Undervolting

[Jawneh]

Is anyone here familiar with undervolting?

I have a slight issue with my laptop. It's designed pretty badly and overheats really easily, even though I do have a cooling pad for it. I already have gotten K10Stat (Google it if you aren't familiar with it) to help me out a little, but I haven't really gotten into the whole program yet.

So does anyone else use it, or have used it and know how to use it or any other free undervolting software? I basically can't get this laptop any cooler any other way. It's a known issue with this laptop (Amilo Pa 3553) and can't really be fixed.

 

[Jubei]

I am familiar with undervolting, but only through the BIOS on a slimline PC I use as a media server. I set the processor to permanently run as it does if it was idle under AMD's Cool 'N Quiet.

 

[Jawneh]

Yeah... I tried looking into doing it through BIOS as well, but I'm a nub when it comes to that. D= Also I think mine isn't really that great for handling it anyways. I see very little options to change anything through it. =/

If you think you can help me with anything BIOS related, then please do. All help is welcome. Just ask if you need any info from the laptop. It's still basically in its basic setup, apart from updating the BIOS once, since I hoped the update would also bring new functions, but there's nothing new that I can see..

 

[VP :3]

I'm not very familiar with Undervolting, but I may be able to ask my dad about it. He's a computer guy.

 

[Deimos]

Yeah... I tried looking into doing it through BIOS as well, but I'm a nub when it comes to that. D= Also I think mine isn't really that great for handling it anyways. I see very little options to change anything through it. =/

If you think you can help me with anything BIOS related, then please do. All help is welcome. Just ask if you need any info from the laptop. It's still basically in its basic setup, apart from updating the BIOS once, since I hoped the update would also bring new functions, but there's nothing new that I can see..

Some computers don't have the ability to mess with the BIOS, its to prevent people messing up computers under warranty (from big co.'s like Dell). To check up on your BIOS restart, and when it goes into the loading screen, press F2. This should bring you to a while menu of options. On different motherboards its laid out differently (assuming you can change these settings). Go to Advanced Motherboard/Chipset Features, then go into System Voltages. You will want to lower the CPU Core and CPU FSB. Just lower the voltages to your desired number and then hit "Save and Quit".

Keep in mind, when you lower the voltages the CPU gets less power, thus in high stress situations your computer could crash/freeze/bluescreen due to the low power level.

 

[Jawneh]

Okays, thank you. So I figured right that I can't do anything. I need to stick with K10Stat unless someone knows better software.

And yeaaaa... When I was tweaking the settings, I did get some BSODs. I did know it could happen and I was basically just testing. I have them at decent levels now. Instead of over 80C temperatures I'm down to around 60C... Yeah, pretty high, and it had overheated before just from surfing online.

 

[Deimos]

What CPU do you have?

 

[Jawneh]

AMD Turion(tm) X2 Dual-Core Mobile RM-70

 

[Jubei]

Did you check to see if there are any dust rhinoceroses in the vents? The reason I'm asking is that your Turion has a TDP (thermal design power) of 31W. What else is in that thing?

 

[Jawneh]

The design for this laptop is just plain horrible. You can't access nearly anything inside it. You can't clean it completely without breaking something. It's nearly impossible to even clean the fan. <.< I did try it about a month or two ago and did get some out, but... You just simply can't do it.

I got lazy and just did dxdiag. xP Here's some stuff.


Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1
Language: Finnish (Regional Setting: Finnish)
System Manufacturer: FUJITSU SIEMENS
System Model: AMILO Notebook Pa 3553
BIOS: Ver 1.00PARTTBL
Processor: AMD Turion(tm) X2 Dual-Core Mobile RM-70 (2 CPUs), ~2.0GHz
Memory: 2270MB RAM
Page File: 1627MB used, 3141MB available

Graphics card name: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470 Hybrid X2
HDD: 300 GB
Sound card: Realtek High Definition Audio


Like I meantioned before, it's still in its basic setting, so if you want more detailed info on it, just look online.

 

[Jubei]

Now when you say it overheats does it lock up, restart, blue screen or anything like that?

 

[Jawneh]

Nope. CPU usage hits 100%, the CPU fan goes nuts and starts spinning like there's no tomorrow and overall everything gets slow, laggy and glitchy.

 

[Jubei]

Run a malware scan lately? Some of those nasty buggers aren't coded worth a darn and can cause a system to act weird.

 

[blizbiggy]

well if cpu hits 100%, then its more than just an overheating issue... the reason it gets hot is because of the 100% spike which is most likely caused from something(s) running in the background.

BTW, I know from experience that Toshiba and Fujitsu get really hot in general for all notebooks. I think its mostly design flaws in how they are built (cheap).

 

[Jawneh]

Run a malware scan lately? Some of those nasty buggers aren't coded worth a darn and can cause a system to act weird.

Everything is and has been clean. It's not that. =o

Like bliz mentioned here, Fujitsu laptops do have an overheating issues, especially this one. I've read through FS's own forums and found out that this laptop in particular does have those issues. It's really sad when you finally find a good affordable laptop and then there's a flaw like that there. =/