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P3-800 and cpu idle

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  • #1

    P3-800 and cpu idle

    I know this sounds silly but I have a new laptop running win2k with a (I believe non mobile version) p3-800. Is there a way of reducing the amount of power the cpu uses so that I can extend battery life. I was thinking of using cpu idle or something similar. Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas on this matter.
    ps , the laptop is an ASUS (hi-grade) Notino 3400.


    regards MD
    Interests include:
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  • #2
    Win2k idle

    Win2k already uses minimum power while idle by executing the HLT (halt) instruction. (this powers down the cpu until the next interrupt is received), so any utilities like cpu idle do nothing. Only older windows operating systems like win-95 use a spin-loop to idling and can benifet from cpu idle.
    80% of people think I should be in a Mental Institute

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    • #3
      According to ASUS's german website they've disabled the HLT instruction on some of their motherboards because of the extreme power fluctuations it causes. ASUS germany's tech site talks about it.

      If you don't understand German you can use http://world.altavista.com/ like I did to translate.

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      • #4
        Umm, this is a laptop, I doubt that they would have disabled the HLT instruction on it. The motherboards ASUS were talking about were standard motherboards.

        The gist is that the hlt instrution causes power consumption to rapidly fluctuate, causing poorly designed (and probably very cheap) power supplies to stop working correctly, causing a range of failures.

        Since laptops do not use Cheap pc case power supplies, I imagine that ASUS would not disable the HLT instrution.

        BTW, how do you disable the HLT instruction. It is an internal CPU command, not a motherboard function
        80% of people think I should be in a Mental Institute

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        • #5
          Thanks for your input.
          Although I have not tested the system properly with Win2k (it only arrived a few days ago and came with ME), I will give it a run tonight and see how long it lasts.

          regards MD
          Interests include:
          Computing, Reading, Pubs, Restuarants, Pubs, Curries, More Pubs and more Curries

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          • #6
            It's not really something to be considered internal. It's an opcode, like anything else. Why would you think that W2K (or other OS/software) could send a HLT, but not the chipset?

            There's already a way you can do it with WPCREDIT on a KT133. It cuts performance it seems, and things act up a little (looks like AMD or VIA didn't get something right). However, my CPU temp drops 10deg C.
            Gigabyte P35-DS3L with a Q6600, 2GB Kingston HyperX (after *3* bad pairs of Crucial Ballistix 1066), Galaxy 8800GT 512MB, SB X-Fi, some drives, and a Dell 2005fpw. Running WinXP.

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            • #7
              Down down states

              No, I am pretty sure you can't stop Win2k issuing a HLT to the CPU. The motherboard may be able to ignore going into a low power state (thus reducing the power fluctuations it causes), but it cannot be disabled outright.

              Looking through the linux source code (at the idle Loop for the i386), it looks like it will call "HLT" if:

              1) it is detected as working
              2) you didn't disable it in the kernel command line
              3) ACPI doesn't offer anything better.

              I imagine win2k would do the same tests as linux.

              What you may be talking about (with wpcredit) is an idle mechanism that causes a more meaningful powerdown (not only cpu) than "HLT", via ACPI. It would probably slow the computer down somewhat due to the time needed to repower (and reinitalize) everything. Considering there are at least 20 interrupts per second (if not more) from the timer, it means the end result is excasserbated, as the CPU/motherboard must power up every 20th of a second to handle the interrupt.
              80% of people think I should be in a Mental Institute

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              • #8
                I don't know the Athlon specs, but the chipset certainly should be able to deconfigure the CPU, the power-down state may be programmable.
                Gigabyte P35-DS3L with a Q6600, 2GB Kingston HyperX (after *3* bad pairs of Crucial Ballistix 1066), Galaxy 8800GT 512MB, SB X-Fi, some drives, and a Dell 2005fpw. Running WinXP.

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                • #9
                  As far as stopping the HLT command, I remember someone saying that if you disable ACPI, win2k won't ever idle. I run without ACPI and I have never noticed my comp idle'ing, but then again, when I'm not using it I'm usually not there to look. Anyone know if there is any truth to this?

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                  • #10
                    With Win98 disabling ACPI stops the automatic HLT on idle. I have to disable ACPI just to get my CUBX to o/c my Celeron 533A to 800. If I run with ACPI the system will lock the instant Windoze finishes booting and tries to idle. If I run a CPU cooling program it'll lock the computer too. Problem is the CUBX has a voltage issue with the old Celeron 2's, and won't even post with the voltage over 1.6v, which is where I have mine at now. Even at 1.6v it has trouble restarting, often I'll have to hit the reset button several times to get it to reboot. I really need to get a better CPU...

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