CPU Scaling no longer supported on Single core 1.7Ghz Centrino

[Richard Pineger]

Binary package hint: libcpufreq0

Hi, I've noticed slow performance. My details are similar to the forum post "Single core 1.7Ghz Centrino stuck at 600MHz?" from 12th May 2009. The post has no answer or further reference so I raised a bug here and I'll cross reference it on the Forum. My processor is stuck at 798MHz and on adding the cpufreq-applet I was treated to an error, "Warning CPU Frequency Scaling not supported". I have a Dell Inspiron 9300. Regards, Richard

Here is the original post:

--------------------------------

I'm been experiencing quite a slow performance on Ubuntu, specially on flash videos, and finally I discovered the it was not xorg or firefox or the ati driver but rather the cpu is stuck at 600MHz according to /proc/cpuinfo.

model name : Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.70GHz
stepping : 6
cpu MHz : 600.012

I had been experiencing sudden burst in performance for a while, and now I'm guessing that all of a sudden the cpu just "breaks free" and goes to full power for absolutely no reason, without my intervention. I'm waiting for this to happen again, but I'm pretty sure this is the problem.

I've been trying to fix it for a while but it's been quite difficult. I installed powernowd (success was reported here http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1134657), and running it says

Please make sure that:
- ....
- That you have sysfs mounted /sys
- That you have the core cpufreq and cpufreq-userspace
modules loaded into your kernel

Which I don't by checking lsmod | grep cpu, and no wonder, because according to something I read the new ubuntu kernel has the cpufreq modules built-in. But something is indeed failing because running ls /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0 reveals

cpuidle crash_notes topology

The frequency part is missing.

Any input? Can I refer to any log for further info?

Thx in advance, I would really like to fix this thing... O_o
Last edited by Cenoforums; May 12th, 2009 at 04:14 PM.. Reason: reference post

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
ExecutablePath: /usr/lib/gnome-applets/cpufreq-applet
Package: gnome-applets 2.26.1-0ubuntu1
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: gnome-applets
Uname: Linux 2.6.28-6-386 i686

[Richard Pineger (richm4n)]

I notice that there are no subscribers to this bug. Can I urge a developer to look at it? There are many of these processors in circulation. Even a workaround would be helpful or an indication of which packages / configuration I could look at would be helpful. Thanks.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Connor Imes (ckimes)]

If you (or anybody else) still have this hardware, is scaling working properly these days?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]