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keegs

Member

Registered: 2025-01-04

Posts: 5

Alienware m15 R6 "performance mode" enabling on startup+plugged in

I've been dealing with an issue where upon turning on my laptop or plugging it in my fans max out. I can fix this by unplugging it, setting my system's power profile below performance, or by pressing the F1 "performance boost" key. That last observation made me realize this is likely some Dell driver feature. It seems my system entering the performance profile also turns on Dell's special firmware performance boost mode. The power profile can remain activated after the "boost" is disabled with the F1 key, so it seems they are separate.

Is there a way to change this behavior? Either adjust the effects of the performance boost, or decouple it from the performance profile?

I've let this issue sit for awhile, so unfortunately I don't remember which kernel release I started experiencing this. I also didn't want to spam this post with system info, but if any would be helpful just say.

mokuren

Member

Registered: 2025-02-23

Posts: 12

Re: Alienware m15 R6 "performance mode" enabling on startup+plugged in

Which desktop environment are you using? Knowing where the power profiles come from might be a good start. Have you checked BIOS as well? There may be some behavior you can change there that would be of interest to you in relation to the performance boost.

keegs

Member

Registered: 2025-01-04

Posts: 5

Re: Alienware m15 R6 "performance mode" enabling on startup+plugged in

BIOS does have some power settings but they all seem related to limiting the system, which I hope I wouldn't have to do. None of them affect this behavior. I'm using KDE with powerdevil to manage settings. I was originally using power-profiles-daemon to provide profiles, but I currently have tlp as I thought maybe that could help me resolve the issue.