System running hot / CPU freq changes randomly

[Eric Anderson]

Nate Lawson wrote:
> Eric Anderson wrote:
> 
>> Nate Lawson wrote:
>>
>>> Eric Anderson wrote:
>>>
>>>> I've jsut upgraded from 5.3-STABLE to -CURRENT, and have a few 
>>>> things I've noticed.  One, my machine runs much hotter - it used to 
>>>> stay around 40 - 41C, but not stays around 49C.  Also, it actually 
>>>> seems like it's running slower - and maybe it is.  It looks like the 
>>>> cpu frequency is changing all the time, hopping around from one freq 
>>>> to another, for no real reason that I can tell.
>>>> I'm running on a dell D600 (1.6GHZ Pentium M), with -CURRENT as of 
>>>> last night.
>>>> I can provide any additional information needed..
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Here's what I mean (on AC, not battery):
>>>> [ 12:48:25 root at neutrino ~ ]# sysctl dev.cpu.0.freq
>>>> dev.cpu.0.freq: 1600
>>>> [ 12:48:27 root at neutrino ~ ]# sysctl dev.cpu.0.freq
>>>> dev.cpu.0.freq: 400
>>>> [ 12:48:28 root at neutrino ~ ]# sysctl dev.cpu.0.freq
>>>> dev.cpu.0.freq: 400
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Are you running powerd?  If you have powerd_enable="YES" in 
>>> /etc/rc.conf, it defaults to adaptive control.  I _thought_ I made 
>>> the default "NO" until we get more testing.
>>
>>
>>
>> Yes, I am using it.  It was default to no, but I enabled it in hopes 
>> that it would help battery life and reduce temperature.  I realized I 
>> didn't really have the settings right, so after setting some lines in 
>> rc.conf and restarting powerd, it seems to have stopped flopping 
>> around. I'm willing to help debug/test..
>>
>>
>>>> hw.acpi.cpu.cx_supported: C1/1 C2/1 C3/85 C4/185
>>>> hw.acpi.cpu.cx_lowest: C1
>>>> hw.acpi.cpu.cx_usage: 100.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I had to disable C2 and higher by default due to some C3 problems 
>>> some users were having.  Hopefully we'll sort this out at some point 
>>> and re-enable it by default.
>>>
>>> You can get the old values back through /etc/rc.conf.  Add:
>>>
>>> performance_cx_lowest="LOW"
>>> economy_cx_lowest="LOW"
>>>
>>> (Or explicitly use "C3" if C4 doesn't work right for you).
>>
>>
>>
>> These are the settings I have right now:
>> powerd_enable="YES"
>> powerd_flags="-a max -b adaptive"
>> performance_cx_lowest="HIGH"            # Online CPU idle state
>> performance_cpu_freq="1600"             # Online CPU frequency
>> economy_cx_lowest="LOW"                # Offline CPU idle state
>> economy_cpu_freq="NONE"                 # Offline CPU frequency
> 
> 
> You should not use *_cpu_freq if you're running powerd since that will 
> handle the transitions for you.  The cx_lowest stuff is fine although it 
> probably wouldn't hurt you to use C2 or C3 while on AC power.  It will 
> save heat and I don't think affects performance much.
> 
> I'm not sure why your frequency is changing while on AC power.  You set 
> "-a max".  powerd should only do adaptive stuff while on battery, 
> according to your settings above.

Ok - here's what I have setup now:

powerd_enable="YES"
powerd_flags="-a max -b adaptive"
performance_cx_lowest="C3"            # Online CPU idle state
economy_cx_lowest="C3"                # Offline CPU idle state

I've now switched to a D610 latitude (new), and I noticed this on bootup:

ACPI timer: 1/2 1/1 1/1 1/1 1/2 1/1 1/1 1/2 1/1 1/1 -> 10
Timecounter "ACPI-fast" frequency 3579545 Hz quality 1000
acpi_timer0: <24-bit timer at 3.579545MHz> port 0x1008-0x100b on acpi0
cpu0: <ACPI CPU (4 Cx states)> on acpi0
acpi_throttle0: <ACPI CPU Throttling> on cpu0
acpi_throttle0: P_CNT from P_BLK 0x10e0
CPU claims to support Enhanced Speedstep, but is not recognized.
Please update driver or contact the maintainer.

Not sure what that means - full dmesg output and other stuff here:

http://www.googlebit.com/freebsd/

Eric




-- 
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Eric Anderson        Sr. Systems Administrator        Centaur Technology
I have seen the future and it is just like the present, only longer.
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