Laptop Processor Speed Keeps Changing

[JCO]

I have a friend's laptop at my house. I'm cleaning off the spyware. Hoping
to
speed the thing up. The laptop is an HP Pavilion ZE4500 that has an Athlon
XP2500 in it. I know desktop's running the Athlon 2500 run at
approximately 2.00 GHz. I'm not sure what the laptop is suppose to run (if
it is different).

First Question:
Dose anybody know the speed of a laptop running the Athlon XP2500?

When I do a Properties on "My Computer" the computer fluctuates from 519Mhz
to 1.86Mhz. I'm trying to figure out what would change this processor
speed. Why wouldn't stay at 1.86 (assuming that 1.86 is the max). The
battery is fully charged and I'm running with the laptop plugged into the
wall. If it is part of an Energy Conservation, logic tells me that it
should not drop in power when it is plugged in.

Is there a better way to determine the processor speed?

Other Question:
Can someone clear this up?
Can it be a power problem (battery or power converter)?
Can it be Energy Conservation (although it is plugged in and the battery is
fully charged).

Thanks (sorry about having so many questions)

 

[Malke]

I have a friend's laptop at my house. I'm cleaning off the spyware.
Hoping to
speed the thing up. The laptop is an HP Pavilion ZE4500 that has an
Athlon
XP2500 in it. I know desktop's running the Athlon 2500 run at
approximately 2.00 GHz. I'm not sure what the laptop is suppose to
run (if it is different).

First Question:
Dose anybody know the speed of a laptop running the Athlon XP2500?

When I do a Properties on "My Computer" the computer fluctuates from
519Mhz
to 1.86Mhz. I'm trying to figure out what would change this processor
speed. Why wouldn't stay at 1.86 (assuming that 1.86 is the max).
The battery is fully charged and I'm running with the laptop plugged
into the
wall. If it is part of an Energy Conservation, logic tells me that it
should not drop in power when it is plugged in.

Is there a better way to determine the processor speed?

Other Question:
Can someone clear this up?
Can it be a power problem (battery or power converter)?
Can it be Energy Conservation (although it is plugged in and the
battery is fully charged).

Thanks (sorry about having so many questions)

Actually, your friend's laptop sounds pretty normal. It probably has
some sort of Speed Stepping utility running. Laptops usually have
proprietary power management software from the laptop mftr. Look at
what came with the laptop and check its settings. You might want to
look on the OEM's website for that specific laptop model to see if
there is any updated software for it.

Malke

 

[Mark]

*Subject:* Laptop Processor Speed Keeps Changing
*From:* " JCO" <[email protected]>
*Date:* Mon, 20 Dec 2004 20:43:07 GMT

I have a friend's laptop at my house. I'm cleaning off the spyware.
Hoping
to
speed the thing up. The laptop is an HP Pavilion ZE4500 that has an Athlon
XP2500 in it. I know desktop's running the Athlon 2500 run at
approximately 2.00 GHz. I'm not sure what the laptop is suppose to run (if
it is different).

First Question:
Dose anybody know the speed of a laptop running the Athlon XP2500?

When I do a Properties on "My Computer" the computer fluctuates from 519Mhz
to 1.86Mhz. I'm trying to figure out what would change this processor
speed. Why wouldn't stay at 1.86 (assuming that 1.86 is the max). The
battery is fully charged and I'm running with the laptop plugged into the
wall. If it is part of an Energy Conservation, logic tells me that it
should not drop in power when it is plugged in.

Is there a better way to determine the processor speed?

Other Question:
Can someone clear this up?
Can it be a power problem (battery or power converter)?
Can it be Energy Conservation (although it is plugged in and the battery is
fully charged).

Thanks (sorry about having so many questions)

Sometimes (it does on my laptop) setting the Power Scheme to Home/Office Desk
instead of Portable/Laptop will keep the CPU at maximum speed.

Mark

 

[Geoff Briedé]

Hi,

That laptop changing speed is normal behaviour - it's a power saving
feature. You should be able to go into the BIOS and turn off the
"SpeedStep" or whatever it's called by AMD processors. Intel calls it
SpeedStep. Be warned, battery consumption will drastically increase as will
the heat the laptop generates.

It's probably not a good idea to disable it - especially with AMD
processors; they are known for melting down a lot sooner than Intel
processors.

Good luck.

- G