Dell Defect Turning 2.2GHz CPU Into 100MHz CPU?

jtavares2 writes "In what is being dubbed Throttlegate, scores of users on many message boards have been complaining about nexplicably aggressive throttling policies on their Dell Latitude E6500 and E6400 laptops which cause their CPUs to be throttled to less than 5% of their theoretical maximums even while at room temperatures. In many cases, the issue can be triggered just by playing a video or performing some other trivial, but CPU intensive, task. After being banned [PDF] from the Dell Forums for revealing 'non-public information,' one user went so far as to write and publish a 59-page report [PDF] explaining and diagnosing the throttling problem in incredible detail. Dell seems to be silent on the issue, but many users are hoping for a formal recall."

Comments

The E-series has been craptastic all along

[MarcQuadra]

I had a pre-release e-series machine from Dell on my desk last year. It's like they built the thing from the outside-in. Even on a 'release' E6500, Ubuntu seems to halt and die on full-screen video, Windows AHCI drivers that work everywhere else cause BSODs, and the power management firmware seems like it was written by a roomful of meth-addicted monkeys.

I've never been more disappointed with Dell as I was with the E6500. At least when the Optiplex GX260 power supplies all failed a few years ago, it was easy enough to fix them. These things are abhorrent.

Re:The E-series has been craptastic all along

[Lord Byron Eee PC]

I'm lost. Doesn't Dell take a standard Intel/AMD CPU and pair it with a standard Intel/VIA/SIS/Nvidia chipset? What is there to go wrong? I can understand if the thing is improperly cooled, but beyond that, aren't they just selling us the same crap that HP/Lenovo/your pick are, but inside a Dell laptop case?

Not the first time Dells have underperformed

[karcirate]

Actually this used to happen to me on my old Inspiron (think, 4 years old). It has a 1.6 Ghz 1st gen. Pentium M, but most of the time my sys info would report it running at only 800 mhz, even though the processor was maxed out, and the system was completely cold, etc. The only way to get back to full performance was to plug in, and even that wasn't foolproof. Really pissed me off that there was no setting for "don't regulate my damn processor when I need it most, even if you are just saving my battery."

Re:OMG, I brought this up with them

[SanityInAnarchy]

Yeah, great, except disabling SpeedStep kills battery life and otherwise sucks power.

I don't mind my laptop throttling itself when I'm not using it. My current Dell (XPS M1530) throttles itself to 800 mhz when it overheats because I'm doing something strenuous -- like, I don't know, Duke Nukem 3D.

Non-public information?

[kimvette]

'non-public information,'

Non-public information? How can such a thing exist on a commodity good that has already been released to the public, and especially when they are trying to cover up a defect which renders their product offering as fraudulent (because it doesn't work as advertised) and not fit for sale? Did they expect this to NOT blow up publicly when they ignored user complaints?

Recall when hell freezes over

[syousef]

I use to own a Dell Inspiron 5150 that had to have a motherboard replaced out of warranty. (I've since given it to my wife as she is a lighter user and it'll probably last longer with her). The most likely cause is a known but never acknowledged issue where with normal use the case wears against a component on the motherboard severing it. It's not the first such issue I've heard of.

My current laptop is a Dell Inspiron 9400. I got it when they were giving away 3 years warranty for no extra cost. I'm so glad I did. I have had 2 hard disks replaced. (Issue finally fixed when I insisted on a different brand). I have had a hinge fixed after it broke (no misuse or abnormal use). I've had 2 screens replaced because they developed large dust bunnies behind the screen. I've had the CPU fan jam. It also has a habit of randomly taking 2 minutes to progress through the boot screen. No idea why. Dealing with warranty has been a hassle - worst experience was when they didn't show up for 3 appointments in a row. My wife or I had to be home to deal with it and then they wouldn't show up. The 3rd time they tried to arrange a technician that was 6 hours away at around 8pm. Well that wasn't going to work. But at least I didn't have to pay for parts for this machine. It's still my last Dell though.

Re:Many users are hoping for a formal recall

[HBoar]

You jest, but I actually think that turbo buttons would be a great idea on laptops. Sure, you can throttle the CPU using software to save power, but a button would just be easier, and would have miles of old-skool charm. Bring back the turbo button!

Re:OMG, I brought this up with them

[dgatwood]

Almost certainly. I doubt any of the modern laptops can run Core 2 Duo CPUs at full throttle without it going supernova. Laptops are just plain too thin to dissipate that much heat through mere air cooling of CPU heat sinks. The only reason we have laptops that come anywhere close to this level of performance is because the cores are going to be in an idle state 90% of the time and they can throttle the bajeezus out of them if they get too hot when you run them too hard for too long. That said, this report suggests two things:

• Windows throttling is way too infrequent and not nearly aggressive enough at the onset, leading to way-too-aggressive throttling later on.
• The NVIDIA graphics drivers are broken and are throttling the CPU instead of the GPU upon exceeding thermal limits (which are themselves way too low, probably as a result of paranoia over the solder bump problems in previous generations of NVIDIA GPUs).

Of these, the second one is the more significant problem.