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Clevo 37xsm-a, 980m sli same flickering problem on 2 different laptops


tanzmiester

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I am running a small business for servicing and upgrading notebooks, as well as selling used and new components in Russia, st. Petersburg and i do some business in Finland too. usually i specialize on alienware products,

but since the 980m was not PnP from the start, i have looked into Clevo notebooks to offer for my clients. screen quality is among main features that i am looking in the notebooks i offer for sale.

after some research i quickly found the Xnotebooks.com has the best selections of different screens, so i have ordered a 375sm-a with 980m sli for my client with 120hz lg screen.

when the notebook has arrived and i began to test it, i have stumbled on an issue with some colors flickering at 60hz, though switching to 120hz eliminated the problem 100%.

the supplier said that the problem is on my side most likely, but as this was a 120hz screen i didn't care much as long is it worked fine above 100hz. the client was very happy with, so no harm done.

a few weeks later i have ordered a 370sm-a 980 sli from same company, but this time i have decided to go with 60hz also from LG, minding the issue with 120hz screen and it was also advertised to have more contrast that 120hz one.

after receiving the notebook, i went testing again and as always i went to the download page of my fav Valley bench.

guess what? at the same page, on the same color the flickering appeared again! but this time i can't switch to 120hz to solve it.

i have went back to my supplier only to hear angry things from them that i am 100% doing something wrong, because this is the 2nd laptop with me having same issue, while they have sold dozens of them and no one have complained.

we have been going back and forth for hours over the phone and i have heard same arguments all over again and again after which the representative of the company quite rudely just hanged up the phone and did not answer my calls for next few hours. off course my client is long gone now because of this problem, and i am stuck with this machine with expensive CPU i have no use for :(

anyway, enough of the sad story... does any one experience same issues on a similar machine that has been bought recently? or am i that unlucky this time to hit the same spot twice from different angles?

the flicker appear on this page in the left upper corner on the gray color in 60 hz mode, more flicker in 50hz:

https://unigine.com/products/valley/

also this test shows flicker:

Inversion (pixel-walk) - Lagom LCD test

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Flickering is probably caused by SLI due to the throttling of each of the GPUs being uneven, it also usually shows stronger in 120Hz mode:

Try to use the Mod vBIOS, it removes throttle by default:

http://forum.techinferno.com/clevo/3119-%5Bbios-vbios-mods%5D-prema-mod-stock.html#post54056

(Test it on one machine and contact me if you decide to use it commercially!)

Also please let me know your system BIOS/EC version.

If BIOS/EC are up to date and the vBIOS doesn't help it may be a driver issue...

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Hey Prema! thanks for your help! but i have tried disabling SLi, and it's all the same! even with windows default driver. i have also tried all you Bios mods/updates/downgrades with no luck. flashing the cards did not help either.

so far i had no chance to use you mods commercially, because non of them work for me :( if i ever will - you will be the first to know!

as i have mentioned earlier, going higher in Hz removes the flicker, even boosting this 60hz to 75-78 almost eliminates the issue, while going lower in Hz it becomes worse.

tried win7, win8 with no luck either. also i have tried all possible drivers for Maxwell 9xx series.

btw, the flicker is not in the games or benchmarks, it flickers while looking jpg files and browsing on-line. also in the pixel walk test.

maybe i should better use word blinking? and only specific colors+line patters involved

can somebody with similar machine please look if they have same issue with the web-pages i have provided?

i want to continue the dispute with Xnotebooks, but i need strong arguments, otherwise they try to convince me that this is normal and there is something wrong with me :( (how rude...)

so even if i send them notebook for RMA, there is great chance it will come back having same issue, but i always have to pay shipping costs to them all the time i send it and it takes time too :(

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Does it do that flickering in the bios?

Or if you put in a windows 8 dvd and act like you are going to do an install. Does this happen there as well?

only in specific webpages that i have mentioned. i have not seen anything in the WIN8 install like that, no. not in the bios either.

at 99% of the time all is good, only some combination of things brings this issue out...

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Ok. Xnotebooks p370sm-a: i7 4810, 16gb ram, 980sli, 120Hz screen, stock setup

Bios: 1.03.06

GPU Bios: 84.04.22.00.12

Win8.1 updated fully

Nvidia 344.80 drivers

Flicker at 60Hz in the upper part of the gray area in the unigine-page. No flicker in pixel walk. With 120Hz no flicker at all. Tested with IExplorer and Chrome.

edit: same results with SLI off.

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can you please try pixel walk in full screen?

Inversion (pixel-walk) - Lagom LCD test

- - - Updated - - -

scroll down the test page and use backward/forward to see all pixel walk tests in full screen please!

also if you have an option to go to 50hz, try it too with pixel walk, thanks!

can you report this issue to XNB?

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I'll check those too later today. And hit xnotebooks with mail. Between work and small twins at home my tweaking time is really limited :) just got my windows together yesterday evening. Still a lot to do!

Have to say it's a shame you've got a bad experience with them.. they have been really nice and I even got the freeze option for free.

Except with a quick xtu run my stock cpu temps are at 85c.. so i think i need to repaste.

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yeah, i also got freeze option for free... but what's the point? i have fans running all the time in idle and nothing to do about it, and up to 85C on GPU's when gaming and benching, freeze my a$$...lol.. though the machine with freeze advanced option was much better, about 7-10 degrees less.

i have sealed the gaps on the airway from Cpu fan to the radiator and got a bit less temps for the CPU. also i have closed the opening from the CPU side of the fan with thermal tape, so i does not suck the hot air from the CPU.

they also had been nice to me, until i have started to complain. after this i got tons on negativism going my way. maybe if you write them too, they will apologize - who knows...

i mean: if i would have clients complaining - i would do my best to solve it. what they did - the put me on hold because they "have to complete new orders that are coming for the holiday" and have no time for me.

what? so they think that continuing selling faulty machines is a better goal than to solve the problem with existing sold ones? that does not seem to me like a good business idea for the long run.

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Wow.. that is bad.

Sounds like a "keep the customer happy" trick and say you got something for free. Because my cpu temps are quite high. Either they did a bad pastejob or it isnt better paste.

I clearly have to repaste and seal some gaps.

And sorry I can't test further today.. i'm at work and though i have my laptop with me i cant go online because i forgot the mobile internet thingamabobstick at home :(

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I emailed them friday, no answer yet. I had to reinstall windows because of some other problems and updated the bios to .07.

With 347.12 drivers no change to the flicker.

edit: oh, almost forgot. I tried the pixel walk test right after installing windows, then after chipset drivers and again after vga drivers. Same flicker all the time.

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Yeah.... 20c drop. And freeze option :D the paste looked like arctic silver but im not sure ofc.

They replied to my mail: "120hz screen is meant to be run 120hz, if you wanted to run 60hz you should have picked a different screen."

Well. That's true to some point.. I'll assume its a LG screen, maybe it just is a screen limitation and not faulty hardware. But come on..

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