Really high CPU temp (100 C) AMD A6-4400M

[jkppkj]

I am using a Samsung Series 3 Laptop (np365-e5c-so3us.

It has an AMD A6-4400M (2.7 GHz, dual core) APU with Radeon Graphics (7520G). 4GB DDR3 (1600MhZ). Running Windows 8.1. BIOS is American MegaTrends PO3ABF (10/23/12)

I've always had intermittent problems with it running slow and hot on occasion, typically while multitasking with R, ArcGIS, and MSOffice. For those not familiar, R is a programming language / statistics & graphics environment that tends to push the CPU and ArcGIS is a mapping software that pushes the GPU. While multitasking with ArcGIS and R and not always keeping the laptop on a stand or flat surface, a little heat never seemed to be too big of an issue and I would just have to make sure to get on a flat surface, give the machine a little time to cool off and try to work with only one program at a time for a bit.

Now the CPU heats up to 100 degrees C immediately according to HWMonitor and stays between 90-105 C even if it sits idle on a hard flat surface for 30 minutes. On boot Windows seems to now default to battery saver for the power management and the CPU clocks at 900 MHz

The fan runs quiet for the most part but will kick on when running something processor intense and is accompanied by a noticeable uptick in temp to the touch on the case where the CPU is. I've reseated the heatsink with fresh thermal paste and there were no airflow / dust problems to speak of, but I blasted air through the fins of the heat sink in any case. It seems to me that the machine is handling heat fairly well as the case cools to the touch within a minute or two of the fan kicking on so long as the computer is left at idle.

I'm also pretty certain that the CPU transferring heat efficiently to the heatsink. I'm 99.999% sure that I applied the paste properly and reseated the heatsink correctly as well, I've done this multiple times on multiple laptops and desktops and not had problems before. The air coming out of the case is also warm as you'd expect coming out of the case.

There are no options in the BIOS to see what the temp is, or to enable/diable AMD's PowerNow! I reset the power management options in control panel to defaults and have run under all available power management plans. From Catalyst Control Center I verified that the processor settings allowed the CPU to clock from 1.4 GHz to 2.7GHz - I believe this is reflected in the range of multipliers reported by CPU-Z (14-32) ?? not sure why it goes to 32 instead of 27??

The processor always runs at 900 MHz now - multiplier is 9.

I'm at a loss for what to try now. Maybe unseat the APU and inspect it and the socket?

Of course, I'm just past warranty date in any case so talking with Samsung is not an option. There are no drivers available for download on Samsung's product page for my model. AMD's mobility driver verification tool says that the version of my graphics adapter is not supported - and I can seem to find drivers for this APU.

Any suggestions????

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[neon neophyte]

if youve done everything right the only thing i can think of is a broken sensor. i have no solution.

 

[jkppkj]

Found and A6-4400M on Ebay for $5, browsing in a single tab with nothing else running has now become a "CPU-intense" activity that causes the temp to spike.

Laptop is going to sit for a week while part is shipping, then I'll pop in the new CPU. If it works, great; if not, I'm feeling ready to go Office Space on this machine, it's been the worst laptop I've ever owned.

I'm curious though, if the GPU is integrated does that mean it's physically on the same chip as the processor that gets set into the socket? If that is the case, how is it possible for there to be a 40 deg C difference in temp between the two?

UPDATE:

After installing the new CPU (glad it was only $5) the same symptoms existed, a little lower on temp readings, but still at least 85 C.

Found a thread on here that suggested that Samsung's SW update software was the culprit for a similar problem - it seems the software was throttling the CPU down to 900MHz - this may be a solution for others, but didn't work for me. There are a few threads with the clock stuck at 1.35GHz as well, and I previously had this problem; downloading the driver from AMD fixed this for me and some others.

Ultimately a Windows 8 Refresh did the trick for me, the CPU is plugging away at 2.7 to 3.2 GHz, HWiNFO 64 gives a core and package temp for the APU. The package still sits in the 90-100 C range but the core is staying around 50 C. Not sure if I should be worried about the package temp, the system has always been stable and seems to cool properly; I think there just seem to be a number of driver and software issues. Maybe due to being relatively early in the Win8 laptops on the market?

 

[neon neophyte]

yes, the gpu is on the same die. a faulty sensor would have the effects you are describing

 

[jkppkj]

Thanks neophyte,

I'm also guessing a faulty sensor can't be replaced, and that there is no way to override it so that the CPU doesn't clock down to such a low multiplier?

 

[neon neophyte]

not as far as i know but i dont know much about it