Sager NP2096 Owners Lounge

thats wierd. Which version of nTune u tried?

 

is there such a list for Autodesk Alias StudioTools?? My performance in AutoStudio is crap... where 7600Go renders a wireframe without any problems, mine gets painfully choppy

 

I installed the newest one I believe, 5.05.54.00

 

the newest is 6.05 here

 

hummm, thats the one I use. Try version 6, it's called nVidia System Tools now, should work for you.

 

Since I didn't see any answer to this. I am asking this too. I recently acquired a sager 2096 2ndhand and installed w7 rtm on it and I get the exact same unidentified devices. Any idea?

 

hi everyone. i did a quick search for my question but didn't get any useful information. hoping if someone can help out.

i have a sager np2096 that i bought for my dad. Last week i went home to visit and powered up the laptop for a quick email check. to my surprise, there was a huge star-type crack in the screen. it still boots up and the screen still works, for now but there is just a huge crack. so that's my problem. looking for a place that sells replacement screens.

i called screentekinc.com and lcd4less.com but they don't have any in stock.
anyone know of other brands of screens that are compatible? i have the 1680 x 1050 res. screen.

 

Has anyone else had a problem upgrading to Win7? I wish I had written down the error I got, but I'm just curious if anyone else has had problems.

I had three devices with unknown compatibility when I ran the upgrade advisor. Could that be the problem? If so, what can I do to fix it? I feel like I've wasted my money, as it stands right now.

 

I purchased a Sager notebook on 8/24/08 and for the 4th time, I've encountered a Windows boot manager error message. 3 times Sager has replaced the harddrive and it seems to fix the error for a while. Is this a common error on these notebooks? It's a 2096 model. It doesn't allow me to boot using a cd rom. It's mainly for home office use and my kids websites.
I really hate this piece of garbage right now.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Brian

Here is the error message:
> Getting: Widows Boot Manager. Windows encountered a problem communicating with a device connected to your computer.This error can be caused by unplugging a removable storage device sucha as an external USB drive while the device is in use or by faulty hardward such as a harddrive or cd rom drive that is failing. Make sure any removable storage is properly connected and then restart your computer (I don't have any ext devices connected). If you continue to receive this error, contact the hardward
>mfg. file:\boot\BCD status: 0xc00000e9 info: an unexpected i/o error has occurred.

 

Took the drive out and hooked it up to my desktop...it's asking me if I want to format the drive......I hate Sager notebooks and would advise not getting one. Good thing I have good backups or I'd be beyond pissed at this point. It's a year old laptop and having this many hardware issues is unacceptable. My IBM T43P hasn't had one hardware failure, same goes with my Macbook G4 and these are way older than the Sager and they are being used a lot more than the Sager.

Avoid Sager at all costs. Heck, I'd be happy with a Dell at this point...

 

For the record, and I'm not sure if it makes a difference, isn't the NP2096 a Compal, and not a Clevo like most other Sager models? It could be a Compal issue as opposed to a Sager one.

 

Yes, the NP2096 is built on the Compal JHL90, which has been a stellar performer no matter what brand goes on it.

Hard to blame Sager, or even Compal if you are having issues with components like hard drives. Sometimes they fail, and that is why there are warranties for them.

 

I know they sometimes fail, but 4 times in a year is beyond acceptable. Like I stated before, I've never had any issues with other hardware mfg like IBM and Apple. I purchased the Sager since they are local and had good reviews. How can I not blame Sager since they are the ones who just take the laptop, slap in another hdd and tell me it's fixed? Then 3 months go by and the same error comes up? I can see if other issues arise, but the same error message time and time again? Totally not acceptable.
Are there any other brands I should start looking into purchasing? I spent over $1800 for this boat anchor. A good month has been taken up during the warranty period while my laptop has been in the shop for all of the repairs.

 

You can blame them for not repairing the problem or not giving you a replacement notebook, but if the problem is a manufacturing problem, then that is not their fault, as they don't actually manufacture any of the notebooks they sell. They buy barebones chassis from other ODMs, and then just put in components like HDDs, RAM, CPUs, etc. It doesn't seem to be a common problem with this model, so there may simply have been a manufacturing defect in your case that keeps corrupting your drives. I'm afraid that in this particular case, you've just been unlucky.

 

hello.
i just installed Windows 7 (64 Bit) on my previously Vista 64 Bit Sager Np 2096. the installation was a bit of a mess, but i'm fine now. my old stuff is saved in the C Drive under Old Computer. But after installing W7 the drivers are gone. I have lost the Driver CD that came with the laptop.... Where can i get the drivers? I really hope this wont be difficult!
Thanks in advance!

 

http://74.212.252.103/pages/notebooks/download.cfm?ProductType=2096

 

and that's why i love this forum....
thanks!

 

hello again,
i've been play COD: Modern Warfare lately, and my temps are HOT! after playing for about 2 hours my GPU was 100 C, HDD 55 C, Core 0 65 C and Core 1 64 C! Whats going on?!
Is this going to have a really detrimental effect on my laptop if i continue to play COD while its at these temperature?

 

will doing something in EVGA Precision help? i have no idea how to use it

 

sorry for writing here again, but i was wondering if anyone was able to successfully turn on their laptop via WOL? is the sager 2096 capable of doing this?
(p.s. this is really dumb i know, but how do i access BIOS? i've tried F12, F8, F2 and CTRL ALT ESC and none of these have worked...)
thanks again for the help guys!

 

From the manual:

 

Ok, so they changed out the harddrive (from WDD to a Hitachi drive and swapped out the cd rom).
Now guess what happens today when I boot up the laptop? Windows Boot Manager error message AGAIN!!!!! is up with this. Doesn't anyone else think this shouldn't be happening? This is the FIFTH time! I need a lawyer to help with some type of lemon law for this. My franken-pc hasn't had any errors like this and it's over 3yrs old.

 

The OS is factory installed by Sager. I haven't added any software at all except for the MS Office that Sager offers (just upgraded the version they installed) I have a desktop that I use for everything else, but web surfing.
I was on the Foxsports website last night when the system locked up. I let it set for a while (over 3 hours) to see if it would give me an error message. Nothing comes up. I tried to end task, but nothing would come up. The system was frozen (exactly how the other times its acted up). My only recourse was to cold boot the laptop. After rebooting, the Boot Manager error comes up and I'm screwed. I tried to repair the bootup like the error message states, but the cd that Sager gave me to reinstall gave me an error message stating I'm missing files. I'm at a total loss. I never doubted them about putting in a new hdd, but I just checked the drive today and I have multiple copies of a windows folder on it (like windows.old, windows.old1, etc). Why are those there is this was supposed to be a virgin install of Vista on a brand new hdd?
I'm waiting to hear back from them about returning this (I doubt this but this is way past ridiculous and I don't want this laptop anymore- I'm sick and tired of dealing with this every 2 months).

 

Surprise, surprise. No response from Sager yet and it's been over a week. Not even a pre-generated email response.
I have 2 lawyers looking into getting my money back on this piece of laptop. Yes I am pissed right now.

 

bghkoyama,
i think ive been having the same problems as you. i ive had my sager for a bit over a year now and my laptop just failed on me. i tried turning it on and sometimes i get a boot error, sometimes it boots just fine but after a bit of use i get BSOD (happens 90% of the time). Some programs start failing such as avast and modern warfare 2. My firewall turns off automatically and won't turn back on. Internet stops working so i must toggle my bluetooth on and off. I would try and returning it but my warranties expired and trying to get it repaired at a tech shop would cost alot -.-

 

I'm idling at around 70-75c.

this laptop is giving me a real hard time, I play WoW on the lowest Resolution and setting, and it runs at about 95-100c. When it gets into around the 98c mark it shuts down, or i will get a BSoD. This happens everytime I play it. Even watching HD videos causes a BSoD sometimes now. I have cleaned out the fan, updated all the drivers, but nothing is bringing it down.

It seems like the fan speed is not on high when the temp is this high. Is there a way to control the fan speed?

Secondly, some of the keys off the keyboard randomly fell off, then when I tried to put them back on, the white part broke in half. So I will need a new keyboard, any body know where I can get one?

 

Sounds like a broken fan or something, maybe the heatsinks came off the CPU/GPU? Reapplying thermal paste may help, but I'm not sure.

This type of notebook is really a heatgenerator, mine is working fine but idles at 59c (with a Zalman-NC1000). With moderate gaming it reaches 80c.

 

I got the Zalman-NC1500 and its working awesome right now, was at 70 while playing WoW. Thank you so much for your recommendation.

Also anyone that can tell me where to get a replacement keyboard it would be very helpful!

 

Keyboards are under our "Accessories" button

 

I'm looking into upgrading from Vista 64-bit to Windows 7 64-bit. Was your experience typical ("a bit of a mess") or did you have some other problem?

I've been trying to search these forums for people upgrading from Vista to Windows 7 but it's hard to search on "Windows 7"

 

Anyone having issues using the express card slot under windows 7?
When I install something in it my systems gets stuttery all of the sudden and sometimes freezes for 10 seconds or more.

 

garnerh42,

I updated to Windows 7 64 bit a while ago and had very few problems. When I went to update I found some of the complaints that I'm sure you did but I decided to give it a shot. It installed fine for me and found most of the drivers. The only drivers that I had to hunt down were the Infrared Port and the finger print reader. A quick trip to the Sager site gave me all the drivers I needed. I really wasn't a problem at all for me. Maybe I just got lucky. Hope all works well for you.

 

What drivers did you use for the Windows 7 operating system? I would like to upgrade my OS as well, but Sager's website does not have Windows 7 drivers.

 

has anyone had any issues with the bios or video drivers (WinXP) on their jhl90/np2096? the bios on my laptop freezes before during or after the pheonix flash screen randomly, sometimes it takes 45 minutes of trying to turn the computer on to get past the bios. it originally had 1.10 and i've upgraded to 1.13 and recently 1.16 and had no better luck with either. then when im lucky enough to get past the bios im also having problems getting windows to load or not freeze in the middle of using firefox or vlc mostly. os problems are less common than the bios problems im having but still extremely annoying. i dont have any issues with stability in safe mode so far, and removing the graphics drivers doesnt completely cure the problems but diminishes them greatly. i've tried graphics drivers from sager, compal, and nvidia and version numbers ranging from the 170s to the 190s. nothing seems to make it any better. the most stable ive gotten the laptop to be was when it was running win7 rc with no graphics drivers (still had bios issues then though). anyone have similar issues/suggestions?

 

I am curious. On my 2096 when I play games, the area under my left palm gets really hot. There is not a little panel there to change, so I cannot figure out what is in that spot that would make it get so hot. Does anyone know what is there?

 

I have been using my Sager NP2096 for some time now and I honestly think its great.

one issue and I'm not sure if its my crappy mic, but I get some feedback from time to time and giggling the mic where it meets the notebook fixes it.


Anyway, I use the P9500 and the computer runs nice and cool, generally high 40's and then in the 60's when under load.

I can honestly say this is the best notebook I have ever owned. I am coming from a Dell and before that a few Toshibas and before that a few Sonys.


p.s. i installed and ran "DriverEasy" and it helped me update a bunch of stuff. My system shipped with Vista 64bit but I have installed 7 Ultimate 64bit almost as soon as it came out. Things ran great before I updated the drivers and now that I updated, my vid card works better and my sound card works better.

 

I was wondering if anyone knew which drivers to use to turn off touch to click in Windows 7.

 

BUMP ^ We really need a Windows 7 touchpad driver for the sager np2096 / compal jhl90

 

Additional question (Sorry to stack them up) Does anybody know how to get at the GPU on this machine? I wanted to apply some new thermal paste to my over 2-year old machine because my graphics card has been running very hot, but I couldn't figure out how to get at it. If anyone knows how to remove the back of the case and get the heatsink off the GPU I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,
GP

 

Service manual in my sig (quick link here)

It's quite complicated as you have to disassemble almost the entire laptop to get to it tho.

 

Thanks very much! Does look quite complicated, maybe a big weekend pr oject, hopefully I won't end up stripping any screws, or at least no important ones.

EDIT: Actually, looking a second time at how complicated this is, I'm wondering how big of an improvement putting some AS5 on my GPU would even give me. It looks as though it might be better to just leave it as is, though it idles at over 60 C, I have never had it shut down on me due to heat issues. Would idle of around 60C and load of between 80C to 90C be worth replacing the paste? I was considering doing so anyway when I bought a new computer, partly for practice and also to make it more viable as a backup machine/test server/grid computing machine/etc, but seeing how difficult and complicated the process is, I'm having second thoughts about doing this while it's still my primary machine. I should note that while I do know a good bit about computer components and design, I'm somewhat lacking in hands-on experience, I've only opened one or two computers for anything more complicated than a cleaning.

 

Hey everyone, my sager np2096 laptop screen is cracked. The company i bought it from said it would cost me around $400 to replace if i got it from them. So i ended up getting one from Lcds4less and it just stays blank. The replacement they sent me was an LG not a Chi Mei. I even sent the first replacement back to them with my cracked screen so they could see what the compatibility issue was. They sent me another screen and the same thing. Any ideas why? I cant afford the $400 the other company wants

 

Welcome to Compal Driver Download Site! From there click on "download site" then "bios" then "JHL90" then select "JHxxx Win7 Driver" all of the drivers there have worked for me on windows 7 64bit. Just double check some of the more common drivers to find as things like the Nvidia video drivers and possibly chipset drivers are very outdated and can easily be found elsewhere.

My only issue is that i've installed what i thought to be everything and windows still reports 1 undentified piece of hardware, i have video/sound/chipset/lan/wlan/bluetooth/cardreader/infared/camera, not sure what i'm missing

 

Go into device manager, go to the properties of the unidentified device -> details and post the hardware ID (from the dropdown list) and we might be able to help

 

Hardware ID: ACPI\CPL0002

also something in the tab says "Lower logo version: 6.0", not sure if that helps or not

 

If I remember right it sounds like the Smart Battery App or Infrared (CIR), have you try loading that? You should be able to use the Vista drivers on the Sager website.

 

So it seems that the hard drive on my Sager 2096 has died rather suddenly.
When I purchased the laptop from PowerNotebooks, I got the 3 year Sager warranty.

How is Sager with warranty repairs? Do they have a decent turnaround time?

Should I just replace the hard-drive myself? A new drive is less than $70 for a 500gb Hitachi 2.5" 7200RPM drive. That's twice as large as my current drive, which would be nice - would I have any issues with installing such a drive in the 2096?

Would that void my warranty with Sager should something else fail in the future?

 

Or would I possibly be better served spending more money on a Seagate Momentus Hybrid 320gb or 500gb drive?
Or one of the Western Digital Scorpio Black 320gb drives, possibly damned near twice as much for one with a freefall sensor?

I honestly don't know what works with this laptop, and I don't want to make a mistake and have to ship the drive back for a replacement. I just want to have my laptop working again as soon as possible. Any and all advice would be appreciated.

 

Interesting that the BJKT (freefall) is still so expensive, when I bought mine it was about the same price, but the BEKT (no freefall) was $5 more expensive (in jan 2009)

 

Since I largely use my laptop as a desktop (I haven't moved it in well over a year), I think I'm going to go with the 320gb Momentus. The main things I do are play World of Warcraft and surf the web. The Momentus XT Hybrid seems ideal for that, and 320gb slides in under the reported maximum 7200rpm drive size that the NP2096 can support. (I'm sure I could get a BIOS update for a bigger drive, but I never really filled the 250gb Hitachi drive I had before...)

Hopefully this works out for the best!