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Tales of woe. A sad sager :(

post #1 of 24
12/17/03 at 2:10pm
Thread Starter 
Well, after 6 awesome weeks of love from my 5680 it has packed it in, well almost.

Booted up one morning to check some email and look up some jobs and my display went haywire.
Crazy blue pixels running all over the screen, whites not being white nor most any colour being as it should, and anything that requires 3D acceleration totally f-uk-ed.
Got in touch with support, did as instructed (tried new bios), tried other things such as new drivers, fiddling with every setting under the sun, going safe mode and having a crack, popping the kb and having a look see. No luck, no love . Display now been screwed for close to a week and a half.

Ordering from Australia, i was always hoping to dogde a bullit in terms of any problems that may require me sending the lappy back to base (US that is), but seems like the bullit hit me fair squar in the nuts.

Why me? lucky i kept the box.


Anyway, sorry to rant, its just a sad time for me when ive invested so much of my hard earned, (part time pizza money) while trying to study at uni.
BTW a big thanks to all those on the forums i did learn a lot of useful info about the wide world of power laptops, these forums are a gem.

Aus.
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post #2 of 24
12/17/03 at 2:16pm
So the display acts crazy like that even within the BIOS and whatnot? So it's definately hardware because the problems happen even before windows even attempts at loading a video driver?
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post #3 of 24
12/17/03 at 2:23pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Element
So the display acts crazy like that even within the BIOS and whatnot? So it's definately hardware because the problems happen even before windows even attempts at loading a video driver?
Soon as i go past the bios, goes nuts. If theres anything else you can come up with that i could try im definitely all ears.
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post #4 of 24
12/17/03 at 2:39pm
So the display doesnt freak out in BIOS? - have you tried a complete reformat/install?
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post #5 of 24
12/17/03 at 2:55pm
If you've tried a bios update I really dont think there's any more that can be done, it's likely either the 9600 or the motherboard has had it.

I'm in the same boat, I just got my 8890 back from repair because it wouldnt see the AC power, new motherboard, and it was DOA, pressed the power button and I got lights, the fans come on and the CD chugs, but no screen or hard disk activity. It's gone back today .

Edit: I misread that post, if it's fine in BIOS it's less likely to be the motherboard (but it still could be). When exactly does it 'go crazy', before windows starts loading?
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post #6 of 24
12/17/03 at 3:07pm
Boot on a Floppy or CD. If your display is ok, it is an OS related issue. You just need to reinstall XP or whatever your running on it. If you boot on a floppy and still have display issues, rma time.
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post #7 of 24
12/17/03 at 3:09pm
Have you done any video card overclocking?

So when you boot into safe mode the problem still occurs? If so it's time to RMA...
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post #8 of 24
12/17/03 at 3:15pm
Like people have said, try some things before sending back. If you can, back up your data and nuke your hard drive. it may that Windows got corrupted somehow...
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post #9 of 24
12/17/03 at 6:01pm
I agree with divine_madcat and everyone else. Before you send it in to get fixed try a full format and reinstallation of windows and all your drivers.
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post #10 of 24
12/17/03 at 6:08pm
If it doesnt happen in the BIOS, it usually isnt a hardware problem. If it was the video card, mainboard or LCD then it would happen in the BIOS too. Try reformatting and doing a clean install of XP. Sending back is your last resort.
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post #11 of 24
12/17/03 at 9:30pm
Thread Starter 
Your right about sending it back being a last resort guys.
Believe me, its the last thing i want to do from the far side of the world!

On the winXP load screen is where i start to see troubles in the display, but not before.

Ive not done any overclocking, nor anything else that should put any components through undue stress.

Ill give a full reinstall of win and drivers a crack and see how it goes.

edit: just got a email from support saying i need to send it back, ill see what happens after the reinstall.
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post #12 of 24
12/17/03 at 10:05pm
Have you tried booting in safe mode?
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post #13 of 24
12/17/03 at 10:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by aus
Your right about sending it back being a last resort guys.
Believe me, its the last thing i want to do from the far side of the world!

On the winXP load screen is where i start to see troubles in the display, but not before.

Ive not done any overclocking, nor anything else that should put any components through undue stress.

Ill give a full reinstall of win and drivers a crack and see how it goes.

edit: just got a email from support saying i need to send it back, ill see what happens after the reinstall.
Yep.. the problem is DEFINATLY windows! Reformat and re-install her..
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post #14 of 24
12/18/03 at 11:07am
Hate to be pessimistic, but I wouldnt say its definately windows, there are other factors that set the windows loading screen apart from BIOS and POST, more colours on the screen, different resolution, movement etc, all of which could prompt an existing hardware fault. I just dont see what kind of driver issue could cause this kind of problem this early, I hope I'm wrong.

Edit: If you're on broadband and have a CD burner handy, you might want to give knoppix linux a try, it couldnt be easier to get running (boots and runs straight off the CD) and it'll confirm either way whether it's software or hardware without needing a reinstall of windows (if like me you're reluctant to do so at the drop of a hat).
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post #15 of 24
12/18/03 at 11:20am
Robert where did you send yours back to?
I know your from the UK so I just wondered if you sent it back to the Clevo Service Center in the UK?
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post #16 of 24
12/18/03 at 12:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Moezy
Robert where did you send yours back to?
I know your from the UK so I just wondered if you sent it back to the Clevo Service Center in the UK?
Yeah I did, but it's £100 labour + delivery both ways + VAT, so it's not much cheaper than Sager, another thing is any parts they replace are only covered under warranty for 3 months, and they prefer you to take out everything (CPU, HDs etc) before sending it to them. It's not bad.

Btw I managed to get mine sorted without sending it back a second time though, an engineer (with the help of a translator who could barely speak english herself, this is the service centre in London ) told me to swap the ram chips around and now all is well, weird solution but it reassures me that the engineers there know their laptops.
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post #17 of 24
12/24/03 at 12:13pm
Thread Starter 

Up ship creek...

So as a few of you may have read i have been having major issues with my display on my 5680.
Have tried new bios, new OS, new drivers, safe mode, reformatting.... but still my problems persist. I get a crazy blue flicker on desktop, colors dont display as they should, anything requiring 3D acceleration can most defintely be forgotten about...

So, the punchline. I live in Australia!
Poor student me is now ****ed cause i cant afford to send back under warranty and pay for shipping both ways (close to $400 US).
If i try to get it fixed local im not covered by warranty

Does anyone here feel my absolute and utterly desperate heartbreak? Up till a week ago i thought the worst thing that could happen to my laptop was a few dead pixels, id take 50 bright fukkin red ones over this.

(excuse my language, angry i am)
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post #18 of 24
12/24/03 at 12:49pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah, i guess my new thread did deserve being moved back to my old thread

SSDD.
sorry.

BTW - apart from those who feel my pain, if anyone with some tech smarts has any other suggestions for some real help that would be great. Hopefully i will get a sager support dude on the phone after christmas and maybe sort something out.
Also, here is an email i fired off to PCT - tell me what you think of it guys.

"Im wondering Tom, is it a standard practice for companies to make you pay shipping both ways for a return of a machine that has a hardware fault not caused by the user?
I cant understand why i should be made to pay an excessive amount of money, over $500 AU, for a problem that arose, not out of misuse, but a problem that occurred due to a machine most probably likley to be faulty?
Why should i pay so much for something they sold me that does not work?

If any of this sounds reasonable could you query sager and get an answer from them? I think that if a problem proves to be a hardware failure than the user should not be unduly punished by having to pay for shipping costs.

Basically im stuck with a broken laptop cause i cant afford to send it back and forth. I could only afford if it were for a refund. Im am stuffed!"
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post #19 of 24
12/24/03 at 2:56pm
hmm I'm wondering if somehow we can take up a collection. Hell i'll toss in 5 or 10 bucks.. IF we get enough people to help out you shouldn't have any problem paying for shipping. I just hate seeing one sager owner having a broken PC just cause they can't afford to send it back. and plus its almost Christmas
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post #20 of 24
12/24/03 at 7:11pm
Oh man sorry to hear about your 5680 aus.
It is probably our worst nightmare being down here in Oz.
I don't know if Sager would come to the party but if you can find an ISO 9000 certified electronics repair centre down in Hobart you might be able to convince them to send the parts + service manual to them and get them to fix it. Down side to this is the service centre might charge you as much as the freight. I know one crowd up here in Sydney that handle Sun and Exabyte service that have the equipment to do the fix but it still may not work out.

I would keep on pushing your case with both PC Torque and Sager particularly as it is still under warranty. Maybe Sager will pay half way.

Like Gratto I would chip in a few $ to help you on your way dude. Anyone else?
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