E6400 overheating throttling

marcoz · 01-31-2009, 05:31 PM

Hi All,
My E6400 has been suffering overheating problems with the current hot weather (over 30C degrees). When the machine overheats it begun to throttle to 75% then to 35%. Once it reached 35% the machine is extremely slow (much slower than normal 35% in power saving mode), it like the machine is put in the safe mode and it won’t recover once the temperatures drops i.e. ACPI, & cpu =40’s & NVS160 = 60’s. The only thing fix the problem is to shutdown the machine & wait for few minutes and restarting the machine. Anyone have had experienced similar problem? I am suspecting the ACPI is triggering the machine to throttle.
I was able to replicate the problem and here is the temperatures the machine begun throttling
ACPI = 78C, Core 0 = 61C, Core 2= 72C, NVS 160 = 80C HDD = 45C
P8400 -> core speed = 1600MHz, multiplier = x6 bus speed = 266 MHz, FSB =1064MHz
BIOS = A11

SpeedyMods · 01-31-2009, 10:07 PM

Something is wrong, that isn't hot enough to be throttling. I would try uninstalling Dell ControlPoint and seeing if it fixes your problems.

Greg

marcoz · 02-01-2009, 03:55 AM

Hi Greg,
Uninstalled dell control point and restore back to windows vista power settings. But the problem still persists. When the ACPI hit the magic 79C it begun to throttle ;( I probably have to give a dell a call tomorrow.

Bedo02 · 03-02-2009, 02:51 AM

Hi. Any Luck? What did Dell say?

I´m having the same problem. It is definitely a Hardware problem. I´ve tried XP, Vista and Win 7 (beta). But maybe just some wrong drivers?

akwit · 03-02-2009, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bedo02

Hi. Any Luck? What did Dell say?

I´m having the same problem. It is definitely a Hardware problem. I´ve tried XP, Vista and Win 7 (beta). But maybe just some wrong drivers?

Guys-ive had this problem for a while now.
Are you both using the Nvidia GPU by any chance?

one4spl · 03-02-2009, 04:30 PM

My E6500 with the nVidia does the same thing...

weirdo81622 · 03-03-2009, 10:46 AM

There is something wrong with your system. My E6400 is loaded (2.8, Nvidia), and I never even near 80C. While running at max load with an overclocked gpu, I am still under that. My GPU can be at 95 and my CPU at 75 and no throttling at all.

one4spl · 03-03-2009, 01:29 PM

I have a P CPU like the OP, in my case a P9500.

Maybe its something to do with that given that the P series CPUs are meant to put out less heat and use less Power.

Maybe the thermal tables in the BIOS are more aggressive on the P cpus.

joeb7 · 07-02-2009, 05:14 AM

Hi everyone,
we are several E6400 users posting into the DELL support forum.

However, DELL has started censoring our posts, even if they absolutely don't contain impolite or rude wording etc.

The E6400 looks absolutley like having a design problem if it's not solved with an BIOS update. It throttles the CPU and/or FSB until it is not useable.

We'd like to continue our efforts here, rather in the DELL Forum, that is why I'm replying to your post, rather than opening a new one.

Thanks, JB

metri8 · 07-02-2009, 08:38 AM

Tinkerdude posted an amazingly thorough review of the problems and showed exactly where the problems are occurring over at the dell forum. Unfortunately it was censored by the mods (I'm guessing because he included a reference ID).

He added a pdf copy of his post here:
http://imsahp.chambana.net/~randall/dell

I would give it a peruse.

By the way I have also run the test and I am having the exact throttling and heat problems everyone else is, no dust or any other issues I can find.

By the way I have a send in warranty. The only problem is I've installed new RAM and HD and I can't get access to the originals for a few months (they're in another state) will Dell repair my laptop still?