On AC Power But Low Bat Light Still Flashes

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fleamourian · #1 Post by **fleamourian** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 11:28 pm

Hi

I jst got the old girl running again, thanks to rkawakami. When switching to AC power I notice the low bat light can still flash resulting in hibernation. I've had to unplug power lead & plug it back in repeatedly, then the light ceases to flash. I have tried another charger, but the process repeats itself.

EDIT: Even when charging with laptop switched off the battery light will hold steady before flashing in rapid succession. what does this mean??? Is it a cheap & nasty battery problem or the fact that it ain't been used in months? She doesn't seem to hold a charge.

Also, anyone have an accurate CPU temp program? Speedfan shows readings in the mid 60s to 70+ degrees. Is this normal? (I have fitted a T22 heatsink to a standard 800MHz chip.) I applied some MX-1 heat compound in the hope it may cool things down. PC Dr returns a clean bill of health.

Thanks.

fleamourian · #2 Post by **fleamourian** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 5:36 am

Hmmmm...

After re jigging the position of the heatsink to take pressure of where the power inlet plugs into motherboard it seems to be charging properly, I don't trust it. It seems loose. But after giving it a good jerk/shake or two it still appears to be charging. So fingers crossed. I must of moved it when applying heat compound.

fleamourian · #3 Post by **fleamourian** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 5:57 am

Yep it's blinking orange with laptop switched off even tho it's been charging for the past couple of hours.

Purcy · #4 Post by **Purcy** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 8:47 am

If you stick to XP on your T's, this is an excellent CPU monitor:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Sys ... eter.shtml

fleamourian · #5 Post by **fleamourian** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 6:28 pm

I used the battery run down feature in PC Dr as advised on this forum. This seems to have reconditioned the battery & it is now accepting a normal charge.

fleamourian · #6 Post by **fleamourian** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 10:54 pm

Purcy wrote:If you stick to XP on your T's, this is an excellent CPU monitor:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Sys ... eter.shtml

According to Mobile Meter my T21 averages around 50 degrees when not under load, a full 10 degrees hotter than Speedfan readings which varied from 35-54 at its hottest. The CPU also runs at 666MHz, the mark of the beast, when idle. Is this the SpeedStep Applet?

nikki605 · #7 Post by **nikki605** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:22 pm

I'm trying to think what might be different between your T21 & mine. Some time ago, I upgraded my CPU to a 1GHz chip. It always runs at 1GHz unless I pull the A/C power adapter and run it on battery only. Then it drops the speed to 700MHz, but only because I have selected the "High Battery Performance" option in the IBM Battery MaxiMiser Wizard when running on battery. As soon as I plug the A/C adapter back in, the CPU goes back to 1GHz. All of this as read by MobileMeter. As long as I am running with the A/C adapter connected, the speed of my CPU does not change from 1GHz no matter what or how many programs I start or have running.

MobileMeter also reports my CPU temp to be 39°C at complete idle immediately after coming out of the Windows XP screensaver.

frankiepankie · #8 Post by **frankiepankie** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:37 pm

nikki605, do you have tried enabling "SpeedStep" in the BIOS ? (Look for a message saying "Press .... to acces setup" or something)

nikki605 · #9 Post by **nikki605** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:56 pm

I went back and re-read my post and maybe I gave the impression that I think my T21 has a problem. That is not the case. I believe my T21 is acting normally. I think fleamourian is the one that may have a problem with his T21 - I just don't know what may be causing it. In my experience, the CPU does not shift to the lower speed unless it is running on the battery. Even at that, I could force it to run at high speed on battery power, if I picked a different Power Scheme in the IBM Battery MaxiMiser utility.

Anyway, I checked my BIOS, just to be sure. It is the latest version - 1.16 (KZET34WW) 2004-04-28. I could not find any reference to "SpeedStep" on any of the BIOS screens (except for the main screen where it displays the CPU info and that's read-only).

The only option I could see that effects the CPU speed, was on the CONFIG | POWER screen. There were two options, set as follows:

Power Mode For AC - Maximum Performance (high CPU speed)
Power Mode For Battery - Maximum battery life (low CPU speed)

My T21 has always behaved as I described in my earlier post, going all the way back to when I bought it new in 2001 and it was pre-loaded with Win 98. It is now running Win XP Pro SP2.

If there is a SpeedStep option in the BIOS, please tell me what page it is on, as I can't find it.

fleamourian · #10 Post by **fleamourian** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 8:10 pm

I think I have the latest BIOS, I dwnloaded it from driver matrix recently, but can't see anything 'bout SpeedStep in the actual BIOS itself?

I am running on AC power but my battery is showing no voltage, wattage or current. Shifting to another power scheme in the MaxiMiser utility has no affect on the CPU speed. I'm hoping that with a new battery it will operate properly.

EDIT: Ah I remember now, cannot flash BIOS as power management is disabled, I assume this is because my battery is cream crackered.

nikki605 · #11 Post by **nikki605** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 8:42 pm

Yeah, I don't see any SpeedStep options in my BIOS either.

I don't know if this is the same as a "bad" battery, but just as a test I removed the main battery from my T21 while it was connected to the A/C adapter. I only saw one thing change - the Battery MaxiMiser icon down on the task bar changed from green with 100% displayed in it, to gray with no number displayed in it. When I checked on the battery information, it displayed Not Installed with the Remaining Time blank and the Current, Voltage & Wattage fields also blank. This is what I would have expected to see.

The thing I was really interested in seeing was the CPU speed. According to MobileMeter, it is still running at the full rated speed of 1GHz. It did not drop to the lower speed.

fleamourian · #12 Post by **fleamourian** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 8:51 pm

Hmmm yeh, that is same as my battery meter. But according to Aida32 my CPU is a Pentium IIIE 650MHz. I guess I was miss-sold on eBay!!

Still can't complain she is cosmetically sound & has not thrown up any horrors. I am looking to upgrade to 1GHz anyway. How do I go about posting a want on this forum, will have to look into that. They only flag up on eBay in the US & most sellers not interested in shipping to UK. So if anyone has one lying about...

Oh well, guess I'll have to change that signature. Lol.

nikki605 · #13 Post by **nikki605** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:10 pm

Ouch! Sounds like you got cheated on eBay if you thought you were getting an 800MHz CPU. So I guess you don't have a SpeedStep problem after all. You have a 650MHz CPU that was sold to you as a 800MHz CPU.

If you want to advertise on this forum for a 1GHz CPU (you want an Intel SL53S which is the type I have in mine) go to the Forum Index and scroll almost all the way to the bottom to the section titled ThinkPad News, Comments & Etcetera. The first forum in that section is the one you want - Marketplace - Forum Members Only. In there, you can post either items for sale or wanted to buy.

I have 2 - 800MHz CPUs (Intel SL4GT) but not a 1GHz. Sorry I can't help you.

From the temp readings you reported, it does sound like you have an overheating problem even running at 650MHz.

fleamourian · #14 Post by **fleamourian** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:47 am

I am using a T22 CPU heatsink/fan which does seem to have a slightly flatter profile to so maybe even though fully screwed down it may not be making full contact. I assume the 1 GHz chip it made for may be thicker if I'm explaining myself well enough??? Of course I could be talking total chudd!

Anything else lead to overheating issues?

I'll run a test with the old heatsink.

nikki605 · #15 Post by **nikki605** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 9:04 am

When I put in my 1GHz CPU, I installed it with a T22 heatsink/fan assembly as was recommended by others on this forum.

But, I understand your question about CPU thickness. I have no idea if the family of PIII mobile CPUs are the same or different heights or thicknesses. If they are different, then yes, that could impact the amount of contact between the CPU and the heatsink.

Did your T22 heatsink have the ESD Plate Spring installed on the heatsink? The spring puts pressure between the heatsink itself and the ESD Fan Cover. Its this spring that pushes the heatsink down onto the surface of the CPU and is essential to dissipating the heat.

fleamourian · #16 Post by **fleamourian** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 11:54 am

From memory it had springs on each of the four holes that it screws down with. I'll have to check the ESD spring, I def have one on old heatsink. The old heatsink has a raised square platform that matches position of CPU. Although the T22 heatsink is thicker, overall the original heatsink when side by side is slightly more thickset.

fleamourian · #17 Post by **fleamourian** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 12:22 pm

Jst a thought, my thermal compound takes 200hrs before reaching optimum performance...

nikki605 · #18 Post by **nikki605** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 3:40 pm

I used Artic Silver thermal compound on mine about 6 months ago. And, yes, I know the manufacturers say that over time, the seal between the heatsink and CPU will get better. However, the idle temp on mine has only dropped 1° in that time. It doesn't seem likely to me that you are going to get a 10° improvement.

fleamourian · #19 Post by **fleamourian** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 7:53 pm

Well it's actually an SL4GT which is rated at 800MHz. So don't ask me what's going on. Maybe flashing latest BIOS will help matters.

EDIT: Also re-fitting the original heatsink , even with old scrapings of heat compound (run out), has already made a five degree difference in as little as 20mins. I'm waiting to see if it'll hit the magic 40.

nikki605 · #20 Post by **nikki605** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 11:23 pm

Hmmm?!? That's right, the SL4GT is rated at 800MHz. I have two of them sitting next to me, along with some other spare T21 parts. Engaging the SpeedStep function will drop the speed to around 80% of its full, rated speed, which is about 650MHz.

Good to see you got an improvement in the temp when you changed out the heatsink. That's progress! For some reason, the replacement heatsink must not have been making good contact with the CPU. Spring tension? Parts binding?

Depending on how far down rev your current BIOS is, flashing it to the latest version could fix the CPU speed problem. I made sure my BIOS was the latest version before I ever installed the 1GHz CPU.

fleamourian · #21 Post by **fleamourian** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 6:57 am

Yeah it's idling at 40 degrees now!

Maybe the 1Ghz chip is thicker? You use the same length screws for both heatsinks? Or maybe I sold a duff one? Whichever I'm pleased with result!

Thanks for your help

nikki605 · #22 Post by **nikki605** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 8:52 am

That CPU temp is better!

And, yes, when I put in the 1GHz CPU I reused the same ESD Fan Cover, secured with the same 4 screws. No changes there.

Are you still looking for a 1GHz CPU? I only see one right now on eBay (US) and the seller doesn't ship to the UK. There are none on eBay-UK.

Glad I could help

fleamourian · #23 Post by **fleamourian** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 2:44 pm

Still looking yeh. I've posted on this forum. A lot of sellers wont ship to the UK.

It will actually idle at 45 degrees with wireless. I've heard wireless eats into ur battery time as well?

On AC Power But Low Bat Light Still Flashes

On AC Power But Low Bat Light Still Flashes

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