Sager NP2096 Owners Lounge

Thank you.

 

I'll try it again. Right now, in fact. Edit forthcoming...

EDIT: Well, tried it out. I somehow rather ignorantly missed the whole "press X to toggle exclusion for boot devices." I still can't boot from it, though. With the USB key inserted, everytime I hit F12 to change boot selection, the only three things that show up are the HDD, DVD and network boot. I'll try a different USB key sometime later. Once again, it's no big deal because I don't plan on switching OSes at any point in time, but I just get curious about things. Plus, I wouldn't mind seeing Ubuntu on this beautiful 1680x1050 screen.

 

updated cs4 with the official patch, it works smoothly now~

 

I have to ask, does the fan turn on enough to hear when doing the basics? (video, internet, chat, word)

my last pc (and alienware piece of crap was loud for no reason its was embarrassing)

like in a perfectly quiet room will you hear your notebook? is it enough to bother someone sitting directly infront you it (like in a class room)

PLEASE, i NEED to know

 

fan on full blast is pretty quiet, no need to worry about fan noise AT ALL.

 

oh, and mine rarely goes on full blast. only if it is on my bed with like hardly any airflow to the fan. but even then the cpu doesn't get above 100* F and gpu hovers around 145* F or so

 

Yes, but run it on silent mode most of the time (it's a button next to the power on button - very simple to turn on/off). Very few things need full cpu and gpu and silent mode is completely silent (throttled to half speed). Works great! Stays cooler too! Saves on power, most things run fine (even video). Gaming obviously doesn't.

Normally the fan goes ON briefly and off, a lot. In a class you'd be running it in silent to save on power anyway. I run my M860TU in silent mode 95% of the time, basically whenever I'm not gaming. Everything works great (many torrents, playing a video, lots of firefox windows, and burning, all at once, half speed).

 

Any of you guys know how to set the touch sensative buttons to do something other than what it comes set as originally?? I didn't bother installing wow video or sound once i installed vista 64 for the second time so now they do nothing..
It'd be cool if i can set em up for opening certain programs or files

 

Last week, the laptop would not boot into Vista. After trying "Repair Install" and not working, I did a regular install off the recovery disk yesterday. I was expecting a full install. Instead, it saved the old install as Windows.old and installed a new copy next to it. It Blue Screened half way thru the install and recovered. At the end, it ran checkdisk and found bad sectors on the hard drive. (Should I be worried about this?) I can access Windows.old but do I need it? Can I delete this file?

After up and running, I installed the chipset drivers and latest laptop drivers from Nvidia. It seems Vista installed a few drivers itself which leaves me with about 7 unidentified devices in Device Manager. Is there anyway to determine exactly which drivers I need? Has anyone done this already and know which drivers to install? Should I just start installing the drivers one after the other and see what happens?

 

Bad sectors means there is physical bad sectors/errors in the hard drive itself.

you should replace the HDD immediately.

there are some programs/utilities to repair bad sectors (like SpinRite), but its not guaranteed to always work.

 

Alright. Sager is swapping hard drives. I'm sending the bad one out today. During the last install of Vista, I had 7 unknown devices in device manager. I'm assuming Vista installed some generic drivers. Should I let them go as generic or install the dedicated ones?

Can someone tell me the proper order to install all the drivers? (The ones I actually need?) At best, all I can think of is after Vista, its the chipset drivers then video drivers. Then try and identify the unknown devices and install drivers for them.

 

One more thing. When I opened the panel to remove the hard drive, it was screwed into a bracket. I removed the bracket(2 screws), and then the hard drive from the bracket(4 screws). But it had a heavy plastic sheet wrapped around the drive that appeared to be glued to the bottom of the hard drive and the bracket. I called Sager and was told return only the hard drive, not the bracket. Only way to do that was to cut the plastic. So the hard drive has half the plastic glued to it and the bracket has the other half.

What is this plastic? Is it replaceable?

 

great, just found this thread, I'm getting the JHL barebone for video editing, flash, and a little gaming - still deciding what to throw on it. Any suggestions?

 

I apologize if this question has been answered before, but I'm just stopping in and wondering if this applies to the XPS m1730 as well...

http://www.powernotebooks.com/configure.php?special=551

Why when the 8 GB (2 SODIMMS) option is selected, it says only 6.8 GB of RAM is usable?

 

I haven't had much luck with any different LaptopVideo2Go drivers, so I checked nvidia's website last night and found that they now provide a 9600M GT driver update. I think the stock NP2096 drivers are the 176.x forceware, and Vista 64 now has a 179.x forceware update. I tried it and most of my severe framerate issues in WoW are resolved. Works much better.

 

am I supposed to install drivers first? Cuz I keep getting blue screen on xp
install

 

may be your XP edition old doesn't support sata hard drive!

 

Bump ^ for help on my original question..

 

^^ It is due to a chipset limitation you can use approximately 6.8GB out of 8GB when installed.

 

Right now it affects every notebook, so far as I know. It's a feature of the chipset used on the motherboard and is based on the maximum permitted address space for the chipset used.

Basically, for most notebook chipsets, the address space is only 4GB, which means that everything that has to be addressable by the CPU has to be assigned one or more of those addresses. Thus, for example, since the system has to be able to send stuff to the GPU, the GPU gets assigned some of those addresses, which means that there are fewer than 4GB's worth of addresses that can be assigned to other things, like RAM.

On certain chipsets, including at least the Intel 975x, P965, and p55x on socket 775 ( see, e.g., Microsoft KB article KB929605), the address space designed into the chipset provides for an address space of 8GB, which means that there are 8GB's worth of addresses available to divvy up amongst every component that needs to be addressed by the system. Since there are always a certain number of non-RAM components that must be addressable, the end result is that there are always less than 8GB's worth of addresses that can be assigned to the RAM, and thus one can never manage to address all 8GBs' worth of physical RAM.

These limitations do not apply to all desktop chipsets, as I understand there are some that can handle 16GB and higher.

 

Roger. Thanks for that.

 

For those interested, Compal released the new 1.13 BIOS.

 

any software like that for asus to update compal bios or should it be through bootable usb flash.

Thanx

 

Hey guys,

I'm sorry if this is posted somewhere else in here. But I'm looking into buying a laptop now and was wondering how everyone's 2096s are holding up after several months of use? have there been many problems, is heating an issue, are you still happy with it?

My main question would be if you were on the market for a laptop now would you still choose this after your experience (putting your price range around the 1000-1200 range that they are now)

Thanks!

 

@ Goober

yeah, wouldn't consider anything else for the price and performance. Especially since they're a couple hundred bucks cheaper now! left palm does get hot while gaming 2 be honest but I don't know many laptops that don't :S
not a deciding factor in my opinion.


@ np2096 owners

have you guys tried the new batch of drivers from Compal site?? please comment if you have!

 

the only new ones are CIR driver and something called TPM from Infineon. Infrared installed nicely, but the other one failed to install on me...

 

also, there is a new version of ProgramDJ, which now doesn't change your screen to ridiculous colours upon OS boot.

 

I got my 2096 in February 2009. So far the hard drive died and had to be replaced and now I'm having problems with the battery not charging. Oh, the moden did not work when I got it. I updated the video drivers when I got the laptop, then checked out everything else. When the moden did not work, I called tech support and they blamed me because I updated the video drivers. I got help on these forums to get the modem working. From my experience so far, I would never buy a Sager again.

 

Where did you buy it?

 

Direct from Sager.

 

hi compal JHL90,sager 2096,prostar Owners;

can you please post you idle temperature.......

mine :

CPU 48 C
GPU 63 C
HD 39 C

 

CPU 34/32 C
GPU 57 C
Hd 36 C

 

my GPU temp. started to appear after i installed W7 x64bit

before my idle temp. was like your exactly with vista & W7 x32bit?

What is your OS?

 

At the time of that reading I was running Vista 64-bit. I just got Windows 7 RC 64-bit though so I will update these temps as soon as I download all the necessary programs.

 

CPU (T8300 @ 2.4GHZ): 27c
GPU: 58c
HDD: 37

GPU gets very hot while gaming...

 

Compal doesn't sell products directly ,many sites you can check for its price like;

xoticpc.com
pro-star.com
rjtech.com

 

Hi I was looking at buying this laptop. I was wondering about which os would be the best choice. I was initially going to go with vista-64 but after poking around and hearing of all the stability issues i am having second thoughts. Would Xp be the better choice or are the issues exaggerated. Thanks in advanced.

 

vista is really bad OS in all type of pc&laptops.

its better to go with Windows 7 it work perfect for all.

 

Vista is fine.

Win7 is better.

Vista is perfectly stable and has been since sp1.

 

I know it is stable in general. 32-bit that is. However, is Vista 64 stable enough to prevent massive headaches? Should i stick with XP? If so would I have to hunt and peck for XP 64-bit drivers or would the XP 32 bit drivers that are found on Sager's website work with 64 bit?

 

64-bit is stable, but it is such a resource hog it is not your best choice for most uses. For example, just boot up a 64-bit VISTA machine and it will be using close to 2GB of your memory all by itself. XP will only use around half a gig, thereby leaving you more memory available for applications if you have 3GB installed than a VISTA 64-bit machine that has 4GB installed.

I would either stick with XP 32-bit (finding XP 64-bit drivers will be a nightmare if possible at all), or go with the new Windows 7 RC1 which is now available to the public at no charge. If you go for 7 RC1 now, you will have to buy the Retail version once it is released, and before March 1, 2010 when RC1 will start shutting your computer down every 2 hours.

 

Ok. So sounds like XP 32 is the best choice right now. I am thinking of dual booting windows 7 until it goes mainstream and then switch that over as my main OS. Thanks for the help!

 

I am looking to buy the Sager NP2096. I have checked prices and I like the factorgaming.com site the best, but i was wondering if anyone has used the sight or has heard anything at all about them. One of their selling points is open architecture, will it be the same for like xoticpc.com?

 

never heard about it.......you can ask Gophn NBR ....post in his thread of sellers guide.

try :
rjtech.com more cheaper high rated.

 

factorgaming.com is a new Sager reseller that started last year. As a Sager reseller they will be selling the same hardware with identical features as any other Sager reseller. Sager builds all Sager laptops, not the reseller. If the reseller builds them, they cannot brand them as a Sager.

The thing to look for is how does their pricing, warranty and support compare, and how does their reputation compare...although since they are so new you may want to give them a break on the reputation part.

 

welcome back paladin44

you show up only with new systems release......

anything new coming from compal ?

 

Welcome back?? I've been around! But thanks anyway

Yes, Compal is about to release their new 16:9 15.4" (1366x768) with the ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4650 with 512MB GDDR3 Video Memory and DDR3/1066 memory.

 

thanks Paladin44

i have to press firmly on button T on my keyboard to make it type.....

what do you think the problem with it?
should i got it replaced whole keyboard or just that button?

Thanks in advance,

 

Could be several things. Something as simple as blowing out underneath the key to get rid of a piece of who knows what that might be under there would be the first step. If that doesn't do it then take the key off to make sure nothing is broken under there. 90% probability it is one or the other.

 

Well I took the plunge and ordered my 2096 today. Yay! Anyway, I ordered without an OS and I plan on booting XP. I was wondering if anyone could point me to a sata driver that I can slipstream in so I can have an easy install. I have been to sager/compal's driver downloads but am unsure which is the sata driver I am seeking. Any other drivers I should slip stream in aside from all of them? What are the best drivers for the graphics card? I am excited to install XP and get this going.. Only about two weeks till i get it. Yay! XD