Framework Laptop 13 Intel 12th Gen: Stuck on 400 MHz or not?

Framework Laptop 13
1

Have you ever noticed that your 12th Gen Intel is extremely sluggish because it’s stuck at 400 MHz (on all cores, for a prolonged time, even after cooling down)?

  • Yes.
  • No.
0 voters
If yes, let's collect some information to see if there's a pattern.

Which processor do have?

  • i5-1240P
  • i7-1260P
  • i7-1280P
0 voters

Under which BIOS version did/do you experience the 400 MHz bug?

  • 3.04 (factory version)
  • 3.05 (factory version)
  • 3.06 Beta
  • 3.08 Release
  • 3.09 Beta
  • 3.17 Release
  • 3.18 Beta
0 voters

What did/do you (usually) have to do to get your laptop “unstuck”?

  • Waiting a couple of minutes.
  • Waiting for more than 5 minutes.
  • Waiting for more than 10 minutes.
  • Waiting for more than 30 minutes.
  • Letting the CPU cool down.
  • Rebooting the computer.
  • Resetting the Embedded Controller (powering off & removing power for more than 2 min).
  • Resetting the mainboard.
  • Replacing the mainboard.
  • Other (see comment section).
0 voters

How were/are you using your laptop when the 400 Mhz bug happend/happens?

  • Opened (exhaust unobstructed).
  • Closed (e.g., with external monitor and keyboard).
  • Standalone (e.g., mainboard in Cooler Master case).
  • With a docking station.
  • On a flat surface with open air intakes (desk, table, etc).
  • On a soft surface with (partially) obstructed air intakes or exhaust (bed, couch, cushion, etc).
  • On the lap.
0 voters

The affected laptop was/is equipped with the following battery type(s):

  • None
  • 55 Wh
  • 61 Wh
0 voters

Were/are you on battery or connected to power when it happened/happens?

  • On battery.
  • Connected to power.
0 voters
If it happened/happens connected to power answering he following questions might give additional insights.

What kind of power supply was/is used during experiencing the 400 MHz bug?

  • None
  • < 30 W
  • 30 - 45 W
  • 45 - 65 W
  • 65 - 90 W
  • ≥ 90 W
0 voters

Which expansion card slot was/is used for the power supply?

  • 1 (rear left).
  • 2 (front left).
  • 3 (rear right).
  • 4 (front right).
0 voters

Under which operating system did/does your laptop get stuck at 400 MHz (sorry, no more than 20 options allowed)?

  • Windows 11 (officially supported)
  • Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (officially supported)
  • Ubuntu 24.04+ (officially supported)
  • Fedora 42 (officially supported)
  • Bazzite (officially supported)
  • Manjaro XFCE (community supported)
  • Linux Mint (community supported)
  • Arch Linux (community supported)
  • NixOS 24.11+ (community supported)
  • FreeBSD
  • Haiku
  • Windows 10
  • Debian Stable
  • Pop!_OS
  • openSUSE
  • Other Linux
  • OpenBSD
  • Other BSD
  • Another OS
  • None (e.g., UEFI, bootloader)
0 voters

Which power profile was/is active when the 400 MHz bug manifests?

  • Power Save
  • Balanced
  • Performance
  • Other
0 voters

What controls the power profile when the CPU is stuck at 400 MHz?

  • “Windows”
  • ppd - power profiles daemon (default on Ubuntu?)
  • tuned (default for Fedora)
  • thermald
  • auto-cpufreq
  • tlp
  • something else (see comments)
0 voters

Are you able to reproduce the 400 MHz bug intentionally (e.g., by starting a certain game or running a certain program)?

  • No.
  • Yes.
0 voters

If you’re able to trigger this bug intentionally, please, mention in the comments how you achieve this.

If no, let's see what might help to prevent the 400 MHz bug from happening.

What’s the processor on your mainboard?

  • i5-1240P
  • i7-1260P
  • i7-1280P
0 voters

Which BIOS version(s) have you used for more than a week?

  • 3.04 (factory version)
  • 3.05 (factory version)
  • 3.06 Beta
  • 3.08 Release
  • 3.09 Beta
  • 3.17 Release
  • 3.18 Beta
0 voters

How are you usually use your laptop?

  • Opened (exhaust unobstructed).
  • Closed (e.g., with external monitor and keyboard).
  • Standalone (e.g., mainboard in Cooler Master case).
  • With a docking station.
  • On a flat surface with open air intakes (desk, table, etc).
  • On a soft surface with (partially) obstructed air intakes or exhaust (bed, couch, cushion, etc).
  • On the lap.
0 voters

Your laptop is equipped with the following battery type:

  • None
  • 55 Wh
  • 61 Wh
0 voters

Are you usually using your laptop on battery or connected to power?

  • On battery.
  • Connected to power.
0 voters

What kind of power supply is usually used?

  • < 30 W
  • 30 - 45 W
  • 45 - 65 W
  • 65 - 90 W
  • ≥ 90 W
0 voters

Which expansion card slot(s) is/are used for the power supply?

  • 1 (rear left).
  • 2 (front left).
  • 3 (rear right).
  • 4 (front right).
0 voters

Which operating system(s) do you usually use (sorry, no more than 20 options allowed)?

  • Windows 11 (officially supported)
  • Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (officially supported)
  • Ubuntu 24.04+ (officially supported)
  • Fedora 42 (officially supported)
  • Bazzite (officially supported)
  • Manjaro XFCE (community supported)
  • Linux Mint (community supported)
  • Arch Linux (community supported)
  • NixOS 24.11+ (community supported)
  • FreeBSD
  • Haiku
  • Windows 10
  • Debian Stable
  • Pop!_OS
  • openSUSE
  • Gentoo
  • Other Linux
  • OpenBSD
  • Other BSD
  • Another OS
0 voters

Active power profile(s)?

  • Power Save
  • Balanced
  • Performance
  • Other
0 voters

What controls the power profile(s)?

  • “Windows”
  • ppd - power profiles daemon (default on Ubuntu?)
  • tuned (default for Fedora)
  • thermald
  • auto-cpufreq
  • tlp
  • something else (see comments)
0 voters
2 Likes
2

Funny, this just happened to my laptop an hour ago.

Found a thread here that helped me out.

The throttle occurred on Fedora 42 and persisted through multiple reboots. I booted into W11, and it was still happening.

It stopped after I had replaced the thermal paste, though the real fix was likely having powered down for 2 minutes while disconnected from power as the poll suggests.

3

Hello @next_to_utter_chaos !
I am not affected, but I have just taken part in the survey.
It may be useful to query some additional information, e.g:

Bios settings (optimised standard loaded, load limit, secure boot active, …)

Board identifier (if I remember correctly from a driver package thread, the board is available with different identifiers)

Delivery Batch

Other hardware (memory size, type and parameters; SSD type, size and firmware; plug-in modules used;…)

4

You don’t happen to have a complete list for the 12th Gen mainboards?

I think I could try to get a partial one from the install scripts in one of the older (pre-merge with 13th Gen) driver or bios packages but I’m not sure if that’s better than just let everyone add a comment with any further information they might want to add.

5

I can produce this fairly easily.

It occurs about 10 minutes into a zoom meeting.

My laptop typically runs quite warm, as I’m running VMs / doing dev work.

Software builds / generally keeping things going hot is fine.

It’s just this zoom meeting!

cpufreqbug
cpufreqbug800×544 81.2 KB

6

Right I’ve got it back to running normally.

I think it’s related to the battery level.

I was using the USB-C charger to charge something else, and using battery power.

Then switched back to plugging it in.

The frameworks power was down to within the 20% range, and it started acting normally in the 70-80% range.

7

I always have to reboot and do a battery disconnect to get it to stop throttling. It’ll go on forever if I don’t do that, and even survive reboots. It’s happened consistently for the 2-3 years I’ve had the laptop, but more often in hot weather.