[SOLVED]Unable to change CPU Frequency and Govenor?

[FavLedesma]

So i just got the update from gnome 2.3 to 3.2 the other night after a long wait for the servers to come back on. And the top bar is definetly new to me.. i can seem to add any gnome applets to it. I have the genom-panel and the applets installed but i can seem to find how to use that? I have the avant dock and its cpu freq monitor doesnt work correctly but shows my cpu running at its max freq 2.0ghz. Its draining my batter significantly. I did search about this have ran sudo cpufreq-info and it shows me this.

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fabian@fabian-linuxmint12:~$ sudo cpufreq-info
[sudo] password for fabian:
cpufrequtils 007: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2009
Report errors and bugs to cpufreq@vger.kernel.org, please.
analyzing CPU 0:
  no or unknown cpufreq driver is active on this CPU
  maximum transition latency: 4294.55 ms.
analyzing CPU 1:
  no or unknown cpufreq driver is active on this CPU
  maximum transition latency: 4294.55 ms.
analyzing CPU 2:
  no or unknown cpufreq driver is active on this CPU
  maximum transition latency: 4294.55 ms.
analyzing CPU 3:
  no or unknown cpufreq driver is active on this CPU
  maximum transition latency: 4294.55 ms.


So my question is how i can i fix this? I need to know how i can change the freq and the govenor.. so it doesnt continue to drain my laptop of battery.
My cpu is an amd a8-3550mx if that info is needed.

I didnt have the needed kernel module loaded. So i sudo modprobed powernow-k8 and added the governors to the etc/modules and it works fine now. Im hoping this was my battery issue and not anything else... Thank you for all your help axl.

[remoulder]

the update from gnome 2.3 to 3.2

Not sure what update you are referring to here, are you running mint 12 or mint lmde? If the latter you need to post in the LMDE forum.

can seem to add any gnome applets

Gnome 2 panel applets cannot be used in gnome 3, it uses a completely different system. See http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=86813

[FDF]

It is much more likely to be a problem due to change of the kernel than of change of Gnome.

You have to found which module run with your CPU. You can see your CPU is not known by your kernel, that means you don't have the proper module…

During the boot, can you select a previous kernel?

[FavLedesma]

Im sorry for posting in this section yes im running LMDE... my appologies. I Do have the newest panel and applets installed as well (3.2). As for the previous kernel yes i have the 2.6 kernel to boot into as well as the 3.2(new) that i've been booting into.

[FDF]

You should try to start with Kernel 2.6 and see if the battery run longer…

[Oscar799]

Moved here by moderator

[FavLedesma]

Moved here by moderator

Thank You Very much! .

So as for a bump.. i need to figure out how to get it to detect my CPU (AMD A8-3550MX) The code above shows its not detecting it im unable to change the govenor(also need to know how to do this).

[TBABill]

Assuming it works ok with cpufreq, did you try to

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sudo apt-get install cpufrequtils

I think that's the name of the package but a Synaptic search can confirm. Using a Mac right now so I can't check for you.

[FavLedesma]

Assuming it works ok with cpufreq, did you try to

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sudo apt-get install cpufrequtils

I think that's the name of the package but a Synaptic search can confirm. Using a Mac right now so I can't check for you.

Yes i did that prior to trying the cpufreq-info . But it still displays the no or unknow driver installed. Just redid it just in case and that didnt help either. :S

[äxl]

If you want to know if the CPU is really running at full speed and what process this is doing why don't you just open:

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gnome-system-monitor

And please give the output of:

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cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_governor
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_governor
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_governor

This is what a quick search can give:
http://embraceubuntu.com/2005/11/04/ena ... cy-scaling

[FavLedesma]

If you want to know if the CPU is really running at full speed and what process this is doing why don't you just open:

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gnome-system-monitor

And please give the output of:

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cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_governor
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_governor
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_governor

This is what a quick search can give:
http://embraceubuntu.com/2005/11/04/ena ... cy-scaling

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fabian@fabian-linuxmint12:~$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor
cat: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor: No such file or directory
fabian@fabian-linuxmint12:~$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_governor
cat: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_governor: No such file or directory
fabian@fabian-linuxmint12:~$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_governor
cat: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_governor: No such file or directory
fabian@fabian-linuxmint12:~$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_governor
cat: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_governor: No such file or directory


There you go thanks for helping me. Just for the record.. i've googled to the ends of the earth with my issue.. even though im unsure what exactly i should be searching for, thats the only reason i posted here, i appreciate all your help.

[äxl]

Have you tried this in terminal or Alt+F2?

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gnome-system-monitor

There you go thanks for helping me. Just for the record.. i've googled to the ends of the earth with my issue.. even though im unsure what exactly i should be searching for, thats the only reason i posted here, i appreciate all your help.

You also have to look how to use the informations you find. And learn some basics on the way.

Please give the output of:

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inxi -Cxc 0

and

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ls /sys/devices/system/cpu/
ls /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/
ls /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq

[FavLedesma]

Have you tried this in terminal or Alt+F2?

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gnome-system-monitor

There you go thanks for helping me. Just for the record.. i've googled to the ends of the earth with my issue.. even though im unsure what exactly i should be searching for, thats the only reason i posted here, i appreciate all your help.

You also have to look how to use the informations you find. And learn some basics on the way.

Please give the output of:

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inxi -Cxc 0

and

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ls /sys/devices/system/cpu/
ls /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/
ls /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq

I did try that but my cpu isnt running 100% but the applet from avant shows my frequency as 2.0ghz.. And my battery is draining very fast for some reason. It's estimated time is around 3hours.. but its a high-capcity 6-cell Li-ion it should last at least 5 hours. it does on windows.... and windows is a RAM hog.

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fabian@fabian-linuxmint12:~$ inxi -Cxc 0
CPU:       Quad core AMD A8-3550MX APU with Radeon HD Graphics (-MCP-) cache 4096 KB flags (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4a svm) bmips 15970.9
           Clock Speeds: (1) 1996.360 MHz (2) 1996.360 MHz (3) 1996.360 MHz (4) 1996.360 MHz
fabian@fabian-linuxmint12:~$ ls /sys/devices/system/cpu
cpu0  cpu2  cpufreq  kernel_max  online    present  release
cpu1  cpu3  cpuidle  offline    possible  probe
fabian@fabian-linuxmint12:~$ ls /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0
cache  cpuidle   crash_notes  node0  topology
fabian@fabian-linuxmint12:~$ ls /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq
ls: cannot access /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq: No such file or directory


[äxl]

There should be /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/...

As far as I've read this is either a module or a BIOS problem. (Windows automatically loads modules and recognizes CPU options.)
So either find the right module (powernow-k8, acpi-cpufreq ...?) or look in the BIOS for energy relevant options (PowerNow!, Cool'n'Quiet ...).

[FavLedesma]

So i fixed this issue by following the guide here : http://www.pantz.org/software/cpufreq/usingcpufreqonlinux.html
Followed it and installed the module powernow-k8 and modprobed the governors by adding them to the etc/modules. Rebooted and cpufreq is working fine now. Set my governor to ondeman and this is what the previous commands shows how its changed.

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fabian@fabian-linuxmint12:~$ inxi -Cxc 0
CPU:       Quad core AMD A8-3550MX APU with Radeon HD Graphics (-MCP-) cache 4096 KB flags (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4a svm) bmips 15969.6
           Clock Speeds: (1) 800.00 MHz (2) 800.00 MHz (3) 800.00 MHz (4) 800.00 MHz


As you can see its back down to my cpu's lowest step and i know have all my availbe frequencies back again.

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fabian@fabian-linuxmint12:~$ sudo cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_frequencies
[sudo] password for fabian:
2000000 1700000 1600000 1400000 1200000 1000000 800000


Thank you for all of yall's help and hopefully this helps someone in the future.

[äxl]

Congrats. And thanks for posting the solution here.