Underclocking, and Overheating, and More Lies. OH MY!

Thanks to our members, Questor and Brendan, we are seeing several people who send in their laptops for repair (free and paid) and receive a laptop where their nVidia GPU has been underclocked. This means that they set the hardware to perform at a lower quality than it was built for.

We suspect this is to delay the inevitable future failure, allowing HP their desired 90 days without incident so they don't have to pay for your repair again. This is irritating because now not only are we receiving defective parts, we're also receiving parts that don't do what we paid for.



Required Resources for the Following Guide:

• GPU-Z Graphics Card Testing
• GPU Stress Tester
• HPLies Poll for GPU Temperatures

List of the specs that you SHOULD have:
NOTE: If your card is not listed, please reply with a request so that I can provide this information for you. Or check on your own, here

Graphics Cards (Core Clock Speed/Memory Speed)

• 7200GO (450/350)
• 7400GO (450/350)
• 7600GO (450/350)
• 8400M GS (400/600)
• 8600M GS (600/700)
• 9500M GS (475/700)

Integrated Cards (Core Clock Speed)

• 6100GO (425)
• 6150GO (425)
• 7150M (425)

Testing your GPU Clock Speed
Download GPU-Z from the link above. No install is required. Simply open the EXE you have downloaded. It will initialize and find the graphics card in your computer.


Note the "GPU Clock Speed" and "Memory Speed". Should match with list above.


Click the "Sensors" tab. This is the ACTUAL clock speed you are at. Do your speeds match up with the speeds in the previous picture? Mine don't.

Simple comparison shows that the GPU has been underclocked. This is not the default manufacturer setting (which the first image lists) and it is not the default HP clocked speed (which the GPU list above lists). See the next section for running the GPU Stress Tester; you may want to see what your clock speeds are under stress. Mine still do not match up.

If you have been underclocked, this is just one more reason to call and complain. Make it CLEAR that you have not changed the clock speed on your card, otherwise this could void warranty.



Testing your GPU Temperatures
Download RTHDRIBL from the link above. You are free to use whichever GPU stress tester you prefer, but this one works nicely with nVidia & HP. Other options are the nVidia Geoforms Tester and the ATITool Fuzzy Cube Tester. RTHDRIBL seems to rack up the highest temperatures of the three. Extract the files and run the program.

In the File menu, select "Config Display". Choose the "Full Screen" option and change the resolution to your laptop's maximum resolution. Press OK and watch the shapes; be patient! The longer you let this run, the more results you will see.

I recommend waiting several hours, and then checking GPU-Z Sensor Tab (see above for screenshots).

GPU Temperature Ranges:


• < 50: Cool
• 50-60: Safe
• 60-70: Warm
• 70-80: Hot
• > 80: Warning! Report it to CPSC as an unsafe product!

If your GPU is anywhere over 70, your card is more than likely defective. You can continue running the Stress Test, all this will do is speed up the process of failure (which HP has tried to slow down by underclocking) so that you can make it under warranty.

If you DO choose to keep running the Stress Test, please first install LogMeIn Free on the HP Laptop. This way, you can remotely access your computer, even when the display is completely dead!



Good luck! Please post with any questions, and don't forget to vote in the poll with your temperatures!

Very nice guide!!

Glad it helps! All credit goes to Questor, I just added a bunch of pretty colors

EXCELLENT!!!! thank you guys for putting this together

i am at 87c now with only 15 minutes of the stress tests. really nice guide, lots of good links

HP is going to get more and more scared as we uncover more technical hardware issues that they dont expect a regular user to understand.

I can't wait to get my laptop back from repairs so I can try these things!

Hmmm, will I have more complaining to do? I'm thinking I will...

I am so happy I stumbled on to this site! Otherwise I would still be pretty clueless.

I am averaging 92c! WTF!! Thank you for posting this, apparently my 2nd repair isn't so repaired... I am also underclocked, getting cheated about 1/4 of my GPU's full clock speed. Ridiculous.

Worked like a charm for me! see my post on BIOS, computer failed within days

TY

Hi Guys,
i have an Dv6357eu Pavilion Notebook,,whit an Geforce7200 Go and a AMD TurionX2 1,6Ghz,
i have it Buy on juni 2007 and it has Failed on May 2008 whit a blackscreen ,
and the Beep symptoms 2xShort 1xLong. I have shipet to Hp in Germany and thay have Replaced the Motherboard.
I have a newerest Bios on this the 3F.E this is not signed on the Hp Support Page,
the last one on the Hp Page is the 3F.D.
Since it Repaired from Hp, it Runs fine and i think it will go not to Hot....
I found that Page, and make the GPU-Temp Test, i run it 120Minutes and the most Temp of my GPU is 74.C... in Idle it Runs on 56-60.Celsius
and would not Hoter than this.... and the Gpu is not Underclocked..
Is this a Good Motherboard they have Changed in my Notebook??? Whit a Gpu that not will overheat??
And what the F.... is the diverends of this unreleased Bios 3F.D that my changed Motherboard have???

Cya

Silverbullet from Germany

Found this on the HP Forums... I am underclocked - who knew? Well, nobody until this site; thank you all

I was underclocked too! Ran that stress test for a night and my laptop died -- good!!!