The Definitive Guide to Acer Aspire Gemstone Blue Throttling Issues

Aspire 6930 uses Cantiga

TZ Scope in Cantiga

 

Hey guys last mod from me, doing this repeatedly is sapping the energy out of me.

Just for the info for the next DSDT Modder in case mine doesn't work.
Cantiga uses a new type of DSDT writing similar to my Aspire 4530
The Crestline DSDT is just too long winded(Potentially problematic)
Made a few changes by referencing the Cantiga code.

 

alright man, thanks a lot for your time, i'll try it right way. however how safe is this? using a different cpu coding?

 

No I just replace how they code the standard methods _CRTT, _PSV etc in Crestline with how they do it in Cantiga.
Cantiga Code is shorter and looks neater.
For those who are thinking of using Cantiga Code totally please remove this idea.
Each DSDT contain platform Specific Code.

 

I just updated my 6930G bios to v3236 and i have no more problems what so ever, ill see if it stays this way thru out the week

 

Weinter, which models can use your modded asl? 8920G as well?

 

Please, anyone has tried undervolting with Nibitor and has noticed less throttling? I think the GPU undervolting could reduce the heat sink temperature, and so the processor temperature, since as far as I know, they are connected, and it's said in this thread that throttling is caused by processor temperature.

On the other hand, is it normal that both Core temperatures seem constant in all monitor utilities i have tried? Are the same Core0 and Core1 temperatures than TZ00 and TZ01 temperatures?

Thanks in advance.

 

I think 8920G uses crestline as well so it should be applicable.

 

just wanted to say that it doesnt work. could this be a vista issue? not applying/loading the dsdt correctly?

 

do you get "table overloading complete" or something simmilar?

 

yeah i do get that

 

Hey all

I've been following this thread for a while now to fix my throttling issue too.

Recently I got annoyed with Acer ePower managment reducing my CPU speed for no apparent reason so I uninstalled it and decided to just use Windows Power Management, however, this seems to have solved my throttling issues too!! Apart from this change I only downloaded 'Nvidia system tools' from Nvidia website which included an option to keep the GPU fan running 100% (I thought this was the same as CPU fan for us notebook users). So far I have managed to play games for 2 Hours+ with higher settings, whereas before it would only last 10 mins with low settings before FPS drop and throttling.

Further Info - I have:
Aspire 8930G - Geforce 9700M
Latest BIOS version from Acer site
Latest Nvidia Device Drivers

Nvidia System Tools
NVIDIA PhysX System Software

PS. I have not done any under clocking or other mods yet

 

@yeroash
How is your system holding up now?

@batalyaws32_@
Is you laptop an Acer 8930G?

I have an Acer 8930G, and the core temps using HWMonitor never goes very high, only around 36C. It almost doesn't change, so I need to check if it's stuck!?!

Although the GPU goes to around 90C on games, and so does two of the TZs (TZVR and TZVL, I think, same as batalyaws).
This is when I see the throttling kick in, through RMCLOCK when playing NBA 2K9 after few minutes.
So if the cpu temp is accurate, it's the TZs and the GPUs causing the throttling for me.

Read through entire thread already, will post more info tonight after tests.

 

And, has nobody send his laptop to ACER SAT for a solution? I think this issue may be for a motherboard thermal sensor damage. A motherboard replacement coud be the better solution.

 

Well i have now had 2x 8930G that the core temp does not move unless i re-boot or sleep and resume, even with orthos running and my cpu at 100% for 20 mins.

Anybody know why?

 

What kind of Monitoring Softwares you use to check your CPU Temperature?
It's strange to have this problem.
Did you mean after a reboot/sleep/resume, the CPU Temperature will change?
If your CPU didn't throttle, I think you don't need to care about the changing of temperature. XD

 

I have tried

Core temp 3.0
hwmonitor
realtemp
pc wizard
sandra

As i said it only changes when i reboot of put the notebook to sleep and then resume , this happens in Vista and W7

And i have had 2 8930G and they both have this problem , but all the other temps work just fine acpi , hdd, gpu , just the cpu core temps do not change.

The only game i play is battlefield2 at full resolution and detail and antiy-alising x8 and i have had no throttling.

 

That just gave me an idea on how to stop throttling for others.

There is a line that decides the sampling interval of the temps, you can delete that line and it may stop throttling. But then you would probably have the same problem that Tinderbox has.

 

I think I'm having same issues as tinderbox, for HWMonitor, RMClock, RealTemp. The core temps are basically fixed to what it is when I log-in.

This gives us an idea that the acpi / dsdt fixes the core temp value? But it uses several other ACPI temps to enable the throttling.

@tinderbox
Do you have TZ00 and TZ01 in your ACPI when using HWMonitor? I think this is the cpu temp now?
Can anyone else confirm this? This is what increases when I run Orthos.

There are two other thermal zones, TZVR and TZVL which is closer to the GPU temp.

I'm still narrowing down which temp causes throttling, but I've seen the following trends so far.
I think it throttles when TZ00 / TZ01 reaches 61C (cpu, can be remedied by undervolt)
Or maybe it throttles when the TZVR / TZVL reaches 85C (gpu),
Or maybe both will trigger throttling. I'll check again tonight and post back.

 

When i run orthos TZ00, TZVR , TZVL all increase quickly the quickest is TZ00 , but TZ01 is slow to react to the increase in temperature so i don't this is a CPU core.

 

@tinderbox,
have you experienced throttling?

 

Not while gaming , I ran othos and rightmark cpu clock for 20mins and saw no throttling , the second time i saw cpu throttling within 5 mins , I dont know if it was a fluke , I will give it another go and report back.

EDIT : if i had a candidature for finding thecpu core temps in the ACPI it would be TZVR and TZVL as they have virtually thee same temp and seem to move together.

 

Is this a throttle it happened at around 22mins, it seemed to coincide with a file i was downloading completed.

 

No Tinderbox, that's not a throttle.
Go back and read the first post again:

The fact that your voltage dropped is another sign that wasn't a throttle event - when the CPU's thermal throttle activates, it doesn't move to a lower P-state.

 

Yes, it's an Acer 8930G. Core temperatures only change when rebooting system.

 

Hi Guys
I know I said I would do this anymore but lately I started debugging DSDTS.
I managed to debug my DSDT using Intel ASL and gain some little insights.
Why Intel ASL?
Because
1) It supports Linux
2) Better Syntax
3) Better than Crappy Microsoft ASL
4) More standardised than Microsoft ASL + Optimizations included.
So I found like over 200 errors on 6920G DSDT Code using Intel ASL.
I have fixed them and compile them to 0 errors, 0 Warnings!
Rename the file to DSDT.AML from DSDT.AML.txt
Use Microsoft ASL Compiler to overload the tables I am sure you know how.
If it works feedback and I will replace the default buggy code at BIOS level.
Thanks!

 

I will try this as soon as possible weinter.

 

Basically, what errors did you fix?
In addition, how much better could it be? I mean does it still have the anti-throttle(higher up the throttle point) ability?

 

I'm still mostly experiencing throttling mostly on games. So far, I think I have narrowed down the cases for me through repeated testing.

As I've said Core 0 and Core 1 doesn't change on my machine according to Hwmonitor and other temp monitors.

I'm still assuming TZVR and TZVL is related to GPU since Hwmonitor shows them following GPU temp. I think TZ00 and TZ01 are the core (goes up during orthos, although TZ01 is slower to respond going up and going down) or maybe they are some motherboard or chipset temps.

 

1) Running furmark to stress GPU
max GPU 93C
max TZVR 90C
max TZVL 91C
NO THROTTLING!, TZ00 and TZ01 are around 50s

2) Running orthos to stress CPU,
THROTTLING when
TZ00 hits 67
TZ01 hits 63
TZVR and TZVL are around 55

3) So I thought, as long as I keep my TZ00/01 below 63, throttling will not happen.. BUT
NBA2K9 or Need for Speed Undercover, after a few minutes THROTTLING when
TZVR 71
TZVL 72
TZ00 57
TZ01 55
So I think when the VR and VL are high, when the 00/01 hits around 55, throttle again!

Undervolting helps, but only to delay it. All the boxes in Rmclock for chipset and throttling are grayed out.
Right now, I'm trying everything to maintain my system cool.
I think only DSDT fix will help.

 

I think it actually worked for me. I played Dragon Age (which is CPU intensive) for quite a while, and it didn't throttle. (it used to throttle after only some minutes of gameplay) I'll have to do some more tests tomorrow though. Thank you Weinter

EDIT : After some additional testing, it throttled.

 

i'll try this 2moro. hope it works

 

This copy includes No errors when compiling plus PSV mod to throttle only at 99 degrees.
Again same thing but make sure you restart computer after loading table as always.

 

The CPU definition code was wrong some values didn't return zero as it should

 

Update to my post earlier - Still no throttle since getting rid of ePower management. Plus now i can even use the laptop on my bed (fan kicks in earlier and runs longer) but no throttling.

I would still like to what weinters new dsdt would do but I can't use the one you've provided - need one for 8930G.

I was hoping Acer would have a new bios out for windows 7 so we could use the xp mode none yet

 

I need an AML file for the bios unable to obtain a copy from the BIOS as I am unable to extract AMLs from Insyde BIOS.

However I have another method for obtaining DSDT here

 

Hi weinter! I'll try to follow your guide to extract my dsdt on my 8930g running Win7.

I always experience throttle when gaming. When GPU is already hot (around 75-80), I think the throttle temperature for the CPU (or TZ00 / TZ01) is very low, only around 57C.
So it throttles, then gets colder (around 50) and turns back to fast, then throttle again when it becomes a bit higher! So annoying! Please help try to workaround. I'll post it when I've obtained my dsdt.

 

@weinter, Here is my DSDT. My machine is a 8930G with Intel T9400 and 9700M GT. I'm running the latest bios from Acer, 1.13.

Let me know what you find out and how you intend to fix it! Thanks a lot!

 

I tested that one and my CPU still throttled. Thanks again for your work

 

and where exactly am i supposed to copy the .aml file?

 

You have to download the microsoft asl compiler use it to load the aml file.

If you look a few pages back you will see a guide.

Basically use the command:
asl /loadtable dsdt.aml

 

Do you see the following during throttling?

 

@weinter
I checked the event viewer logs, I don't have it there.
But I'm 100% sure this is throttling.
Have you taken a look at my DSDT? I posted it on page 39.
Thanks!

This is what I see in event viewer related to Kernel-Processor-Power, which is only information on the states. There are 8 throttle states according to this.

 

No, I didn't see this in my event viewer.

 

@moral hazard
I remember you helping other people on another thread with a different laptop model on modifying the trip point for the throttling. If you can, would you please have a look at the DSDT table I attached on page 39 as well?
Thanks!

Although, I re-read the thread from the start again, and see that so far, there is no-one yet who has eliminated throttling with editing DSDT. Is it possible the ACER bios override the DSDT? Then we won't be able to fix it this way. I hope not! Or maybe there's another part on the DSDT that we are missing to edit.

 

Weinter, please thumbnail your image - it's too big for the page.

 

I looked at your file, I dont think I can help.
I can only do what Weinter does.

We already tried many things and none of them worked.

On the other thread, they had a nice notebook that responded well to the changes. But your notebook is strange, it manages to throttle no matter what.

I can maybe try a few more things for you.
1. Set the trip point to a larger number (150C).
2. delete the passive cooling list.
3. delete the temp sampling period so that the temp will never change.
4. Set the temp to always be = 20C
5. Cap the temp at 50C.

Let me know if you want me to give you the modified files.

 

If we delete the passive cooling list it means the fan will always be on? Actually, I'm looking for a way to make the fan always run at full speed.

I know this doesn't make sense to some people, but I believe this machine is really capable of good gaming if not for this throttling problem.

If we undervolt plus make sure everything's cool and run the fan full speed always, hopefully, it will be always below the threshold. Right now the fan only spins fast when the CPU is already hot and is about to throttle.

There's still a chance it will throttle but so far setting the temperatures in the DSDT doesn't seem to work, so why not look for 'more prevention' rather than a cure?

Can we set the fan to run full speed always in the DSDT? Don't really care about battery.

Thanks moral hazard and weinter and everyone for all your continuing efforts on this!

 

yes you have fan code in your dsdt code. Should be possible to set the speed.

Let me think a bit.

 

Code:

PowerResource(FN00, 0x0, 0x0)
        {
            Method(_STA, 0x0, Serialized)
            {
                If(LEqual(DTSF, Zero))
                {
                    Return(Zero)
                }
                Else
                {
                    Return(One)
                }
            }
            Method(_ON_, 0x0, Serialized)
            {
            }
            Method(_OFF, 0x0, Serialized)
            {
            }
        }
        Device(FAN0)
        {
            Name(_HID, 0xb0cd041)
            Name(_UID, Zero)
            Name(_PR0, Package(0x1)
            {
                FN00
            })
        }

So I might modify this part and see if it works, will you test the code?