Framework Laptop 16 BIOS 4.03 - PROCHOT is set to 1 but CPU Temps are 85 degrees celsius

[Simi5599]

Device Information

System Model or SKU

Please select one of the following

• Framework Laptop 12 (13th Gen Intel® Core™)
• Framework Laptop 13 (11th Gen Intel® Core™)
• Framework Laptop 13 (12th Gen Intel® Core™)
• Framework Laptop 13 (13th Gen Intel® Core™)
• Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen™ 7040 Series)
• Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen™ AI 300 Series)
• Framework Laptop 13 (Intel® Core™ Ultra Series 1)
• Framework Laptop 16 (AMD Ryzen™ 7040 Series)
• Framework Laptop 16 (AMD Ryzen™ AI 300 Series)
• Framework Desktop (AMD Ryzen™ AI 300 PRO Series)

BIOS VERSION

4.03

DIY Edition information

If you are experiencing an issue on a DIY system, Please also fill out the memory and storage devices you are using.

Memory: 2 x Crucial RAM DDR5 32GB 5600MHz CT32G56C46S5
Storage: WD_BLACK SN850X NVMe SSD 4TB

Standalone Operation

Are you running your mainboard as a standalone device. Is standalone mode enabled in the BIOS?

• Yes
• No

Describe the bug

The system thermal throttles aggressively when gaming or doing stress test via OCCT. The CPU power gets limited from a sustained 45W to something around 25W during my test because PROCHOT is 1.
The CPU temerature is something around 80 and 84 degrees celsius so the flag should not be thrown.
This happens also with the default fan profile.

Also to notice that the PROCHOT flat oscillates between 0 and 1 during the test

Steps To Reproduce

Perform a stress test (CPU+RAM) or something intensive for 5-10 mins

Expected behavior

The prochot flag should not be set to 1 untill we reach a dangerous temp (for example 95-100 degrees celsius).

Operating System (please complete the following information):

Windows 11 25H2

[Simi5599]

After further investigation i was able to determine that the flag PROCHOT_EXT flag is triggered by my RAM sticks when they reach 80 degrees celsius.

I am trying to cool down my RAMs with thermal pads (no luck) and thermal paste (mixed result, still thermal throttling but a little better).

If i cannot fix this issue (never had problem with RAMs) i think i will return this laptop in my 30 days period. So unless we can set a new thermal limit or downclock RAMs for the BIOS i think that this issue does not have a purpose anymore.

[xamindar]

I just want to add my report as well. Most likely this effects everyone on this bios version:
[root@framework16 xamindar]# sensors | grep cpu
cpu@4c: +38.9°C
[root@framework16 xamindar]# ectool gpioget | grep h_prochot
1 h_prochot_l 0xA0006
[root@framework16 xamindar]#

[xamindar]

@Simi5599 are you possibly effected by this issue as well? You mentioned your CPU is at 45W and this appears to be a bug that limits it to that when using the 240w power adapter (while dgpu is asleep).

And regarding this PROCHOT issue, I noticed I can get it to clear by sleeping the laptop for a few minutes (sleep and immediate wake will NOT clear it). However, once I plug or unplug the power adapter, this flag is set again.

Someone else mentioned Framework is using this PROCHOT flag as a catch-all flag for various power settings, something I can't imagine is the correct way to use this flag and is causing us problems.