Laptop running at 400MHz (390MHZ)

Framework Laptop 13
1

Hi all

I just got my Framework laptop, and got it up and running very easily, but I seem to be having this weird issue where the processor is running a 0.39GHz, I’ve seen this happen with more than just the Framework laptops, but I thought I’d try here first, the CPU usage seems to sit arount the 5 - 10% mark as well.

I have the 12th Gen i5 DIY edition, 32GB RAM (1 x 32GB), 1TB NVMe, I have dual booted Windows 10, and Kubuntu, both have the latest updates, driviers installed (I had to use the Windows 11 Drivers)

I’m not super familiar with linux, but I have started dabling in it, so I’m not super familiar with it, I ran a script I found online that shows the current processor speeds, and it seems to show the processors switching between 400MHz and 2.1GHz (I’m not sure if it’s reporting them as the 2.1GHz when it’s idle?), this is the script:

watch -n.5 "grep \"^[c]pu MHz\" /proc/cpuinfo

This also happens regardless of whether the laptop is plugged in/charging (I’m using the Framework charger), or running on battery.

I ran a temp check software on windows and it said the cores were sitting around the 38C - 40C (86F - 104F) mark so it shouldn’t be thermal throttling, and using lm-sensors in ubuntu reports around the 30C - 32C range so even less.

I’ve tried what one person suggested here: https://superuser.com/questions/1617971/infamous-0-39-ghz-in-windows-10-issue-has-no-fixes and that seems to have done nothing.

I hope I’ve provided enough relevant information, and I hope that this isn’t just some dumb thing I forgot to fix?

Regards Alex

1 Like
2

This issue has been seen on Framework laptops before, more info here:

I still haven’t seen any news of a solution, but I haven’t followed the post that closely. I’d recommend checking out the other post, or contact support to see if they have found a solution/can help you with a hardware swap to fix it

2 Likes
3

Seems relevant to your problem:

4

Thanks @dosssman I’ll give that a go

5

As an update, it seems I had a faulty CPU/main board that was overheating and constantly thermal throttling.

The Framwork support team were fantastic, but unfortunately ended up having to send me a replacement board and I installed it and it was instaltly noticeable the difference. While it’s a bummer that this happened, this is the reason i bought this laptop so that I could repair/replace parts if needed rather than having to replace an entire laptop.

5 Likes
6

My Chromebook has done this twice over the course of ~3 weeks or so of owning it. Eventually it seems to “find itself” and scales up to the normal speed without any issues. While it is impacted by the issue the ChromeOS diagnostic tool shows the CPU pegged at 400 MHz. Also, both times this has happened it seemed to happen after rebooting a couple of times (I was using the device, put it away, and had to use it again).

7

Will copy this from another thread:

Hi there, don’t know if anybody else tried this, but I may have found a workaround to keep this problem from happening:
The only caveats are that it keeps the CPU from using the full speed available, but it keeps the laptop stable, and if you update the BIOS it resets the settings, so make sure to keep an eye on that.
If you go into BIOS and set CPU to Max-Non Turbo Performance and Disable Intel SpeedStep, SpeedShift and Turbo Boost Max, then it should keep the problem from happening.
This is with a Intel 11 i5, 16gb RAM and Windows 11, but it also fixed the problem on a Intel 12 i5 as well.
Hope this helps somebody!