(E17) - erratic CPUfreq behaviour problem.

[vc]

Installation:  PCLinuxOS 2010.10 'full' E17 release, on an original Asus EeePC 4G, equipped with 2GB of RAM and a 16GB SDHC card, partitioned as follows:

sda1 (4GB, ext3) - /
sdb1 (6GB, ext3) - /usr
sdb2 (9GB, ext3) - /home

Problem:  While both the standard E17 CPUfreq gadget and the GKrellM CPUfreq plugin do agree in their indications at all times, neither is able to actually control the CPU frequency properly at all.  The E17 CPUfreq module is set to 'Maximum Speed' in both Policy and Behaviour, yet the real CPU frequency does not stay at 900MHz constantly and instead drops down to 675MHz occasionally, apparently depending upon CPU temperature - whereas the GKrellM CPUfreq slider has no effect whatsoever.

Additional:  Neither CPUfreq function was functional, from a fresh install.  Adding p4-clockmod to /etc/modules.preload manually does allow them to function; however, due to the incomplete degree of control and also the erratic behaviour, I am now wondering if p4-clockmod is indeed the proper module for use on this type of machine.  Could anyone please point out a more suitable alternative, perhaps?  My goal is to 'lock' the actual CPU frequency at 900MHz permanently, regardless of temperature or load or battery level or any other operating condition.

[menotu]

Whatever your CPU is doing vc its "magicked" your SDHC card partitions into being bigger than 16GB 

[vc]

Whatever your CPU is doing vc its "magicked" your SDHC card partitions into being bigger than 16GB  

Not really, menotu - I had stated the sizes only approximately, and have since corrected same.  Both /usr and /home are on /dev/sdb, which is the 16GB SDHC card.  Actual sizes (as indicated by DiskDrake) are 6GB and 9GB, accordingly:

http://i.imgur.com/i0lZC.png

[coffeetime]

The E17 CPUfreq module is set to 'Maximum Speed' in both Policy and Behaviour, yet the real CPU frequency does not stay at 900MHz constantly and instead drops down to 675MHz occasionally, apparently depending upon CPU temperature - whereas the GKrellM CPUfreq slider has no effect whatsoever.

I was using eeepc-control, but it doesn't work anymore in Pclos It's still enabled [pcc], but I can not configure it anymore.

Anyway, my eee is 900 [4+16GB]. Fully updated e17. I don't have problems with cpu scaling. It's scaling between 675-900, but since I need to do my stuff, I have it set up to 900 all the time with out problems.

[vc]

Anyway, my eee is 900 [4+16GB]. Fully updated e17. I don't have problems with cpu scaling. It's scaling between 675-900, but since I need to do my stuff, I have it set up to 900 all the time with out problems.

Hmm.  Same processor; slightly different hardware configuration - should be close enough, though.  Could you perhaps modprobe a little please, coffetime, and inform me of which particular cpufreq module your machine is actually loading?  I suspect that p4-clockmod may not truly be the correct module to be using with the Celeron-M processor in these machines.  Thank you.

[coffeetime]

$ cpufreq-info
cpufrequtils 007: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2009
Report errors and bugs to cpufreq@vger.kernel.org, please.
analyzing CPU 0:
  driver: p4-clockmod
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0
  maximum transition latency: 10.00 ms.
  hardware limits: 113 MHz - 900 MHz
  available frequency steps: 113 MHz, 225 MHz, 338 MHz, 450 MHz, 563 MHz, 675 MHz, 788 MHz, 900 MHz
  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, conservative, powersave, userspace, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 675 MHz and 900 MHz.
                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 900 MHz.

Kernel: 2.6.33.4-pclos1.bfs
Fully updated

PCC/Services:
cpufreq
laptop-mode

I'm not using the latest ISO. I'm rollin' since Linuxera days, I think

[melodie]

Hi,

a cpufreq behavior problem has been detected. Would you want to look here ? cpufreq : some governors don't work

The driver for my cpu is p4-clockmod.

To set the speed to constant 900 Mhz you could try cpufreq-set:

     -f --freq <FREQ>
              specific  frequency to be set. Requires userspace governor to be
              available and loaded.

This last sentence makes me wonder...

[smurfslover]

Let's hope it's fixed in beta3:
http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,84297.0/topicseen.html

[smurfslover]

There's a new cpufreq-utils package in testing if you want to give it a spin maybe it solves this.

[vc]

Nice screenshots, coffeetime.  Hello, everybody - I just logged in to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and also to state that I may have found a solution to both this and the erratic startup behaviour problem.  I was perusing PCC>System>Services the other day, and noticed that both cpufreq and cpufreqd were enabled, being configured to autostart during boot-time.  I then disabled the cpufreqd service entirely, and the system has neither faltered in speed nor misbooted since.  If this stability should continue throughout the week, I'll then mark both threads as [SOLVED], accordingly.

Happy Gnu Year to all.

[melodie]

Hi,

cpufreqd is of no use for PCLinuxOS although we have it in the repositories, if the kernel does not have a specific patch. This is written in the description of the package (synaptic, and more to read with the command "rpm -qil <package> | more"). However, I am not sure if now it does work, or if it does not. It's not simple for me to explore that, and I didn't see answers to that yet when I asked the question at the forums. It's possible that the persons who might have had the right answer didn't see it.

I renew my best wished to all for this special Christmas and coming New Year too.