Help! Why would EIST speedstep work in XP but not in windows 7?

[evident]

I recently just upgraded my parent's Dell Vostro 200 from windows XP to windows 7.

Here are the specs
E5200 CPU
WD Green 1TB hd
G33 Chipset w/ Intel Crap Graphics Accelerator
Integrated sound
4 GB of RAM

in windows XP speedstep would work fine as the CPU would throttle from 1197mhz to 2400 (ive never seen it go up to 2500 mhz) whenever needed, from a 6x multiplier to 12x.

in windows 7, this is not the case. after installing all the basic drivers (intel, sound, graphics, storage, etc) CPU-z always reports the CPU at 2400-2500 mhz regardless if it's idle or not. multiplier seems to change from 12-12.5x. furthermore, in the power options in windows 7, there is no option to limit the % of cpu usage as there is in my other machines and my laptops.

What seems to be the deal here? I've tried using Windows 7 Pro 64 bit at first, but then i switched down to windows 7 32 bit thinking that this motherboard may be lacking 64 bit os support or something, but the only problem i've been having w/ windows 7 is this pesky EIST problem. Being that my parents never use this thing to its full capacity it would be nice to have EIST working properly and saving energy and the fans from blowing. (usually it's whisper quiet!)

my last ditch resort is to try and see if vista will have eist support, but i won't install that till i get some input from you guys here. I'm leaning towards maybe this motherboard doesn't fully support 7 in some ways, as i only see drivers for XP and Vista 32 bit on dell's website (that doesn't mean much IMO, but I'm running out of ideas and options).

There are also no EIST options in the BIOS either (This is a very spartan OEM Dell Board, and EIST "Just worked" in windows XP.)


PICS
Windows XP and speedstep working properly

WINDOWS 7

and yes, even after clicking "change settings that are unavailable" the min and max processor state options still don't show up.





Update: okay, after deep digging apparently there's a "hacked" bios driver for the vostro from a dell inspiron 530. somebody made it because they were pissed that the vostro 200 doesn't have raid support, but the inspiron 530 did and both had the same motherboard. It's based off of the 1.0.16 from around 12/2008 inspiron version of the bios (latest official for vostro 200 is 1.0.15). installed it and sure enough, it works fine now. However, my fans are spinning a little bit faster than before and i can hear them a little bit more than before. oh well, i dont' think my parents will mind. I hope there aren't any little gotchas w/ this bios since it's not officially supported for this machine.

 

[Meghan54]

Have you tried emailing Dell's support and asking them?

 

[evident]

Have you tried emailing Dell's support and asking them?

not yet. i thought maybe there was a simple solution to this that i may have overlooked, and i doubt dell would provide me useful information anyways, but i could be wrong..

 

[Kenmitch]

Oops never mind I guess I didn't look at the writing on the image...My bad

 

[VirtualLarry]

Is there a BIOS update available for that motherboard? Sounds like the ACPI stuff needs updating.

 

[faxon]

Update your bios if you can and get back to us. Sounds like it's got some bugs, especially if it isn't detecting your CPU multi correctly

 

[evident]

Update your bios if you can and get back to us. Sounds like it's got some bugs, especially if it isn't detecting your CPU multi correctly

nope, no official bios update either. latest bios is 1.0.15 which i have.

 

[Hacp]

Try RIghtmark CPU utility?

 

[evident]

nope, no official bios update either. latest bios is 1.0.15 which i have.

Update: okay, well apparently there's a "hacked" bios driver for the vostro from a dell inspiron 530. somebody made it because they were pissed that the vostro 200 doesn't have raid support, but the inspiron 530 did and both had the same motherboard. It's based off of the 1.0.16 from around 12/2008 inspiron version of the bios (latest official for vostro 200 is 1.0.15). installed it and sure enough, it works fine now. However, my fans are spinning a little bit faster than before and i can hear them a little bit more than before. oh well, i dont' think my parents will mind. I hope there aren't any little gotchas w/ this bios since it's not officially supported for this machine. apparently this machine and the inspiron shares the same motherboard though.

 

[Kenmitch]

Update: okay, well apparently there's a "hacked" bios driver for the vostro from a dell inspiron 530. somebody made it because they were pissed that the vostro 200 doesn't have raid support, but the inspiron 530 did and both had the same motherboard. It's based off of the 1.0.16 from around 12/2008 inspiron version of the bios (latest official for vostro 200 is 1.0.15). installed it and sure enough, it works fine now. However, my fans are spinning a little bit faster than before and i can hear them a little bit more than before. oh well, i dont' think my parents will mind. I hope there aren't any little gotchas w/ this bios since it's not officially supported for this machine. apparently this machine and the inspiron shares the same motherboard though.

If anything a little more fan speed is a good thing as it will keep it cooler anyways. As long as they aren't full speed and unbearably loud. Good to hear you got it fix'd for them.