M6809 Bios Update, AMD Powernow! and SP2 UPDATED

I am just going to make a post on how exactly I got my m6809 to use AMD Powernow! and not be stuck at 800mhz on battery. This infomation is around in pieces on this forum, but I thought I would but it together in one post. Hope it helps.

Ok, first thing I did was download the 0F08.P00 bios which you can get here. http://downloads.emachines.com/bios/M6805_Shadow-K8.exe

I then flashed the bios. Bios flashes perfectly. I should mention now I did a clean install of Windows XP Pro SP2 integrated, but I don't know if this is actually necessary or not. I don't believe it to be so. Just make sure that as of now A) you have SP2 installed, B) you DO NOT have any AMD Processors drivers installed (we will do this soon) C) You DO NOT have AMD Powernow! Installed.. If you have any all these above please A) update to SP2, B & C go to Start/Control Panels/Add-Remove Programs and uninstall AMD Processor Drivers and AMD Powernow.

<BIG>IMPORTANT STEP - RECENT DISCOVERY -
Disable DEP or YOU WILL NOT GET A POWERNOW! TAB IN YOUR POWER SETTINGS</BIG>
To disable DEP open up you boot.ini file and change "/noexecute=optin" to "/noexecute=AlwaysOff" and do a file/save.

Restart your machine and have no programs running.. Download AMD Processor Drivers which you can get here. http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/utilities/cpudriver.EXE and download AMD Powernow! which you can get here. http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/utilities/AMDPowernowver3.04.EXE

Install AMD Processor drivers and the DO NOT RESTART. Then right click on AMDPowernowver3.04.exe and go to Properties and then Compatibility and select run this program in compatibility mode for Windows 2000. Run AMD Powernow!. Restart when asked to restart.

Now when you go into your power options you should have a new tab call AMD Powernow!.. I set mine to "High Performance Mode" while plugged in and to "Automatic Mode" while on battery. While on Automatic Mode Powernow! will adjust your speed from 800mhz to 2000mhz depending on load. On High Performance Mode (either plugged in or on battery) it keeps you at 2000mhz. The other option is "Battery Saver Mode" which keeps you at 800mhz.

Hope this helps out someone.

 

Another option is to use RMClock. Even more flexibility than Power Now. You can also get the 08 bios straight from eMachines now, it is listed as 6805 BIOS upgrade.

First PC = Vic-20, 8" 128KB Home-Brew Floppy Drive ... Current Rig = eMachines m6805 ... Quantum Leap?

 

I'm missing something here. I did a full XP Pro with Serv2 and a faster Hardrive 7200 RPM but what I'm asking is why would I need PowerNow? My M6805 runs at a constant 1.8 plugged or unplugges since I did a fresh install on another Hardrive.

What would be the benefits?

 

The benefits of Powernow! and why I use it is to save battery life when not plugged in.. When I did a clean install my laptop also kept at 2ghz plugged in and unplugged. But if you are just surfing the net while on battery, why do you need to waste the extra battery power running at 1.8ghz, when 800 mhz is plenty, cause I do this all the time. Also while on "Automatic Mode" on battery Powernow! will switch your processor speed from 800mhz to 1.8ghz if it needs to be. I can unplug my laptop and surf the net at 800mhz, and then if I feel like it play half life 2 and powernow! kicks up the processor to 2ghz. So it's all about power consumption and battery life... But if you just leave yours plugged in all the time you don't need to worry bout it.



The only way to design, Straightline Design.

 

[ ] Thanks for the information. I was just curious, me I tend to be a powermonger and am not too concerned on the battery life. So I carry a spare battery and just run it at the full 2ghz whether surfing the web or playing a game.

 

Where did you get your spare battery? Is it an eMachine battery or a different brand with maybe more cells?

 

I got one from here.

http://www.laptopsforless.com/

and one off ebay.

 

This Model # - Li4402A is compatible with eMachines M6805, M6807, M6410, M6412, M2105, M2350 and most new Gateway laptop computers .

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by stylee

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by HardDrive

 

Sure, I don't mind helping you, though I would rather do it in 'real time'. Feel free to add me to the messenger service of your choosing.

MSN - [email protected]
Yahoo or AOL - HDMainframe

If you wish to email me, it's [email protected]

HD

Proud 0wner of the Emachines 6809: AMD Athlon 64 Bit Processor @ 2.0 ghz/512 RAM/80 Gig HD/ATI Radeon 9600 OC'ed @ 432/222.75. DVD-RW/15.4 WideScreen

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by HardDrive

 

Yes, I was going to suggest that, but I would try to get a copy of Windows XP that doesn't have all the junk programs that you get with the notebook. Let me know if you need help.

HD

Proud 0wner of the Emachines 6809: AMD Athlon 64 Bit Processor @ 2.0 ghz/512 RAM/80 Gig HD/ATI Radeon 9600 OC'ed @ 432/222.75. DVD-RW/15.4 WideScreen

 

Yes, I totally concur with you doing that.

HD

Proud 0wner of the Emachines 6809: AMD Athlon 64 Bit Processor @ 2.0 ghz/512 RAM/80 Gig HD/ATI Radeon 9600 OC'ed @ 432/222.75. DVD-RW/15.4 WideScreen

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by HardDrive

 

So some of you might find this amusing and it shows how much windows is a piece of shat... But after cloning my harddrive to my 60gb 7200 rpm about a week ago, I found that windows took a little too long to load.. So I figured I'd just do a clean install. So I did a clean install last night and then tried the powernow trick (which i know worked before cause I wrote the little guide) and for the life of me I can't get it to work... GO figure huh? I haven't done a bios change or anything.. So now I have a fast loading windows and a rock solid emachine but no powernow.. So maybe Microsoft and AMD should work together and get us a true XP compatible version of powernow. Just a thought.

Stylee -
M6809 • WinXP Pro SP2 • Athlon 64 3200+ @ 2.1ghz • 7200rpm 60GB • 4200rpm external 80GB • 512mb pc2700 • Radeon 9600 @ 418.5/216 • 3DMark2001 11442 • 3DMark03 3010 • AquaMark3 25751

 

Ok so after further looking into this problem I noticed a few things.

After installing the cpudrivers and installing the powernow app and having no powernow tab in the power options, i realized that it was still throttling my computer.. The default for the powernow app is to set both on battery and plugged in mode to dynamically switch the processor... So powernow is working, just no GUI tab to change the settings. So I did some digging in my registry and found out how to change what is in the GUI manually.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREAMDPowerNow!

Go there and inside there is 2 keys

OnBatteries

and

PluggedIn


each value is set to 1.


From what I can come up with there is 2 values for PluggedIn and 3 Values for OnBatteries.

0 = Max Performance (NO CPU CHANGE) works for pluggedin and onbatteries

1 = Dynamic (switches to and from low to high speed as needed) works for pluggedin and onbatteries

2 = Max Battery (keeps cpu at lowest speed) works on for on battery.

Maybe someone that knows the registry better than I do will be able to tell us how to turn the GUI on.. It has to be in there somewhere.

Stylee -
M6809 • WinXP Pro SP2 • Athlon 64 3200+ @ 2.1ghz • 7200rpm 60GB • 4200rpm external 80GB • 512mb pc2700 • Radeon 9600 @ 418.5/216 • 3DMark2001 11442 • 3DMark03 3010 • AquaMark3 25751

 

Can somebody that has the Powernow tab on there power options export that whole registry key and email it to me, so I can compare the two.

The registry key I need is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREAMDPowerNow!

Thanks in advance.

Stylee -
M6809 • WinXP Pro SP2 • Athlon 64 3200+ @ 2.1ghz • 7200rpm 60GB • 4200rpm external 80GB • 512mb pc2700 • Radeon 9600 @ 418.5/216 • 3DMark2001 11442 • 3DMark03 3010 • AquaMark3 25751

 

Did you right click on the PowerNow.exe and set it to 2000 mode?

HD

Proud 0wner of the Emachines 6809: AMD Athlon 64 Bit Processor @ 2.0 ghz/512 RAM/80 Gig HD/ATI Radeon 9600 OC'ed @ 432/222.75. DVD-RW/15.4 WideScreen

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by HardDrive