After liquid spill max CPU speed 800Mhz

[imrazor]

So my laptop took a hit from a full glass of water. The keyboard and battery are dead, but the laptop otherwise seems functional. Well, sort of. For some reason the CPU is maxed out at 800MHz. It is an Intel i5-2520M in a Dell Precision M6600. I did find a workaround, but it's a pain.

I found a utility called Throttlestop that will let me manually force the multiplier from 8x to 25x once I check of the "Clock Modulation" option. The CPU then runs at it's rated 2.5GHz. The catch is that it takes forever to boot up and launch the utility. Once it, um, recalibrates the CPU it runs fine until I stop Throttlestop or reboot.

So what might be causing this? Is there anyway to restore normal operation to the CPU?

 

[ajgarcia1428]

Hello imrazor, I'm sorry to hear about your laptop. If the battery is dead, and the keyboard, then the water may have leaked throughout the laptop case holding the components. There is a possibility that the computer has not dried enough yet to function properly but water damage to a running electrical system is never good and can lead to permanent damage. Was the water spilled while the computer was active or while the computer was asleep? How is the temperature of your system?

 

[imrazor]

The water spilled directly on the keyboard, not onto the lid of the laptop. The laptop is supposed to be water resistant. Frankly, I'm not sure if the laptop was on when the water hit it. My cat probably knocked the water over in the middle of the night. I let it dry for about 24 hours before I tried powering it on.

When I initially tried to power it on, it wouldn't boot. I removed the battery, and it began booting. After it booted up, it was performing very sluggishly and my first thought was thermal throttling, so I ran Speedfan. It turns out that the fans weren't running at all. However, once I "prodded" them with Speedfan for a few minutes, they began spinning up. But the laptop was still running slow, and that's when I noticed that the multiplier was locked at 8x even though the power mode was set to "High Performance".

That's when I downloaded throttlestop and forced the multiplier to 25x. So far that seems to work, but it's awfully inconvenient. So are you recommending I power off the laptop for another day or two to make sure it's actually dry?

 

[ajgarcia1428]

imrazor, what brand and model is the laptop? There is a possibility the computer has not completely dried but the best way is to take it apart and it dry that way. Since we are not sure if the laptop was on or asleep or turned off completely, there is also a possibility that it may have been on and the CPU has been damaged. There are sensors on the motherboard for the operation of the fans and they could have been damaged as well. By letting it dry, you will know where the computer stands then.

 

[imrazor]

The model is in my first post, a Dell Precision M6600. The keyboard is supposed to be spill-resistant with drain holes below the keyboard to let the liquid flow out the bottom. I'll go ahead and shut it down for the evening and let it dry until tomorrow night.

 

[ajgarcia1428]

imrazor, I missed the model name when you first posted it, and it was a good idea to attempt to let it completely dry. If the motherboard was exposed to water, not completely dried, then power activated, there is damage that has been done to the system nonetheless. The way the keyboard is designed is usually to delay the liquid from damaging important components and routing the liquid the best way to avoid damaging components. Voltage may be inconsistent in the system at the time but let it dry a couple days then when you turn it on, check the temperature of the CPU using a temperature software like HW monitor. Taking apart the computer, hand drying every piece is the best way to dry it since moisture can take quite some time to dry within the casing. I have seen water remain in the casing for up to weeks on laptop systems. If the temperatures are reading okay, then you may have been lucky, but if the CPU continues to run abnormally, there are many possibilities, including if the multiplier has been damaged on the motherboard. I hope the best for your system.

 

[imrazor]

So I let the PC dry for another couple of days. The laptops behavior continues to be rather odd. After booting, responsiveness was normal. Put a bit of load on the CPU and it ramped up to 3GHz. Then I tried to play Skyrim. Ran fine for 3 or 4 minutes, then slowed to a crawl. CPU temp was at 80C. Speedfan seemed to accomplish nothing, and the CPU speed was at 800MHz. Then I ran Throttlestop toggled Clock Modulation on, the speed went back up to 3GHz and the fans kicked on. I was then able to run Skyrim for about 45 minutes with no issues and temps remained around 50C. Very strange.