Another little prog for power management

[Adda]

Perfectly! Thanks.

I took a look at your Thres. numbers in a previous post and, man, you've got that machine just sippin' the electrons—your voltage is so low! I'll have to check my NHC install to see what settings I had there (I'm just pulling this machine out of a box after a couple of years, so this is coming back to me slowly... )

Anyway, thanks for your great help,

Paul

You are very welcome

Yeah my PM750 undervolts like nothing I have seen, I'm using a PM760 now though, it doesn't undervolt nearly as well, but it speeds things up more then I thought it would.
Oh if only that PM750 had been a PM760/770/780

[IbmPad]

Thanks Adda, you've been quicker than me !
I know the configuration window is not very user friendly, it is maybe due to the fact I associated one control to one entry in the INI file... I am writing a tiny help file and will post it on the main topic when finished.

Regarding the APM and AAM control, I also have a HM160HC, and it also crashes after some random time (with loss of data) and NHC used to do it also. It used to work great with my previous 60GB HDD...
I will add a feature to let the program disable itself when Shift is pressed on startup (eg. to let the user disable a parameter that cause the computer to crash). I am also planning to add support for reading CPU intermediate frequencies through ACPI tables, select the temp. to show on the icon and perhaps support for the Core 2 Duo family (though the first measures/tests I did on a T400 show it will not be so easy)...

[Adda]

That sounds great, the T6x and T400/500 and W500 ThinkPads would become vastly more attractive if IBM_ECW supported them too, IBM_ECW is a killer app for the power user, plain and simple, I hardly use my W510 anymore.

If adding Core CPU support is impossible without changing the fundamentals of IBM_ECW it might make sense to make two versions, but I'm not a programmer and IBM_ECW is so light weight it's nowhere near the limit of what could be integrated before it gets bloated.
Another solution could be to keep a version history, so that people could get the version that has the feature set that fits their usage pattern, like TPFanControl.

Ok so the problem with HDD settings are caused by the HM160HC, I have noticed that the APM setting that disables all powersave features is normally 255, but for the HM160HC it has to be set to 254, 255 causes the drive to park all the time (tested with quietHDD), this behavior may have something to do with it.

[Paul Unger]

I have chosen not to mention the odd text field behavior as it sort of keeps you on your toes and reduces the chance of making a mistake.

I appreciate being helped not to make a mistake (heaven knows, I make my share!), but I still struggle with adding info to the Freq.|Voltage|Thres. table... When I click Add I get a new row at the top (fair enough, but it would be nice to be able to add one say 'after the row in which the cursor sits'). So then I have to shift everything up, and when I type 600 in the Freq. field I cannot get to the Voltage cell without clicking outside the row I want to enter data in. And then click the Voltage cell in the first row. And the same for Thres. and on down the table... Well, it certainly keeps me on my toes but it doesn't seem very nice.

Sorry to complain, but either I'm missing something or a fix would be nice. It really is a nice piece of programming. Thank you very much for what you've done so far!

[Adda]

I completely agree it is not all that handy so to say, I found it quite bothersome at first, I just press tab to get out of a text field and then click the next field with the mouse, works well enough.

But who knows, maybe IbmPad has something up his sleeve

[Paul Unger]

IBM_ECW can switch clock frequencies at a very fast pace, to change that behavior change the 'Update Every' setting in the config menu, default is 200ms, I like mine at 100ms.

Since IBM_ECW update the CPU freq so fast, it may pick up on peaks in usage you otherwise wouldn't notice, to stop this behavior either increase the 'thres' values or increase the 'Update Every' value.
I recommend you add as many clock frequencies as possible and set the 'Update Every' value to 100ms, this seems to speed things up.
It imitates the way Core i7 CPU's do frequency scaling.

My CPU can idle at 800Mhz with no switching if thres is set to 30 for that freq.

Thanks for the tips, Adda. I changed 'Update Every' to 100ms. I also included more multipliers. I'm currently running the following:
600|732|30
800|796|40
1000|892|50
1200|924|60
1400|1020|70
1700|1100|100
The rapid switching behaviour has been tamed considerably with these settings. I should add that I'm running a PM 735 (1.7 GHz) Dothan.

[Adda]

Excellent, please keep posting your findings, this goes for other users out there too, more testers will give better results and enrich the knowledge base for everyone.

[IbmPad]

Regarding the edit boxes : I know it's bothering but I also struggled to make something "usable" (I'm just an amateur programmer (though I would like to work in that area after my studies) and my experience is very limited), because Windows does not seem to offer a native way to put edit boxes inside a list cell. So I have to create an editbox and move it on top of the list control, and so it doesn't react to TAB like classic controls...

Add I get a new row at the top (fair enough, but it would be nice to be able to add one say 'after the row in which the cursor sits'). So then I have to shift everything up

You don't have to shift lines ; just fill in the new line and it will automatically move at the right position (the list gets sorted each time a value is modified, sorted by Thr% then by frequency).

BTW, I added a help file to the archive, if it can help...

[Adda]

Two T43p's just landed on my lap, and I have tested their V3200 GPU's to get an estimate of what these GPU's can do.
It seems there isn't much difference in how well they "overclock" in 'Balanced' mode, 350-370MHz GPU, 270-290MHz MEM.
A safe clock would be 300-350MHz GPU and 250MHz MEM.
V3200 GPU can't run at a clock under ~102MHz for both GPU and MEM.

[Adda]

One motherboard out of the three I have, has a very cool running GPU, it stays below 80C at full load in Max Performance mode and default clocks.
The fan rarely blows if the GPU is in 'Low Power' mode.
I guess this board has different video memory then the others, the GPU must be the same.
It doesn't run very fast in 'Balanced' mode though, but it doesn't matter as it runs cooler on 'Max Performance' then the other boards do in 'Balanced' mode with lower clocks.

I have read that some T43p's are more quiet then others, this might be the reason.

Here are my settings for this board with a PM770.

Code: Select all

[CPU]
CPU_Control=1
Timer=100
CPU_MultFact=133
ListNb=10
ListFreq=800,1066,1200,1333,1466,1600,1733,1866,2000,2133,
ListVolt=700,748,780,812,876,940,972,1004,1052,1084,
ListThr=20,30,40,50,60,70,80,90,95,100,
CPU_Max_ID=9

[EC]
Timer=1000
Fan_Control=1
Fan_Manual_Sl=3
Sens_ThrH0=53
Sens_ThrH1=60
Sens_ThrH2=65
Sens_ThrH3=86
Sens_ThrL0=48
Sens_ThrL1=55
Sens_ThrL2=60
Sens_ThrL3=80
Use_Fahrenheit=0

[GPU]
GPU_Control=2
GPU_Base=0x2000
GPU_Fact=2700
GPU_PowerPlay=0
ListNb=3
ListCore=10200,30400,40500,
ListMem=10200,20300,25000,
GPU_Manual_Sl=0

[Paul Unger]

Two T43p's just landed on my lap...

You must have a big lap! And it's a T43 magnet to boot! Wish I had a lap like that.

Have fun with your new machines. My T42 is running well with this 'little prog'; I'm very pleased to have found it!

[Adda]

Ok the last T43p motherboard is not made by the same vendor as the two others, it's made by USI-SZ, the two others are from Foxcon.
This board doesn't respond well to custom GPU clocks, it runs fast enough in Balanced mode, but when switching between clock frequencies, the screen garbles pretty badly, sometimes crashing the system.
To avoid this is have to set IBM_ECW's GPU functions to 'Read only' switching between default PowerPlay modes works without a hitch.
The GPU runs very hot on this board, quickly climbing to 90C+ at full load, in 'Max Performance' mode, similar to the first board I got.

[Paul Unger]

Hmmm... Had my first little hiccup with IBM_ECW. I hibernated my machine overnight and when I restarted it in the morning there was no temperature icon in the system tray. I went to IBM_ECW.exe to restart it, but when I double-clicked it I was informed that it was already running. Indeed, Task Manager shows the process IBM_ECW.exe running and using 852 K of memory. Any idea how to restore the icon when the program is already running?

[Adda]

Hmmm... Had my first little hiccup with IBM_ECW. I hibernated my machine overnight and when I restarted it in the morning there was no temperature icon in the system tray. I went to IBM_ECW.exe to restart it, but when I double-clicked it I was informed that it was already running. Indeed, Task Manager shows the process IBM_ECW.exe running and using 852 K of memory. Any idea how to restore the icon when the program is already running?

Right my T43p's goes to sleep fine, but when they wake up, I get the login screen for a second, but then the screen goes blank (black with backlight on) Fn + Space turns the backlight off and then on again, so the system is running.
I can't get it back to normal without powering down the system.

I don't use sleep mode usually, well spotted Paul.

I'll look more in to it later, maybe disabling the advanced GPU options changes this behavior, but I also have a pair of Radeon 9000 equipped T41's waiting for their treatment.

Edit: By the way, IBM_ECW's HDD functions seems to work perfectly well with 7K100 drives, set APM to 255 and the drive stops clicking.

[Adda]

The first of the T41's, crashes (with a wide palette of fancy colors) if Manual GPU clocks are used, if IBM_ECW is set to 'Read Only' switching between the two default PowerPlay modes works fine.
I think this T41 has a Foxcon board, but I can't find any vendor name on the board, the CPU socket is beige in color, all Foxcon boards I have seen have this type of socket.

One T41 to go, it has a USI-SZ board.

Edit: The USI-SZ Radeon 9000 board also crashes with Manual GPU clocks (black screen).

[IbmPad]

I don't know why it does react that way... I have no problem with my T42p ; I have approx. 5 standby/resume cycles & 2 hibernation/resume per day (I only do a full restart every ~10 days) and never experienced this. In fact, the program restores the original Fan & GPU settings before the system goes to standby/hibernation, so it shouldn't cause any problem (except if the program had been killed (eg. using Task Manager) and then restarted ; in that case the initial settings can not be properly restored)... As for the icon, I don't know either, it never disappeared on my computer (except if Explorer crashes & restarts, but I think I've corrected that in a recent update). I will investigate further tomorrow (edit: perhaps a design error regarding how the PowerPlay modes are handled)

[Adda]

I don't know why it does react that way... I have no problem with my T42p ; I have approx. 5 standby/resume cycles & 2 hibernation/resume per day (I only do a full restart every ~10 days) and never experienced this. In fact, the program restores the original Fan & GPU settings before the system goes to standby/hibernation, so it shouldn't cause any problem (except if the program had been killed (eg. using Task Manager) and then restarted ; in that case the initial settings can not be properly restored)... As for the icon, I don't know either, it never disappeared on my computer (except if Explorer crashes & restarts, but I think I've corrected that in a recent update). I will investigate further tomorrow (edit: perhaps a design error regarding how the PowerPlay modes are handled)

Hmm, I'm thinking this might have something to do with the fact that I'm using a mobility modded driver, rather then IBM's own driver.
I'll just test it on the T41, it uses the intended driver.

Which driver do you use?

Edit: It works fine on the T41.

[Paul Unger]

I don't know why it does react that way... I have no problem with my T42p ; I have approx. 5 standby/resume cycles & 2 hibernation/resume per day

OK, I did a restart and then put it to sleep once or twice and hibernated a few times and then overnight, and IMB_ECW came back every time... [Though it was interesting to see IBM_ECW as a 'running program' in the Task Bar once or twice; when I clicked on it, it went away and just left the icon in the System Tray. That happened twice.] So I don't know what happened that one time that it disappeared, but it seems to be working now. All that to say, don't spend too much time investigating a possible cause.

[Adda]

I have been testing the cool running T43p Foxcon 603 board very thoroughly as I found the low GPU temp very suspicious (the hot Foxcon is a 507, the hot USI-SZ a 604).
What I found after painstaking tests of all kinds, is that the 2200BG wireless card I added recently was failing, causing back screen followed by reboot whenever I streamed video off the internet for long periods of time.
After I replaced the 2200BG with a different card, it has been running flawlessly.

Tests done include putting the machine under full load on GPU + CPU with the fan set to OFF in Max Performance mode(WARNING DON'T DO THIS UNLESS YOU ARE ASKING FOR TROUBLE) to heat the system up close to 90 degrees for the GPU and about 70 for the CPU and then setting the fan to auto with the settings I posted further up this page.
When activating the fan, the temps quickly started lowering ending up on 65 for the CPU and 80 for the GPU, BUS 49, PCI 56.
You'd think the temps would sky rocket if the fan wasn't running under heavy loads, but no, they snailed their way up.
Tested using IBM_ECW (of cause) and ATi Tray Tools 3D renderer + artifact scanner, I found no artifacts during testing.

Another test was to put the system in to Low Power mode, and keep the fan running at the second highest speed and see where the temps would end up.
It got very cool, CPU 34, GPU 36, BUS 43, PCI 48.

During normal usage the temps range from 45 CPU, 48 GPU to 50 CPU, 53 GPU.

Do anyone have similar experiences with late generation Foxcon boards?

[Paul Unger]

I have no clue what kind of board my T42 has, but I rarely see CPU temps over 45*C; usually around 42*C. It's definitely not a "late generation" board, though...

[RealBlackStuff]

Remove the RAM door and RAM on the bottom. There should be a sticker with the P/N or FRU on it.
On the second sticker under it, there's a motherboard Serial Number, starting with 11Sxxxxx followed by a space and a 3-digit number, looking like e.g. 509. This is the production date in format YMM, so 509 is 2005/09 or 2005/September.
The third sticker has the board's MAC number.

[Adda]

I have tested IBM_ECW with Windows 7 on one of my T43p's, and it seems to work, it has to be run as admin.
One thing that doesn't work though is the PowerPlay modes, I can set custom clock frequencies but not change the PowerPlay mode, it's probably conflicting with Windows built in power manager, or maybe it works differently from XP due to that power manager.
I'm using the Windows Update supplied video driver.