Ryzen 7 2700U Stuck At 0.4 GHz

[Emberstone]

(Posting here and not in Laptops because I've heard of Ryzen having stuck frequency issues in the past.)

 

Hey there. I just picked up an HP Envy X360 13 with a Ryzen 7 2700U in it, and the CPU frequency seems to be stuck at 0.4 GHz. It never deviates. The system continually feels rather sluggish because of this. I've tried a high performance power plan and such, but I just can't get the frequency to move. Decompressing zip files is really, really slow (just a few kilobytes per second), so I'd like to know if anyone has any idea on how to get the frequency actually ramp up properly.

 

I'd also like to note that there are no TDP options or similar in the BIOS.

 

Edit: All of a sudden it's clocking up. Going to run a Cinebench to see if I get a proper score (~600 points).

[Emberstone]

Yeah, I just tried running Cinebench and it wouldn't hold a stable frequency throughout. It would drop to 0.4 GHz again during Cinebench. I know it's not due to getting hot since the fans aren't even ramping up yet.

 

Anyone got any ideas?

 

It's getting a Cinebench score of 377 while plugged in.

[RickH]

Sounds like thermal throttling. Is your CPU getting hot? Make sure the vents are completely clear, etc... No fuzzy desk pad, no papers over it, etc...

[Emberstone]

20 minutes ago, RickH said:

Sounds like thermal throttling. Is your CPU getting hot? Make sure the vents are completely clear, etc... No fuzzy desk pad, no papers over it, etc...

It's getting no hotter than 75 degrees during a Cinebench run. It definitely isn't getting hot enough to throttle.

 

Edit: I just ran another and got a score of 533 after uninstalling some bloatware, which seems more in line with the score I'd expect. I'm okay with it being a little below 600 since this machine uses the 15 watt variant and not the 25 watt variant, so it's something I expect.

 

Perhaps it was just bloatware and background processes. I'll post in a few days after actually having a chance to use and work on the machine.

[Emberstone]

Update: I've actually narrowed down the culprit of my CPU speed issue. The CPU speed drops to 0.4 GHz when plugged in. The HP Support app has several firmware updates and a BIOS update available, so I'm going to run those.

 

Edit: The BIOS update appears to have fixed it. When plugged in or on battery, the computer is nice and snappy and the frequency correctly fluctuates with load. Additionally, my Cinebench R15 score reaches 623 after the update, so it's just a few points shy of my older laptop's i7-6700HQ now. Really impressive for a 13 inch.

 

Now all my indie games run well over 60 FPS, Guild Wars 2 plays at a consistent 30 FPS with modest settings, etc. Performance is solid.

[Need4Speed214]

Good to hear that you've solved the problem but i've found power limit throttling to be the main culprit while gaming