Arch Linux

yharwyn-

Member

Registered: 2019-08-18

Posts: 3

tsc=unstable (DELL XPS 15 9570)

Hello,
I've just installed archlinux on my dell 9570 and didn't like the dmesg output:
dmesg | grep clocksource

[    0.097196] clocksource: refined-jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 6370452778343963 ns
[    0.292722] clocksource: hpet: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 79635855245 ns
[    0.319491] clocksource: tsc-early: mask: 0xffffffffffffffff max_cycles: 0x1fd3b81b95f, max_idle_ns: 440795257325 ns
[    0.831727] clocksource: jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 6370867519511994 ns
[    1.224932] clocksource: Switched to clocksource tsc-early
[    1.249345] clocksource: acpi_pm: mask: 0xffffff max_cycles: 0xffffff, max_idle_ns: 2085701024 ns
[    1.422932] clocksource: tsc: mask: 0xffffffffffffffff max_cycles: 0x1fd3b81b95f, max_idle_ns: 440795257325 ns
[    1.422954] clocksource: Switched to clocksource tsc
[   14.343223] clocksource: timekeeping watchdog on CPU3: Marking clocksource 'tsc' as unstable because the skew is too large:
[   14.343243] clocksource:                       'hpet' wd_now: 1392617f wd_last: 1352eaa6 mask: ffffffff
[   14.343247] clocksource:                       'tsc' cs_now: c3d142720 cs_last: bfa666db0 mask: ffffffffffffffff
[   14.343259] tsc: Marking TSC unstable due to clocksource watchdog
[   14.344723] clocksource: Switched to clocksource hpet

cat /sys/devices/system/clocksource/clocksource0/available_clocksource

hpet acpi_pm 

The thing is I previously owned xps 13 and there was no problem with tsc. I would really appreciate any help
(currently it is almost fresh install of arch linux. some things I tweaked were: disabled nvidia by using arch wiki guide and added mem_sleep_default=deep to kernel)

UPDATE:
can't say I fixed it (well, we'll see in a long run) but I added "tsc=reliable" to boot options.

Last edited by yharwyn- (2019-08-18 17:10:06)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,420

Re: tsc=unstable (DELL XPS 15 9570)

Make sure you are applying  microcode updates and/or ensuring your UEFI firmware is up to date.

yharwyn-

Member

Registered: 2019-08-18

Posts: 3

Re: tsc=unstable (DELL XPS 15 9570)

Make sure you are applying  microcode updates and/or ensuring your UEFI firmware is up to date.

sudo fwupdmgr update

No upgrades for XPS 15 9570 System Firmware, current is 0.1.11.2

as for microcode updates I install intel-ucode.

sudo bsdtar -Oxf /boot/intel-ucode.img | iucode_tool -tb -lS -   

           
iucode_tool: system has processor(s) with signature 0x000906ea
microcode bundle 1: (stdin)
selected microcodes:
  001/177: sig 0x000906e9, pf_mask 0x2a, 2019-04-01, rev 0x00b4, size 99328
  001/178: sig 0x000906ea, pf_mask 0x22, 2019-04-01, rev 0x00b4, size 98304
  001/179: sig 0x000906eb, pf_mask 0x02, 2019-04-01, rev 0x00b4, size 99328
  001/180: sig 0x000906ec, pf_mask 0x22, 2019-02-14, rev 0x00ae, size 98304
  001/181: sig 0x000906ed, pf_mask 0x22, 2019-03-17, rev 0x00b8, size 97280

Tried to add it to systemd loader config:

title   Arch Linux
linux   /vmlinuz-linux
initrd  /intel-ucode.img
initrd  /initramfs-linux.img

but system didn't boot.

Last edited by yharwyn- (2019-08-18 13:58:05)

progandy

Member

Registered: 2012-05-17

Posts: 5,322

Re: tsc=unstable (DELL XPS 15 9570)

Do you still have your options line with at least root=... in your systemd config? That is required as well.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sy … ng_loaders

---

| alias CUTF='LANG=en_XX.UTF-8@POSIX ' | alias ENGLISH='LANG=C.UTF-8 ' |

yharwyn-

Member

Registered: 2019-08-18

Posts: 3

Re: tsc=unstable (DELL XPS 15 9570)

Do you still have your options line with at least root=... in your systemd config? That is required as well.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sy … ng_loaders

My bad,

title   ArchLinux
linux   /vmlinuz-linux
initrd /intel-ucode.img
initrd  /initramfs-linux.img
options root=PARTUUID=7b8e7b57-cc57-e449-a856-f5967837f121 mem_sleep_default=deep rootfstype=ext4 add_efi_memmap
editor 1

though anyway cat /sys/devices/system/clocksource/clocksource0/available_clocksource

hpet acpi_pm