All Clear! *WHEW*

[ShotgunSteven]

My new T-Series laptop is supposed to come with a PIII 800 Mhz Mobile CPU. It runs no faster than 647.18 Mhz, regardless of how we tweak the Power Settings, etc. I bought it through IBM's eBay store.

Upon testing it, we discovered the multiplier is set at 6.5, and the processor has 256KB of L2 cache, which coincides with the 100 Mhz FSB that it has and that Intel's website says it should have. If it was an underclocked 850, it would have 512KB of cache, so it is really a 650 Mhz processor.

If anyone has any further ideas or knowledge about this situation, please let me know, as I will be contacting IBM on Monday to rectify this situation.

 

[nateholtrop]

is it plugged into the wall or are you running it on battery? remember speedstep

nate

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Plugged into the wall, battery is not even in it. Set for maximum performance when plugged in.

Does the SpeedStep technology drop the FSB?

 

[iamshady]

Yea, I noticed that too with my T20. Check your Intel Speedstep settings.

 

[nateholtrop]

ya if it's running off battery my p3 1 gig would run at 700 but when plugged into outlet it would run at 1000. check your settings

nate

 

[ShotgunSteven]

I did, I set them to run at maximum.

 

[iamshady]

Try rebooting after that. Then right click on My Computer -> Properties, it will tell you the speed if you are using Win2K or WinXP. If it is still ~690, close that and reopen it. I noticed that my speed will show up around 540, but then to 699.97 after reopening the window (I have a P3 700 T20)

 

[Maetryx]

Maetryx here,

I'm right here with ShotgunSteve (at my house). The proc has 256KB L2 cache. As far as I can tell, that precludes it from the 133MHz FSB. According to intel's website, on the ID section for mobile PIII, all 133MHz based procs have 512K L2 cache. ShotgunSteve's new ThinkPad has 256K.

Leading me to conclude that it really is a 650MHz mobile PIII, because the multiplier is 6.5 (locked AFAIK).

Unless speedstep also reduces L2 cache amount ???

 

[Maetryx]

Also, he is running it without a battery. Can this "trick" the system into thinking it's not plugged in? It really is plugged in, but maybe the laptop needs to detect a CHARGING battery to realize it's plugged into the wall.

Anyone?

 

[nateholtrop]

i have no idea call ibm

nate

 

[Maetryx]

OOPS! He put the battery in and the MULTIPLIER changed to 8.0 and now he has a 8x100 = 800MHz. I had no idea that the multiplier could change.

So it *doesn't* change the FSB to 133MHz, therefore it *doesn't* require a .13micron process and a 512KB L2 cache. I get it now. Phew.

Odd that it ran slower with no battery installed.

 

[ShotgunSteven]

<< Try rebooting after that. Then right click on My Computer -> Properties, it will tell you the speed if you are using Win2K or WinXP. If it is still ~690, close that and reopen it. I noticed that my speed will show up around 540, but then to 699.97 after reopening the window (I have a P3 700 T20) >>



Rebooted. Apparently it is forced to run in battery mode when you have no battery in it.