v2000z RAM refuses to run at DDR400

I have a interesting issue. I recently sent my v2000z into Compaq to have them fix the horrible overheating problem that caused it to shut down every our or so. Well, they went to town: replaced the heatsink, fan, RAM (although I wasn't using the factory RAM anyways), and processor (with an ML-40!). BUt while that's all well and good, they also flashed with a BIOS I've never seen before, F.25, and I noticed my OCZ PC3200 RAM that previously ran fine (with the F.22 BIOS) at 199.2 or so MHz (as per CPU-Z) now runs at 159.6 MHz. Now, I tried just flashing with the F.22 on HP's site, but it tells me that "This BIOS is not for your notebook." I did try the F.24A for the L2000, the RAM still runs at 159, and the same for the old F.13 BIOS. Anybody have any idea about this quandry? I lost a good 40 3DMarks from the drop in RAM speed, and that's a huge drop for the x200M where every frame counts.

 

It's probably a stupid question but are you using the same CPUz version as before the repair? I hear the latest one shows variable memory speed depending on the load.

Edit: I use Bios F.23, why don't you try this one.

 

Here is a related thread from a while ago. Lots of good info.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=25157

 

Well, I'll be...darned. I watched CPU-Z through a run of 3DMark05, and sure enough between tests when I could see it, it reported RAM speed at 199.2 MHz, dropping back to 159.6 right after completing the last test. Although I'm certainly happy, I'm now no closer to explaining the huge hit in score.

 

You should always disable power management before running benchmarks. Try that and see if it makes a difference?

 

That makes perfect sense. With a 4X multiplier DDR400 will run @ 160MHz on all Turions and Athlon 64s. If it was reported otherwise previously it was reported wrong.