N100 Sluggish Win11 Bug

[DDragon]

Hello, I recently bought a laptop with the Intel N100 processor, on Windows 11 it tends to sit around 0.80Ghz, it'll spike randomly up to full speed but most of the time sits down low, 0.8Ghz-1.3Ghz even under load. On Linux it goes full throttle 3Ghz sustained during load.

I've updated Windows 11 fully, download CPU drivers from Intel (which is masquerading as GPU drivers) and nothing has fixed it, I've tweaked the performance settings in power options, even found some online guides to tweak the registry. Nothing has helped. I've found Reddit users who have the same issue, Windows runs it sluggish while Linux runs it fine. There's no thermal problem it runs at 67C, so it's not a thermal protection. This laptop has no power user options in Bios, just basic Secure Boot and Boot priority.

I wanted to report this as a bug to Intel, but it's near impossible to find support/tech contact for companies these days (it's as if they are hiding and don't want to deal with their end users)

If anyone knows of a kernel trick, hex editing trick, driver or otherwise a means to make Microsoft actually use the CPU I would LOVE to hear it. Otherwise I'm stuck with Linux which is a great OS but not my favorite OS.

Many thanks and much gratitude.

[VonM_Intel]

Hello, DDragon.

Thank you for your patience and for sharing such detailed information. Your findings align with known issues on Intel N100 systems running Windows 11, where CPU frequency scaling often underperforms compared to Linux. This typically stems from restrictive power profiles, firmware limitations, and how Windows handles E-cores on low-power processors. To investigate further, I need more details about your system. Please run the Intel SSU tool and send me the report via email (not through public forums, as the log contains sensitive data). I’ve already reached out via email to collect this information.

Have a nice day!

Best regards,

Von M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[VonM_Intel]

Hello, DDragon.

I have seen your email, and I appreciate you sending the requested report as well. Regarding the potential issue with intelppm.sys, bypassing it could lead to unintended behavior, as it's an crucial part of the Windows power management system, specifically controlling the processor's power states. Disabling or bypassing it could indeed prevent the system from reverting to the 0.81 GHz failsafe, but it could also result in instability or improper power management, which may not be ideal in the long run.

Moreover, I understand that you have an OEM device. Since this is an OEM original equipment manufacturer device, please take into consideration that our support may be limited since we are not familiar with the technology, settings, customizations, custom drivers, and features that the OEM has designed and installed your system, nevertheless, I will do my best to assist you with your concern.

In the meantime, I will need to do further research on this matter and post the response on this thread once available.

Best regards,

Von M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[DDragon]

Hello Von,

Thank you for your reply.

I have been experimenting with disabling intelppm.sys but the system falls back to 0.81Ghz constant. I have tried hex editing the intelppm.sys to disable down throttle, but this also results in 0.81Ghz, disabling intelppm.sys in the registry also results in 0.81Ghz. So I am wondering what the next component is that causes the defaulting to 0.81Ghz. I don't like power management, or throttling at all. I would like to strip it from the laptop to use full unregulated 100% 3ghz CPU but this may require debugging to accomplish unless Intel is able to provide information on how to completely remove throttling. I understand the risks, but as it stands the laptop is already unstable and unusable due to this strange behavior. Throttlestop didn't work, power configuration to set minimum cpu to 100% is ignored by Windows. This should not be the case. Setting minimum cpu in power config to 100% should result in 100% 3Ghz speed. It would be better to strip the entire throttle control from the system in order to have 100%, than to have it this way. In the end maybe I will go to Linux after all, but I will await your investigation and reply.

Thank you for your support, and quick responses.

[VonM_Intel]

Hello, DDragon.

Thank you for reaching out and sharing your concern. I’d like to provide some clarity on the behavior you’re observing regarding your processor's frequency. Please note that Intel® processors do not always operate at their maximum rated frequency. Instead, they are designed to dynamically adjust their performance based on current workload demands and thermal conditions. When the system detects high processing demand and the thermal/power environment allows, the CPU may operate at or near its Intel® Turbo Boost frequency.

To help you better understand this functionality, I’ve included some useful Intel support articles below:

• Why Is My Intel® Core™ Processor Stuck at a Certain Frequency?
• My Intel® Core™ Processor Does Not Reach the Maximum Turbo Boost Frequency
• Overview Information for Intel® Turbo Boost Technology
• Performance Proxy Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Intel® Processors
• Intel® PPM Provisioning Package and Driver Overview and FAQs

To further assist you, may I kindly ask:

• When did you first notice this issue?
• Was the system functioning normally before this behavior started?
• Have you had the opportunity to contact your laptop manufacturer's technical support team?
• Try downloading the chipset driver from your laptop manufacturer's website

Should you require additional technical guidance, I would also recommend reaching out to Nimo’s technical support team, as they may provide further insight specific to your system configuration.

Best regards,

Von M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[DDragon]

Hello Von,
What I am experiencing is not normal CPU behavior, I have owned many computers, many I have built and tinkered with, when a processor throttles down to 0.8Ghz during a CPU stress test consuming 100% and is within safe operational temperatures, that is not supposed to be normal, or optimal in any way. Are you saying Intel intentionally makes their processors weak? For what purpose? During a stress test it should go to 3Ghz, sustained at 100% usage. Instead I'm seeing 0.8-1.6Ghz during a stress test with sustained 100% usage (frequency variants but static % used) it is unlike anything I've ever seen in a CPU. It's not likely Nimo knows what the issue is caused by, this behavior has been noted by others using different machine brands, it is not specific to Nimo. I have tried the chipset driver from their website. CPUs should maintain highest performance speeds possible, the n100 is not maintaining highest performance speeds possible. For me, and others.

[VonM_Intel]

Hello, DDragon.

Thank you for sharing the details of the issue you're encountering. From what you've described, it seems the behavior you're experiencing falls outside the expected performance range, particularly given the stress test conditions and the sustained CPU usage at sub-optimal frequencies. To address your concern, it’s important to highlight that modern processors, including Intel’s, are equipped with several mechanisms for thermal and power management, such as dynamic frequency scaling (Turbo Boost) and thermal throttling. These mechanisms are designed to protect the processor by managing power consumption and preventing excessive heat buildup under heavy load. However, seeing the CPU frequency drop as low as 0.8GHz during a stress test, despite the system not exceeding safe temperatures, is certainly unexpected. Given that this behavior appears across various machine brands and isn't specific to Nimo, it may indicate a broader systemic or configuration-related issue, rather than a hardware defect.

Best regards,

Von M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[DDragon]

Hello Von,
I first noticed the issue when I received the laptop on March 31. It felt sluggish so I checked the task manager and saw that the CPU was not performing at maximum performance. I checked the temperature which was ok. so I concluded it's not thermal throttling, there is no need to protect the CPU from heat. Here is a video of the CPU performance in Windows 11 under stress, Ubuntu 24 under stress using an application I programmed for this purpose, and Windows 11 client within a Linux host VM. As you can see the CPU does not do well in Windows. It does better in Linux but actually doesn't seem to use turbo much at all. It will occasionally reach 3.0Ghz in Linux, though I didn't catch it on the video. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hNwhRQQ16-JVGSvN1rm1jiGBTj_om01A/view?usp=drivesdk

Thank you again

[JerryLeee]

Hi, 

I am also interested in this question because I also encountered this problem when using N250.

The following attempts have been made to improve it, for your reference

1. Change the Windows power plan to High Performance mode

2. Relax PL1 restrictions (this setting requires BIOS support and may also cause processor instability)

    - Not set higher than thermal solution

    - Don't increase PL1 too much to exceed the warning limit

[VonM_Intel]

Hello, DDragon.

Thank you for the detailed explanation and for sharing the video footage demonstrating the CPU behavior across different environments. I appreciate the time and effort you've taken to document the issue thoroughly. Based on your observations, it's clear that the CPU performance does not appear to be reaching expected turbo frequencies, particularly under Windows 11, while showing comparatively improved behavior under Linux. Given that thermals seem within range and thermal throttling appears unlikely, further investigation is indeed warranted. I will be conducting further investigation into this issue and will provide an update in this thread as soon as additional information becomes available.

@JerryLeee  I empathize with your situation and the issue you are facing. However, I kindly request that you create a new thread for your case. This will allow us to focus on your specific problem and provide you with better assistance.

Best regards,

Von M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[VonM_Intel]

Hello, DDragon.

Thank you for your patience and for sharing the screen recording. This is very helpful and will assist us in better understanding the behavior you're experiencing. Based on my initial review, this appears to be a unique situation, especially considering that the system performs normally under Linux. To help us determine whether the issue is hardware or software-related, I kindly ask that you run the Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool (IPDT).

When running the tool, please take note of the following:

• The overall test result (PASS or FAIL)
• The CPU frequency observed during the test

Once the test is complete, kindly share the results with us. If all tests pass but the observed frequency remains unusually low, please let me know so I can do further analysis. However, if any tests fail, this may point to a hardware issue. Since this involves an OEM laptop, I recommend contacting your system manufacturer for further assistance and hardware-level support.

Best regards,

Von M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[DDragon]

Hello Von, 

I ran the Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool, initially it failed on "BrandString" so I disabled BrandString in config and it passed on everything else. While the test ran, the CPU throttle was limited and behaving erratically. 

Thank you for investigating this. I appreciate it. 

[VonM_Intel]

Hello, DDragon.

Thank you for running the Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool and for sharing the results. It's helpful to know that the test passed after adjusting the BrandString setting, although the erratic throttling behavior you observed is certainly concerning. I appreciate your effort in troubleshooting this. I’ll review the information you've provided and follow up with the next steps shortly. If further testing or details are needed, I’ll be sure to let you know.

Thank you again for your patience and cooperation.

Best regards,

Von M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[VonM_Intel]

Hello, DDragon.

Thank you for your patience while I’ve reviewed the results. After a thorough assessment, it appears that your processor is functioning properly. However, the erratic behavior and limited throttling suggest that the issue may be related to the configuration set by your computer's manufacturer. We’ve exhausted all available troubleshooting steps, and I recommend reaching out directly to your computer's OEM for further assistance, as they will be best equipped to resolve any configuration-related issues.

For your convenience, you can contact Nimo via their official website: Nimo PC Contact Support. In the meantime, I will close this inquiry now. If you need further assistance, please submit a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Thank you for working with us, and I hope the issue is resolved quickly.

Best regards,

Von M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[DDragon]

Hello Vom,
respectfully I disagree, if that were the case it would also affect Linux. The fact that Linux can run the CPU at higher sustained frequency tells me it's an Intel driver issue. I appreciate you taking time to investigate and explore this problem with me and understand you are busy and unable to find the solution. I only wish Intel would give more throttle control to the users, perhaps allowing a throttle tool like throttlestop to have control over it. Throttle stop has no control over this, but Linux does (maybe Linux has more direct control over hardware registers than Windows?) Either way yes very strange.
Thank you again for looking into it.

I have contact NimoPC multiple times, their support doesn't exist. They do not try to help. I will try to do some IDApro or Ghidra but I'm not very confident in my ability in that area. Unfortunately the BIOS appears to have "BIOS guard" or I would try enabling menus in the BIOS. I might go for it anyway at some point.