Not cool nor quiet

Hello. Since yesterday I noticed my 7422GX's fans working non-stop. I brought up the Task Manager and CPU load was under 10% at all times.

So, I unplugged the mains and the fans stopped shortly afterwards. I went to the AMD site and downloaded the dashboard demo, which I had used some time ago.

To my not-so-much-of-a surprise, the CPU speed was 100% all the time, voltage was 1.4v. Only when unplugged would it throttle down to battery saving mode.

Normally, the CPU would throttle down to saving mode whenever its load went below perhaps 30%, and the fan would spin up for a few seconds each hour (except while gaming).

I uninstalled the CPU driver and the song remained the same, except that the speed would remain at 100% when unplugged. Then I downloaded the CPU driver from AMD and installed it.

The results are the same as before: The CPU will throttle down only when unplugged. Once plugged it works at max speed even on zero load. Which, in turn, keeps the fans working all of the time.

I know the driver works because it throttles down on battery power, but I cannot understand why the cool 'n quiet feature ceased working. There has been no change in the BIOS. The only thing I can recall being installed before this change was a USB ADSL modem. Whether it's the AMD dashboard or the Task Manager, both state the CPU load is always under 10% and the fans never cease spinning.

Anyone had a similar issue?

 

quiet & cool is What throttles the cpu _down to 800 Mhz. I wonderif you have spyware or something that is Using yur _cpu & causing the fan to run non stop.Sorry for baITyping,lm on a tablet.

 

That was my first impression, but, as stated, I discovered it NEVER gets OVER 10% CPU load unless I make it do so.

 

System Idle Process was making my CPU run high earlier. Maybe a restart would help? Good luck
By the way, where can you download this 'AMD Dashboard' piece? I searched AMD but all I came up with was release notes.

 

I could be mistaken but I believe that "System Idle Process" is actually a process that indicates a level of "idleness" by the CPU. Thus a larger number is what you want. As in one process may take up 5% and so the Idle Process would then take up 95%.

 

Okay. It all makes sense now I have been wondering about that for quite some time. Now I have an answer. Thanks

 

To download Athlon 64 utils and drivers:

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_9706,00.html

I finally solved the issue in a most bizarre way. The AMD power monitor has a taskbar icon that works very much like the Task Manager when minimized: showing the processor load. At right-click, it had the option to change the power scheme. I lowered it from "Always on" to "Minimal energy administration", both of which have curiously the exact same parameters to manage when plugged: Turn off monitor at 5', never turn off disk, never go to standby, never hybernate. Alas, as soon as I changed from the first one into the other, the processor speed dropped to 800 and the voltage to 0.950v.

I tried generating a little load and the power bursts of the processor going to full speed were there again for me.

It seems the driver instructs Windows to override Cool n' Quiet when in "Always on" mode, regardless of its individual parameters.

Now the fans work once in a (very seldom) while, and I can leave the notebook on in the same room where I sleep.

 

yes, i was wondering that.. if you had the power management on "portable laptop"--- that one uses quiet and cool technology. Iv used it on three amd laptops- always works very well. Any heat issues or all good now?

 

Got a chill mat for $10 after rebate at compusa. The fan on my MX7525 harldy ever comes on now, and has yet to kick into high speed. While it doesn't seem to affect battery life much, and makes it much more comfortable on my lap, it does make using the touchpad a little more uncomfotable when using on a table top. Since it is elevated about 1 inch more, the heel of my hand is left resting on the "corner" of the case. A wireless mouse should get rid of that problem.

I also had the always at 100% CPU problem, and the driver alavena mentions fixed that for me.

 

Hey - I found through a random google search how to actually enable the cool n' quiet technology on windows xp machines. here's a pdf to the document from AMD. It's just a simple change to the power management settings:

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/DownloadableAssets/Cool_N_Quiet_Installation_Guide3.pdf