FC6 cpu speed/frequency on Sony Vaio

ggulik · #1 2nd November 2006, 06:05 AM

This is the fourth system I've installed FC6 on and this is so far the weirdest problem.

I have a Sony Vaio FJ-170B which has a Intel Centrino 1.73GHz processor. I did a fresh FC6 install on it. For once Anaconda did seem to install the i686 kernel which has cpuspeed/frequency support.

So far almost everything works except that CPU speed seems to be constantly pegged at the highest 1.73GHZ instead of adjusting as needed like it did in FC5.

I have the appropriate applet installed. When I set the Governor to Ondemand the processor quickly goes up to 100% full speed. I can manually set the processor speed to the available speeds 800MHz, 1.07GHz, 1.33GHz and of course 1.73GHz.

To help diagnose this problem I installed the cpufreq-utils and cpufreq-info shows:

Code:

cpufrequtils 002: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2006
Report errors and bugs to linux@brodo.de, please.
analyzing CPU 0:
  driver: centrino
  CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 0
  hardware limits: 800 MHz - 1.73 GHz
  available frequency steps: 1.73 GHz, 1.33 GHz, 1.07 GHz, 800 MHz
  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, userspace, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 1.73 GHz.
                  The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 1.73 GHz (asserted by call to hardware).

On my other laptops once I fixed the incorrectly installed kernel version it worked fine but for some reason not on this particular laptop. I have to manually set the CPU down to keep the fans from coming on nearly constantly.

ggulik · #2 2nd November 2006, 10:01 PM

To be clear, the system is definitely running the i686 kernel, as a matter of fact the installer correctly installed the i686 kernel during the install process.

One other weird thing I noticed was that if I restart cpuspeed I get this error:
# service cpuspeed restart
ERROR: Module cpufreq_ondemand is in use

Can someone explain how the cpu frequency is controlled now in FC6?? I thought it was controlled by the cpuseed daemon and just graphically represented by the applet but that doesn't appear to be the case. I changed some settings on another laptop in cpuspeed but the applet shows that the frequencies are outside the range I specified.

Does anyone know how it works now and most importantly, how to fix/tune it?

trueblue · #3 10th November 2006, 05:01 PM

Hi, I have got the same problem on my MAXDATA 4100IW and no solution yet.

However I've noticed that when the computer is on battery power the ondemand governor works but not when it's on ac power.

ggulik · #4 1st December 2006, 07:10 PM

It's the same on this Vaio. The CPU stays pegged at the highest speed only when on AC power. It does seem to work fine on battery.

I would like to open a bugzilla bug report but I don't understand how the frequency scaling is controlled and which component to open the bug report on?

Any suggestions?

trueblue · #5 15th December 2006, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ggulik

I would like to open a bugzilla bug report but I don't understand how the frequency scaling is controlled and which component to open the bug report on?

Since I have still got the problem after a kernel and a cpuspeed update, I am thinking about filing a bug report too. I think the component is the kernel (and more precisely the ondemand module).

Have you already opened a bug report ? or shall I ?

BoneyOne · #6 2nd December 2006, 06:48 PM

I'm on a Vaio VGN-S480P and also have encountered this error. Thanks to this thread I was able to realize the battery works, but AC seems to slow the system down so bad due to the system maxing at 100% CPU usage.

ggulik · #7 2nd December 2006, 07:04 PM

That sounds like a different problem. In my case the CPU stays on the highest speed even when the CPU isn't doing anything. The CPU fan stays on continuously to keep the system cool.

Can you run top and see if there is simply a process consuming CPU?

ggulik · #8 15th December 2006, 02:44 PM

Please open a bug. I thought I had opened one but I can't seem to find it. When you do open the bug post the link here and I'll add my data to the report.

trueblue · #9 15th December 2006, 07:09 PM

There is the bug report :

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla....cgi?id=219852

Pinn2 · #10 23rd December 2006, 06:03 PM

same on Centrino 1.7 in a Thinkpad R50P

I'll add to the bug report next week though.

klingon · #11 27th January 2007, 07:22 AM

I have the same problem. Using kernel 2.6.19-1.2895.fc6 i686 on a P-M. Telling kernel to use ondemand governor maxes out the proc. Does not matter whether im on battery or ac. When cpuspeed service is disabled I cannot even select ondemand governor from the gnome cpufreq applet. I did not think any services were required to use ondemand governor? The cpuspeed process can adjust freq based on demand but it does it in userspace, and does not work nearly as well as the built in kernel "ondemand" governor. Has anyone found a resolve or workaround for this issue?