EDIT I'm a dumbass. I was wondering how it could be that I am the only to get poor support from Sager and thinking or things that it could be. I looked in the spam folder that I hadn't checked since I've gotten email from Sager before without problem and there were all the replies. I'm sorry for being a dumbass.
EDIT

I filled out and sent in a tech support request last Thursday expecting a reply back either the same or next day. As of right now I still haven't gotten any answer from them about my problem. That pretty much pisses me off to no extent since everyone here seems to say that they have great tech support. I just sent ANOTHER one 2 minutes ago and I re-checked all of the auto-complete areas and it wasn't any mistake that I made, so either their online support form doesn't work on their end or no one there felt like answering me.

My problems are that the machine hard locks and I have to power of by holding the power button or it will give out a windows protection error with a blue screen and reboot itself. It seems that most others are having a great time gaming on their 8890 and 5680's with no problems at all so I think that something it wrong with this machine.

As of right now it seems my only option is to RMA it for my money back and try a 5680 or *shudder* a Dell 8600. If the 8600's had a choice for a 9600 I probably would have one. =(

No one has a comment on them completely _ignoring_ my request for tech support? Not even Adam? Hell I believe that even Alienware would have atleast sent me a BS email by now.

wrong. Alienware wouldnt have even looked at your mail yet

But you just posted yesterday...posts get lost in the mess sometimes...

Did you request a call back from Sager? did you email Adam??

adam@pctorque.com or
botulism@pctorque.com

I am pretty sure it is OS related...try a virus program or reinstall your OS and see if it helps...that usually cures a lot of problems..

also windows protection error?? What does it say? Can you note down the error message and post that??

I didn't think Adam had much to do with the actual tech support so I didn't email him. However, about a week and a half ago I emailed someone from the support area using the contact link at sagers site. They got back to me the same day and said they'd send out the fix for the loose keyboard and that the crashing problems "needed more testing". Thats why this time I decided to use the actual support form and have had zero luck getting a response.

As far as the windows protection error the damn thing is only on screen for like 4-5 seconds and I barely get to read any of what it says before it reboots. I have never got to read the whole screen when it crashes like this.

I didn't want to have them call me since I only use a cell phone and it has limited minutes but I guess that I will try that too now that you mention it.

I guess I will try to reinstall winxp, its worth a shot because other than this I love this laptop, its fast as hell and no dead pixels.

One sec...
before you do anything...

I will post here with a procedure to find out whats happening with the system. Just gimme a minute...

Try this :-

Right click "My Computer" -> Properties -> Advanced Tab -> slick "Settings" button under startup and recovery -> under System Failure uncheck the "Automatically Restart" option.


Now if the problem occurs again and you get a BSOD - it shouldnt restart like it used to - and you might have enough time to note down the message on the BSOD.


Now I have to find a way to access the System Log file for sure there will be entries there stating what exactly happened at what time etc.

brb

Control Panel -> performance and maintenance -> Administrative Tools -> Event Viewer and look under the system section...

I hope you can see your error in this selection - if it is there please post all the details...

This is the best I can do from here...I hope someone else chimes in with a bright idea!!

I have found a DIRECT E-MAIL to Sager Tech Support works best. It's nicer than the call-back thing, but not as "iffy" as the web-form thing.

Also, MONDAYS are NOTORIOUSLY bad to call ANY tech support. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are best.

I had a slight problems with the mp3 player that shipped with my 8887 and I e-mailed Sager, within a day they had a reply w/ RMA number and everything, I then sent it off w/o further communications and got the new player in about 4-5 days (I told them there was no rush).

It's unfortunate you are experiencing what I would have to classify as a HICCUP in their support. Typically it is top-notch, but things can fall through cracks and what-not. Still that is no excuse for Sager, especially if you've REPEATEDLY asked for help.

Try an e-mail (see their CONTACT info on their website) and let us know the progress.

I can guarantee that if "WE" raise a stink here on the forums, they will take notice.

-myrkat

Thanks GS, I turned off the auto restart on this and I'm looking through the log files but there is so much in there and I'm not sure what ones where the errors that caused the blue screens. Is there somewhere I can look up what the event code is?
I could probably narrow it down with that, going to search the MS site in a sec for info on it.

The hard locks I don't think will even be in there since when I have to hold the power button to reboot it never wants to send an error report. Am I right in thinking that?

Anyway, I'm going to play some games in a bit and if it crashes I'll write down what it says.

And Myrkat, the first time I did use that email that you are talking about, thats how I got the fix for the loose keyboard sent to me. They answered me in like 90 minutes or so with that. I also asked about the crashing and he just said they "needed more testing". Not exactly the answer I wanted to hear and I have heard nothing from that guy since, I looked it up and he replied on the 5th.

Ok I think I found some of them, here is the screenshot. Three of the system errors say the same thing, the other one had different numbers after the parameter1~4 but looks the same. Not alot of info there to me though.



The ati2mtag error thats on there I think was also an error that crashed the pc, it says this:
The driver ati2dvag for the display device \Device\Video0 got stuck in an infinite loop. This usually indicates a problem with the device itself or with the device driver programming the hardware incorrectly. Please check with your hardware device vendor for any driver updates.

Looks like the ol ATI driver problem...

I would just try another ATi driver and see if it helps...

Which driver are you using now?? Download the newest ones from the ATi website and give them a shot. I hope you know how to install the drivers that you download from their website - requires a different procedure.

If you want the procedure then check this out :-

Steps:-

1] Download the Cat3.4 drivers from the ATI website or click the link below to get there directly :-
http://mirror.ati.com/support/drivers/powered.html

2] Save those files to some location on your HDD.

3] Start the Installation program for the Cat3.4 driver and save the files to some location other than your C drive (just to be clean about the whole thing).

NOTE : you have to stop the installation process after the files are extracted - exit the setup the next stage by clicking the cancel button...

4] Now uninstall the old drivers that you had installed.
Start -> Control Panel -> Add Remove Programs -> ATI Display Driver and the ATI Control Panel

Remove both these items and then restart your system

5] Windows will load with its crappy drivers and you will get a message saying that "new hardware was found" and then the driver installation window will open.

6] Here select "Install from a list or specific location"

7] Select "Dont search I will choose the driver to install"

8] Select "Display Adapters"

9] Click the "have Disk" button

10] You will get a big list - go to the middle of the list where you will see many Radeon XXXX series listed. Select any one of the Radeon 9000 series (but not the Radeon 9000 secondary) and proceed to install the driver.

11] You will get some sort of error message or a warning telling you that the driver is blah blah - ignore and proceed to install the driver.

12] The flying papers between two folder icons means that the steps you have followed are correct.

13] Congratulations!! Now you have installed the Cat 3.4 drivers. Before you restart please also install the ATI Control panel

14] ATI control panel is easy to install using the setup file that you downloaded without any special steps - just double click it and follow the instructions.

15] Restart the system and set the resolution you want because it will be 640X480 by default.

The best part is the WTF under the Computer column of the table

WTF!?!?!? ha ha ha ha

lemme know asap if changing the driver helps you. I used to have the same problem with my 5660...

I re-installed OS, did all MS updates and used the latest drivers I could find and I didnt have that problem again...

If its not the drivers then a re-install of OS, updates and latest drivers should help you...

Otherwise - I am stumped...

Can anyone else make something out of all that info??

AND JEFFRO - WERE YOU ABLE TO FREEZE THE BLUE SCREEN AND WRITE DOWN THE ERROR MESSAGE?? ONE OF THOSE ERROR MESSAGES IN THAT LIST SHOULD BE THE SAME AS THAT ON THE BSOD SO GIVE THEM A LOOK...

Haha, I was trying to find my computer on my friends wireless network so I could DL some files and I wanted a name I'd know was me right away, so I named this pc WTF. lol

I have tried all the current drivers that I could find, the ones loaded on it (of course), then the latest cat 3.7's from the ATI site, the omega drivers(Used a mod program to install them), and now the latest ones on Sagers site. The ones on Sagers site now crash the least of those, I hadn't thought of trying some of the older drivers though. Will DL and try those too.

Still waiting for a blue screen crash though, playing some CS atm so maybe it will.

Ok, just had one of the blue screen crashes, thanks for telling me how to get it to stop auto rebooting. The only thing that made much sense on there was this part "usbhub.sys address f6488f1f base at f6485000".

So does that mean that the USB controler has a bad driver or something using the USB? Only things I use that are USB is the optical mouse and the integrated wireless is on USB I believe.