Howto: Dynamic CPU speed with Athlon XP and nForce2 boards

bgradid · Apprentice Joined: 21 Mar 2005 Posts: 162

bump, any idea why I can't change my frequency?

micmac · l33t Joined: 28 Nov 2003 Posts: 996

Hi all,

I'm not sure yet but I think disabling C1 Disconnect while using cpufreq_nfoce2 and atxp1 is a good idea and makes the whole setup more stable.
I've made an init-script for autocpufreq. If you want to use it be warned there's no guarantee and you have to adapt the numbers/paths and also check if autocpufreq.py fits your system (thx to woZa). Also the script needs the modules already to be loaded.

/etc/init.d/autocpufreq
#!/sbin/runscript

depend() {
after localmount
}

start() {
ebegin "Starting autocpufreq"
echo `cat $VCORE` > $OLDVCORE
echo $MAXVCORE > $VCORE
echo $(( $MINFSB * $FID * 100)) > $CPUFREQ/scaling_setspeed
echo $MINVCORE > $VCORE
start-stop-daemon --start \
--background \
--make-pidfile \
--pidfile $PIDFILE \
--exec $DAEMON
eend $? "Failed to start autocpufreq."
}

stop() {
ebegin "Stopping autocpufreq"
start-stop-daemon --stop --pidfile $PIDFILE
rm $PIDFILE
echo $(( $MINFSB * $FID * 100)) > $CPUFREQ/scaling_setspeed
echo `cat $OLDVCORE` > $VCORE
echo $(( $BOOTFSB * $FID * 100)) > $CPUFREQ/scaling_setspeed
eend $? "Failed to stop autocpufreq"
}

/etc/conf.d/autocpufreq

# daemon to start
DAEMON=/usr/local/bin/autoCpuFreq.py
PIDFILE=/var/run/autocpufreq.pid
OLDVCORE=/var/run/autocpufreq-oldVCore
#
# ! adjust values !
#
BOOTFSB=133
MAXFSB=133
MAXVCORE=1600
MINFSB=70
MINVCORE=1100
FID=110
VCORE=/sys/bus/i2c/devices/5-0037/cpu0_vid
CPUFREQ=/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq

woZa · Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2005 3:59 pm Post subject:

Good work micmac. That script works a treat for me now...

Don't forget to change the autocpufreq.py file to suite your own needs... Unlike me! Lots of head scratching. I am sure I had done it once already!
_________________
A few months struggling with gentoo is better than a lifetime struggling with windoze!

micmac · l33t Joined: 28 Nov 2003 Posts: 996

woZa · Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2005 5:06 pm Post subject:

micmac · l33t Joined: 28 Nov 2003 Posts: 996

Btw without C1 Disconnect my system doesn't freeze with atxp1/cpufreq_nforce2 (well, until now at least ;-)

). Furthermore C1 Disconnect seems redundant while using atxp1/cpufreq_nforce2, the analog out of my soundcard sounds much better without it and my system doesn't feel laggy anymore while running at low speed (1.1V & 770MHz here).

Cheers

mic

PrakashP · Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2005 10:19 pm Post subject:

C1 Halt disconnect is not redundant, but with lower frqu the effect is also lower.

woZa · Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 9:51 am Post subject:

Big thanks to Hasw (the modules), alexejfink (autocpufreq) and micmac (startup scripts). I now have a system that automagically increases/decreases cpu speed and vcore depending on cpuload. Ranges from 1.4Ghz @ 1.1v to 2.5Ghz @ 1.75v.

Now when my new powerbook arrives, this desktop system will become my new server.

All that I need now of for hasw to get off his a*se and write a vdimm module! :wink:

_________________
A few months struggling with gentoo is better than a lifetime struggling with windoze!

Dreameen · n00b Joined: 22 Nov 2004 Posts: 7

woZa · Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2005 7:54 pm Post subject:

Using atxp1-0.3 here. Works fine. Undefined symbol reference with 0.6
_________________
A few months struggling with gentoo is better than a lifetime struggling with windoze!

Dreameen · n00b Joined: 22 Nov 2004 Posts: 7

micmac · l33t Joined: 28 Nov 2003 Posts: 996

Hi!

At last I think I've found what was really causing the freezing. I have to set the CPU frequency setting to a specific value instead of auto in my bios in order for the atxp1 driver to be able to change the voltage. I had set it to 1600, because I thought my 1700+ defaults to 1,6V when running at full speed. Then I came about this page and it seems there are also 1700+ cpus using only 1,5V. So I set the VCore in the bios the 1500 instead and I've never had a freeze since. For now I've

mikeraach · Apprentice Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Posts: 168

Does anyone know why my NF7-S board would create prime errors (and program crashes) after changing only a mere 100mhz (10fsb)?

I've tried different bios's and all result with the same thing.

PrakashP · Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 3:34 pm Post subject:

I made a patch to cpufreqd to switch Vcore, too. I called it "nvfreqd", which you can find here: http://punnoor.de

micmac · l33t Joined: 28 Nov 2003 Posts: 996

PrakashP · Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 10:15 pm Post subject:

Of course.

micmac · l33t Joined: 28 Nov 2003 Posts: 996

HI PrakashP!

Thanks. But something is wrong on my system. I have 3 different freq/vcore modes. But while doing something cpu intensive cpufreqd doesn't switch to max_power.

PrakashP · Posted: Fri May 20, 2005 11:06 am Post subject:

I also had troubles with policy userspace. Try performance. But the target freq will deviate from your stettings, so you need to do trial and error.

Oh, if you want max_power every time with your progs, set cpu to 0-100 and maybe make a seperate rule for max for dynamic adjust.

micmac · l33t Joined: 28 Nov 2003 Posts: 996

Hi!

I've found out why it didn't get full speed while encoding. oggenc was 'niced'. Putting niceness to 0 was the solution. Now it goes all the way up.
I also tried switching the governor to performance. But the mid_power setting still uses different scaling_min_freq and scaling_max_freq from time to time. Well, I guess I got to live it or ask somebody on the lkml, because I take it it's a kernel thing that has nothing to do with cpufreqd.

Anyway

Thank!

mic

micmac · l33t Joined: 28 Nov 2003 Posts: 996

Hi again,

on the other hand switching frequencies manually works fine. I don't even have to bother with scaling_setspeed while echoing the same number into scaling_max_freq and scaling_min_freq. So it seems more likely that cpufreqd echoes the number 1232000, allthough I never wrote this number in its config file. With

PrakashP · Posted: Fri May 20, 2005 3:20 pm Post subject:

I also observed the thing with niceness. Nevertheless my suggestion would help and you could still nice the process.

Dreameen · n00b Joined: 22 Nov 2004 Posts: 7

Hm, the atxp module doesn't compile cleanly with the newest stable kernel 2.6.12

Here are the errors:

Hasw · n00b Joined: 31 Dec 2004 Posts: 68 Location: Germany

Which version of the ATXP1 module are you using? Are you using the kernel patch? It should be fixed, otherwise it
doesn't cleanly work with 2.6.12. Also the i2c-vid-vrm90.patch needs to be applied.

Can you please PM or mail me: