Dell Inspiron 600m only running at 600Mhz

[GoodThings]

For some reason, after a clean install of XP Pro and all driver updates from the dell service website, my computer is running only at 600Mhz. The processor is rated at 1.6, it is a Pentium M.

In the dell BIOS, there seem to be no options to change any of the clock settings.

What do I do now?

 

[Goran]

Right click desktop
Properties
Screen Saver
Power...
Under Power Schemes set it up to Always On or Home/Office Desk...

It is most likely on Max Battery or Laptop which cuts the CPU

 

[MrMike]

The CPU will automatically underclock itself when you're not pushing it.
Run CPU-Z, drag it to the side so you can see the clock speed, then open a bunch of apps and watch it rise.

 

[GoodThings]

The CPU will automatically underclock itself when you're not pushing it.
Run CPU-Z, drag it to the side so you can see the clock speed, then open a bunch of apps and watch it rise.

Thanks for the help, its been years since I'm been into computers. I've never heard of a processor changing clock speeds while running.

I have plugged the comp in, no change in clock rate, and I also tried running programs, no change in clock rate. Kind of odd...

 

[MrMike]

You don't see it go up with CPU-Z, or you're just checking system properties again while running some programs?

I rarely can catch system properties slowing a high clock speed on my 700m unless I'm running something which pegs the CPU at 100% constantly. Like encoding for example. Otherwise it sits at 600MHz.

 

[hennessy1]

I have plugged the comp in, no change in clock rate, and I also tried running programs, no change in clock rate. Kind of odd...

Did you bother to do what Goran said?

Because that will fix the problem...

 

[mwarps]

It's called speedstep, also sometimes called enhanced power state. find it in the bios and turn it off if you don't like it. It doesn't matter if you're not using the CPU anyway.

 

[workingnonstop]

Is the fan working? Flip the laptop over when it's on and take a look. My 600m was stuck at 600mhz when the fan had died... it was a temperature control thing. Dell replaced the fan and it worked fine again.

 

[The Real Zardoz]

Hi,

Some BIOS's don't always support speedstep disable - in fact, when speedstep is disabled, the CPU will always run in its lowest power state on some systems.

Try a command called 'powercfg' on the command line. This will tell you what settings your power profile is using for your CPU speed, example:

C:\>powercfg /q

Field Description          Value
-----------------          -----
Name                       Portable/Laptop
Numerical ID               1
Turn off monitor (AC)      Never
Turn off monitor (DC)      Never
Turn off hard disks (AC)   Never
Turn off hard disks (DC)   After 5 mins
System standby (AC)        Never
System standby (DC)        After 5 mins
System hibernates (AC)     Never
System hibernates (DC)     Never
Processor Throttle (AC)    ADAPTIVE
Processor Throttle (DC)    ADAPTIVE

Processor Throttle is what you're interested in. Adaptive is a good setting to have and this allows speedstep to function normally. Degrade will run the CPU in a reduced speedstep speed mode, constant will run it at the lowest speed constantly and none will allow the CPU to run in its highest speed.

I find degrade is always the best setting to use as it can sometimes run the CPU at even lower speeds than 'constant' - at least this was the case with my old Inspiron 8200.

This may not apply to you however other onlookers may find this useful. Every time I put my laptop to 'max battery' I'd lose a lot of my battery life. I thought my batteries were dead! Turns out that it somehow changed from 'degrade' to 'none' - obviously something I installed disabled CPU throttle.

If at any time it says NONE, you'll probably be running at full speed. Sometimes Windows can get it wrong, too. Try encoding some media or running super PI or similar and watch what happens.

 

[Destructo]

After its plugged up to the power try rebooting the pc and checking it again. For some reason my IBM T40 with a Pentium M 1.5ghz only seems to change clock speeds if I reboot the pc. But I don't have all the IBM software installed on it either, so that may be why.