Pentium-M SpeedStep not working

[nkjg]

Hey everyone,

I've got a Compaq Laptop with the Centrino branding.

Pentium-M 1.4Ghz
512 MB PC2100 DDR RAM
40GB HD
WinXP Home

I've noticed that in the past few days, the speedstep
technology that is built in for the Pentium-M chip hasn't
been working properly. Under System Properties, the
processor speed is constantly shown as 1.4 GHz when i've
seen it as low as 255MHz before. It'll run that fast even
when I'm just sitting here typing away in Word or Outlook
or something.

I've tried re-installing all the drivers I could find
regarding the chipset and processor from Compaq, but no
luck. I even ran a repair install this morning and still
nothing has changed.

As you can probably guess, I paid an extra fee for the
laptop that should have a much longer battery life. I'd
like to get my money's worth! =P

Any suggestions?

Nick
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

It sounds as though the next step would be to contact Compaq, especially if
your system is still under warranty.

 

[nkjg]

Hey there,

I did some searching through various forums and found the
(VERY SIMPLE) solution to my problem.

Compaq laptops don't come with any extra power
configuration software, so they use the built in APM
(Advanced Power Management) in WinXP.

Depending on what power setting you're using, windows
will adjust the processor speed accordingly. I had set my
power scheme to "Always On", meaning that Windows always
set the processor to it's maximum speed. I changed it
back to "Presentation" and the SpeedSteping is working
like it should.

Hope this helps someone else with a similar type of
problem.

Nick
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

Thanks for the information.