Debug MBPr 2015 running slow, powermetrics show 1,3GHz

[antoine23]

So I got a macbook pro retina 2015 13 inches that is slow.

Any ideas on debug ? I tried SMC reset, NVRAM reset and so on. Diagnostics does not finds anything, but the computer is noticeably slow.

sudo powermetrics

shows that the CPU is always at 1300MHz

The board does not has any signs of damage, water or otherwise.

 

[f54da]

Can you confirm with intel power gadget?

Throttling to base frequency usually happens when one of the temp sensors is bad.

 

[antoine23]

Where do I download it ? It looks like it was deprecated.

The temp sensors seem to show proper data with macsfancontrol, did not see anything strange in there.
Any way to determine which one would be faulty ?
Any way to bypass it ?

Even setting the fan to full blast with macsfancontrol does not changes anything, something else must be keeping it fixed. However, I would have expected Diagnostics to find that out.

 

[splifingate]

Have you opened-it-up, and checked/cleaned the fans/heatsink?

{caveat: I have not booted my unit in a long time}

I installed an after-market nvme into mine, and plan to install a new one in the coming months (with the hopes that BL and thermals will appreciate).

 

[antoine23]

Have you opened-it-up, and checked/cleaned the fans/heatsink?

{caveat: I have not booted my unit in a long time}

I installed an after-market nvme into mine, and plan to install a new one in the coming months (with the hopes that BL and thermals will appreciate).

Yes, the heatsink is just fine, as well as the fan.

The fan does not turn on immediately, but it does after a while, so it seems to be working just fine.

 

[Audit13]

Battery is installed and healthy?

 

[antoine23]

Battery is installed and healthy?

No, battery is not installed, does it makes a difference ?

The power adapter is 60W or 85W

Can these motherboards be used without battery, peripherals and so on ?

 

[Audit13]

No, battery is not installed, does it makes a difference ?

The power adapter is 60W or 85W

Can these motherboards be used without battery, peripherals and so on ?

Yes, the MacBook will function without a battery but, without a battery detected by the OS, the CPU may be throttled.

 

[DeltaMac]

No battery explains why the CPU speed tests at 1.3 GHz, when it should be at least 2.7 GHz

 

[f54da]

Without battery installed, bd_prochot is effectively always asserted which throttles you to below base. I think this is done because under heavy load instantaneous power draw can exceed what can be supplied even with 85W supply, and it'd need to supplement with battery.

It might be possible to bypass by using a kext to set an MSR to ignore prochot throttling. But I was never able to get this to work, there might be other steps needed.

See https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...manently.2390200/?post=32181736#post-32181736