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Intel XTU failing to apply settings after waking from sleep

LHolm3
Beginner
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(XTU v6.4.1.19 running on Windows 10 Home, v1709 / 16299.248

Processor is an i7 7700HQ, Microcode Update 0x84, in a Dell XPS15 9560)

Hi - I've been using XTU to undervolt my CPU and iGPU to keep the temperatures down, and after testing I found some stable settings: -.115V offset for the core and -.100V for the GPU. I haven't had any crashes with these settings. Yesterday I noticed the CPU was throttling heavily, I opened HWMonitor (https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html) to check the temperatures and they were high again, and the voltage offsets were back to zero.

After trying a few things, I realised that after putting the computer to sleep and waking it again, sometimes the voltages aren't applied - HWMonitor says they're not (and the temperatures/performance agree), but XTU thinks they are. The most consistent way I can get this to happen is:

  • reapply the voltage offsets (apply defaults and then reapply the profile)
  • restart the computer (HWMonitor says they're still applied after this)
  • sleep the computer and rewake it (HWMonitor says all offsets are now zero)

If I reapply the voltages after this, it seems to stick even when I sleep it, until I reboot again (as above). This behaviour is with XTU (6.4.1.19) installed as Administrator - earlier I'd installed it by just opening it (and getting a UAC prompt), and I'm sure the behaviour was less consistent (failing after every sleep, weird values changing in XTU - I'll get to that below) but I can't test that now. I uninstalled and reinstalled with Run As Administrator, and that's where these results are from.

I don't know if it matters, but under System Information it says Watchdog Present: supported, but then Running at Boot: false and Failed: false. Also, whenever I open XTU to apply the changes, I exit the application again by right-clicking the tray icon. The Windows service is still running of course

Here's some screens if these are useful:

Here's the default profile in XTU and the HWMonitor readout with it applied

Here's the profile I use (before applying, just for the highlighting), and the HWMonitor readout after I apply it:

After sleeping (as described above) - notice XTU doesn't seem to think anything has changed:

To reapply the profile I have to apply Default again (since XTU thinks the voltages are still applied), and then apply my profile values again, and then HWMonitor agrees they're applied:

I don't know if this matters, but some other values change too. This is what happens when I apply my profile directly over the current values after sleeping (which should be the same if nothing has changed):

for whatever reason, it thinks that current value is a zero offset - which is true if everything has reset, but why does it only spot that one? Before I reinstalled as admin, some of those IccMax values would change from the Default profile values too - going from 55A to 70A or vice versa. That isn't something I ever changed, and those never highlighted as changes when I was applying my voltage offsets. I thought I'd mention it in case it's a clue to what's going on

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n_scott_pearson
Super User
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Just my observations: It sounds like XTU does not have a background thread that is watching for and reacting to power management events. I wonder if it is expecting the BIOS to fully restore the state of the hardware and processor and the BIOS is not doing so. It this is the case, it is the wrong answer; XTU should be handing this itself.

...S

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LHolm3
Beginner
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What's weird is that - for now at least - it seems pretty consistent about when it fails, since I reinstalled as admin. I've only seen it happen after the first sleep following a reboot - it seems to survive the actual reboot fine, and once you reapply the settings it survives sleeps too. (As far as I can tell so far, anyway)

So it seems like it has the ability to keep the settings applied just fine, it's just that in some situations it doesn't?

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n_scott_pearson
Super User
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Urk! That is pointing to a BIOS issue. That makes it incredibly more difficult to implement a fix (there are a lot of BIOS releases out there)

...S

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LHolm3
Beginner
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So is there anything else I can do here, any other information I can provide? Is it being looked at or is there somewhere else I need to report it?

Obviously I don't know the technical details of how the utility works across a range of computers, but wouldn't it be possible to just have the Windows service automatically do what I'm doing - reset and reapply the last set of values? It might not fix whatever problem is causing this in the first place, but it would make the utility a whole lot more reliable, and I wouldn't need to keep running HWMonitor to check if the undervolts are still applied

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LHolm3
Beginner
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Just noticed this is marked "assumed answered" but I haven't had a reply from anyone at Intel yet, and it's been like 6 months

Is there anything I can do at all? Or do I need to try some third party software like Throttlestop to reliably undervolt this thing? I like XTU and the ability to graph the data if you want to keep a watch on things, but it's all over the place when it comes to applying settings. I just noticed I was getting current limiting (with the CPU locked below 2GHz) because for some reason the Core and Graphics Unslice IccMax values were set at 12A instead of the 70A and 55A values in the default column. This thing seems like unnecessarily hard work and I can't believe it's by design

If there's a better place to file this bug report or you're just not interested then let me know, it would be nice to get a response though

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n_scott_pearson
Super User
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ICS may have presumed that, because I was talking to you, they didn't need to intervene. Can you get this one looked at Ronny (rguevara)?

...S

P.S. The "Assumed Answered" is something that the site software does automatically. It doesn't mean anything.

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LHolm3
Beginner
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Yeah I appreciate it, but we didn't resolve it or anything and it would be good if the technical team could respond either way, y'know? I know it's basically common knowledge that XTU is unreliable when it comes to restoring your settings (every discussion I've seen on undervolting mentions this and recommends Throttlestop instead) but I assume the XTU team would want to improve that, which is why I went to the effort of reporting it in the first place

What's really weird is it's running a Windows service but somehow can't reapply the settings, like I'm having to do by hand every time. I assume it's something to do with XTU not seeing the changes like I mentioned in the original post, so it doesn't realise it needs to update them. But maybe it could reset and reapply them anyway? Save me having to do it, and it would avoid things like the random current limiting issue I just mentioned in the previous post

I've also noticed some weird behaviour with the screens where you adjust the settings, like if you apply a profile with undervolting and then click the Core section the values all reset again. I can work out a thorough description and take screenshots if it's relevant

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