Crazy Temperatures While Playing Call of Duty 4

First off, specs for my laptop:

HP dv9500t
C2D 2.0 GHz
2 GB 667 MHz RAM
8600M GS 256 MB
160 GB 5400 RPM HDD

I recently purchased a copy of Call of Duty 4 for PC (three days ago), but I noticed that my GPU would throttle the graphics greatly every now and then. At the suggestion of other forum members, I downloaded HW Monitor to check my temperatures. What I saw was astounding...



Left is a few minutes after boot up (after an overnight hibernation), center I guess is the lowest temp after booting up, and right is the highest temp while playing Call of Duty 4.

Somethings not right, right?

I tried to talk to an HP Technician about it, but he says that the high temperatures are "normal". He suggested updating my BIOS, and I was wondering if that would help at all.

I currently have this HP F.33 thing as of 11/12/2007, and he suggested for me to download the new BIOS at: ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp39001-39500/sp39158.exe

1) Would updating my BIOS really help me lower my temperatures?

2) If so, how do I go about updating my BIOS?

3) Someone said that it was possible that my heatsink was improperly installed, would that be the case here?

4) Is it likely that my GPU has been damaged?

5) If so, how do I check for damage?

6) 104 C on the GPU definitely isn't normal, is it?


I made a thread in the HP forum for the issue ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=260379), but it wasn't getting enough hits and I thought this would be a good place to ask for a solution as well.

 

1) Yes it might.
2) Just run the .exe file
3) I don't think so, because your idle temp is perfectly fine.
4) To be answered after you've updated the bios.
5) Same with last answer
6) hmm, it is certainly within the tolerance range, but is not healthy.

 

Well, time to update my BIOS I guess...

Played CoD4 for like 30 minutes and hit a 105 C >.>

Be back in a bit.

 

Woah a 60C shootup? thats not normal..

 

90C+ degrees for a GPU is NOT normal.... that is a danger temp that Nvidia cards will start to downclock itself to cool down.

above 100C degrees will be threshold and force your system to shut off.

how long have you had this notebook?

 

FYI, I would consider bios upgrades required maintenance. ALMOST never a bad thing And yes, the Bios will be responsible for what RPM, and when the fans runs. So it could very likely help. I would suggest posting on the HP forums here though. My old laptop was a DV6000t, and pretty much everyone ran BIOS version F.16 even though version F.29 was out. Because of how F.16 controlled the fans. So there might be a bios people "recommend" over there.

 

I've had the laptop since late August of 07.

I'm pretty sure it only goes up that high when I play CoD4. When I play CSS or watch DVDs I don't notice anything that drastic. Haven't tried testing the temps while doing either of the latter two yet though, as I only got HW Monitor 2-3 days ago.

 

...updated BIOS, results are here:



Don't mind the left and center columns, they aren't really accurate in terms of when and what.

However, right column...in less than 30 minutes of Call of Duty 4, they're back where they were earlier...

What am I to do now?

 

Talked to HP again, they want me to reinstall the Power Management.

What is the ACPI anyways? They want me to uninstall the controllers for ACPI Fan, ACPI Fixed Feature Button, ACPI Thermal Zone, ACPI Compliant System. Afterwards I'm to restart my computer.

Sounds like a good plan?

And if that doesn't work, they want me to do a mail-in-repair...*shudders*

 

Why do you keep coming here and asking if "it is a good idea" do to what they are asking you to do? Yes alot of tech's are just reading out of a book. But I would follow what they suggest, call back if it doesn't help (which that probably will not), and go from there. I would not doubt if the next suggestion will be a restore. So start backing up your important files now.

p.s. This kind of reminds me of the guy, that came on here to complain about (I think it was Dell), destroyed his HD when he sent in his computer for repair. But they did tell him to take out the HD before sending it in....

 

Well, I'm just making sure that they aren't telling me to do something that might harm my system. And, since I'm not the most knowledgeable person regarding computers, I might as well double-check before doing something I have no idea in regards to.

 

Check out the cooling guide. It won't fix your problem but it might help for now. I recommend getting a can of compressed air and blowing out your fans. Just make sure you laptop is turned off when you do this. You would be surprised how much dust gets collected in those fans.
Tim

 

Well, reinstalled the ACPI drivers and still hot...went up to 106 C even on HP Recommended (Medium level of power usage) >.>

Back to HP Technical Chat...

 

Maybe it's just like the G1S, I hit 102 in Assassin's Creed and other games like Oblivion. The only ones that stay at 95 are NHL08 and Madden 08.

 

Well, I hit 106 C in CoD4 with everything off or low and at 1280x768 or whatever...and I'm using the Medium Power Setting too, not the High Power Setting...

I mean, I get 60+ FPS until it goes up 100+ C...then it's like 2...


HP thinks I should send in my laptop, but I'm scared...

 

hate to say it, but seems like all the hp's are hitting record high temps. considering that the gpu doesn't have it's own fan and it has a rather small heat sink.

edit: or at least the ones with the 8600m gs cards in them.

 

You MUST send in your laptop, 100c on low settings with med power settings is EPIC! i dont think anyone got such temps on these settings, COD4 runs very cool with my system although it has 2 of the hottest GPUs ever made. and still dont jump over 80c

 

my 7900 gs gets to 92 in COD4 so i don't think yours is all that hot

 

Lol...epic...

Yea, I guess I'll have to send my laptop in and pray that it comes back in one piece...

Thanks everyone.

 

this seems to be the norm for the 8600m gs's

i would blow out the dust though to get it to drop about 5c's. lol...if you haven't done this yet.

 

My GPU (integrated) hits 85*C, but I dont know where it is located on my laptop, there are only 2 "hotspots"; the CPU and the RAM, unless they decided to stick the GPU right next to one of them.

Theres no reason to be worried by sending in your laptop, and it's probably for the best. g/l

 

just blow out all three vents near the fan

 

Opening the case wont void the warranty, right?

 

if you put it back wrong..it probably will...lol

but your not taking yours apart are you?

that was just to show that it has only one fan for both cpu and gpu. so the cooling is not as effective as it could be. ergo why this has the 8600m gs/ 16 unified shaders. anything else and the laptop would burn up.

 

I was hoping to take out the secondary hard drive too, since it's a pain copying everything to an external HD :/

The HP lady I chatted to said it was "okay" to take it out...so I guess I'll do that.

Also, is it better to call HP or have an online chat? I rarely hear of anyone doing the latter.

 

i did both and got results...after i got the right person online or in chat.

if i feel the first person doesn't know what they are talking about..i just say thank you and then promptly call back..lol or chat back.

 

play ur games with a frozen steak on the laptop. u cool ur laptop down and after, u have a nice hot tasty steak but seriously send it in. there is something wrong with this 104= low on CoD4. use a cooling pad, undervolt. heck just go look at the new cooling central on NBR