M6BNe -- Does it run hot?

Hey guys.

Quick question: I've combed quite a few reviews of the M6BNe and have been impressed so far, but I've been hearing some conflicting reports on how hot this system runs. It seems as though some people are saying it runs "really cool", whereas an equal amount of other people complain that it runs too hot or that the fan will never shut off. Could everyone who has this machine give me their opinion?

 

My N6BNe sits around the 65 degree mark, with no fans on when doing light office jobs, gaming causes temps to get to about 75 degrees (never seen higher temps) with the fan at 3000rpm (can't really hear it).

AuroraS, what BIOS version do you have? I'm wondering if different versions change the temp point at which fans kick in...

 

I'm running the most recent BIOS... I guess that'd be 0205?

ASUS M6800Ne, P-M 1.5 Dothan, 512MB Ram, ASUS Combo drive, Samsung Spinpoint M 40G HDD with 8M cache, Mobility Radeon 9700

 

It's really a weird issue.
It seems that many ASUS notebook have different thermal policies... in that the fans have different thresholds for starting up.

I've seen some that startup at 45 degrees... others that don't start up until 85 degrees, so it's really the luck of the draw.
on my ASUS M6Ne (non widescreen), the fan doesn't come on until 75 degrees... and it usually idles around 60 degrees. It doesn't get TOO hot... not hot enough to burn my legs at least.

ASUS M6800Ne, P-M 1.5 Dothan, 512MB Ram, ASUS Combo drive, Samsung Spinpoint M 40G HDD with 8M cache, Mobility Radeon 9700

 

While the temps seem high, i've had no problems with stability, even with the Video overclocked...

 

VirMimic, so overall would you say that it runs hotter than the average notebook? Do you also leave it turned on all the time?

 

AuroraS: Mine came with BIOS version 0204, but i'm going to flash to 0205 soon. You can check your version by going into Asus Probe, information, DMI, BIOS.

DarkCore: I've never had a lappy before so i can't compare. However the Asus M6Ne temp has never been a problem (even in 35+ degree Australian days). The CPU does seem to run hot, however the top of the lappy only ever feels warm....the bottom is hot. Will burn if you leave it on your lap....

 

Mine too came with 0204 but I flashed to 0205 pretty much right after I installed Windows...

There did not seem to be any different in terms of fan issues, however, the BIOS boot logo was changed (and it looks better!)

I guess since it's winter here in Vancouver, the laptop feels quite nice on the lap... however, if it were summer, I bet it'd burn my legs off.
Thank goodness for -2 degree celsius weather. [ ]

ASUS M6800Ne, P-M 1.5 Dothan, 512MB Ram, ASUS Combo drive, Samsung Spinpoint M 40G HDD with 8M cache, Mobility Radeon 9700

 

I had an odd thing happen with my M6Ne fans today.

Usually the fan only turns on and runs at 3000rpm when the cpu gets above 68 degrees. However today, when on battery saving mode, the fan kicked on at 55 degrees and ran at 4000rpm. I've never seen it run this fast before, even when the cpu has been over 80 degrees??

 

I've heard that Asus will start selling barebones W1N models to resellers. Any idea on when this might happen? From what I hear it has fewer heat problems.

 

Wow!
M6N are really hot! Acers 400X or 202X run idle at 55º most!!
Mines have run 60 degree most, in load...
I have seen people here with 80 degree or more in a M6...

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by rjtd

 

I dont know what kind of issues you guys are having but mine runs at a consistent 45-50 degree C doing normal tasks (msn, word, outlook and surfin or a mix of the above and some other stuff). When i'm gaming then it begins to get hot but other than that the fan is usually either 3000rpm or off. I've got an M6BN btw.

 

To correct everyone who seems to think that the m6n's overheat. Overheating means the maximum core temp has been reached and the laptop begins to show signs of overheating. Getting hot is a different story. If your laptop reached 80C the thing would start to burn and melt and you would smell it. Normal opperating temps for laptops i would say is between 40-65C. 65c can pe reached only when gaming. If your laptops is running hotter and you know that the fan is working and there is nothing constricting airflow feel free to disregard that reading. The correct temperature should match the temp where your cpu meets the heatsink. Yes i know sometimes is not the case but its "normal". We make dozens of m6n's monthly none ever came back for overheating issues. I did have a few people who asked me if 70C was normal when gaming. My reaply was "that reading is a bit off. If you want to test my theory stick a thermometer in the laptop so that its touching the copper heatsink. You should see that the max it will reach is 60c.

 

There is no way that the m6n can run hotter then any other notebook in its class. These are not cars we are talking about. These are laptops with identical cpu's, identical chipsets. The only thing different is the chassis and heat sensors under the cpu. If anyone here know what 80C feels like, thats only about 20F from boiling point. If you can rest your finger on the copper heatsink without feeling an irritating burning sensation after a little while then it is definetly a wrong temp reading.

 

Geared2play.com--thank you for the helpful comments. Being in the position of building dozens of these machines every month...do you get many returns for dead pixels? and which do you prefer, the widescreen WXGA or the square SXGA?

 

hy
i have this problem too because may M6BNE20-RW (with a centrino running at 2ghz) is heating max at 90° before the fan switch on !!! and it turn at 4000 rpm but before nothing .
is it normal ??? does i have a problem with the launching temp of mu fan ??

please help me because i want to send back my laptop to asus but i don't know if it's a problem or if it is normal for this series of notebook ....

thank's a lot

ps : exuse my poor english .... i am french ;o)

 

your fan turns on at 90 degrees? That is horrible.
Si j'etais toi, j'ecriverais(e-mail) a ASUS et leur poser si tu pourrais "exchange" ton ordinateur.

Sorry, I tried with the french [:I]

ASUS M6800Ne, P-M 1.5 Dothan, 512MB Ram, Tohiba Combo drive, Samsung Spinpoint M 40G HDD with 8M cache, Mobility Radeon 9700

 

Personally i like the wxga. The sxga+ is nice but the higher res doesnt intice me. The wxga looks great and it has 2 extra speakers. Infact most people preffer the wxga. I would say the dead pixel rate out the box is about 1-3% which is what it is for most manufacturers. Asus's less popular models like the m3np or the L5 series have had hardly any dead pixels. If you do get a dead pixel its always one, Have not seen more then 1 dead pixel so far. On a hi res display they are really hard too see. I have a 17" lcd sony and have 4 sub and 2 dead pixels. Dont bother me one bit. Its barely noticeable when you doing graphics or watching a movie. Then again some people are perfectionists and cant stand one dead pixel. The trick is not to look for it. Have not had any returns for dead pixels. That is probably becuase we charge 10% for restocking.

 

Hi, i've got a M6NE17, and the same problem as Guizmo31 :
my M6 is heating max at 90° before the fan switch on, and it turn at 4000 rpm but before nothing .

I would also like to know if this is normal !!

PS : I'm also french ;o)

 

Its normal very normal. Leave it alone. That temp reading is not 100% accurate. Its not overheating. Also you can try a bios update. Pleas emake sure you download the right bios.

 

I disagree with you geared2play, the fan is supposed to kick in at 55C and run at 3000rpm, it should then turn off when the cpu reaches 44C. I have never ever got my cpu hot enough that the fan needs to go to 4000rpm. And I think most people are prob. the same. Except for a few users who seem to be hitting the 90C mark with no fan, which is wrong, and although temp readings are not always right, there is still something askew for that reading to appear with no 3000rpm fan. If you are reaching these temps all the time then I think you should take the notebook back and ask for a replacment/repairs to be done, you cpu will have a much reduced life span if it does not have correct thermal protection.
a


ASUS M6Ne 15.4" WSXGA 1.7 PM ATI9700 80Gb HDD 1Gb RAM

 

Normally you would be right however you do not sell these for a living SO you may want to heed the advice from someone who does. I see the same thing every day. For some reason or another the m6n series have a mind of their own even when the bios is the same. The temp reading of 90C is imposible on a centrino laptop. Why you ask is it imposible? Becuase the lappy will start to act up at about 65C. My claim was for everyone who uses the m6n to disregard the temp reading. Out of almost 700 asus laptops (many of which were m6n's) that we sold since last june, NONE had overheating issues. You can try to have it fixed all you want. Fact is if the unit is not overheating nobody will help you out with inproper temp readings and fan activity that is not appealing to you. Neither you dealer nor asus will offer any help for this issue besides a bios upgrade. Perhaps there are utilities which can read the temp properly. Perhaps a bios upgrade will make the fan run better. You disagreening with me about the temp reading hitting 90C being of no consequence is like disagreening with your doctor. I dont claim to know everything but when it comes to the m6n I by far have the most knowledge about them then anyone else on this forum. Long story short yes an overheating cpu is not good for your lappy but the m6n's do not have heatproblems despite what the temp reading is.

 

Well I just updated to the lastest bios 206, and my temps are now reaching 80+ and for the first time I have the 4000rpm fan running. So I will have to eat my words and appoligise for previous post, I guess you were right geared2! Although I still have a small issue with the word "normal", I still think there is a prob with correct temp readings. Its also weird that a bios upgragde can alter temp reading in ASUS probe by 10+C. But if you say the its all ok then I'm happy with that.
Thanks
a


ps noticed that fan turns off at 50C now instead of 45, but 3000rpm still seems to kick in at 55C, and 4000rpm comes on at 80C.
pps. being a doctor I always think its a good idea to disagree with them, as this is the best way to get the best answer from em'.

ASUS M6Ne 15.4" WSXGA 1.7 PM ATI9700 80Gb HDD 1Gb RAM

 

i think i may have an explanation why the temps are so different. Perhaps its the utility everyone is using. I am sure there is more then one utility to read temps and a few of them may just be "incompatile". I really dont know why the new bios changes the fan settings but i am sure its annoying to have yor fan on when it really is not needed. This i am sure is an issue that will be addressed by support in te nxt release and the next and keep going until there are no more complaints. So it shows they are listening even though the updates arent exactly on point. As for the need to monitor temps in centrino chipsets....completely redundant. If you fan comes on its not going to overheat. Monitoring the fan and temps only uses up system resources. You will know if your cpu overheats becuase the laptop will start to act up. None of this confuses me at all. Its all a part of the trade. One thing that still confuses me to this day is why the m5n fan is always on. its low noise but still i would love to know why its always on, even when on battery. If anyone has a solution please let me know

 

I have an M6BNE20 and the same so called "heat issue", but the latest 206 bios didnt' resolve anything , the fan still triggers too late for my taste (4000RPM @ 90°C).


BTW: Auroras, ton français n'est pas si mauvais que ça, il manque parfois quelques mots , mais ça reste tout à fait compréhensible.

 

What utility are you using to measure the temperature. At this point i am pretty sure the people that have the heat issue are seeing the wrong temp. The fan is sensing the right temp but for some odd reason your are seeing the wrong.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by pixie

 

i'm using mobilmeter to read both cpu temp & frequency

Auroras, 97% => wow, nice score
[8D]

 

Thanks pixie [ ]
I've forgotten much of that french though...

Anyway, I use ASUS Probe to read temps.


ASUS M6800Ne, P-M 1.5 Dothan, 512MB Ram, Tohiba Combo drive, Samsung Spinpoint M 40G HDD with 8M cache, Mobility Radeon 9700

 

While I agree it is worthwhile for Pixie to try Probe, I will note that mobilemeter works fine for me and reports temps consistent with those of probe. I am one without apparent temp problems. Currently reading 46C.


...........Peter

---

ASUS M6BNe - My reviews:
http://www.notebookreview.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5722
http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?p=426053#post426053
1.7GB Dothan w/AS5, 15.4" WXGA, ATI 9700/64MB
1024MB Corsair, 60GB 7,200rpm, DVD+/-R/RW
Intel PRO/Wireless 2200bg, WinXP Pro SP2
3 yr warranty, 1 yr no bad pixel policy from Powernotebooks.com

 

Ok well i think that is the difference. Pixie can you unistall your monitoring utility and install asus probe. That may be why your temp readings are wrong. Please let me know if that corrects the reading.

 

I currently see temps of 63 degrees celsius.
I've tried Speedfan without luck.. it didn't read anything except my HDD. I haven't tried Mobilemeter... since ASUSProbe works for me. I use CPU-Z as my frequency checker.

ASUS M6800Ne, P-M 1.5 Dothan, 512MB Ram, Tohiba Combo drive, Samsung Spinpoint M 40G HDD with 8M cache, Mobility Radeon 9700

 

sorry for answering so late
so far, no difference between mobile meter and asus probe regarding temp reading.
btw I was wondering if those temp differences were not some kind of thermical grease issue. I mean we all have the same hardware, the difference could lie in the grease application method, (ie layer thickness, in fine the cpu contact to the heatsink), it might be the thermical sensor position as well.

 

No grease is not the issue. All the barbones come witht he same grease. You can run it without grease and still get the same temp. Though i like your idea aboi the positioning of the thermal sensor. You guys have to realise that 80C is almost boiling point. Around 65C is tops for this thing. Once it starts getting close to 65C you will know even without a thermal monitor. Disregard the temp reading it is a faulty reading.

 

I sell these notebook quite often as I am a retailer for these notebooks. I do have this issue with a few of the notebook i sell and i found that this is more of a hardware issue. I had a customer with a M6BNe w/ 1.8, 512MB, 40GB and he was hitting high 70's low 80's. I had the board replaced and using 0203 BIOS and it started working as it should running in the high 50's low 60's on full loads...hope this helps.

In fact i just built another one and using it as we speak... 2.0, 1GB, 60GB and running 84C Idle! I have Asus currently looking into this as this look to be a fault in the hardware somewhere.

 

No offense intended but i dont think you know what you are talking about. We sell about 100 laptops monthly. ABout 20% of which asre m6n's. The temp issue is nothing more then incorrect reading. Perhaps there must be some that overheat becuase the fans are not working at all or are clogged after years of use. There is simply nothing that can cause the cpu to overheat in one and not in the other unless the fan is not working. By the way 0206 i belive is the current version. Reading you post sounds like you are saying everyone who is getting this false reading has a hardware issue. The ammount of rma we would have if this was so would be overwhelming forcing me to declare bankrupcy as the m6n is top seller. The fan will always stay on when you are gamming or doing hi end apps with ac adaptor plugged in. In normal use especially with ac off it will rarely kick in. Tis true some people are reporting hi temps on this one. I must be sounding redundant becuase i ve repeated this time and time again. Please disregard the temp on this unit. If the fan turns on it is not overheating. You do not have to belive me as i sell these for a living ofcourse.

 

Red
Common sence states that 84C is enough to burn your finger. The heatsink of this unti will be hot to the touch when running idle but it will not be scolding. Test it if you dont belive me touch the heatsink and tell me if it scolds you. 75C for a computer will cause it to restart reboot and boil. 75C for a laptop will cause it to melt. If you are running stable logic states temp reading is wrong. Sorry if i sound on edge but i cant seem to get the point accross to people.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Geared2play.com

 

If you are correct by saying the temps are wrong, then why is it that half the notebook we get have no fans issues and the others turn on at high temps?

 

Ok i never said you dont know what you are talking about. I can tell you that 75C is way past normal opperations. At 75C the laptop will crash and burn and never recover. Overheating will cause instability. Over the last year i have had zero call about these units being unstable except for one with a bad lan card which was replaced. Either you are buying some greay market refurbished product or you are blowing it out of proportion. If your laptops heatsink is scolding you then it need to go back to the manufacturer. I am addressing the issue of incorrect temp reading. 75C is not possible with that fan running. They are all made the same and all use the same cpu's. Why is one persons lappy that runs at 50c with full fan and another 75c with full fan. Logic states its not a hardware issue it is an incorrect reading. I did not say that your laptop is not overheating. I am telling you that if yours is overheating at 90C if you touch that heatsink you will burn yourself. I ve seen them all and remarkably the ones with incorrect readings feel the same temp as the ones with correct readings. Its not a question of who knows more here its a question of exprience and research. I ve done my research and i know that these units do not have an inherent overheating issue. What they do have is an inherent faulty temp reading issue.

 

Who do you work for? How about a link?

 

Sorry i have to rephrase the above. I did say you dont know what you are talking about but only in refference to your claim that half of these notebooks have heat issue. Your estimate is way off. I would say its way under .001% Half just sounds ridiculous. I think by now i would have a customer call in and complain that their laptops are melting

 

If you have an m6n now and you can burn yourself by touching the heatsink, return it, thewre is no testing required. Its bad.

 

for one thing, I never said anything about our notebook crashing or melting. I am stating that there are heat issues and they DO get to abnormal temps. It is possible that these notebooks are reading 90C falsely, but I know for a fact by shear expereince that this is just not normal and the tech's at Asus don't know anything about this because I have called them numerous times about this. As we all know if thee high temps stay consistent, it decreases the life of the chip and that is why we are all hoping for a permanent fix.

Like i said above, these chips have higher thresholds and can withstand up to 90C unlike desktop chips which can fry at 75C.

The truth is that 90% of our notebook users will not notice heat problems, but the ones who do point this out to us and we were always able to resolve it in the past. A board replacement and a older BIOS (0203). Saying that, this is proof that there was a heating issue and not just a silly temp read error. However, all the recent notebook we built cannot be flashed to anything old and hence that is why Asus is looking into this(so they say).

I justed finished another notebook with another 2.0G and i will see what it reads.

www.genitechcomputers.com
http://www.genitechcomputers.com/products/description/G-STORM+Entertainment+Centrino+Notebook/index.html

EDIT: I have one of these notebook myself and it's a 1.5G in case i haven't mentioned above.

 

I dont know who you buy from. I can tell you that all the m6n's we get seem to work almost identical to each other. Fan turns on for a little while then turn off for a longer while. It barely turns on when on battery. I ll run hot cpu for an hour, touch the heatsink and not burn my self. Different bios is the key to the fan thing. 90C temps is a faulty reading. There is no way your lappy will stay on with that temp.

 

I am sorry i still have to disagree with you. I think the tech at asus told you that to brush you off. I cant stress this point enough. Though it is true some people may get abnormal temp readings. I ve tested this and concluded that they all work at the same temp about 45-65C. Some will read it as 70C even more. Regardless of the reading they do work the same. SOme recent bios revisions made an attempt to start the fan at lower temps. This is just my huble oppinion based on experience. Since they came out we have been selling m6n's i ve seen zero back for cooling issues. Have had users tell me about the abnormal readings which prompted me to do a bit of r&d. What i found is that the readings are wrong. By the way the techs at asus know less about their products then some of their resellers. My advise to you is chill out and do what i did. Test every single notbook your self. You will find that if you run the same tests on the same notebook and measure the temp of the heatsink you will find that its relatively the same ragadless of the speed of the chip. Some of them will have varying reading even though your manual tests show that the readings should be the same.

 

""The onboard measurement facilities are often inaccurate and may report temperatures that are too low. This is especially the case with motherboards that use a thermal sensor below the CPU to "guess" the CPU temperature. The temperature values displayed by the BIOS have usually a correction value added, to compensate for this problem - but in some cases this correction value may be too low, or the sensor might not be in good contact with the CPU. ""
The above is a cut out from an online artice. Though you are right that pentium m can withstand hi core temps. Problem lies in the reading. The readings we get are not of the core temperature. Its impossible to read the core temp. Take the above and lets say that the temp sensor is right on but the correction for the difference between the actual core temp and the measured is wrong. For example lets say your pm reaches a core temp of 60C. Your temp node measures it at 40C. Asus knows this so they program it and add a value of 20C to make it correct. Now lets say that maybee it reads it at 55C. For whatever reason some laptops read the temp more closely then others. Now that means that instead of displaying 60C it will display 75C. This may not be the situation at all. What i am saying is that if you got 2 laptops sitting side by side both the same and both have the fan on they will be the same core temp give or take a few degrees. By the way the max core temp for Pentium M is 100C. Now given all the above. PM's come with 3 years warranty. I dont care if the damn thing burns after 3 years. If i can get my lappy to last 3 years and keep up the performance which can be measured regularly with a benchmark then i am happy.

 

so lets say we have about a few programs that all read cpu temps, and they are all reading let's say 80C, are we gonna sit around and say "fellas, disregard what these programs tell you, they are all a lie and made to make us feel better about our pc"....heh, no. I spoke to Asus and of course I disregard what they say, all my tests prove otherwise, but there is no hurt asking.

The point at hand here, is that I have notebooks that had fans that began to operate at 55C, and some that activate at 80C....does that not ring a bell? If we were to assume the theory of misreading temps...then is my 55C is really 40C? Would this issue not be consistent with all these M6BNe notebook? I would highly doubt that. Regardless what fact you have brought here, the simple fact still remains that there is a fault and I understand it is hard to beleive considering you are fixed on your tests.

 

I am not fixed on anything my mind can be easile changed. My point is i still have yett to see a second unit where the fan does not turn on before the heatsink becomes so hot that it scolds you. That was my point all along. Your point is that some of these have an issue with cooling becuase the fans turn on too late. For your theory to be true the heatsinks have to be so hot that they burn you. Where is the proof? I keep repeating my self again and again. If the core does reach anywhere near 100C the heatsink will get hot enough to burn the skin on your finger. Except the one that you have infornt of you (if you even had one) i ve seen only 1 my self that had a broken fan that just didnt tuen on. One unit that was rma'd right away. one out of a few hundred is alot less the then hysteria you are trying to promote. I ve replied dozens and dozens of times to people that thing their units are overheating. My advise basically consisted of telling them to touch the heatsink on top. If the heatsink does not feel incredibly hot and you can rest your finger on it for a couple mins without getting burned then it is nowhere near oveheating and the temp readings are false. And last but not least. Why are you using 0203 bios. If your notebook came with that you should call your ditributor and tell em to take back the refurb unit they sent you. If that lappy is new it has a shelf life of over half a year. I would be surprized if your battery can hold half the charge it should.