Cpu won't go above 800Mhz/28% usage

Jul 5, 2018
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Hello, I have a disturbing issue.

My laptop is an ASUS Rog GL753 VE with an I7 7700 HQ, 16gb ram and a Gtx 1050ti.
My CPU refuses to go over 800Mhz, even when running a stress test like Prime 95 or a benchmark like Cinebench.

The pc is:
plugged in to electricity,
not running on battery,
power plan is set to high performance,
CPU power management is all in order (minimum state 5%, maximum state 100%)
It is running the latest BIOS update
I have reset windows to factory settings, basically it is runnig windows like out of the box
The temperatures for CPU are below 40 when idle and below 55 when stress tested with Prime 95.

Any thoughts?
 
Solution
There are two possibilities. Either something got written in your operation system by accident to do this, or the bios on the motherboard was accidentally altered.
I would download UBCD and make a boot CD and use the cpuid tool in the cpu menu: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html to find out if this is truly a hardware setting if the bios screen doesn't read the operating frequency.

edit: you might have to flash the bios, or change back the cpu setting you had before if its not OS related.
Is the fan running normally, running fast or not running at all? And I mean the CPU fan, not the fan for the GPU. Many of these laptops with gaming adapters have two separate cooling fans.

The fact that your CPU won't go above 800mhz is a pretty good indicator that the system is in a thermal protection mode so either the temps are within spec ONLY because the system is throttling the CPU or one of the thermal sensors has failed, or the fan has failed, and the system won't allow it to increase the clocks because it knows it will overheat or has already overheated.

Download and install HWinfo. Open it and when prompted put a check in the box next to "Sensors only". Do not run Summary. Scroll down the sensor values and expand the column where it shows things like thermal event, throttling, etc.

Better even would be to take screenshots of ALL the sensor values up and down the window and post them here.

*How to post images in Tom's hardware forums
 
Jul 5, 2018
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My laptop is a single fan profile.
Indeed, 2 days ago, suddenly the fan ramped up to max speed and never went down again. For the first 30 seconds, the fan is going the usual speed, slow and quiet, but exactly 30 seconds after I turn my pc ON, even before I log in, the fan goes full speed. No matter if the laptop is idle, fan is always at full speed. I have had this problem with the fan before, and fixed it by updating the bios and reinstalling ASUS gaming center, but back then the CPU was fine. I have already took the steps I did last time for fixing the fan issue, but to no avail.


As for the CPU problem, which started right around the time the fan problem started as well, I have noticed that sometimes, right after waking up from sleep, the full clock speed is achieved for about 1 minute.

HWMonitor sensors
https://imgur.com/a/iRKowMt
https://imgur.com/a/g9ZZ3Ge

Another screenshot from XTU, showing that right after wake up, full clock speed are achieved.
https://imgur.com/a/hdWJTXF

By what XTU says, there is no thermal throttling or power limit throttling. All this happened the day after I updated my Nvidia drivers. Since then I rolled back the driver, and later reset windows, no results.
 

audiospecaccts

Upstanding
Oct 13, 2018
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0
210
There are two possibilities. Either something got written in your operation system by accident to do this, or the bios on the motherboard was accidentally altered.
I would download UBCD and make a boot CD and use the cpuid tool in the cpu menu: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html to find out if this is truly a hardware setting if the bios screen doesn't read the operating frequency.

edit: you might have to flash the bios, or change back the cpu setting you had before if its not OS related.
 
Solution
Which IS a physical problem, not related, well, probably not related, to any Windows settings or configuration. That IS a distinct possibility, but usually an overheated laptop is a result of having been left on in a bag, or sleeve, or while sitting on the bed blankets, or your lap, blocking the intake vents on the bottom of the unit.

I've seen FAR, FAR more cases where that was the cause, at least on non-gaming laptops, and on gaming laptops it's often because as you say somebody has configured something beyond what the cooling system can reliably account for such as overclocking using a desktop application or setting the power profile to performance with a 100% min and 100% max processor power state and no chance for the CPU cores to relax/cool when they don't need to be full frequency and voltage. The same applies to overclocking the GPU using various utilities.

I agree those are possible. More likely though is an overheat due to intake vent blockage. I realize there are supposed to be protections in place to prevent things like this but the bottom line is that time and again I see this happen and the protections don't, well, protect.

Leaving a unit in sleep mode while in a bag or sleeve is also a problem as they tend to resume while in the confined space and overheat.
 

audiospecaccts

Upstanding
Oct 13, 2018
149
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I noticed how cheap they build laptops now these days. I have a friend that got screw around by walmart on a laptop that died about a month after purchasing it. The motherboard is flimsy, and was mounted on the keyboard side of the laptop instead on the bottom plate of the laptop (eeewww)
 
Yes, they are not the rugged beasts of the past. I still have a 20 year old Intel thinkpad, with an old Intel based system inside. Although it is obviously very weak, it still runs Windows 98SE perfectly. No issues. Only thing I've ever had to do was upgrade it with more memory, a newer hard drive and replaced the battery once. There are NO laptops being sold currently that will last that long especially not under the kinds of conditions I hauled that thing through and the abuse it has seen.

I have five others as well but for my auto repair stuff, it doesn't require new hardware to run old OBD diagnostic programs so it works fine for that.

These newer systems are like delicate flowers and if you touch them too hard the petals fall right off. LOL.
 
Jul 5, 2018
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I have received the laptop as a gift, about 4 months ago. Since then, I have only used it for about 2 months, for university stuff like opening documents, and watching videos and the occasional world of tanks game. It has been sitting on my desk the whole time, never used it on my lap since it is quiet heavy and uncomfortable, nor used it on any other surface other than the desk.

As for the temperatures, I have kept a close eye on them (I had some temperature issues with my last device so I was being careful), even undervolted the cpu/gpu via XTU and MSI afterburner, a stable undervolt which I have used for more than 2 months and thoroughly tested. The temps were great overall, while doing normal stuff I was seeing 45 C for the cpu and while playing games 69-75 C.

Yes, the device is still under warranty, I will make my way to an authorized repair shop and see what they say. I had hoped this problem could be solved by a simple change in the settings but I guess I'm not that lucky. I'll be back and share what was wrong with the device, thanks!