cpu core speed stuck at 600MHz

alme55

Honorable
Oct 23, 2013
5
0
10,510
I just purchased a Dell XPS 13 (2015) from dells website, the base model, i3-5010U @ 2.1GHz, 4gb ram. When i recieved it, it was horribly slow out the box, it takes about 15-20 seconds to open and load web pages and about the same to open folders and even longer to open applications upwards of 30 seconds and it slows to a halt if i try to watch youtube videos at 1080p. I passed it of as the i3 being slow but after a week of putting up with it and thinking i need to return it, i did some tests and found out the cpu multiplier is supposed to fluctuate between 5-21 but it sits at 6 and doesn't move, so i have been using the laptop with a clock speed of 600MHz, 28% of the total 2100MHz.

Things i tried:
i went into the bios and disabled Speedstep but that made no difference.
I checked temps and they never went too high, stayed under 55degrees.
I set the laptop to High performance in the power options and even went into the options to make sure it was all right, didn't help.
i ran Prime95's Small FFTs test but it stays at 600MHz and cpu usage doesn't go over 28% even when it is running.
i went back into the bios and checked but i cannot mess with the cpu multiplier in there.

The first thing I did was call Dell before i did any of this and spend 3 hours with them trying to figure it out, they had no idea what would cause the problem and told me they would get back to me in 2-3 days while they look into it, i do use the laptop for school and work so i figured i would check here in the mean while to see if anyone had any ideas.

nw4zd.png

This is Prime95 Small FFTs test after 10 minutes
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