Aspire 6920G BIOS Update & Miracle

EDIT: THIS HAS NOT SOLVED THE THROTTLING PROBLEM AS STATED IN POSTS BELOW. DISREGARD.

OK, so I was sort of expecting this.
That the reason that the CPU in my Aspire 6920G always downclocked due to overheating was that the ACPI thermal tables in the BIOS were out of whack somehow.
I figured this out b/c I eliminated everything else - GPU overheating, too much voltage, the CPU itself (I originally had a T5550, you will recall).
And it definitely helped that the 6920G already had two BIOS updates lined up on the FTP - from the stock 1.06 to either 1.07 or 1.10.
So, being the guy on the forums with WAY too much time on his hands (and the ability to go without a notebook for a while), I decided to go ahead with the BIOS update.

GIANT DISCLAIMER - This is not guaranteed to fix your overheating problems, especially if you're already on BIOS 1.10. BIOS updates are inherently risky business, and can brick your system if things go wrong. AND IF YOU DON'T HAVE AN ASPIRE 6920G, DO NOT USE THE BIOS FILES IN THIS POST!!!

Version 1.10
Version 1.06, in case you want it for a Crisis Recovery Disk

Upon downloading the ZIP file from the Acer FTP, I immediately noticed a slight problem. The WinPhlash utility provided by Acer does NOT support 64-bit Windows! Thus, I ultimately had to whip out my 32-bit Vista setup DVD, boot to it, and use a command prompt to navigate to the USB key that had the BIOS update utility. If you have 32-bit WinPE on your hard drive or USB key, that'll work too. WinPhlash is happy to run in either. Maybe WinRE too, but I had the 64-bit version and can't confirm it's usable.
Once I had the thing open, it was a few tense moments as I watched the progress counter complete. Once that was done, it's supposed to do an automatic restart BUT since I was using a setup DVD and not an actual operating system, it didn't. Thankfully, I had my USB mouse plugged in, and proceeded to use that to shut everything down and reboot.

Rebooted, checked that the BIOS was indeed now version 1.10, and then went into Windows to see if my overheating woes were over.
For those of you who've checked NBR in the past while, you'd know that CoreTemp, HWMonitor, and RMClock all read the CPU temperature 15 degrees below actual - RealTemp was the only one that got it right.
So imagine my surprise when on the new BIOS, CoreTemp, HWMonitor, and RealTemp ALL showed the same temperature!! RMClock was 10 degrees over actual, so I just had to change the temp offset in the registry to be accurate.
I thus proceeded to do a battery of three tests to make sure that the thermal downclocking beast was finally put to rest.
1. 3DMark06 - Heat usually caused my system to choke in the CPU test portion. Nothing doing, not even with four CPU monitors running in the background.
2. Team Fortress 2 - The one that usually did it, even with an undervolt! Again, ran without any downclocking (was kinda slow anyway, but I'm just waiting for the Scout Update to bring multicore to the game).
3. Orthos - Running that right now. CPU's holding in the low 60s, without a single downclock. I'm convinced my Arctic Silver 5 application is helping to keep it nice and cool.

In other words, it seems that BIOS version 1.10 has fixed the downclocking issue. However, your mileage may vary, and I recommend not doing the update unless a) you've got a crisis recovery floppy handy, b) you've got a warranty, and you can live without your system for a while, or c) you're suffering from terminal boredom.

Oh, and I've turned off my undervolt for now. Don't need it.

 

Hi TehSuigi

How did you find the system fan after the update?

I find it does not seem to be working hard at all, just purrs away slighlty faster under load. (im still on the old BIOS version)

Is there much differance in temps between doing this vs undervolting?

Thanks, Coops

 

It does seem that the fan is more responsive to changes in temperature, especially the CPU.
Undervolting seems like the less work-intensive thing to do, especially if you test for stability properly.

 

Did the update and most impressed

It seems to run more relaxed with the fan often changing to differant speeds as it should do.

 

Aye I bit this bullet some time ago and was verry happy with the results. But ofcourse this should only be done if you understand the disaster this may cause if it goes wrong!

 

I've to updated my 6935G with Windows 64 Bits. Acer provides in the zip folder another Falsh utility compatible with Vista 64 Bits...

 

Good to know - hopefully it's compatible with the 6920G's BIOS.

 

Tehsuigi, you should update your THREAD.
BIOS v1.10 is no longer a success, it can't fix the CPU downclocking issue.
Remember what you told me? Even the latest BIOS v1.14 couldn't fix the problem.
I think the downclocking is due to,
a.) EIST(turn on should be off) or,
b.) some coding in the CPU which need to be modify(I checked this using CrystalCPUID but I don't dare and don't know which 1 should be modify).

I found this http://www.driversdown.com/drivers/Acer-Aspire-6920G-Notebook-BIOS-1.7-Windows-Vista_80810.shtml
BIOS v1.7(unknown BIOS)
I don't know what is it for. If it can unlock the EIST option then I would be impressed.

 

Don't get your hopes up - it's just BIOS version 1. 07. Nothing new, nothing useful.

 

After some researches, the downclocking issues is due to BIOS setting,
a.) EIST which Acer had locked it and Acer have it enabled. Disabling it might solve the downclocking issues.
b.) TM1 and TM2 setting. Acer locks them as well. TM1 and TM2 set the thermal throttling value. I guess AS 6920G have TM1 and TM2 on very low thermal throttling value. Basically, TM1 and TM2 should set about 75% or 80% of the TJmax temperature. However, AS 6920G has it on 50% of the TJmax temperature. Obviously, the throttling start after the processor reach 50++C for a few minutes.
c.) Coding of CPU. Some very complicated number like MSR. Acer might coded it to downclock at certain temperature(which is damn far a way for TJmax).

 

Well, Acer themselves have suggested a BIOS update after I submitted a lengthy question to them about this. I'll give it a shot later today.

 

Screw them up until they release the GOOD BIOS!! The v1.14 was like nothing but change in NUMBER only. Actually, they can fix this problem easily just by letting adjust TJmax(TM1 and TM2) and EIST(on/off).
They locks the setting for TM1 and TM2 and EIST is for,
a.) Avoid user to adjust it wrongly and destroy the laptop themselves.
b.) Customer Threshold (market strategic/money).

Anyway, the NEW BIOS they suggested would fix it? I mean can you tell something about it?
Like what you complaint and what their respond.

 

I'll post our correspondence when this whole sordid story is over with.

 

Tehsuigi, you know I have very high-hope on you. I hope you could learn something on BIOS editing or unlocking.
I doubt Acer would do their things slowly. Is the best if you learn that BIOS editing stuffs and teach everyone here how to fix this "6920G fantastic feature".

Edit: Which Acer site did you send the complaint? I mean like AUS, US, EURO and so on.

 

Acer PanAm, which covers all of North and South America.
I don't want to edit my own BIOS - that's something I'd rather leave to Acer's techs.
I will be escalating my service request with Acer Support if the BIOS update doesn't fix it (which, it sounds like, it won't).

 

Of course you need. As you know those computer companies may just ignore the complaints unless a lot of people are complaining or you keep nagging them.
Just now, I uninstalled NTI backup blah blah, it reduced 3 stupid start-up services and 1 tray icon. Uninstallation of this software boost up my start-up time a little and my memory usage lowered too.
I wonder why AS 6920G have NTI backup? Since Acer Empowering Technology already covered those back-up stuffs.

 

Sure enough, the BIOS update didn't do squat (although it definitely ran a lot faster since I used my WinPE USB stick).
Already contacted Acer back to get their response - if it's not to my liking, I'm going all-caps on their asses.

And the reason they have NTI is the same reason they have eSobi, Orion, and stuff - Acer gets paid to pre-install that crap.

 

OOOOO. Mind explain more on eSobi and Orion? If they are useless as NTI back-up, I would just uninstall them. But NTI Media Maker is OK(don't have services and start-up), I keep it. LOL.

Anyway, are you sure they would respond to your service request and create a new BIOS that would fix everything?
Actually, the new BIOS is very easy to be create, they have the technicians. All they have to do is modified the EIST.
However, we are "normal". So, leave this stuff for Acer.

I would like to learn WinPE but it looks kinda hard. In addition, I don't have extra USB flashdrives.