Live from Japan: The FT 8790 Review - Page 10  

I already knew what it was Just a matter of getting the time. And I work Saturdays, leaving Sunday to be my only day off. And heck if I'm going to spend it beating on Windows. Know it needs to be done, but that's part of why it hasn't

Artifacting Returns
Temp is currently 42C, unit's been on, but idle for the past 5 or so hours (I've been gone, but just got home). Browsing through NBF and all of a sudden I'm getting moving bands of artifacting moving up and down the pages. I click on my other non-NBF tabs (kudos to Firefox) and none of the other pages are exhibiting any artifacting. Only NBF.

Which reminds me- last weekend when I was playing Guild Wars, I took a screenshot of artifacting during the game (same green-only artifacts as I'm getting now) and in the screenshot, they don't show up! What's that all about???

Nero Express
Have been setback on trying to backup some of my crap. Can't burn DVDs using Nero anymore. It freezes up in the Add Files screen. Upgraded to the newest version via the update on Ahead's site. No go. Uninstalled all other burning software (Alcohol 120%, BlindWrite) in order to make sure there were no conflicts (both uninstalls done with accompanying reboots). Uninstalled Nero. Reinstalled and updated with the newest update. Tried burning another DVD. Same problem. No getting past the freezing up on the file selection screen. I've copied some files to CD as the native Windows burning software kinda works (but it's a PITA and CDs don't hold much info). Out of 3 attempts with it, I've made one successful CD, the other 2 were rejected. Shouldn't be a media issue as I'm at the end of a 50-CD spindle, so I figure I would've seen problems much earlier if it were the CD media. And that doesn't account for Nero's DVD problems.

Not sure what to do at this point. Really hate to go buy another burning suite since I've, in effect, paid for Nero already.

Well... the VAIO's full, too If I can find the time to clear out some drives, I've got a few spares laying around that I can throw in an external case. Just a matter of time, once again.

Backlight
Backlight on my 8790 is now history. When I got to work this morning and opened up the screen, I thought it didn't come on (I always go into Standby from home- opening the lid turns it back on). Then after fiddling with it, I realized that I could see that the unit was running as usual. I just couldn't see well. Emailed Sager on a work computer and have set the 8790 aside. I'd just purchased a 100gb 5400rpm drive for it, too. Been busy and sick lately, but a reformat/reinstall was in the works. Now it doesn't really matter. Going to be an international shipment back to Sager I'm assuming (unless there's some easy fix that I don't know about). I'm not real thrilled about ~US$400 in shipping to fix this especially after I just spent a load having the motherboard replaced for artifacting issues (which, I might add, was never a fully satisfactory fix as it artifacted after I got it back- I just never got around to tackling the issues I figured were causing that).

So, I'm typing this on my trusty Sony FX-120. As much as a deride the thing for its lack of power and features, I guess I shouldn't complain so much as I've never had to send it in for servicing. Ever. I can't afford a new machine right now (and don't think I *should* considering that I've only had the 8790 for a year), but my mind wanders towards the What If and What Would I Buy Next? While I'm not totally giving up on Sager, I'm not overly impressed, either. Perhaps if I felt my unit was a one of a kind deal acting up, but when there seems to be a fair amount of troubled 8790s congregating here, it makes me wonder if my money was really well-spent or not. Although the Sony units are expensive, they're tempting. If only they had a 2nd HD bay...


Guess I'm just feeling disappointed right about now. *sigh*

Backlight update
And Sager said, Let There Be Light. And there was. And Blade said, Let There Be Light. And there was. (Well, Sager via email and Blade via PM both suggested the little pin-switch at the lower-right. And that's what it was. *DUH*)

I'd actually looked at it, but since it didn't look out of place, didn't fiddle with it. I did push it and somehow it'd gotten itself stuck in the down position.

Now, just a matter of reformatting/reinstalling XP in order to put in the newer BIOS (fan control) and updated video drivers (did that immediately after getting it back from Clevo, but it's still goofy).

I need a theme song

Artifacting
Mobmeter's reporting 48 degrees at idle now (Trillian and Firefox w/ 7 tabs open are the only things running). I opened up NBF since it's lunchtime here and I'm getting artifacting on the NBF pages.
Blew out the fans on the bottom last week and cleaned out underneath the keyboard the day before yesterday. Shouldn't be any gunk blockage anywhere.

I need a reformat/reinstall, but there just isn't enough time in the day. Feel like taking a day off work just so I can get it done

I did pull out some of the dust bunnies by hand that were stuck in the heat sinks. I hadn't done the Artic Silver treatment, though. I suppose I should schedule a few minutes of my non-existant time in order to do that I don't think it's humanly possible to fully clean these things. I swear that whenever I blow any crap out or pull dust bunnies out of the sinks, 2 more appear to take their place. It's crazy.

Nothing good, really. Been thinking about an update, but all I've got is artifacting that's getting worse and worse. Actually visiting NBF makes it worse, too. Not sure what is it about the site, but artifacting usually acts up quite a bit if I come here. Don't know what that's all about, but it happens.

I want to get this thing reformatted/XP reinstalled so I can see whether the new motherboard ever fixed anything or not, but life's just been so crappy lately that it's not gotten done.

Other than artifacting on the desktop w/o gaming (games? What are those?), not much to add other than Life Sucks.

Thanks for the uplift, G, but lately it's just been one of them rough times where one gets to where playing doesn't much seem worth the trouble.

Artifacting's the least of my concerns (altho' it's a major PITA) at the moment.

Forward. Always going forward. I'll deal w/ the 8790 and it's inherent problems as I can and I'm gonna slap this dickhead called Life around and see if we can't get a decent understanding arranged


And Boogie, thanks for the vote o' confidence

Beginning of the End
Not really the ending, as that started the moment I received my 8790, but I'm at the point of artifacting which tells me that something's wrong inside. I can downclock to about the lowest setting possible in ATiTool and it doesn't help. I AS5'd and recleaned things this morning (but there wasn't any substantial build-up of gunk and my temps are about the same: ~40-44C at idle).
All along I thought that a reinstall might help things, but really, I guess if that was an issue, Clevo would've suggested it (or done it themselves after the mb replacement). I'd emailed Sager awhile back about this when my LCD switch was stuck and they never did reply to my last email.

Really at odds as to what to do at this point. Heavily considering sending it in to Sager, wrangling w/ Warrantech on the fix and then having a US friend eBay it. There aren't currently any Sagers that replace this unit and that's unfortunate. I just want this thing to work and not to have to worry about it breaking down. Recently a Canadian couple new to Japan asked me for help in choosing a notebook. There are lots of Clevo units to be had locally or in English online, but I'm at the point where I don't feel 100% comfortable recommending them. Would I/Will I buy another? Jury's still out on that, but given the unreliability of this machine, I'm really uneasy with that prospect.

Not sure what to do, but this machine's pretty much at the end of its line if something doesn't change.