[SOLVED] CPU frequency stuck at 200MHz

degra · 2023-07-10 20:35:10

I'm currently running 6.4.2 Arch-linux-zen Microsoft surface laptop 3. I was using my laptop normally for coding / browsing and I left it idle for an hour or so. When I came back to it, the cpu frequency for each core was at 200MHz, with random spikes at 1.5GHz. Here's the output of `lscpu`:

Architecture:            x86_64
  CPU op-mode(s):        32-bit, 64-bit
  Address sizes:         39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
  Byte Order:            Little Endian
CPU(s):                  8
  On-line CPU(s) list:   0-7
Vendor ID:               GenuineIntel
  Model name:            Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1035G7 CPU @ 1.20GHz
    CPU family:          6
    Model:               126
    Thread(s) per core:  2
    Core(s) per socket:  4
    Socket(s):           1
    Stepping:            5
    CPU(s) scaling MHz:  5%
    CPU max MHz:         3700.0000
    CPU min MHz:         400.0000
    BogoMIPS:            2995.20
    Flags:               fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm
                          constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx
                         est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch
                         cpuid_fault epb invpcid_single ssbd ibrs ibpb stibp ibrs_enhanced tpr_shadow flexpriority ept vpid ept_ad fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 avx2 smep bmi2 er
                         ms invpcid avx512f avx512dq rdseed adx smap avx512ifma clflushopt intel_pt avx512cd sha_ni avx512bw avx512vl xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves split_lo
                         ck_detect dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp hwp_pkg_req vnmi avx512vbmi umip pku ospke avx512_vbmi2 gfni vaes vpclmulqdq
                          avx512_vnni avx512_bitalg avx512_vpopcntdq rdpid fsrm md_clear flush_l1d arch_capabilities
Virtualization features:
  Virtualization:        VT-x
Caches (sum of all):
  L1d:                   192 KiB (4 instances)
  L1i:                   128 KiB (4 instances)
  L2:                    2 MiB (4 instances)
  L3:                    6 MiB (1 instance)
NUMA:
  NUMA node(s):          1
  NUMA node0 CPU(s):     0-7
Vulnerabilities:
  Itlb multihit:         KVM: Mitigation: VMX disabled
  L1tf:                  Not affected
  Mds:                   Not affected
  Meltdown:              Not affected
  Mmio stale data:       Vulnerable: Clear CPU buffers attempted, no microcode; SMT vulnerable
  Retbleed:              Mitigation; Enhanced IBRS
  Spec store bypass:     Mitigation; Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
  Spectre v1:            Mitigation; usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Spectre v2:            Mitigation; Enhanced / Automatic IBRS, IBPB conditional, RSB filling, PBRSB-eIBRS SW sequence
  Srbds:                 Vulnerable: No microcode
  Tsx async abort:       Not affected

And this is the output of `cpupower frequency-info`:

analyzing CPU 3:
  driver: intel_pstate
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 3
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 3
  maximum transition latency:  Cannot determine or is not supported.
  hardware limits: 400 MHz - 3.70 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: performance powersave
  current policy: frequency should be within 400 MHz and 3.70 GHz.
                  The governor "powersave" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency: Unable to call hardware
  current CPU frequency: 200 MHz (asserted by call to kernel)
  boost state support:
    Supported: yes
    Active: yes

Restarting the laptop doesn't fix the problem, startup and poweroff times are slow, changing kernel didn't work neither booting from Ubuntu from a live usb.

Last edited by degra (2023-07-11 11:02:43)

jl2 · 2023-07-11 07:54:10

use

these [code ][/code ] (without the spaces) for these boxes

run

cpupower frequency-set -g performance

see
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/CPU_frequency_scaling
for other governors.
probably some power manager set it to powersave.

btw you might want to install microcode for intel.

Last edited by jl2 (2023-07-11 08:03:55)

V1del · 2023-07-11 08:20:03

This is normally something getting stuck in firmware. Try cutting power completely, hold the power button for a few ~10ish seconds on reboot and/or check whether a UEFI/firmware update is available.

degra · 2023-07-11 08:45:14

jl2 wrote:

use
these [code ][/code ] (without the spaces) for these boxes
run
cpupower frequency-set -g performance
see
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/CPU_frequency_scaling
for other governors.
probably some power manager set it to powersave.
btw you might want to install microcode for intel.

Thanks for the code box labels.
I had already tried that approach, the governor is already at performance but it doesn't change a thing.
In fact, the CPU is running lower than the inferior frequency limit (which is 400Mhz).

degra · 2023-07-11 08:49:54

V1del wrote:

This is normally something getting stuck in firmware. Try cutting power completely, hold the power button for a few ~10ish seconds on reboot and/or check whether a UEFI/firmware update is available.

So I installed microcode as jl2 said and then rebooted. Seems to have fixed the problem.
I still have no idea how this happened so suddenly but as long as the boat goes I'm okay with it.

Arch Linux

#1 2023-07-10 20:35:10

[SOLVED] CPU frequency stuck at 200MHz

#2 2023-07-11 07:54:10

Re: [SOLVED] CPU frequency stuck at 200MHz

#3 2023-07-11 08:20:03

Re: [SOLVED] CPU frequency stuck at 200MHz

#4 2023-07-11 08:45:14

Re: [SOLVED] CPU frequency stuck at 200MHz

#5 2023-07-11 08:49:54

Re: [SOLVED] CPU frequency stuck at 200MHz

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