HP Compaq 6910p Full Review

[jkyamog]

I am running f.10, maybe the settings on the bios for the fan to be on always when on AC power has been re-enabled during the update? I don't got mine off since I am not bothered by the fan turned on always.

[fly3rman]

Nope its not reinabled.
Jkyamog, can you give me your idle temperatures?

[jkyamog]

I am running linux, i get 5 thermal zones.

cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/TZ*/* | grep temp
temperature: 50 C
temperature: 49 C
temperature: 52 C
temperature: 45 C
temperature: 37 C
temperature: 30 C

I think its TZ0 that is the cpu, which is 50 C. This is not too idle as I got a lot of browser and servers running, its about 1-5% cpu util. The fan is running, but at a very slow speed. I got my BIOS set to always turn on the fan on AC.

[marmion]

Idle I'm 44-45ish with AC power, speedstep on (800MHz core @ idle).
With load it goes to 60C, heavy load can get up to the 70's.
Fan always on with AC power disabled in BIOS

[fly3rman]

Hm okay guys, seems the same temperaturs for me.
jkyamog, what linux do you running? ive got alot of experience with ubuntu too, but until the 2.6-24 kernel is in packages, ill waiting with install again (because lid close problem).
As i said, undervolting not really possible anymore, it was possible to get under 1v, but not on f.10. Using Rm Clock. Could be an Rmclock thingie but ..
Another question, your fan does never stop? neither when its under 50°?

[Jastrau]

To whom it concerns..
(and sorry to interrupt this thread that had developed into a more linux oriented manner)

I am one of those who bought this machine – because of it solid build, good reputation and because of several reviews saying this notebook was - silent..

It was my plan to use it as a replacement for my stationary pc.
I am not a gamer type and only needed a stable office-machine with a sufficient solid build when using it away from home.

I am very concerned about noise and my stationary pc’s has always been upgraded to very silent parts.

Therefore I decided to live with the integrated X3100 graphics as it was my hope this would contribute to a even more silent and cold machine.

How disappointed I got when I received this machine..

First of all I have to say that I formatted the hard drive and installed good ole´ XP on it instead. I changed the SATA Device to ATA instead of ACHI to make XP able to find the hard disc – then the install went on painless.

I found every single HP supported drivers to XP from here:
http://tinyurl.com/yodzed (official HP site)

The fan is always on – I knew that from the reviews but what disappointed me were that the temperature in spite of that - still were between 50-60 degree without doing anything but idle !

This ‘always on fan’, is bearable but unsatisfying for a ‘silent-computing’ lover.
But worse to happen.. the fan continues to go up and down in rpm every now and then
- when idle..

Of course heavy burdens like mouse clicks, opening folders or e-mail programs pushes the machine into its knees so heat goes up and extra fan speed are required (sic!)

I experienced the same annoying sound from somewhere between the hard disc and the fan exhaust. The sound is similar to a metallic click like a thermostat or a little contact button.

In the beginning, and because of this thread, I thought that it had to do with the hard disc - maybe a fan underneath it.
Later on I developed a theory that it has something to do with the heat control of the machine as the fan often changed speed when this click sound occurred.
- but not always (of course)

I contacted HP about the parts in the machine and they gave me a superb link:
http://h20181.www2.hp.com/plmcontent...2-3A3FAA78E544

A very useful link when one needs to know how to change parts.
As you can see, there is no fan underneath the hard disc.

I continued my struggle and wanted to know how hot the cpu´s were expected to be in this machine. I did not get any answer to that – I suppose that it depends on to many personal preferences to give a clear answer to that one.

But I found an informative link which described the parts and other useful things:
http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/q...ion.html#intro

Choose ‘Notebooks/Portables’ and find your machine.

I use my HP6910P in a HP dock without a battery in the machine.
In BIOS I had tried enable/disable the ‘fan always on when on AC’ feature but that did not seem to do any difference.

Someone in this thread mentioned the power management of the C2D and suggested that the annoying sounds could be because of that.

I tried to disable the DualCore support and now the annoying click sound disappeared and for the fan speed did not change constantly
- but only for a couple of reboots and hours.

I hope the problem can be solved with a BIOS upgrade from HP (I use the latest F10 – which actually helped on the resume from standby issue)

Does anyone have an opinion on whether a BIOS upgrade could solve the noise and fan speed/heat problems?
Does anyone have the mentioned problems when running Vista ?

I really hope that HP or someone manage to find a real solution -for the windows people as well.

Regards
Jastrau

[byoo511]

Hm okay guys, seems the same temperaturs for me.
jkyamog, what linux do you running? ive got alot of experience with ubuntu too, but until the 2.6-24 kernel is in packages, ill waiting with install again (because lid close problem).
As i said, undervolting not really possible anymore, it was possible to get under 1v, but not on f.10. Using Rm Clock. Could be an Rmclock thingie but ..
Another question, your fan does never stop? neither when its under 50°?

what version of rmclock are you running? The latest beta version has support for the santa rosa chipset, which allows you to change the SLFM and IDA. This theoretically should allow you to run the proc at a lower voltage and frequency.

[jkyamog]

Hi fly3rman,

Hm okay guys, seems the same temperaturs for me.
jkyamog, what linux do you running? ive got alot of experience with ubuntu too, but until the 2.6-24 kernel is in packages, ill waiting with install again (because lid close problem).

I am running Ubuntu 7.10 gutsy. I don't have a lid close problem. Normally you will just have to edit the acpi events for this. You can look at my blog post on how I got the 6910p running.

[obionenairobi]

perhaps a bit a stupid question but how do I check which BIOS version I have?

[jkyamog]

perhaps a bit a stupid question but how do I check which BIOS version I have?

It should appear somewhere on the left button side during bootup where you see the HP logo. If not try to press F10 to enter the bios, there should be a menu item called system information or something. HTH.