Cool n quiet not working

MalcolmC · Post by **MalcolmC** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 10:28 am

I've spent hours googling all over the place, sent a request to Abit tech support (about a week ago!) asked the question on Abit forums (over a week ago) but no answers so far, so over to you ...

I've recently built a new PC, Abit AX8 ver 2 motherboard, latest BIOS (infact there is only one to choose from!) Athlon dual core 3800+, Igb RAM etc. AMD processor driver is loaded. Cool n quiet enabled in BIOS, min power management selected, but cool n quiet just doesn't work.

I've tried a safe mode boot - still doesn't work. I've tried the latest AMD driver - still doesn't work. I've tried RMclock, but that doesn't work either.

The computer works a treat, but not being able to get cool n quiet to work is driving me nuts.....

Any ideas?

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 10:56 am

MalcolmC wrote:...
I've recently built a new PC, Abit AX8 ver 2 motherboard, latest BIOS (infact there is only one to choose from!) Athlon dual core 3800+, Igb RAM etc. AMD processor driver is loaded. Cool n quiet enabled in BIOS, min power management selected, but cool n quiet just doesn't work.
...
Any ideas?

Problem is right there. You need to select "Laptop/Portable" in the Windows power management options to get Cool'n'Quiet... at least that's how it worked for me.

MalcolmC · Post by **MalcolmC** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 11:31 am

Thanks, but that's not the answer - some places say to use minimum power management, others portable/laptop - I've tried both and neither works for me.

Slaugh · Post by **Slaugh** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 6:51 pm

Two other things you should check:

If you see an option to enable ACPI 2.0 support in your BIOS, make sure it's enabled. Cool'n'Quiet requires ACPI 2.0 support to fully work. Some motherboards don't have this option in the BIOS. In this case, ACPI 2.0 is probably enabled by default.
Make sure that the latest AMD processor driver is installed in Windows. The generic driver that comes with Windows XP does not support Cool'n'Quiet. Make sure to install the driver from AMD, and not the one supplied by your motherboard manufacturer.

Two other steps are required, but you've already done them: Cool'n'Quiet must be enabled in the BIOS and the power management must be set to "minimal power management" in Windows. Once everything is in place, a software like CPU-Z is useful to know if Cool'n'Quiet is working as expected. CPU-Z dynamically reports the speed and the vCore of your processor. If you increase the load of your CPU, the reported vCore and speed should also increase in CPU-Z, otherwise something is missing.

There's also a patch that fixes performance issues with Cool'n'Quiet and dual-core processors. You can get that patch at AMDZone. This patch is not required for Cool'n'Quiet and should only be used if you experience instability with Cool'n'Quiet and your AMD Athlon 64 X2. If you choose to apply it, make sure that a restore point is created first. It's still a beta patch, so you never know...

acaurora · Post by **acaurora** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 8:35 pm

I'm running an AN8-32X, and my CnQ worked fine. The weird thing is though, and i"m guessing uGuru's the culprit, is that while my CPU features 4/11X multipliers, the lowest mine will go will be 5x. I'm guessing again becuase of the default overclock. Not that that's bad or anything, just still a little odd.

toNka · Post by **toNka** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 4:30 pm

How do you have 1GB ram?
1x 1024 or 2x 512?
I had a motherboard that would only let me run CnQ with one dimm full.
If I had two dimms full in single channel mode it wouldn't work.
My current setup allows for dual channel and CnQ.
So if you have more than one stick then remove all but one and see if it works.

ryboto · Post by **ryboto** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 6:20 pm

uguru doesn't hamper coolnquiet on my machine. Granted, I don't have an X2. My roomate however, does have an X2, and the cpu driver was installed before uguru(abit AN8 Ultra), latest bios with c'n'q enabled in the bios, and it hasn't ever worked. I used cpuid to watch the clock the first time i set the system to minimal power management, which is the setting I use, and the clock throttled down to 1800mhz, then back to 2k. Since then, it hasn't budged.

MalcolmC · Post by **MalcolmC** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 7:50 am

Thanks - I'll try the one stick of RAM approach and see if that makes a difference.

HiFi · Post by **HiFi** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 2:15 pm

go into control panel > system > device manager > hardware. check to see that the CPU driver is 1.2.2.0. I installed the driver from AMD.com and it didnt work. So i went to my mobo manufacturer website (asus) and they had a "cool and quiet driver" . i downloaded that an it worked. however i think i noticed some performance issues while running cool an quiet. i heard there is a patch out for windows xp which i might try.

dhanson865 · Post by **dhanson865** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 3:19 pm

Also note that Cool n Quiet modifies the CPU multiplier. If you are over or underclocking do so ONLY by the LDT and not by changing the multiplier.

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 3:54 pm

I have a spanner and i am going to throw it into the works.

My PC has been running CnC since i got the bits.

And now does NOT work, yesterday I upgraded/swapped my CPU.

An 18 month old 3500+ for a brand new E6 Stepping CPU.!!! I have since re-installed the latest CnC drivers, changed the BIOS to disabled, then re-enabled it again.

Just after I said "I will leave this until tomorrow", i visited SPCR, and bumped into this thread.

The only other thing I have done lately is installed a RAM Disk program for my internet cache. It could be that.!!!

Andy

MalcolmC · Post by **MalcolmC** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 9:54 am

I tried the one stick of RAM approach, but it doesn't make any difference. I also tried loading the AMD power monitor utility, and the funny thing is that I have a 3800 X2, which is supposed to have a clock speed of 2ghz, and that is what the power monitor shows most of the time, however under a bit of load it goes up to 2.1ghz - looks like reverse cool n quiet to me.

I wish I hadn't purchased an Abit motherboard - there's only one BIOS issued for it (no motherboard ever goes that long without some issues being fixed or improved by a BIOS update), their forums are not that good (I think they are more into overclocking), and their support team haven't replied to my request for help on this matter.

As a matter of interest, does any manufacturer's support team actually exist, or do they just have email 'black holes' - I've tried both Aopen & Abit in the past couple of months, and nothing, possibly an automatic acknowledgment, but no reply from a human being whatsoever.

So if anyone at SPCR has any other ideas, I would look forward to hearing from you.

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 10:22 am

andyb wrote:The only other thing I have done lately is installed a RAM Disk program for my internet cache. It could be that.!!!

I've seen a number of misbehaving programs/processes that will try to use up 100% of my cpu cycles--effectively disabling C'n'Q. The latest versions of AOL (9 and Suite) have some processes that do this. AOL tech support didn't seem to think this behavior was a real problem. Some Yahoo applications seem to have this problem too. You might want to Ctrl-Alt-Delete and see if any processes are doing this if you haven't already.

MalcolmC · Post by **MalcolmC** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 10:30 am

Thanks QuietOC, I tried looking at CPU useage, and it's 98-99% idle, so I don't think that's the problem.

Funny thin - with the AMD power monitor is a Dashboard demo, I tried loading this and it says 'failed initializing, make sure the AMD tools driver is installed and that this system has a PSS or PST object'.

A bit beyond me! I did a google on the phrase, and several hits, but no answers.

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 10:58 am

MalcolmC wrote:Thanks QuietOC, I tried looking at CPU useage, and it's 98-99% idle, so I don't think that's the problem.

What does CrystalCPUID say about C'n'Q?

HiFi · Post by **HiFi** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 11:55 am

MalcolmC wrote:Thanks QuietOC, I tried looking at CPU useage, and it's 98-99% idle, so I don't think that's the problem.

Funny thin - with the AMD power monitor is a Dashboard demo, I tried loading this and it says 'failed initializing, make sure the AMD tools driver is installed and that this system has a PSS or PST object'.

A bit beyond me! I did a google on the phrase, and several hits, but no answers.

it says that when i disable cool and quiet in my bios.

MalcolmC · Post by **MalcolmC** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:25 pm

Sadly for me, it does it whether of not C n Q is enabled in BIOS

ryboto · Post by **ryboto** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:34 pm

MalcolmC wrote:Thanks QuietOC, I tried looking at CPU useage, and it's 98-99% idle, so I don't think that's the problem.

Funny thin - with the AMD power monitor is a Dashboard demo, I tried loading this and it says 'failed initializing, make sure the AMD tools driver is installed and that this system has a PSS or PST object'.

A bit beyond me! I did a google on the phrase, and several hits, but no answers.

Same thing happens on my roomates computer. I tried to load their tools, with cnq enabled, latest driver installed, and the dashboard still wont open.

As far as abit's forums...holy cow shit, they stink. Every time I go in there they blame any issues on the power supply. They think the average system will max out a 485W psu. I tell them I bought a very decent Enermax, and they'll say the only name they trust is PC Power and Cooling. I'm sure if i bought their 1kW psu, and still had problems, they'd tell me I didn't plug it in correctly. They're no help, ever.

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 3:21 pm

Have you got another C'n'Q capable AMD processor lying around? At this point the problem could be the motherboard, CPU or any combination of other things. Do you have another S939 motherboard you could try it in? Are there any known problems with dual-core AMD chips and C'nQ?

MalcolmC · Post by **MalcolmC** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 10:04 pm

Thanks Jaganath, since I am in the UK, I have just woken up, and the first thing that I thought of (yes, I know it's sad) is that I've got a 3500 single core that I could swap over to. Alternately, I could go out and buy the Asus equivalent of this motherboard (only costs about £50) and transplant all my components onto that. I don't really want to do either, but equally I do want c n q to work.

I did download CPUID and that says that the cpu supports c n q (if I understand CPUID correctly). I can also get CPUID to reduce the clock speed, but then it doesn't ramp up again, even with CPUburn. I must admit that I haven't fully looked into CPUID (I only got it last night because it was suggested in this thread) and the help that comes with it is not that easy to understand (I will have to read the SPCR article this morning).

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced it's the BIOS, the CPU does run at 2040 by default (and I would have thought that if c n q worked properly, it should reduce that to 2000) I have tried changing the setting in BIOS to 2000, but it still does not make c n q run.

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 1:25 am

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced it's the BIOS, the CPU does run at 2040 by default (and I would have thought that if c n q worked properly, it should reduce that to 2000) I have tried changing the setting in BIOS to 2000, but it still does not make c n q run.

Have you tried setting the BIOS back to all fail-safe defaults, and then trying to get C'n'Q to run? All I can think is that there's one screwy setting in the BIOS which is mucking up C'n'Q (or maybe the C'n'Q driver is faulty? I had an Asus board recently where there were two C'nQ drivers on the Asus website, a general one for 2000/ME/XP/98SE and one specifically for XP, it was the one specifically for XP that worked for me).

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 4:02 am

MalcolmC wrote:I did download CPUID and that says that the cpu supports c n q (if I understand CPUID correctly). I can also get CPUID to reduce the clock speed, but then it doesn't ramp up again, even with CPUburn. I must admit that I haven't fully looked into CPUID (I only got it last night because it was suggested in this thread) and the help that comes with it is not that easy to understand (I will have to read the SPCR article this morning).

If CrystalCPUID can change the multiplier then the C'n'Q mechanism IS working. Don't change the CPU or motherboard. They are working. The problem must be the C'n'Q driver. Uninstall your current one and download and install it again from AMD's website.

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 4:03 am

MalcolmC · Post by **MalcolmC** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 5:34 am

Thanks QuietOC - I had already tried that, but decided it was worth another go, but still nothing no change in speed at all.

I read the instructions on SPCR regarding CPUID, and this now works. It may take a lot of time to get it working to its optimum state, but it does at least prove (as I type this) that I can get my clock speed to change.

Hmmmm, what to do next? It really bugs me that I cannot get C N Q to work, but then again, this CPUID does offer more underclocking, and undervolting flexibility. Decisions, decisions ...

Guess I need to check that this is fully stable.

BTW, with CPUID working, my AMD power monitor does show that I've got maximum power saving - perhaps that's obvious, but it does show that my system is capable of it, and that AMD recognises it, it just cannot do it alone.

MalcolmC · Post by **MalcolmC** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 6:11 am

Thanks jaganath.

I tried resetting BIOS to fail safe - funny thing is that it rebooted, my wireless kb & mouse wouldn't work, so I couldn't get into windows (need to pick a user), so I powered off with the button on the case, and then it wouldn't boot at all - just got fans etc starting, beeping, fans stopping and beeping continuing until I pulled the power cord out. Then did a BIOS reset, and it was ok, straight into windows, c n q not working (of course), rebooted, picked opitimum settings in BIOS, c n q still not working. Changed BIOS back to how I want it (no fancy changes just boot order, turn off onboard audio etc) back into windows, and c n q still not working. I am a bit concerned that picking fail safe in the BIOS should leave my computer in an unbootable condition - never had that happen before.

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 9:37 am

If CrystalCPUID can change the multiplier then the C'n'Q mechanism IS working. Don't change the CPU or motherboard. They are working.

C'n'Q clearly isn't working, at least how it is supposed to. I personally suspect the motherboard (especially with the BIOS fail-safe non-POST), and if it were me I would dump the MB and get a totally different one with no reported conflicts or glitches from a retailer who would allow me to take it back if I changed my mind (ie if it didn't work as expected). However I understand that you've laid out a considerable amount of money on this MB, and don't want to dump it; this being the case, you have to decide if the limited underclock and undervolt functionality that you have at the moment is sufficient for you to continue to use the board.

MalcolmC · Post by **MalcolmC** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 10:37 am

As it is (ie with CPUID working as a substitute for C N Q) I am fairly happy, but, I am starting to worry about the motherboard. I had a problem about 10 days ago, when it wouldn't boot, and went through the take one bit off at a time rigmarole, until I changed the graphic card and all was well again. I now wonder if it really was the graphic card (the behaviour at that time was exactly the same as it was after I did the fail safe BIOS change today.)

I know I've spent money on the motherboard, but it's cheaper to get a new one now, rather than have this one fail on me at an unexpected time in the future. It's always hard to relax with a concern over the stability of your system hanging over you.

I would imagine that if I got the Asus equivalent of this board (ie based on the same Via chipset) then I could just swap the components over and I wouldn't need to do a re-install.

Slaugh · Post by **Slaugh** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 11:25 pm

Did you try to flash your BIOS? I saw a few motherboards that had problems with Cool'n'Quiet and ACPI until the BIOS was flashed... Give it a try, but make sure you pick the CORRECT BIOS image file...

But before you try that, make sure that:

ACPI 2.0 support (if present) is enabled in your BIOS
Cool'n'Quiet is enabled in your BIOS
The power management in Windows is set to "minimal power management"
The lastest AMD driver is really installed

I know that you have already checked the above settings, but just double-check them to make sure... If everything is properly set for Cool'n'Quiet, the BIOS is flashed, and Cool'n'Quiet still doesn't work, try to apply the patch from AMDZone. Some users have reported that this patch fixed their problems with Cool'n'Quiet. Try to make your tests with one RAM only, and if Cool'n'Quiet is working fine, put the second RAM and see if Cool'n'Quiet is still working with more than one DIMM on your motherboard...

MalcolmC · Post by **MalcolmC** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 12:07 am

Want a laugh (it's either that or I start to cry ...)

I came to the conclusion that the safest thing to do was to change my motherboard, so I got an Asus A8V-E SE yesterday, and spent the evening swapping all the bits over.

So I booted up, and since it was the same chipset (that is the reason I went for that model), everything worked perfectly, all I had to do was install the driver for the different network adaptor that Asus use, and there I was, all up and running ..

First thing I checked was that C n Q was OK, and yes, there it was working just like it should do, no fuss, no drama, it just worked, so I am now certain, that there is a problem with my old (not very old, only around 4 weeks) Abit board - I am convinced all it needs is a BIOS update, but Abit have not released a new one since the board was introduced.

So, back to my Asus board - I only had one problem, and this was that when I booted, the boot screen told me that my fans were not running fast enough (hardly surprising for someone using SPCR) - press F1 to continue. The Asus website told me that a later BIOS would enable me to disable the warning, so I downloaded the BIOS, and using the Asus windows utility to update the BIOS, off I went, and the program hung - nothing, waited around 5 minutes, but stuck solid. There is a graphic on the program, which is supposed to show the progress, and because no movement had taken place, I was hopeful that no damage would be done.

So I rebooted, and .... nothing - nothing at all, not even an output to screen. I've done all the reset BIOS stuff, taken everything off the motherboard, Asus is supposed to have a crash free BIOS thing on the CD, so that it will automatically restore in such circumstances, but it doesn't (I'm sure that I need some kind of video output, to get this to work).

So it looks like my board is completely wrecked.

So near, yet so far (Sob sob).

What do I do now, buy a third board? (in fact if you really want to laugh at someone else's expense, I had originally purchased an Asus A8N32-SLi Deluxe for the basis of my new PC, and had done some initial testing, when SPCR published the data regarding that board's power consumption, so I thought there is no point using that for the basis of a silent PC, so put it in my spares cupboard - I will use it for an office computer).

So, it's three boards down, computer bits all over the floor in nearly room in my house, and despair setting in.

Perhaps I'll take up birdwatching or something ...

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 12:16 am

Commiserations, Mal. That is exactly the nightmare scenario which is why I haven't updated my BIOS even though it gets flagged up in Windows crash reports; at the moment the axiom "if it ain't broke, don't try and fix it" seems to apply.

What do I do now

This refers to a different Asus board, but maybe the same process would apply:

Geek.com User Reviews

Crash free bios is not really crash free.
Summary: (Edited December 18th by ajtenney) After I built my system I flashed the bios with the latest version(0802) and had stability problems so I flashed back to original version(0605) and the computer would not boot or enter bios config. I tried using the cd and a floppy to reflash the bios with out luck. I called Asus and they said I successfully crashed the "crash free bios". They promptly sent me a new bios chip. I am still using bios version 0605 and everything is very stable.

Cool n quiet not working

Cool n quiet not working

Re: Cool n quiet not working