Why would 2.66G P4 only run at 1.06G? And blue screens!

My daughter has an HP Pavilion Laptop with a 2.66GHz P4, 512M DDR, etc... Pretty standard complement of stock hardware, running XP Home.

She's been complaining of blue screens and freezing and is getting horribly frustrated trying to use the thing.

She runs Photoshop/AIM/DVD's everything at the same time, and she expects that performance may be slowed when everything is on, she (and I) don't expect it to crash. The slow CPU speed doesn't seem to bother her, but it strikes me as a significant clue to what might be happening...

Can anyone give me any suggestions on what the most likely causes of the freezing/crashing/slow CPU combination may be?

1) What utility should I run to collect the diagnostic info I need for you to help me?
2) What info is relevant?

I'm an 'embedded geek', so I do tech ok, just not a real 'PC geek' anymore.

Thanks,
-CB

 

It sounds like incorrect Bios settings are being used.

Change them to "Fail-Safe Defaults" or similar unless you are familiar with what each individual setting should be.

 

In Bios there may also be energy saving settings that reduce the cpu speed.

 

Sounds like maybe bad or mismatched memory. Say, mixed parity and non-parity types, or different speeds. Was PC purchased at present capacity, or was some added later?

Have you tried at test at PC Pitstop without all that stuff running?

 

it could also be overheating .. P4s reduce their speed if they get too hot, although I'm not too sure they reduce their speed that much

 

If the power adapter is unplugged it will underclock itself to preserve the battery,so plug it back in,or set the the option in power options to max battery,this should make your cpu full speed but will reduce your battery time I don't think it will fix your problem,blue screens usually mean a serious prob,you should update windows and all your drivers,check hewlette packard for any updates.And try and see if your daughter has done anything similar just before the crash.

 

Thanks for the ideas.

I checked the bios, and there's nothing much to set.
The energy settings are set for full-on all the time, and she always has it plugged in.
The memory is stock from HP, and though I haven't checked, I'd suspect it's all the same type. But I'll check this anyway.

I think heat is one of her biggest problems. Seems that the video card is now faulting when she leaves the machine on. She's taken to tilting the machine up with a book to keep airflow underneath and that seems to help, although it hasn't helped the operating speed.

I read somewhere that someone used boxes of frozen peas to test to see if the machine needs cooling, and I thnk something like that is my next step. I'd assume that if it is, the operating speed should rise as the temperature goes down.

What is PC Pitstop?

Thanks,
-CB

 

http://www.pcpitstop.com/pcpitstop/default.asp

pc pit stop benchmarks your computer and then gives you tips on how to tune it up

frozen peas? that's funny ... suppose you could use them like an ice pack

 

if your gonna use frozen peas be carefull of condensation rolling into it,a room fan would be better.

 

Heat issues?????
Might make sure the laptop is not full of dust.
Make sure the intake & exaust vent's are not blocked or full of dust er furballs.
Can you hear your cpu fan? dusty or failing??

 

Here's a decent article on hot laptops - and cleaning them.
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=60300177&pgno=1

I think there are some memory tests at PC Pitstop that might smoke out any mismatched items.

 

Ok.

We installed SpeedFan and so far everything looks cool enough, ~48 HD, ~54 CPU.
We ran the tests on PCPitstop, and except for the memory test reporting low memory performance, there were no issues.

I'm stumped, to say the least.

I'm going to have her log the temperatures so we can see what was written to the log around the time of any furture crashes, but I can't think of anything else to look at...

What's curious is that PCPitstop gave these CPU results:
ProcessorDescription Your Results
Brand/Model Intel Pentium 4
Nominal Clock Speed 2660 MHz
Measured Clock Speed 2667 MHz
CPU Load 1%
Speed Rating 4679 (107% of 1033 similar)

So at the time of the test, everything was fine...
I guess I should have her run the test again if the temps rise.

These were the detected running programs:
File Name Description
C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe Apple iTunes
C:\Program Files\AIM\aim.exe AOL IM
C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI Control Panel\atiptaxx.exe ATI taskbar icon
C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_02\bin\jusched.exe Sun Java Update
C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger\MsnMsgr.Exe MSN Messenger
C:\Program Files\Outlook Express\msimn.exe Outlook Express
C:\Program Files\Roxio\Easy CD Creator 5\DirectCD\DirectCD.exe Roxio Direct CD
C:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe iPod Service
C:\Program Files\HPQ\Notebook Utilities\HPWirelessMgr.exe
C:\Program Files\HPQ\One-Touch\OneTouch.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\Twain_32\CA561A\SnapDetect.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\HPConfig.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ZoneLabs\vsmon.exe
C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\YPager.exe Yahoo Messenger
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe Print spooler
C:\PROGRA~1\ALWILS~1\Avast4\ashDisp.exe avast! Antivirus
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashMaiSv.exe avast! Antivirus
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashServ.exe avast! Antivirus
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashWebSv.exe Avast WebShield
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\aswUpdSv.exe avast! Antivirus
C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPEnh.exe Synaptics Touchpad
C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPLpr.exe Synaptics Touchpad
C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe ZoneLabs client
C:\WINDOWS\system32\carpserv.exe Conexant modem
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe Internet Explorer
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE Windows Explorer
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe Local Security Authority
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe Service control process
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe Service host process


Do you see anything that looks suspect?

Thanks,
-CB

 

Are those temps in degrees celsius?

 

I would imagine they have to be in Celcius... 48 degrees F would be way too cold.

 

Point taken but anyways if those temps are right i.e HD 48,CPU 54,its the highest I'v ever seen a harddrive and will probably cause you problems,the cpu temp of 54 is also a problem,especially if Idle.

 

Hmmm... well my HP Pavilion (Celery) runs ~48C/52C HD/CPU (118F/126F) at idle...

So hmmm... I looked on Intels' site and many of the 2.66GHz P4 parts are spec'd at ~68C to 74C... so 54 should be ok...

I'm stumped.

 

What you need to do is run a stress program while watching your temps in speedfan to see how high they go,if you set it to monitor them it will also make a graph,run it for about half an hour.