Help. Enable AMD Cool 'n' Quiet on a very hot running SR1550NX Athlon 64.

[Chris_Coleman]

The Athlon 64 (Newcastle.. socket 754, 3400+) processor in this SR1550NX is stuck at x12 multiplier, 2.4 GHz, and running at full speed, a hot 50-55C, 89 Watts, even when fully idle CPU usage.

Need to enable the Cool 'n' Quiet feature, to save some power, save the planet, get this CPU down to 30C, 45W, 800 Mhz.

OS: Windows 7 x64

AMD support site doesn't have a processor driver for the Athlon 64 on Windows 7/Vista x64... only for older operating systems. 

AMD implies that Windows 7 already comes with the Athlon 64 processor driver and will control Cool 'n' Quiet if it's enabled in the BIOS and is set to Max Power Saving in the Power Options control panel.

The Power Options control panel (in Windows 7) is missing the entry for speed control of the processor, it only has the fan control (active or passive) option.  I assume this means Power Options has detected that Cool 'n' Quiet is disabled at the BIOS level, so it doesn't offer the option to control it.

BIOS update available to enable speedstepping!??!?!

Help!

[old_geekster]

Chris, while the temps that you mention are a bit high, they are not close to max temps for the 3400+.  Here is a chart that shows the max temp for the 3400+ as 70C.  Since the computer is 5 years old and originally came with XP SP2, I don't believe that HP will develop a BIOS update for Win7 for this computer.

[Chris_Coleman]

thanks for the quick reply old_geekster,

While the temps may be in range, it's not that alone. 

The system runs unacceptably Hot and Loud, but it was sold on its Cool n Quiet feature.. which is deactivated in BIOS ?!

The Athon 64 has the Cool n Quiet feature.  Flip a bit in the processor feature register, and you activate CnQ.

With the Cool n Quiet disabled, the cpu fan makes the computer sound like a leaf blower, and wastes money carelessly on electric.

A message from ASUS support:

"Dear Friend :

Thank you for contacting ASUS Customer Service.

My name is ZYC, and I would be assisting you today.

Sir, the Vista itself have built in AMD K8 CPU driver,
you don't need install it manually.
In fact there is no AMD K8 CPU driver for Vista can be downloaded at all.
I have tested with a socket 939 cpu,
when power management was set to the 1st option or 2nd option,
cpu will work at CNQ mode.
But on the 3rd option ( high performance), CPU will work at full speed."

however.. on the 1st or 2nd option, my Compaq Presario SR1550NX is still running at full clock speed, 12x multiplier (2400 MHz)... loud and hot !

Some assistance getting CnQ to work on this Presario system with the ASUS K8S-LA (Salmon) motherboard, would be a great help.