Does your laptop get loud and slow down too much, no matter if I turn off the coil whine setting?
Does your laptop get loud and slow down too much, no matter if I turn off the coil whine setting?
Recently I had a problem with my laptop: an annoying coil whine sound popped up suddenly, and a couple of days later, the power got throttled really hard. I am pretty sure this isn't about audio speakers or overheating. The only reason I think it's related to the power is because of very low electricity usage, especially when using things heavily like gaming (sometimes just starting a game makes the noise louder and drops CPU speed even lower, reaching values around 0.8-1.0 MHz). It also shows up as red warnings in ThrottleStop saying "BD PRO" and "POWER," which are gone after turning off BD Prochot in ThrottleStop, but the POWER warning keeps coming back on load. These patterns happen over and over: - the coil whine sound happens even when I turn the laptop off completely, only stopping if I unplug the charger; - the noise starts about 1 to 2 seconds after I plug it into the power source; - bigger spikes in power use make the noise louder (I call these spikes because they happen randomly at different times), and the higher the CPU frequency, the louder the noise, especially when Task Manager shows high CPU usage during load (this part isn't always true but happens most of the time); - ThrottleStop warnings for PL1 and PL2 stay red; - I think the sound is linked to Turbo Boost (the faster it gets, the noisier it becomes), since the laptop's turbo was on right away when it turned on, using 3.0-3.2 MHz even while idle (a screenshot shows a temperature peak of 84C during startup); - after using the laptop for a long time, the noise got quieter; by the time I wrote this post, the noise is almost gone, and there are no red warnings in ThrottleStop stress tests, but they do happen usually; - before my problem, both the laptop and power supply made that whine sound all the time but very quietly; - the only thing I can think about causing it right now is that the CPU fan was replaced and thermal paste swapped a while ago with a 2-3 week period when everything worked fine and had no coil whine. I've tried changing lots of ThrottleStop settings based on guides from people who had similar issues, but I only managed to fix the red POWER warning sometimes under load and changing Turbo limits didn't help much.
@michaelreus In the TPL window check the MMIO Lock box. https://imgur.com/bgtKn2J Also look at the Speed Shift box in the TPL window and change it. Make sure Speed Shift Min is 8 and make sure Speed Shift Max is 35. Do not click on either of those boxes that say Clamp. In the FIVR window, set IccMax for both the core and the cache to 255.75. This number isn't needed because setting it too high tells the CPU to ignore any rules about speed limits. Turn on the Log File option and run a game or do some other work for fifteen minutes. When you are done, close ThrottleStop so it can save your log file correctly. Copy that log file data to www.pastebin.com and paste a link here so I can check how your computer is running right now. The log should be saved in the folder called ThrottleStop / Logs on your computer. You could also try undervolting your CPU by changing the core and cache numbers to negative values like -50 mV. Do all those other changes first to see where you are before trying anything else about cooling. Toggle the C1E box on the main screen to turn it on or off sometimes this helps stop coil whine if something is wrong with your CPU. On the main ThrottleStop screen, check the Speed Shift EPP box and find where it says 128. Click on that number and type in a new value like 84. This lets the CPU slow down when you aren't using lots of power. A setting of zero makes sure the CPU goes full speed no matter what happens. What kind of thermal paste was used? Some pastes work well if they go direct to mobile CPUs but they might fail after just two weeks if not done right. Look in the Options window for the PROCHOT Offset setting. If you do not see a lock icon near this setting, change that number to five or less. The manufacturer of your laptop has set the thermal throttling temperature way too low. The Intel default is zero but your laptop is set to 12 like yours.
Thanks for your reply. Some of your advice was very helpful. I can't pinpoint exactly which setting caused the changes because there are many options involved, so I'll give credit to everyone who suggested them. After making all those settings (except undervolt since it wasn't really needed), the power blinking sign is gone. Also, the red PL1 and PL2 limits with that loud scratchy noise sound much quieter now. There are a few exceptions, but at least they aren't as frequent as before. I bumped the maximum voltage up to about 45 volts instead of the usual 20W setting. The noise is still there, though not quite as loud. At this point, I think it's never really gone forever. But for sure, it's less loud when the system is under heavy load, and it doesn't slow down (throttle) anymore when idle at frequencies between 0.8 and 1.2 MHz. The only thing I'm still wondering about is why the frequency seems stuck around 2.6 MHz during high load when there isn't an option to change the multiplier in ThrottleStop. If that's not a misunderstanding, before heavy load it was closer to 2.7 or 2.8 MHz (which matches the processor base speed of roughly 2.6 MHz). Could you tell me which specific option is locking this frequency? Regarding thermal paste, I used an MX4 before and it felt fine for years, but now you might be right that it's a bit old—like sitting on a shelf for over three years—and maybe it could be the issue. https://pastebin.com/FRDTHi5W - ThrottleStop log file (nothing really interesting here, just confirming there was no power throttling and voltage is normal).