[SOLVED]CPU frequency stuck at 800MHz

Uromastix87 · 2018-10-30 21:12:21

I was trying to enable some power saving features located on https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/CP … cy_scaling. I must have installed some conflicting packages or something because I can't get my CPU to run at anything other than 800MHz.

I was trying to stick with intel_pstate, but I recently got fed up getting nowhere and decided to disable it (using intel_pstate=disable) so I could enable the userspace governor in order to force the frequency using

cpupower frequency-set -f 2.7GHz

Even after doing that my frequency is reported as 800Mhz. Even using

# cpupower frequency-set -d 2.7GHz

to set the minimum frequency to 2.7GHz does not change anything.

driver: acpi-cpufreq
CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0
CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0
maximum transition latency: 10.0 us
hardware limits: 800 MHz - 2.80 GHz
available frequency steps: 2.80 GHz, 2.80 GHz, 2.70 GHz, 2.50 GHz, 2.40 GHz, 2.20 GHz, 2.10 GHz, 1.90 GHz, 1.70 GHz, 1.60 GHz, 1.50 GHz, 1.40 GHz, 1.20 GHz, 1.10 GHz, 900 MHz, 800 MHz
available cpufreq governors: userspace ondemand performance schedutil
current policy: frequency should be within 2.70 GHz and 2.80 GHz.
The governor "userspace" may decide which speed to use
within this range.
current CPU frequency: Unable to call hardware
current CPU frequency: 800 MHz (asserted by call to kernel)
boost state support:
Supported: yes
Active: yes

I'm not sure why it says "unable to call hardware" . It said that when using intel_pstate too.

I'd like to get back to using intel_pstate with normal frequencies. I can definitely tell that my laptop is running slow so it's not like it is falsely reporting. i7z reports 800 MHz too. When I'm using intel_pstate it reports my max frequency to be 3.8GHz.

Last edited by Uromastix87 (2018-11-08 00:29:54)

Mr.Elendig · 2018-10-30 22:44:53

Switch to the ondemand govenor and see if it clocks up if you load the cpu.

Last edited by Mr.Elendig (2018-10-30 22:45:03)

Uromastix87 · 2018-10-31 03:06:02

That didn't work.
https://imgur.com/Tfj5mWa

Uromastix87 · 2018-10-31 04:09:13

For kicks, I switched back over to intel_pstate and got the output of cpupower frequency-info

analyzing CPU 0:
  driver: intel_pstate
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0
  maximum transition latency:  Cannot determine or is not supported.
  hardware limits: 800 MHz - 3.80 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: performance powersave
  current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 3.80 GHz.
                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency: Unable to call hardware
  current CPU frequency: 800 MHz (asserted by call to kernel)
  boost state support:
    Supported: yes
    Active: yes

Tried stressing it out to see if the clock went up, but it didn't.

How can I see what programs have control over my CPU frequency?

V1del · 2018-10-31 08:12:08

How are you "stressing" it? Also you really should be running

cpupower -call frequency-info

it's possible that cpu0 simply isn't doing anything. In which case you don't want it to arbitrarily have a higher frequency for no reason. The unable to call hardware comes from the fact that you aren't running cpupower as root, so it just takes the userspace readable kernel guesstimate.

FWIW, if this really isn't going up at all, this might also be a bug in your BIOS/UEFI so make sure you have the latest version here.

Last edited by V1del (2018-10-31 08:13:43)

ugjka · 2018-10-31 09:22:16

what are the cpu temperatures?

Uromastix87 · 2018-10-31 12:30:43

V1del wrote:

How are you "stressing" it? Also you really should be running
cpupower -call frequency-info
it's possible that cpu0 simply isn't doing anything. In which case you don't want it to arbitrarily have a higher frequency for no reason. The unable to call hardware comes from the fact that you aren't running cpupower as root, so it just takes the userspace readable kernel guesstimate.
FWIW, if this really isn't going up at all, this might also be a bug in your BIOS/UEFI so make sure you have the latest version here.

I have been running cpupower frequency-info with sudo.

Temps are around 30c. The fans don't kick on so it's not getting too hot.

When I stress using stress --cpu 8 then I look at htop and all cores are at 100 percent!

I don't see how it could be my BIOS since this all started happening when I started installing power-saving packages on the arch wiki. I'm really hesitant to update my BIOS because whenever I did that in the past it caused serious issues like no display.

My laptop is a Dell XPS 15 9560.

I made a pastebin for the output of -c all :
$ sudo cpupower -c all frequency-info

Last edited by Uromastix87 (2018-10-31 12:37:01)

V1del · 2018-10-31 12:34:48

You didn't mention that yet, which power saving packages did you install and what exactly did you configure?

Uromastix87 · 2018-10-31 12:47:43

V1del wrote:

You didn't mention that yet, which power saving packages did you install and what exactly did you configure?

It's in the first line of my first post.

I installed and enabled laptop-mode-tool, thermald, and a couple of sketchy Gnome extensions (cpufreq, CPU powermanager). All of which I have uninstalled. I might be forgetting something or maybe there was an extra dependency that lingered and is still affecting things?

Is it even possible for an app to bypass intel_pstate?

Here is the output of cat * when in /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/

[rfebbo@dextella ~]$ cd /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/
[rfebbo@dextella intel_pstate]$ ls
hwp_dynamic_boost min_perf_pct num_pstates turbo_pct
max_perf_pct no_turbo status
[rfebbo@dextella intel_pstate]$ cat *
0
100
54
0
31
active
33

Uromastix87 · 2018-10-31 15:42:25

I just updated the BIOS to 1.12.1 from 1.9.4 and checked in the BIOS to make sure it wasn't being limited.

newbie1962 · 2018-10-31 15:54:10

mail answers commands:

lsmod | grep cpufreq

ls /usr/lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/cpufreq/

and

 cpupower frequency-info

Cheers

Uromastix87 · 2018-10-31 21:05:38

newbie1962 wrote:

mail answers commands:...

Hi

$ lsmod | grep cpufreq
pcc_cpufreq 16384 0

$ ls /usr/lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/cpufreq/
acpi-cpufreq.ko.xz cpufreq_ondemand.ko.xz pcc-cpufreq.ko.xz
amd_freq_sensitivity.ko.xz cpufreq_powersave.ko.xz powernow-k8.ko.xz
cpufreq_conservative.ko.xz cpufreq_userspace.ko.xz speedstep-lib.ko.xz
cpufreq-dt.ko.xz p4-clockmod.ko.xz

$ sudo cpupower frequency-info
analyzing CPU 0:
driver: intel_pstate
CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0
CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0
maximum transition latency: Cannot determine or is not supported.
hardware limits: 800 MHz - 3.80 GHz
available cpufreq governors: performance powersave
current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 1.94 GHz.
The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
within this range.
current CPU frequency: Unable to call hardware
current CPU frequency: 800 MHz (asserted by call to kernel)
boost state support:
Supported: yes
Active: yes

Cheers

Last edited by Uromastix87 (2018-10-31 21:14:58)

newbie1962 · 2018-11-01 13:29:03

To change backto the ACPI driver, reboot and set the kernel arg intel_pstate=disable
Then execute modprobe acpi-cpufreq and you should have the ondemand governor available.

You can make the changes permanent by editing /etc/default/grub and adding

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="intel_pstate=disable"

And then updating grub.cfg ala

sudo  grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Restart

Follow the instructions for Arch kernel module loading and add the acpi-cpufreq module.

Enable module

sudo  modprobe acpi-cpufreq

and enable governor that he prefers performance or powersave

Last edited by newbie1962 (2018-11-01 13:29:47)

V1del · 2018-11-01 17:21:17

@newbie1962 it does sound like that was already tried.

@Uromastix87 I don't think that pcc_cpufreq would be loaded by default, go through /etc/modules.load.d or the /usr/lib equivalent if any of the utilities you've installed created files there that weren't cleaned up properly, also check maybe /etc/sysctl.d and it's /usr/lib equivalent, you might also want to peruse the lostfiles utility to check whether there are any files not tracked by pacman that you don't remember putting there.

Uromastix87 · 2018-11-07 22:03:52

I think it may have something to do with this actually. https://www.dell.com/community/Laptops- … -p/4740654

Uromastix87 · 2018-11-08 00:28:46

Yeah that was it

traviscthall · 2018-12-20 09:55:58

Uromastix87 wrote:

I think it may have something to do with this actually. https://www.dell.com/community/Laptops- … -p/4740654

Wow, I had the same issue on an Intel N2940, pulled the battery out and my cpu was clocking up correctly on the next boot

Weird

tivasyk · 2019-01-19 16:13:04

i have this issue from time to time on acer aspire r13 (r7-371t, intel core i7-5500u), have had it with different linux kernels (currently 4.19.13-1-MANJARO on Manjaro/KDE). turning the machine off and hard resetting (disconnecting the battery with a hidden button in a tiny hole at the back) helps, as well as (more often than not) connecting a power supply and waiting some time), although i would not consider this a solution... a workaround at best, or rather a temporary fix.

ugjka · 2019-01-19 16:17:25

Well, what Manjaro does with its kernel is of no interest here. Better watch out if you try to seek support for it here!

HalosGhost · 2019-01-19 16:19:36

Bumping a solved thread with a distro that's not supported on this BBS.

Probably time to close the thread.

tivasyk, seek help from your own distro's community.

Edit: It is worth noting that you are still welcome to contribute to the BBS if you wish. To me, this didn't read as a terribly helpful suggestion, but I may have jumped to conclusions, and in fairness to you, you did not ask for support. I apologize if I acted too hastily. I will still leave this thread closed as it was marked as solved.

All the best,

-HG

Last edited by HalosGhost (2019-01-19 16:35:26)

Arch Linux

#1 2018-10-30 21:12:21

[SOLVED]CPU frequency stuck at 800MHz

#2 2018-10-30 22:44:53

Re: [SOLVED]CPU frequency stuck at 800MHz

#3 2018-10-31 03:06:02

Re: [SOLVED]CPU frequency stuck at 800MHz

#4 2018-10-31 04:09:13

Re: [SOLVED]CPU frequency stuck at 800MHz

#5 2018-10-31 08:12:08

Re: [SOLVED]CPU frequency stuck at 800MHz

#6 2018-10-31 09:22:16

Re: [SOLVED]CPU frequency stuck at 800MHz

#7 2018-10-31 12:30:43

Re: [SOLVED]CPU frequency stuck at 800MHz

#8 2018-10-31 12:34:48

Re: [SOLVED]CPU frequency stuck at 800MHz

#9 2018-10-31 12:47:43

Re: [SOLVED]CPU frequency stuck at 800MHz

#10 2018-10-31 15:42:25

Re: [SOLVED]CPU frequency stuck at 800MHz

#11 2018-10-31 15:54:10

Re: [SOLVED]CPU frequency stuck at 800MHz

#12 2018-10-31 21:05:38

Re: [SOLVED]CPU frequency stuck at 800MHz

#13 2018-11-01 13:29:03

Re: [SOLVED]CPU frequency stuck at 800MHz

#14 2018-11-01 17:21:17

Re: [SOLVED]CPU frequency stuck at 800MHz

#15 2018-11-07 22:03:52

Re: [SOLVED]CPU frequency stuck at 800MHz

#16 2018-11-08 00:28:46

Re: [SOLVED]CPU frequency stuck at 800MHz

#17 2018-12-20 09:55:58

Re: [SOLVED]CPU frequency stuck at 800MHz

#18 2019-01-19 16:13:04

Re: [SOLVED]CPU frequency stuck at 800MHz

#19 2019-01-19 16:17:25

Re: [SOLVED]CPU frequency stuck at 800MHz

#20 2019-01-19 16:19:36

Re: [SOLVED]CPU frequency stuck at 800MHz

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