Hp pavilion laptop extremely slow on battery power, cooling system only working on charger

[Noahja48]

I have an HP Pavilion 15-cs3071nr. It will only run at 1.00-0.15 GHz on the battery, and immediately spikes to around 3.00 GHz as soon as it is plugged into a charger. I have tried nearly everything that I can find to fix this. I have changed power settings, and updated BIOS. I believe at this point that it is related to the cooling system because the fan will not turn on while on the battery, but is nearly always on when on a charger. I tried setting the fan to always on in the BIOS, but that did not seem to change anything. Just wondering if there is any other potential fix, as it has been nearly unusable on the battery for a while now.

[A_Gayathri]

Hi @Noahja48,

Welcome to The HP Support Community.  

Thank you for posting your query, I will be glad to help you.

I understand your HP Pavilion 15-cs3071nr is experiencing a performance throttling issue when running on battery power, which may be linked to the cooling system's operation. Since you've already tried updating the BIOS and changing power settings, let's explore additional troubleshooting steps that may help resolve the issue:

Let's try the below Troubleshoots steps. 

Step 1
 

1.    Turn off the Unit.

2.    Disconnect the AC adapter.

3.    Remove any discs from the disc drive.

4.    Remove memory cards from the card reader slot.

5.    Disconnect all nonessential peripheral devices, such as printers, scanners, external hard drives, and USB flash drives.

6.    Disconnect the AC adapter press and hold the power button for approximately 15 seconds.

7.    Reconnect the AC adapter, and then turn on the computer.

Step 2
 

Turn off the unit and please press and hold the Windows key + letter B key and the power button together for 30 seconds after 30 seconds, 1st release the power button but keep holding the Windows key and B key for ten more seconds and then release these two keys If done correctly, you will see the display flashing once. Please attempt it thrice as this step and Restart the unit

Step3

The unit has to be turned off, Press Win+ V while holding these two keys then Press the Power button, continue to hold all three keys for 30 seconds and then release the Power button first and then release these two keys Please attempt it thrice  and then you may get a Pop-Up CMOS Check and it will restart the unit 

Even if you don't get a Pop-up restart the unit manually after 3 attempts.
 1. Check Windows Power Plan Settings

Even though you've already modified power settings, it's worth revisiting the advanced power settings to fine-tune the system's behavior on battery:

• Right-click on the battery icon in the taskbar and select Power Options.
• Select your active power plan (typically "Balanced") and click Change plan settings.
• Select Change Advanced power settings.
• Expand Processor power management, and check both:
  • Minimum processor state: Set it to a higher value on the battery (e.g., 50%) to prevent extreme throttling.
  • Maximum processor state: Make sure this is set to 100% for both On battery and Plugged in.
• Expand the System cooling policy and ensure it's set to Active for both battery and plugged-in states. This will instruct the laptop to use the fan when on battery.

2. Reset the BIOS to Default Settings

If your BIOS settings may have been altered, try resetting them to default to ensure the cooling system and other hardware-related settings are properly configured.

• Restart your laptop and enter the BIOS (typically by pressing F10 during startup).
• Look for an option like Restore Defaults or Reset to Factory Settings within the BIOS menu, and save your changes.
• After resetting, test the laptop again to see if the cooling system responds better on battery power.

3. Update or Rollback Drivers

The issue might be related to drivers (especially for power management or chipset). Make sure that:

• Your chipset drivers and Intel Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework are up to date. You can find the latest drivers on HP's support website or through Device Manager.
• If a recent update may have caused the issue, consider rolling back any drivers that could be related to power management, cooling, or performance.

4. Test with HP Hardware Diagnostics

Use HP’s built-in diagnostics tool to check if there are any underlying hardware issues:

• Turn off the laptop.
• Press the power button and immediately press Esc to access the Startup Menu.
• Press F2 for System Diagnostics and run a full test, paying special attention to the thermal/cooling tests.

This can identify if there’s a problem with the fan or other thermal components.

5. Battery Health and Configuration

If the battery is old or degraded, it may affect system performance:

• Check the battery's health using HP's diagnostics software or powercfg /batteryreport (run this in the command prompt as an administrator). If the battery health is poor, it may not supply enough power for the CPU to run at full capacity, causing throttling.
• Consider calibrating the battery or replacing it if the health report shows significant wear.

6. Review Cooling System Operation

Since the fan doesn’t turn on when running on battery, it could indicate a power-saving measure or a malfunction:

• Ensure that the cooling system is physically clean and not obstructed. Dust buildup can cause the fan to behave erratically, especially when switching power modes.
• If possible, monitor the CPU temperature with a tool like HWMonitor or Core Temp to ensure the laptop isn’t overheating due to fan inactivity on battery.

7. Battery Profile in BIOS

In some HP laptops, the BIOS may contain settings related to Battery Performance or Battery Usage Modes (e.g., Battery Saver, Balanced). Try switching between different profiles and see if it affects performance on battery.
 

8. Consider a BIOS Rollback

Since you've already updated the BIOS, it's possible that the newer version introduced a bug affecting power management. Consider rolling back to a previous version of the BIOS:

• Go to HP's website and download an older BIOS version (if available).
• Follow the instructions for downgrading the BIOS, and see if this improves system behavior.

9. Disable Intel SpeedStep in BIOS

Intel SpeedStep can cause the processor to throttle on battery power to conserve energy. Disabling this might prevent extreme throttling:

• Enter the BIOS settings by pressing F10 during startup.
• Locate Intel SpeedStep in the advanced settings and disable it.
• Save and restart the laptop to see if the performance improves on battery power.

Refer to this document:  HP Pavilion - 15-cs3071nr
 HP Notebook PCs - Battery does not power notebook or hold a charge
 

I hope this helps. 

Take care and have a good day.

Please click “Accepted Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.