3.4 GHz Pentium 4s running at 2.78?

[elkinm]

At work we have a bunch of workstation with P4s at 3.4 GHz, and sometimes, System properties shows 2.78 GHz as the actual speed.

Restarting usually sets it back to 3.39, but sometimes it takes a shut down for a few minutes.
I just found one showing up as 2.37.

Would this be throttling or could it be something else like a low power state. Is there any way to tell without installing any software on these systems. Maybe a program to fun from a flash drive?

These are HP convertible mini-towers dc7700 series if that helps at all.

The inferior of the case looks clean, with a seemingly decent aftermarket cooler.

I want to move to conroes for more speed and less heat but that will take a while so until then I need to find out what is wrong with these systems.

Thanks

 

[stevty2889]

Well it could be speedstep, although normaly speed step wouldn't drop the CPU speed below 2.8ghz, so they could be throttling. Running any kind of temp monitor on them?

 

[elkinm]

There is no temp monitoring installed and the systems should always be running at full speed.

If they drop in speed they stay that way.

I can't install software as they are constantly in use by somebody so I would like something I can quickly run strait of a USB drive.

Thanks