Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge, Part 2

you were right, in fact it isn't throttling. my max frequency in the resource monitor is alwasy 99%. skype video calls are definitely a cpu hog. but it never came down to be killing the cpu like that. The weird part is that when I turn off my video, but I keep seeing the other person video everything is fine.

I've tried this test and the CPU was not slowing down.

I also tried undervolting and that helped cool down the cpu but the system was still slow. so after hours of testing I reopened the laptop and completely removed the heatsink. and noticed more clutter that I didn't see two days ago and was obstructing the air a bit. I also noticed the thermal paste on the cpu being rather dry, instead the one on the GPU, or is that the motherboard chipset?, was mushy and in better condition. (see attached pics)
the max temps when stressing the system were 85/90, but the average when doing some video stuff is around 60/65. Core 0 runs always cooler than Core 1 by 5-8 degrees. is this normal?
I tried a test call between my two laptops and things were ok, still 55% cpu usage just from skype.

could this be a skype problem, or video card problem? I don't think it's a problem of overheating, it sounds more like a software problem.

 

I found that someone had problems running skype on compatibility mode but I turned that off and I still get 60% cpu usage when I make a call.

 

Something is hitting the CPU and it appears to be the video in Skype. The processes tab in Task Manager should be able to confirm this. If it is 50% then its hogging one core so everything else has to fight over the other and that is likely to slow the system down. And if it is more than 50% then it is trying to hog both cores and that will really kill performance.

There are no substantial video options in Skype itself so I would try experimenting with the properties of the Intel GPU. There are buttons fo 3D Settings and Video Settings on the Display tab. I think the latter relate to 3D playback but they may also affect the video in Skype.

Which version of Skype are you running?

John

 

Now you screwed yourself up.

1- Thermal past must be very clean to be efficient. I can see a lot of dust on the thermal paste, and I see cracks on the northbridge heatsink thermal paste (white'ish pad). These create heat bubbles that can lead to drastic consequences, like uneven cooling which could break the processor, or expanding (air expending) and pop (air releases out), damaging the CPU.

2- It is normal that thermal paste gets dry.

3- All processors needs to be cleaned before putting back the heatsink. I recommend using a Q-Tip that doesn't leave anything behind, dipped in 70% rubbing alcohol.


When I got my base chanced because of a pad. The heatsink and motherboard had to be removed. despite being very clean, ALL my processors (GPU, northbridge and CPU), where overheating and coming down to a crawl. I could not do anything on my laptop. I immediately contacted Dell for a new heatsink.

My processor temps increase by 10-20C higher than normal, JUST because the thermal paste was not replaced.
Of course, I could have used my own thermal paste and pads that I have, but as long as Dell could send me a new heatsink, why not (thermal paste and pads are expensive).

My experience in servicing computers suggest that if not treated, expect a processor to break on you within month if the system is under load regularly.
And debugging a broken processor (other than GPU), is no fun.
- Northbridge chipset problem will give you the fell of a driver conflict problem, or loss of devices on random, or even corrupting data on external storage device (or internal ones if the SATA controllers is inside)
- CPU will provide you with BSOD's with random messages, making think it's it's an attached device conflicting with the system memory (RAM), bad system memory, or simply crashing software. Any tech support will resort to replace about everything in your system, including the motherboard a few time, and not check to replace the CPU, because CPU's don't normally break. They either work at first and stay working (no mechanical parts), or breaks because you overclocked it, or did something with the heatsink. Which I don't believe Dell will cover you under warranty.
- GPU will lead to graphic problems, which can be screen in your screen. For instance it can cause more error, causing some pixels of being of wrong color in some frame, making it invisible to you (unless you do GPGPU computing on it, but I see you have an Intel graphic card, so that is out of the question) to more sever problems like more visible graphic glitches that are visible.

 

the latest. I first tried to turn off every possible thing in the intel control panel, 3D and video settings. No result.
Then I reinstalled Skype and now it's been staying low, around 15-20% and it goes down as low as 11%. So for now it seems good.

the strange thing is that I started to notice problems after I installed a newer video driver. the one provided by MS dated 2/10/2010 has that problem of turning off the screen when switching to AC/Battery and viceversa. The Dell driver doesn't have that problem, but I want to use the default driver that was used when I installed Win 7. how do I go back to that? I tried uninstalling the driver but then it just reloads the 2/10/10 driver. arggg.
but at least now skype isn't hogging the cpu anymore.
can anybody help with this driver?

I think you are being way too drastic. All that you said it's true no doubt. What I did was turn around the heatpad because it was cleaner on the other side. So far I haven't noticed temps going up. we'll see.

now the next thing I wanna do is use that MS default driver.

 

glad to be of help

and actually, looking at this again -- if i am understanding you right, you are ONLY having this issue when you are capturing video from your webcam? if this is the issue, it could be a problem with the webcam driver. do you have the latest on that? either way, i would try completely uninstalling that and reinstalling the latest

i see you have the intel gpu. i would suggest trying the latest driver from intel directly, see if it doesn't solve your problems.

 

Has anyone else experienced scratched palm rests and chipping speaker grill paint on their Latitude E6400? I did, and just contacted technical support, and according to the agent I spoke with Dell has acknowledged this issue and has created better quality speaker grills, lcd bezel, and palm rest.

 

Various members have reported these two problems and some have been successful in getting replacements, usually combined with getting some other work done. However, some members have been unsuccessful in getting replacements. The speaker grill paint problem seems to be a bad batch of painting while scratching of the palm rest caused by the display bezel when the computer is closed is a design fault (I spotted a couple of small rubber bumpers on the top corners of the E6410's display in a photo).

John

 

As much as I want to say to try and convince Dell to send the
E6410 bezel, I noticed the new location of the ambient light sensor... so... no worky.