I own a Packard Bell EasyNote E4 portable computer, EasyNote E4710, Model MIT-LYN02, which is actually a NEC Versa Premium computer. Recently I found out that my processor Intel Pentium M 710 (Centrino), whose speed is theoretically 1.40 GHz works always on 596 MHz. No software application has so far been able to increase its speed, including a few CPU Burn Test tools (simple Linpack GUI (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=201670),Intel Burn Test V2 (http://downloads.guru3d.com/IntelBurnTest-v2.3-download-2047.html) and Hot CPU Tester Pro 4(http://www.7byte.com/). None of these tools have been able to cause any change to the CPU speed or the fan speed. I reported this problem to the support people at Packard Bell in the UK, but their only reply was 'The unit shouldn't throttle the CPU unless it was getting very hot', which seems to me ridiculous: should I pre-heat the CPU with a hair-dryer to get a higher speed for my routine tasks?! I dare not do it, because the processor does not seem to have any thermal sensor. Would you kindly advise me - is the CPU multiplier is locked and the processor will never work on 1.4GHz? If it is not locked, how can I see it works at full speed? Can it be unlocked and by whom? - why isn't there a CPU thermal sensor? Below are details of the motherboard and the CPU according to Lavalys Everest Home Edition, v. 2.20.405: Motherboard: NEC COMPUTERS INTERNATIONAL Rhea B - Bus Type Intel NetBurst - Bus Width 64-bit - Real Clock: 100 MHz (QDR) - Effective Clock 400 MHz - Bandwidth 3200 MB/s CPU Type Mobile Intel Pentium M 710, 600 MHz (6 x 100) CPU Alias Dothan CPU Stepping B1 Instruction Set x86, MMX, SSE, SSE2 Original Clock 1400 MHz L1 Code Cache 32 KB L1 Data Cache 32 KB L2 Cache 2 MB (On-Die, ATC, Full-Speed) CPU Package Type 479 Ball uFCBGA / 478 Pin uFCPGA Core Voltage 0.988 - 1.340 V I/O Voltage 0.988 - 1.340 V Typical Power 3.0 - 21.0 W (depending on clock speed) Maximum Power 3.3 - 28.1 W (depending on clock speed) BIOS Type Insyde System BIOS Date 12/11/04 BIOS Manufacturer Insyde Technology, Inc.
By throttling, they mean that the CPU is running at a lower frequency because of the the excessive heat. If there's no thermal sensor then it'll be difficult to tell if the thing's overheating, but it's definitely possible. Perhaps cleaning out the heatsink would help.
I think you've misunderstood what they said. You're saying that the CPU is running constantly at 600MHz but the standard speed for the processor is 1400MHz. Packard Bell are saying that the CPU shouldn't do that and that the explanation for why it's doing it is likely that it's overheating. If you make the CPU hotter using an external source, such as a hair dryer, it will slow down even more. Don't do it. To get some idea of the background, why are you looking at the CPU's speeds - is it causing problems?
The hair dryer suggestion was an ironical rhetorical question. Of course I would never heat the CPU. No, the CPU is not overheated. Everything works normal with the same speed like when I bought it. The problem appeared when I ran some diags and found out that the CPU's speed is not what they say. Since I am going to buy a new computer, this question came to my mind: it is worth spending hell a lot of money for a processor, which is marketed and sold with bells and whistles, when it will actually work at half or less of the documented frequency. Is this frequency only theoretical or is it only reached at Intel labs under special conditions? If the multiplier of my Centrino wouldn't change to x14 (as it's supposed to do when loaded), will I be able to make an Intel Core i7 960 @ 3.20GHz work with full speed when I am running a CPU intensive application? For example now when I run an application for password recovery, the processor is loaded to 100%, but the frequency stays at 597 MHz. So why is this computer sold as a 1.4MHz unit? Will it be the same with a 1000USD Core i7?
There's obviously a problem with either your chip or the monitoring program. All my i7's run at the speeds they're meant to.
Indeed, CPUs should run at their stated speed unless told otherwise. Many technologies exist to slow them down when they're not being used, my 3.2GHz cores are all at 800MHz as I type this. This saves power and heat (and so noise) but if given something meaty to do they'll jump to 2.1GHz, 2.5GHz and then full speed. Yours obviously aren't working properly for whatever reason. How do you know what frequency they're running at anyway? Can you post a screenshot? There are loads of frequencies to do with CPU and it's entirely possible that your CPU is fine and you're simply misreading the (admittedly confusing) information.
Where are you reading the processor speed from? CPU-Z? Because going into computer properties through windows doesn't give correct clocks. Also what windows are you using on it? Windows Vista and 7 has power management and will undervolt your CPU if you set it to "Power Saving" mode but increases battery life considerably. You should be using "Balanced" or "Performance" if you want full speed out of your CPU. Also did you confirm the multiplier and bus speed in the BIOS (though it is usually locked anyway)
Thank you so much for your suggestions. I have solved the problem. The BIOS has a switch, called Geyserville support, which has been disabled so far. I have just discovered that Geyserville is another name for SpeedStep (who knows that much!). Enabling it unlocked the multiplier to go to x14 and now the processor works at 1389.5 MHz. However the new CPU frequency did not struck me with a noticeable difference in the overall performance. The issue with the lack of a CPU thermal sensor remains. The applications cannot detect it. Where should it be? Is it a CPU or a motherboard feature? Does a Centrino have a thermal sensor? Is it possible that some wires are not connected between the motherboard and the CPU?
What application are you using to read the temps? Centrino is not a chip but a platform (basically intel cpu, mobo & wireless), the pentium M should be detected using coretemp.
I'm sorry for being lame on CPUs. You can see the details of the system above: CPU Type Mobile Intel Pentium M 710, 600 MHz (6 x 100) CPU Alias Dothan CPU Stepping B1 Instruction Set x86, MMX, SSE, SSE2 Original Clock 1400 MHz L1 Code Cache 32 KB L1 Data Cache 32 KB L2 Cache 2 MB (On-Die, ATC, Full-Speed) From Intel suggested to use HWMonitor (http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html). I did and it did not detect any thermal sensor.
Thank you for your consideration. Although the applications cannot detect a thermal sensor, the fan changes its speed accordingly; it is even too loud. Here is a part of the report from Everest: Power Management Features (from Everest 2.20.405) Automatic Clock Control Supported Enhanced Halt State (C1E) Not Supported Enhanced SpeedStep Technology (EIST, ESS) Supported, Disabled Frequency ID Control Not Supported LongRun Not Supported LongRun Table Interface Not Supported PowerSaver 1.0 Not Supported PowerSaver 2.0 Not Supported PowerSaver 3.0 Not Supported Processor Duty Cycle Control Supported Software Thermal Control Not Supported Temperature Sensing Diode Not Supported Thermal Monitor 1 Supported Thermal Monitor 2 Supported Thermal Monitoring Not Supported Thermal Trip Not Supported Voltage ID Control Not Supported
A bit of research tells me that Dothan's didn't have any on-die temp sensors. Apparently this can read temps from it but I've never used it.
Thank you, saspro, Well, my problems have been solved. I am now trying the hardware monitor you suggested. It does not show any CPU temperature, but it's a good tool.
Well, I don't know what 'Rep?' stands for, so I cannot reply. Anyway, this forum has been the most helpful of all I posted my problem at. Thank you all who considered my posting and especially to saspro, who provided the best solution. academica
