And there was darkness

Kees · 2006-09-13, 16:27

My laptop at home has been showing some kind of "bad behaviour" which I tend to contribute to a combination of overheating and Prime95. At arbitrary moments while Prime95 is running all goes suddenly black: computer has shut itself off.
Normally my OS (Windows XP) would insult me heavily for this kind of thing, but no, it does not mind. I have tried several times to let this happen with Prime95 switched off, but then it is running fine. Another problem seems to be the speed of the computer: its specifics

Intel Celeron 2.4 GHz
256 MB Ram
L1 Cache 8 KB
L2 Cache 128 KB

The benchmark page says that the average iteration time should be around 0.0430 but my machine is usually showing an average of around 0.130. Three times slower.

I am no computerexpert at all, but I can follow explanations. Does anybody have some suggestions to solve these problems ?

Thanks a lot in advance,

Kees

PhilF · 2006-09-13, 16:37

You might have looked at something wrong on the benchmarks page. Depending on the size of the exponent you are testing, your iteration time could be about right for a Celeron with only 128K cache.

Your other problem does seem to be related to heat. Possibly a fan or heatsink clogged with dust. That is a quite common problem. If excessive heat is also causing your CPU to "throttle" in order to protect itself, then it could also explain the speed issue.

Kees · 2006-09-13, 17:18

I looked indeed at 256 KB cache L2 in stead of 128, however I am doublechecking a number around 16M so, there still seems to be a speed problem.
How to dedust a fan or heatsink yourself on a laptop ? Again, can do some things but am not an engineer,

thanks,

Kees

axn · 2006-09-13, 17:28

Blowing really hard into the air vent is a good place to start

Watch out for the sudden burst of dust.

Kees · 2006-09-14, 17:12

Blown hard into it, carefully aspirated dust but to no avail.

Kees · 2006-09-28, 09:15

Throttling helps though,

still had crashes with Throttle=5
but with Throttle=15 it is running (though slowness remains)

2006-09-13, 16:27	#1
Kees Dec 2005 2²×7² Posts	And there was darkness My laptop at home has been showing some kind of "bad behaviour" which I tend to contribute to a combination of overheating and Prime95. At arbitrary moments while Prime95 is running all goes suddenly black: computer has shut itself off. Normally my OS (Windows XP) would insult me heavily for this kind of thing, but no, it does not mind. I have tried several times to let this happen with Prime95 switched off, but then it is running fine. Another problem seems to be the speed of the computer: its specifics Intel Celeron 2.4 GHz 256 MB Ram L1 Cache 8 KB L2 Cache 128 KB The benchmark page says that the average iteration time should be around 0.0430 but my machine is usually showing an average of around 0.130. Three times slower. I am no computerexpert at all, but I can follow explanations. Does anybody have some suggestions to solve these problems ? Thanks a lot in advance, Kees

2006-09-13, 16:37	#2
PhilF Feb 2005 Colorado 2×7×47 Posts	You might have looked at something wrong on the benchmarks page. Depending on the size of the exponent you are testing, your iteration time could be about right for a Celeron with only 128K cache. Your other problem does seem to be related to heat. Possibly a fan or heatsink clogged with dust. That is a quite common problem. If excessive heat is also causing your CPU to "throttle" in order to protect itself, then it could also explain the speed issue. Last fiddled with by PhilF on 2006-09-13 at 16:39

2006-09-13, 17:18	#3
Kees Dec 2005 2²×7² Posts	I looked indeed at 256 KB cache L2 in stead of 128, however I am doublechecking a number around 16M so, there still seems to be a speed problem. How to dedust a fan or heatsink yourself on a laptop ? Again, can do some things but am not an engineer, thanks, Kees

2006-09-13, 17:28	#4
axn Jun 2003 5,087 Posts	Blowing really hard into the air vent is a good place to start Watch out for the sudden burst of dust.

2006-09-14, 17:12	#5
Kees Dec 2005 2²·7² Posts	Blown hard into it, carefully aspirated dust but to no avail.

2006-09-28, 09:15	#6
Kees Dec 2005 2²·7² Posts	Throttling helps though, still had crashes with Throttle=5 but with Throttle=15 it is running (though slowness remains)