case, Kabu. I was having trouble with the hibernate function on my desktop so the first thing I did when I installed the OS was disable it. You can usually hold the power button for about 5 seconds to kick-start the system. At least that is what I used to do.

I was able to find a work around for enabling the ahci after the OS is installed. The link above seems to only work with XP but I came acroos a way to do it in vista without having to reinstall the OS.

To resolve this issue, enable the AHCI driver in the registry before you change the SATA mode of the boot drive. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Exit all Windows-based programs.
2. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
3. If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.
4. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci
5. In the right pane, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.
7. On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.

Then just insert the driver disc and boot from it. Enable the AHCI and restart.

 

umm sorry but I won't be able to follow those steps if I'm seeing a blank screen when I turn on my laptop?
And I don't really understand the AHCI stuff you are mentioning. What is it supposed to do?

Is it bad to put the laptop in hibernate and turn it back on after 10 or 15 minutes? I think I did that way too much. I always think I would be away for longer.....

 

when turn on your laptop bios features open .....if that so you have to press on button F8 then choose normal windows......
hibernate make problems with some windows not hardware issue....

 

The thing is not even the bios features open. It's like the screen completely died. I see nothing when I turn on my laptop. Could it be a video card malfunction?

Edit: Tried pressing the key and nothing happens.

 

So does the laptop work without the screen? Maybe the LCD isn't connected properly?

 

sager 2096 have 2 gpu integrated intel and nvidia dedicated and your bios shown by integrated ......i think its purely to LCD .....can you hear your hard drive working?

 

The 2096 only has a dedicated Nvidia GPU.

 

when I turn on the laptop the fan goes for about 2 seconds and I don't hear the hard drive working at all.

 

Which drivers are you guys using to overclock the GPU with? None of the ones I have tried so far allow for it. Do you have to use a really old driver and if so are the benefits in overclocking lost due to the drivers age?

Thanks for the help.

Kabu, I would call the sager support line first thing in the morning. They are very helpful and will know what your next move should be.

 

Hi Reishi,

Check out these Threads ...

Overclocking Sager NP2096 GPU 9600M GT
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=301374

HP DV5T 9600M GT Overclock
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=305168

Overclocking the 9600M GT DDR2
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=293879

I suppose you are prepared to eat up Your Warranty ... once you OC your GPU!?!?

Hope this was helpful!

G!

 

At this, I am just angry at how difficult it is being to OC the ****ed thing. I have been OC'ing components for years and have never had this much of a problem. Running at 95 degrees stock I doubt that I would over clock it any at all but i would like the option to set up custom profiles for battery usage.

 

I've recently been having some problems with my fan. My friend dropped my backpack with my laptop in it (just like foot or something) and now everytime my fan runs it makes a fairly loud and very obnoxious sound. When i flex the area around it a bit it stops. I'm not entirely sure whats causing hte problem, i'm thinking of popping it open if thats possible or something. Anyone got any thoughts? or at least a way to stop my fan. I have a laptop cooler so i dont think it will overheat if i turn off the fan.

 

Hey, if i were to install an ALPS driver (linked in this thread) from dell, how exactly would I go about doing it? Do I need to first uninstall the Synaptics driver that is on the computer? Anything else I should know? Do I just run the exe for the dell driver and let it install?

Thanks

 

yea just download and run it then you can configure it