How to stop thermal throttling?

[Zaggin]

Hey everyone,

To start things off, my laptop is an ASUS ROG GL552JX
nVidia GTX950m + IntelHD 4600
i5-4200H

So my problem is that my laptop is being thermally throttled for no right reason. I say this because it's cold to the touch, yet every single sensor monitoring app says its 86C
I can turn on my laptop and its being throttled off the bat, sensors will say 86C no matter what. My previous laptop which was an ASUS Vivobook with very similar specs that I ran at 79C regularly before I got rid of it, and the heat was unbearable, so much so that my left hand would need to cool off at times because of the sweat the heat produced. So I am 100% sure my laptop is even CLOSE to 86C.

What I have already done:
- Took it apart and clean it
- Clean the fan
- Clean the heatsink
- repaste heatsink
- updated my BIOS (was on 206, now on 207)
- disable throttling in GPedit.msc

None of it worked. I decided to look into programs that can help me with this.
I found a guy with a very similar issue: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/throttlestop-how-to-remove-throttle-flag.251139/

But I rather not follow his issue to a T since it may cause issues.

I currently using Throttle stop and intel Extreme utitity.

I have disabled BD PROCHOT but it didn't do anything. What settings should I modify in order to fix this or at least alleviate the issue a bit?

 

[Edwired]

When you say thermal throttle does it crash or bsod as in general gaming laptops tends to get hot. Try using laptop cooler to force more cold air in.

Check in taskmanager as background process that are using 100% of the CPU can increase temperature and also scan for virus/malware as well

 

[Zaggin]

When you say thermal throttle does it crash or bsod as in general gaming laptops tends to get hot. Try using laptop cooler to force more cold air in

No, it has never crashed, it never even gets hot. The airflow is fine, my fan is running full speed, the air that gets blown out is not even slightly warm, its cool air. My laptop is never not throttled. It's being throttled off the bat, the moment I boot up my laptop I can tell by the fan speed that it's in throttled mode.

What this means is that my laptop is always running at 1/10th speed (basing this off the core frequency) so it never even gets warm in the first place, let alone hot.

 

[Edwired]

What software you using that is displaying that

 

[Zaggin]

What software you using that is displaying that

Intel Extreme tuning utility

 

[Edwired]

According to Intel it suppose to throttle at 100c so it must be software related that tricking it into thinking it throttling when it isn't. Best to uninstall Intel extreme tuning utility and throttlestop and check again using hwinfo64

 

[Zaggin]

According to Intel it suppose to throttle at 100c so it must be software related that tricking it into thinking it throttling when it isn't. Best to uninstall Intel extreme tuning utility and throttlestop and check again using hwinfo64

Funny thing is, I've only recently installed throttlestop and Intel Extreme tuning utitlity BECAUSE HWinfo64 said that my CPU is being throttled, checked it again with AIDA64 and same thing.

And just to be clear, this is a fresh installation of Windows 10 - no bloatware, nothing. It was behaving the same way before the fresh install as well.

 

[Edwired]

Sounds serious by the look of it even with a clean install. Do you know if the CPU is soldered in or removeable

 

[Zaggin]

Sounds serious by the look of it even with a clean install. Do you know if the CPU is soldered in or removeable

It's soldered on

 

[Edwired]

Yeah by the look of it it 2 core 4 thread cpu that seems to have a lot of hit on a lot of forums about thermal throttling. How old is the laptop

 

[kayjay010101]

Sounds like there's no contact between CPU and heatsink. Tried repasting?

 

[Zaggin]

Sounds like there's no contact between CPU and heatsink. Tried repasting?

Yes I have. Not sure if this is relevant but here are my settings in throttlestop

 

[Edwired]

Most likely the sensor is defective if it keeps showing 86c before and after

 

[Zaggin]

Most likely the sensor is defective if it keeps showing 86c before and after

This is what I suspect as well, but every time I google regarding that issue - everyone says that a defective sensor gives crazy numbers like +1000C or something. I've open up my laptop so many times now it's getting to be annoying, I honestly don't know what that sensor looks like but or if it's even replaceable

 

[Edwired]

The sensor is usually build inside the cpu. Only way of fixing it is sending it to Asus repair service as it high likely chance the cpu would need to be replaced. It only a small few I seen with similar issue in laptops and desktops

 

[unclewebb]

Not sure if this is relevant

It is very relevant. The default thermal throttling temperature for a 4200H is 100°C.

Product Specifications

quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.

ark.intel.com

That rating is a maximum. Individual manufacturers can decide to lower that value. Your ThrottleStop screenshot shows PROCHOT 87°C in red. That confirms that Asus decided to set the thermal throttling temperature to 87°C instead of the Intel recommended 100°C. Asus did cowardly stuff like this to some of their laptops from this era. The red color confirms that the CPU is presently thermal throttling.

So I am 100% sure my laptop is even CLOSE to 86C.

There are multiple temperature sensors within an Intel CPU and they are all reporting the same thing. Your CPU cores really are running hot.

The 4200H has a 47W TDP rating and your heatsink and fan are not able to keep your CPU cool at 7W so that can only mean one thing. Your heatsink is damaged or you did not do a great job installing it. What type of thermal paste did you use? Did you use enough? Is it possible that you stripped one of the screws?

Some laptops use a thermal pad on top of the CPU. If you remove this thermal pad and replace it with thermal paste, it is possible that the paste is not as thick as the pad. When you reassemble your laptop, the heatsink screws will tighten back up but the contact pressure between the heatsink and CPU could be greatly reduced. Temperatures will shoot up with the slightest bit of load. You will not feel much heat coming out of your laptop because all of the heat is within the CPU and is not being dissipated. Contact pressure is critical.

Have you owned this laptop since it was new? If not, it is possible that the previous owner replaced a thermal pad with thermal paste. Big mistake when working on laptops.

 

[Edwired]

It is very relevant. The default thermal throttling temperature for a 4200H is 100°C.

Product Specifications

quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.

ark.intel.com

That rating is a maximum. Individual manufacturers can decide to lower that value. Your ThrottleStop screenshot shows PROCHOT 87°C in red. That confirms that Asus decided to set the thermal throttling temperature to 87°C instead of the Intel recommended 100°C. Asus did cowardly stuff like this to some of their laptops from this era. The red color confirms that the CPU is presently thermal throttling.


There are multiple temperature sensors within an Intel CPU and they are all reporting the same thing. Your CPU cores really are running this hot.

The 4200H has a 47W TDP rating and your heatsink and fan are not able to keep your CPU cool at 7W so that can only mean one thing. Your heatsink is damaged or you did not do a great job installing it. What type of thermal paste did you use? Did you use enough? Is it possible that you stripped one of the screws?

Some laptops use a thermal pad on top of the CPU. If you remove this thermal pad and replace it with thermal paste, it is possible that the paste is not as thick as the pad. When you reassemble your laptop, the heatsink screws will tighten back up but the contact pressure between the heatsink and CPU could be greatly reduced. Temperatures will shoot up with the slightest bit of load. You will not feel much heat coming out of your laptop because all of the heat is within the CPU and is not being dissipated. Contact pressure is critical.

Have you owned this laptop since it was new? If not, it is possible that the previous owner replaced a thermal pad with thermal paste. Big mistake when working on laptops.

Good point there

 

[Zaggin]

It is very relevant. The default thermal throttling temperature for a 4200H is 100°C.

Product Specifications

quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.

ark.intel.com

That rating is a maximum. Individual manufacturers can decide to lower that value. Your ThrottleStop screenshot shows PROCHOT 87°C in red. That confirms that Asus decided to set the thermal throttling temperature to 87°C instead of the Intel recommended 100°C. Asus did cowardly stuff like this to some of their laptops from this era. The red color confirms that the CPU is presently thermal throttling.


There are multiple temperature sensors within an Intel CPU and they are all reporting the same thing. Your CPU cores really are running this hot.

The 4200H has a 47W TDP rating and your heatsink and fan are not able to keep your CPU cool at 7W so that can only mean one thing. Your heatsink is damaged or you did not do a great job installing it. What type of thermal paste did you use? Did you use enough? Is it possible that you stripped one of the screws?

Some laptops use a thermal pad on top of the CPU. If you remove this thermal pad and replace it with thermal paste, it is possible that the paste is not as thick as the pad. When you reassemble your laptop, the heatsink screws will tighten back up but the contact pressure between the heatsink and CPU could be greatly reduced. Temperatures will shoot up with the slightest bit of load. You will not feel much heat coming out of your laptop because all of the heat is within the CPU and is not being dissipated. Contact pressure is critical.

Have you owned this laptop since it was new? If not, it is possible that the previous owner replaced a thermal pad with thermal paste. Big mistake when working on laptops.

Damn this is on point, more than 2 screws were damaged. I did get this from a previous owner. I have no idea if it comes with a thermal pad by default. Can I buy a thermal pad and place them between my CPU+GPU and the heatsink? Would this help close the gap?

As for the screws that came off, the entire peg it self were broken off the board, I ended up having to glue them back on. My temperature dropped to 70C or so for a week, then it was back to 86C. It could be that they broke off again or its not making contact as well.

 

[unclewebb]

@Zaggin - Thermal pad vs thermal paste was just one guess. It happened to me on a Dell laptop a long time ago.

Broken or damaged screws have to be fixed if possible. Contact pressure is critical. You cannot just lightly tighten the heatsink back down hoping that your glue job will not fail. It needs to be making firm contact. This seems to be your main problem.

 

[Edwired]

Can you post some pictures of where it broke and possibility where the thermal pad is suppose to be as some thermal pads in laptops varies from 0.5mm to 1.5mm in height.

For stripped screws that have + shape in it. There a way i fix them is using a skinny hacksaw and a bench vice with rubber protecting the treads then make a straight cut so basically converting it from philip to flat head. Only if you dont want to do the heavy work best to find another broken laptop and take screws from that but keep them in the same length and diameter

This is the closest i can find if that somewhat correct

Found this on this link https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?65642-Replacing-thermal-compound-in-G551JW as it similar to your laptop