Surface Book 2 Throttling at 400 MHz on Up-to-Date Windows

Anonymous
2021-02-22T04:36:14+00:00

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone has a solution to the 0.40 GHz throttling problem that was supposedly solved about a year ago.

My CPU speed goes down to 0.4 GHz unless I have it plugged as shown in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tw3gMPA_Gk

Clearly, many people are having this problem, even when they exchange their devices their new devices had the same issue, but Microsoft agents have no solution other than canned responses that don't help with anything. They just blame your device and make you run a bunch of diagnostics to make you give up instead of finding a solution.

I wasted my time trying all the solutions I found online, here are the solutions that didn't work:

Non-solution 1: "It is a firmware issue that Microsoft fixed with an update (according to this Microsoft agent and many others)".

My SB2 is up to date on Windows updates. I have installed updated drivers and firmware here and manually forced everything in the device manager to check for updated drivers from those folders. Non-solution 2: "It is a thermal issue". No, it is not. See my temps below. Besides, if it was, it wouldn't throttle up when I plug it and down when I unplug it immediately.

Non-solution 3: "It is a battery-saving feature, put it on Best performance" (according to a Microsoft agent).

No, it is not. See the medium battery level and performance mode with the 0.40 GHz clock speed on the screenshot below.

Non-solution 4: "It is an issue with the dedicated GPU driver. Microsoft fixed it."

No, it is not. My SB2 is the base version without the dedicated GPU, the specs are below. Many other people with dedicated GPUs have been having similar issues but those are/were a separate issue and can't be applicable to mine.

Non-solution 5: "Use the System File Checker" (according to a Microsoft agent).

No, it still happens after doing that.

Non-solution 6: "Run the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit." (according to a Microsoft agent).

Non-solution 7: I formatted and reinstalled Windows 10 and it didn't help.

Am I missing something obvious or are we sold an overpriced laptop that doesn't work without a power cord?

Thank you in advance for any advice.

Specs, CPU speed, and battery level:

Temperatures:

Surface | Surface Book | Power and battery

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-02-23T04:36:47+00:00

    Hello Rich Friend,

    Thanks for reaching Microsoft Community and posting your concern here.

    We really apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you and all you've been through to get this sorted out.

    This time, a fix is already out via Windows Update. Please run Surface Diagnostic Toolkit and check for Windows Update. Make sure to check View Optional features and install all recent updates. Restart the Surface after installing updates. For more information, please visit our Surface Book 2 update history.

    Hope this helps.

    StevenK

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-02-23T05:05:38+00:00

    Hi Steven,

    That fix update you mention did not fix my problem. As you can see on the screenshots below, my surface is up-to-date, including for optional updates, and diagnostic tools cannot see the problem.

    Do you have another solution for this problem? If not, can I return this 400 MHz computer more than a year after the purchase? I am happy to return this SB2 to you guys to study the problem and make an update that fixes this issue, if I can get my money back to buy another brand of a laptop.

    Looking forward to hearing a solution.

    Thanks.

    No updates:

    Image

    No optional updates:

    Image

    None diagnosis of the diagnostic tool:

    Image

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-02-27T14:57:44+00:00

    I had this exact issue just four days ago, I was close to throwing my Surface Book 2 out the window. Turned it on to present at a seminar and the machine was so slow it was unusable, looking in the process manager the CPU was running at 0.39 GHz (stuck). I just left my machine like that as I borrowed one from someone else, when I was finished the machine was running normal again. This was just after a Windows Update, so I blame that. No solution for you though.

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-02-27T15:17:26+00:00

    Yes, there are times mine work faster on battery too. Seems like a faulty overheating trigger somewhere.

    These "Microsoft Agent"s are useless with their canned help answers and ghosting the problem posts when they can't solve the issue but I found a solution on the comments to my reddit post if you want to try:

    • Install throttlestop and disable the BD PROCHOT option,
    • Set throttlestop to start minimized in the tray (optional),
    • Add it as a Scheduled Task to run on startup.

    See the reddit post for more details.

    5 people found this answer helpful.
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  5. Anonymous
    2021-02-27T15:38:29+00:00

    I just came back to my post to make an edit, as unfortunately the problem persists. I just turned it on and the CPU was again stuck at 0.38 GHz, I rebooted it and the same happened. It's been 20 minutes now and it's still stuck...

    Thank you for a solution, I will try it. Will be painful to do much on it when it's as slow as this though.

    I tried your solution and it does indeed work. I am however worried about running my PC with BD PROCHOT disabled as it could severely damage the CPU, is this an Intel problem or Microsoft one?

    UPDATE: I did end up throwing my Surface Book 2 out the window. Won't be buying Microsoft or Intel anytime soon.

    23 people found this answer helpful.
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