M15x on battery results in slow performance issue

I'll toss my hat in here as I've experienced very choppy browsing/video playback previously.

Specs should be in my sig, but I'm using A05 and the Beta Dell Drivers 257.30.

1 & 2. I experience it mostly when there is a flash video embedded in a site and it happens whether the video has been qued up to stream or just embedded and im scrolling over it.
3. No
4. No
5. Happens on Youtube, zshare, novamov, megavideo, wisevid, and i've noticed the embedded video stuttering happen a lot on mmo-champion.com

I'll keep watching this thread and will help as much as I can!

 

Thanks guys! Every bit helps. Now I'm having the hardest time keeping my display driver from crashing/throttling.

 

Sucks to say but it brings weight off my shoulders knowing that I am not the only one with (VERY) slow performance issues while on batter in High Performance mode.

I was trying to watch a 720 P video last night while on battery and it would stutter very badly. I also noticed that while on batter , my GPU clocks would not go higher than 300/400 for some odd reason.

 

Well, just taking a stab here... did you make sure to perform a clean install of Flash 10.1 when updating the display driver? See the notes here (anyone on 10.1 Beta should perform these steps):

Adobe - Common Flash Player download and installation issues (Windows)

Also, if I am not mistaken, the 257.30 Dell Beta NV driver is not certified for the M15x - meaning its not listed on the 15x driver page. Not saying it makes a difference (I have no idea as I have not looked at the INFs for either driver to determine if there is a 260M specific item), but its something to consider.

My guess is a proper clean install of 10.1 (since you are on the 257.30 driver) will probably resolve the flash video quirks you are seeing. If not, go back to the 15x NV driver listed on the support site and see if the flash issues persist - if they dont, you know its the driver. Also, if going back to the 15x dell driver, you need to perform another clean install of Flash.

 

But it's performing perfectly fine on A/C power, then stuttering on D/C. This is not a flash problem. Something is seriously wrong in the bios, or with the drivers.

 

Looking at HWinfo, this is the highest my CPU seems to go (give or take 100 MHz) while using the battery on high performance mode and everything set to 100% in command center. Does this seem right?

 

I'm sure the CPU is just being scaled back way too far when on battery... just my .02

I'm sure AW/Dell will figure it out

 

There are two completely different types of clock modulation. You can either access the CPU directly and request clock modulation or you can access the chipset so it can request clock modulation. ThrottleStop reports both of these separately; CKMOD and CHIPM.

Most of the Dells I've seen use one type or the other but not both at the same time. There are completely separate so it is possible to use both at the same time but I don't like to talk about that because it might give someone at Dell another brilliant idea. When combined, performance really takes a hit.

Each type of clock modulation causes the CPU to slow down internally but they are not the same. The percentage numbers are approximations. Intel says the exact reduction in performance varies depending on the CPU model. I've found that you tend to lose more performance when chipset clock modulation is being used compared to regular clock modulation.

The best way to test the impact of each type of clock modulation is to run 8 threads of wPrime on a Core i7 QM while on AC power. Both types of modulation should be at 100% which shows that the CPU is running at 100% of its designed potential. Your wPrime performance should be much better if you can do a 32M run while they are both at 100% the whole time. Now do the same test and use ThrottleStop to lock either one of these to 50%. Performance will take a big hit. Try a wPrime test with chipset clock modulation locked to 25% and you'll quickly, or not so quickly, understand why this is killing your laptop's performance when you are on battery power. It's unacceptable for Dell to be doing this without notifying users what's going on.

Neither type of clock modulation should be used on a CPU except under extreme situations like a loose CPU heatsink or maybe a fan failure but many Dell laptops are using one type of modulation or the other to control power consumption and for a variety of other reasons. They shouldn't be doing this.

 

the system does downclock with battery, but i have no issues with video playback or internet. have you guys checked the wireless settings in your power management? should be maximum performance. also a good idea to list what battery you guys have 6 or 9 cell.

 

Unfortunately, everything is already at maximum performance.

 

HWiNFO32 combines the clock modulation reductions and shows that as a reduced BCLK MHz. The external BCLK is not changing when this is going on but internally the CPU starts ignoring BCLK signals. That's what clock modulation is all about. This is used to protect batteries that are not capable of fully powering these computers at full speed.

 

Thanks for the reply Webb - appreciate your detailed response. With this one however, since not every owner is seeing it, I look forward to seeing whatever they come up with. My guess is its a driver issue - could be wrong, but we will have to wait and see.

Keep posting guys - the more info from people who are seeing this, the better. Be sure to include as much detail as you can. Since Chris is posting, we know they are looking at it.

 

so everyone who has this issue has the 6 cell battery right?

 

Kinda defeats the purpose of even making a gaming laptop to begin with. If this is the case why even bother offering 6-cell or 9-call when you are going to get crappy performance anyways.

I have the 9-cell battery BTW and 'm seeing the performance issues. especially when watching videos

 

All,

You must be using the Dell approved video card driver. We will not test any 3rd party or hacked drivers. I need all of your service tag numbers and video card driver versions sent to me via private message.

We are not able to reproduce the issue with the GeForce GT 240M video card. If you have the issue and that video card, I need your service tag number in a private message.

For owners of the Ati Radeon 5850M or the GeForce GTX 260M, download and install the Dell approved video card driver and retest. Before you do this, let me know what revision of 3rd party or hacked driver you are using now.

 

All max settings, mirrored to AC specs for all options and all 3 power plans.

6 cell here.

 

I have an older Dell D830 and the moment you go from AC to battery, it automatically changes clock modulation from 100.0% to 75.0%. The modulation lasts for exactly 9 seconds and then it returns to normal and gets set back to 100.0% while on battery power. Does anything similar happen to the M15x? It might be a bug where this does not get reset so clock modulation and poor performance on battery power continues for some users.

If I switch back to AC during this 9 second time period, the clock modulation immediately switches back to 100.0%.

 

I will PM you the information now. As for the "hacked" driver, check the "New Owners Guide" sticky in this forum. Should be one of the first things on there. I have a 6-cell as well.

 

the M15x never clocks back up, the chipset clock mod would lower to 37.5% and stay there. but with throttle stop enabled no issues.

 

That might be by intention - to reduce power consumption during the switch (to cover a current peak). When you change power supply to battery it might not immediately provide the current required (cover a high current draft). Depends on particular design..

 

It's fine to momentarily reduce power consumption when switching from AC to battery to protect the battery but clock modulation should not be left on indefinitely. That's a bug or poor design. Either way it should be fixed.

 

Hey guys. Somewhat good news pertaining to other issues I was having:
I uninstalled ALL ATI drivers then reinstalled DELL's official driver and it fixed all of my driver crashes and throttling. Unfortunately, I am still experiencing the same frustrating choppy video playback as before, but I have finally narrowed my problems down to just that.

 

Alright, so what's going on with this? I haven't heard anything yet.

 

^^ exact same for me,
i also use rivatuner to put the 260 back into propper speeds. my battery life goes to hell though.
since i use this as a lan party gaming machine, i'm always plugged in so meh.

zswick, so you're not getting throttling anymore, but still getting choppy playback?

 

I am definitely still having choppy playback and my GPU throttles when I'm on battery but it no longer throttles on A/C. Which is good . As far as the CPU, nothing has changed there. Still have the slow performance on battery with that.

 

Reading that statement made me think that everything was fixed. You have to be careful what you say or else people might get the wrong impression.

Run and post a ThrottleStop log file and a GPU-Z log file. If you still have throttling issues of CPU or GPU or both then clearly show and document the problem to support your case. Also be specific about what drivers and software versions you are using, etc. when throttling occurs so any user can duplicate your testing. Dell likes to pretend that these are all one off problems so the more people complaining about the same thing, the better your chances are of getting something fixed.

 

I am sorry I was not clear, but notice I said "pertaining to OTHER issues I was having". I thought that would be enough.

As far as the information, I have already posted both logs and you have already looked at them. I am the one that got the dell rep to look into this thread. He has all of the information he needs as of right now.

 

Sorry to bump an old thread but I have the same issue. Any updates with this?

 

I haven't heard anything yet. I will email Chris again later and see what he says.

 

I think majority of M15x owners have this issue if I'm not mistaken. I can clearly see the performance degrade by a lot when on battery even with high performance enabled. I'm gonna call Alienware and bother the hell out of them until they can give me a reasonable explanation other than probably ( It's to conserve battery life ) If I want my battery to die in 30 minutes it's my decision not theirs.

 

The faster you discharge the battery, the hotter it gets. Heat can damage your battery permanently. That might be a reason why dell does what it does.

 

makes sense ... didn't think of that.

Just wish I was able to watch a 720p video on battery without any hiccups.

 

Thanks for the updates. Let me know what dell has to say then. I would at least like to watch HD content while on the go but I can't even do that. My iPhone is just as capable as my m15x when on batter life

 

I think it's more along the lines of how many watts the battery is able to produce. I don't think it can equal the 150w charger.

 

thats incorrect. Batteries do not have a Watt rating (they have Watt-Hour, which is something different) as they can in theory provide as much power as required. I actually ran my laptop on full power (by accident) thanks to running throttlestop + clevo ati (which the bios doesnt know how to downclock).

 

Woops! It was just a guess. I guess I don't really care about the cause or speculation, I just want it to work. Maybe one of these days it will

 

i'm just going by RC planes (a hobby of mine) but the Li-ion (and more e recently Li-poly) have limiters to reduce the risk of overheating. It's not too bad for Li-ion with it just becoming damaged quicker than normal, but those Li-poly batts are scary... if you charge them after they are damaged they can explode... and i've heard the guys talk about a 6 foot jet flame for a minute as well as shattered windows. I guess that's why they're not using those "improved" batts in laptops ey?

 

Hi,

I work with Alienware Quality and we have been trying to reproduce your issues but cannot duplicate. Please ensure you have m15x BIOS A06 and also that the video drivers are dell approved drivers from the dell support page.

If you still have the issue, please send me a private message (caes2004) so we can work together.

Thanks, Adriana

 

I just sent you a private message with the information. Can I ask how you have tried to reproduce this and failed? I can reassure you that it is not hard to duplicate. Pull the plug, there you go.

 

FYI Everyone -

Adriana (caes2004) is an AW rep. If you receive a PM asking for additional information, feel free to work with her. I promise she is not trying to steal your service tag

 

i did this a few times with no problems. this problem is weird video play back should be fine even if the system downclocks. how much is it downclocking when on battery?

 

Check this out... http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m15x/506551-stealth-mode-even-battery.html

This is how low it downclocks too when on battery. I currently received an e-mail from alienware support that supposedly they can't seem to recreate the problem. I'm trying to see if they are willing to connect with me remotely through their support website so I can show them the difference.

 

Let us know how it goes! I refuse to believe that they can not recreate this problem. It's not like we're performing witchcraft or anything. We are simply unplugging our computers.

Guys, holy crap! It definitely helps to hit the stealth mode button while on battery. This is insane. Try it and let me know if it helps.

Dear DELL,
This does NOT mean that the problem is solved. Please do not stop looking into this case. I am merely providing clues that may help you solve any problems.

 

Just throwing this out there, I noticed there was not an option for speedstep in the A06 bios.... only turbo mode. Was it taken out in A06 or is it just me?

 

It's just you... The option is definitely there. BTW, I love top gear, nice stig avatar

 

Thanks. Maybe I somehow overlooked it, I will check. I am pretty sure I don't remember seeing it though.

And yeah man, Top Gear is awesome!

 

The only reason I know for a fact that it is there is because at the beginning of this thread it was the solution to turn it off, so I tried it (with A06) and successfully turned it off. Unfortunately that also turns off turbo mode for whatever reason, so it did not fix the problem.

 

Yep I just checked, I have the speedstep option, I just glanced under the wrong section in the bios, I was looking under performance options.

 

No biggie!

 

You notice the difference a lot when you hit the stealth mode button after you have ran throttlestop (Ofcourse this is all while on battery)

I think I can finally watch movies not on my laptop O_O