Comment 11 for bug 348694

With the help of a senior Tech at Dell, the relevant BIOS bit has been identified:

Under "Performance", the bit "C States Control" determines whether or not there will be a problem. If the additional processor sleep states are enabled by turning this option on, the HPET clock breaks.

I have Dell checking in on where in the manufacturing cycle this bit gets turned on.
It seems most likely that when MIT did "Custom Factory Integration" and enabled "Energy Star Setup" , we got this bit enabled.

Mario: Armed with this bit of information, is there a clear way forward?