Intel i7 2720QM Low Core Speed on my P150HM

I've been struggling with a noticeable sluggishness and lag on my P150HM with an i7 2720QM. I wrestled with anti-virus scans, startup program pruning, memory tests, etc., and finally decided to run the Intel CPU test using the Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool. I was surprised to see that it failed due to an unexpected low core speed at 800Mhz rather than 2.2Ghz. I installed CPU-Z, and sure enough, that shows a core clock speed of 800Mhz across all four cores as well.

So setting aside the obvious stuff (laptop is plugged in and running in high performance mode), my temperatures are fine (45C or less). No matter what I do, the core clock speed stays low. Any ideas what could be causing this and how I might resolve it? I have attached the screenshot from the CPU-Z output. Thanks.

 

What power setting are you on?

 

High performance. Minimum processor rate when plugged in = 100%.

 

Well... I have a bit of an idea. Weird idea, but it may work.
First, learn a little bit about linux. Find a Linux OS you can use from a flash drive, without needing to install it onto your system's main hard drive. When you do this, I want you to run a CPU diagnostic tool and see if you can find a way to check your speeds, then run a browser and google any 4k video. Something like "Life in the garden 4K". Any 4K res video makes your CPU work its ambitious butt off to decode it, so it should force-ramp up the clocks. The reason I want you to do it NOT in windows is because the problem might be some kind of weird issue with your windows installation. It doesn't make any sense, but that doesn't mean it can't happen.

Anyway, if your clocks DO ramp up as intended while on Linux, then your problem is windows. If your clocks do NOT ramp up as intended, then your machine may be defective in some manner. Using the linux method is the only way without reinstalling windows to check if your problem is windows itself. If it's defective... I guess go to Mythlogic for help? They might charge you for the work done, but they'll likely be able to help you since you purchased it from them, plus they're cool people.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, that's not a bad idea. I was able to make some progress last night right before turning in for bed. I downloaded Throttlestop and set my multiplier to 24T with the other default flags set. I can see the core speed fluctuating up to 2.4Ghz now, which is to be expected when the C1E flag is set. So it looks like I have a workaround at the moment, but it still baffles me as to how it got in that state to begin with.

*edit* I should note that it also passed the Intel Diagnostic Tool too, which has a stress test integrated into it. Temps look reasonable.

 

Did you accidentally set the laptop to ecostar mode? I forgot how to access it and I am not near my computer but I ran into this problem a couple tears ago.

Sent from my SM-N9005

 

You could flash a prema bios and check all the bios options and settings are correct.