8790 Artifacting - Page 6

is the gpu and cpu easy to get to? and does anyone know for sure if re-applying the artic silver fixed the problem? has anyone opened their system and notice the old compoud dried up?

I'm still pondering what to do, I'm afraid to play anything 3D because the artifacts come mildly after about 20 minutes of gaming. I RMA'd it about a month ago and got it back with a new motherboard (I knew this because the MAC address changed, and I assume it's an onboard network card).

I called PCTorque and they said "buy a fan pad for it". "Gaming laptops get hot."

*frustration*

When I'm a doctor, I will have money. Until then...

Yay

Well, I have ran some benchmarks, played CS for long enough to determine that the artifacts aren't happening anymore and just ran a whole bunch of apps at the same time (3d and other) to determine that the temperature tops out at 57 C. Before I cleaned the dust out and applied some thermal grease the temperature got up to 62C. Let me know if you guys have any questions.

-Borgath

did you ever had artifact? or you just had terrible temperature?

Update

Ok, my previous celebration of no artifacts was not founded. I played for about 2 hours and it did eventually start to artifact. I took the computer apart again, cleaned it once more and applied a new round of heat sink stuff. I used alcohol to clean everything off and tried to get just the right amount. I played it for an hour and then had to go to bed (no artifacting). I will let everyone know how this turns out.

-Borgath

Very disappointed with Sager

I have been having the artifacting problem right after i bought my 8790 in November 04.But I thought it was the game i was playing. (A bug) but come to find out it was not. The game i have problem is Tiger Woods 2005.
Well reading the problems quite a few of you have sound like Sager has a problem. So i sent in a request to RMA my 8790 back, and they want me to send them a picture of my screen. No problem I'll do that but what ticks me off is what they had to say about this problem. This is what the sent me back to my request.

Hi David,

Could you send a picture shows the problem that you experienced? *

Any parts could be defective on all computers; the failure rate on 8790 is within the normal range as all other models. Posts on public forums tend to draw out complaints and create an overstated impression of actual difficulties with the unit.

If you decide to send in for service, please provide your return address in order for us to issue you a RMA number.

Regards,

Sager Tech Support
18005 Cortney CT.
City*of Industry, CA 91748


As you can see they do not think there is a problem, That's
BS after doing more research it seems other laptops with the ATI Mobility card is having the same problem with artifacting. Sounds like ATI might have the problem.

In any case what are we to do with the $2500.00 paper weight?
I'll send them a picture as they asked and send it back and hope they fix it right or I'll be sending it back again when it screws up in 4 to 5 months again.
I guess I'll need to buy the extended warranty.
This is frustrating, I hope Sager does look into this problem and can find the fix or offer us a trade towards another model.
Well thanks for letting me blow off some steam about this and hope everyone will get this problem taken care of.

bah i take it back.. the artifact was back because somehow the clock rate was set back to default...

now i'm just going to game this lappy to death!

Its back

My efforts have failed. Going to call Sager tomorrow. Artifacting continues..

-Borgath

Well I've had my 8790 for about 11 months now and it was running GREAT untill last night. Then all of a sudden it was artifact city. I was playing Dawn of War and the artifacting was so bad that I couldnt even make out any thing on the screen. I've read through this a forum a couple of time and it really looks like this is a design problem on some ones end. I'm going to e-mail Sager today and send them a few screen shots and see about gettign an RMA.

Shlacking's now a memeber of the club.

I purchased this laptop on 03-12-04. I'm pretty sure I remember recieving it early in the next month or somehwere around then. So I've had this laptop for quite some time.

The only gaming I've ever done was Half Life for about half the summer. I didn't see a speck of artifacting when I was playing it.

Besides that spurt of gaming for about two months, the only thing I've used my laptop for was basic usage. Surfing/occational photoshop/managing my music library/talking with friends. Nothing tense or stressing. The only thing is that I leave my laptop on 24/7, basically. And considering this is supposivly a heat issue, I'm guessing that might be the cause of the problem since I don't even game.

Obviously, my warrenty has since run out.

If I inevidably do have to return this, how much would this cost? Does anyone have any idea?

--mike

I am now in the same boat. I purchased my 8790 in mid july 04. My warranty is still good, which is about the only positive thing.

I had to replace the keyboard around september. In december I returned my 8790 for repair because my screen was flickering and because my motherboard went out. It was a pain in the butt to do, and once I got it back I was very happy to be over and done with the situation. Now this...

I do web design, so I use programs like photoshop, dreamweaver, flash, etc... I dont do any gaming at all. (although I would like to)

I get artifacts when I am surfing the web, designing in photoshop, and especially when I am doing movies and such. It is really frustrating because I just got this thing back from repair and now I have to ship it off again. I am trying to hold out to send it until classes are done with. Plus I lose quite a bit of time away from my work because I dont have the computer. I wish there were some way of fixing it, but after talking to sager and reading the board, i think the best option is to send it in.

I told sager I shouldnt have to pay for shipping because this is a reoccuring problem, and it is a defective product. They resisted, and now Im stuck with a hefty bill for shipping it to california. .........AHHH

Right before my warranty expired I experienced severe artifacting as well. Sager told me it was a bad video chip and replaced the whole motherboard. Your only choice is to send the laptop in for repair, unless you don't use it for gaming in which case the problem might rarely occur.

It occurs from the Windows splash screen until I turn off my laptop.

And like I said, I haven't used my computer for gaming since the beginning of last summer.

I'm afraid of sending my laptop in. I've heard some horror stories about sending computers to tech people to fix em.

Point of no return

My computer does everything described in this thread except mine gets to a point of no return. When I am running on battery everything is fine but as soon as I begin to charge up or use ac power my screen is covered with lines that will not go away unless I restart my computer. I am currently at school so I cannot send it in for repair so the only option I have is the dorms computer lab. I have no complaints about the labs here but Its sad that I spent $4000 on a computer full of defects. At the beginning I felt bad for Sager since everyone said they were a small business based in California, then I remembered that I paid $400 dollars for a warranty which means they are not losing any profit on this whole 'defect' issue. If they are honestly putting brand new motherboards in our computers it would be a lot smarter to upgrade to a motherboard with a dif. graphics card in order to reduce the amount of repairs they have per laptop.

This is starting to smell like a lawsuit case

Can anybody say class action.
Mine still dosen't artifact, but this thread alone is enough to scare me from buying a Sager ever again, unless they show that they care about their customers.

just wondering, is the size of this thread enough to state that 8790s were not built to live for very long?

Psicho,

hmmm, 8790 dies extremely close to one year warranty... fishy?
nah, no implications here, but ihave to agree that i'm in the same boat with JacobHenry, i'm at college so i cant send it in, and my laptop's warranty expires the first week of june, so i gotta send it back as soon as i get off school... right now its so close that the warranty might expire as the laptop comes from them. (assuming 7-9 day ordeal)

but yea, i wish sager would read these forums, maybe then theyd realize that if they gave us reasonable credit towards a TRADE IN, they would not loose much money, considering we DID pay like ~$3000 for these machines originally.

but yea, they're a small company, i cant expect THAT much from them, but i dont think i'm gonna purchase a sager again in the future "unless they show that they care about their customers."

matt

*My cd drive is also broken.

I had to buy an external.

I totally agree with you. I have a 2 years warranty with philips (or something like that) now and in case of my lappy's re-death I'll be able to get it repaired fairly soon, with a possible refund if it's completely broken.
Anyway, I won't for sure be getting another super-laptop in the next couple of years as I don't want to have unpleasant surprises anymore. Whenever I'll decide to buy another pc, I'll go for one of those portable Hypersonic cubes that are small but offer the power of a desktop.

I've just experienced the artifacting as well (not just in games). I clean my unit every other month. Cleaning includes removing of keyboard, the metal plate below, cleaning all heatsinks and removing all dust from the fans.

Furthermore my battery died and the power adapter smells burned. This would be my 4th time RMA within a little bit more than 1 year.

My warranty from Sager expired but I have a 2 year extended warranty from warrantech. Honestly I just want trade in this unit or get rid of it.

What do you recommend is the best choice? Is there any chance Sager will trade-in the unit? Repairing the unit (replacing mobo, replacing power adapter, replacing battery) wouldn't be economical for warrantech either. Especially that it's certainly not the last time this unit will have problems.

Thank you for any advise you can give me.

Thank you.
-Mat