Speedstep prevents software installation

[Severian]

I have a friend who has a Sony Vaio laptop with a Pentium M processor, with enhanced SpeedStep technology. The cpu ranges in speed down to 600mhz up to 1 ghz. She has tried to install some Dragonsoft software, but the minimum system requirements are a 1ghz cpu. Due to the SpeedStep ramping down the cpu speed below 1ghz, the software refuses to install for her.

I know I can go into the BIOS and the WinXP power options and turn off SpeedStep, and force the cpu to run at 1ghz, then install the software presumably without difficulty, then re-enable SS. I'm just wondering if anyone has an easier way to get around this problem.

thanks

 

[tk11]

Run something cpu intensive in the background, then the cpu will be at 1ghz.

 

[Severian]

yep, I thought of that too, I'll probably try that first, just to avoid the hassle of fiddling with the Speedstep settings....

thanks for the reply

 

[corkyg]

Run on A/C power with the battery removed - Speedstep should not function. You can also check in Power Options in Control Panel and set it to ALWAYS ON/DESKTOP. That also should sidestep Speedstep. SS is only supposed to do something when on battery power.

 

[Severian]

This is Enhanced Speedstep, it functions even with the AC power plugged in. In order to disable it, you have to go into the BIOS and turn it off, then turn it off in WinXP's Power Options.

I ended up getting around that by firing up TMPGenc encoder on a flash drive, encoding a short AVI file to peg the cpu utilization at 100%; then installing Dragonsoft while this was going on, and the software detected the cpu at max speed, and so installed.

thanks for the reply though...