cpufreq on Debian, problems

cpufreq on Debian, problems

[Joshua Justice]

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.


Here's some info, and if you want more feel free to e-mail me.

# cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 15
model           : 4
model name      : Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.40GHz
stepping        : 3
cpu MHz         : 3391.754
cache size      : 2048 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 2
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 1
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 5
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca
cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm
constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl est cid cx16 xtpr
bogomips        : 6789.19

processor       : 1
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 15
model           : 4
model name      : Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.40GHz
stepping        : 3
cpu MHz         : 3391.754
cache size      : 2048 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 2
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 1
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 5
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca
cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm
constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl est cid cx16 xtpr
bogomips        : 6783.67





# cpuid
 eax in    eax      ebx      ecx      edx
00000000 00000005 756e6547 6c65746e 49656e69
00000001 00000f43 01020800 0000649d bfebfbff
00000002 605b5001 00000000 00000000 007d7040
00000003 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
00000004 00004121 01c0003f 0000001f 00000000
00000005 00000040 00000040 00000000 00000000
80000000 80000008 00000000 00000000 00000000
80000001 00000000 00000000 00000000 20100000
80000002 20202020 20202020 20202020 6e492020
80000003 286c6574 50202952 69746e65 52286d75
80000004 20342029 20555043 30342e33 007a4847
80000005 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
80000006 00000000 00000000 08006040 00000000
80000007 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
80000008 00003024 00000000 00000000 00000000

Vendor ID: "GenuineIntel"; CPUID level 5

Intel-specific functions:
Version 00000f43:
Type 0 - Original OEM
Family 15 - Pentium 4
Extended family 0
Model 4 -
Stepping 3
Reserved 0

Extended brand string: "              Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.40GHz"
CLFLUSH instruction cache line size: 8
Initial APIC ID: 1
Hyper threading siblings: 2

Feature flags bfebfbff:
FPU    Floating Point Unit
VME    Virtual 8086 Mode Enhancements
DE     Debugging Extensions
PSE    Page Size Extensions
TSC    Time Stamp Counter
MSR    Model Specific Registers
PAE    Physical Address Extension
MCE    Machine Check Exception
CX8    COMPXCHG8B Instruction
APIC   On-chip Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller present and
enabled
SEP    Fast System Call
MTRR   Memory Type Range Registers
PGE    PTE Global Flag
MCA    Machine Check Architecture
CMOV   Conditional Move and Compare Instructions
FGPAT  Page Attribute Table
PSE-36 36-bit Page Size Extension
CLFSH  CFLUSH instruction
DS     Debug store
ACPI   Thermal Monitor and Clock Ctrl
MMX    MMX instruction set
FXSR   Fast FP/MMX Streaming SIMD Extensions save/restore
SSE    Streaming SIMD Extensions instruction set
SSE2   SSE2 extensions
SS     Self Snoop
HT     Hyper Threading
TM     Thermal monitor
31     reserved

TLB and cache info:
50: Instruction TLB: 4KB and 2MB or 4MB pages, 64 entries
5b: Data TLB: 4KB and 4MB pages, 64 entries
60: unknown TLB/cache descriptor
40: No 2nd-level cache, or if 2nd-level cache exists, no 3rd-level cache
70: Trace cache: 12K-micro-op, 4-way set assoc
7d: unknown TLB/cache descriptor
Processor serial: 0000-0F43-0000-0000-0000-0000

Re: cpufreq on Debian, problems

[David Pottage]

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.
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.

-- 
David Pottage

Re: cpufreq on Debian, problems

[Len Brown]

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.

Re: cpufreq on Debian, problems

[Bruno Ducrot]

On Sun, Mar 11, 2007 at 07:45:12PM -0500, Len Brown wrote:
> 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.

There is also that kernel option:
"Processor type and features" -->
    "Check for non-fatal errors on AMD Athlon/Duron / Intel Pentium 4"
        --> "check for P4 thermal throttling interrupt."

preventing processor overheating if fan is not working ok. That
option doesn't require cpufreq.

-- 
Bruno Ducrot

--  Which is worse:  ignorance or apathy?
--  Don't know.  Don't care.

Re: cpufreq on Debian, problems

[Joshua Justice]

On 3/11/07, David Pottage <david@chrestomanci.org> wrote:
>
> 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



This may be my problem right here. There's no /cpufreq/ directory in my cpu0
and cpu1 directories.
I should have mentioned that I'm running on a laptop.

Re: cpufreq on Debian, problems

[Dave Jones]

On Mon, Mar 12, 2007 at 01:48:39PM -0400, Joshua Justice wrote:
 > On 3/11/07, David Pottage <david@chrestomanci.org> wrote:
 > >
 > > 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
 > 
 > 
 > 
 > This may be my problem right here. There's no /cpufreq/ directory in my cpu0
 > and cpu1 directories.

Your CPU doesn't support speedstep.
The only option available to the P4's without EST is 'p4-clockmod' which
doesn't actually scale speed, but inserts wait states every n cycles,
making jobs take longer to complete, which in some cases can reduce heat.
If you're seeing overheating problems whilst idle however, it sounds like
you have more fundamental problems such as a poorly fitted fan as Len suggested.

	Dave

-- 
http://www.codemonkey.org.uk