Dell :: Possible Solution To Faulty Thermal Sensor
Dec 30, 2008
my problem specifically was that beer got spilled on the keyboard. after a while the machine shorted and shut off. I have a Dell Inspiron 9300, with a 1.73 ghz Sonoma CPU. i left the laptop off for two days so some of the liquid would dry out. after some problems and a dozen reboots i got into the bios, then finally through to windows.
everything was fine except that the CPU was working at a very low frequency. also the fans were continually at highest speed. the CPU was being reported between 101 mhz to 503 mhz, depending on the software. it was being recognized correctly but showing to operate at 202 mhz in the system properties panel. what was really striking is that the notebook harware software i had installed was reporting the CPU temperature as 85 C. I tried various software to manipulate the CPU frequency to no avail. The temp was a constant 85 C, although i could tell that it was not even close to this temperature since i my laptop was partly disassembled and i could feel the surface of the heatsink with my hand; it was cool.
I finally surmised that the problem was with the thermal sensor on the motherboard. it had probably shorted or got soaked and was reporting the highest temperature it could as a safety measure, thereby limiting the CPU to a very low frequency and not allowing it to throttle above 503 mhz.
My last option, save for replacing the motherboard, was to find the sensor chip, clean it, dry it and hope that it would work again.
But this is not what solved the problem. somewhere on the net i came accross a code, that when entered on an Inspiron 9100 (an older laptop, with a different chipset) would bring up the Thermal Management screen or something like that, which is certainly not accessible via the BIOS. I was playing around with the settings on a program called Hardware sensors monitor, again to no avail, when i finally decided to enter this code:
FN key + zxcvasdqwer. almost the second i pressed z, or maybe after x, the high speed fans shut off! after a short while they kicked back into operation but at a low speed, just like they were supposed to. the program hmonitor began reporting a more realistic CPU temp. i tried to play a high-def movie file and finally it played normal, without any lag or stuttering! as i played it, the fans kicked into higher mode, and the temp which had been steadily rising, began to drop. the program, and most other programs were still reporting the cpu at 202 mhz, windows system properties as well. but since it was playing a 720p video file normally, it had to be much higher than that. i did a reboot and voila!
all monitoring software are now reporting the CPU at 1.73 ghz. the system temperatures are perfectly normal, and at idle the CPU goes as low as 20 degrees C. The software Speedfan, however, is still giving an error regarding the sensor chip on the motherboard.
what i wanted wass to fix/bypass the sensor without having to replace the damn board. i couldn't even find a single post staing where exactly the sensor is on the board. my problem specifically was that beer got spilled on the keyboard. after a while the machine shorted and shut off. I have a Dell Inspiron 9300, with a 1.73 ghz Sonoma CPU. i left the laptop off for two days so some of the liquid would dry out. after some problems and a dozen reboots i got into the bios, then finally through to windows. everything was fine except that the CPU was working at a very low frequency. also the fans were continually at highest speed. the CPU was being reported between 101 mhz to 503 mhz, depending on the software. it was being recognized correctly but showing to operate at 202 mhz in the system properties panel. what was really striking is that the notebook harware software i had installed was reporting the CPU temperature as 85 C. I tried various software to manipulate the CPU frequency to no avail. The temp was a constant 85 C, although i could tell that it was not even close to this temperature since i my laptop was partly disassembled and i could feel the surface of the heatsink with my hand; it was cool.
I finally surmised that the problem was with the thermal sensor on the motherboard. it had probably shorted or got soaked and was reporting the highest temperature it could as a safety measure, thereby limiting the CPU to a very low frequency and not allowing it to throttle above 503 mhz.
My last option, save for replacing the motherboard, was to find the sensor chip, clean it, dry it and hope that it would work again.
But this is not what solved the problem. somewhere on the net i came accross a code, that when entered on an Inspiron 9100 (an older laptop, with a different chipset) would bring up the Thermal Management screen or something like that, which is certainly not accessible via the BIOS. I was playing around with the settings on a program called Hardware sensors monitor, again to no avail, when i finally decided to enter this code:
FN key + zxcvasdqwer. almost the second i pressed z, or maybe after x, the high speed fans shut off! after a short while they kicked back into operation but at a low speed, just like they were supposed to. the program hmonitor began reporting a more realistic CPU temp. i tried to play a high-def movie file and finally it played normal, without any lag or stuttering! as i played it, the fans kicked into higher mode, and the temp which had been steadily rising, began to drop. the program, and most other programs were still reporting the cpu at 202 mhz, windows system properties as well. but since it was playing a 720p video file normally, it had to be much higher than that. i did a reboot and voila!
all monitoring software are now reporting the CPU at 1.73 ghz. the system temperatures are perfectly normal, and at idle the CPU goes as low as 20 degrees C. The software Speedfan, however, is still giving an error regarding the sensor chip on the motherboard.
I seemed to have fixed the severe thermal sensor problem by a few keystrokes, without having to replace the motherboard or even the sensorchip. in fact, i didn't even have to find the sensor node and clean it.
I came accross more than a dozen people who had a very similar problem to mine, with the temperature being reported at 85-86 C, for no reason. At least those who have a Dell notebok might be able to solve this problem.
I have a Dell n5010 laptop.... sometimes I have seen that laptop is getting shutdown automatically after 5-6 minutes of powered on. Lots of internet search I came to know about HWiNFO software which shows cpu temperature and fan speed.... I have seen sometimes cpu gets heated up but the fan is not started yet causing overheat issue.. so as shutting down the system... my bios is up to date as per dell website latest bios driver version A15... I am sensing that that the thermal sensor may be not working properly always... Please note down not always it is happening sometimes it is happening...???
I have a T500 (LENOVO 2081CTO ThinkPad T500) running W7 32 bit. Been working fine since September 10. Today when simply trying to logon the fingerprint sensor has stopped working. Laptop had not even been moved, simply resting on desk and then switched on from powered off.
A few times since have received message that "USB device is being installed" with finally "USB Device could not be installed. There is a problem with your device." Device Manager showed a problem with "USB Composite device"
Powered off/on gave same symptom.
Downloaded & installed latest fingerprint software 7wf162ww.exe. Installed OK. USB device appeared to then automatically pick up and reinstall correctly. BUT still unable to use fingerprint to logon or for with Thinkvantage Client Security.
Using Thinkvantage Lenovo Fingerprint Software gives error "Cannot communicate with sensor. Please confirm the sensor is ready."  I've also noticed the keyboard around the fingerprint sensor is very warm, almost hot. As if it is being constantly turned on?  Fingerprint sensor is AuthenTec Inc. AES2810
I have come to grips with the fact that my E6400 (see specs below) has idle temps of around 42 for both CPUs and around 62 for the GPU (while docked).
While these are not dangerous, and while the slow fan speed is very quiet and therefore doesn't bother me, I refuse to accept defeat so easily.
So, I am thinking of replacing the thermal paste and possibly the thermal pad on my E6400. There is at least one person here at the Latitude/Precision sub-forum who did that, with amazing results
i have a question for everyone who has removed the heatspreader from an acer 6920g. Did the northbridge made contact with the heatspreader by a thermal pad or by a thermal paste ? mine had something that looked like a thermal pad but when i tried to remove it , it tore into small pieces ( i know a thermal pad is not like that ). i used a thermal paste when i put everything back together. Should i open it up again and use a thermal pad for the northbridge ?. In everst in the sensor menu it shows 42 degrees celsius for the motherboard sensor ( i assume that is the northbridge).
I am currently using a HP dv2000t notebook and the entire lid is glossy and very prone to fingerprints. I am awaiting for my XPS 16 to arrive but I've read many reviews about this laptop being a "fingerprint magnet" as well.
So just in case you guys didn't know, there is a way to help treat the fingerprints on the laptop's surface / lid.
NOTE: This is by no means permanently guaranteeing no future fingerprints.
..but for those that are interested, what I do is I take car wax and I wax the glossy surface like I would wax a car's clear coat.
Personally I use Meguires NXT car wax (paste kind, not liquid wax) but any other car wax works as well .....
i was having this wierd behavior of my laptop where battery woudnt charge above 6%, ive tried most of the "solutions" on the web, but none of them worked.
-Desinstalling Microsoft's ACPI-Compliant control method battery
-Doing a vista clean install
-Restarting/Removing/Plugging the battery from the laptop with the system running and shut down, and all sorts of combinations between.
-Trying different AC (from dell, some of my friends have got some dell systems, i tried a m1330 AC)
-Tried to find a battery calibrator, but was unsuccesful, and even tried to downgrade my BIOS, but couldnt because my battery wasnt charged above 10% (thats a requisite to flash the BIOS)
NONE OF THOSE WORKED.
So i called dell, they told me to go to the BIOS, tech guys told me that the problem could be figured out there by 2 ways, it'd either:
-Recognize the AC adapter (in due case, it was a battery problem) -Or it wouldnt recognize it (in which case, it would be a MoBo or a AC adapter problem.
Turned out it recognized the AC adapter, so next step was to send me a new battery, since i had a 6 cell battery (which the dell guy confirmed after i gave him the serial number of the battery) i expected to receive a 6 cell battery replacement, but no, lucky me i received a 9 CELL BATTERY INSTEAD, free within warranty period (system is only 7 months old) so yeah, im happy, and my battery is charging again.
Everything is fine, so i thought i would share this info for you guys.
One thing to get in consideration: The embedded battery health indicator might not indicate that the battery is healthy, since my faulty battery had 5/5 green lights when i tried to check the health but was still faulty (my new one has 5/5 health lights and works wonderful)
I posted a thread earlier about my CPU getting very hot. Nobody said it was to hot for gaming but my CPU is downclocking when I play a game longer then 5minutes. I have it proped up, my fans on on high, and cleaned my vents and it's still hitting 85C in as little as 30minutes of gaming. My 80NM 360 don't get near this hot. My last laptop (M170) only got to 50C.
So my question is: is my CPU faulty or does anybody know how to fix this? Hell, it's 60C right now!
I finally found where the hue and saturation setting are in the ATI ccc which nobody has been able to discover, including Dell who had already agreed to replace my screen because of the reds... gotta call them tomorrow to cancel. Am so happy with my screen now!
Anyway, I installed the latest ATI drivers from the AMD website and used the mobility modder to mod them so that they can be used correctly with the laptop vga card (although I'm sure that this option is in every version).
1) In the ccc switch to "Advanced" mode 2) At the top left where there's a menu titled "Graphics" with a small arrow next to it, choose "Desktops & Displays" 3) On the bottom left there should be a small picture of a laptop with the number "1" next to it. Right click on the picture of the laptop and choose "Configure" 4) It should now open a new screen. Just go to the middle tab "Avivo Color" and play around with the Hue and Saturation.
Here are my current settings: Avivo Color: Hue: -4 Saturation: 83
Desktop Properties (Also under the top left menu): Set color correction for: All Channels Gamma: 1.00 Brightness: -50 Contrast: 90
Nvidia apparently has a solution to the problems faced by many in their notebooks powered by GeForce 8M series, that is, to encourage the OEM/ODMs to buy their new problem free chips. Of course, this doesn't solve the issues faced by current users and there won't be any replacement for them.
Nvidia has come out with a new GPU called NB8E-SET which is essentially NB8E-SE with the new underfill. NB8E-SE is used on many notebooks most commonly advertised as GeForce 8700M GT, GeForce 8800M GS or GeForce 9650M GS. NB8E-SET (G84-751) uses the new Hitachi underfill and is clocked at 625MHz core and 128-bit 800MHz GDDR2/3 memories similar to the current NB8E-SE.
Here's a note from Nvidia to their partners :
NVIDIA is committed to providing our customers with quality products that push the edge of technology and also continuously improve product quality and reliability. To help improve the product quality and ensure smooth and uninterrupted product supply during the current “end stage” of life cycle, NVIDIA strongly recommends that customers transition to this latest revision of the NB8E-SET GPUs as soon as possible. These latest revision units utilize “Hitachi” underfill packaging material that improves product quality and enhances operating life by improved thermal cycling reliability.
Some suggested using spyder3 Some said it was a result of the ccfl Some said that the ATI card didn't have that issue
So after updating all the nvidia drivers and bios I still had the grainy...and blotchy picture. It wasn't as bad on animated movies but regular films still had the blotchiness.
The replacement 6400 had 4 gigs of ram . XP 32 bit. The ccfl screen. We've contacted Dell about this issue, but the tech I talked to said that unless there was a "technical" issue he couldn't help and for me to call customer care if I didn't like it.
I realize a lot of you use the 6400 and I didn't know whether to send this back or if there was an answer/solution to the off color (yellow/green).
I'm getting the same thing -- artifacts during bootup, drivers won't initialize properly, safe mode works in VGA mode but there are patterns throughout.
I also went into Dell diagnostics and in the second diagnostic program (not the initial one that comes up, but the second one you actually interact with after exiting the first one) it will actually check the memory of the video card, contrary to what I've read around here ......
Like you from the first day I had my hands on my Dell Studio 1535 I have the problem with sensitive buttons, eject the cd light stays lit,
the light stays lit lower volume and not permitted me to walk up or down the volume or when the team suspended him again and I fastened to light one of those lights, etc etc.
I changed the panel of sensitive buttons 2 times, thinking the problem was that but never fix the problem .....
Well dell came out and once again replaced the mobo today... making this the 3rd time this computer needed servicing... and to my surprise while test driving it today (after the guy left), the computer shut down after reaching over 100c on the ACPI temps...
funny thing is, i didnt smell anything burn, there was no heat at all, and everything seemed fine...
i unseated the heatsink and tried it again, sure enouh the same thing happened. the fan maxes out as soon as i start the PC, when it loads windows...
then once i get there, it completely stops... i mean the fan blade arent turning .....
I understand that sometimes mistakes are made and early versions of products are less reliable, but Nvidia seem to know exactly what the problem with the 8600 is but make no attempt to fix it...
I've seen many posts from people who want to use a traditional 2.5" HDD in their new Z11 laptops instead of the DVD/BR drive. I have a working solution.
I picked up a Lenovo Ultrabay III adapter for a W510 I had on order and subsequently canceled after 2 months of delays in shipping.
The DVD drive is attached via a micro-SATA connector. If you haven't seen one before, here's a comparison to a regular SATA connector .....
I removed all of the unnecessary programs that Acer put in (they do make decent laptops but really overbload the OS with stupidities) and optimized Vista as much as I could (which is working nicely if i do say so myself ... but I'm still considering on going back to XP SP3 until Windows 7 comes out.).
Right ... I also played Mass Effect for a while on the laptop (maxed out at native res of 1280x800 works without a problem).
Now the only thing is, I'd like to reduce the temperatures of the laptop. The idle CPU temp is at about 52 degrees, while under load reaches about 72 degrees Celsius (which is pretty good considering the casing).
I will buy myself the ZALMAN ZM-NC2000B cooler ... but what I would also love to do is to undervolt both the CPU and the GPU.
I'm aware the RMClock is not exactly effective when it comes to P7350 cpu. I tried to undervolt it last night, and as much as I reduced the current going to the multipliers, the temperatures remained the same under stress for prolonged periods of time.
So ... until I find a way to undervolt the cpu and get myself the forementioned cooler, I'd like to undervolt the gpu (9600m GT GDDR3) If it's possible (and I know it is), I need to know of programs that can be used to acomplish this.
As much as I like my new laptop, it would be nice to further extend it's lifespan (even though it's brand new) and reduce the heat output.
I was also thinking on getting the thermal paste and applying it to cpu/gpu. Although I'm not sure I want to go ahead with it as I don't want to void the warranty.
how to overclock the cpu/gpu in question without significant gains in temps.
I never knew about the nvidia and the stupid faulty 8600 cards until i accidently saw it today. It makes sense why my laptop freezes when it comes out from sleep mode.
Now the question is what are Dell UK doing? I know my laptop is failing now. Can you get your money back because i don't want mine replaced by another faulty 8600 card.
I have a inspiron 1520 with 8600m gt. Its 1 year and 2 or 3 weeks old now. Fortunately i got 3 year warranty.
I have the XPS m1330 with the nVidia 8400 GPU. Got it back in September of 2007 with just one year warranty.
I just started getting the rainbow colored vertical lines on the screen today, did research, and found out it is due to faulty GPU design.
Called up Dell, and they said even my one year extended warranty due to this common GPU error was over in September of 2008.
They also said I am out of luck, unless I want to go through their out of warranty repair department.
I didn't use the laptop on regular basis till just 8 months ago when my old one finally gave out of me after 6 years. So m1330 has been only used for 8 months, and now I am stuck with bunch of verticals lines, and no hope.
My lovely Dell Inspiron 1720 notebook was working quite happily but then the next time I switched it on and used a browser it started filling the URL box with letter 'd' by itself.
It then returned to work normally for a minute or so but then started filling a page with the letter 's' then 'a'. Sometimes I can get it to stop doing this by pressing another key but 'a','s' and 'd' have stopped working altogether except when they spring into life by themselves.
Virus checker says it's clean. What checks can I run to determine if it is a driver fault or keyboard hardware fault?
I have two identical Dell Inspiron17R 5720's with the same problem with the Quote Key. When pressed once, nothing appears on screen. Press again and both appear. Get the same result if shift key is used for double quotes.
The same results get transferred to an attached USB keyboard, so it must be something wrong internally, either in Bios or Windows 7 (SP1)'s setup of the Standard PS/2 Keyboard.