Plz help! Computer throttles down to 800Mhz and STAYs there

Please help!
I have a Studio 1555
I have a core 2 duo processor with 2.4ghz each core.


But for some reason speedstep works correctly and then randomly out of the blue it will throttle down to around 800Mhz and just STAY there, no matter what settings I've put, no matter if it's plugged in or not and no matter if I NEED more power.

It sucks. I've tried everything, why is it doing this?

 

maybe due to high temps.Check temps inside using a software like everest and if they r above normal then clean ur heatsink and apply new strip of thermal paste and see if it works.
have u checked that ur fan is working or not ?

 

Well the fan works that is for sure
but I would have no idea how to clean my heatsink or apply new strip of thermal paste even if that's not voiding the warranty

it should just work though this isn't waht I paid for. I CANT BELIEVE it's doing this crap. The first dell I bought 5-6 years ago had this same problem, drove me crazy for two years.

 

Studio 1555

Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz

4GB ram

Okay here's the deal. With CPU-Z I measure my CPU speed. For a while, speedstep works fine. It will go up as I need more speed etc. Everything is fast and quick. Then sometimes, randomly (maybe triggered by video??), it will throttle down to like 797.7MHz and STAY there. As in never ever ever goes higher EVEN when I need more CPU power. I hate speedstep, I hate it so much. I hate throttling! It stays at 800Mhz no matter WHAT settings I have in advanced power settings or catalyst center. I've tried everything. If there is an overheating problem I just don't get why the fans aren't turned on to full speed. I KNOW they work and I KNOW they have a higher speed because when I installed the latest bios they got turned on to HIGH and it was definitely much louder than normal.

I first noticed this problem after installing Windows 7 a few months back. Thought maybe it was a bad install so I reinstalled and clean and fresh and same problem. I didn't realize it might be a throttle problem until doing more research on power management in advanced power options. Again, my settings obviously don't matter. I can't believe I'm dealing with this kind of problem on a Dell again. It's the same type of problem I had with a dell laptop 5 years ago. It was hell for 2 years!

It seems like restarting will reset the laptop for this problem. Sooner or later it will go back to the way it was (throttled). Funny though, I just tried turning Speedstep off in the latest bios (A11), it is now at 1600MHz (which seems like the middle of the three CPU speeds I've noticed. The other being 2.4Ghz like it SHOULD be)

 

u still didn't gave me the temps.
anyway are u using the windows in high performanc mode or not ?
also the fans will not work at full speed when system cooling policy is set to passive.so just chk whether u have 'active' colling policy or 'passive' one in advanced power options.

 

Use the monitoring tab of RMclock to show both CPU speed and temperature.

Also make sure that Windows isn't dropping into a power saving mode. I always used balanced performance which means that the CPU should vary its speed depending on the workload.

John

 

using rmclock, u can also lock ur cpu to the higherst multiplier, skipping speedstep altogether.

 

RMClock works but you will need to do some registry modifications so it can properly support a 45nm P8600. If you need to know more about this then read these posts:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=6130270&postcount=4855
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=235824&page=488

or contact me and I'll help you out.

The only problem is that if you use RMClock and lock your CPU to one speed, you'll lose out on the advantages of a cooler running CPU at idle.

A simpler solution is to use ThrottleStop. It supports the 0.5 half multipliers in the newer 45nm Core 2 CPUs like your P8600 and you don't have to lock your laptop to one speed to fix this issue. It has a monitoring panel built in and a monitoring mode so you can see exactly what your CPU is up to before making any changes. A couple of quick mouse clicks and your throttling troubles will be greatly reduced if not eliminated.

ThrottleStop 2.00
http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/3/3/1794507/ThrottleStop.zip

 

they're between 50-60 degrees C. Fan seems to never go on high.
This is absolutely just some type of malfunction. It will not go higher than 800mhz once this sets in. Like I said I tried everything in power management. They're set on active.

Ok thanks for all the help everyone. I'm so irritated by this. This exact same thing happened to me for TWO years with my first laptop and it was HELL.
Going to try throttlestop right now and if that doesn't work then the other one.

 

OMG THANK YOU! I put Throttlestop on and it immediately went back to the correct speed.

I'm SO upset I have to do this at all but at least I won't have to restart everytime this crap happens. Is there a permanent fix? Or even a reason why it does this?

Is using throttlestop dangerous at all?

Like will it keep the CPU at max even if the CPU is at its maximum temp and in danger of overheating?

 

Great to hear. Another happy ThrottleStop user.

Dell might someday release a bios update for your model to fix this issue but until they do you can run ThrottleStop 24/7 and never have to worry about this issue. Minimize TS to the System Tray and you'll be amazed at how few CPU resources it consumes while keeping your computer running properly. You can also added to your startup sequence using the Task Scheduler. Here's a tutorial on how to do that.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=3970161&postcount=3657

Intel CPUs do a great job of looking after themselves. No software like ThrottleStop can interfere with the hardware. If the hardware needs to slow down due to heat, it will, regardless of what any user software tells it to do.

When using ThrottleStop you can enable the Power Saver feature to keep temperatures down and to improve battery life when on battery power.

 

Why is it doing this???

 

Likely a bug in the bios. If you are using the most recent bios for your laptop then contact Dell and let them know about this issue. You won't be the first one to call them on this even though they might act like you are.

 

Ok so I've noticed consistency to this problem.

If I put my computer to standby and then turn it back on, it will automatically cap off at like 797mhz... the only way to undo it is with throttlestop.

TOday though it was around 597mhz for some reason..

BUT if I talk to Dell about it, they don't want to help me cuz I'm using Windows 7 and it came with Windows Vista

 

Check ur GPU temps.. there is a chance that its heating up n causing the cpu to throttle... My GPU is at 55-65 C even on idle n it keeps shooting up every now n then.. so it could be that.. do u use ur laptop on the bed or the carpet??

 

It's not caused for a reason, it's just a habit by the computer. I'll turn the computer on from being asleep for 5 hours and it'll automatically be capped at 800mhz