E6400 overheating throttling

Dell replaced the mainboard this morning (with a refurb'ed one, grr) and suprise suprise the issue still persists. I escalated my case to a "floor manager" at Dell EMEA Workstation Support who suggested that my issue will be resolved by disabling Intel Speedstep in the BIOS. He has agreed to take the ThrottleStop logs with and without speedstep enabled to take the case forward but I'm not hopeful. He also suggested CPU-Z which I am yet to research.

Last time I tried disabling speedstep the machine just ran slowly all the time (allbeit not ground to a halt). I paid for the performance of the T9600 and I'm not inclined to accept reduced performance all the time as a resolution to this problem!

 

Keep us posted. Since I already had a motherboard replacement I might just hassle Dell because with the Summer heat my laptop heats up to throttling point much easier.

Unclewebb -- would it help you if I sent you a similar log as above? I'm not so interested in fixing the issue (I won't go through another motherboard replacement) but if it somehow helps you with your program I'd be very willing to help.

 

tomcastleman: Disabling SpeedStep sounds like a great fix. On most Dells when you do that the multiplier gets locked to 6.0 so your high performance CPU will be running at 1596 MHz.

CPU-Z is the industry standard but it does not show clock modulation directly. It will combine this with the reduced multiplier and start reporting multipliers that physically are not possible. As long as a person understands that then it too will show the throttling problem.

HerrKaputt: Thanks for the offer but I think I've got enough data. If you have some data that clearly shows throttling then upload it and post a link here so other users can see what to expect. We know what the problem is and we know that ThrottleStop can be used to greatly improve things but ultimately, it is up to Dell to own up to this problem and properly fix it.

I don't think we will ever see that happening on the Latitude E6400. It's cheaper to upgrade a few users that figure this out and complain about it compared to admitting that there is a massive problem that can only be fixed with a recall of millions of Dell laptops that all have the exact same problems. This same throttling is happening in the high performance Alienware M5x and M17x as well as some high dollar Precision mobile workstations and the XPS 16 line and the Studio line and the Inspiron line, and, and, the list goes on and on. The sad part is that Dell is getting away with this. Most users don't have the time or know how to figure out why their laptop is running so slow sometimes so they have to suffer with their over priced and under performing laptop.

Edit: Here is a copy of the 59 page pdf document that Randall Cotton (aka. tinkerdude) wrote that thoroughly exposes the throttling problem in his Latitude E6500.

http://www.mediafire.com/?1gnwmozzy0w

This document was released on July 31, 2009. What has Dell done since then to fix this problem? They've accomplished absolutely nothing. While originally reading this I became so disgusted at Dell that I immediately started working on ThrottleStop that day to give users a chance to use their laptops at full speed.

 

Having sent Dell screenshots and logs of Throttlestop they now want to replace the processor. The first line tech guy told me that if this is a hardware issue then it can only be the mainboard or the processor. Failing that I would have to format my harddrive and reinstall Windows. I told him what I thought of that suggestion!

The "floor manager" told me that if he escalated this issue further I would only be told that this problem is by design.

As a sign of goodwill they are replacing the T9600 with a T9800. Whilst I appreciate this gesture I do not feel it will fix the problem but am prepared to give it a go. I will keep you all updated once I have the new processor tomorrow!

Edit: The "floor manager" also said that ThrottleStop is not a supported application however they were accepting my data and findings as another gesture of goodwill.

Thanks

 

I wonder how many people at Dell could actually understand what you're
talking about. Probably a very few hidden away in a lab somewhere.

Paul P

 

tomcastleman: I think you need to escalate this matter further. The people you are dealing with are out to lunch.

A T9800 will tend to make the problem worse because it runs faster. The faster you go, the more power is consumed and the sooner you're going to hit the throttling point and slow down to a crawl.

Tell the "floor manager" that you didn't pay for a netbook so why is it performing like one? Less than one actually when clock modulation starts kicking in. Some netbooks have multipliers down around 6.5 or 7.0 but that's not what you paid for.

If they don't like ThrottleStop then tell the tech to bring some of Dell's in house software that he can run along side ThrottleStop. CPU-Z and HWiNFO32 are both capable of showing the throttling issues so you can ask the tech why all these different programs all show a problem.

Edit: Core Temp has been improved lately too. It won't show clock modulation but it will show the multiplier in the toilet. Here's the 32 and 64 bit beta version.

http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/CoreTemp32Beta2.rar
http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/CoreTemp64Beta2.rar

Contact the Michael Dell email address and tell them that you know what's going on so it's time for them to come up with a solution or to fully refund what you paid for this laptop that is defective.

 

I agree. I would be trying to get the P9700 which is the fastest of the P series which as a 10W lower power rating than the T series.

John

 

Dell engineer came out today and installed a T9900 (they told me it would be a T9800). Anyway will let you know how it goes.

 

@ unclewebb: I am newbie and suffering my Dell latitude e6400's problems. I am really interested in your ThrottleStop. Hopefully it could help my situation. By the way, could you add some tweak in Throttlestop so it can be started with windows? That must be great.

 

ThrottleStop 2.54
http://www.mediafire.com/?mnznfjoy2yy

If you want this to start up with Windows then drag a link to ThrottleStop into your StartUp folder or add it to the Task Scheduler. Either method works. I don't like adding anything to a user's registry, even if they ask me to, so you'll have to use one of these options.

If your Latitude is severely throttling then a couple of quick mouse clicks in ThrottleStop can make a huge difference.

tomcastleman: Part of the game is to make the customer think that he is getting a good deal so he is less likely to complain. A T9900 would be a great CPU if it didn't throttle and was allowed to run at full speed. I would be very surprised if this new T9900 made any positive change to your problem.