Laptop Processor Speed Keeps Changing

[JCO]

I have a friends laptop that I'm cleaning off the spyware from. Hoping to
speed the thing up. The laptop is an HP Pavilion ZE4500 that has an Athlon
XP2500 in it. I know that desktops 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... not sure).

When I do a Properties on "My Computer" the computer fluctuates from 519Mhz
to 1.86GHz. 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. Can someone clear this up.

Thanks

 

[a nonymous]

| I have a friends laptop that I'm cleaning off the spyware from. Hoping to
| speed the thing up. The laptop is an HP Pavilion ZE4500 that has an Athlon
| XP2500 in it. I know that desktops 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... not sure).
|
| When I do a Properties on "My Computer" the computer fluctuates from 519Mhz
| to 1.86GHz. 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. Can someone clear this up.
|
| Thanks

It could be overheating, and switching to half-power mode. Check all the
power settings.

 

[JCO]

Thanks! I'm not sure what to check ... as far as the power settings. When
I check the Properties of the Desktop, I can see the power settings. This
allows you to customize how/when you want to switch to Screen Saver, or
turning off your disk, Hibernation... so forth.

I was trying to find out if the speed slows down when the battery gets low,
but I haven't found documentation on this yet. In this case, however, the
battery is fully charged and the computer is still plugged in. It seems to
switch between several different speeds and I can't isolate the Hows &
Whens.

Let me know if you have any other suggestions. I did consider the fact that
it could be a faulty battery!!

 

[Charles Gillen]

When I do a Properties on "My Computer" the computer fluctuates from
519Mhz to 1.86GHz. I'm trying to figure out what would change this
processor speed.

To conserve battery power and reduce heat, many laptops "throttle back" the
CPU to an idle speed whenever you are not pushing the system hard. Most
people work exactly the same way :^)

 

[a nonymous]

I have a friends laptop that I'm cleaning off the spyware from.
Hoping to speed the thing up.
The laptop is an HP Pavilion ZE4500 that has an Athlon XP2500 in it.
I know that desktops 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... not sure).

When I do a Properties on "My Computer" the computer fluctuates from
519Mhz to 1.86GHz. 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. Can someone clear this up.

Thanks


"a nonymous" <.> wrote:
It could be overheating, and switching to half-power mode.
Check all the power settings.

| Thanks! I'm not sure what to check ... as far as the power settings. When
| I check the Properties of the Desktop, I can see the power settings. This
| allows you to customize how/when you want to switch to Screen Saver, or
| turning off your disk, Hibernation... so forth.
|
| I was trying to find out if the speed slows down when the battery gets low,
| but I haven't found documentation on this yet. In this case, however, the
| battery is fully charged and the computer is still plugged in. It seems to
| switch between several different speeds and I can't isolate the Hows &
| Whens.
|
| Let me know if you have any other suggestions.
| I did consider the fact that it could be a faulty battery!!


Settings:

Control Panel
Power

There might be an entry specifically for this laptop, apart from the
generic one which comes with XP.

User Manual:
Printed booklt
Document on the hard drive
HP website

The speed may be reduced when the system is idle or when the battery
gets low. You have no way of knowing if the battery is really fully
charged. (The built-in battery monitor is only guessing.)
However, since the laptop is plugged into the wall, the above should
not be an issue (assuming that mains power is actually getting into
the laptop. There should be an indicator light for this.)

To isolate the battery as an issue, power down, unplug from the wall,
remove the battery pack (there may be more than one of these),
replug into the wall, power up and see what happens.


The laptop could be overheating:
environment too hot
poor air circulation under the laptop
clogged ventilation grilles
dust on the CPU/heatsink

fan not operational
some other hardware problem

maybe spyware is playing tricks

 

[JCO]

Thanks for your help (everybody).
I will research the this issue further. You guys got me going in the right
direction.

 

[Guest]

JCO, try checking the BIOS out, specifically the Power Management settings.
I know for Intel based laptops they have a power management feature called
speedstep that allows the process to adjust its speed depending on a variety
of conditions. It can't be adjusted through the windows gui, you have to go
into the BIOS to change it.