SpeedStep problem - lowers CPU clock while playing (XPS M1710)

I have a Dell XPS M1710 Laptop with a Intel CoreDuo T2600 2,16GHz cpu, 2GB DDR2 and NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GTX 512MB. I'm running Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 and all updates installed. I'm using the newest BIOS and newest drivers for the chipset, video card and so on. I'm using Dell's QuickSet program and the "Best Performance" profile, and I've used that already when it DID work in the past.

Basically the problem I have is after few minutes of gaming SpeedStep kicks in and lowers my cpu clock to 1/1,3/1,6GHz, therefore reducing my fps in the game greatly. I had this same problem once before few months ago although I didn't realize back then it was SpeedStep, and it somehow fixed itself over time. So anyways, last week the problem came back (don't think I did any changes in settings or installed anything new to cause it), I've tried reformatting (like I did when I had this problem for the first time) and it didn't help. I've tried forcing the CPU clock to 2,16GHz with SpeedSwitchXP but that didn't work either. I haven't tried disabling SpeedStep from BIOS (not sure if it would lock the CPU clock at 1GHz or 2,16GHz then) but I would rather get it to work normally like it has been so far other than these two times.

Any ideas on how to fix this would be greatly appreciated.

 

Completely uninstall QuickSet and install the Microsoft Intellitype keyboard drivers (To get the on-screen sound display), I8kFanGui for fan/temperature control, and RMClock + flipfire's undervolting thread (Hardware forum) to control your clock throttling. Gives you far more control over what's going on in your system.

 

Your cpu could be overheating causing it to thermally downclock. Could you post your idle and load temps using HWmonitor?

I suggest you clean your fans out specially if you havent done so in the last 6 months. This is usually the culprit

 

Played for about 5-10mins and took a SS from HWmonitor (that was running in the back), here.

The temperatures indeed seem fairly high so I guess that could be the cause of it, I have never cleaned out my fans on the laptop and quite frankly I'm not so sure how I should do it to make sure they get cleaned?

 

Your temps seem to be in range, not exactly overheating.

Have a read of this thread of another M1710 user: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=247727

 

I read through the thread and figured I'd give cleaning a try at some point, but then I started cleaning my room today and figured why not vacuum the air intakes and the air exhausts which I did, as well as vacuuming all the other ventilation holes in the bottom of the laptop, and already the results of that were HUGE. here is the SS of HWMonitor after ~5min of playing and (I changed drivers for video card cause I was unable to get 100Hz to work in Windows so that's why I guess there's no more GPU temps) and as you can see the temperatures dropped big time. There is no doubt when I have time I will open up the laptop and clean it properly cause I can only imagine how much more dust there will be. For now, it seems like my problem is fixed but if I still notice it after more gaming I'll get back here. Also, my laptop is a LOT quieter like it used to be, lately I didn't even wanna leave it on for the night even if I had torrents to download cause it was so noisy, now it's really silent again.

edit: Here's another SS after ~30min of gaming, 1 hour of downloading a torrent and listening to music etc, still really big different to the temps before.

 

Neither one of those HWMonitor screenshots in your last post include the GPU temperatures. I hope you didn't damage something by vacuuming it.

 

As I said I changed my video card drivers before taking the new SS, it showed the GPU temp's before that even after vacuuming -- which I only did to the air exhausts and intakes. I've been playing a lot today and everything has worked GREAT, no more fps problems due to SpeedStep or anything else and the computer is again really silent like it used to be in the past.

 

Thats good to hear.

Vacumming isnt really a bad idea, though its not the best way to clean your fans either. You might wanna consider learning how to open your notebook yourself and using a can of compressed air and a toothbrush.

 

Yeah I'm definitely trying to get some compressed air and check out the M1710 disassembly guides from Dell site to clean everything 100%, what should I use the toothbrush for though? Mobo etc?

 

Use the toothbrush to remove big clumps of dust. Use the compressed air for the hard to reach spots and a final clean.