5150 processor speed STUCK! :(

I've reinstalled win xp home on my inspiron 5150, put all of the software back on, and left of all that dell junk like media experience and quickset. I found that, no matter what power scheme i was running, and whether i was running from AC or battery, the CPU speed wouldn't scale down from 3.2ghz! this is bad for battery obviously, so i reinstalled quickset, hoping it would offer some relief, unfortunately to no avail...any suggestions

thanx

 

It's been a while since I used the 5150, but try going into the system BIOS at startup and see if there is an option to enable Intel SpeedStep...if there is, go ahead and enable.

Second, I recommend downloading SpeedSwitch XP from this website: http://www.diefer.de/speedswitchxp/index.html It is a program that allows you to set the speed (either 3.2 ghz or 1.6, or the it will automatically adjust according to CPU load) of your computer depending on whether you are on battery or plugged in.

I personally like version 1.3 over 1.4, but either allows for better control of what setting you want your CPU at.

Let me know if this works.

 

Another thing you can try is taking a look at the Power Management settings for your notebook. If you re-installed XP manually, it's possibly the Power Management settings would be on the Desktop or Always On option. This will keep your CPU at MAX speed always. Change the setting to Portable/Laptop and the CPU speed should drop when on battery.

-Vb-

 

I think going into the BIOS is the way to go. I have a Pentium M and saw the speedstep enabler in the BIOS.

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Fujitsu S6210: 1.6Ghz PM ~ 768MB RAM ~ 60GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
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thanks for the advice guys, but unfortunately it seems to be a bit more difficult than it first appears![} ]

The BIOS option was set to enable speedstep, disabling it locks processor speed to 1.6ghz..
windows was set to portable/laptop, than max battery, i fiddled with quickset settings etc etc...still no change
evemtually i had a search on the dell forums, and it seems like quite a few users are experiencing similar problems

apparently after reinstalling XP, new processor drivers, chipset drivers and dell system software have to be installed. These were installed on the computer when i received it, but are only available from the US support website, and not on the original cds!

so now i'm searching for intel chipset drivers, which AREN't available from their website![V]

any ideas?

 

It should be on the website, in fact I just checked. You need to go to Dell.com, then customer support, then downloads, find your system (which I chose the 5150) and all the chipset drivers are there.