Acer 8930G 9A4G100WN overheating GPU

I have the above Aspire and it went to acer repair service for overheating. Now they changed the video card (Nvidia 9700M) and send it back as repaired.

Actually running passmark burnin test, all will PASS the test, but if you use any 3D stress test, or play like a first person shooter, i get temperatures above 100C on the GPU CORE !!

I am thinking this is due to Southbridge being broke, but i could be wrong, laptops is not my domain. If anyone has a clue, the vents are all cleaned, the ventilator and headpipes aswell, so why is the core heating up like this ? Coz I am sure if I send it back to ACER again, they ll just say everything is working fine....only i can bake an egg on the video card ....

Checking with CPU id , i get the following, look at the ACPI temps and the GPU core :

CPUID HWMonitor Report
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Binaries
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

HWMonitor version 1.1.6.0

Monitoring
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mainboard Model Aspire 8930 (0x00000358 - 0xF6046E80)

LPCIO
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

LPCIO Vendor NS
LPCIO Vendor ID 0xFF02
LPCIO Chip ID 0x85
LPCIO Revision ID 0x0
Config Mode I/O address 0x2E
Config Mode LDN 0x9
Config Mode registers
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 09 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
10 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
20 85 12 60 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00
30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
50 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
60 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
70 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Hardware Monitors
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hardware monitor ACPI
Temperature 0 46°C (114°F) [0xC78] (TZ00)
Temperature 1 99°C (210°F) [0xE8A] (TZVR)
Temperature 2 100°C (211°F) [0xE94] (TZVL)
Temperature 3 48°C (118°F) [0xC8C] (TZ01)

Hardware monitor Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T9550
Temperature 0 18°C (64°F) [0x52] (Core #0)
Temperature 1 18°C (64°F) [0x52] (Core #1)

Hardware monitor NVIDIA GeForce 9700M GT
Temperature 0 101°C (213°F) (GPU Core)

Hardware monitor ST950032 5AS
Temperature 0 40°C (103°F) [0x28] (Assembly)
Temperature 2 40°C (103°F) [0x28] (Air Flow)

Hardware monitor ST950032 5AS
Temperature 0 38°C (100°F) [0x26] (Assembly)
Temperature 2 38°C (100°F) [0x26] (Air Flow)

Hardware monitor Battery 1
Voltage 0 16.50 Volts [0x4078] (Current Voltage)
Capacity 0 71040 mWh [0x11580] (Designed Capacity)
Capacity 1 58534 mWh [0xE4A6] (Full Charge Capacity)
Capacity 2 58534 mWh [0xE4A6] (Current Capacity)
Level 0 18 pc [0x52] (Wear Level)
Level 1 100 pc [0x64] (Charge Level)


Processors
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of processors 1
Number of threads 2

APICs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Processor 0
-- Core 0
-- Thread 0 0
-- Core 1
-- Thread 0 1

Processors Information
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Processor 1 ID = 0
Number of cores 2 (max 2)
Number of threads 2 (max 2)
Name Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T9550
Codename Penryn
Specification Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9550 @ 2.66GHz
Package (platform ID) Socket P (478) (0x7)
CPUID 6.7.A
Extended CPUID 6.17
Core Stepping E0
Technology 45 nm
Core Speed 1196.9 MHz
Multiplier x FSB 4.5 x 266.0 MHz
Rated Bus speed 1064.0 MHz
Stock frequency 2666 MHz
Instructions sets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, EM64T, VT-x
L1 Data cache 2 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache 2 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache 6144 KBytes, 24-way set associative, 64-byte line size
FID/VID Control yes
FID range 6.0x - 10.0x
Max VID 1.175 V



Thread dumps
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

CPU Thread 0
APIC ID 0
Topology Processor ID 0, Core ID 0, Thread ID 0
Type 01008001h
Max CPUID level 0000000Dh
Max CPUID ext. level 80000008h
Cache descriptor Level 1, D, 32 KB, 1 thread(s)
Cache descriptor Level 1, I, 32 KB, 1 thread(s)
Cache descriptor Level 2, U, 6 MB, 2 thread(s)

CPUID
0x00000000 0x0000000D 0x756E6547 0x6C65746E 0x49656E69
0x00000001 0x0001067A 0x00020800 0x0C08E3FD 0xBFEBFBFF
0x00000002 0x05B0B101 0x005657F0 0x00000000 0x2CB4304E
0x00000003 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000
0x00000004 0x04000121 0x01C0003F 0x0000003F 0x00000001
0x00000004 0x04000122 0x01C0003F 0x0000003F 0x00000001
0x00000004 0x04004143 0x05C0003F 0x00000FFF 0x00000001
0x00000005 0x00000040 0x00000040 0x00000003 0x03122220
0x00000006 0x00000003 0x00000002 0x00000003 0x00000000
0x00000007 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000
0x00000008 0x00000400 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000
0x00000009 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000
0x0000000A 0x07280202 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000503
0x0000000C 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000
0x0000000D 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000
0x80000000 0x80000008 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000
0x80000001 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000001 0x20100000
0x80000002 0x65746E49 0x2952286C 0x726F4320 0x4D542865
0x80000003 0x44203229 0x43206F75 0x20205550 0x54202020
0x80000004 0x30353539 0x20402020 0x36362E32 0x007A4847
0x80000005 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000
0x80000006 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x18008040 0x00000000
0x80000007 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000
0x80000008 0x00003024 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000

MSR 0x0000001B 0x00000000 0xFEE00900
MSR 0x0000003A 0x00000000 0x00000001
MSR 0x00000017 0x001C0000 0x98F48A25
MSR 0x000000CD 0x00000000 0x000001E0
MSR 0x0000003F 0x00000000 0x00000000
MSR 0x000000CE 0x80174A2B 0x4345060F
MSR 0x000001A0 0x00000013 0x6C950481
MSR 0x000000EE 0x00000000 0x9EB91000
MSR 0x0000011E 0x00000000 0x74702111
MSR 0x0000019C 0x00000000 0x88520000
MSR 0x00000198 0x06170A25 0x06000A25
MSR 0x00000199 0x00000000 0x00004A2B

CPU Thread 1
APIC ID 1
Topology Processor ID 0, Core ID 1, Thread ID 0
Type 01008001h
Max CPUID level 0000000Dh
Max CPUID ext. level 80000008h
Cache descriptor Level 1, D, 32 KB, 1 thread(s)
Cache descriptor Level 1, I, 32 KB, 1 thread(s)
Cache descriptor Level 2, U, 6 MB, 2 thread(s)

CPUID
0x00000000 0x0000000D 0x756E6547 0x6C65746E 0x49656E69
0x00000001 0x0001067A 0x01020800 0x0C08E3FD 0xBFEBFBFF
0x00000002 0x05B0B101 0x005657F0 0x00000000 0x2CB4304E
0x00000003 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000
0x00000004 0x04000121 0x01C0003F 0x0000003F 0x00000001
0x00000004 0x04000122 0x01C0003F 0x0000003F 0x00000001
0x00000004 0x04004143 0x05C0003F 0x00000FFF 0x00000001
0x00000005 0x00000040 0x00000040 0x00000003 0x03122220
0x00000006 0x00000003 0x00000002 0x00000003 0x00000000
0x00000007 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000
0x00000008 0x00000400 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000
0x00000009 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000
0x0000000A 0x07280202 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000503
0x0000000C 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000
0x0000000D 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000
0x80000000 0x80000008 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000
0x80000001 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000001 0x20100000
0x80000002 0x65746E49 0x2952286C 0x726F4320 0x4D542865
0x80000003 0x44203229 0x43206F75 0x20205550 0x54202020
0x80000004 0x30353539 0x20402020 0x36362E32 0x007A4847
0x80000005 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000
0x80000006 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x18008040 0x00000000
0x80000007 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000
0x80000008 0x00003024 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000

MSR 0x0000001B 0x00000000 0xFEE00800
MSR 0x0000003A 0x00000000 0x00000001
MSR 0x00000017 0x001C0000 0x98F48A25
MSR 0x000000CD 0x00000000 0x000001E0
MSR 0x0000003F 0x00000000 0x00000000
MSR 0x000000CE 0x80174A2B 0x4345060F
MSR 0x000001A0 0x00000013 0x6C950481
MSR 0x000000EE 0x00000000 0x9EB91000
MSR 0x0000011E 0x00000000 0x74702111
MSR 0x0000019C 0x00000000 0x88520000
MSR 0x00000198 0x06170A25 0x06000A25
MSR 0x00000199 0x00000000 0x00004A2B



Storage
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

USB Device Validity Sensor, class=0xFF, subclass=0x00, vendor=0x138A, product=0x0001
USB Device USB Mass Storage Device, class=0x00, subclass=0x00, vendor=0x0930, product=0x6545
USB Device USB Mass Storage Device, class=0x00, subclass=0x00, vendor=0x13FD, product=0x1840
USB Device USB Composite Device, class=0xEF, subclass=0x02, vendor=0x064E, product=0xA117

Graphic APIs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

API NVIDIA NVAPI
API NVIDIA I/O

Graphics I2C
-------------------------------------------------------------------------



Display Adapters
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Display adapter 0
Manuf. API index 0
Display name \\.\DISPLAY1
Name NVIDIA GeForce 9700M GT
Revision A1
Codename G96
Technology 65 nm
PCI device bus 1 (0x1), device 0 (0x0), function 0 (0x0)
Vendor ID 0x10DE (0x1025)
Model ID 0x064A (0x0145)

 

Man, and i thought i was paranoid with my 84°c under fulload!
The problem you're having (and that i will have in the near future as well, i think) can be related to thermal sensors? Or it does really gets that hot, like, 100c?
What i am trying to say is that it can be possible to have a broken thermal sensor/ACPI system, therefore the heat is reported incorrect.
If the southbridge is broken like you said, you would experience a general performance problem with the whole pc, like hard disk failures, bsods, wrong ram timings, wrong pci-e bus interrupts/speeds, as the Soutbridge takes care mainly of the pci-e buses and other things on the mobo (therefore things should be more serous).

Well i have an idea: get a thermometer (dunno how you call it, but its a thing to measure heat, used for human body as well [weird description, i know, but i dunno how to translate it from italian to english]).
Now remove the backplate of the laptop so you can access your gpu.
Get the gpu into 100°c range as you reported above; shutdown the pc and put the thermometer tip on the gpu to see whats the actual temp reading (it should be a bit less than 100°c assuming that the temperature reading is correct, since its cooling down because the laptop is "off").
That's it!

 

Hi,

thx for the quick reply, i already did that, and the termal sensors are ok, actually the keyboard is getting really hot, and the fan is blowing as an idiot..when I run a 3d benchmark video, it takes about 6 minutes for the GPU to get above 100C ..i actually had it up to 102C already ! So termal sensors seems ok, i never had this issue before, it all started 2 months ago, video card started to fail (windows 7) so it restarted the gfx card quite a few times, and at a certain point the laptop shut itself off (termal protection). So it came back from repairs, they fitted a new video card, but the heating problem continues, so this GFX card is soon to go the same way, as the core overheats..and i have no clue why........ i put the computer back to factory defaults, clean win7 with acer gfx drivers etc, so driver issue is excluded. As you can see, 2 of the ACPI's heat up aswell in the report above, does it have anything to do with it ?

Regards

 

I just found out that removing the power supply and setting high performance anyway, is solving my problems ! does this means the power supply is dead ?

And why is it heating up the GPU and ACPI when connected ?

I could be wrong but right now the gpu core is at a stable 65C

 

Ah that would explain the problem. Its very possible than your psu is going to die,because i bet it is outputting more voltage than it should.
Check if it gets really hot: if it does, be warned than its possible that it can explode (happened once to me).
Try to use a switchable compatible psu (can be bought in any pc store) to see if thats the culprit.

Also be sure that when testing on batteries both gpu and cpu are running full power.

That would explain why acer didnt noticed the problem of overheating, probably because they used their own psu during repairs.

Also if you want,remove the battery and try to benchmark the laptop using only psu. Just to clear some doubts. If you can, using a tester, check how much voltage it outputs.

 

Hi, thx for the reply, i tested output being at 19.44v , so I tried with a universal power supply, with outputs 19.2v stable, and it heats up less, but still I am getting 97C on the gpu core. Removing that one, so just using battery, again temp drops to a stable 74 on full 3D graphics use.

Now i removed battery, and used only the PSU (universal one) , it goes up till 90C and stick around that ... so something is wrong. Checking the battery, it s a 14.8v one ... now I m thinking, is there a regulator in the laptop that is broke ? I figure the laptop needs 14.8 (as stated on the battery) but gets more due to something being broke ??

Really getting on my nerves, coz have no clue what s going on.

 

I am gonna send it back to acer ... again <sigh>

 

it maybe that on battery the gpu isnt running at full speed and thats why its running cooler

 

I've yet to see a CPU that runs below room temperature.....

If you still have it, try GPU-Z and Speedfan as alternatives.
I never liked HWMonitor since its always borked temps slightly compared to several
other programs which reported all the same.

 

I have the same problem here..
Do you know what was the cause?
Did Acer fix you laptop??
I hope you can tell me more because it drives me nuts...
Temp in my laptop has been 107C! That's right before it shuts down...

 

Is there any more inforamation about the heat problem and a solution

 

I've had this problem too. Been playing games for 15 minutes and then he would turn off because he was hitting 106°C.
However I just took the vacuum cleaner, opened my lappy and just sucked out all the dust, and offcourse i cleanded the fan. Now he's acting normal again...

ps: in case you don't trust this method, this is the second time I've done this, about 18 months ago he was showing the same behavior and he's still working fine

 

interesting problem. If the laptop is clean, humm...,we need to see if the sensor is working property like the other poster stated. So, in order to be able to measure the laptop gpu temp you want to use something such as a temperature gun infrared( this will be more easier than a regular thermometer) with the laptop disassembled and power on. There is another possibility I can see. The graphic card is malfunctioning. Even though the graphic is still working, it can be malfunctioning and that is why it reaches high temperature very easily. I actually see this happen before with other hardware components. Try resetting the laptop or reflash the bios and see if that help. Ha, I had to send my laptop in the third time last week. So second time sending it in for repair isn't too bad.

Edit: just realized the post was old and the op never come back to tell us the solution

 

Well I can say one thing for sure: just vacuuming it won't remove all the dust. I've just removed my fan's cover and was shocked by the dust near the walls and kind of side air supplier. When I collected it, there was about a bottle cap of dust and hair.
So my advise for everyone who has overheating problems is: remove the fan cover and clear all the dust not only from fan, but from around of it too.
P.S. Sorry for my bad English.

 

Hmm, it looks like a problem with the heatsink - maybe the heatpipe is broken (the liquid inside evaporated). If you could try a new heatsink from somewhere...