Laptop slows down when charging(plugged in)

MrTommyVerciti · May 24, 2015

So hi guys, i have a big problem.
As far i know, my laptop is awesome, it has everything what i need for gaming, but the problem is, i can only game on it, when it is on battery and the battery will only last for about 30min on high perfomance. So when i play BF4 or any other game on Battery, i get arround 30-50 FPS on bf4 at high- ultra settings. When i plug it in, the fps drops down to 15-25 fps.
I´ve tried out every single solution, i´ve gone through all the power options in windows, i´ve reinstalled windows 8.1, then installed win10 technical preview, and even made a custom AC Adapter. It´s combined from my old laptop which had 90W, but all these things didnt help me.
And yeah, i´ve also installed the newest BIOS update, and also sent it to Acer repair center, but they also couldnt do any thing.

So my laptop is a Acer Aspire E5 551g-t4se
CPU is a amd a10 7300 1.9 - 3.2 ghz
AMD R7 M265 2GB
8GB ram
Windows 10

this laptop is like only 4 months old, i really like it when i play on battery but when i plug it in, it´s just unplayble.

drtoast · May 24, 2015

HAve you looked at your component temps, charging genereates a lot of heat, my bet would be its overheating and slowing down to protect itself when charging

MrTommyVerciti · May 24, 2015

drtoast :

Yes i´ve noticed a bit of extra heat on my fan exhaust when i plug it in.

Edit 1:
Another thing, when i charge my laptop, the CPU usage ranks up alot, even when i open chrome, it will jump to 100%.
in games it stays at 100% and the Frequency goes down to 800mhz - 1.1ghz. On Battery the frequency stays at steady 1.9 ghz on all 4 cores.

dudeman509 · May 24, 2015

You'll kill your battery in almost no time at all to where it stops holding a charge putting that much of a load on it.

I've had Dell/HP laptops that scale themselves back if the charger isn't detecting the correct wattage.

Get a system monitor program that monitors CPU temperatures. On everything but my 17" notebooks, I've always needed a chiller pad to go underneath - my Arrandale - Ivy Bridge chips get HOT.

MrTommyVerciti · May 24, 2015

dudeman509 :

I dont know why this laptop would overheat, its brand new and the fan has been cleaned 3 weeks ago. I think there is a background process running, when i plug it in, thats why the CPU usage jumps arround.

drtoast · May 24, 2015

you probably have a setting in your power plan to turn off power saving when on mains, take a look through your power profile.

MrTommyVerciti · May 24, 2015

drtoast :

already done that.
I´ve noticed another thing, my battery gives an amp rate of 4800mah --> 4.8A
and the adapter only give 3.4A.

might that be the culprit ?

MrTommyVerciti · May 25, 2015

Please help me, it would really help me out of this problem.
Thanks

dudeman509 · May 25, 2015

Are you using the original charger? Does it slow down immediately when plugging in the charger, or after a few minutes?

MrTommyVerciti · May 25, 2015

dudeman509 :

Yes i am using the original charger, also the charger, that came with the laptop.
And yes it immediatly slows down when plugged in, and when i plug it out, it immediatly boosts the FPS.

dudeman509 · May 25, 2015

It kinda sounds like it thinks a lower-wattage adapter is being plugged into it. Perhaps something wrong with the adapter, perhaps something wrong with the charging or sensing system within the computer itself.

For instance, I have an older 65W charger from an older computer that I can plug into my Dell). When I do that, it will operate the processor in 3W mode (normal is 29) and pops up a message saying that performance will be reduced until a proper wattage adapter is connected - and indeed, everything happens REALLY slowly, moreso than even reduced power mode on battery. My HP complains about the 90W adapter they gave us at work, but doesn't seem to slow down as far as I can tell.

This is something that you might want to contact your vendor's technical support folks about - perhaps they can walk you through some basic troubleshooting to determine the problem for that specific model.

MrTommyVerciti · May 26, 2015

dudeman509 :

It kinda sounds like it thinks a lower-wattage adapter is being plugged into it. Perhaps something wrong with the adapter, perhaps something wrong with the charging or sensing system within the computer itself.

For instance, I have an older 65W charger from an older computer that I can plug into my Dell). When I do that, it will operate the processor in 3W mode (normal is 29) and pops up a message saying that performance will be reduced until a proper wattage adapter is connected - and indeed, everything happens REALLY slowly, moreso than even reduced power mode on battery. My HP complains about the 90W adapter they gave us at work, but doesn't seem to slow down as far as I can tell.

This is something that you might want to contact your vendor's technical support folks about - perhaps they can walk you through some basic troubleshooting to determine the problem for that specific model.

Ok thanks man, i´wll contact acer again and ask them for any solution.
Thanks for all the help

MrTommyVerciti · May 26, 2015

Hey guys, i´ve got the solution.
I had to change the P0....P7 states, the power states, of the amd cpu.
The problem was, the CPU started to slow down to 1.1 ghz when plugged in. So i changed the power states from P7 - P3 to 1.9 ghz. So there is no other power state, which would bring the cpu to 1.1 ghz.
And thats how the problem was solved

Jarjarbinks92 · Nov 25, 2015

MrTommyVerciti :

Which application did you use to modify the pstates?

waughy · Mar 16, 2016

MrTommyVerciti :

Can you please tell me how to do this as having same problem with same computer acer asus
regards

Robert_170 · Mar 16, 2016

waughy :

I had totaly the same prob. and then i found this: http://www.tomsguide.com/answers/id-1894048/laptop-lags-playing-games-plugged.html

IDK why it helped but it did.
Hope it helped

Robert_170 · Mar 17, 2016

I now found out how to change your P0...P7 states on your A10 7300 processor.
First download AmdMsiTweaker http://extreme.pcgameshardware.de/attachments/672949d1376157633-amdmsrtweaker-1-1-anleitung-amdmsrtweaker_1.1.zip.

Then watch this YouTube tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcaItz2VDqc.

First I thought that this is program where you can only read you P0...P7 states. But you can actually communicate with program to change thee power states to whatever you want. Also your CPU doesn't need to be unlocked.

Enjoy

Kenneth5566 · Jul 6, 2016

Hey Tommy! I have the exact same problem. When I plug in my charger the speed drops down to 1.08GHz. I tried your solution, but when I run the batch file to change the P states, it seems that it doesn't change my speed. May I know your P state settings? We almost have the same laptop series. Mine is Acer Aspire E5-551g-812l its cpu is AMD A8-7100 1.8Ghz to 3 Ghz. same GPU also.

THANKS IN ADVANCE! I hope you respond to this.

Jarjarbinks92 · Jul 6, 2016

Kenneth5566 :

Using p7=19x@0.975 works for me, no need to change the other states. You can try setting the lowest p state to be the same as the highest non turbo p state ( should be p4 or p3, whichever has the multiplier as 18/19x).

AceOfBladesXx · Aug 16, 2016

the problem might be with your charger. if your charger is low output or worn out, it could mess with some graphics drivers and slow down your pc. try using a new or higher output charger

Laptop slows down when charging(plugged in)

Honorable

Honorable

Honorable

Dignified

Honorable

Honorable

Honorable

Honorable

Dignified

Honorable

Dignified

Honorable

Honorable

Reputable

Commendable

Commendable

Commendable

Commendable

Reputable

Commendable

Share this page