Unsolved
3 Posts
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84739
Dell G7 - CPU stuck at 0.8 GHz on Battery
Hello there!
Ever since I got my Dell G7, I've been having a blast with it when plugged into an outlet. But as soon as I disconnect the charging cable and attempt to do anything on battery, the laptop becomes completely unusable. Of course, I didn't expect the battery to be able to power the GTX 1060 inside, and I'm not planning to play demanding games while on battery. My problem lies in the fact that the laptop is completely unusable! My girlfriend's Intel i3-4000M runs faster than my i7-8750H because unlike hers, as soon as I go on battery, my CPU speed is limited to 800 MHz, according to Task Manager. Opening a web browser may be possible with 5 minutes of patience, but watching videos or doing anything more complex than reading a word document is pretty much impossible. As I've said, the machine is 100% unusable while in this vegetative mode.
I've tried switching things around the BIOS, I tried creating alternative power plans, and setting the minimum CPU power usage to 50%, 75% and even 100% in the existing "Dell" and "Balanced" power plans as well, but to no avail. I'm out of options, as there seems to be no real answer online.
Is this something that can be worked around? I thought that going on battery would mean playing on the integrated Intel Graphics 630 instead of the GTX 1060, not that it would make my computer slower than a 5-year-old budget laptop.
Thank you in advance for the help.
A worrying costumer
ChrisSlowness
12 Posts
0
February 2nd, 2019 15:00
Dell Support told me they are working on a fix still and it is currently "working as intended" ....... I am going to call every other day and just eventually demand a replacement from a manager. I would do the same if I were every one of you, this is totally unacceptable that a laptop that costs $1,100 cannot even be used unplugged. Ridiculous.
kekkis
4 Posts
0
February 4th, 2019 04:00
"Working as intended" but still working on a fix...
I'm getting the same vibe from support. They try to fix it but there's nothing wrong with it. I'm almost as furious as you. Stopped calling since they told me not to call anymore. I'm fine with my xps 13 gradually throttling down when it heats up but this instant 0,89ghz is ridiculous.
Mantas_Ray
3 Posts
0
February 5th, 2019 02:00
After BIOS 1.6.1 update Task manager no longer shows constant 0.8 GHz after unplugging.
Still my G7 is too slow to do even basic tasks.
@Anonymous - when we will get a proper fix?
Ultrafire3
1 Message
0
February 6th, 2019 17:00
I'm also having this problem. I'm going to try and get into contact with Dell and report back if I get a solution
kekkis
4 Posts
1
February 13th, 2019 21:00
mnewxcv
26 Posts
0
February 18th, 2019 17:00
are you saying that setting a 30 turbo multiplier in throttlestop lets you not throttle to <1GHz on battery when making no other changes?
Will look into that EC workaround as well, appreciate the response.
kekkis
4 Posts
0
February 20th, 2019 02:00
Donatass
1 Message
0
February 25th, 2019 02:00
Problem is broken center pin on power adapter. I replaced this connector and processor goes to normal state.
Trigdog
1 Message
1
February 25th, 2019 09:00
This is not part of this issue. This issue doesn't have anything to do with the power adapter since the issue is only when the laptop is running on batteries. It runs fine when plugged in (no CPU throttling). Glad you figured out your power supply issue though.
ChrisSlowness
12 Posts
2
March 1st, 2019 15:00
This power connector post has absolutely nothing to do with what we are dealing with here, brand new laptops out of the box that cannot be used on battery. I would like to request information about returning this defective laptop to Dell.
ArunXYZ
1 Message
1
March 4th, 2019 18:00
I am having the same problem.
andtfoot
1 Message
0
March 11th, 2019 17:00
Getting the same here on a G3 3579.
Struggling to copy-paste text in Visual Studio 2017 while on battery. Playing music/video/games... nope.
PJB3005
1 Message
1
March 15th, 2019 06:00
I observed something on Linux with my G5, for whoever cares.
Because I am on Linux and Nvidia has awful Linux drivers (I knew this buying the machine), you have to switch your entire system to the dedicated GPU or the entire system to the iGPU. You can't have it be where it only uses the dedicated GPU for games to save power.
Now what I noticed is... when on battery and I have my dedicated GPU active, the CPU isn't as horrendously throttled and actually quite fast. It doesn't seem to reach the full capacity (8750H, it reaches like 2.5 GHz vs 800 MHz when power throttled)
Of course, this also means your battery life tanks.
I get the feeling this is just a really horrendously implemented power "saving" mechanic that's supposed to turn off when the dGPU kicks on.
Anybody tried this with the new 1.9 BIOS update? I couldn't get it to install on my system because ??
I'm also gonna try experimenting with turning the dGPU on but just barely with Vulkan to see if that lifts the CPU throttle but doesn't make the dGPU eat my battery.
eHxbes
3 Posts
0
March 18th, 2019 17:00
Hasn't changed in the new 1.9 BIOS update...
Barti271
4 Posts
0
March 29th, 2019 02:00