CPU freq not scaling down

[saturnoyo]

Hi guys,

I'm having an issue with Mint 19 (MATE), recently installed.

My i7-4700MQ will boot just fine but after some minutes (random as far as I can see) the CPU freq will be at the max value. That could be normal under heavy load but it doesn't scale down anymore until I reboot the pc, even when all cpus are idling.

I checked cpufreq and it seems to be doing fine. For example this is one of the cores (they all look the same):
analyzing CPU 1:
driver: intel_pstate
CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 1
CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 1
maximum transition latency: 4294.55 ms.
hardware limits: 800 MHz - 3.40 GHz
available cpufreq governors: performance, powersave
current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 3.40 GHz.
The governor "powersave" may decide which speed to use
within this range.
current CPU frequency is 3.39 GHz.

The min and max freq values are fine. The governor is fine (using powersave, I can't try ondemand because cpu > Sandy Bridge).

I was running Mint 17 until now and AFAIK the cpu was fine. I fear that MATE is causing the issue but I really have no idea. I was using KDE before.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

[JOPETA]

Posting back following code result as indicated here will be very appreciated.

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxxnzr

I don't think it is a DE (Mate), distro (Mint) or edition (LM 19) problem. I think it is related with kernel, BIOS/UEFI settings (if you have installed in UEFI mode>Boot mode UEFI, not CSM or Legacy BIOS compatible /support,disable fast boot, secure boot,.. enable Intel SpeedStep...), Intel controller or graphic you are using (integrated Intel/discrete nvidia??).

Check dmesg and look for error, warning or fails (i.e dmeg |grep fail). There are some kernel parameters you can try on booting but first confirm you have intel-microcode installed and the last 4.15 kernel (Update manager>View >Linux kernel....)

Any way, I must be wrong because my I7-4700MQ is Haswell not Sandy bridge.

PD: Laptop-mode-tools or others tools are useful to adjust such things but also need a well integrated kernel and BIOS updated. If errors or fails are reported in dmesg or you have already made permanent changes at booting (i.e.modified /etc/default/grub) you'd better do not use and uninstall those tools.

[saturnoyo]

Hi,

Sorry it took this long to post a reply but I've been trying to understand the issue.

I've been playing a lot with the kernel version but I think it doesn't affect the issue. I thought I had fixed it but it seems like it still happens, although now it gets stuck at 2.5 GHz. No idea why, I tested too many things .

This is the result of inxi blabla:

Code: Select all

System:    Host: david-W65-W670SR Kernel: 4.15.0-34-generic x86_64 bits: 64 gcc: 7.3.0
           Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3 (Gtk 2.24.31) dm: lightdm Distro: Linux Mint 19 Tara
Machine:   Device: laptop System: Notebook product: W65_W670SR serial: N/A  Chassis: type: 9 serial: N/A
           Mobo: Notebook model: W65_W670SR serial: N/A BIOS: American Megatrends v: 4.6.5 date: 06/20/2013
Battery    BAT0: charge: 54.2 Wh 100.0% condition: 54.2/62.2 Wh (87%) volts: 12.8/11.1
           model: Notebook BAT serial: <filter>status: Full
           hidpp__2: charge: N/A condition: NA/NA Wh volts: NA
           model: Logitech M310 serial: <filter>status: Discharging
           hidpp__3: charge: N/A condition: NA/NA Wh volts: NA
           model: Logitech K520 serial: <filter>status: Discharging
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i7-4700MQ (-MT-MCP-) arch: Haswell rev.3 cache: 6144 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 19156
           clock speeds: min/max: 800/3400 MHz 1: 2657 MHz 2: 2593 MHz 3: 2686 MHz 4: 2600 MHz 5: 2835 MHz
           6: 2582 MHz 7: 2731 MHz 8: 2547 MHz
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:0416
           Card-2: NVIDIA GK107M [GeForce GT 750M] bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:0fe4
           Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.6 ) drivers: modesetting,nvidia (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,nouveau)
           Resolution: 1360x768@60.02hz
           OpenGL: renderer: GeForce GT 750M/PCIe/SSE2 version: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 390.48 Direct Render: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 Intel 8 Series/C220 Series High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:8c20
           Card-2 Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor HD Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:03.0 chip-ID: 8086:0c0c
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.15.0-34-generic
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8723AE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
           driver: rtl8723ae port: d000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8723
           IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: c000 bus-ID: 04:00.2 chip-ID: 10ec:8168
           IF: enp4s0f2 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-3: Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter usb-ID: 003-009 chip-ID: 045e:0719
           IF: null-if-id state: N/A mac: N/A
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 2128.4GB (3.9% used)
           ID-1: USB /dev/sda model: External_USB_3.0 size: 2000.4GB serial: <filter>
           ID-2: /dev/sdb model: TOSHIBA_THNSNH12 size: 128.0GB serial: <filter>
Partition: ID-1: / size: 110G used: 70G (67%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb1
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 8.50GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sdb5
RAID:      System: supported: N/A
           No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
           Unused Devices: none
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 63.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 0.0:50C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Repos:     Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/libretro-stable-bionic.list
           deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/libretro/stable/ubuntu bionic main
           deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/libretro/stable/ubuntu bionic main
           Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
           deb http://ftp.cixug.es/mint/packages tara main upstream import backport
           deb http://es-mirrors.evowise.com/ubuntu bionic main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http://es-mirrors.evowise.com/ubuntu bionic-updates main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http://es-mirrors.evowise.com/ubuntu bionic-backports main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-security main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ bionic partner
           Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list
           deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free
Info:      Processes: 222 Uptime: 9:32 Memory: 901.7/7897.0MB Init: systemd v: 237 runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 7.3.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.4.191 running in xfce4-terminal) inxi: 2.3.56 

This is the result of dmesg |grep fail:

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[    0.000000] DMAR: Parse DMAR table failure.
[    5.306082] nvidia: module verification failed: signature and/or required key missing - tainting kernel
[ 3305.951035] xpad 3-6.3:1.0: xpad_irq_in - usb_submit_urb failed with result -19
[ 3305.951041] xpad 3-6.3:1.4: xpad_irq_in - usb_submit_urb failed with result -19
[ 3305.951046] xpad 3-6.3:1.6: xpad_irq_in - usb_submit_urb failed with result -19
[ 3305.951164] xpad 3-6.3:1.2: xpad_irq_in - usb_submit_urb failed with result -19

My bios should be doing fine, I haven't touched it in a long time and it is already 5 years old. Of course if you think something could be wrong there let me know and I'll check.

I hope the info I pasted is useful, it doesn't really say anything to me.

BTW: I'm using a Nvidia with nvidia drivers. When I was in Mint 17 I was using the integrated intel gpu and optirun when needed. I do think that Mint 19 was working fine the first weeks but I can't prove that.

Thanks a lot for your help!

[saturnoyo]

False alarm, it's back to get stuck at 3.20 without doing anything with the laptop (turn it on, wait some minutes, the freq scales to 3.20 and the poor fans blow and blow).

I understand nothing