Virtual PC running on my VAIO
Sony disables virtualization on all it’s laptops. It does not provide a method to turn it back on, however, there is a workaround. After a bit of googling, I came across this excellent article. Mostly, I used the steps from this guide, though I did a few things differently. As I have Windows 7 x64, the virtual floppy method does not work, so I found my own copy of the 98SE boot floppy files. Also, the AR41M is not listed, but I checked my BIOS version, and the register to change is 027F, from 0000 to 0001. It worked great! Here’s a rundown of what I did:
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In Bits
After installing Windows 7 Pro on my sister’s Dell D820, it started randomly restarting. The fans would power up to full speed for a few seconds, the screen would flash and then the whole thing would just power off, without restarting. This was obviously a heat problem, so I downloaded the great tool (which needs a better name) i8kfanGUI, which allowed me to monitor the temperatures of the CPU and the GPU. The GPU was obviously the problem, it was idling at 70°C, while the CPU seemed ok, idling at around 45°C. When I forced the fans to full power, the GPU temp didn’t come down.
Having identified the problem, I searched the internet for a bit, and found the excellent Dell Lattitude D820 Service Manual for the D820. This document is excellent, and the fact that Dell make these would make me buy a Dell in future, over other manufacturers, as this kind of information is priceless once the machine is out of warranty.
Culprit!
At this stage, I stripped down just enough to see the GPU and cooling array, which only required taking off the keyboard to have a peek. I shone a light from one side of the GPU, and could see the light shining through, there was a gap between the heatsink and the chip! The motherboard had been replaced due to faulty sound a few months ago, and clearly the engineer didn’t replace the heatsink correctly. The problem had only become apparent now, with Windows 7′s higher graphics usage.
Solved!
I went out and bought some Thermal Grease, and set about stripping down the laptop. Getting to the cooling array involves completely dismantling the computer, and I did get a fair amount of James May style satisfaction from having the entire thing laid out, screw by screw on the table in front of me. Once I got the cooling array out, the problem was even more apparent. Both of the other chips under it had (different!) grease applied, and the plate for the GPU was bare. I applied a liberal amount of grease and screwed it back up. Opening i8kfanGUI again showed the GPU idling at about 50°C, and responding to the fan – a great improvement!
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