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Surface-Pro-Feature

If you own a Surface Pro vi or Surface Book ii and you've noticed slower-than-expected operation lately, nosotros've got skilful news: You aren't imagining information technology. We've besides got bad news: Currently, there is no fix, though Microsoft is reportedly working on one. There accept been reports on Reddit from users who saw their CPU speeds falling to as depression equally 400MHz, even on systems plugged into the wall. What makes this consequence a petty curious, however, is that some of these reports go back for several years.

TechRepublic contacted Microsoft, who said: "Nosotros are aware of some customers reporting a scenario with their Surface Books where CPU speeds are slowed," a Microsoft spokesperson told TechRepublic. "Nosotros are rapidly working to accost via a firmware update."

While this quote doesn't reference the issue with Surface Pro, some of the Reddit threads focus on that platform rather than the Surface Book or Surface Book 2.SEEAMAZON_ET_135 See Amazon ET commerce In this case, even so, it appears that the upshot has been flight along nether the radar for a while — long plenty that people have plant their ain fix. There's a tertiary-party utility chosen ThrottleStop. It can exist used to disable a specific CPU instruction called BD PROCHOT.

What'due south a BD PROCHOT?

BD PROCHOT stands for "Bidirectional processor hot." 'Bidirectional' refers to the fact that this betoken tin can be thrown by the CPU itself (to lower its own temperature) or by another component every bit a means of protecting that part from overheating. Imagine, for example, that your GPU was going to overheat and damage itself due to high operating temperature. The GPU tin throw this flag to reduce the CPU's frequency, reducing the processing work that was causing an overheat in the first place.

ThrottleStop

It is not clear exactly which components tin use the BD PROCHOT function. It was introduced at a time when private components paid less attention to their ain thermal conditions and performed less clock throttling overall, though that intelligence has been baked into mobile hardware at various times and in diverse means. Some modern systems measure out pare temperature and use it as office of determining their operating frequencies, for case.

Considering BD PROCHOT is bidirectional, there's a potential run a risk here. The flag can exist thrown by a different component that isn't the CPU, which means (in theory), you're overriding a component that's trying to preserve its own functionality by telling the CPU to deadening downward. But this does non seem to be an explanation for what'south going on with Surface devices. Customers report these problems on products that show no signs of any overheat, and some customers who accept used the ThrottleStop utility to turn the BD PROCHOT function off have gone on to use their products for a year or more without whatsoever problems.

There are non-Surface users who have reported BD PROCHOT issues every bit well over the years, so this isn't a Microsoft-specific didactics or capability, though the issue does seem to exist hitting Surface in particular right now. Users who need to apply ThrottleStop to restore normal functionality can probably endeavour doing so. If you lot do, be cautious. Don't disable BD PROCHOT and so run the ugliest thermal workload y'all tin find — turn the flag off and let the system sit at idle or run a YouTube video. See if y'all discover any inappropriate beliefs or hot spot formation on the device. If yous come across problems, you can employ the utility again to restore default functionality.

Devices like the Surface Book and Surface Pro six are sparse, which means any significant source of inappropriate rut is likely to migrate to the surface (no pun intended) of the device. So before y'all disable BD PROCHOT, if you lot're concerned about the impact, accept a moment to familiarize yourself with how hot your Surface Book or Surface Pro 6 feels to the touch now. Then disable BD PROCHOT and run the same check afterward giving the system fourth dimension to warm up. If the machine stays stable and you lot have no other problems, y'all're probably fine to use it. Just go along an eye out for a ready from Microsoft.

If your motorcar feels hotter to the touch than it ought to, or the estrus is edifice upwards in an unusual spot for your automobile, nosotros propose confronting disabling PROCHOT until more information is available. People reporting this issue seem to exist experiencing a bug rather than a 18-carat problem only that is not a guarantee. If you feel whatsoever instabilities or thermal bug later on disabling BD PROCHOT via third-political party utility, re-enable it immediately and contact Microsoft for additional service instructions.

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