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8890 Video Drivers and Heat issues

post #1 of 10
1/5/05 at 12:27pm
Thread Starter 
I am experiencing issues when playing games that heavily tax my processor / video card. My video will quit responding, although I know my computer is still running as many other programs (ventrillo) continue to respond. The computer gets into a state that only a reboot can fix. When rebooted, I see that the problem was related to a fault in the video drivers.

Here is the weird part - the problem is DIRECTLY RELATED TO HEAT. When I keep my room cold (below 62 degrees F), I do not experience this problem. This has been done over many nights of hard-core testing.

I have done several things to correct the problem:

1) Updated the drivers - the latest on the Sager site are 7.97, but these only make the problem worse. In fact, I dont need to run the computer hot, I only need to run the application for it to break. I even tried the latest Omega drivers, they are performing just as horribly. Right now I am using the ATI 7.93 drivers as they seem to provide the most stability.
2) Checked the heat sink - I cleaned the heat sink (it wasnt dirty) and applied new artic silver thermal compound to the processor.
3) Check the clearance - I prop the computer up at least 3 inches above the desk. This insures adequate ventilation. I also have a cooler pad that moves air around the base of the laptop.

So this seems to be an issue that is related to HEAT and the DRIVERS. Anyone heard of such?

I am getting really tired of freezing to death just to game on my laptop, and this is really reducing my enjoyment and willingness to purchase another Sager. The problem has plagued me for almost a year now, and I am desperate to get this thing fixed.

Thanks for any help provided!
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post #2 of 10
1/5/05 at 5:43pm
Sounds like you have did everything that I could think of to do. I can't run the newest ATI or Omega drivers either, I have to use the drivers that came on the CD. They are driver version: 6.14.10.6378. Also last summer it got pretty hot in my room so I had to prop it up some and set a fan to blow air underneath it for better circulation. Sounds like you did that also and it only was a problem for me when it got over 85F in here anyway.

Have you used mobilemeter at all? Just curious what sorts of temps your CPU is reaching. When I play games its 59-60C and right now idle it goes from 45-55C. A few times my heatsink got clogged up and it would freeze/lock up and I'd have to hit the power button to reboot. It never froze up the way you describe due to heat. However when I load the newest video drivers it does do things like what you said.
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post #3 of 10
1/5/05 at 6:16pm
Have you tried cleaning out the fans? Proper ventilation inside the laptop is just as important as ventilation outside it...

-Peter
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post #4 of 10
1/6/05 at 3:05am
crotius, I suggest, as psyang has - clean out your fans/heatsink.
Given you have an 8890 it is at least 12 months old and even in a "clean" environment you will get a serious buildup of fur in the heatsink.

Check out the AS guide in the 56xx tech section
http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=11362

My specific post with furry pics...
http://notebookforums.com/539383
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post #5 of 10
1/6/05 at 1:17pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the suggestions, but I did clean out the heatsink. I didnt mention the fans, but I gave them some love too.
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post #6 of 10
1/8/05 at 2:41pm
I have a sager 8890 with the same isssues. I clean the fans and CPU heat sink once a month. I downloaded the latest drivers on the Sager driver page, that puts me with driver version 6.13.0010.6218, dated 7 Nov 2002. I tried loading the latest ATI display drivers and get an error that states I don't have a VGA driver loaded, try setting up my VGA driver first. I am trying to do the same thing as you crotius, running Ventrillo and play an online game.
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post #7 of 10
1/8/05 at 6:06pm
Scotty, that's because the ATI drivers are not modded for notebooks. You can either:

1. Mod the drivers yourself with the tool from Driver Heaven, or

2. Go download the newest Omegas, which implement Catalyst 4.12 (www.omegadrivers.net)

I firmly suggest the later of the two. Omega drivers are awesome.

-Hal
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post #8 of 10
1/16/05 at 3:47pm
here's my proprietary solution to gaming heat: I have a fan that is about 3" or so that plugs into the wall, and I built a duct for it, took out the expansion bay placeholder/hard drive holder, took out the miniature fan from under the keyboard (that hole leads into the expansion bay) so the air from the rather larger fan is directed into the expansion bay, and from there up to the heat spreader and memory under the keyboard, and I think it must help cooling the GPU as well because when I run things that way, my games don't have the artifacting and general trouble they do when I use only the mini fan. Of course this makes the thing less portable, but it wasn't all that portable in the beginning Tell me if you want pix or anything...
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post #9 of 10
1/26/05 at 9:32am
crotius:

I was having similar problems, even with using an Antec cooling fan under my 8890.

As Halciet mentioned, I used a program that mods the current Catalyst Drivers 4.12 so they can be used on the laptop. I used the tool, loaded the 4.12 drivers and noticed huge differences in game play and no shut downs.

I also recently had artic silver applied to my heatsink (too chicken to do it myself) and now my Antec cooler collects dust and my fans don't run all the time

I can't remember the name of the mod tool, but Halciet does.
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post #10 of 10
1/26/05 at 12:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by itizi
Tell me if you want pix or anything...
I'd like to see pics of this; I've been planning something similar for a while, but haven't been able to find a fan that'll do the job, or work out how it'd fit inside...

My 8890, now about 18 months old, is also beginning to degrade graphics-wise, when playing Counterstrike. Artifacts and giant triangles everywhere. I've cleaned out the heatsink and propped up the notebook above the desk, but this only delays the onset of artifacting, which hadn't been a problem for months.

I can't get to the fans, however. How do you clean them out? Do you need to remove the entire case of the notebook? I've never managed to do that...

Also, what about replacing the fans? Are there more efficient, modern 3rd party fans that'll fit into Sagers?
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