New to the boards, couple importancies :)

Hello, guys... I just registered here, and figured I can learn a bunch of stuff about my notebook, as well as help others from the stuff that I know.

I'll set up a profile & maybe make a new "About me" thread elsewhere after I post this, after all, I can't stand seeing "newbs" register for a site to get info & then you never see em again.

2 big questions I have that encouraged me to sign up are...

1 - (minor prob) - I have an ASUS Z9200M, or more commonly known as the A6KM.. 1.5gigs of ram, MT-34 processor, GF-go 7300, Windows 7. Now, AFAIK, the most up to date BIOS is 300... Here's the problem... if I use BIOS 300, or even 210, It works great except the CPU refuses to throttle.. it locks in at 1.8Ghz whether or not i'm on battery.

If I downgrade to the first version, 209, throttling works all the way down to 500mhz, & the ram can clock down to 133mhz and works WONDERS on saving battery life. However, with 209, my Realtek sound stutters constantly even on full throttle @ 1800mhz... it pops, clicks, everything you could imagine.. I've tried drivers, bios settings, softmods, sample-rate changes, you name it. So basically I can either run it full power all the time and have good sound, or sacrifice sound for battery life.



2nd problem - (Possibly major)

This thing REFUSES to stay cool!! on idle, it stays around 60*, 55 is the lowest. gpu hangs around 70*, hard drive around 55*...I know AMD's generally have more fire than a drunk redhead, but is this normal?

I've applied fresh ceramique, taken the covers off the CPU, ram & HDD, and cleaned out the heatsink, and repositioned the little aluminum pieces.. I've even went so far as to prop up the laptop on pegs so that it stands about 6" from the surface... At first I thought maybe the windows 7/older laptop might throw off the sensors, but I confirmed these temps with a thermometer.. The fan runs full speed CONSTANTLY... is there any remedy to this that I'm overlooking?

Thanks for the help

 

One more thing I forgot lol.. (I can make seperate threads if needed, i just figured it might be easier to group em)... On windows xp, I'm reported 256MB of VRAM that is physically there, with an additional 512 that can be shared.. on windows 7, I only have 64m of physical vram, but still can share up to 512.. is this an issue or just different driver architecture? I can't complain on this tho, as I can run SOME games, like FEAR & DiRT, NFS prostreet.. just wonderin

 

I suggest you ask ASUS about the BIOS problem. Or you have to stick with one. BTW, your avatar is scary.

 

Yeah, this thing is way outside of it's warranty, and ASUS is about as easy to get a hold of as opening a can of spaghetti-o's with a fork. The good part is, I didn't pay for the laptop.. it was an old girlfriends, and it wouldn't turn on for more than 5 minutes so she, filthy rich and all, just bought another brand new one & gave this one to me. When I popped the heatsink off, it took me almost an hour just to get the dust off of the heatsink itself.. it was CAKED ON... Is there anywhere I can get the instructions for taking this thing apart so I can inspect the board & Perhaps apply new ceramique to the GPU and possibly find a way to separate the heatsinks? I Can't find a service manual anywhere, and all ASUS has to offer is a manual in korean.

--That's an actual picture of me, please don't make fun. JK