eMachines notebook acpi settings

APM/ACPI BIOS questions
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Crush
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Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Nov 16, 2005 9:41 pm

ok, here it goes...

i've been looking for ages for a way to fix a problem that i have with my laptop. it's a very common one for this kind of laptops.
my laptop is an eMachines M6811. Here's the bios agent report:

Code: Select all

Program:   eSupport.com BIOS Agent Version 3.45
BIOS Date: 08/11/04
BIOS Type: PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0     
BIOS ID:   eMachine Shadow-K8 BIOS Version: 0F08.P00
OEM Sign-On: None
Chipset:   VIA 82C3188 rev 1
Superio:   Unknown
OS:        WinXP SP2
CPU:       AMD Athlon(tm) 64 2200 Mhz MAX: 2500 Mhz
BIOS ROM In Socket: Yes
BIOS ROM Size:      512K
Memory Installed:   512 MB
Memory Maximum:     4096 MB
Memory Slot 01:     256 MB
Memory Slot 02:     256 MB
the problem is that it shuts down all the time like it was overheating. and this usually happens when im surfing or writing in word, not playing games.
my idea is that there is something wrong with the cpu heat sensor (it's not readable, so i can't check that). it reports that the temperature is lower than it actually is at low temperatures. when the temp gets higher (while playing hl2) it works fine, the fan is blowing and nothing shuts down.
but when i'm not doing anything cpu-intensive, the sensor thinks that everything is fine and doesn't kic kin the fans. it ocassionaly does, though. but when the temp slowly rises to the maximum possible it suddenly realises that it's too much and tries to keep it together by making the fan to work as hard as possible. and that's when the laptop usually shuts down. so it does overheat, but only because of the stupid sensor. not because i'm overclocking or anything.

i figured, maybe i can lower the acpi cpu temperature at which the fan is supposed to kick in. so the fan would start working at lower temps and the cpu wouldn't overheat. there are no settings in the stupid bios that can be changed for acpi. i tried to reprogram the bios, but the phoenix bios editor is just too much for me.

you guys are my last hope. if i can't solve the problem, the laptop is practically unusable. and it's really annoying that it shuts down all the time.

actually, i don't even know where the sensor is. it might be just under the cpu and it might be in the cpu itself. bah...

please help...
bduncanj
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Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2005 4:53 am

I'm having a similar problem with my eMachines M5309 (Athlon XP 2500), it too was getting to the point of being unusable.

I've bodged mine by using Speedswitch XP to enable dynamic switching on the CPU and have set the lower speed to around 500Mhz.

Many of the rants online seem to suggest that emachines have done a lousy job of sticking the CPU to the heatsink (a couple have suggested quality TIM might do the job).

Hope this helps...

Duncan
KachiWachi
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Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 10:32 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

Can you read the temperatures? Does your machine have a program to do that?
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