Due to the summer, many laptop users are reporting some weird hardware and software issues these days. On many forums and brand community pages, large numbers of consumers report a problem in which the CPU’s frequency gets stuck at 0.39GHz (0.78GHz or 0.79GHz in some scenarios) after resuming it from Sleep mode. At the same time, it is causing the system to get slow or freeze. Further, putting the laptop in charging mode doesn’t affect the frequency. The question is, what is causing the CPU to have a limited frequency? Well, on researching, we found two most favorite reasons, which are mentioned below:
Low Frequency due to Low Battery
In some situations, if the battery gets low, the Windows OS will be forced to shut down. Also, Windows will preemptively write the current memory data to the hard disk before shutting down, so it can be quickly restored by turning on the notebook again (without losing the work progress). In fact, the laptop will remain in sleep mode until the battery is completely drained, rather than shutting down completely.
While the notebook’s system writes the data on a hard disk, the system may have limited the CPU’s frequency to a low frequency to reduce battery consumption. The lower battery consumption will help ensure the data writing process is completed (before the complete battery drain).
Low Frequency due to CPU Mechanism Bug
In another case, there is a high probability of this problem occurring with your CPU. When the laptop gets overheated, it may force the CPU to reduce the clock speed to a significantly lower frequency in order to avoid another issue caused by overheating. As reported by netizens, the frequency is limited to (any of) the following frequencies: 0.39GHz, 0.78GHz, or 0.79GHz. After achieving a lower CPU Frequency, the laptop may go to hibernation mode after writing the memory data to the hard disk.
It is worth mentioning that both Windows 10 and Windows 11 run on almost the same mechanism. While resuming the Windows from hibernation mode, maybe the CPU’s frequency doesn’t go back to its normal state (due to a bug in the CPU’s mechanism), and the CPU displays the same lower frequency (like 0.39GHz or 0.78GHz).
Two ways to Fix CPU stuck at 0.39GHz/0.78GHz/0.79GHz on Laptop
In the above-mentioned scenarios, restarting the laptop might not help you out, and the CPU’s frequency remains locked. So, what is the exact solution? Following are some solutions to this problem.
1. Force Reboot by Long Pressing the Power Button
As mentioned before, when the system resumes from hibernation mode, the same data state is brought to memory through which the CPU’s frequency remains locked. In this case, a force shutdown or a force reboot can help. All you need to do is just long press the power button until the notebook gets shut down and start it again.
In this scenario, the system will not save any data before shutting down and will also clear some settings related to the system status, including the CPU’s frequency lock settings. After the restart process is completed, your CPU’s frequency will return to normal.
2. Turn off Overheat Protection with ThrottleStop Application
There is another solution through which you can solve this issue even without restarting your notebook. An app named ThrottleStop, which allows the user to customize the CPU’s settings, can help you. It is a small tool developed by the well-known site “TechPowerUp.” You can click here to download ThrottleStop.
In this app, you can find the option “BD PROCHOT” and make sure that it is unchecked, and save it, it will remove the overheating protection of the CPU, and the CPU’s frequency will most probably return to a normal state.