Re: cpufreq on Debian, problems

[Len Brown <lenb@kernel.org>]

On Sunday 11 March 2007 17:20, David Pottage wrote:
> Joshua Justice wrote:
> > I'm running a Pentium 4, 3.40 gigahertz, on Debian Etch 2.6.18-4-686, 
> > and I have issues with overheating because cpu throttling isn't working.

Check that your fan is properly installed, including thermal compound.

You should not need throttling to cool a P4.
Indeed, most of them don't support any P-states at all.

-Len

> Is your clock frequency scaling back when your system is not under load?
> 
> If it is not, and you want it to, then you need to run the ondemand or 
> conservative govenor. Take a look in 
> /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_governors that 
> they are there, then echo a govenor name into 
> /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor
> 
> If the clock frequency is changing acording to your system load, but it 
> is still overheading, you probably need to improve your cooling hardware.
> 
> If it is not practical to improve your CPU cooling, or if your peak 
> loads are ocasional, then you can prevent overheating by limiting the 
> CPU temperature. I have written a userland perl script that does this 
> automaticaly, by monitoring the CPU temperature, and lowering the 
> maximum CPU frequency if the temperature gets to high. You can have a 
> copy if you like.