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My Unhappy Sager Story

post #1 of 18
1/19/07 at 4:10pm
Thread Starter 
I purchased my SAGER 9860-S on January 31st 2005. I paid $3,340.37 cash.

I was so happy when I received my laptop! It was the most powerful computer and most expensive computer I have ever bought! I never doubted my purchase! So, 1 year went by everything working pretty good, I started reading on these forums, on how people were having trouble with their 9860/9880 computers, mainly motherboard problems and I always hoped I would never encounter the same or any type of problem!

But that all changed in March/April 2006 when I started having problems turning on my laptop, I was lucky when I was able to boot it up and when it did it would usually over heat and turn off! Finnally towards the end of March/begining of April may laptop was rendered totally useless, I was never able to turn it on again. So, on April 3rd 2006, I sent my laptop in for repair, through my extended warrenty. Well, they put in a new motherboard and said I was good to go. I got the laptop back on April 15th 2006 and I was happy to see it working again!

A few months roll by, winter approaches and my laptop starts acting weird again! I'am able to turn it on but now, it makes an anoying loud bios beeping sound. I researched in the sound online, and it basically means that the laptop is overheating. So, I let it go for a couple more weeks, hoping this new problem goes away. Does it? No. Now the laptop overheats and shuts off during normal computing. Playing the same games I played in 2005? Not a chance! The laptop will beep like crazy and turn off. Heck! I'm lucky if I'm able to post this message without my laptop overheating on me. (Hope it doesn't). January 15th, 2007, I've owned the laptop for almost 2 years and here I'am sending it into the warrenty company again! I guess the fix will be another motherboard one, guess that will "shut me up" for a few months, before I'm forced to send in my laptop again. The way its looking it looks like my extended warrenty will expire next year before my laptop is truely fixed. All I want is my money back, I'm only 21 years old and I have worked very hard for this laptop. I actually feel like I was robbed.

Well thats my $3,340.37 dollar story.
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post #2 of 18
1/19/07 at 4:47pm
Sorry to hear you got a lemon.

I would contact Sager and make sure they are aware of your issue. Try to get them to replace your laptop or give you a significant discount on a different model.
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post #3 of 18
1/19/07 at 5:10pm
Thread Starter 
I would contact SAGER but I don't think they will do anything as the factory warrenty is finished and I'm using the extended warrenty from Repair Master. I don't know what I should do. Guess I will see what the extended warrenty company will do again, since I already coordinated to get it fixed. I just want an entire new model (equal in power or greater) or my money back.
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post #4 of 18
1/20/07 at 5:55pm
The new motherboard will only have a 6 month warranty. They are replacing the lemon (EVERY 9860 motherboard is a lemon.) motherboard with the 9890 one. Could anyone with 9890 experience comment on the lifespan of this motherboard compared to the 9860? PS the cost of the motherboard should ur warranty runout is $400 bucks - which superficially isn't bad, but is ridiculous when it becomes an annual fee.
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post #5 of 18
1/21/07 at 2:42am
Did you get your laptop through rjtech? I take it their extended warranty didn't have issues like ATS or micromedics? Your experience setting up the RMA with them was somewhat painless?
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post #6 of 18
1/22/07 at 4:43am
Not taking sides here- just trying to do a little after-the-fact troubleshooting for you; did you ever clean your machine out? If not, perhaps it was filled w/ dustbunnies that helped it on its way to burnt-out obsolescence. As a former 8790-owner w/ a machine that had more than its fair share of problems, I feel for your pain. But I also realize that sometimes there has to be a proactive part of being an owner of these high-end, finicky machines.

I haven't read through the 9860/9890 support threads, so I don't know what issues there are/were/will be, but just wanted to pop in and see if one of the problems might not have been a build-up of dust inside the machine.

Regardless of it all, hopefully you get something worked out.
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post #7 of 18
1/23/07 at 3:01am
Like George said, the 9860 is a lemon. The 9890 is newer in the market, but judging from the forum activity on it so far, I'd say that it isn't much better than the 9860.

BTW Hitman, you can consider yourself lucky not to have been screwed by your vendor and warranty company. I recently went to my vendors' website to fill out an RMA and found out my $400 vendor provided ATS extended warranty is worthless. So I would agree that a different comparable laptop would be your best option.
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post #8 of 18
1/23/07 at 3:34am
I've seen more 9860 horror stories than for any other machine. It doesn't seem like the 9890 or the 9750 are having the same problems, yet they have the exact same chassis.
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post #9 of 18
1/24/07 at 7:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigtrouble77
It doesn't seem like the 9890 or the 9750 are having the same problems, yet they have the exact same chassis.
The 9750 is an initial release; it's based on a lower power AMD processor with an AMD architecture. It seems to do better than the 98xx's.

As for the 9860, there are more problems that have been reported for it than the 9890. However, at the 1 year point there weren't alot of problems posted on the 9860 either, though it does seem to me as though the 9890 is a slightly better product.

There have been people posting problems on their 9890 that look similiar to the kinds of problems 9860 owners have had (power and gpu mostly). You can look through the forum yourself, but keep in mind that many 9890 owners are 9860 upgrades (there were better alternatives on the market when the 9890 was released). So I think many 9890 owners post under a 9860 title, or they find a pre-existing thread that describes their problem and post there.
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post #10 of 18
1/25/07 at 12:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigtrouble77
I've seen more 9860 horror stories than for any other machine.

Oh, I don't know... might want to check out the 8790 section
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post #11 of 18
1/25/07 at 1:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by FriedToast
Oh, I don't know... might want to check out the 8790 section
I actually had the AMD version of that machine and it was an INFERNO. I can't imagine what a P4 would do to that poor chassis.

Starcub, I obviously know the machine are based on 2 different architectures, but the problem with the 9860 appears to be a faulty motherboard. Maybe some of those faulty capacitor clones (that were in the news back then) made it to that motherboard. I think Sager and Clevoe should have recalled those motherboards and replaced them free of charge.
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post #12 of 18
1/25/07 at 3:35pm
I bought a 9860 over a year ago. Its started failing slowly. First, the computer couldn't decide if it was on battery or plugged in when it was plugged in. it would randomly switch. Bought a new battery. New battery worked liked a charm, but now it won't charge at all, and won't run on battery power. The laptop has also started rebooting randomly. I could have 3 reboots in 15 mins, and then run fine for 8 hours.

I loved the machine when I got it. But now with the issues, the company I bought it from went under (Thus, no warrenty), and the continued problems even with the 9890's, I'm not sure I want to pay to have it fixed. I'm going to wait until it dies , and then look for a new machine that isn't the 98xx series.
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post #13 of 18
1/26/07 at 4:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigtrouble77
Maybe some of those faulty capacitor clones (that were in the news back then) made it to that motherboard. I think Sager and Clevoe should have recalled those motherboards and replaced them free of charge.

When it happened to my 9860 i took it apart. It clearly was NOT a capacitor issue. It had fried components in the power circitry right near the power plug, no capacitors near there, just some diods and regulators. As far as them recalling it, ya maybe they should of. I supposed not enough people complained to the right people like the dept. of consumer affairs in the US.
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post #14 of 18
2/16/07 at 2:43pm
Thread Starter 
Well I got it back! Just like before they replaced the motherboard. Works fine now, just waiting for it to die again.
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post #15 of 18
2/17/07 at 10:53am
Well guys I have had my Motherboard replaced 2 times as well on my 9860 so yes that is 3 motherboards in less than 2 years. Unfortunatly you do not get the 9890 motherboard as stated above by Goerge. In your warrantee it states that they have to replace the Motherboard with same part number. So the reason many of us are continually haveing problems with our machines is they are NOT putting in the new motherboards and they are replaceing them with refurbished ones. If this problem happenes again you may want to just send in your 9860 to Sager and have them upgrade the Video card to what ever is the best Vid card at the time. I know this will cost you $1000 but you will get the NEW motherboard and power supply instead of someone elses problem. Didn't you wonder why they were offering you a $100 off if you let them keep your motherboard when you get it upgraded?
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post #16 of 18
2/18/07 at 11:26pm
Not sure if it makes you feel any better, but I don't think it was robbery as much as pushing the tech edge and resulting crappy design. The heat seems to fry the sensors over time, especially as the dust builds up. I believe Sager is really just purchasing the d900 bodies and possibly motherboards anyway. They have a number of additional issues - a poor keypad/motherboard connector, questionable rubber feet to lift the fans away from underlying soft surfaces that can clog the intakes and a power plug that can be partially plugged in upside down with corresponding circuitry damage. The plug seems to also lack physical reinforcement, relying on the solder connections with the motherboard to keep the port in place when the power plug is inserted, removed or pushed sideways. Other issues? The plastic and brushed metal surfaces wear quickly, resulting in a pretty battered looking machine after a few years.
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post #17 of 18
2/22/07 at 9:50pm
Another 9860 disaster to add, mine just died for the second time in a year. First it was the power circuit on the motherboard--about a month after the warranty was up and just a few weeks before I deployed so no time to send it to Sager. Luckily I found a great little repair shop here in OKC that found a new power circuit and stuck on (since Sager wouldn't sell them the part--they insisted that I send it in to them). Now a few days ago I got that "windows did not start successfully" message. Can't start in safe mode, can't recover with recovery disc, can't even re-install windows. Being told that it's the hard drive, but I haven't had a professional look at it yet. If it didn't cost me so damn much I'd just toss it and get something new, I'm so frustrated with it right now. I have no doubt that shortly after I fix this something else will go wrong. I never thought I would say this, but I wish I had gotten the Dell XPS instead. I'm not a big Dell fan, but not seeing nearly as many problems over there as I have with the 9860. And I'm drooling over their new 20" XPS. That thing is beautiful.
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post #18 of 18
2/24/07 at 10:07pm
My 9860 finally bit the dust a few weeks ago. I took the screwdriver to it, and pulled it entirely apart. I'm in the market for a new laptop, but I can tell you this... I'm not buying a clevo/sager clone. Ever again.
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