Intel Speedstep Problem...Help Please

  I am having problems with my Dell Laptop and Sonar 7PE. I used DPC Checker and LatencyMon to narrow it down to my cpu power management. So after some research I disabled Speedstep. Wow, what an epic failure. It actually got worse, to the point that the change made it difficult to do anything. I had immediate failures with any monitoring programs like LatencyMon, DPC Checker and even Window Reliability Performance Monitor. I was not able to control fan cooling either, which I saw online in the Power Management section of Windows. So it looks like I am going to dig a little deeper for my specific system to determine if there is anyone or anything out there that can help me to optimize my Dell 1720 Inspiron. It has an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, which is a T9300 2.5Ghz 2 Core 2 Logical Processor CPU. The Dell BIOS is an A06, whatever that means. If you know of any way I can upgrade the BIOS, as it appears this is the only solution, please let me know, meanwhile I will search online for this, thanks.

  Do you suggest reinstalling everything at 32Bit? Is there a hi enough percentage of success that it is worth it? Thanks Brother.

With laptops, if power-management is causing large DPC latency spikes, there's often little to nothing you can do to resolve the issue.  Especially running an unsupported OS...
If you were doing fine under the 32Bit version of Windows, I'd reinstall...

  Jim, I have never run under 32 Bit, so I am unsure of what to expect. I do agree that an unsupported OS is not a good thing. I did not know this at the time and am only discovering these problems now. I know it has been a long time since 2008, but I did not have time to even start using the system until last year. An unexpected three year project came up and all the band activity stopped completely. We had not even finished the studio and am still in progress with that. Money is tight all over, even in the home studio market. Anyway I am into now and not impressed with my lack of knowledge in 2008. If necessary, I will reinstall everything, or try the BIOS upgrade, as it is a flash from the desktop and seems easy enough. Let me know. I just need to stop the damn CPU from throttling.

  I too noticed the jump from 4 to 7 and wondered about 6. I will double check this when I get to the pc. I also did not see any real enhancements that looked like they added value, except maybe the thermal upgrade...to keep the chip set cool..I don't know. So what are my choices? Does 32 bit offer value for Vista? Does Win7 offer value, as it is supposed to have 70% less crap running in the background and taxing the cpu? If Win7, then 32 or 64 bit? What can, if anything, I do? This sucks, because this crap is not necessary. This stuff should work just fine. Why can't these idiots work together and make **** work? Why all the behind the scenes stuff that only causes the core of customers who need it most, more money? Damn I am mad...at myself, for not knowing this in 2008.

  Thank you for pointing out the 32 or 64 bit zero value added. I will go with 32 bit. I completely agree...wipe drive and start over. Should I go ahead with Win7 new installation disc or stick with Vista, as we are not sure that Vista 32 will solve the issue? I am open to all ideas, thanks.

  That would be Vista. TNX

  I am confused about the "Dell Laptop System Software" and "Motherboard Chipset Drivers". I don't think I really know what you are speaking to. Sorry, for my ignorance. If you could please elaborate. I will say that I flashed the BIOS at Dell's website. Nothing has made any improvement. I am on board with either Vista or Win7. I admit that when I bought the system in 2008 I worked with a friend of mine in IT to install Vista 64 Bit Ultimate. I don't have the DVD and I think the back up restore is gone, as I can't use F8 to restore. I think he removed the partition and it does not exist anymore. I have used Dell's website to download my system SW but there has been a glitch so it has not worked yet. If I can get it to work then great if not I will seek out my friend's help to get a version of Vista 32 Bit Ultimate to do a new install. If this is not possible then maybe a Win7 32 Bit install. I am not sure that there is any advantage to use any version other than Home or Premium, as the Professional and Ultimate don't list anything that looks like it is optimized for audio streaming, but I may be wrong so let me know what you think, in case I actually have to put out dollars for this. But, if my problem is power management of the CPU and the throttling issue then will I really benefit from any of this, if I can't override this control? I mean if there is not an application that allows me to override the BIOS or change the BIOS, then what do I gain? Is it possible that this laptop is a boat anchor for my studio? I hate to think I have to shell out big money for one of the laptops on the computer page of Cakewalk. That is to say on Cakewalks website they have listed systems that are tested for this very thing. What do you think? Thanks.

The Dell Laptop (or Desktop) system software isn't an absolute must have.  But the motherboard chipset drivers are.  There are two listed in the Dell downloads for your PC, one is the Intel and I forget what the other one it.  The Intel motherboard chipset drivers are key to a successful install as one of the prime things it does is define (identify) all the devices on the motherboard.  Chipset drivers MUST be installed BEFORE installing device drivers for some device drivers (including sound) will not install.  If you try to install the sound drivers without the chipset drivers on most systems the driver install will not find the sound hardware and thus abort.

Although your laptop was designed for XP and Vista 32bit (and it is "old" technology in computer hardware) It should work OK with Win 7 and as I noted Win 7 is "Vista improved".  The "ultimate" version is really designed for commerical business users and not for home or a recording studio.  Professional has some additional networking capabilites but that is not a recording system requirement either.  There are other items in the Ultimate and Professional but their names are more marketing than actual substance.  Many people buy the higher priced Ultimate version as they assume, based on its name, that it is better and they must have it. 

The OS will recognize the 4GB.  Actually a 32 bit OS can only address a little less than 4GB.  You will wind up with 3 to 3.5GB of useable (user useable) memory.  With a 64 bit OS, it will address the full 4GB but you will wind up with the same 3 to 3.5GB of useable memory.  The rest of the memory is reserved for system/hardware use. 

On my old PC (a Q6600 quad CPU) with the original Vista 32 bit OS, and 4 GB of RAM I had 3.24GB of useable memory. 

Go for it.  Let us know how it does.

  Fireberd, So, I went back and re-read your posts. I will try to re-install the Dell drivers that you suggested before wiping the drive. I agree...take a little more time and try to get it to work. Maybe disabling some USB hubs, as suggested on another forum. But, most importantly, I will re-install the Dell drivers and Laptop System SW. I think I can go to Dell and type in my Service Tag number and they will list all the drivers and then I can go thru and install them one at a time. This might help or not. Thanks.

  I understand that. I will first try to update any Dell drivers to get the current system to work. Then if this fails I will move forward with a new install and, of course, follow your instructions to save drivers to a thumb drive and install after the OS installs. Sorry for any confusion and thanks again.

  Cactus Music, I was incorrect in my original assumptions. The CPU is, indeed, running without idling, according to CPU-Z. I am cruising at a cool 2.499 Ghz. I also downloaded Throttlestop and that too aligns with CPU-Z and it's readings. So that mean other factors are at work and I don't know what they are. I am going to go to Dell and re-download the drivers to see if that removes the or fixes the problems. If not, I will wipe the drive and do a new install of Win7 32 Bit. The drivers on Dell's page are old, but they are for my pc so they should work. As you mentioned and Fireberd, the Win7 drivers may not be suitable for this old machine, but the software, according to Windows should work fine. When you say Dell Win7 drivers, what exactly do you mean? I thought I was going to the support page and supplying my service tag number and then downloading the drivers that originally came with my machine, except updated by Dell, some of which are still years old. Is there another page I need to be going to for Dell Win7 32 Bit drivers for my machine, which I would not think Dell would even support this far out from the original build date? Thanks.

  Thanks Brother. So install of the drivers for my equipment based on Dell's service tag for my machine and hope for success. LOL