Is this laptop defective?

SuperCoolAl · Apr 9, 2006, 07:42 PM

First off, the specs:

This is an Evesham Quest Roma T37, based of MSI's MS-1029 chassis (or Megabook M635)
Ati Xpress 200 chipset
Turion 64 MT-37 (approximately equivalent to a 3700+ Athlon 64)
1024MB DDR333 RAM
128MB Mobility Radeon X700
Windows XP Home Edition
All latest graphics/chipset/CPU drivers

Now, my processor should be theoretically running at it's peak clock rate the whole time when under load, which is 2Ghz. When idle, the processor clocks down to 800Mhz to dissipate heat and save power.

The problem I am experiencing is when under load for extended periods of time, while playing games for example, occasionally the CPU will clock down even when under load for about 5 seconds, then speeds back up. During these 5 seconds the gameplay becomes very laggy due to the much reduced clock rate and is downright unplayable as this happens about twice a minute.

The only way to stop this is to completely uninstall the Powernow drivers and also disable Powernow in the BIOS. However under these conditions after a while playing games the laptop turns itself off, which leads me to believe it is a heat issue. This would explain the clocking down under load to avoid overheating. Research on the internet has also lead me to believe this is true.

Now as this thing is only a few months old and is still under warranty do you think I should return it? Definitely seems like the cooling isn't enough!

Opinions, please.

Chanur · Apr 16, 2006, 09:04 PM

Yeah, does sound like a heat issue... so yeah, you can either return it, or if it won't void your warranty take the thing apart and look for anything not correctly installed from the factory. Such as blue protective plastic left on thermal pads and not removed before installation, etc. Then slap some AS5 compound on everything and give it a try...

Also, have ya taken a look at the fan settings? Tried overriding the built in control and revving them up to full RPMs? http://www.mckenziedev.com/index.php will work for sure, but I prefer http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php These will also report on all the system temperature readings they find. Ya may want to watch the temp readings and confirm it's the cause...

SuperCoolAl · Apr 17, 2006, 04:41 AM

Neither of those seem to be able to read the fans or the temperature sensors here

pr0digal jenius · Apr 17, 2006, 10:06 AM

I'd RMA/Return the sucker, yes.

My Vaio throttles down only when it drops below 40% load. And I know fo throttle control software for Centrino chips....but not turion's....so I can't offer much help there

Chanur · Apr 18, 2006, 12:22 AM

DUH!! I was not thinking! I should have just given you this utility first, it seems the most all-around and capable, not to mention it's designed solely for a laptop. My apologies... and please let me know if this one doesn't work either! I'd be pretty surprised... Speedfan may have required some tweaking first to work, but this one doesn't.

http://www.pbus-167.com/chc.htm

SuperCoolAl · Apr 18, 2006, 08:44 AM

Oh wow that's a brilliant program, working fine!

Thank you! I'll run some stressing to see how hot this gets.

SuperCoolAl · Apr 18, 2006, 09:42 AM

Yup that's definitely the problem:

It happens when the temp hits about 87 Celsius. NHC says the system will power off around 95 Celsius.

Here's how NHC shows my status as now:

swimtech · Apr 18, 2006, 09:53 AM

Glad you're making headway...

I would re-iterate though what PJ posted - check with the manufacturer on this problem as no doubt others are having the problem you've got as well - sounds like a design problem that would be common to that model. If the model has been out a while, they may have advice or a procedure in place to fix the problem - try talking to them...