NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Sager & Clevo Notebook Forums › Sager & Clevo Notebook Reviews › Live from Japan: The FT 8790 Review
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Live from Japan: The FT 8790 Review - Page 2  

post #21 of 464
4/9/04 at 7:09pm
Thread Starter 
Headphone Interference
Since I rarely, if ever, use headphones, it's taken me awhile to actually go dig out a pair and try them. But I finally did. I have the same problem as everyone else. A loud buzzing noise and it gets worse if I move the mouse (MS Intellimouse Explorer optical). This is one problem that definitely doesn't impress me. Not that it's going to bother me much, but the few times I do use headphones, I'm not going to want to listen to Buzzz, buzzzzz, BUZZ, buuuuzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

post #22 of 464
4/9/04 at 7:14pm
Double-clike the little speaker in the tray. Click on advanced and "expand" all devices. Do this for both input and output. The casually turn off one item at a time and see if the Bzzzzzzzzz goes away. Normally it's one of the mic settings or something like the modem sound options.

Note: If you don't select/expand all the settings, you can't see if they are on or off. I did this and the sound was pretty good. I used a cheap set of Sony earphones ($1.95) and they had a hiss/buzz/and a lot of other "crap" in the background. I swapped to my Ancient Pioneer's (Looks likes Radar O'Reily attempting to land a plane) and newly purchased Grado's (same image) and the unwanted background sound went away.

Forgot - you need to "select" each device in the box in order to "expand" the devices in the properties screen.
post #23 of 464
4/10/04 at 1:49am
would use of an external sound card work>?
post #24 of 464
4/10/04 at 2:26am
Don't know as I didn't "go there".
post #25 of 464
4/10/04 at 3:28am
Thread Starter 
External sound card's not an option for solving this problem for me because the whole point is minimizing the amount of crap to carry around.

Thanks for the pointers, G. I'll try that when I get a chance. At work right now and gettin' ready to head out of town as soon as I get off work, so no chance to play w/ it for awhile.
post #26 of 464
4/13/04 at 2:12pm
Thread Starter 
More Microphone/Line-Out Noise
Playing KOTOR lately, I decided to hook up my external speakers via the microphone jack. No problem, right? Right. Sounded good. Until tonight. Maybe it's because I'd got the fish tank quieted down a bit (was gurglin' pretty loud for awhile, so it might've masked the noise that I'm just now catching), but I noticed that when I use the scroll button on my MS Intellimouse Explorer, I get a buzzing noise through the speakers.

Definitely a less-than-ideal situation.


Edit: Just tried G's suggestion. Cranked up the volume on my externals, too, so I could make sure that I'd catch any change. Noticed that I was getting slight buzzing whenever I moved the mouse, not just when I scrolled.

The only 2 settings that made a different were the Volume Control and CD Player. The noise "appeared" to go away. However, if I cranked the volume on the externals, the noise was still present, just faint.

Wonder if this is caused by the mouse being an optical. Anyone w/ regular corded mice having the problem? What about you Logitech Bluetooth users?
post #27 of 464
4/15/04 at 3:23pm
wow... the sound on the 8790 just sounds bad!! its speakers aren't very strong.... and you can't fix it with a headset... >_< i wonder.
post #28 of 464
4/15/04 at 6:50pm
Thread Starter 
The sound out of the speakers just depends on what you're after. I don't mind the stock speakers, but since I'm at home, I hook it up to the externals for some extra grumble There've been 2 new reviewers (if I remember correctly) that both loved the sound of the stock speakers. Personal preference, I guess. Just as long as ev'one realizes that no matter what, itty bitty notebook speakers aren't going to sound like a nice Infinity home surround system, they should be ok.
post #29 of 464
4/15/04 at 7:11pm
For notebook speakers, it's the same as most, and better then some, and worse than a few.
post #30 of 464
4/15/04 at 9:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by FriedToast
More Microphone/Line-Out Noise
Found this response to a similar question on usenet:

Quote:
You might try pulling up the Volume Control and showing all the
different sources. Then try muting all but the essential sources, such
as Wave, MIDI, and CD, a lot of the time you'll get a buzzing noise when
the modem isn't muted.
--


Corey Gouker
Associate eXPert
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
post #31 of 464
4/16/04 at 5:16am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the suggestion, Mxzy but G suggested that above. Didn't seem to find anything satisfactory
post #32 of 464
4/16/04 at 7:54am
Stupid alter ego got out of his cage. Bad Mxzysptlk, bad!

It must be a wiring/grounding issue. I've read about people hearing static when their menus slide open. Sounds like RF from the graphics subsystem is being picked up somewhere inside the case. Were it a desktop, you could solve it by elimination. Sometimes it just goes away by itself. I don't think there is a specific solution. Move away from all possible RF contamination, then just start clickin and see what happens. *shrug*
post #33 of 464
4/16/04 at 11:48am
Thread Starter 
Hmmm... I work w/ massive amts o' RF energy everyday at work. Maybe I'm bringin' it home w/ me.

post #34 of 464
4/19/04 at 6:58pm
bwahahahahha!!!
post #35 of 464
4/25/04 at 1:06pm
Thread Starter 
Wireless
Took my beast to a friend's today that had a wireless network setup. I enabled my wireless and *poof*, instant online access. Connection was Very Weak at first, but seemed to load pages very fast (DSL), so I wasn't complaining. When I got home, I dusted off my SMC Barricade and got ev'thing hooked up and running. One pass w/ the XP Network Wizard and I was off and running at Excellent connection speed at home. Definitely very happy about that


2nd Hard Drive
I also decided to plug the 80gig drive from my USB external into my 8790. Plopped it in and turned the 8790 on and... nothing. *Blink blink* Eh? What's that? Nothing? Looked for the toggles for RAID, but didn't find 'em. Looked at Lurk's Unofficial thread about what to do when getting the 8790 and found G's pics, so I opened it up again. Both switches were up (even tho' I only ordered w/ 1 HD~ shouldn't Switch 1 have been in the Off position?)
Switched both to Off and shut it up again, restarted. *Pffffftp* Nothing. BIOS detects the drive, but Windows doesn't see it. I'm thinking there's something simple/stoopid that I'm missing, so I'm not panicked about anything yet. Going to sleep on it and see if a flash of genius will come across me soon and enlighten me.


Paint
Osaka friend's headin' to Atlanta on Thursday. Very tempted to send my 8790 to him and have him send it to PCT for a paintjob, but I just can't see spending $500 on a paintjob. Goddang it'd be cool, tho'. And it'd be nice to get rid of the shiny areas where my hands sit (and where my thumb hits the Space Bar).





As much as I mention the little things, keep in mind that this is a fantastic machine. Absolutely love it. And for those that think the resolution's not high enough, I've got a game (simple one, but I like it) that is barely useable at this resolution. Sometimes too much of a good thing isn't really that good.
post #36 of 464
4/25/04 at 2:05pm
FriedToast,

I suspect that Sager installed the O/S with RAID enabled. Remove the new HDD, reset the switches and reboot. Then try to determine if it is set (Screen displays upon startup) and via BIOS setting. DO NOT CHANGE ANY SETTINGS AT THIS TIME! (View Page 7-20 in the manual for instructions about determining if you have RAID enabled and if so, what type).

If RAID was enabled you will need to determine if it was set as RAID-0 or RAID-1. If it was set as RAID-0 and both of the drives are the same (size and speed); you should be able to "rebuild the RAID" and see one drive that is twice as large as your current drive. Steve (AUSSIE) did an extensive description of how to do this with an 8890. I believe that the process should be the same. Here's the link: http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=7842

Woops - just noticed in your initial post that you ordered a 60GB 7,200 drive.

Looks like the options that you have are to either rebuild a mismatched (size and type) RAID Array or "START OVER" and reinstall the O/S. Look at the "What to do until...." thread in the Sager General Forum regarding reseting the USB29. I don't know if you will need an external floppy - I suspect that you won't if you aren't going to employ RAID. When installing the drivers, pay very carefull attention to the installation order (Page 4-6 of the user manual). If you install the drivers "out of sequence", expect post installation problems. I would recommend that the USB Device 29 remain disabled until after the O/S and all drivers have been installed and tested. Then when you are satified that everything is well behaved - turn this back on within the BIOS. It will make trouble shooting much easier, should you need to do so. I believe that the "best usable" USB device would be the one located on the rear-bottom of the machine.

I hope that this helps you in same way.

Oh, forgot Option #3. Take out the 80GB drive and leave well enough alone.


Gary
post #37 of 464
4/25/04 at 8:52pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the heads up, G. RAID was installed, but I never thought much about it. I figured it was just some background issue that was telling me about the Fast Track utility everytime I booted. Didn't think you could install RAID w/ only 1 drive. I had went into the BIOS to see what I could do- I saw the Rebuild option, but I didn't have my manual on hand at the time, so I didn't fuss w/ anything.

And option 3? Well, the whole point o' gettin' the 8790 was being able to have 2 HDs installed
post #38 of 464
4/25/04 at 9:09pm
Because they are two different drives. A re-install w/o raid is probablly what you need to do. There is a downloadable copy of the manual available (Check Sager General, it should be one of the threads on the first page). 7,200RPM as primary drive and the 80GB as the secondary. You will also need to note the "Drive Select" jumpers. I think they have to be off on both drives; however, am not sure.

Good Luck
post #39 of 464
4/25/04 at 9:16pm
Thread Starter 
Wireless update
Woke up this morning and my 8790 wasn't connected to my wireless network. I'd hooked my VAIO up, too, and it wasn't connected, either. I'll have to browse the forums when I have time and see what ev'one else's been doin' and seeing if anyone else's had the same problem or not. A bit later, the connection came back (on both computers), but then croaked again. And I don't think XP likes this because even after it'd came back, neither Trillian nor Firefox would connect online.

I plugged the LAN cable into my 8790 so I could get hooked up online and it didn't work. Disabled the Gigabyte and still no go. Generally, at home, I put my computer in Standby, drive to work, plug into the LAN here and I'm automatically good to go. However, today I did that, and getting to work, couldn't *see* the network. Ran the XP Network Wizard and *poof*, back online. That's a crappy way to have to get online if I have to do that every morning or everytime the signal craps out at home and I connect via the LAN cable. There might be an easy fix, but I'm more of a hardware guy than a network guy, so the basics might be eluding me.

Also, on the Gigabyte settings, I switched the country from United States to Japan, but it burped at me and told me that it couldn't do that and that I needed to contact the vendor. Time to pull out the instructions.

Gah.
post #40 of 464
4/27/04 at 4:51am
Thread Starter 
More wireless
The wireless router seems to be cutting out intermittently, but I don't know why. Any clues? (Have yet to read ev'one else's trials/tribulations on wireless) Definitely don't think it's the internal causing the problem as my VAIO using an SMC PCMCIA wireless card gets cut off at the same exact time.


Bluetooth
Just got back from Sapporo. Young guy at one of the computer shops gave me a 2500 yen discount on a Logitech MX 500 Bluetooth mouse, so I jumped on the deal. Brought it down to about an even $100. Maybe I could've gotten it cheaper buying it in the States, but I'd just gotten my visa crap transferred to a brand new passport and was getting ready to get part o' my Japanese drivers license crap squared away, so I was in a good mood. Figured I'd waste $100 that could definitely be used for better things on a mouse that I don't need To get to the point, I just got home, pulled it out o' its box and then wondered what was next. Screw the directions. I refuse to go that route first Gotta fail a time or five first before R'ing TFin' M. Noticed a little *connect* button on the bottom o' the mouse. Tried that. Got flashy optical lights from the bottom o' the mouse, but nothing else. Double-clicked the Bluetooth icon in the Systray and that got me going. Installed the drivers and had it look for the MX 500. No problem. Took a few minutes installing ev'thing since I'd set it up for any possible usage I might ever have (but most likely won't ever have).

Am using it right now and it works nicely. No complaints. I'm not used to it quite yet, but it's easy to use. And it doesn't seem to be interfering w/ my wireless connection in the least. That's a big worry I had. So far, nothing to worry about. Give it a little time to get used to me and start being grumpy. Everything else I own always does that. No reason this should be any different.
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Sager & Clevo Notebook Reviews
This thread is locked  
NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Sager & Clevo Notebook Forums › Sager & Clevo Notebook Reviews › Live from Japan: The FT 8790 Review