Frequency scaling, Dell Inspiron 6000
Around the time of 2.6.17, I noticed that this machine would no longer scale it's frequency as it used to (i.e. it wouldn't at all, it would before). Furthermore, It reported an internal temperature somewhat near 10 centigrade higher than before, leading to increased fan noise.
I am uncertain of whether it used to scale using the speedstep-centrino module or another one, but found a remark on google on a similar problem stating that it appeared "...after speedstep-centrino had it's guts ripped out in 2.6.18..." (cited from memory).
The CPU of the machine is labeled as centrino compliant, but is in fact a Celeron-M, and hence does not support _Enhanced_ Speedstep. However, I clearly remember having frequency scaling working with Ubuntu kernel 2.6.15, but failing with Ubuntu 2.6.17 (possibly with some 2.6.18 code backported).
Venkatesh Pallipadi did some analysis of the BIOS, and posted a message to http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_bios&thread.id=38979 , however no replies came forth. I am uncertain as to whether I upgraded the kernel or the bios first, but I think it was kernel first.
I am taking this matter up again, as I have given the machine to my gf, who complains about the fan noise, which I imagine will be less of a problem, if the cpu is frequency scaled.
I hope for anyone to take an interest and advise as to what info I should provide.
Best regards,
Sune Mølgaard
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Quoted 5 lines · Sune Mølgaard
The CPU of the machine is labeled as centrino compliant, but is in fact a Celeron-M, and hence does not support _Enhanced_ Speedstep. However, I clearly remember having frequency scaling working with Ubuntu kernel 2.6.15, but failing with Ubuntu 2.6.17 (possibly with some 2.6.18 code backported).
It doesn't support Speedstep at all. You were probably using p4-clockmod in the past, which is a mechanism for temperature control rather than any sort of useful power saving.
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Matthew Garrett | [email protected] - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-acpi" in the body of a message to [email protected] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Quoted 5 lines · Matthew Garrett
Quoted 1 line · Sune Mølgaard
The CPU of the machine is labeled as centrino compliant, but is in fact a Celeron-M, and hence does not support _Enhanced_ Speedstep. However, I clearly remember having frequency scaling working with Ubuntu kernel 2.6.15, but failing with Ubuntu 2.6.17 (possibly with some 2.6.18 code backported).
It doesn't support Speedstep at all. You were probably using p4-clockmod in the past, which is a mechanism for temperature control rather than any sort of useful power saving.
Hi Matthew, and thanks for answering,
This might be as you describe, as I don't know which module was used when it worked.
However, I got a warning dialogue window from the GNOME powernowd applet about frequency scaling being unavailable upon the kernel upgrade, not upon an upgrade of powernowd as one might suspect, if powernowd suddenly seized to support p4-clockmod.
If I had bought the laptop today and encountered the problems, I would probably reach the same conclusion as you, but IIRC powernowd doesn't cooperate with p4-clockmod, and it was a kernel upgrade that made it complain.
I stated earlier that I didn't recall if the BIOS or the kernel upgrade came first, but digging into my memory of events, plus my normal way of dealing with problems, I am now fairly sure that the kernel upgrade borked frequency scaling (or clockmod, which I still find unlikely), prompting the BIOS upgrade.
Best regards,
Sune Mølgaard
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Quoted 4 lines · Sune Mølgaard
If I had bought the laptop today and encountered the problems, I would probably reach the same conclusion as you, but IIRC powernowd doesn't cooperate with p4-clockmod, and it was a kernel upgrade that made it complain.
powernowd works fine with p4-clockmod, but that doesn't change the major point - Celerons don't support any form of Speedstep.
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Quoted 6 lines · Matthew Garrett
Quoted 1 line · Sune Mølgaard
If I had bought the laptop today and encountered the problems, I would probably reach the same conclusion as you, but IIRC powernowd doesn't cooperate with p4-clockmod, and it was a kernel upgrade that made it complain.
powernowd works fine with p4-clockmod, but that doesn't change the major point - Celerons don't support any form of Speedstep.
Well, still (and this may be a topic for discussion on a powernowd ml) I encountered a powernowd failure as a result of a kernel upgrade and _not_ as a result of a powernowd upgrade. Do you know why this may be so?
Thanks,
Sune
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Quoted 3 lines · Sune Mølgaard
Well, still (and this may be a topic for discussion on a powernowd ml) I encountered a powernowd failure as a result of a kernel upgrade and _not_ as a result of a powernowd upgrade. Do you know why this may be so?
No. Using powernowd is an invitation to waste battery life, in any case.
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Quoted 5 lines · Matthew Garrett
Quoted 1 line · Sune Mølgaard
Well, still (and this may be a topic for discussion on a powernowd ml) I encountered a powernowd failure as a result of a kernel upgrade and _not_ as a result of a powernowd upgrade. Do you know why this may be so?
No. Using powernowd is an invitation to waste battery life, in any case.
Ok, so in order to utilize p4-clockmod and get a lower temperature => lower fan noise, do I just load the module? Or what more do I do?
Best regards,
Sune
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Quoted 2 lines · Sune Mølgaard
Ok, so in order to utilize p4-clockmod and get a lower temperature => lower fan noise, do I just load the module? Or what more do I do?
Yes, and make sure that /devices/system/cpu/*/cpufreq/scaling_governor is set to ondemand or conservative.
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Matthew Garrett | [email protected] - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-acpi" in the body of a message to [email protected] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Quoted 7 lines · Matthew Garrett
Quoted 2 lines · Sune Mølgaard
Ok, so in order to utilize p4-clockmod and get a lower temperature => lower fan noise, do I just load the module? Or what more do I do?
Yes, and make sure that /devices/system/cpu/*/cpufreq/scaling_governor is set to ondemand or conservative.
Ok, thank you. That seems to work :-)
Best regards,
Sune
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