diff --git a/tools/ca3-v4-amend/pc1-publish-20261007.sh b/tools/ca3-v4-amend/pc1-publish-20261007.sh
index b1486c466..a370ed424 100755
--- a/tools/ca3-v4-amend/pc1-publish-20261007.sh
+++ b/tools/ca3-v4-amend/pc1-publish-20261007.sh
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
 # Kits (built 7 October 2026, 17:5x UTC; the exes cross-compiled on build-1 with mingw from this tree):
 #   igneum-ca3-v4-sub3-pc1-kit.zip            sha256 1d441f5a075d72b1b902d23941e57b0fa4bee08f91a14b10a7a545aaac58c413 (896,071 bytes, 167 files)
 #   igneum-ca3-pc1-amd-family-kit-20261007.zip sha256 9dd82b11ed08ff9270ac7d59f634eaf99267b1bb48a9ae9fdfc0ce7fe41e63ef (39,399 bytes, 3 files)
+# The efficiency passes are NOT elevated (the 18:31Z run exit 251: the UAC prompt went unanswered); the clock lock goes through the
+# installed app's registered Igneum Power Helper task (no prompt); ids -b because a machine runs an id once.
 # Order (main, 7 October 2026 evening): eff-5090, eff-5080 (the class v4 efficiency pass; its clock grid carries the four Ember
 # caps, so the owed "5090 clock rows" fall out of it), amd-g1 (G1 + the AMD ladder on the sub-version 3 kit), family (item 6
 # on AMD), tune-5080 (the full Ember Tune on the 5080), tune-9070 (the 9070 XT tune pass). The dr736 derive job is NOT in this
@@ -22,8 +24,8 @@ DEPLOY=""; for a in "$@"; do [ "$a" = "--deploy" ] && DEPLOY="--deploy"; done
 case "$STEP" in
   kit)        $P add --kind fetch --target ae432dc7 --id fetch-ca3-v4-sub3-pc1-20261007 --file "$KITS/igneum-ca3-v4-sub3-pc1-kit.zip" --dir jobs --extract --title "CA3 PC 1: the sub-version 3 kit (worker, 13 packs)" --expires-hours 36 $DEPLOY ;;
   family-kit) $P add --kind fetch --target ae432dc7 --id fetch-ca3-pc1-amd-family-20261007 --file "$KITS/igneum-ca3-pc1-amd-family-kit-20261007.zip" --dir jobs --extract --title "CA3 PC 1: the family probe kit (7 Oct)" --expires-hours 36 $DEPLOY ;;
-  eff-5090)   $P add --kind run --target ae432dc7 --id run-ca3-pc1-v4-eff-5090-20261007 --elevated --cards-off "nvidia:NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090" --script tools/ca3-v4-amend/pc1-v4-efficiency.ps1 --timeout-minutes 75 --title "CA3 PC 1: class v4 efficiency pass on the RTX 5090 (clock locks, v4 against v3, the card alone)" --expires-hours 36 $DEPLOY ;;
-  eff-5080)   $P add --kind run --target ae432dc7 --id run-ca3-pc1-v4-eff-5080-20261007 --elevated --cards-off "nvidia:NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080" --script tools/ca3-v4-amend/pc1-v4-efficiency.ps1 --timeout-minutes 75 --title "CA3 PC 1: class v4 efficiency pass on the RTX 5080 (clock locks, v4 against v3, the card alone)" --expires-hours 36 $DEPLOY ;;
+  eff-5090)   $P add --kind run --target ae432dc7 --id run-ca3-pc1-v4-eff-5090-20261007-b --cards-off "nvidia:NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090" --script tools/ca3-v4-amend/pc1-v4-efficiency.ps1 --timeout-minutes 75 --title "CA3 PC 1: class v4 efficiency pass on the RTX 5090 (clock locks, v4 against v3, the card alone)" --expires-hours 36 $DEPLOY ;;
+  eff-5080)   $P add --kind run --target ae432dc7 --id run-ca3-pc1-v4-eff-5080-20261007-b --cards-off "nvidia:NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080" --script tools/ca3-v4-amend/pc1-v4-efficiency.ps1 --timeout-minutes 75 --title "CA3 PC 1: class v4 efficiency pass on the RTX 5080 (clock locks, v4 against v3, the card alone)" --expires-hours 36 $DEPLOY ;;
   amd-g1)     $P add --kind run --target ae432dc7 --id run-ca3-pc1-v4-sub3-amd-g1-20261007 --cards-off amd:gfx1201 --script tools/ca3-v4-amend/pc1-v4-sub3-amd-g1.ps1 --timeout-minutes 45 --title "CA3 PC 1: G1 on the sub-version 3 kit and the AMD ladder on the 9070 XT (the card alone)" --expires-hours 36 $DEPLOY ;;
   family)     $P add --kind run --target ae432dc7 --id run-ca3-pc1-amd-family-20261007-e --cards-off amd:gfx1201 --script tools/ca3-v4-amend/pc1-amd-family-20261007.ps1 --timeout-minutes 20 --title "CA3 PC 1: item 6 family step costs on the 9070 XT (run e, the card alone)" --expires-hours 36 $DEPLOY ;;
   tune-5080)  $P add --kind run --target ae432dc7 --id run-ca3-pc1-ember-5080-20261007 --script tools/ca3-v4-amend/pc1-ember-card.ps1 --timeout-minutes 35 --title "CA3 PC 1: Ember Tune on the RTX 5080 (the installed app tunes the one card)" --expires-hours 36 $DEPLOY ;;
diff --git a/tools/ca3-v4-amend/pc1-v4-efficiency.ps1 b/tools/ca3-v4-amend/pc1-v4-efficiency.ps1
index 95899edce..ba63e0011 100644
--- a/tools/ca3-v4-amend/pc1-v4-efficiency.ps1
+++ b/tools/ca3-v4-amend/pc1-v4-efficiency.ps1
@@ -16,7 +16,12 @@
 # fingerprint= match=`, one per step and pack; `RESULT TABLE` lines at the end (v3 best against v4 best, the recovered watts,
 # the rate lost); a `SUMMARY {json}` line. Never quits, pauses, resumes or updates the installed app; never posts to
 # /api/cards; never writes settings.json; -rgc in finally. Not elevated: the lock is refused, the unlocked rows are
-# measured and every lock row says why. Kit: fetch job fetch-ca3-v4-sub3-pc1-20261007 (tools/ca3-v4-amend/pc1-publish-20261007.sh).
+# measured and every lock row says why. The lock path when NOT elevated (the 18:31Z run: the UAC prompt went unanswered, exit 251):
+# the installed app's registered `Igneum Power Helper` task (app/igneum-app/src/powertask.rs, one approval ever): the script
+# starts it (Start-ScheduledTask by the owning user, no prompt) and talks to it through %LOCALAPPDATA%\igneum\app\sweep\cmd.txt
+# with the fixed verbs `<seq> dev <idx>`, `<seq> lgc <MHz>` (the helper runs nvidia-smi -lgc 0,<MHz>: a cap, which under load
+# is the lock), `<seq> rgc`, and reads the result from helper.log beside it; the same channel the app's own Ember tune uses,
+# so no new rights and no prompt. Kit: fetch job fetch-ca3-v4-sub3-pc1-20261007 (tools/ca3-v4-amend/pc1-publish-20261007.sh).
 $ErrorActionPreference = 'Continue'
 $jobName = 'pc1-v4-efficiency'
 $kitId = 'fetch-ca3-v4-sub3-pc1-20261007'
@@ -98,10 +103,59 @@ function ReadWindow([datetime] $t0, [datetime] $t1) {
   return ,$sel
 }
 function Mean($vals) { $v = @($vals | ForEach-Object { [double]$_ }); if ($v.Count -eq 0) { return $null }; return [math]::Round((($v | Measure-Object -Sum).Sum / $v.Count), 1) }
+# ---- the Power Helper task (the lock path without a prompt) ----
+$helperDir = Join-Path $env:LOCALAPPDATA 'igneum\app\sweep'
+$cmdFile = Join-Path $helperDir 'cmd.txt'
+$helperLog = Join-Path $helperDir 'helper.log'
+$viaHelper = $false
+$seq = 0
+if (-not $elevated) {
+  $task = Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName 'Igneum Power Helper' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+  if ($task) {
+    try {
+      if (Test-Path $cmdFile) { $seq = @(Get-Content -LiteralPath $cmdFile -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | ForEach-Object { if ($_ -match '^(\d{1,6})\s') { [int]$Matches[1] } }) | Measure-Object -Maximum | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Maximum }
+      if (-not $seq) { $seq = 0 }
+      $seq = [int]$seq + 100
+      Start-ScheduledTask -TaskName 'Igneum Power Helper' -ErrorAction Stop
+      Start-Sleep -Seconds 3
+      $viaHelper = $true
+      "RESULT helper task 'Igneum Power Helper' state=$((Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName 'Igneum Power Helper').State) started; commands through $cmdFile from seq $seq; results from $helperLog"
+    } catch { "RESULT helper task present but Start-ScheduledTask failed: $_" }
+  } else { 'RESULT helper task NOT REGISTERED (Power control off in the app): no lock path without a prompt' }
+}
+function HelperSend([string] $verb) {
+  $script:seq += 2
+  $s0 = $script:seq; $s1 = $script:seq + 1; $script:seq = $s1
+  $mark = 0; if (Test-Path $helperLog) { $mark = @(Get-Content -LiteralPath $helperLog -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).Count }
+  Set-Content -LiteralPath $cmdFile -Value "$s0 dev $idx`n$s1 $verb`n" -NoNewline -Encoding ascii
+  $t = 0
+  while ($t -lt 30) {
+    Start-Sleep -Seconds 1; $t++
+    $new = @(Get-Content -LiteralPath $helperLog -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)
+    if ($new.Count -gt $mark) {
+      $hit = $new[$mark..($new.Count - 1)] | Where-Object { $_ -match "\b$s1 nvidia-smi " } | Select-Object -First 1
+      if ($hit) { return ($hit -replace '^\d+\s+', '') }
+    }
+  }
+  return "no helper.log line for seq $s1 within 30 s (is the task running?)"
+}
 function SetLock([int] $mhz) {
-  $out = (& $smi -i $idx -lgc "$mhz,$mhz" 2>&1 | Out-String).Trim() -replace '\s+', ' '
-  if ($out -match 'not have permission|No permission|Insufficient|not supported|Unable|ERROR') { return "refused: $out" }
-  return "ok: $out"
+  if ($elevated) {
+    $out = (& $smi -i $idx -lgc "$mhz,$mhz" 2>&1 | Out-String).Trim() -replace '\s+', ' '
+    if ($out -match 'not have permission|No permission|Insufficient|not supported|Unable|ERROR') { return "refused: $out" }
+    return "ok (direct): $out"
+  }
+  if ($viaHelper) {
+    $out = HelperSend "lgc $mhz"
+    if ($out -match 'not have permission|No permission|Insufficient|not supported|Unable|ERROR|no helper.log') { return "refused: $out" }
+    return "ok (helper, -lgc 0,$mhz): $out"
+  }
+  return 'refused: not elevated and no helper task'
+}
+function ResetClocks() {
+  if ($elevated) { return ((& $smi -i $idx -rgc 2>&1 | Out-String).Trim() -replace '\s+', ' ') }
+  if ($viaHelper) { return (HelperSend 'rgc') }
+  return 'not attempted (not elevated, no helper)'
 }
 function Bench([string] $pk, [int] $n) {
   $d = Join-Path $packs $pk
@@ -147,7 +201,7 @@ try {
   "RESULT sampler pid=$($sampler.Id) first=[$($first -join ' | ')]"
   if ($first.Count -eq 0) { 'RESULT sampler error=no samples in 6 s; watts will read empty on every row' }
   # the unlocked start: -rgc so the baseline is the driver's own choice, then the batch counts from a short probe per pack
-  $r0 = (& $smi -i $idx -rgc 2>&1 | Out-String).Trim() -replace '\s+', ' '
+  $r0 = ResetClocks
   "RESULT unlock start $r0"
   $nb = @{}
   foreach ($pk in $packOrder) {
@@ -159,9 +213,9 @@ try {
     }
   }
   Step 'unlocked' 'driver default (-rgc)'
-  if (-not $elevated) {
-    'RESULT locks skipped: the job is not elevated, nvidia-smi -lgc would be refused (the 6 October reading); the unlocked rows above are the measurement'
-    foreach ($c in $locks) { foreach ($pk in $packOrder) { "RESULT STEP card=$cardName pack=$pk lock=$c error=not elevated, lock not attempted" } }
+  if (-not $elevated -and -not $viaHelper) {
+    'RESULT locks skipped: the job is not elevated and the Power Helper task is not registered; the unlocked rows above are the measurement'
+    foreach ($c in $locks) { foreach ($pk in $packOrder) { "RESULT STEP card=$cardName pack=$pk lock=$c error=no lock path (not elevated, no helper task)" } }
   } else {
     foreach ($c in $locks) {
       if ((Get-Date) -gt $deadline) { "RESULT STEP card=$cardName pack=* lock=$c error=budget spent"; continue }
@@ -171,7 +225,7 @@ try {
       Start-Sleep -Seconds 3
       Step "$c" $note
     }
-    $r1 = (& $smi -i $idx -rgc 2>&1 | Out-String).Trim() -replace '\s+', ' '
+    $r1 = ResetClocks
     $lockState = 'unlocked'
     "RESULT unlock end $r1"
     Start-Sleep -Seconds 3
@@ -195,10 +249,10 @@ try {
   if ($u4 -and $u3 -and $b4 -and $b3) {
     "RESULT TABLE card=$cardName v3_vs_v4 v4_extra_w_unlocked=$([math]::Round($u4.watts - $u3.watts, 1)) v4_extra_w_at_best=$([math]::Round($b4.watts - $b3.watts, 1)) v4_rate_vs_v3_unlocked_pct=$([math]::Round(100.0 * ($u4.mhs - $u3.mhs) / $u3.mhs, 2)) v4_rate_vs_v3_at_best_pct=$([math]::Round(100.0 * ($b4.mhs - $b3.mhs) / $b3.mhs, 2)) v4_best_lock=$($b4.lock) v3_best_lock=$($b3.lock)"
   }
-  Summary 'done' @{ card = $cardName; elevated = $elevated; alone = $alone; steps = $rows.Count; mismatches = (@($rows | Where-Object { $_.match -eq 'no' })).Count }
+  Summary 'done' @{ card = $cardName; elevated = $elevated; via_helper = $viaHelper; alone = $alone; steps = $rows.Count; mismatches = (@($rows | Where-Object { $_.match -eq 'no' })).Count }
   exit 0
 } finally {
-  try { $r = (& $smi -i $idx -rgc 2>&1 | Out-String).Trim() -replace '\s+', ' '; "RESULT restore clocks reset: $r (was $lockState)" } catch { "RESULT restore clocks reset failed: $_" }
+  try { $r = ResetClocks; "RESULT restore clocks reset: $r (was $lockState)" } catch { "RESULT restore clocks reset failed: $_" }
   if ($sampler -and -not $sampler.HasExited) { try { Stop-Process -Id $sampler.Id -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue; "RESULT restore sampler pid $($sampler.Id) stopped" } catch { } }
   "RESULT gpus_after $(Stamp) $((& $smi --query-gpu=index,name,power.draw,clocks.sm,clocks.applications.graphics --format=csv,noheader 2>&1 | Out-String).Trim() -replace "`r?`n", ' | ')"
 }