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Dell Insprion 9300 CPU won't run at max capable speed

post #1 of 34
5/10/10 at 1:34am
Thread Starter 
I have a Dell Inspiron 9300 notebook and am wondering if it's time for a replacement. Things were fine until about a week or two ago where the system was running a bit sluggish in Linux during the more CPU intensive stuff like compiling and VMWare. When the CPU kicks into max speed the fan usually goes off as well and since about a week or two ago the fan has been on almost constantly. Figuring I could live with the machine running in max speed I didn't think much of it until now. Running RightMark CPU Clock Utility (RMClock) under Windows I'm told the speed is around 800MHz, as well as the utilities in Linux. Weird thing is the info under System Properties General Tab tell me it's running at 1.86GHz... BIOS tells me the min is 800MHz and max is 1.86GHz, however it is currently at 800MHz. Running the usual stuff in Windows and Linux that I know usually would spike the CPU into max speed no longer does this. Anyone have any suggestions?
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post #2 of 34
5/10/10 at 4:02am
Did you disable speedstep at some point? That would lock it into it's lowest multiplier. aka 800mhz.
You can't use RMclock to force it at its max multiplier?
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post #3 of 34
5/10/10 at 11:13am
Thread Starter 
I know I've never gone into the BIOS itself to even look at Speedstep ever since it was working... I may have messed around with the Power profiles in Windows, but changing it to Always On or Maximum Performance should correct whatever changes I made. I have not tried to force it at its max multiplier... can you give me some details on how to do so so I don't make things worse?
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post #4 of 34
5/11/10 at 1:20pm
Ok, well, just to make sure speedstep is on, first of course run system restore to a point before the problem started. If that fails.
Go into the bios by either hitting f12 or f2 a bunch for dells I think, when you see the dell logo on the screen. Pour through the options until you see one that says speedstep and make sure its on, even then, turn it off, reboot back into bios and turn it on, you never know right!

If that still doesn't work I'll direct you to another program that I seem obsessed about named rmclock to make sure that smth is screwed up and to replace windows power management.
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post #5 of 34
5/11/10 at 3:47pm
Are you sure your not over heating and the system is down clocking ?
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post #6 of 34
5/11/10 at 10:30pm
Thread Starter 
I can't say for sure the system is not over heating, causing the system to down clock, but according to the temps reported in Linux and the BIOS it does not seem to be overheating. When I first turn on the notebook and go into the BIOS I can see that it is reported as running at 1.86GHz, but shortly afterward it does drop back to 800MHz and never goes back.

Unfortunately I do not have System Restore turned on so there's no point to go back to. I have tried turning off SpeedStep and enabling again, as well as reflashing the BIOS to no avail.

I actually do have RMClock in Windows, but don't know how to use it exactly other than to see what the current speed is. Please shed some light on this matchbox2022.
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post #7 of 34
5/11/10 at 10:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dave-p View Post
Are you sure your not over heating and the system is down clocking ?
Possibly mate but I don't think so due to the fact it stays at minimum p-state and isn't a precentage drop as opposed to a multiplier drop, but rmclock would tell you if there was throttling too for sure.
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post #8 of 34
5/11/10 at 11:00pm
Thread Starter 
RMClock tells me Core Clock and Throttle are both roughly 798MHz... what does this mean exactly and is there a way to fix or force it to run at max?
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post #9 of 34
5/11/10 at 11:26pm
Did u check for speedstep being on? otherwise only the lowest multiplier will be on. again check ur bios.
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post #10 of 34
5/11/10 at 11:27pm
Also to note, rmclock has its own drivers, but those also need the chipset drivers to help it control the cpu. If something is effed with those it may also default to the lowest multiplier, thats just me extrapolating though.
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post #11 of 34
5/11/10 at 11:28pm
Thread Starter 
Yes, in the BIOS it is set to Enabled. I've already tried setting it to Off, saving, rebooting and then turn it back to Enabled...
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post #12 of 34
5/11/10 at 11:38pm
Thread Starter 
Would wiping out Windows and installing from scratch fix this?
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post #13 of 34
5/11/10 at 11:59pm
Shat. No idea. Now I'm out of ideas.

If you'd HAVE to re-install the chipset drivers, that might work, just re-installing windows will hopefully be enough so long as in other OSes like ur linux one there isn't any issues. That's all I can think of too man, hopefully someone else on here knows what to do.
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post #14 of 34
5/17/10 at 1:16am
Thread Starter 
I guess one final question in regards to this is, is this a problem with the CPU or a problem with the mainboard? If it's a CPU, I may be able to obtain one for cheap and replace.
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post #15 of 34
5/17/10 at 3:37am
Smth tells me its windows still...

probably mainboard if not windows if the bios is reporting it correctly :P
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post #16 of 34
7/31/10 at 3:33pm
Argh!!! Same thing is going on with my I9300. Came with a 1.6Ghz CPU, 2 years ago I added a 1.6Ghz 400Mhz CPU running it at 2.1Ghz w/Rightmark. (My pin mods didn't seem to work) But in games I was getting weird stuttering that I could only think was the CPU. So I picked up a new 2.13 PM 770 and installed it last night...and its stuck on 800Mhz.

I've tried removing rightmark, cleaned the registry, re-installed the Bios re-installed chip drivers etc. Nothing is working.

Help! This is a head scratcher!
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post #17 of 34
8/1/10 at 12:56am
Thread Starter 
Run the diagnostics mode and have it check your fans... I sold the system as-is to someone on eBay who told me that after running through the built-in Dell diagnostics the culprit was a dead fan.
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post #18 of 34
8/1/10 at 9:20pm
Just recently replaced the CPU fan, can feel it working fine atm......
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post #19 of 34
8/1/10 at 9:29pm
make sure speedstep is enabled in the BIOS
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post #20 of 34
8/3/10 at 1:31am
It is, turned off and on, even reloaded the Bios....
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