Ubuntu
linux package

CPU frequency less than HW supported maximum

Bug #856233 reported by Marcello Romani on 2011-09-22

This bug affects 3 people

Affects		Status	Importance	Assigned to	Milestone
	linux (Ubuntu)	Won't Fix	Low	Colin Ian King

Bug Description

The host system has a 3.2GHz PIV CPU, but the maximum frequency used is 1.6GHz:

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_max_freq
1600000

The strange thins is, dmidecode reports:

Max Speed: 3800 MHz
Current Speed: 3200 MHz

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: linux-image-2.6.32-33-generic 2.6.32-33.72
Regression: No
Reproducible: Yes
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-33.72-generic 2.6.32.41+drm33.18
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-33-generic x86_64
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.21.
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: AD198x Analog [AD198x Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/controlC0: davide 1717 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xd01c0000 irq 22'
   Mixer name : 'Analog Devices AD1981'
   Components : 'HDA:11d41981,101402f6,00100200'
   Controls : 33
   Simple ctrls : 19
Date: Thu Sep 22 11:20:59 2011
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=1133536a-65bb-41ea-9495-0ed199f70179
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100816.1)
IwConfig:
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.
MachineType: IBM 8113E9G
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-33-generic root=UUID=49a0a9ab-efaf-4914-b2b6-ddb7b1ed0952 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
SHELL=/bin/bash
PATH=(custom, user)
LANG=it_IT.UTF-8
RelatedPackageVersions: linux-firmware 1.34.7
RfKill:

SourcePackage: linux
dmi.bios.date: 02/27/2006
dmi.bios.vendor: IBM
dmi.bios.version: 2EKT34AIT
dmi.board.name: IBM
dmi.board.vendor: IBM
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: ��
dmi.chassis.type: 6
dmi.chassis.vendor: IBM
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnIBM:bvr2EKT34AIT:bd02/27/2006:svnIBM:pn8113E9G:pvrThinkCentreM52:rvnIBM:rnIBM:rvr:cvnIBM:ct6:cvr:
dmi.product.name: 8113E9G
dmi.product.version: ThinkCentre M52
dmi.sys.vendor: IBM

Tags:

Revision history for this message

Marcello Romani (marcello-romani) wrote on 2011-09-22:

AlsaDevices.txt Edit (461 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
AplayDevices.txt Edit (273 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
BootDmesg.txt Edit (38.7 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Card0.Amixer.values.txt Edit (4.3 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Card0.Codecs.codec.0.txt Edit (7.5 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
CurrentDmesg.txt Edit (1.5 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Dependencies.txt Edit (1.3 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Lspci.txt Edit (9.0 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Lsusb.txt Edit (571 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
PciMultimedia.txt Edit (594 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcCpuinfo.txt Edit (1.3 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcInterrupts.txt Edit (1.6 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcModules.txt Edit (2.7 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
UdevDb.txt Edit (100.3 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
UdevLog.txt Edit (215.9 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
WifiSyslog.txt Edit (147.8 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")

Revision history for this message

Marcello Romani (marcello-romani) wrote on 2011-09-22:

I have another system which is similar to this one and has the same "bug".
The maximum CPU frequency is reached only if I disable the cpu frequency scaling in the BIOS.

Brad Figg (brad-figg) on 2011-09-22

Changed in linux (Ubuntu):
status:	New → Confirmed

Revision history for this message

Marcello Romani (marcello-romani) wrote on 2011-09-22:

This might be a duplicate of

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi/+bug/95198

(it is anyway related to that bug).

Revision history for this message

Marcello Romani (marcello-romani) wrote on 2011-09-22:

From the other system I was talking about I reported a bug too:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/856375

To maintainers: feel free to mark one of the two bugs as duplicate of the other. I reported both for completeness, hoping more info would help the dev team...

Revision history for this message

Colin Ian King (colin-king) wrote on 2011-09-22:

@Marcello, I suspect the ACPI _PSS object may be wrongly listing the maximum allowed CPU frequencies. Can you attach the output from:

sudo acpidump > acpidump.dat

Thanks

Changed in linux (Ubuntu):
status:	Confirmed → Incomplete

Revision history for this message

Marcello Romani (marcello-romani) wrote on 2011-09-23:

sudo acpidump > acpidump.dat Edit (105.6 KiB, application/x-ns-proxy-autoconfig)

Revision history for this message

Colin Ian King (colin-king) wrote on 2011-09-23:

Can you tell me what the output from the following command is:

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_driver

Revision history for this message

Marcello Romani (marcello-romani) wrote on 2011-09-25:

acpi-cpufreq
acpi-cpufreq

Colin Ian King (colin-king) on 2011-09-29

Changed in linux (Ubuntu):
importance:	Undecided → Low
assignee:	nobody → Colin King (colin-king)

Revision history for this message

Colin Ian King (colin-king) wrote on 2011-09-30:

Hi Marcello,

I must say, I'm a little puzzled by this too. I cannot see any _PSS, _PSD objects in the ACPI tables, which seem to be required for the acpi cpufreq driver to work, so either acpidump is not getting all the tables (unlikely) or I've misunderstood the driver.

I believe natty and later releases have kernel support to see the BIOS limited CPU frequency settings, so boot with a Natty or Oneiric LiveCD and then run:

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/bios_limit

..to see what the driver believes is the BIOS top CPU freq per CPU.

Revision history for this message

Marcello Romani (marcello-romani) wrote on 2011-09-30:

#10

Ok, I will ASAP. Thank you.

Revision history for this message

Marcello Romani (marcello-romani) wrote on 2011-09-30:

#11

root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/bios_limit
800000

root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# uname -a
Linux ubuntu 2.6.38-8-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Mon Apr 11 03:31:50 UTC 2011 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

Revision history for this message

Marcello Romani (marcello-romani) wrote on 2011-09-30:

#12

oot@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=11.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=natty
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 11.04"

Revision history for this message

Marcello Romani (marcello-romani) wrote on 2011-09-30:

#13

Ooops.... Sorry, I booted 11.04 into the other PC where I'm seeing the bug... (To be honest they're almost identical).

Revision history for this message

Colin Ian King (colin-king) wrote on 2011-09-30:

#14

Marcello,

I'm really puzzled now, it seems that the bios_limit is really low - I will look at the driver again, but my conclusion so far that the BIOS settings are the root cause to your problem.

Revision history for this message

Marcello Romani (marcello-romani) wrote on 2011-10-03:

#15

As I said in my previous comment, I tried 11.04 on the other system wher I see this bug (linked some comments ago). On that system I updated the bios, but the problem was not solved. I plan to try today 11.04 on the system this bug is about.

Revision history for this message

Colin Ian King (colin-king) wrote on 2011-11-10:

#16

Hi Marcello. Any updates on the system in question?

Revision history for this message

Marcello Romani (marcello-romani) wrote on 2011-11-11:

#17

Sorry for my late reply. I'll try 11.04 and/or 11.10 on monday (I'm not near the system right now).

Revision history for this message

Marcello Romani (marcello-romani) wrote on 2011-11-14:

#18

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=11.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=oneiric
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 11.10"

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ uname -a
Linux ubuntu 3.0.0-12-generic #20-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 7 14:56:25 UTC 2011 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_max_freq
1600000
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_min_freq
1400000
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_frequencies
1600000 1400000

Revision history for this message

Colin Ian King (colin-king) wrote on 2011-11-29:

#19

Marcello, can you try the kernel option: processor.ignore_ppc=1

..and see if this helps or not.

Revision history for this message

Marcello Romani (marcello-romani) wrote on 2011-12-02:

#20

I have tried the processor.ignore_ppc=1 kernel option, without changing any BIOS settings, but the problem remains as before.
I have made this attempt on the original 10.04 LTS version installed on the HD.
I'll also try with the latest live CD...

# uname -a
Linux davide-desktop 2.6.32-36-generic #79-Ubuntu SMP Tue Nov 8 22:29:53 UTC 2011 x86_64 GNU/Linux

# cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=10.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=lucid
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 10.04.3 LTS"

# cat /proc/cmdline
BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-36-generic root=UUID=49a0a9ab-efaf-4914-b2b6-ddb7b1ed0952 ro processor.ignore_ppc=1

# cpufreq-info
cpufrequtils 006: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2009
Per favore, comunicare errori e malfunzionamenti a <email address hidden>.
analisi della CPU 0:
  modulo acpi-cpufreq
  CPU che operano alla stessa frequenza hardware: 0
  CPU che è necessario siano coordinate dal software: 0
  latenza massima durante la transizione: 160 us.
  limiti hardware: 1.40 GHz - 1.60 GHz
  frequenze disponibili: 1.60 GHz, 1.40 GHz
  gestori disponibili: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, performance
  gestore attuale: la frequenza deve mantenersi tra 1.40 GHz e 1.60 GHz.
                   Il gestore "ondemand" può decidere quale velocità usare
                  in questo intervallo.
  la frequenza attuale della CPU è 1.40 GHz.
statistiche cpufreq:1.60 GHz:17,85%, 1.40 GHz:82,15% (93)
analisi della CPU 1:
  modulo acpi-cpufreq
  CPU che operano alla stessa frequenza hardware: 1
  CPU che è necessario siano coordinate dal software: 1
  latenza massima durante la transizione: 160 us.
  limiti hardware: 1.40 GHz - 1.60 GHz
  frequenze disponibili: 1.60 GHz, 1.40 GHz
  gestori disponibili: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, performance
  gestore attuale: la frequenza deve mantenersi tra 1.40 GHz e 1.60 GHz.
                   Il gestore "ondemand" può decidere quale velocità usare
                  in questo intervallo.
  la frequenza attuale della CPU è 1.40 GHz.
statistiche cpufreq:1.60 GHz:15,15%, 1.40 GHz:84,85% (61)

# uname -a
Linux davide-desktop 2.6.32-36-generic #79-Ubuntu SMP Tue Nov 8 22:29:53 UTC 2011 x86_64 GNU/Linux

# cat /etc/lsb-release 
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=10.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=lucid
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 10.04.3 LTS"

# cat /proc/cmdline 
BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-36-generic root=UUID=49a0a9ab-efaf-4914-b2b6-ddb7b1ed0952 ro processor.ignore_ppc=1

# cpufreq-info 
cpufrequtils 006: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2009
Per favore, comunicare errori e malfunzionamenti a cpufreq@vger.kernel.org.
analisi della CPU 0:
  modulo acpi-cpufreq
  CPU che operano alla stessa frequenza hardware: 0
  CPU che è necessario siano coordinate dal software: 0
  latenza massima durante la transizione: 160 us.
  limiti hardware: 1.40 GHz - 1.60 GHz
  frequenze disponibili: 1.60 GHz, 1.40 GHz
  gestori disponibili: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, performance
  gestore attuale: la frequenza deve mantenersi tra 1.40 GHz e 1.60 GHz.
                   Il gestore "ondemand" può decidere quale velocità usare
                  in questo intervallo.
  la frequenza attuale della CPU è 1.40 GHz.
 statistiche cpufreq:1.60 GHz:17,85%, 1.40 GHz:82,15%  (93)
analisi della CPU 1:
  modulo acpi-cpufreq
  CPU che operano alla stessa frequenza hardware: 1
  CPU che è necessario siano coordinate dal software: 1
  latenza massima durante la transizione: 160 us.
  limiti hardware: 1.40 GHz - 1.60 GHz
  frequenze disponibili: 1.60 GHz, 1.40 GHz
  gestori disponibili: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, performance
  gestore attuale: la frequenza deve mantenersi tra 1.40 GHz e 1.60 GHz.
                   Il gestore "ondemand" può decidere quale velocità usare
                  in questo intervallo.
  la frequenza attuale della CPU è 1.40 GHz.
 statistiche cpufreq:1.60 GHz:15,15%, 1.40 GHz:84,85%  (61)

Revision history for this message

Marcello Romani (marcello-romani) wrote on 2011-12-06:

#21

I've booted the system with processor.ignore_ppc=1 on ubuntu 11.10 x64. The problem still shows.
Details follow.

root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# uname -a
Linux ubuntu 3.0.0-12-generic #20-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 7 14:56:25 UTC 2011 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=11.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=oneiric
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 11.10"

root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/bios_limit
1600000
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/bios_limit
1600000

root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_max_freq
1600000
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_min_freq
1400000

root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# cpufreq-info
cpufrequtils 007: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2009
Per favore, comunicare errori e malfunzionamenti a <email address hidden>.
analisi della CPU 0:
  modulo acpi-cpufreq
  CPU che operano alla stessa frequenza hardware: 0
  CPU che è necessario siano coordinate dal software: 0
  latenza massima durante la transizione: 160 us.
  limiti hardware: 1.40 GHz - 1.60 GHz
  frequenze disponibili: 1.60 GHz, 1.40 GHz
  gestori disponibili: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, performance
  gestore attuale: la frequenza deve mantenersi tra 1.40 GHz e 1.60 GHz.
                   Il gestore "ondemand" può decidere quale velocità usare
                  in questo intervallo.
  la frequenza attuale della CPU è 1.40 GHz.
statistiche cpufreq:1.60 GHz:14,58%, 1.40 GHz:85,42% (121)
analisi della CPU 1:
  modulo acpi-cpufreq
  CPU che operano alla stessa frequenza hardware: 1
  CPU che è necessario siano coordinate dal software: 1
  latenza massima durante la transizione: 160 us.
  limiti hardware: 1.40 GHz - 1.60 GHz
  frequenze disponibili: 1.60 GHz, 1.40 GHz
  gestori disponibili: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, performance
  gestore attuale: la frequenza deve mantenersi tra 1.40 GHz e 1.60 GHz.
                   Il gestore "ondemand" può decidere quale velocità usare
                  in questo intervallo.
  la frequenza attuale della CPU è 1.40 GHz.
statistiche cpufreq:1.60 GHz:15,79%, 1.40 GHz:84,21% (173)

I've booted the system with processor.ignore_ppc=1 on ubuntu 11.10 x64. The problem still shows.
Details follow.

root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# uname -a
Linux ubuntu 3.0.0-12-generic #20-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 7 14:56:25 UTC 2011 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# cat /etc/lsb-release 
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=11.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=oneiric
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 11.10"

root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/bios_limit
1600000
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/bios_limit
1600000

root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_max_freq
1600000
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_min_freq
1400000

root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# cpufreq-info
cpufrequtils 007: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2009
Per favore, comunicare errori e malfunzionamenti a cpufreq@vger.kernel.org.
analisi della CPU 0:
  modulo acpi-cpufreq
  CPU che operano alla stessa frequenza hardware: 0
  CPU che è necessario siano coordinate dal software: 0
  latenza massima durante la transizione: 160 us.
  limiti hardware: 1.40 GHz - 1.60 GHz
  frequenze disponibili: 1.60 GHz, 1.40 GHz
  gestori disponibili: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, performance
  gestore attuale: la frequenza deve mantenersi tra 1.40 GHz e 1.60 GHz.
                   Il gestore "ondemand" può decidere quale velocità usare
                  in questo intervallo.
  la frequenza attuale della CPU è 1.40 GHz.
 statistiche cpufreq:1.60 GHz:14,58%, 1.40 GHz:85,42%  (121)
analisi della CPU 1:
  modulo acpi-cpufreq
  CPU che operano alla stessa frequenza hardware: 1
  CPU che è necessario siano coordinate dal software: 1
  latenza massima durante la transizione: 160 us.
  limiti hardware: 1.40 GHz - 1.60 GHz
  frequenze disponibili: 1.60 GHz, 1.40 GHz
  gestori disponibili: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, performance
  gestore attuale: la frequenza deve mantenersi tra 1.40 GHz e 1.60 GHz.
                   Il gestore "ondemand" può decidere quale velocità usare
                  in questo intervallo.
  la frequenza attuale della CPU è 1.40 GHz.
 statistiche cpufreq:1.60 GHz:15,79%, 1.40 GHz:84,21%  (173)

Revision history for this message

Colin Ian King (colin-king) wrote on 2011-12-06:

#22

@Alex Hung, any idea of why this is happening?

Revision history for this message

Marcello Romani (marcello-romani) wrote on 2011-12-06:

#23

Output of dmidecode (run as root) Edit (14.1 KiB, text/plain)

Revision history for this message

Colin Ian King (colin-king) wrote on 2012-03-06:

#24

Can you try the following:

Edit /etc/default/grub (you need to do this using root privilege) and change

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash processor.ignore_ppc=1"

and then run:

sudo update-grub

and reboot. Maybe this will work around the issue.

Revision history for this message

Colin Ian King (colin-king) wrote on 2012-03-23:

#25

@Marcello, did the above workaround help?

Revision history for this message

Colin Ian King (colin-king) wrote on 2012-09-18:

#26

I've not had any feedback for several months, so I'm closing this bug. Please open a new one if the problem persists.

Changed in linux (Ubuntu):
status:	Incomplete → Won't Fix

Revision history for this message

Severin H (severinh) wrote on 2013-01-14:

#27

@Colin: I was experiencing exactly the same problem on fresh installations of Ubuntu 12.10 and 13.04 on my HP EliteBook 6930p.

$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/bios_limit
800000

$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_driver
acpi-cpufreq
acpi-cpufreq

Your suggestion in comment #24 worked perfectly! bios_limit is now 2534000.

But the question remains why this problem occurred in the first place. I could not spot any incorrect configuration the machine's BIOS.

Revision history for this message

Colin Ian King (colin-king) wrote on 2013-01-14:

#28

@Severin, I can't answer your question without looking at your firmware. Can you open a new bug for this?

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CPU frequency less than HW supported maximum

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