Elitebook 8730w (KS069UT) w/Q9100 & ACPI Problem

I have an Elitebook 8730w upgraded to a Q9100 from a T9400. After the CPU installation I rebooted and found that the "system" process was maxing out 1 of the 4 cores, meaning that the processor was at 25% load at idle. I used the process explorer program to look inside the system process and found this address taking all of the cycles...

acpi.sys!DeRegisterOpRegionHandler+0x3650

This leads me to believe that there is a problem with the power management between the motherboard and the CPU. A few notes to help narrow the search...

- I have reloaded Vista 32 and 64 and the problem presents immediately without any additional drivers installed
- The Q9100 is recognized in the BIOS/EFI and is apparently supported by the system according to the service manual.
- I was running the 1.03 bios but upgrading to 1.08 didn't help
- I don't think the processor is broken as the system works otherwise even under load and isn't overheating. No bluescreens, program crashes, etc...
- There is no obvious option in the BIOS to disable ACPI, not that doing so would be an optimal solution anyway...
- no problems with the system using the T9400 up to this point
- I've updated to vista SP1 and loaded all hotfixes via Windows Update but the problem remains.

I was looking through the HP Parts store for the 8730w and there seems to be two different models of motherboard for this notebook. Could HP have disabled the ACPI tables for 45w CPUs for my version of the motherboard? Does that even make sense? The bios page for the 8730w doesn't distinguish between submodels so I don't think there are different bioses for models that ship with the quad core CPUs.

I'd appreciate any help/suggestions on resolving this!

Thanks!

Quaz

 

bump for the night...anyone with a similar problem?

 

no takers on this one...

How about another question...What if I called HP, explained my situation and asked for advice (or a bios update)? From my reading of the warranty terms, upgrading the CPU doesn't void warranty as long as the 3rd party component doesn't cause the failure. The heatsink/CPU isn't a sealed part like replacing a hard drive platter would be.

The 8730w is supposed to support quad core chips and if the machine is having trouble with a working q9100, something is wrong.

Thoughts? Thanks

 

I would suggest calling them, I called for a speaker problem on my 8530w, and they said someone would come to repair in 2 days. Not bad sevice at alll.

 

Thanks for the information. I'm wondering if anyone has first hand experience with HP on whether they honor warranties for systems where the CPU has been upgraded. Obviously if the CPU is the problem then I'm on my own, but let's say I replace the CPU and send the machine in to have the speaker fixed. Does the CPU upgrade void the warranty for the system as a whole?

Thanks

 

Quasi51 - Can you give us an Update on your issue? I'm considering the same thing... of course if it doesn't turn out so well for you I will learn from your experience.

As to your problem... My first thought is a power supply issue. If you notice when you go to the HP site you have to select a different power supply with a few different options. I did not go their recently to confirm this when selecting a specific CPU, but I do remember seeing it a few places and was for sure when selecting a different LCD. Maybe CPU power issue, we know these things need the extra juice.

Please let us know.