The Definitive Guide to Acer Aspire Gemstone Blue Throttling Issues

Triturbo just send me a PM with some good luck wished regarding the repair process of the hd 3870 and he also has the idea that throttling might be an Nvidia related problem. Now the thought has crossed my mind before but I wonder.... would this be the case?

Has anyone updated his or her 6920 or 8930 with an ATI card and still noticed some throttle issues???

 

@soulhun73r, i'll try your suggestion.
actually before, throttle happens to me just on the start... if i continue on playing with the throttle, it will eventually recover back and throttle will not happen again. So, same thing is I force it to throttle, hoping it won't come back for the rest of the gaming time.
Now, it's worse because even after recovering, it will throttle again after a few mins.
ATI no throttling?!? can anyone confirm this?

 

As far as i know it`s the cpu that throttles not the gpu so it should not matter if the gpu is ati or nvidia, though how hot the gpu runs can cause throttling as the cpu/gpu share the same heatpipe and will increase the cpu temperature.

 

But the fact is there, I hadn't saw an ATi owner here, correct me if I'm wrong. Sadly, spaanplaat's upgrade went bad, otherwise we would already know the answer.

 

I reported and I will send it to Acer. Do you know of someone with a Q9000 processor, that works correctly without undervolt?

 

AS described in the guide on first page I tried to force Laptop to throttle under full CPU load. Ran ORTHOS for 1 hr. But it didn't throttle and both my CPU cores were 21°C and 16°C respectively. This temperature was under stress. Is it fine to upgrade the processor to x9100 ?

 

Throttling just occurs if CPU and GPU are both stressed. You can run every CPU-Test without throttling as long as the GPU haven't to work hard while CPU-Stresstest.

But it doesn't have much to do with the GPU Temp, because sometimes it throttels with CPU<40° and GPU<70°.

 

warnold, it's just like me, but when I tried this, after you restart the computer, you can play hours and ours without this problem. I've tried another day and used it for like 8 or more hours, and change to 3/4 different games and I only had to put it to sleep 2 time, one almost in the beginning and another at the heaviest game I have installed.
This is so stupid, seriously...

 

@soulhun73r
I tried your suggestion and somehow it works for me too... At least there's a almost perfectly working workaround for now and I can enjoy my notebook. Almost thinking of selling this and buying a desktop. Now I don't have too.
And this thing can run racedriver grid with all high settings and looks very good!

 

Excuse this stupid question, but what is the fastest way to put the notebook asleep and wake it up? I do not use sleep mode usual.

 

OK, here's something I noticed - Acer posted an 8920G BIOS version 1.15 on November 26th. Might this be the solution (for some of us)?

Any 8920G throttlers out there willing to give this BIOS a spin?
And conversely, any 6920G users who've dared to cross-flash? There's no 1.15 for the 6920G yet, but if the two are compatible...

 

I flashed my Bios to 1.15 2 days ago, throttling still occurs -.-

I've the subjective feeling that the performance is a little bit better but it still throttels -.-

 

1.15 is a year old BIOS, the only thing changed in the package is a 64 bit Windows 7 compatible flasher.

Posted this last night in the 6920 throttle thread: http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/...009/12/02/dell-on-laptops-and-throttling.aspx

 

Just to say Gents, good work throughout the thread here. I too am operating a 6920g similar spec to TehSuigi, but with a T8100 processor. I have very similar values on HWMonitor myself, have undervolted and taken steps to keep my laptop cool.

I'll be honest, if a fixed DSDT table can sort this mess out, I have no idea why Acer dont stick it in the latest BIOS update. There arrogance is letting down alot of people. Still, just wanted to thank you for what you guys are doing, and dont give up hope! The exposure of this to Acer is growing fast. Hopefully just a matter of time.

 

Thanks for the kudos, blondefletch.
When the manufacturer fails, you know damn well that the community will rise up and succeed.

 

I never had any overheating or throttling problems on my 8930 until i changed my os, even reverting back didnt stop it, maybe that is the key to something there I dont know.
I fixed, well not so much fixed but stopped my throttling issues by changing the powermizer registry to run the gpu at max all the time, this meant that when it tried to throttle in gaming it couldnt as my gpu clock was at max, no more lagging or decrease in fps, I then had to undervolt and sit it on a cryo lx, not the best solution but it does work and stops all problems, now at least its become quite a good gaming notebook with a big drop in temps, im sure a fixed DSDT table would be a far better solution, im still at odds why it only started to happen after i installed a different os and im not the first that this has happened to, strange, i tried xp,vista, 32 and 64 bit, windows 7 32 and 64, oh well, its the only way I have found.

EDIT I now use powermixzer switch which is just great as I can turn it on when Im not gaming to keep temps down

Acer 8930
p8600 cpu
9700m gt
windows 7 ultimate x64

 

sorry is there a guide that shows how to clean a aspire gemstone 6935 laptop cpu fan ?

 

Does the thermal throttling occuring in Windows Xp?

 

Need response!
Does throttling occur in Windows Xp?

 

Yes for me it did, Ive tried xp, vista and now im on win 7, I now run powermizer switch so I can turn it on when im not gaming to keep temps down, I did take out the fan and clean the heatsink that was covered in dust, now my temps are around the 50 oC, much better, the 8930 could really do with two fans, one for the cpu and one for the gpu, at least with powermizer off I don get the lag anymore, plus undervoltig and my cryo lx, it all seems ok now but if I knew all this at the start I wouldnt of bought it, I wonder if the problem has been fixed with the 8940?, anyway, xp did no make any difference when gaming and it still throttled.

 

Thanks to smile for the powermizer switch, great mate

 

Well Id say its the same as the 8930, it looks the same from pictures I have seen of it, sorry if im wrong.
Turn the laptop over and you will see the casing, (the one with the vents in), there should be 6 screws (maybe less on yours), unscrew and lift off the case, now you will see the fan, there should be three screws holding the fan down, unscrew and be careful when you unplug the wire (little white connector), now you can clean the fan (if your using compressed air make sure you hold the fan blades still with a small screwdriver or something as spinning the fan with compressed air will break it) and clean the heatsink that the fan blows into for the cpu and gpu, then just put back together and your done. Again this is for my 8930, so sorry again if they have changed the design of the back for the 6935, pretty sure its the same though.

 

Can anyone tell my why my 6935G processor's temps cant be monitored? its only at a temperature which never increase/decrease? I used HWMonitor.. and a few other which also didnt work.. Could it be a BIOS restriction? Even VT for 64bit is not enabled... It came with the 1.10 BIOS..

 

yes I had the same problem, bios 1.14 fixed my temps and now they read ok, make sure its the latest 1.14 as the old 1.14 , the cinedash didnt work.

 

To enable vt heres the link


http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=408124&page=5

 

Hello everyone,

I'm new here and would like to help out with this throttling issue.

I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this thread.

I am particularly interested in editing DSDT. I have limited experience with ACPI but I'm willing to learn. I am a Computers and digital systems technologist with some programming experience in assembly language and C. I could be a little rusted though because it's been quite a while since I have programmed.

Even though a lot of posters seemed to ignore the DSDT fix because of it's complexity, I was reading each post in this thread for more info about it. Congrats and thanks to the 2 Pros (weinter and moral hazard). BTW, great blog, weinter. You are the ones who made me want to signup and contribute.

I would like to contribute by adding my first testing session under a freshly installed version of windows 7 Pro:

Setup

-On a laptop cushion on my lap (less than optimal air flow)
-Replaced thermal paste on CPU and GPU with Noctua paste a week ago.
-left thermal pad for other chip (bridge?) as-is.
-vents cleaned once a month.

Configuration

- 1.25v VID for max heat.
-HDD formated as only 1 partition (wiped factory partitions).
-vents cleaned once a month.
-only launch manager from Acer installed
-other drivers directly from manufacturers
-see attached CPU-Z log for more specific info.

Test

-WOW with everything on highest setting in Orgrimmar.
-Windowed maximized (harder on the GPU)
-Switched to fullscreen after 40 minutes.
-50 minutes total (lack of time).


Notes

- I opened up Firefox a few times which would explain the GPU switching to 2D mode a few times in the log.
-FPS average 20FPS (slow but not caused by throttling, caused by high settings, would be at least halved to 10, maybe even 2-3 fps with throttling.)
- I used to get frequent throttling in Vista with factory image @ about 60C.

Results

- No apparent throttling
-max cpu core temp @ 73C
-max gpu temp @ 66C
-Please check RealTemp and GPU-Z logs for more info


Needless to say, I don't know what to think about all this. Was it the fresh Win 7 pro install, the lack of factory partitions (I highly doubt, been mentioned in thread before), the replacement thermal paste, no acer or minimal acer drivers/programs installed? I'm taking a wild guess here but I'm leaning towards something between a fresh or incompatible DSDT pulled from BIOS and the new 7 install. Will be doing some heavier testing soon. Maybe Intel burn test + Furmark.

Any thoughts? Questions?

 

Hi Raisinlove, and welcome to NBR!
Your enthusiasm for this sort of thing is appreciated - I've contacted our DSDT guru weinter to post here and bring you up to speed.

 

Since he knows how to program then he should be able to read up on documentation.
ACPI
Download the big size pdf and start reading.
As for extracting the AML Code

You can choose either asl (Microsoft ASL) or iasl (Intel ASL Compiler)
to decompile the AML File.
I am sure you know how to set the options to decompile AML.
When compiling with iasl take note add the -oa option to remove optimizations because older OS do not like it.

 

Please, take a look at my last post (edited) as I have added significant content.

Please, god, only 3 posts left for PM option, ;P

 

I am not able to comment on Throttling as well because like you I do clean install.
The Acer Empower Software always tend to be buggy as well.
My philosophy is less is more, run less software get less issues and get more performance.
Therefore install what you need esp with program that run in the background.
Acer Empowering Software sort of replicate Vista built in function except they put in their logo in it.
Therefore in a fresh install they are the first to go.
If it isn't throttling then it is great.
Try to disable undervolting and see if it actually throttles below high temperature.
That is the issue users are having.
The DSDT I modify is for another reason I don't really know if it is applicable.
There is this method called OSI() in the ACPI specs and it reads what OS it is running on and applies the relevant ACPI behaviour.
However OSI calls only is updated as far as the released support operating System the computer is sold with.
For Windows 7 the OSI string is "Windows 2009" etc, I added it in for the sake of completeness.

 

Well I was playing Batman Arkham Asylum (love this game) and my 8930 throttled with powermizer off , powermizer doesnt fix the throttle issue, it helps but doesnt fix it as its the cpu (many people told me), the only way I can stop the throttling is to press alt and tab and then put the laptop to sleep and wake it up and the throttling is gone for awhile, when it comes back, just repeat, not the best thing to do but it works and it looks like Ill just have to live with it.
Raisinlove, nice info, I to found that cleaning the laptop helped alot (took fan out and there was loads of dust in the heatsinks)

 

Well, as far as undervolting goes, I have configured RMClock and am able to go as low as 1V with rock solid stability. As for my test last night, no undervolting was used. I set RMClock to no management and can confirm that I was seing a 12x multiplier at 1.25V @ ~2.0Ghz for the whole lenght of my test.

I am aware that the DSDT you modified and posted on your blog is not related. I can assure you, though, that your efforts to help the community are greatly appreciated by members and non-members alike. I was not a member before last night but I read this thread and others like it religiously.

I am a firm believer that less Acer software is better. None of the laptop's components are bound by it, except for Launch manager and the CineDash. The same may be said about drivers. The less to troubleshoot, the better.

 

Hi, Im sure you are one the right track, Im not that advanced really to know what im doing, will this modded table work for my 8930?, I know you dont have throttling issues but I really need your help on this one, the throttling is driving me crazy, please can you help a girl in need , I thought the powermizer had sorted it but it didnt

 

I try to clean me and my girlfriend's laptop every month. A couple of screws and some compressed air and you're done. The more cleaning, the merrier as this will prevent harder to remove dust from forming.

Angelwings, have you undervolted your 8930 yet?

I've read some earlier post mentionning that the fan can be controlled by powermizer. If it is, it might be worth it to speed it up a notch when gaming.

As for "live with it" solutions, I am having way too much fun and learning so much that I refuse to fall back to a half-$%?$% solution.

I'm hard headed like that...

 

I too have undervolted to 1V using RMClock, I know I can stop the throttling going into advanced cpu setting then clciking on throtle but when I do the options are greyed out, looks like it doesnt recognize my chipset, I just cant win with this one

 

Yes I agree, i dont really want to live with it either hehe, I just dont know what to do anymore, Im out of options and yes I undervolted to 1v too. If I can stop the throttling it would be a great laptop (8930) mmmm I wonder if im the only girl on this forum , anyhow Ive come to a dead end and Ill just have to wait till someone finds a solution I guess. Im sure a modded bios would work but thats way over my head

 

This is what Im after for my 8930, please please help.

 

I used to get constant throttling in Vista under WoW. Needless to say, a cooling pad stopped the problem but I'm tired of having to take it out for gaming.

Since I know my way around computers, electronics and programming a bit, I may as well try to find something.

I'm curious as to whether someone as tried a clean install to 7 without installing Acer software/drivers and eliminated the throttling problems. It could help us isolate the problems.

 

Angelwings, although some members have modded the DSDT and Bios. Nothing seems to have fixed the problem. We are currently investigating why these have no effect. The thing is, modded DSDT's have helped alot of other laptop owners using different models. If we can isolate the problem, it could lead us to the answer we're looking for.

 

Im in the same boat with the greyed out areas, is there anyway to solve this problem

 

Yes ive done a clean install of win 7 x64 without acer software ect and it still throttles, thank you for your response I am most grateful, Im sure you will find away, thanks again

 

I live in hope guys

 

Similair, even bigger thread, on the German Acer Forums: http://www.acer-userforum.de/aspire...angen-nach-wenigen-minuten-zu-ruckeln-18.html

One user has got an answer from Acer about the 8920G throttling: "Das Notebook wurde ja auch nie als spieletauglich deklariert", which means "The laptop is not a gaming laptop"... hence the 'G" in 8920G!

 

Does anyone have problems with with the greyed out areas with their 6920g?

 

You know what? They are a bunch of lazy "$%? and if they do not get their act together. We will do it for them and laugh. Even if this laptop had integrated graphics and a 12 inch screen, the temps at which this happens is simply unacceptable. I would understand if the laptop got too hot because of improper cooling for gaming but what if I were to do some heavy encoding with CPU and GPU? This is a media laptop, no? I think we can put encoding and media under the same roof, can't we?

What kind of answer is that, anyways?

to answer your post, Angelwings, what is your bios version?

I still have the shipping one, V 1.06, I think. I am asking because my DSDT passed to 7 during clean install might different or incompatible? Does this theory hold up, Weinter?

Although I do think my throttle problem is gone, I can't be a 100% sure. I will try some heavier testing soon. I might even block my vents while keeping an eye at temps for safe levels just to see if I can make it throttle again.

 

Im running the latest bios version 1.14 (this is the one that the cinedash works, the older 1.14 the console didnt work) and yeah Acer need a kick up the arse, all they have to do is make a new fixed bios TUT, I wonder if the new 8940 or even the 8942 have these problems, I wouldnt be suprised.
Maybe its time for a new non acer notebook, Im so sick of this problem, haha, need to take a break and calm down, so annoying though.

 

Too bad you cant try V1.06...

We could have tested it out...

 

Can you guys download & install RW-Everything?
Then
Next launch the program.
Click the "ACPI" picture menu button just below the menu bar.

It will say building DSDT and you have to wait for a while.

Once it is ready, Click on the DSDT Tab and press Save as Binary (The Picture of the Floppy Disk with a "bin" word on it or Shift + F2)

Name it as DSDT.AML

This will be the AML file you will decompile to readable text by a ASL Compiler.

If you want me to check it you can upload it on a file sharing site (please upload it on a easy to download site like mediafire etc no rapidshare please) I will check the DSDT syntax.

Also save the whole Rw report (Ctrl-F2) and upload it as well.
I will take a look as soon as I have time.

 

Raisinlove, I know it's a half- fix, but it's a fix that works for me.
(and unlike other users, I don't have anything greyed out in RMClock)
I'm mildly surprised at your results though, and on BIOS 1.06 as well.
My Windows 7 Pro x64 clean install still throttles if I'm not undervolting by the way; it just takes longer to do so.

Good on you for giving this your best effort; I doff my cap.

 

I will try to get the V1.06 bios DSDT when I get home tonight or during the weekend.

TehSuigi, I know 50 minutes wasn't quite long enough to be a thorough test.

How long does it take to throttle? Under what conditions? Are your vents cleaned? Did you replace the thermal paste, etc?

I will be doing some tougher tests soon.