Cool n Quiet on Win Vista

[ira176]

I have an MSI K9A Platinum mobo, win vista home premium 32 bit along with an X2 5200+ processor. In the BIOS, I have selected enable cool n quiet, however it is not working when vista loads up. I have set the power feature to power saver, still cool n quiet does not appear to work. When I had XP media center originally installed, cool n quiet worked. Any comments, suggestions or ideas would be appreciated.

 

[jaywalker256]

you will have to install the AMD cool n' quiet driver in order for it to work.

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_9706,00.html

its on that page, near the bottom. its called "AMD Athlon™ 64/FX Processor Driver Version 1.3.2.0053 for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 (x86 and x64)"

 

[thuan]

Weird, it's working out of the box over here with Vista 32 bit no need any driver as Vista has it already. I'm on a Abit NF2-M2S though.

 

[DominionSeraph]

I'm also using a 5200+ on a Vista Home Premium upgrade from XP media center, and it's working for me. What are you using to detect whether it's working? I use either CPU-Z or AMD's Power Monitor. I like AMD's a little better because it loads quicker and has a bar that shows what power savings level I'm at. But with either, @ idle you should be reading 1000MHz @ 1.1V under either Balanced or Power Saver plans.

One thing that can affect it is the Minimum Processor State under "Processor Power Management" in the advanded settings in Power Options. (Control Panel -> Power Options -> Change Plan Settings -> Change Advanced Power Settings -> Processor Power Management -> Minimum Power State -> Setting. [default setting 5%]) Here's how this setting interacts with Cool 'n Quiet on a 5200+:

From 0-68%, the processor idles at 1000mhz/1.10v

69-75%, it idles at 1800mhz/1.15v

76-83%, 2000mhz/1.2v

84-91%, 2200mhz/1.25v

92-99%, 2400mhz/1.30v

100%, 2600mhz/1.35v <--- so no Cool 'n Quiet. (which is why you should check this, just in case it somehow got changed from the default)


(BTW, the default MAXIMUM processor state under the "Power Saver" plan is 50% -- which is no good. With Cool 'n Quiet enabled, the processor NEVER leaves 1000mhz!!)

you will have to install the AMD cool n' quiet driver in order for it to work.

No, Vista has native support.

 

[ira176]

I'm also using a 5200+ on a Vista Home Premium upgrade from XP media center, and it's working for me. What are you using to detect whether it's working? I use either CPU-Z or AMD's Power Monitor. I like AMD's a little better because it loads quicker and has a bar that shows what power savings level I'm at. But with either, @ idle you should be reading 1000MHz @ 1.1V under either Balanced or Power Saver plans.

One thing that can affect it is the Minimum Processor State under "Processor Power Management" in the advanded settings in Power Options. (Control Panel -> Power Options -> Change Plan Settings -> Change Advanced Power Settings -> Processor Power Management -> Minimum Power State -> Setting. [default setting 5%]) Here's how this setting interacts with Cool 'n Quiet on a 5200+:

From 0-68%, the processor idles at 1000mhz/1.10v

69-75%, it idles at 1800mhz/1.15v

76-83%, 2000mhz/1.2v

84-91%, 2200mhz/1.25v

92-99%, 2400mhz/1.30v

100%, 2600mhz/1.35v <--- so no Cool 'n Quiet. (which is why you should check this, just in case it somehow got changed from the default)


(BTW, the default MAXIMUM processor state under the "Power Saver" plan is 50% -- which is no good. With Cool 'n Quiet enabled, the processor NEVER leaves 1000mhz!!)



No, Vista has native support.

I have tried both CPU-Z and the AMD Power Monitor. I still am getting full speed and power readings on my cpu. I also looked at changing the power settings in the control panel and followed what you posted. I can't find the section for processor power management under the change advanced settings. The only options I have under the Advanced settings tab are: Additional Settings, Hard Disk, Wireless Adapter Settings, Sleep, USB Settings, Power Buttons and Lid, PCI Express, Search and Indexing, Display, Multimedia Settings, and ATI Graphics Power Settings.

 

[DominionSeraph]

From reading around the web, it seems that when that power option disappears it's a bios issue.

One other thing to check:

http://forums.legitreviews.com/about8138.html

· Do NOT manually set the CPU frequency or multiplier in the BIOS. Doing so will lock the processor speed and disable C’n’Q functionality

 

[ira176]

From reading around the web, it seems that when that power option disappears it's a bios issue.

One other thing to check:

http://forums.legitreviews.com/about8138.html

· Do NOT manually set the CPU frequency or multiplier in the BIOS. Doing so will lock the processor speed and disable C’n’Q functionality

Dominion, that may be my problem. I did set some items up manually in the BIOS, a few months ago, such as Ram timings. I'll check it out, and see what happens.

 

[ira176]

I checked out my BIOS settings and reset manual ram timings. The CPU was already running as auto configured. I still cannot get cool n quiet to work. I have since sent an e-mail to AMD to see if there is something they recommend. I will also check with MSI to see if there is something they can help me with.

 

[cbxbiker61]

Make sure you are using the latest BIOS for your motherboard. The BIOS has to properly identify the processor as CNQ capable. Also some BIOS's allow you to disable ACPI, it must be enabled.

In a nutshell the OS reads the ACPI info from the BIOS. If the BIOS doesn't supply proper ACPI info it doesn't work. At that point the OS (going through the CNQ driver) tells the CPU when to change power states.

 

[ira176]

Make sure you are using the latest BIOS for your motherboard. The BIOS has to properly identify the processor as CNQ capable. Also some BIOS's allow you to disable ACPI, it must be enabled.

In a nutshell the OS reads the ACPI info from the BIOS. If the BIOS doesn't supply proper ACPI info it doesn't work. At that point the OS (going through the CNQ driver) tells the CPU when to change power states.

The ACPI is enabled, and so is CNQ.
I am unable to update to the latest BIOS because MSI's live update crashes when trying to update the BIOS through windows. I can't update the BIOS through DOS, because I don't have a floppy.

 

[Guest]

Download the BIOS from MSI, extract the Flash program and BIOS from the ZIP file, using Nero (or program of choice) create a bootable CD and copy the 2 extracted files to it and burn off.

Reboot your PC and boot off the CD and flash away.

 

[ira176]

I was able to make the bootable CD with the two files on it, however after that, I'm really stumped. I get a Dr.Dos prompt at boot up, and I can see the two files when I type DIR. I don't know what to do from there. I can't seem to figure out how to execute the firmware upgrade program. MSI's instructions aren't too insightful either.

MSI advised me to get a floppy drive and do the DOS firmware upgrade. MSI advised that they don't have Vista compatible Live Update software yet, so there won't be any in windows updates to BIOS firmware anytime soon.

 

[Guest]

When you at the DOS Promt, you then type:

afud408 a7280ams.170

afud408 is the Flash program and a7280ams.170 is the BIOS you want to upgrade to (I'm assuming you grabbed the latest version.

 

[ira176]

Septic, I will give this a try and get let you know how it goes.

 

[ira176]

When you at the DOS Promt, you then type:

afud408 a7280ams.170

afud408 is the Flash program and a7280ams.170 is the BIOS you want to upgrade to (I'm assuming you grabbed the latest version.

Septic, Thanks for all of your help, mark this problem resolved!! I rebooted my system with the CD, and then I went to the DOS prompt, changed to D:\ (which is my CD drive) and entered afud408.exe a7280ams.170, and the BIOS flashed properly. I then entered into windows, and CnQ was working just right.

 

[Guest]

Good to hear it's all working.