SEARCH W7R

Friday, January 25, 2013

Hope for Sager/CLEVO Keyboard Users


w7r.blogspot.com

The Goal of this Post

The goal of this post is to provide a collection of resources to address, fix, and understand your Sager Laptop Keyboard and its Issues. 99% chance your keyboard problem has nothing to do with Sager or the model of the custom computer.
This is an example of the keyboard light problem. The middle segment of the keyboard should be teal like the right and left segments.


Specifically, I bought the NP9150 (CLEVO P15xEMx) model laptop from AGearNotebooks for a hefty price of $2000+ (USA) with the keyboard upgrade in the of my order. The information on these keyboard problems is hard to find (trust me) so I hope this page helps you out!


List of Reported Keyboard Problems (Sager 9150)

  1. 'Q' key not responding to presses
  2. Dim segment of backlit keyboard with all or certain colors
  3. Shift, Fn, and Ctrl only responding to very hard presses

Solutions and Troubleshooting

  • BEST SOLUTION: Call Sager Support

    Sager Support Telephone # 1 626-964-4849
    Hours 11:00AM to 4:30PM EST

    They will send you a new keyboard for FREE given that you send back your broken keyboard. Once they receive the defective keyboard the new keyboard charge will be voided. In order to help you detach your old keyboard and put in the new keyboard Sager Support will need your EMAIL ADDRESS so they can send you directions and pictures of how the procedure goes. (However, I have included some relavent pictures on the same procedure in this post.)
    Unless you are willing to ship your whole laptop to Sager and wait on its return, you will have to replace the keyboard manually.
  • Replace the keyboard with another model that fits in the laptop
  • Open and use electrical tape to cover any points of unintended conductivity or shorting.
  • Straighten out or replace the ribbon connection
  • Fasten keyboard back light to keyboard panel so that there is no room between the two layers.

A Replacement for my Replacement???

The replacement keyboard I received in the mail had two physical defects, one was a the top right corner of the keyboard was bent upward, and the other was that the protective tape for the ribbon cable was incorrectly placed.
I called Sager Support again and they urged me to repack the keyboard and a delivery man would come pick it up for evaluation; however, Sager sent for another keyboard to be sent through the mail with faster shipping than the first replacement had. The first replacement keyboard was 3-day shipping, but this second one was 1-day shipping. Considering this is not Sagers fault directly they were very helpful and supportive in ensuring I got the perfect keyboard I had payed for. I did not have to mail back my original keyboard because I had not yet received a functional replacement keyboard.

If your keyboard replacement has defects,

DO NOT TRY TO FIX IT. TAKE PICTURES OF THE DEFECTS, EMAIL AND CALL SAGER, AND REPACK THE KEYBOARD TO BE PICKED UP.

3 comments:

The Critic said...

I have had a lot of problems with my Sager keyboard. Well, not a lot per se, but much more than I should have had. For one, the keyboard space bar didn't properly work- if I pressed it on the far right side (not on the very edge, obviously) it would not register, and as a Junior in High School it is very irritating having to go back to correct spacing issues.

So, I called them up and they sent me a replacement keyboard which I replaced. This keyboard was perfect for a week or two, but then the same issue started creeping up, albeit much less often (it was still more responsive. I decided that this must either be a problem with all keyboards from Sager/Clevo, or this is just my typing, as well as just me getting used to the setup.

In a month, I noticed that on start-up, when the keyboard is supposed to glow dark blue, the far right side glowed light blue. I thought this odd, but when it loaded my customized colors, which were, from left to right; Yellow/Yellow/Red, the red was a strange mix of green and red. I opened the keyboard modifier, and all of the colors from the middle were messed up, and loaded the colors from the rest- the far right half also wouldn't turn off when I did Fn+*.

I re-plugged all of the wires under the keyboard, and the problem seemed to be fixed, but it's starting up again. Any idea what it could be?

I ride on the school but in the morning and afternoons, so all of those bumpy rides might have screwed with the wires. The keyboard does sporadically fix itself, so it might be a software issue, not a hardware one.

On an unrelated note, my Sager(NP9150) has been amazing so far, but not as amazing as I would have thought. It sometimes gives me bad framerates in games, even though I seriously splurged on the specs- an Nvidia 680M Graphics card with 4GB memory, 16GB RAM, a 512GB SSD, and an i7 3740QM Processor.

A good deal of the money for this computer came out of my pocket, with my parents covering the rest, so I am somewhat disappointed that it isn't performing how I expected it to.

The particular game in question is Borderlands 2, on the off chance that you are a gamer, and occasionally Battlefield 3.

That was long winded, but I really need some advise from a fellow Sager owner.

Thanks for your time!

(the e-mail that I use is alexgladkov1740@gmail.com)

Brian said...

To fix the problem with the keyboard first isolate the problem to a small set of variables (such as an individual wire or particular button presses) and then see what behavior seems to trigger the fixes as well as the screw-ups.

For starters I believe the shipping of these keyboards is an unpredictably shaky often resulting in damages such as the pictures I posted; however, you did not indicate physical damages upon receiving the replacement, so if the damage was physical it would be within the layers and circuitry for the keys of the keyboard, which is way too difficult to fix without a set of specs and fine tools.

Basic choices:
1. Receive another replacement from Sager
2. Try and remedy the problem with tech skills and careful observation
3. Replace the keyboard with a more reliable brand (which can be difficult due to dimensions and screw hole locations

Good luck! Without seeing your computer and laptop it is hard to address the problem.

Sinelogix said...

Thanks for share this information
v