Intel processor at wrong speed

[goodwitch777]

I would like to know if anyone knows what would cause a cpu to reduce
speed. I have a Pentium D 940/3.20 Dual core. The machine was
freezing and sluggish, and after running Belarc, I noted that the
processor was reporting as a 2.13 rather than 3.20. I reset the Bios
settings and selected the optimum settings, and it now seems fine and
is reporting correctly. I am just wondering if this is a possible
hardware problem starting with either the CPU or motherboard or if it
could have been caused by software (utility programs, etc I use Fix-it
Utils). I have a couple months of warranty left on the CPU and am
wondering if there are some diagnostics I can run to check out the
mobo and cpu. I am getting ready for a reformat on the machine, as it
has been slow.

 

[Paul]

I would like to know if anyone knows what would cause a cpu to reduce
speed. I have a Pentium D 940/3.20 Dual core. The machine was
freezing and sluggish, and after running Belarc, I noted that the
processor was reporting as a 2.13 rather than 3.20. I reset the Bios
settings and selected the optimum settings, and it now seems fine and
is reporting correctly. I am just wondering if this is a possible
hardware problem starting with either the CPU or motherboard or if it
could have been caused by software (utility programs, etc I use Fix-it
Utils). I have a couple months of warranty left on the CPU and am
wondering if there are some diagnostics I can run to check out the
mobo and cpu. I am getting ready for a reformat on the machine, as it
has been slow.

Doing some quick arithmetic, it looks like the CPU input clock was
set to 133MHz, instead of 200MHz. The frequency values don't suggest
a multiplier value issue. 133 * 16 = 2133MHz. 200 * 16 = 3200MHz.
16 is the nominal multiplier.

http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL95W

I would check the CPU Support charts on the motherboard website.
There may be multiple BIOS revisions, and proper support may
require a certain minimum BIOS version. Other than that, there
is nothing to suggest you have a hardware problem. I'd be
more curious how it got set that way in the BIOS.

I have more details if you want them, but those details at the
moment appear irrelevant.

State the motherboard make and model, and the BIOS revision
for further details. While the BIOS screen stuff is printing,
you can press the "Pause" key, to make the screen output stand
still. Press another key, for it to continue on. (It's something like
that... I don't want to reboot right now to verify that.)

Some motherboards, if the machine crashes, return to
"Safe Settings". That could account for a situation where
your BIOS settings appear to have changed, without human
assistance. On an Asus board, they call this "overclocking
failure", but *any* event which is a crash can do it. It
doesn't require overclocking, to cause the BIOS to
go to "Safe Settings". It could be, for some reason,
that Safe happens to be 133MHz. But more background info
on the make and model is required, to factor that in.

Paul

 

[goodwitch777]

Doing some quick arithmetic, it looks like the CPU input clock was
set to 133MHz, instead of 200MHz. The frequency values don't suggest
a multiplier value issue. 133 * 16 = 2133MHz. 200 * 16 = 3200MHz.
16 is the nominal multiplier.

http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL95W

I would check the CPU Support charts on the motherboard website.
There may be multiple BIOS revisions, and proper support may
require a certain minimum BIOS version. Other than that, there
is nothing to suggest you have a hardware problem. I'd be
more curious how it got set that way in the BIOS.

I have more details if you want them, but those details at the
moment appear irrelevant.

State the motherboard make and model, and the BIOS revision
for further details. While the BIOS screen stuff is printing,
you can press the "Pause" key, to make the screen output stand
still. Press another key, for it to continue on. (It's something like
that... I don't want to reboot right now to verify that.)

Some motherboards, if the machine crashes, return to
"Safe Settings". That could account for a situation where
your BIOS settings appear to have changed, without human
assistance. On an Asus board, they call this "overclocking
failure", but *any* event which is a crash can do it. It
doesn't require overclocking, to cause the BIOS to
go to "Safe Settings". It could be, for some reason,
that Safe happens to be 133MHz. But more background info
on the make and model is required, to factor that in.

    Paul

I'm curious as to why it would be changed...as it was originally set
to 200Mhz, and is now. I don't know if software can change that. But
I am running a Biostar P4M900-M7 FE motherboard, upgrading soon to
another Biostar...TP45HP that my daughter discarded on her last
upgrade..probably upgrading my CPU as well, but want to be sure the
current config is worth saving as I have 6 puters in the house (all my
builds) that I would like to keep good parts for. I have been working
this system hard, and maybe something forced the motherboard to safe
mode, but do you know a utility to check it before my 12 months is up?

 

[Paul]

I'm curious as to why it would be changed...as it was originally set
to 200Mhz, and is now. I don't know if software can change that. But
I am running a Biostar P4M900-M7 FE motherboard, upgrading soon to
another Biostar...TP45HP that my daughter discarded on her last
upgrade..probably upgrading my CPU as well, but want to be sure the
current config is worth saving as I have 6 puters in the house (all my
builds) that I would like to keep good parts for. I have been working
this system hard, and maybe something forced the motherboard to safe
mode, but do you know a utility to check it before my 12 months is up?

P4M900-M7 FE 7.0

http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/content.php?S_ID=314

Well, I had a look through the manuals, and don't see a specific
recovery procedure after a crash. There is the ability to set
CPU frequency, but that should also have worked correctly by means
of the BSEL pins on the LGA 775 processor contacts. They should
have automatically indicated 200MHz.

As far as testing the system goes, I might use Prime95 to
evaluate the overall health. But that test doesn't say something
like "your system is 86% healthy". This is a non-specific test,
which creates a load on the processor, and that helps indicate
whether the computer would work properly if later loaded to
the same level.

http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft/

"Windows Vista/XP/2003/2000/NT/Me/98/95: Download p95v259.zip,
version 25.9, last updated March 15, 2009."

http://mersenneforum.org/gimps/p95v259.zip

That test program, runs a test thread per processor core.
It heats up the processor, testing the processor under conditions
that simulate 100% CPU loading. If a computing error is detected,
the test thread stops and reports the error. If the system is
healthy, a test like this should run for hours without error,
and a hardware monitoring program, one that reads out temperature,
should report a CPU temperature below 65C. 65C is a good target
for cooling effectiveness - you want the CPU cooler to work well
enough, to keep the CPU below 65C during a test run. Otherwise,
an Intel CPU could throttle itself.

When the program starts, you don't need to "Join GIMPs", as you're
"just stress testing". You can use a blended test. On my system,
where I have 2GB of memory, the program offers to test 1600MB of
memory while testing. What you select for the quantity of memory,
should not exceed the free physical memory available on the
system (otherwise, Prime95 would run slower and not be as effective).

Paul

 

[SC Tom]

I would like to know if anyone knows what would cause a cpu to reduce
speed. I have a Pentium D 940/3.20 Dual core. The machine was
freezing and sluggish, and after running Belarc, I noted that the
processor was reporting as a 2.13 rather than 3.20. I reset the Bios
settings and selected the optimum settings, and it now seems fine and
is reporting correctly. I am just wondering if this is a possible
hardware problem starting with either the CPU or motherboard or if it
could have been caused by software (utility programs, etc I use Fix-it
Utils). I have a couple months of warranty left on the CPU and am
wondering if there are some diagnostics I can run to check out the
mobo and cpu. I am getting ready for a reformat on the machine, as it
has been slow.

As Paul said in his second reply, make sure cooling is good. Also, does the
CPU throttle itself when inactive? I have an Intel Core2
Duo Mobile Processor T8300 running at 2.4GHz that will throttle down to
about 1.6GHz when I'm not doing anything, and fire up to 2.2GHz when running
something intensive. This can be visually tracked with CPU-Z from
www.cpuid.com. I like that program for informational purposes, and use one
of their other freebies HWMonitor for temperature monitoring.

SC Tom