• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Unlocked sempron 2nd core, problems waking from suspend

K

KingGheedora

Diamond Member
I have a Sempron 140 and an MSI 890fxa-GD65, on WHS2011. System was stable until I made some changes: changed from 2GB to 8GB RAM, and unlocked 2nd core. I may have also changed some settings in windows power management, and settings with ATI driver (Sapphire HD5830) because I had some problems with stuttering sound in videos which ended up being resovled by installing the latest Realtek HD audio drivers (DTS wasn't working on my receiver; drivers fixed that).

If this means anything, one of the changes I made in windows power setting was changed the power button action from "shutdown" to "hibernate".

Anyways, immediately after I unlocked the 2nd core in the BIOS, and saved the changes, the computer went into a zombie state. The power LED was on and the fans were on, but the computer wasn't doing anything (nothing on the screen, no POST). Reset button wasn't working. I had to hold down the power button for a few seconds to fix this. Windows booted and i was able to watch movies no problem.

The problem is that occasionally when the computer goes into sleep or hibernate, I can't bring it out of that state. The screen is black, the computer seems to be on -- normally during hibernate the power LED blinks on and off, but in this zombie state the power LED is solid. Last night when this happened i tried holding down the power button for a few seconds to restart it and it seemed to restart but for several times in a row the restart didn't do anything. It seemed to reboot back into the weird zombie state. Eventually it booted normally into windows.

Ctrl+Alt+Del didn't work, nor did any other keyboard commands. Reset button didn't work. Is this the result of one of the following?

  • Unlocking the 2nd core? Do I need to raise some kind of voltage?
  • Adding the new RAM (do I need to adjust timings or something)?
  • Changing windows power settings?
  • Something else?
 
My advice would be to roll back all changes, and confirm the machine works as expected. Then, implement changes one by one to see what breaks it.

From there, you can go on to fixing it. You might also want to run memtest. Also, hibernate and sleep are different. Hibernation actually powers down the computer completely (shouldn't be any blinking LEDs, at least in my experience) while sleep there will be. If you are returning from hibernation, remember that your computer has to read 8gb of data into memory each time, which could potentially take a while. That being said, the reset button not working is very strange.
 
Disabled core unlocking, and the computer seems to be able to resume from hibernate without problems again. I have no idea why the machine would hang while attempting to resume from hibernate -- only when the 2nd core is unlocked.

I'm not experienced with unlocking cores, just overclocking. Is it the same as overclocking, where you can increase stability by increasing voltage?

Any suggestions as to what I might do to resolve this issue, or what might be causing it?
 
Might want to try installing windows while the second core is unlocked. Something in the HAL might have gotten hosed, and I wouldnt count on microbloat to document it. It took me weeks to get my notebook to properly sleep/hibernate and not wake itself up for no reason... and this is a notebook that sold millions of units! I have zero faith that these people actually know what they are doing. Expecting their software to work is like playing russian roulette.
 
Windows 7 seems to have random issues resuming from sleep.

My 2500K, for example, sometimes fails to resume for no apparent reason. The computer begins to power up, shuts off, then cold boots.

My aunt's Pentium 4 2.8A (Prescott) has an issue very similar to yours. When the computer wakes, everything powers on, but no signal is sent to the monitor and the computer seems incapable of doing anything.
 
Re-enabled 2nd core and upped CPU voltage from 1.3500V to 1.3600V. So far it seems to be hibernating and resuming without issues.

I did make some other changes like disabling some unnecessary ATI CCC stuff and minor BIOS settings, and disabled hybrid sleep.

I could do further tests with controlled variables, but I'm good for now. As long as hibernate and resume works with the 2nd core enabled I'm happy. I'm about 75% sure it was the voltage change that did it.
 
I haven't messed with this in a while but just thought I'd update this post. Shortly after my last post above, the system continued to exhibit the problem, so I have been running without the 2nd core unlocked for the past couple of months. I would still like to find a solution to this, because the video playback is choppy in xbmc when sabnzbd is downloading or unpacking in the background.
 
Simple, the 2nd core on that CPU is too weak to be unlocked. No matter how much you increase the vcore... there is a defect on core 2 and that core will continue to degrade with more voltage applied. Some get lucky, some don't. Its a 50/50 shot.

I just upgraded my cousin's pc with a Phenom II Zosma 960T x4. I unlocked it to a 6 core but it wouldn't boot windows, so I just reverted it back.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top