CPU Frequency Scaling Not Supported for Intel Centrino Duo Processors

[Noorez]

I'm receiving an error message saying that CPU scaling is not supported for my CPU. However, I know that my CPU is capable of it.
It is an Intel Centrino Duo.

[Daniel G. Taylor (danielgtaylor)]

CPU frequency scaling is also failing for me. I'm using an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ (Brisbane). Please post if any other information is needed.

$ dmesg | grep power
[ 14.300000] input: Power Button (FF) as /class/input/input4
[ 14.304000] ACPI: Power Button (FF) [PWRF]
[ 14.304000] input: Power Button (CM) as /class/input/input5
[ 14.304000] ACPI: Power Button (CM) [PWRB]
[ 14.588000] powernow-k8: Found 2 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4000+ processors (version 2.00.00)
[ 14.588000] powernow-k8: MP systems not supported by PSB BIOS structure
[ 14.588000] powernow-k8: MP systems not supported by PSB BIOS structure

$ sudo /etc/init.d/powernowd start
 * Starting powernowd...
/etc/init.d/powernowd: 156: cannot create /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0//cpufreq/scaling_governor: Directory nonexistent
 * CPU frequency scaling not supported

[Noorez (noorez-kassam)]

This is what I got from that result:

sudo /etc/init.d/powernowd start
 * Starting powernowd... [ OK ]
2 noorez@noorez-laptop:~$ dmesg | grep power
[ 27.661713] ACPI: CPU0 (power states: C1[C1] C2[C2])
[ 27.662698] ACPI: CPU1 (power states: C1[C1] C2[C2])

However, none of the power applets give the option of reducing power usage.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Hi Noorez,

This bug was reported a while ago but there hasn't been any recent activity. I'm curious if you could test the latest Hardy Heron 8.04 release and verify if this is still an issue - http://www.ubuntu.com/testing . You should be able to then test the new kernel via the LiveCD. Please let us know your results. Thanks.

[Gifty (sofiaflores)]

I've the same problem with Ubuntu 8.04...

sofia@sofia-laptop:~$ dmesg | grep power
[ 22.609826] ACPI: CPU0 (power states: C1[C1] C2[C2])
[ 22.610352] ACPI: CPU1 (power states: C1[C1] C2[C2])

[Alexey Borzenkov (snaury)]

I have the same problem, /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq directory is missing. lsmod|grep freq shows that cpufreq modules are loaded.

dragonfox@kitsuden:~$ lsmod|grep freq
cpufreq_powersave 2688 0
cpufreq_stats 7104 0
cpufreq_userspace 5284 0
cpufreq_ondemand 9740 0
cpufreq_conservative 8712 0
freq_table 5536 2 cpufreq_stats,cpufreq_ondemand

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Reassigning to the kernel team. This however seems related or possibly a duplicate of bug 183033 . Thanks.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

[Sergey V. Udaltsov (sergey-udaltsov)]

I am using the latest stable 64-bit kernel on intrepid - still getting the same bug.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.

[Stefan Bader (smb)]

Can someone confirm this bug persists with the latest Jaunty beta? Thanks

[KingJ (kj-kingj)]

I can confirm that this is present in the latest Jaunty RC. Upgraded from 8.10 to 9.04 RC tonight using update-manager -d and on startup I get a message saying that frequency scaling isn't supported, despite it working perfectly under 8.10. The frequency scaler applet also confirms this, showing my processor stuck on 2.39Ghz. Computer is a Dell Vostro 1500, Core 2 Duo processor.

[Stefan Bader (smb)]

@KingJ, thanks. Though it might be slightly different. For you it worked with 8.10 and broke with 9.04 but before reporter had problems with 8.10 and before. Likely different CPUs. But ok, in the end, the effect is the same.
Can you please provide some more information? Please attach the output of the following commands:
- sudo dmidecode
- sudo acpidump -o acpidump.txt
- dmesg (once for the working 8.10 case (if you could boot from an old live-system) and once for 9.04)
- lsmod (also for both cases)

Thanks

[KingJ (kj-kingj)]

@Stefan, i'm unable to test with 8.10 since I no longer have that installed - I upgraded from 8.10 to 9.04 RC hence overwriting my existing install. Like the original submitter, the processor is a Centrino duo, but i'm unsure how to obtain the exact model number under Linux.

I've attached all the items you have asked for, looks like I can only submit one file at a time so it will take several attachments.

[KingJ (kj-kingj)]

Last attached file requested.

[Stefan Bader (smb)]

KingJ wrote:
> @Stefan, i'm unable to test with 8.10 since I no longer have that
> installed - I upgraded from 8.10 to 9.04 RC hence overwriting my

I understand, I hoped you still had a live-cd/dvd to use that for the working
case test.

> existing install. Like the original submitter, the processor is a
> Centrino duo, but i'm unsure how to obtain the exact model number under
> Linux.

I knew I had forgotten something :)

cat /proc/cpuinfo

> I've attached all the items you have asked for, looks like I can only
> submit one file at a time so it will take several attachments.

Yeah, that is unfortunately the only way. But simpler to look at compared to
one tarball or zip file, which has to be downloaded first.

[KingJ (kj-kingj)]

Sadly, I lost the disk a while back - i'll redownload it and give it a go though.

cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 23
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T8300 @ 2.40GHz
stepping : 6
cpu MHz : 2393.964
cache size : 3072 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
core id : 0
cpu cores : 2
apicid : 0
initial apicid : 0
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 10
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 arch_perfmon pebs bts pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 lahf_lm ida
bogomips : 4787.92
clflush size : 64
power management:

processor : 1
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 23
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T8300 @ 2.40GHz
stepping : 6
cpu MHz : 2393.964
cache size : 3072 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
core id : 1
cpu cores : 2
apicid : 1
initial apicid : 1
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 10
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 arch_perfmon pebs bts pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 lahf_lm ida
bogomips : 4787.95
clflush size : 64
power management:

[Stefan Bader (smb)]

It might be related to the fact that acpi-cpufreq is built in now and the second choice. The expectation would be that if acpi does not find support, it should pass on to the next driver in the stack. I did not find any objects that acpi-cpufreq is needing, so that should be the case. However not much can be seen in the usual log. To enable dbugging for acpi and cpufreq I had to create a special kernel. It can be found at http://people.ubuntu.com/~smb/bug156066/. With that installed, you can use the option: "cpufreq.debug=7" on the grub commandline and we should get more output. Can you attach the dmesg of that, please?

[Stefan Bader (smb)]

KingJ wrote:
> ** Attachment added: "dmesg-customkernel-cpufreq.debug7.txt"

Sorry to say so, but this was not with "cpufreq.debug=7" as a kernel parameter.
See "Kernel command line: root=UUID=dbb5c117-c690-4c20-a4bc-bfb6e5c87877 ro
quiet splash" in the log.

[KingJ (kj-kingj)]

Hm, I added cpufreq.debug=7 after that by editing the command on the grub boot screen, I will try editing the menu.lst instead.

[KingJ (kj-kingj)]

[ 0.000000] Kernel command line: root=UUID=dbb5c117-c690-4c20-a4bc-bfb6e5c87877 ro quiet splash cpufreq.debug=7
[ 0.000000] Unknown boot option `cpufreq.debug=7': ignoring

[Stefan Bader (smb)]

This command line only works with specially compiled kernels. Did you use the one I provided at

http://people.ubuntu.com/~smb/bug156066/ (in comment #19)

Unfortunately all debugging in either acpi or the cpufreq module has to be enabled at compile time and it is not for the "normal" kernels.

[KingJ (kj-kingj)]

Yes, I had installed that kernel via the package manager than added cpufreq.debug=7 to the command line by editing menu.lst - where there any additional steps I needed to do?

[Stefan Bader (smb)]

There should be no need to do more. What is 'cat /proc/version' when you have booted up? I just verified the kernel by downloading and re-installing it on my test laptop and it worked. Make sure you boot into the right kernel by interrupting grup with the escape key and select the 2.6.28-11 kernel.

[KingJ (kj-kingj)]

Ah, I hadn't specified the 2.6.28-11 kernel, it was still booting the old one. (2.6.27-something). Booting 2.6.28-11 now.

[KingJ (kj-kingj)]

CPU frequency scaling is working fine now, and I think I may know why - whenever the updater has prompted me to update my menu.lst, i've always told it to retain the old version because I have also specified Windows in the menu.lst and don't want to keep adding it. As a result, new kernels have been installed by the updater, but i've always been using the same old one - 2.6.28-11, perhaps this is incompatible with something else in 9.04

[Stefan Bader (smb)]

Ah, then. As far as I can see it was 2.6.27-7.16 (the kernel from release I think). So more or less quite old as well. The problem with telling the installer to keep the old version keeps you from using updated kernels as well. I actually thought that (maybe the entry would have to be outside the magic comments at the bottom) the installer would keep those alternate OS lines.
Anyhow, as it is working now, I would close this bug as fixed.

[Stefan Bader (smb)]

The problem is no longer there in Jaunty.