Porteus Laptop lags while charging at 30%.
Details:
Porteus 5.01 x86_64
Hewlett-Packard 172A
6.18.6-porteus
CPU: Intel i7 M 620 (4) @ 2.667GHz
GPU: Intel Core Processor
Laptop: HP EliteBook 8440p
Symptoms:
Laptop is responsive on battery.
While charging below ~60% battery, the entire system becomes very slow.
scaling_cur_freq drops to 1190000 while charging.
Unplugging the charger restores performance and scaling_cur_freq returns to about 3000000.
Once the battery reaches around 60%, performance returns to normal even while still plugged in.
Things I tried:
Disabled intel_ips (no change).
Booted with processor.ignore_ppc=1 (no change).
Original HP charger is being used.
Checked dmesg; no obvious thermal throttling messages.
Porteus Laptop lags while charging at 30%
Porteus Laptop lags while charging at 30%
Those who win the race are those who are slow and steady. 
Porteus Laptop lags while charging at 30%
DE: Xfce 4.16
WM: Xfwm4
WM: Xfwm4
Those who win the race are those who are slow and steady.
Porteus Laptop lags while charging at 30%
hi supertabs,
check if you have TLP or Laptop mode installed, also power-profile configured which is basically a power management tools, with lots of customisations and one of them is like you stated above.
check if you have TLP or Laptop mode installed, also power-profile configured which is basically a power management tools, with lots of customisations and one of them is like you stated above.
Porteus Laptop lags while charging at 30%
hi Testuser,
unfortunately TLP is not running, I made it run, but still the same issue
unfortunately TLP is not running, I made it run, but still the same issue
Those who win the race are those who are slow and steady.
Porteus Laptop lags while charging at 30%
Below is what Google Gemini says
This is a classic issue common on older HP EliteBooks (like the 8440p).What you are experiencing is hardware-level power throttling triggered by the Embedded Controller (EC). When the battery is degraded or heavily discharged (below ~60%), charging it draws maximum current. To protect the power delivery system, motherboard, or a weak power adapter from over-current and overheating, the laptop's EC forces the CPU into a severe throttled state (dropping down to 1.19 GHz, which is the base frequency step for First-Gen Intel Nehalem/Arrandale CPUs like your i7-620M). Once the charge reaches ~60%, current draw drops, and the throttling signal clears.
Because this throttling originates at the firmware level, normal Linux power managers (like tlp or cpupower) cannot easily override it unless forced.
Step 1: Diagnose Firmware Throttling (BD PROCHOT)
Open a terminal and run dmesg to see if the kernel is reporting thermal/power events:Bashdmesg -T | grep -i "throttle"
If you see messages about CPU clock throttled or BD PROCHOT while charging at 30%, the hardware/EC is asserting the signal.
Check the current CPU governor and limits:Bashcat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
Step 2: Fix / Bypass via Software (Porteus)
Method A: Override CPU Frequency Limits via Boot Parameters
Since Porteus uses custom scripts and cheatcodes, forcing the CPU scaling driver to ignore firmware requests often fixes this.
Open your Porteus boot configuration file (usually located at /boot/syslinux/porteus.cfg or /boot/grub/grub.cfg depending on whether you boot BIOS or UEFI).
Append intel_pstate=disable or processor.ignore_ppc=1 to your kernel command line (cheatcodes):processor.ignore_ppc=1 tells the Linux kernel to ignore BIOS _PPC (Performance Present Capabilities) limits, which stops the EC from clamping frequency.
Save the file and reboot.
Method B: Disable BD PROCHOT using msr-tools
BD PROCHOT (Bi-Directional Processor Hot) is the exact signal the HP EC sends to downclock the CPU. You can clear this bit directly using Model-Specific Registers (MSR).
Install msr-tools on Porteus (or load the msr kernel module):Bashsudo modprobe msr
Read the current MSR value on register 0x1FC:Bashsudo rdmsr 0x1FC
To temporarily disable BD PROCHOT, set bit 0 to 0:Bash# On Arrandale CPUs (i7 620M), writing 0 to 0x1FC clears BD PROCHOT override
sudo wrmsr 0x1FC 0
Check if scaling_cur_freq immediately jumps back up to 2.66 GHz – 3.33 GHz (Turbo Boost).(Note: If wrmsr restores full speed, you can add modprobe msr and wrmsr 0x1FC 0 to /etc/rc.d/rc.local or a Porteus startup script so it runs on every boot).
Step 3: Check Hardware Causes
If software workarounds only partially fix it, the issue stems from hardware limits on the 8440p:
Power Supply Wattage: Are you using a 65W charger? HP EliteBooks of this era with core i7 CPUs draw significant power. When charging a low battery while powering an i7 CPU, a 65W power supply triggers current protection. Switching to an official HP 90W or 130W Smart AC Adapter eliminates this throttling on low battery.
Aging Battery Internal Resistance: An old/aging battery draws irregular voltage when charging from 0–50%, triggering safety throttling.
Dirty DC Jack / Center Pin: Inspect the HP center pin on the charger plug. If the laptop cannot read the Smart Pin signal correctly, it defaults to a safety 45W profile and throttles during charging.
This is a classic issue common on older HP EliteBooks (like the 8440p).What you are experiencing is hardware-level power throttling triggered by the Embedded Controller (EC). When the battery is degraded or heavily discharged (below ~60%), charging it draws maximum current. To protect the power delivery system, motherboard, or a weak power adapter from over-current and overheating, the laptop's EC forces the CPU into a severe throttled state (dropping down to 1.19 GHz, which is the base frequency step for First-Gen Intel Nehalem/Arrandale CPUs like your i7-620M). Once the charge reaches ~60%, current draw drops, and the throttling signal clears.
Because this throttling originates at the firmware level, normal Linux power managers (like tlp or cpupower) cannot easily override it unless forced.
Step 1: Diagnose Firmware Throttling (BD PROCHOT)
Open a terminal and run dmesg to see if the kernel is reporting thermal/power events:Bashdmesg -T | grep -i "throttle"
If you see messages about CPU clock throttled or BD PROCHOT while charging at 30%, the hardware/EC is asserting the signal.
Check the current CPU governor and limits:Bashcat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
Step 2: Fix / Bypass via Software (Porteus)
Method A: Override CPU Frequency Limits via Boot Parameters
Since Porteus uses custom scripts and cheatcodes, forcing the CPU scaling driver to ignore firmware requests often fixes this.
Open your Porteus boot configuration file (usually located at /boot/syslinux/porteus.cfg or /boot/grub/grub.cfg depending on whether you boot BIOS or UEFI).
Append intel_pstate=disable or processor.ignore_ppc=1 to your kernel command line (cheatcodes):processor.ignore_ppc=1 tells the Linux kernel to ignore BIOS _PPC (Performance Present Capabilities) limits, which stops the EC from clamping frequency.
Save the file and reboot.
Method B: Disable BD PROCHOT using msr-tools
BD PROCHOT (Bi-Directional Processor Hot) is the exact signal the HP EC sends to downclock the CPU. You can clear this bit directly using Model-Specific Registers (MSR).
Install msr-tools on Porteus (or load the msr kernel module):Bashsudo modprobe msr
Read the current MSR value on register 0x1FC:Bashsudo rdmsr 0x1FC
To temporarily disable BD PROCHOT, set bit 0 to 0:Bash# On Arrandale CPUs (i7 620M), writing 0 to 0x1FC clears BD PROCHOT override
sudo wrmsr 0x1FC 0
Check if scaling_cur_freq immediately jumps back up to 2.66 GHz – 3.33 GHz (Turbo Boost).(Note: If wrmsr restores full speed, you can add modprobe msr and wrmsr 0x1FC 0 to /etc/rc.d/rc.local or a Porteus startup script so it runs on every boot).
Step 3: Check Hardware Causes
If software workarounds only partially fix it, the issue stems from hardware limits on the 8440p:
Power Supply Wattage: Are you using a 65W charger? HP EliteBooks of this era with core i7 CPUs draw significant power. When charging a low battery while powering an i7 CPU, a 65W power supply triggers current protection. Switching to an official HP 90W or 130W Smart AC Adapter eliminates this throttling on low battery.
Aging Battery Internal Resistance: An old/aging battery draws irregular voltage when charging from 0–50%, triggering safety throttling.
Dirty DC Jack / Center Pin: Inspect the HP center pin on the charger plug. If the laptop cannot read the Smart Pin signal correctly, it defaults to a safety 45W profile and throttles during charging.
Porteus Laptop lags while charging at 30%
Hello Testuser, unfortunately it did not work, none of them work
Those who win the race are those who are slow and steady.
Porteus Laptop lags while charging at 30%
hi: from the IA
Code: Select all
Because the EliteBook 8440p uses a first-generation Intel Core processor (e.g., i5-520M or i7-620M), its
power management relies on a modern Linux kernel that often triggers the BD PROCHOT (Bi-Directional Processor Hot)
signal when battery voltage drops below a certain threshold. This forcefully locks your CPU speed to its lowest
possible state (often 933 MHz or 1.19 GHz), causing massive system sluggishness.Follow these steps to diagnose
and bypass the low-battery performance drop:1. Diagnose the Throttling StateOpen your terminal and run the
following command while the battery is under 30% to check your active CPU speed:
bash watch -n 1 "grep \"^[c]pu MHz\" /proc/cpuinfo"
