BIOS, IME firmware and related stuff

[ggadrian]

Well, I've been having problems with a branded Clevo P170EM laptop after having to disconnect the BIOS battery because I screwed the RAM timmings. The problems were the following:

-Overheating and trottling
-Unable to wake-up from sleep
-General unestability
-Vt-x disabled

I finally realized that it was probably a BIOS related problem, so I flashed a moded BIOS from premamod.com that solved all the problems except the overheating.

I think it might be related to the Intel Management Engine Firmware or something like that, but there isn't a lot of information on the subject.

Does someone have any clue?

 

[Burpo]

Check the fan profile in BIOS and make sure you have Max settings. May need to tear it down and reapply heat sink grease. :|

 

[ggadrian]

Check the fan profile in BIOS and make sure you have Max settings. May need to tear it down and reapply heat sink grease. :|

Even the moded BIOS doesn't have "fancy stuff" like fan control.

I'm planning in re-applying the thermal paste, but the overheating started just when all the other problems, so it must be firmware or software related.

 

[Ketchup]

What CPU is in it? Temps for Intel CPU's come from inside the chip, so I don't know how software/ firmware could affect that part, unless you are talking about the fans. Are they not going at full speed when it is overheating?

I do like you reapplying thermal paste idea.

 

[ggadrian]

Well, I've changed the TIM and it solved the problem. It turns out that the BIOS and overheating thing were not related, they just happened to happen at the same time.

I'm almost ashamed of not having tried it before, you know, 5 minutes of work could have saved me hours of google searching about firmwares and stuff.

Anyway, it now stays below 84ºC with a mild overclock, which is pretty nice for a laptop in the summer.

Thanks

 

[corkyg]

84C? That exceeds safe cooking temp of most meat. In a laptop, I persoally consider anything over 70C as risky.

 

[Ketchup]

84C? That exceeds safe cooking temp of most meat. In a laptop, I persoally consider anything over 70C as risky.

I have read (on the internet, so you have been warned) that Haswell doesn't throttle before 90 or so. Even though that is hot, the danger factor really depends on the type of chip being referred to.

 

[ggadrian]

This is an Ivy chip and it starts to throttle (according to aida an XTU) at 103ºC.

I think 84ºC is pretty reasonable given the warm weather. My macbook has been running really hot for more than four years and to date it's perfectly fine.

BTW, I'd like to know laptops that doesn't exceed 70ºC with a 45W CPU inside in summer, they must have an impressive cooling system (I'm genuinely interested, not being sarcastic).