CPU governor changes speed to minimum only

[qwertyjjj]

Thread link: https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi/+question/143039
I installed the applet as I suspected my CPU was at half speed.
When I first start the computer it works correctly and then for no apparent reason the governor switches the max speed down to 800MHz and it will not increase it later. The fan doesn't come on so I do not think it is because the CPU is hot.
I have attached the info below.
Every day after about 15min of starting the computer up the governor will change the text from:
  current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 1.73 GHz.
 current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 800 MHz.

It then remains at 800Mhz for the rest of the time the computer is on.

[code]
j@j-Inspiron-9300:~$ date
Thu Jan 27 09:05:41 CET 2011
j@j-Inspiron-9300:~$ cpufreq-info
cpufrequtils 007: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2009
Report errors and bugs to <email address hidden>, please.
analyzing CPU 0:
  driver: acpi-cpufreq
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0
  maximum transition latency: 10.0 us.
  hardware limits: 800 MHz - 1.73 GHz
  available frequency steps: 1.73 GHz, 1.33 GHz, 1.07 GHz, 800 MHz
  available cpufreq governors: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 1.73 GHz.
                  The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 1.73 GHz.
  cpufreq stats: 1.73 GHz:18.10%, 1.33 GHz:1.19%, 1.07 GHz:0.59%, 800 MHz:80.12% (9055)

j@j-Inspiron-9300:~$ date
Thu Jan 27 09:20:23 CET 2011
j@j-Inspiron-9300:~$ cpufreq-info
cpufrequtils 007: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2009
Report errors and bugs to <email address hidden>, please.
analyzing CPU 0:
  driver: acpi-cpufreq
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0
  maximum transition latency: 10.0 us.
  hardware limits: 800 MHz - 1.73 GHz
  available frequency steps: 1.73 GHz, 1.33 GHz, 1.07 GHz, 800 MHz
  available cpufreq governors: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 800 MHz.
                  The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 800 MHz.
  cpufreq stats: 1.73 GHz:24.51%, 1.33 GHz:3.24%, 1.07 GHz:1.13%, 800 MHz:71.13% (28892)
[/code]

[qwertyjjj (qwertyjjj)]

I have posted the results below.
It took about 25mins before the givernor throttled the speed back. The full fan speed did not even come and now I cannot change it back to 1.73.
The fan successfully controlled the temperature down so why throttle it afterwards?
I am running a video, FF, Thunderbird, a disk usage analyser, and system testing util to try and load it. The fan only comes on at above 60oC and even then it's only half fan speed (fairly quiet), not the full fan speed that I had in the past on Windows.
So, how come when it is set to ondemand, it throttles it to 800 when it gets to this temperature and prevents me from changing it to performance?

[code]
j@j-Inspiron-9300:~$ sudo cpufreq-info
cpufrequtils 007: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2009
Report errors and bugs to <email address hidden>, please.
analyzing CPU 0:
  driver: acpi-cpufreq
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0
  maximum transition latency: 10.0 us.
  hardware limits: 800 MHz - 1.73 GHz
  available frequency steps: 1.73 GHz, 1.33 GHz, 1.07 GHz, 800 MHz
  available cpufreq governors: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, performance
  current policy: [B]frequency should be within 800 MHz and 1.73 GHz.
                  The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.[/B]
  current CPU frequency is 800 MHz (asserted by call to hardware).
  cpufreq stats: 1.73 GHz:28.76%, 1.33 GHz:1.14%, 1.07 GHz:1.28%, 800 MHz:68.83% (6017)

j@j-Inspiron-9300:/$ date
Sat Feb 5 10:20:04 CET 2011
j@j-Inspiron-9300: cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THM/temperature
temperature: 39 C

[B]{switched to performance in the middle here}[/B]
{now fully on 1.72GHz}
j@j-Inspiron-9300:/$ cpufreq-info
cpufrequtils 007: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2009
Report errors and bugs to <email address hidden>, please.
analyzing CPU 0:
  driver: acpi-cpufreq
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0
  maximum transition latency: 10.0 us.
  hardware limits: 800 MHz - 1.73 GHz
  available frequency steps: 1.73 GHz, 1.33 GHz, 1.07 GHz, 800 MHz
  available cpufreq governors: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, performance
  current policy: [B]frequency should be within 800 MHz and 1.73 GHz[/B].
                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 1.73 GHz.
  cpufreq stats: 1.73 GHz:49.04%, 1.33 GHz:0.71%, 1.07 GHz:0.81%, 800 MHz:49.44% (8722)

j@j-Inspiron-9300:/$ date
Sat Feb 5 10:29:33 CET 2011
j@j-Inspiron-9300:/$ cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THM/temperature
temperature: 45 C

j@j-Inspiron-9300:/$ date
Sat Feb 5 10:32:14 CET 2011
j@j-Inspiron-9300:/$ cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THM/temperature
temperature: 56 C

j@j-Inspiron-9300:/$ date
Sat Feb 5 10:33:51 CET 2011
j@j-Inspiron-9300:/$ cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THM/temperature
temperature: 57 C

j@j-Inspiron-9300:/$ date
Sat Feb 5 10:35:25 CET 2011
j@j-Inspiron-9300:/$ cat /proc/acpi/ther...

[qwertyjjj (qwertyjjj)]

I found this in the cpufreqd.conf:

##
# Special Rules
##
# CPU Too hot!
[Rule]
name=CPU Too Hot
acpi_temperature=55-100
cpu_interval=50-100
profile=Performance Low
[/Rule]

Could that be the problem?

Edit: I changed that to 70 and it still doesn;t work.
Something is changing the scaling_max_freq file back to 800000 even though I changed it to 1733000 manually.
I just went in and edited the file back to 1733000 but when I next open it it has changed back to 800000.
That to me seems like a cpufreq bug?!

[qwertyjjj (qwertyjjj)]

Potential fix:

I had a similar problem back in 2007: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9488 In my case a broken BIOS was the reason. As I could not get a newer (fixed) BIOS, I found two workarounds: a) using the processor.ignore_ppc flag, and b) (the "final" solution): using a kernel parameter acpi_osi="!Windows 2006"

[Achim Behrens (k1l)]

I had this bug with actual lucid and 2.6.32-31-generic-pae on my Dell Vostro with a Intel T7500 CPU.

/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq was only set to 800Mhz. even setting it manually to max with: "echo 2201000 | sudo tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq" didn't change speed to highest speed.

After reading some bugs with acpi_cpufreq: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/519142 , https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/716220 i fiddled with the AC and after that i had either only max 2.2Ghz speed with pluged AC or 800MHz with only battery.

Fix from Comment 16 worked for me:
installing powernowd and everything worked as before (and should be)

[Alan Pater (alan-pater)]

Could be due to a dead battery: http://www.woolie.co.uk/article/dell-laptop-stuck-800mhz-linux-fix/

If so, workaround is make sure you are using a quality AC power source, and

 Add "processor.ignore_ppc=1" to kernel boot command line.