Arch Linux

A Future Pilot

Member

Registered: 2008-10-17

Posts: 120

[Solved] Unable to Set Max Frequency With cpupower

Hello everyone,

I just recently got Arch setup on my old Dell laptop, and I'm trying to get cpupower configured, but I'm getting some weird behavior. As you can see below, the "current policy" forces the frequency to stay at 1.2 Ghz. I've tried setting the max frequency both via command, and in /etc/default/cpupower, but nothing changes it.

$ sudo cpupower frequency-info
analyzing CPU 0:
  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: 1.20 GHz - 2.53 GHz
  available frequency steps:  2.53 GHz, 2.53 GHz, 2.40 GHz, 2.27 GHz, 2.13 GHz, 2.00 GHz, 1.87 GHz, 1.73 GHz, 1.60 GHz, 1.47 GHz, 1.33 GHz, 1.20 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: performance schedutil
  current policy: frequency should be within 1.20 GHz and 1.20 GHz.
                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency: 1.20 GHz (asserted by call to hardware)
  boost state support:
    Supported: yes
    Active: yes
    2800 MHz max turbo 2 active cores
    3067 MHz max turbo 1 active cores

watch grep \"cpu MHz\" /proc/cpuinfo

averages around 1.4Ghz at idle, but as soon as I do anything CPU-intensive it drops to 1.2Ghz.

According to

sensors

my CPU is only 50C which shouldn't be anywhere close to causing throttling.

$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor	: 0
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 37
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU       M 540  @ 2.53GHz
stepping	: 5
microcode	: 0x7
cpu MHz		: 1221.041
cache size	: 3072 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 4
core id		: 0
cpu cores	: 2
apicid		: 0
initial apicid	: 0
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 11
wp		: yes
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 rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt aes lahf_lm pti ssbd ibrs ibpb stibp tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid dtherm ida arat flush_l1d
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2 spec_store_bypass l1tf
bogomips	: 5056.60
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 1
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 37
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU       M 540  @ 2.53GHz
stepping	: 5
microcode	: 0x7
cpu MHz		: 1258.235
cache size	: 3072 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 4
core id		: 2
cpu cores	: 2
apicid		: 4
initial apicid	: 4
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 11
wp		: yes
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 rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt aes lahf_lm pti ssbd ibrs ibpb stibp tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid dtherm ida arat flush_l1d
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2 spec_store_bypass l1tf
bogomips	: 5056.60
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 2
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 37
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU       M 540  @ 2.53GHz
stepping	: 5
microcode	: 0x7
cpu MHz		: 1240.252
cache size	: 3072 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 4
core id		: 0
cpu cores	: 2
apicid		: 1
initial apicid	: 1
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 11
wp		: yes
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 rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt aes lahf_lm pti ssbd ibrs ibpb stibp tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid dtherm ida arat flush_l1d
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2 spec_store_bypass l1tf
bogomips	: 5056.60
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 3
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 37
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU       M 540  @ 2.53GHz
stepping	: 5
microcode	: 0x7
cpu MHz		: 1248.885
cache size	: 3072 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 4
core id		: 2
cpu cores	: 2
apicid		: 5
initial apicid	: 5
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 11
wp		: yes
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 rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt aes lahf_lm pti ssbd ibrs ibpb stibp tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid dtherm ida arat flush_l1d
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2 spec_store_bypass l1tf
bogomips	: 5056.60
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

I've tried disabling intel_pstate through the kernel options, but that hasn't made any difference.

Any ideas?

Last edited by A Future Pilot (2019-03-20 02:21:20)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,234

Re: [Solved] Unable to Set Max Frequency With cpupower

Dells seem to have a knack for this, shutdown, remove the power cable, take out the battery wait like a minute or so reinsert the battery, see if it works then.

also fwiw what exact command are you trying to use to set the frequency?

Last edited by V1del (2019-03-19 20:42:10)

bugsmanagement

Member

Registered: 2017-04-21

Posts: 201

Re: [Solved] Unable to Set Max Frequency With cpupower

Hello,

"cpupower configured," ?

 The governor "performance" 

Is that what you should expect?

Cheers

A Future Pilot

Member

Registered: 2008-10-17

Posts: 120

Re: [Solved] Unable to Set Max Frequency With cpupower

Thanks for the replies!!

Dells seem to have a knack for this, shutdown, remove the power cable, take out the battery wait like a minute or so reinsert the battery, see if it works then.

also fwiw what exact command are you trying to use to set the frequency?

I'll try the battery removal thing and let you know how it goes! I'm using this to set the frequency:

$ sudo cpupower frequency-set -u 2.53Ghz

I also have it set in /etc/default/cpupower:

# Define CPUs governor
# valid governors: ondemand, performance, powersave, conservative, userspace.
governor='performance'

# Limit frequency range
# Valid suffixes: Hz, kHz (default), MHz, GHz, THz
min_freq="1.20GHz"
max_freq="2.53GHz"

# Specific frequency to be set.
# Requires userspace governor to be available.
# Do not set governor field if you use this one.
#freq=

# Utilizes cores in one processor package/socket first before processes are 
# scheduled to other processor packages/sockets.
# See man (1) CPUPOWER-SET for additional details.
#mc_scheduler=

# Utilizes thread siblings of one processor core first before processes are
# scheduled to other cores. See man (1) CPUPOWER-SET for additional details.
#smp_scheduler=

#  Sets a register on supported Intel processore which allows software to convey
# its policy for the relative importance of performance versus energy savings to
# the  processor. See man (1) CPUPOWER-SET for additional details.
#perf_bias=

# vim:set ts=2 sw=2 ft=sh et:

@bugsmanagement:

I'm using the performance governor because according to the frequency-info command it's one of only two available options, the other being schedutil which I don't know anything about (there's not really any info on the wiki, and it's not listed in the comments in /etc/default/cpupower)

A Future Pilot

Member

Registered: 2008-10-17

Posts: 120

Re: [Solved] Unable to Set Max Frequency With cpupower

I discovered the problem was a BIOS limitation as mentioned at the bottom of the wiki. I disabled it with a kernel parameter, and everything is working as it should now!

bugsmanagement

Member

Registered: 2017-04-21

Posts: 201

Re: [Solved] Unable to Set Max Frequency With cpupower

FYI, shedutil is ondemand with the difference that it stores statistics of your workload over time to make better decision in the future when it comes to frequency scalling as oppose to ramping CPU frequency when higher workload is detected.

Cheers.

rsilva

Member

Registered: 2023-10-05

Posts: 1

Re: [Solved] Unable to Set Max Frequency With cpupower

I discovered the problem was a BIOS limitation as mentioned at the bottom of the wiki. I disabled it with a kernel parameter, and everything is working as it should now!

which kernel parameter did you use, and how you did?

2ManyDogs

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2012-01-15

Posts: 4,648

Re: [Solved] Unable to Set Max Frequency With cpupower

rsilva, this thread is four years old and the OP has not been back since 2021. Please do not necrobump.

Instead, start a new topic (which you can marked solved when you find a solution) and link back to this one if you think it still applies.

Closing.