Suddenly lagging laptop

[maplegrower]

Chimney_83,

Yes I have performed the extensive tests and they all pass.

I have already done the recovery several times using the recovery options in Windows and finally doing it from recovery disks I created.

Unfortunately the problem persists.

Is there any way I can find out why thermal throttling is on? If so, could I adjust it?

Finally, I would like to see if my motherboard is somehow playing into this. I have performed the diagnostics on it via the UEFI diagnostics and it revives a pass. Can you suggest anything else to "test" my motherboard?

Thanks!

[mdklassen]

> I would not be able to comment on 3rd party utility report. 

I can.  🙂

Both "system-information" utilities report that the CPU is severely "throttled".

> To test your computer you can boot the computer to System diagnostics mode by tapping F2 on startup and run an Extensive test on the computer.

I have read (above) that the author of the question has already done that, and everything "passed".

> contact [HP]  phone support for the service options. 

Good suggestion.  Hopefully, they will understand that the CPU is "throttled".

> If the test passes, please perform a system recovery on the computer

I see no need to do such a "system recovery", since the hardware has "passed" all the tests -- it's working, but the CPU is ssllooooowwwww.

> using the recovery kit created by you on your computer and check.

> (Clean reinstall of OS and not using the recovery manager on the computer)

That should not make a difference -- that "recovery kit" was created from the files stored in the "recovery" partition on the computer.

Perhaps, an explanation for the "throttling" can be found on INTEL's web-site:

   http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/processors/000007073.html

Summary: enter BIOS SETUP, and disable "Speed Step", and rerun SPECCY and the other utility, to look for any "improvement".  Or, within the "Power" settings within "Control Panel", disable "Speed Step" by changing the power-scheme to "Always On".

[maplegrower]

Thanks for sticking with me mdklassen, I really appreciate it!

Unfortunately Bios Setup gives very little to modify. there's no option I could find for SpeedStep.

In "power settings", I played around enabling, disabling and adjusting what I could and yet it didn't change anything. Swithcing from HP recommended settings to High performance automatically changes a few of those power settings, but unfortunately didn't do anything for my issue.

I did some further research onine, now that you guys have helped refine my problem, and I'm reading about DPTF drivers. Now, as I already mentioned, using Device Manager and checking every driver with Windows, tells me everything is up to date. However, I'm considering downloading drivers manually (as I did for display adapters) via the HP Software and Drivers page for my Laptop. 

I'm a little weary before proceeding though because I can't find the exact names of the drivers in Device Manager, so that effectively I don't know what I'll be installing. I'll provide you with the names of drivers and maybe you can tell me if it's "safe" to install them (maybe they're already installed, I really don't know and don't know how to find out):

-Intel Collaborative Processor Performance Control (CPPC) Driver

-Intel Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework Client Driver

Can I install these?

Thanks again!

[mdklassen]

> but unfortunately didn't do anything for my issue.

Did you try a complete power-off / remove-laptop-battery / disconnect AC-power / hold-down the ON/OFF button for a few seconds to "drain" any residual voltage / reconnect AC-power [do not reconnect the battery] / power-on / measure the CPU speed?

Just a guess, but I know that some laptops slow themselves down when running on battery-power -- that's why I said to try it in "no-battery" mode.

> Can I install these drivers?

I would guess "yes" -- if there is no matching hardware for a device-driver, it may tell you that.

Does the BIOS SETUP have any options for manually setting the motherboard's "clock-rate", or "CPU multiplier" ?

Such settings are used by those "overclockers" -- people who override those settings to push their computer to go faster.

[maplegrower]

I tried the no "Battery option" and it doesn't seem to have changed anything.

BIOS setup doesn't give me any options of the sort unfortunately. The Bios Setup has only 4 tabs:

-1) Main tab: I can only change date and time, the rest is just info.

-2) Security: nothing of interest there.

-3) System Configuration: allows me to change language, Virtualization technology (Disabled), Card Reader Power Saving (Enabled), Fan Alwasy On (Enabled), Action keys Mode (Enabled) and something called USB3.0 Configuration in Pre-OS (Enabled)

-4) Exit: Exit discarding changing, Exit saving canges, Exist reloading defaults (or something similar, I don't remember the exact lamguage)

Howerver, XTU allows me to supposedly play with voltage and current. I don't know how to use it and I don't feel comfortable playing with those parameters. XTU, still tells me thermal throtling is ON...

And finally, the drivers I installed haven't changed anything. Speccy still has my cores at 0,50GHz. The XTU monitor still has the Max core frequency set at 0,50 GHz.

On the bright side, at least the "plugged-in not charging issue" hasn't popped up ever since I uninstalled and reinstalled the ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery driver.

[mdklassen]

> exit loading defaults

Have you tried that?

> XTU still tells me thermal throttling is ON.

Sigh.  It's winter in the Northern Hemisphere.  Is there someplace "cold and dry" inside your home?

Take the laptop there, and put it into "hibernate" mode (all the contents of RAM are written to the disk-drive,

and then the computer goes to "sleep") and let it significantly cool down.

The goal is to "trick" any "thermal sensor" into detecting a temperature below the "threshold" temperature at which throttling becomes active, and thus will disable the throttling.

Then, wake it up -- it will restore the RAM from the disk-drive.

Immediately start XTU or SPECCY, to report the various temperatures (disk-drive, CPU, motherboard),

before the laptop warms-up to "typical-indoor" temperature.

> On the bright side, at least the "plugged-in not charging issue" ..

My Lenovo laptop has Lenovo-supplied software that _deliberately_ does that, reporting "we have determined that you typically use the laptop while plugged-in to AC power.  Therefore, to maximize battery-life, the battery will stop charging at 55%". If I disconnect the AC power, and run it on battery for a while, then it can be recharged to 100%.

[maplegrower]

I did not yet "Load setup defaults" since I read online some people had trouble after doing so. If you think I should give it a try, I'll do so.

As for the "winter question". I will do so, but I want to note something: all this problem happened after I left my computer off for 2-3, in my rather humid and cool apartment. Now that you mention the environmental issue, I wonder if that may have affected it somehow since it was all working marvelously before that...the computer was turned OFF though, not in hibernation. Anyway, I'll give the hibernation trick a try tonight and see what the morning brings.

[maplegrower]

Update:

I forgot to hibernate the laptop. However, I quickly checked Speccy, and despite the low temps (around 26 degrees) the CPU core was fixed at 499MHz.

I tried Loading Setup defaults, no difference.

However, I downloaded a program called "ThrottleStop". I unchecked a a box called "BD PROCHOT" and my CPU shot up and performance was perfect! XTU reports that Thermal Trottling is OFF. I didn't start any "intense" programs but temperature increased only slighlty from the usual 30-32 C range. Speccy also reports core frequency at about 2.5GHz with mutlipliers at about 26.

Here:

Now, truth be told, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing when I uncheck "BD PROCHOT" and I'm still finding out what it's about. I know that messing with these settings can be detrimental to my CPU or maybe other components in the short and long run. So to play it safe, I'm keeping that box checked. Do you know anything about this?

[mdklassen · Accepted solution]

>  Do you know anything about "BD PROC(essor) HOT" ?

Only what a Google-search has told me. 

Most informative result:

   http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/servers/f/956/t/19586536

Normally, the PROCHOT signal only goes active when a CPU is overheating, and has reached the thermal-throttling temperature set by Intel.  

This immediately forces the CPU to use the minimum multiplier, so it runs at its slowest speed and lowest voltage, so it can cool down.

BD PROCHOT stands for bi-directional processor hot.  

With bi-directional processor hot, other sensors on the motherboard can send a signal to the CPU which tricks the CPU into thinking it is too hot.  

This forces the CPU to run at its slowest speed, just as if it was overheating. 

If this is not a problem for all of the servers you recently purchased, then it is probably just some bad motherboard temperature or power sensors that are sending this signal to your CPU.  

You would need to ask the engineers that designed your motherboard about what signals can trigger this type of CPU throttling. 

ThrottleStop 7.00 beta 3 can access both CPUs and can be used to disable the BD PROCHOT signal path so your CPUs can run at their full Intel-rated speed.  Contact the author if you need that version.

When BD PROCHOT is disabled, the CPUs will still be able to thermal throttle if they ever get too hot.  

Disabling BD PROCHOT only prevents other sensors outside the CPU from triggering throttling.  

I think that it's completely safe to run the CPUs at their rated speed, as long as the fan(s) inside your computer are pushing-out the warm air, and properly cooling the CPU & motherboard & disk-drive.

You might even consider using the "Power" settings to step-down from "maximum-performance" to "balanced", for normal operation, when you don't really need 100% of the CPU power.

[maplegrower]

mdklassen,

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Yes I had read that, but wasn't sure what it meant. However, the fact that with the "BD PROCHOT" Off, I was worried to see core frequencies go so high all the time. I had completely forgotten to undo the "High performance" settings! Now I'm back on HP recommended (as you suggested), and CPU frequencies are appropriate when idling.

Thanks so much for helping me solve this issue, I greatly appreciate it! Also, want to say thanks for suggesting things like Speccy, it'll definitely be part of my toolkit from now on!   thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!