Re-Open Issue with Laptop. Was resolved, but back to poor performance. Did something reinstall?

[Peccant]

Thanks. I was able to run FRST, see attached log.
Was also able to run Kaspersky but the report file isn’t recognized by Windows and I can’t get it open in notepad or anything else I tried, but it’s not an allowed extension to attach here. There were no detections but there were a few errors in processing after the 3.5 hour run time.
None of my cores were parked, but I completed the tutorial. Everything seems to be reporting fine except the CPU Clock doesn’t go over 0.40GHz, but I don’t know anything about that, so perhaps it’s ok? I screen captured and posted the QuickCPU dashboard in case you see anything that sticks out.
I’ll run the longer FRST scan at end of day.

[Peccant]

Update on Quick CPU. Seems to have woke up. I reset the computer (a Windows Update from today was forced), I opened the back of my computer and manually spun the two fans, unplugged both, started the PC which gave me a “no fan detected” error, so I shut it off again, plugged the two back in, replaced the back, fired it up again, started Sage back up, fired up QuickCPU. Windows had reverted to Balanced Power performance, so I Maxed it again with QuickCPU and these are the results. Reason for the long story is so you have all potential variables, despite some likely being irrelevant. Performance seems faster so far, but I’ll process some payroll entries which always seem to bog down the laptop and I’ll report back after that.

[Peccant]

I ran payroll - no issue. Worked at light speed! Monitored with QuickCPU - clocked at Max 3.98GHz, Avg CPU Utilization 5.6%. Awesome! I was about to screenshot the results to you and my eye caught the “System Power State” data point, which said Battery. So I thought, shoot, I only set the power plan to QuickCpuScheme when it’s on battery. Which made me think…hmmm…why is it fast then if I’m plugged in yet only set the fast scheme to Battery? A quick glance at the taskbar and I realized when I flipped my computer back over from going in to play with the fans, I didn’t fully plug in the adapter so it was running on battery. Oops!

So I plugged in the power bar and BAM! - 0.40 GHz Clock. Everything else stayed roughly the same in the QuickCPU dashboard. My computer though, is back to sloth speed. No response time, lags everywhere. So I unplug it again. BAM! back to normal Clocking. everything un-freezes and the laptop works perfectly. Maybe if I reset my computer I can make the new power scheme work when plugged in. But then I start thinking, what if this means I need a new power adapter. I’m not sure how a new one would speed up the laptop, but plugging in clearly bogs it down. So I start to inspect the adapter. The pin is bent to the side. No way it’s making the correct contact. So I straighten it out, plug it back in: no negative impact on the CPU Clocking.

Unfortunately, now the power adapter won’t hold a charge, so this pin must actually be broken from being bent. Now when I plug it in the laptop bogs back to 400MHz and then the laptop loses its charge and the Clocking goes right back up but the battery won’t charge.

Is this something that makes sense to you at all? I will order another adapter for sure, but it keeps bogging down the laptop when plugged in. Thoughts on that one?

[Malnutrition]

Just logging in to say , don’t put the charger back on the laptop, something may possibly short out and fry something. I’ll have a more detailed reply when I get home, but put that charger adapter in the trash immediately.

[Malnutrition]

Was also able to run Kaspersky There were no detections

That is all that matters there, there will always be other errors with this tool, those are trivial IMO.

I ran payroll - no issue. Worked at light speed! Monitored with QuickCPU - clocked at Max 3.98GHz, Avg CPU Utilization 5.6%. Awesome!

Perfect we are indeed on track to this being solved.

Unfortunately, now the power adapter won’t hold a charge, so this pin must actually be broken from being bent. Now when I plug it in the laptop bogs back to 400MHz and then the laptop loses its charge and the Clocking goes right back up but the battery won’t charge.

This where we stop and wait on you to get a new charger.

Is this something that makes sense to you at all? I will order another adapter for sure, but it keeps bogging down the laptop when plugged in. Thoughts on that one?

I am no hardware expert, but I watch these guys in the forum who deal with hardware on a daily, a bad power supply can cause a whole host of issues, like I say lets put everything else on hold until you get a new power supply. Then we will take it from there. My thoughts are that it is not getting constant power possibly just arcing which would explain why it somewhat works and why there are issues at the same time.

[Peccant]

Sounds good. Power adapter ordered. Will be back in touch.

[Malnutrition]

Please update the thread once you have the new charger. A lot of people abandon threads when their issues are solved. I’ve spent a lot of time on this, and I’d like to know the outcome. ???

[Peccant]

Absolutely, will do.

[Peccant]

@Malnutrition Just as an update so you know this is still ongoing:

1. New 45W power adapter was delivered. Computer recognizes being plugged in, the little lighting symbol over the battery shows it charging for about 5 seconds and then it drops, however, the computer still recognizes that it’s plugged in because the computer clocks down to 0.40gHz.
2. Some damage on the power jack, so I ordered another one, in case that was the issue. That also arrived. I’ve installed it. Same issue.
3. Ran a diagnostic from the F2 startup menu on the power components and it says that it cannot run the test because the power from the adapter is insufficient. So I borrowed a 65W HP Adapter from a buddy of mine. Same issue. Still not enough power.
4. Now, you told me to throw away the old charger, because we don’t want a short circuit, and I agree. However, I needed to continue using the computer for work and I go through a full battery charge, twice daily, so I could not throw out the charger as it’s the only way to recharge the laptop. Why, you ask, does that charger still work, but the others don’t? Interesting answer (for me at least, with no knowledge of power adapters). It would seem that, because the original adapter has a bent pin, the pin never actually is accepted into the jack in the correct spot.

So as I far as I can tell, here is the remaining issue:

1. no matter what, when there is a charger attached (whether the laptop allows the battery to take the charge or not) the laptop clocks down to 0.40gHz.
2. If the pin inside the charger is straight and makes contact where it should with the jack, the computer will not allow the battery to charge, BUT the laptop still clocks down to 0.40 gHz.
   2a) an adapter without a pin (the bent pin) will allow the battery to charge, but the laptop still clocks at 0.40gHz.
3. If running on battery alone, no adapter anywhere near the jack, the laptop runs like a perfect laptop. Faster than any I’ve ever had. Clocks up to 4.00 gHz when it overclocks.
4. 45W and 65W adapters have the same reaction from the laptop.

I realize you’re not a hardware expert, but I wanted to give you an update out of respect for all the work you’ve put in to date!
My next steps are limited. I’m considering updating the BIOS but I’m not 100% sure on how to safely do that one yet. I don’t want to order a higher wattage power adapter because of cost, especially if that’s not the issue. It is possible though that a higher watt adapter will do the trick. If I knew more about what the center pin does in the adapter I may be able to better troubleshoot.

[Malnutrition]

Since this is not a malware issue, I will move the thread to laptop support, and tag a some help for you. Thanks for the update, at least we got the computer running the best it possibly can thru all of this.

@PeterOz @Bruce @Pyro @Bastet

[Bruce]

how old is this laptop?
sounds like the power circuit inside the laptop where the adapter is may be faulty, especially if the power jack pin is bent.

I think we can rule out the charger as you have tried a few, and 45 and 65watt models at that.

[Peccant]

how old is this laptop?
sounds like the power circuit inside the laptop where the adapter is may be faulty, especially if the power jack pin is bent.

I think we can rule out the charger as you have tried a few, and 45 and 65watt models at that.

I bought the laptop in October 2020. It basically hasn’t been used until my old Lenovo T430s died recently. I replaced the power Jack itself recently. Based on my internet searching, this clocking down issue when plugged in seems to be pretty common with HP laptops, but I cannot find anyone with an answer.

[Bruce]

more out of curiosity than anything else…
what happens with the battery removed and the charger plugged in?

[Pyro]

Have you tried setting the power settings to high performance/maximum performance?

Laptops can be a bit finicky about these things, it might help.

[Bastet]

I would also ask whether the laptop runs well without the battery but plugged & whether the power options is set to High/Max performance.