Comment 0 for bug 1769236

I installed the Kubuntu variant of Ubuntu 18.04 on a new HP Spectre 13 laptop. Performance is poor. The CPU (an i7-8550U) is running at 400MHz, and never speeds up, even when running some of the Phoronix Test Suite benchmarks.

I can use cpupower to switch to the "performance" cpufreq governor, but cannot change the frequency with either governor.

Here is the output of some experiments I ran while Phoronix's c-ray test was running.
______________

gjditchf@copperplate:/var/log$ cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep MHz
cpu MHz : 400.008
cpu MHz : 400.002
cpu MHz : 400.002
cpu MHz : 400.003
cpu MHz : 400.005
cpu MHz : 400.003
cpu MHz : 400.001
cpu MHz : 400.004

gjditchf@copperplate:/var/log$ cpupower frequency-info
analyzing CPU 0:
  driver: intel_pstate
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0
  maximum transition latency: Cannot determine or is not supported.
  hardware limits: 400 MHz - 4.00 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: performance powersave
  current policy: frequency should be within 400 MHz and 1.60 GHz.
                  The governor "powersave" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency: Unable to call hardware
  current CPU frequency: 400 MHz (asserted by call to kernel)
  boost state support:
    Supported: yes
    Active: yes

gjditchf@copperplate:/var/log$ sudo cpupower frequency-set -f 1.60GHz
Setting cpu: 0
Error setting new values. Common errors:
- Do you have proper administration rights? (super-user?)
- Is the governor you requested available and modprobed?
- Trying to set an invalid policy?
- Trying to set a specific frequency, but userspace governor is not available,
   for example because of hardware which cannot be set to a specific frequency
   or because the userspace governor isn't loaded?

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: linux-image-4.15.0-20-generic 4.15.0-20.21
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-20.21-generic 4.15.17
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-20-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: KDE
Date: Fri May 4 12:57:25 2018
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-04-28 (6 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 18.04 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Release amd64 (20180426)
SourcePackage: linux-signed
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)