CPU underclocked?

[nobdoor]

I'd like to thank all in advance for any advice that is given, whether it helps or not.

I've been messing with my Dell XPS M1210 for over a week trying to figure out why it won't run a game smoothly. The problem is that the CPU (Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T7200, 2.0 Ghz) frequency will rarely go over 1GHz. Speedstep seems to sporatically ramp up my frequency at odd times. It will sometimes go above 1GHz, but not when I need it to. Games and video run very choppy.

Here is what I have tried:

Adjusted power settings for performance (also set minimum CPU frequency to 100% in advanced settings)
Enable/Disable Intel Speedstep
Re-install video drivers
Re-flash system BIOS
Reformat hard drive and re-install Windows Vista Homem Premium 32-bit

The current CPU temperature is 47C. CPU-Z Clocks read as follows:
Core Speed: 998.9 MHZ
Multipler: x6
Bus Speed: 166.4 MHz
Rated FSB: 665.7 MHz

I can't think of anything else to do...and I hope somebody can shed some insight as to why my frequency will not throttle to 100%.

 

[someguy7]

Laptops gpu probably isnt good enough to run the game you want to play.

I guess that my guess is correct. From the spec sheet.

Graphics & Display



Standard:
12.1" Widescreen WXGA (1280 x 800) display with TrueLifeTM .
Integrated Intel® Media Accelerator 950 Graphics.

Optional:
256MB NVIDIA® GeForceTM Go 7400 with TurboCache3 Graphics Card.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsnb_m1210?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh&~section=specs#tabtop

 

[nobdoor]

The game (dawn of war) is 5 years old. It ran flawlessly a few months back on this rig. This laptop suffered from the faulty die packaging that affected certain Nvidia GPU's. Dell has replaced my mobo, and this one is brand new (or refurbished? who knows...).

It's not the game that is the problem. It's that the CPU won't go above 1GHz. I am running the ORTHOS stress tester on it right now. The first time I ran it I got a fatal hardware error...something about rounding being .5 when it should be < .4. I did some research and saw a common suggestion being to up the RAM voltage. Unfortunately my bios doesn't allow any voltage manipulation from the user, so I removed one DIMM chip, and am running on 1gig of memory. The test has not given me that fatal error yet...butthe CPU still remains <1GHz.

 

[someguy7]

I would double check all the settings in BIOS. Check to see if you can restore to factory defaults if its not set there already.

Also recheck the vista power/usage settings or whatever they are called.

Update mobo/chipset drivers if you didnt already.

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?os=WLH&osl=EN&catid=-1&impid=-1&servicetag=&SystemID=XPS_M1210&hidos=WW1&hidlang=en&TabIndex=

If still no luck I'm out of ideas.

 

[vrgboxy]

As someguy7 said check the power balance settings.
In the advanced section through control panel>power options>chnage plan settings>change advanced power settings check the Maximum Processor State is set to 100%.

Hope this helps you out.

VRGBoXy

 

[nobdoor]

Please read the OP guys. Adjusting the power settings is the first thing that I did.

 

[nobdoor]

Please read the OP guys. Adjusting the power settings is the first thing that I did.

 

[nobdoor]

Please read the OP guys. Changing the power settings is the firsts thing I did.

 

[nobdoor]

Sorry for the above repeat posts. I don't seem to be able to edit/delete them. Will a mod please delete two of the three above repeats, as well as this post? Thanks.

 

[someguy7]

I know. I said re-check everything from BIOS level to OS level.

Put in all your ram and run memtest while your at.

Whats the clock speed in the BIOS. It should report the right multi x fsb in there.

 

[joefriday]

Install and run RMclock. Use it to force max speed when you want to game.