Help - Severe Performance Problem

Hello

I have an HP 8710w with a Quadro FX 1600M graphics card. I have been experiencing my problem for several months now. I have tried installing all imaginable graphics drivers, even doing a fresh install of Windows twice(XP and Windows 7) but to no avail. The problem I am having is difficult to explain but the following represents my best attempt:

If X is the speed that a laptop runs at while plugged in(i.e. best performance and full use of components) then Y is the speed the laptop runs at while running on battery. However, even when plugged in, my laptop runs at Y. The kicker is that if I unplug and replug the AC power to the laptop again and again, I eventually get the laptop running at X again. I have to do this every time I want to use a graphically intensive application or my framerates are that of Y. I have tried taking out the battery and running the laptop directly from my charger. The problem persists. I have tried using a different charger. The problem persists. Everyone I speak to seems to think it is a software problem. How can this be when I've reinstalled Windows twice?

I would appreciate any help in this matter.

 

It's called Power Options and it is found in the Control Panel. Use it.

 

That was the first thing I tried. Tried every single power profile to no avail. Maxed everything, still the same problem.

 

It seems another user of the same machine had the same problem:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=232894

Please could someone help me.

 

Have you tried any bios updates from HP?

 

Try install a CPU Frequency monitoring tool, might be the CPU lowering frequency for some reason...

 

Hmm, looks like it won't listen to the power profiles. As suggested, get a CPU monitor and watch the frequency. CPU-Z should do fine. However i'm suspecting it's the graphics chip reducing frequency not the CPU, but of course there's a program called GPU-Z (made by different guys but it's basically a CPU-Z for your video card). Get that too, and watch the core clock. Oh, also watch the GPU temps while you're at it, they're on the Sensors tab.

If neither of those two programs detect a clock change when the framerate drops, then there's something seriously wrong with your machine.

 

Ok, I have tested the laptop using both programs. My laptop is currently on the "low-framerate mode" (i.e. setting Y in my first post). It is taking more and more restarts and unplugging-replugging the AC power to get it into "high frame-rate mode". I have even resorted to reinstalling the graphics driver every time I want to use a graphically intensive application. Even that is not working now.

My results are as follows:
CPU-Z:
Core speed(I'm assuming that's what you meant by frequency)
When the laptop is plugged in and on "low frame-rate mode" it is stable around 2.4GHz. Doesn't seem to be a problem there. When my laptop is unplugged, it jumps between 1.2GHz and 2.4GHz. This strikes me as normal.
I think we can rule out the CPU?

GPU-Z:
These results were worrying. On "low frame-rate mode" and plugged in, the GPU core clock is 169MHz and the GPU memory clock is 100MHz. However, when I unplug the power, these values remain the same. The temperature is a stable 47-49 degrees. If the frequencies do not change when the laptop is plugged in as opposed to when it is unplugged, could this be our problem?
I don't know much about this kind of thing, but it seems you are right, Unique.

 

I am not sure abotu Quadro FX drivers but for geforce drivers there is a " Nvidia Powermizer". What it does is that it downclocks the GPU when it is not in use, whether it is plugged into the AC or not. It will only run at stock clocks when you are running a 3D app. Try running something and see if the clock speed changes.

 

I have the newest Nvidia forceware drivers installed. I can't seem to find "Nvidia powermizer" in the Nvidia control panel.

 

Try RivaTuner. It will allow you to change the card's clocks to anything you wish.

 

I just clocked my graphics card to 625/800, the supposed default for it but GPU-Z still reads my clock speeds as 165/100. I have no idea what to do :S
I am running Windows 7 btw.

 

A little progress...
I went into the registry and got rid of PowerMizer altogether. My clocks went up to 275/301. That still falls far short of 625/800. I was told that 275/301 were the clocks for the "Low-power 3d mode". So I went into RivaTuner and forced constant performance level: performance 3d(which has my clocks at full speed, 625/800). However, my laptop still runs at 275/301. While keeping GPU-Z open, I unplugged and replugged in the AC. For a short while the clocks go up to 625/800 but then they drop down again a second later. I think my problem may have to do with switching back down to "low performance 3d" constantly. However, even forcing the high performance level in RivaTuner does not seem to work. Any suggestions?

 

Get FurMark and give it a go, don't forget to select Stability Test mode, the appropriate resolution, and set it to run in a window. Watch the clocks in GPU-Z and fiddle with RivaTuner while you have FurMark open, see if the card switches to 3D clocks like it should.

WARNING: FurMark puts the GPU under extreme stress. Running it for extended periods of time (ie more than 10 minutes) on a mobile chip will most likely fry it. Watch your temps. An alternative is RTHDRIBL, which is a lighter load, looks prettier, and pretty much simulates your average DX9 game in terms of graphics. Any of those programs should get your GPU running at full 3D clocks, if they do not then there's more tinkering to do, if they do, enjoy. It is normal for the card to fall back to low performance 3D at the desktop, however it isn't normal for it to be stuck there.

Good luck.

 

Ok, I tried running RTHDRIBL. Got about 10 fps and my clocks stayed the same What is this tinkering you speak of?

 

You are running pre-release software. You may not get all this going until it is released, and Nvidia releases the release versions of the Windows 7 drivers.

 

The fact remains that this problem existed when I was running the supposedly much stabler XP. In fact, the problem I am having is the exact the reason I installed a new OS. Nvidia has released Windows 7 versions of it's drivers. I'm running the forceware versions of those drivers from www.laptopvideo2go.com

 

Have you used any tool to look at your graphics hardware other than GPU-Z??

 

10 fps is pretty bad, your card should fly through RTHDRIBL. The only solution i can think of now is editing the card's BIOS. Get Nibitor and read the BIOS in to see the clocks. Post a screenshot here so i can see what we're dealing with. Oh, before you do anything to it save a backup copy. And attach it here, i'd like to take an in-depth look.

Then you will have to edit the clock speeds to what they should be (my advice would be to set low 3D and high 3D clocks to the speed the card was supposed to be running at, and leave 2D alone), save the file under a new name, and flash the BIOS to the card. I recommend that you do this from a DOS floppy, but since you're not likely to have an USB floppy burn a rewritable CD. I'll make the CD for you when you get there.

Final step is to boot from the CD, run the flasher and pray. Be aware that this can screw up your card, and will screw up your card if you edit the wrong data. Just follow the guidelines in Nibitor and you should be fine.

If anything happens (such as the drivers not recognizing the card anymore), flash your backup and everything will return to the way it was. I have only had troubles with a FX5600, and that was 4 years ago. The drivers would not see the card anymore, so i flashed the backup and left it alone. Since then i've modded the BIOS on two 6600GTs and a few 8600GTs without any issues.

 

NiBiTor gives me the error "can't connect to service manager" I'm running Windows 7 with forceware drivers 185.

P.S: Thank you for your help so far.

 

Never heard of that error, but is probably related to Win 7. Does Nibitor start up at all? If it starts but can't read the card's BIOS that's not a major issue as it can be obtained by other means. Can your laptop boot from USB?

 

Yes, NiBiTor itself starts but it cannot read the BIOS. I have a USB flashdisk handy if that helps and am almost certain my laptop's BIOS has an option to change the boot device so yes, I think I can boot from USB.

 

Alright, there are several guides on the net to make a flash drive bootable, follow one of them and try to get DOS to boot from it.