Linux Format forums

Re: what the...

heiowge — Wed Oct 03, 2012 6:33 pm

Author: heiowge

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2012 6:33 pm

tbh it hasn't done it since. Maybe it was just the PC having a bad day and moaning that I'll been lobotomising it again.

Re: what the...

Paradigm Shifter — Wed Oct 03, 2012 11:36 am

Author: Paradigm Shifter

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2012 11:36 am

It is unlikely that disabling Cool 'n' Quiet made the system suddenly decide that it doesn't want to turn off. However, put settings back the way they were and see if it still does it.

It it does, if you've got a spare PSU around, swap to it and see whether it continues to play silly-wossnames. I just received an RMA back this morning for a PSU that was making the system it was running randomly power on and off or refuse to power on or off. Was driving me up the wall, and proves that even quality kit can go wonky sometimes after running perfectly for a couple of years.

Re: what the...

heiowge — Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:45 pm

Author: heiowge

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:45 pm

Update:

Shut down the PC, and it didn't. So I pressed the power button. For 20 bloody seconds. Nothing! Had to pull the power cord out in the end!

Any thoughts? Is it related?

Re: what the...

heiowge — Tue Oct 02, 2012 4:45 pm

Author: heiowge

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 4:45 pm

Yeah, thanks.

It does mean I'll have to think more carefully about tower position for air flow, but that's something I've had to consider for a few days now.

Re: what the...

el chapul�n — Tue Oct 02, 2012 3:09 pm

Author: el chapul�n

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 3:09 pm

Paradigm Shifter wrote:

I do have a tendency to turn BIOS based CPU clock control/power saving off as it can be more trouble than its worth (see comment about Unreal Tournament engine games...)

I also disable it as I've had similar issues, I can see how it's important for laptop users but I prefer the "hot n noisy" approach...

heiowge, glad you got it sorted and that it wasn't the motherboard issue I suspected it might be.

Re: what the...

heiowge — Tue Oct 02, 2012 2:22 pm

Author: heiowge

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 2:22 pm

Cool n' quiet disabled. Cores up to full speed.

Now if I can just get my graphics card to stop crashing...

It never ends...

Re: what the...

Paradigm Shifter — Tue Oct 02, 2012 2:12 pm

Author: Paradigm Shifter

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 2:12 pm

I've found in both linux and Windows that some motherboards take OS instructions re: power states to be more of an "If you would be so kind..." hint rather than a "Do this. Now." instruction.

Except on Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge chips (which need the power saving features enabled to allow for multiplier overclocking) I do have a tendency to turn BIOS based CPU clock control/power saving off as it can be more trouble than its worth (see comment about Unreal Tournament engine games...)

Re: what the...

el chapul�n — Tue Oct 02, 2012 1:49 pm

Author: el chapul�n

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 1:49 pm

He has the performance governor enabled so all cores should at the highest clock, that is the issue.

I agree though, disabling cool and quiet should be the next step.

Re: what the...

Paradigm Shifter — Tue Oct 02, 2012 12:50 pm

Author: Paradigm Shifter

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 12:50 pm

Set 'Cool 'n' Quiet' to [Disabled]. Watch all CPU cores run at 3200Mhz.

Modern CPUs are designed in such a way as to allow cores to clock independently based on load.

This Anandtech review, particularly the second page, goes into a little more detail about 'Turbo' and power states on the CPU cores.

Was my previous post a figment of my imagination? You're looking for a problem when there isn't one.

Re: what the...

el chapul�n — Tue Oct 02, 2012 8:30 am

Author: el chapul�n

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 8:30 am

Your board is ok. As a diagnostic test can you disable frequency scaling in the BIOS setup (if you're not sure how read the motherboard manual) and see if that causes all cores to return to their correct speed.

Re: what the...

heiowge — Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:25 pm

Author: heiowge

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:25 pm

Maybe these will help?

Re: what the...

heiowge — Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:13 pm

Author: heiowge

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:13 pm

Its an ASRock M3A770DE. I hope that means more to you than it does to me. The manual says "Support for socket AM3 processors: AMD Phenom II X4 / X3 / X2 (except 920 / 940) and Athlon II X4 / X3 / X2 processors).

Re: what the...

el chapul�n — Mon Oct 01, 2012 5:21 pm

Author: el chapul�n

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 5:21 pm

Well the performance governor is configured as the default on that system... but you said that different cores are at different speeds, which as far as I know is not normal cpfreq behaviour - nor is it normal for speedstep or cool n quiet as far as I know.

The cores being locked to 800MHz could be a symptom of a lack of "dual power plane" support on the motherboard. You should verify this first and that your board is definitely an AM3 board and not an AM2+ or "AM3 optimised" board... your CPU, assuming it's the one in your signature certainly requires an AM3 board to realise it's full potential, but you haven't stated what motherboard you have.

Re: what the...

heiowge — Mon Oct 01, 2012 3:55 pm

Author: heiowge

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 3:55 pm

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_TABLE=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_STAT=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_STAT_DETAILS=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_PERFORMANCE=y
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_POWERSAVE is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_USERSPACE is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_ONDEMAND is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_CONSERVATIVE is not set
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_PERFORMANCE=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_POWERSAVE=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_USERSPACE=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_ONDEMAND=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_CONSERVATIVE=y

Re: what the...

el chapul�n — Mon Oct 01, 2012 2:06 pm

Author: el chapul�n

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 2:06 pm

As it's a Debian based distro this should do it:

Code:

$ grep -i cpu_freq /boot/config-`uname -r`