Pentium M Speed Restrictions

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mr_mbuna · #1 Post by **mr_mbuna** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 10:33 pm

Why does my computer always run at either 300 MHz (on super power saving mode) or 600 MHz (on high system performance mode)? Its a Pentium M 735 / 1.7GHz... I've seen the CPU pegged at 100% in the Windows Task Manager / Performance screen and I've checked My Comupter properties at the same time and seen it only show 600MHz...

skanky · #2 Post by **skanky** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 4:33 am

thats the power of the PM cpu. google it up and you'll see why its doing that.

do you need to be running at 1.7ghz while using ms word??

mr_mbuna · #3 Post by **mr_mbuna** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 4:46 am

I'm not sure that you understand... while the CPU usage was pegged at 100% for an extended period, the speed was STILL only 600MHz.

skanky · #4 Post by **skanky** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 5:09 am

yep check in your bios to see if the power management for ac or battery (which ever you're experiecing this with) isnt set battery optimized or max battery which might limit it to 600mhz.

alternatively download speedswitch xp.

darrenf · #5 Post by **darrenf** » Mon Nov 15, 2004 11:52 am

The Pentium M 735 cannot run at 300MHz. The slowest speed it will run at (according Intel documentation) is 600MHz, so I think the information you are getting regarding CPU speed is incorrect. You might want to load MobileMonitor and see what it tells you your speed is:

http://dssc3031.ece.cmu.edu/~tamaru/mob ... adme-e.htm

-darren

#6 Post by **daeojkim** » Tue Nov 16, 2004 10:45 pm

So i am using mobilemeter and this are following values
Freq 1.7GHz
Tem 52 C
Charge Rate 0 W
HDD 33 C

Is this meter supposed to give clock throttle speed as it changes?
I am just asking because when I go to computer properties it shows as 1.69GHz and before I clean installed my computer I remember seeing it as about 600Mhz. Now it is at 1.7GHz all the time. Is there somethig wrong or is this normal?

Thanks.

taphil · #7 Post by **taphil** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 1:32 pm

Yes, Mobile Meter shows chanages in CPU speed.

Check your power settings to set the CPU speed, for both plugged in and running on battery. Adaptive enables throttling, whereas maximum keeps it at max CPU speed.

darrenf · #8 Post by **darrenf** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 6:06 am

Charge rate 0W means it's running on AC and your power profile most likely maxes the CPU speed when running on AC. Unplug the laptop and see if the speed drops. If it doesn't, check the battery settings in your power profile and lastly make sure a program is not occupying a lot of CPU time.

BTW: In MobileMeter be sure to turn off HDD temp monitoring so that it will let your hard drive sleep on inactivity.

-darren

AssPenny · #9 Post by **AssPenny** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 2:19 pm

Just use SpeedswitchXP to manage your cpu/battery performance. Its free and it does a fantastic job. I dont know why they just dont send the systems with it (i do, but thats a different discussion). It works much better than the integrated applet in XP.

Volker · #10 Post by **Volker** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 4:28 pm

Newest BIOS, 29/10:

<3.13 (1RETDHWW)>
NOTE:
This BIOS version will only work with Embedded Controller Program
Version 3.04 (or higher).

- (Fix) The clock frequency (speed) of CPU is not set to the highest
speed in battery mode even if "Intel(R) SpeedStep technology"
option of "Power" of "Config" in the "IBM BIOS Setup Utility"
menu is set to Enabled and its "Mode for Battery" option is
set to "Maximum Performance".

Maybe its this?

fbrdphreak · #11 Post by **fbrdphreak** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:52 pm

IIRC, all Dothans can underclock to 200MHz at the lowest, varying at many points in between of course. However, from my experience, that only happens at low-activity and only when activity is low for a while. ::shrugs:: Dunno why, I wish it would underclock to 200MHz faster. Instead it does stay @ 600MHz faster.

darrenf · #12 Post by **darrenf** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 2:02 pm

Originally posted by awolfe63 here:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=

I don't think so.

See ftp://download.intel.com/design/mobile/ ... 218903.pdf pp. 20-21

Looks like the lowest speed on Dothans is 600MHz.
I have at one time or another seen all the listed speeds for my 735 - but no others.
_________________
Andrew Wolfe

Since installing MobileMeter, I haven't seen a speed below 600 on my 735. One time Windows reported 298MHz, but it doesn't read the chip directly, it runs a timing loop in a critical section (so that it will work with different CPUs), so it may have been affected by the wake-up delay for parts of the Pentium-M CPU.

-darren

Plinkerton · #13 Post by **Plinkerton** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 2:52 pm

I don't know what is true or not, but I have heard time and time again that 1.7 Dothans can only run as low as 600 mghz.

Ghostrider · #14 Post by **Ghostrider** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 5:14 pm

Well, even Banias Pentium-M are just designed to be clocked down to 600MHz by default.
If you install XP yourself without the IBM-drivers / tools you will not see a frequency below 600MHz.
We tested this in our company because I was totally confused when I saw the first notebook running with about 450MHz.
Later I had a T41 that showed 249MHz! That's strange! We reinstalled XP with our software deployment system and the clockrate never dropped below 600MHz again.

Maybe IBM adds some kind of throtteling to their power management to force the CPU to run at lower speeds than 600MHz. Well, that is good for the customers because it may save some power and enhance time on batteries.
As soon as my T42p will arrive I'll test it. I hope that it will clock down as much as the T41 I had in the company AND I'll try to reapply the powermanagement so that it will do the same with a customized installation of Windows-XP +SP2.

fbrdphreak · #15 Post by **fbrdphreak** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 5:21 pm

I don't think its IBM's throttling software, as I played around with SpeedSwitchXP and it showed the minimum CPU frequency as 200MHz. I work @ BBY and I'll contact our Intel rep and see if he knows for sure.

Ghostrider · #16 Post by **Ghostrider** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 5:29 pm

fbrdphreak wrote:I don't think its IBM's throttling software, as I played around with SpeedSwitchXP and it showed the minimum CPU frequency as 200MHz. I work @ BBY and I'll contact our Intel rep and see if he knows for sure.

Well, the same technique may be used by others...
Great idea! Please post the answer of the Intel rep here. I'd like to know it - even for our company it may be helpful.

RoadHazard · #17 Post by **RoadHazard** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 4:24 am

I have seen my TP works below 600MHZ (200MHZ IIRC.) I don't know if it's possible but I really have seen it. This is with IBM-installed Windows XP.

Ghostrider · #18 Post by **Ghostrider** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 7:45 am

RoadHazard wrote:I have seen my TP works below 600MHZ (200MHZ IIRC.) I don't know if it's possible but I really have seen it. This is with IBM-installed Windows XP.

I have seen a T41 or T41p running at 249MHz with the preinstalled WinXP in our company. So I am pretty sure that - how ever - it is possible.

My distributor told me that I'll have to wait about one week untik my T42p will arive so I can't confirm this until now but I will test it ASAP.

Pentium M Speed Restrictions

Pentium M Speed Restrictions

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