Arch Linux

darose

Member

Registered: 2004-04-13

Posts: 158

Unable to load powernow-k8 module

Weird.  My AMD Opteron is unable to load the powernow-k8 modules:

[darose@darsys9 kernel26]$ sudo modprobe powernow-k8
Password:
FATAL: Error inserting powernow_k8 (/lib/modules/2.6.26-ARCH/kernel/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/cpufreq/powernow-k8.ko): No such device

dmesg shows the following:

powernow-k8: Found 1 Dual Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 165    processors (2 cpu cores) (version 2.20.00)
powernow-k8: ACPI Processor support is required for SMP systems but is absent. Please load the ACPI Processor module before starting this driver.
powernow-k8: ACPI Processor support is required for SMP systems but is absent. Please load the ACPI Processor module before starting this driver.

But the processor module is already loaded:

[darose@darsys9 kernel26]$ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
thermal                20512  0
freq_table              6400  0
processor              39744  1 thermal
...

Anyone have any idea what gives?

Thanks,

DR

IncredibleLaser

Member

From: Germany, NRW

Registered: 2008-07-16

Posts: 158

Re: Unable to load powernow-k8 module

Check your bios settings. I had the same problem today. I can't guarantee that it works, but it might be worth a try. For me, it was "AM2 Boost Enabled" that caused this.

darose

Member

Registered: 2004-04-13

Posts: 158

Re: Unable to load powernow-k8 module

Check your bios settings. I had the same problem today. I can't guarantee that it works, but it might be worth a try. For me, it was "AM2 Boost Enabled" that caused this.

Yep.  It was the BIOS.  I figured it out the other day.

Weird error message to get for something like that, but whatever.

Anyway, thanks much for the response.

axl

Member

From: Munich/Germany

Registered: 2008-06-30

Posts: 20

Re: Unable to load powernow-k8 module

Same here.

Had the same issue, solved it by disabling "AM2 boost" in the BIOS. Now it works perfectly.

Thanks for your help!

Cheers,
Axel

psybeer

Member

Registered: 2009-01-16

Posts: 14

Re: Unable to load powernow-k8 module

I am in the same situation... except I don't have an AM2 board, so that option does not exist... any ideas?

Curent setup: Biostar TForce6100-939, Opteron 175 (socket 939)

graysky

Wiki Maintainer

From: :wq

Registered: 2008-12-01

Posts: 10,597

Website

Re: Unable to load powernow-k8 module

I had a similar problem with the acpi-cpufreq module.  Read about it here

I figured it out!  I took a clue from my /var/log/dmesg

[    4.633657] [Firmware Bug]: BIOS needs update for CPU frequency support
[    4.633718] ACPI Error (psloop-0136): Found unknown opcode 20 at AML address ffff88012d27c633 offset 4F, ignoring [20080926]
[    4.633722] ACPI Error (psloop-0136): Found unknown opcode 6F at AML address ffff88012d27c638 offset 54, ignoring [20080926]
[    4.633726] ACPI Error (psloop-0136): Found unknown opcode 20 at AML address ffff88012d27c63c offset 58, ignoring [20080926]
[    4.633729] ACPI Error (psloop-0136): Found unknown opcode 6F at AML address ffff88012d27c640 offset 5C, ignoring [20080926]

That line that reads, Firmware Bug: BIOS needs update for CPU frequency support was really bugging me.  So I took a risk, d/l'ed the latest BIOS for my board, flashed, reset all my custom BIOS settings, and rebooted into my new kernel.  I'm now able to use acpi-cpufreq and scaling works smoothly

Thanks for all the advice.

Or... it could be that you aren't supposed to use the powernow-k8 module w/ your chip.  From what I understand all Opty chips should use it... have you tried to modprobe acpi-cpufreq and see if it works?

Last edited by graysky (2009-04-22 19:49:29)

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psybeer

Member

Registered: 2009-01-16

Posts: 14

Re: Unable to load powernow-k8 module

Yep, initially I tried the acpi_cpufreq module. But I get the same error "no such device" when trying to load that module...