A31 registers as 1.19ghz instead of full 1.4 ghz plugged in

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crx00 · #1 Post by **crx00** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 7:00 am

Hello. When i right click my properties in windows the A31's cpu registers as 1.19ghz instead of the full 1.4ghz when plugged in. I thought the computer would correct itself but it's been like this for a couple of days now. Does anybody know how to rectify this? Thanks

#2 Post by **jdhurst** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 8:02 am

Move your power properties (Control Panel -> Power Options) to Always On and see if that if that gives you full power. If so, then consider choosing ThinkPad Default. This will have your ThinkPad running cooler and somewhat more quiet, but Speedstep will kick the processor up to full speed when needed. Mobile Meter (search here) can help you monitor the processor speed. ... JDHurst

ksaisjja · #3 Post by **ksaisjja** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 12:41 am

I am having this same problem with an A31 1.8ghz. All of a sudden it seems the power management is confused. It seems to think it is on batteries when plugged in and plugged in when on batteries. I have tried to force settings in BIOS and changing the power management profile with no success.

Any ideas?

Thanks

--Henry

a31pguy · #4 Post by **a31pguy** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 7:26 pm

I was a little sick of "Battery Maximizer" so I used speedswitchXP - and you can still used the IBM program (which will be slaved to speedswitchXP).

http://www.diefer.de/speedswitchxp/index.html

ksaisjja · #5 Post by **ksaisjja** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 3:26 am

a31pguy wrote:I was a little sick of "Battery Maximizer" so I used speedswitchXP - and you can still used the IBM program (which will be slaved to speedswitchXP).

http://www.diefer.de/speedswitchxp/index.html

This is a great little app. I am still having the same problem. Is it a problem? If I am plugged into AC and remove my battery the system falls back to 1.2ghz regardless of system PM settings. System remains at full power on batteries-only and with batteries present and AC plugged in.

I have not been able to figure this out. I swear it wasn't always like this. I wonder what could be causing it?

Thanks,

Henry

a31pguy · #6 Post by **a31pguy** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 1:17 pm

There are a couple of other things you may want to check.

Make sure you upgrade to the latest embedded controller, ACPI, and BIOS. In the BIOS upon boot - you can check the options for ACPI support.

Post what you find.

ksaisjja · #7 Post by **ksaisjja** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 2:18 am

System will not permit update telling me to connect AC adapter. I get this error with a fully charged battery and AC connected. I even tried with only the AC connected and no battery. Same error.

I am going to try the battery-less update.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Henry

ksaisjja · #8 Post by **ksaisjja** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 6:22 pm

It seems to work about the same so far. The system thinks it is always running on batteries even when it is plugged in. I have to set the power settings to max performance on batteries to get the full CPU speed.

Could this be an issue with the battery? The charging system works and the battery charges fine, but the system seems unable to detect AC power even outside of the OS.

I can remove the battery on AC and Windows reports AC power, but the CPU still drops to 1.9ghz.

--Henry

a31pguy · #9 Post by **a31pguy** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 3:49 pm

first off - let's find out what you have. download this app and tell me what it finds...

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

friedrich-eugen · #10 Post by **friedrich-eugen** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 3:50 am

Hello ksaisjja,

Your reports, especially that Your system does not allow to update Bios and/or controller does indicate to me a potential hardwareproblem !?!!

You are sure, that Your Bios/system is open and not blocked via user/sysadmin passwords?

You still are covered by warranty? If so, let IBM exchange the systemboard or/and your ac/dc-unit.

Good luck

a31pguy · #11 Post by **a31pguy** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 6:36 pm

Further - after you verify the power adapter is the correct one, you might want to check that your battery is in good condition and not at the end of it's usefule life. If you adapter is the wrong one - the laptop may think that it's running on batteries.

ksaisjja · #12 Post by **ksaisjja** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 8:06 pm

Sorry about the delay. It's been a loooooooooong week. I have a URL for my CPU-Z results.

http://hpaul.tempdomainname.com/cpuz.html

I just generated the html report and uploaded it to my web server.

I was able to update to the newest BIOS and integrated controller by booting to DOS and using a floppy.

As far as warranty and what-not I bought the machine second-hand. I upgraded the CPU and RAM since then. My model number is 2652-xkx

My AC adapter fru is O2k6757

My battery is about a year old right now. I had considered the possibility that the battery could be at fault. I had this laptop about 3 months before these symptoms started.

Thanks again for the help,

Henry[/code]

a31pguy · #13 Post by **a31pguy** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 12:30 pm

Looks like you have the right power brick. You might want to try a new battery.

But as a side note: You have a 2.6 Pentium 4-M with speedstep. After looking at this for some time. I wanted to point this out:

If your hard drive SMART temperature and CPU temperature are too high - the embedded controller will automatically kick the CPU speed down and boost the fan up to try to cool the CPU and the HDD temperatures below 40 C (HDD) and 65 C (CPU). The algorithm is hard wired into the embedded controller and not changable via ACPI settings. Even if you installed XP without speedstep or ACPI - the thinkpad embedded contoller would still automatically kick it down if the interior of the laptop is too hot.

So this setting is both a blessing and a curse. The curse is: if you are trying to get the most performance out of your cpu (like CPU intensive games) or are running a hot HDD (72K for example) the laptop at some point will automatically kick down to half speed and throttle it back up once cool.

The blessing is that you have a laptop which automatically tries to prolong it's life (as Thinkpads are wonderfully reliable) and won't fry capacitors on the motherboard like Sony VIAOs do.

ksaisjja · #14 Post by **ksaisjja** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 11:20 am

I just put the 2.6 in recently. The issue I am experiencing predates the upgrade.

The hard drive is only a 20gb and I am not sure what speed it runs. Heat never seems to be a problem though.

I recently acquired a docking station as well. I am suspecting the battery more and more as the docking station will not power on unless the battery is at full charge it seems. I got it to start on AC once and after that it just boots the laptop with the battery.

Where is a good place to find these batteries anyhow?

Thanks,

Henry

a31pguy · #15 Post by **a31pguy** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 11:58 am

If your under an MA or warranty - then IBM itself will send you one. If not - here is a source http://www.dsmiller.com/html/Laptop-Not ... B-5609.htm

JHEM · #16 Post by **JHEM** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 1:06 pm

ksaisjja wrote:I am still having the same problem. Is it a problem? If I am plugged into AC and remove my battery the system falls back to 1.2ghz regardless of system PM settings. System remains at full power on batteries-only and with batteries present and AC plugged in.

Both the A31 and the T30 will only run at full speed with both the AC and battery connected!

IBM says it's a feature, not a flaw. There were innumerable discussions about this in the old Forums.

Regards,

James

ksaisjja · #17 Post by **ksaisjja** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 1:24 pm

I figured that part out when comparing notes with a friend of mine that owns a "T".

Now I'm trying to fix the real problem.

Henry

ksaisjja · #18 Post by **ksaisjja** » Sat Aug 06, 2005 9:12 am

Well I finally got a replacement battery when the old one would no longer charge beyond 74%.

What was happening was the system always reports running on battery power even with a fully charged battery and AC connected. The result is when having 2 power profiles, battery and AC, only the battery profile settings are used by the system. So if I set the screen to blank on battery after 5 minutes, the screen always blanks at 5 minutes regardless if I set it to 15 minutes on the AC profile.

SO, I have a new battery that I just bought. After finally getting it to charge (anyone have a problem here?) The same problem exists. System always reports running on battery, SP2 and other types of things will not work even if the AC is plugged in.

Any thoughts? By now I have learned to just live with it. It would be nice to find a solution, but I suspect some type of hardware issue underlying.

--Henry

a31pguy · #19 Post by **a31pguy** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 4:55 pm

I had this problem on a similar system when the power connector on the mainboard was loose and didn't report that the AC unit was plugged in.

ksaisjja · #20 Post by **ksaisjja** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:33 pm

Well I suppose that could be the problem. The connector feels firm enough and I do not have problems with the battery charging. For now I guess it is just more of an annoyance. I suppose I could rip into it and see about soldering the connector if that is what it turns out to be.

--Henry

ksaisjja · #21 Post by **ksaisjja** » Sun Aug 14, 2005 2:35 pm

So If I take the battery out and the system drops to 1.19ghz, then the AC plug shows up in the system tray and it says it's on AC. If I put the battery back in, it goes back to saying it's on battery power only.

--Henry