Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge, Part 2

I have cleaned the fan, it wasn't that dirty anyway, but the problem persists.
Today again using skype the CPU spiked to 99% a lot and was always above 80%. battery or AC didn't make a difference. When I would close my video it would back up to 50-60%.
What's going on? could this be a video driver problem? The thing is that I did a video call in the morning and had no problems, I had turned on the laptop only like an hour later.

can anybody help?

 

Intel or nVidia graphics? HWmonitor might reveal the cause.

However, since you say that you are running the latest BIOS (A20) which fixed E6400 throttling for almost everyone, I would fight the throttling using RMClock. Install the software using the Undervolting Guide in the Hardware forum and enable throttling but select 100% only. Alternatively use ThrottleStop. There's a link in this forum somewhere or there's one here.

John

 

A20 did not help my throttling issue, had a replacement MB + Heatsink & Fan assembly replaced fixed it for me.

 

thanks John. I have Intel graphics. I was hoping I didn't have to use any 3rd party SW solution. That might only be a temporary fix. Do you think it's the heat sink that needs replacement? I think my e6400 might be one of the first ones because I have two rubber feet where the palmrests meet the speakers.

 

I also have the Intel GPU and an early E6400 (but I didn't think the rubber pads have changed).

If I recall correctly, one of the causes of throtting was the thermal pad on the northbridge (which contains the GPU). The motherboard replacement reported by others may contain a better thermal connection for the northbridge.

John

 

you still haven't confirmed that it is actually throttling (although it probably is, you should confirm that is your problem). when it is doing this, open up task manager, go to performance, and hit resource monitor. when it is open, look at the maximum frequency (check when it is running on high performance).

 

Let me suggest an alternative solution:

Get Everest, it's not free, but the trial should be more then enough for what your needs.
Open Everest, and go on the left column, and expand "Computer", then go under "Overclock".
You may will notice that your CPU is at some very low speed like <800 MHz. This is fine and normal. This is the CPU power management at work, where it downclocks the processor to reduce heat and power consumption. It will clock it higher if you need the performance up to the mentioned speed of the CPU. Close all your programs, save what you need to save, and set your power profile to Balance or High performance.
Now, on the menu of Everest, go to "Tools" > "System Stability Test". A panel will open. On that panel check all boxes (you can leave out "Stress local disk"), move the panel where you can see CPU speed form Everest, and click on the Start button. Your CPU should click at max speed (if you used "High Performance", it might overclock a few percent over the mentioned speed, this is again, a CPU feature).
Leave for 30min to hour or until the problem occurs.
Monitor the CPU speed (and temperature). If your CPU goes DOWN in speed, while the stability test is running, and doesn't go right up at max speed, then you have the throttling problem. If not, then your system is perfect. And the "slow down" that you see might just be CPU or GPU that is not powerful enough to your needs, or a lack of RAM.

I don't have the problem, but I trying to see what you are saying.
Where do you see "Maximum frequency" I can't find it in the resource monitor.

 

On Windows 7 there's a % Maximum Frequency in the header bar of the processes tab, but I can't see any GHz.

John

 

Ah yes I see it. Thanks.

 

it isn't in GhZ -- it is just a percentage, but it is easy to tell if your system is throttling -- if you are on high performance and it is sitting at 30%, it is throttling -- when i was having problems earlier, it was the fastest and easiest way to confirm the problem (and i solved it by getting all the dust and junk out of the fan duct)