G-Omaha's *** 8790 Review - 2nd Machine *** - Page 9

I too, have not reinstalled the O/S. Seems like an unusual activity for a Windows' user. I have been contimplating doing that so that I can deactivate RAID-0 and try to install FreeBSD, LINUX (Some flavor), Windows Vista (Beta) and Windows XP-PRO under a multiple boot type of configuration; however, am becoming increasingly reluctant because of the PROMISE HDD controller and other equipment driver compatability concerns.

Currently, I'm considering upgrading my "File Server" to be a real server running under freeBSD with between 2 and 3 Terrabytes of usable RAID-5, RAID-50, or RAID-6 storage (along with a couple of hot spares). Might finalize my research and selection of the exact configuration in later December or early January. When/If I get this, my pockets will be somewhat empty for a few months.

Damn - Artifacting Begins

Today, while having multiple sessions open, video rendering, editing a slide show, playing DVD ISO using VCL media player, burning 2 DVDs at the same time using Nero, MS-Word document open, CD/DVD "Top" printing in progress, MS-Outlook open with about 5/6 documents, MS-IE open to three sites, a VPN Connection to the "work" Citrix server (another windows box - I am working on the Mainframe using EXTRA), (various other "stuff" such as Virus Scan, etc...) and MOBMETER.

I start noticing small video imperfections. When I scroll down in IE, that particular window goes "Haywire", the others, in turn start exhibiting the same behavior (comes and goes). Temperature is at 58C, not unusualy hot when "Turbo Fans (Fn+F10) disabled).

I'm starting to "freak out". My "perfect" machine should not be doing this.

I shut down all applications and powered dowm the machine. I am real Anal about cleaning out the machine once a month, normally on the 1st day. I had not done this yet as I was a bit busy and figured that a couple of days would not hurt. I clean the machine with the "canned air trick" and see what happens. All's OK for about fifteen minutes and it starts to artifact again. This time MOBMETER is reporting 51C and I am only burning DVD's, printing DVD tops, and browsing a single web page. What gives, Im thinking - this unit went south on me and needs to be sent to Philips for repair? Sure hope not.

I again shut down the machine and accomplish a more through cleaning with the aid of an industrial vacuum machine. I also opened up every user accessable area and applied the vacuum to those areas. (Did get a bit of junk out of the back vent that I hadn't expected). Then I unfolded the keyboard and vacuumed the backside of the keyboard - lots of little dust bunnies living inside of the key areas (hard to see, but there) - also small pieces of tobacco and food particles/crumbs. The I carefully loosed a couple of screws that cover the motherboard and very gently retightened them - there are secure; however, not as "tight" as they once were. This resulted in the metal plated covering the motherboard to be about one sixteenth (or maybe less) inches higher than it used to be (figured it might improve air flow a bit).

I then deinstalled all ATI software and drivers (I had picked up version VER008.017M.097.000 somewhere and now that's toast). I then reinstalled the 8.04 drivers from the Sager site. I had these from an earlier download; however, noticed that some of the files had different date-time stamps so I elected to use the newer ones.

Well, after all of this, I have restarted the system and it is running a bit cooler than normal. It's about 6/7C cooler than it used to be running the same processes. I hope that's the end of the artifacting issue because right now, I just can't afford to be without this "beast". I'm glad that it's fixed and hope that it stays that way.

It's been an hour and no more artifcats have been observed.

So far, after three days - no recurrance of the problem. Hope it stays that way. OH, I forgot to mention. I'm back to the 38C as a normal operating temperature for web browsing, MS-Office, and Mainframe activities.

@#$@% Artifacts

They are back and with a vengence. I have loosened the screws on the left hand side of the keyboard and that only helps for a little while. I downloaded a copy of ATI-Tools and reset the speeds to 310/170 from the 410/270 and the artifacts have gone away. I also ordered some thermal transfer tape and will be pasting that on top of several chips (those that correspond to the "indents" on the metal plate located under the keyboard after cleaning both surfaces with Rubbing Alcohol and "buffing" them with a lint and static free cloth (OK, I'm actually going to use a coffee filter). I should get the material in the next couple of days. Hopefully that will solve the problem.

BTW - The laptops temps (as reported by Mobmeter) are in the 30 - 39C range and this still occurs.

Game playing on this laptop has been temporarily suspended.

Artifacts Fixed

I have cleaned the innards of the laptop (under the keyboard and the plate that covers the motherboard). While I have been rather anal about dust, I forgot that all that tar from cigarette smoke (I'm a heavy smoker and the laptop is located in the Kitchen) clings on everything and generally inhibits heat transfer. So... I cleaned the tar off of all the componet surfaces and the plate, then removed the heat transfer tape from several locations and applied new tape to the old locations and to the tops of all chips that come into contact with the metal plate under the keyboard. Additionally, there is a "fat" heat transfer tape that covers six 1/4 inch silver chip componets under the (op[) keys (don't know what their function is) that I did not replace because the tape that I purchased wasn't "fat enough". I did clean the silver "thingy's" and the top of the existing transfer tape - was really gunked up bad. Put things back together carefully and updated the driver to Version 8.09 and set the speeds to 432/236.25 using ATI-Tools. Temps of the machine are generally cooler and the areas under the (34er), (56ty), (shiftsd) and the left palm wrist are very much cooler to the touch. The palm rest is now only slightly warm and no longer very warm to hot - both left and right palm rests are now about the same temperature and the touchpad is cool to the touch. The faceplate of the DVD remains warm; however, much less so than beofre this modification. I played around with the 472.4/236.25 settings and the memory refresh setting of 1E rather than 20; however, hound these setting worked OK for a while; however, resulted in artifacting and "hang ups" after about 10 minutes of intense use and high machine temperatures (turbo fan mode disable).

I purchased the heat transfer tape from Highspeed PC, LLC for $6 + $4 shipping. You get a 1" x 5" double stick strip for this price. Kind of pricy for tape; however, it appears to be working well and is much cheaper and more convient that an RMA for warranty work. Time will tell if this is a "good" solution.

Back to being a "Happy Camper" and will let my son continue to play games on this thing while I'm asleep.

Cold - Cold - Cold Machine

I have been working on this machine for a while now and am averaging temperatures between 28C and 31C while on max fans and accomplishing work on the main frame (VPN Connection), playings some tunes, and have a couple of web pages open, as well as, a word document. The entire top of the laptop is just a tad warmer than the top of my kitchen table. And to think that last night I was
Gotta go and

HDD Failed

Well the primary drive (60GB Hitachi - 7200Rpm) hard failed without any warnigns. So, by having RAID-0- I lost everything.

So, it's back to my old Sager 3600 - for the time being (over five years old and still ticking). Too bad the newer Sagers don't exhibit the same quality standards.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr............

Older were Clevo's (Kapunk). If I had three drives, I'd do the Raid-5.

Also noticed that the lights on the bottom of the LCD don't work unless the lid is almost shut.

I guess, that from you - an ability to purchase ANY computer would be a surprise...... You might consider changing your signature to reflect your posted semtiments so everything is clear.....

This Time It Was A COMPLETE Cleaning

Yesterday, I did the usual monthly cleaning and then determined it was also time to clean under the keyboard's heat transfer plate and reapply new thermal tape to the GPU, etc... and clean the fins on the heat pipe. Well, I started to get carried away and started cleaning the fans as well.

After I have completed this cleaning, I booted up and found that the machine now was a good 10C hotter than it was before I started. Despite this, the GPU was stable; however, it was something that I really was uncomfortable with. At minimum load Mobmeter was not reporting temperatures of 47/48C and HDD temperatures in the 55/60C range under somewhat light load conditions - dangerously hot.

Today, I removed the heat pipe from the cpu and OMG what a mess of crap did I find. It looked like I have a 2 1/2 x 1/4 inch filter on the heat pipe vents. I probably "dislodged" something when I was cleaning the fans and all of the "gunk" ended up completely coating the vents.

So, to make a rather long story short, the machine is "clean as a whistle" now and has had AS5 applied. The oriignal "heat pad" was a real PITA to get off the heat pipe and CPU. Took about an hour to get both areas completely clean.

Heat is still a bit high for my liking; however, the HDD temperatures are now once again below 50C and the fans hardly come on (that is after the initial burst and cycle down). With moderate to somewhat heavy load the CPU Temps are at 49C and with extreme loads are at 57/58C. Extremely low load brings the temperatures down to the 37/40C range. Too soon to see what the final results are because the AS5 has not had time to "set" yet. Takes about 100 Hours of On and off time to completely "cure" the compound. The room temperature at the moment is rather high (86F); however, there is a cool breeze (about 80F) blowing intermitentenly in the room.

I have decided to reduce the settings for the GPU because I no longer play any games on this laptop (actually My Son no longer plays games) and I wish to preserve the GPU. I ran the ATI-Tool test for over 4hours at this setting and did not experience even one "Artifacting" occurance - real stable at this setting for my machine. My previous setting was 432/236.25 and that normally ran OK except when the machine needed cleaning and/or when the room temperatures were higher than about 80F.

I have had the machine about 23 months now and it's still going strong; however, it is "fussy" about being clean. Now take my old 3600 - has only been cleaned once in about 5 years and is still ticking. Did experience a "hinge" problem on it because one of the "corner covers" has become dislodged and was not noticed. When I closed the cover "creak/crack/damn" type of thing happened.

Happy Easter/Passover/or Simply Sunday to all...