Howto: Dynamic CPU speed with Athlon XP and nForce2 boards

[micmac]

Hi Hasw!

I used min_fsb=60 and 1,1V (1100). In fact I only used this pair and the default (aka full speed). The problem is not running these speeds. prime95 didn't see any errors for 2 hours while running 60/1100. But changing between them often made the box hang. Afterwards my xfs filesystems needed to be repaired.

I'm not sure if I dare to take the risk again

Greets

micmac

[Hasw]

You should use some steps between the changes 60@1100->Fullspeed and backwards. I think that's maybe a little bit too much After all these functions are experimental and may not work on all systems perfect. If somebody isn't sure if it works, he should not try it on a important system without backup.

[dob]

What cpufreq daemon do you guys use?
I use powernowd which is fine and easy to set up; but I only change the FSB and not the voltage

[energy]

I just set up my box to use cpufreq scaling... Now my XP2200+ (1,8GHz) is running at 1,3GHz
The FSB range that works for me is 95-133MHz (my cpu is 133MHz FSB model) I can go even
below 1,3GHz and it works perfectly, BUT it hangs immediately after I try to raise it up again...
So I can go way down but never get back up

Oh, the motherboard is Asus A7N8X.

EDIT: Did some tweaking, now running 12x150MHz. So now I can scale down to 1,14GHz without
any problems. Solid as a rock @ full speed and 1,14GHz

[KpR2000]

I am using 2.6.11-nitro0 and the patch atxp-1.0.3 patch applied correctly.
But I have problems to compile the kernel:

Following error occured at atxpl_detect function:

Code: Select all

.
.
  CC [M]  drivers/i2c/chips/w83781d.o
  CC [M]  drivers/i2c/chips/atxp1.o
drivers/i2c/chips/atxp1.c: In Funktion »atxp1_detect«:
drivers/i2c/chips/atxp1.c:235: error: structure has no member named `id'
make[3]: *** [drivers/i2c/chips/atxp1.o] Fehler 1
make[2]: *** [drivers/i2c/chips] Fehler 2
make[1]: *** [drivers/i2c] Fehler 2
make: *** [drivers] Fehler 2

Could it be a simple fix to add or set a correct id? I have no idea.

Anyone a fix?

[PrakashP]

Yes, put /* */ around the offending line.

[hothead]

@Hasw

You wrote that VCore changing is supported on
Leadtek K7NCR-18D. I've a K7NCR-18D Pro but when I load the
atxp1 module I do not get any kernel message. I looked at the board and
I cannot find a chip named atxp1. How do you switch the VCore here?

Regards

Ruben

[chx1975]

Motherboard is 8RDA+, CPU is a Mobile Barton 2500+.

Sensors says I have "Vcore 1" which is 1.7V and "Vcore 2" which is 1.25 -- I have echo 1250 >/sys/bus/i2c/devices/0-0037/cpu_vid so 1.25 is fine, it's great. But what's that alarmingly high 1.7V?

Anyone has a working sensors file for this MB?

[woZa]

Motherboard is 8RDA+, CPU is a Mobile Barton 2500+.

Sensors says I have "Vcore 1" which is 1.7V and "Vcore 2" which is 1.25 -- I have echo 1250 >/sys/bus/i2c/devices/0-0037/cpu_vid so 1.25 is fine, it's great. But what's that alarmingly high 1.7V?

Anyone has a working sensors file for this MB?

Probably your chipset voltage (vdd) mine is only 1.56v but isn't adjustable - later models were I believe.

1.7 isn't so high. Some people run it at 2.0v (that is quite high). Just check the temp for the chipset and so long as it doesn't get above around 45c you should be fine.

[chx1975]

Motherboard is 8RDA+, CPU is a Mobile Barton 2500+.

Sensors says I have "Vcore 1" which is 1.7V and "Vcore 2" which is 1.25 -- I have echo 1250 >/sys/bus/i2c/devices/0-0037/cpu_vid so 1.25 is fine, it's great. But what's that alarmingly high 1.7V?

Anyone has a working sensors file for this MB?

Probably your chipset voltage (vdd) mine is only 1.56v but isn't adjustable - later models were I believe.

1.7 isn't so high. Some people run it at 2.0v (that is quite high). Just check the temp for the chipset and so long as it doesn't get above around 45c you should be fine.

Oh, it's VDD? That's adjustable, thanks, a hardware hacker friend of mine have soldered something and there is a nice knob to tune it up and down I guess yours' is 1.65V.

What about a working sensors file?

[woZa]

I guess yours' is 1.65V.

I wish it was but it's only 1.56v and my last attempt at soldering something small and fiddley didn't really work out too well so I am not about to trash my board by trying to solder a resistor onto it! Still runs stable at 200Mhz fsb though.

[dob]

Can the 'ondemand' cpufreq governor be used with an nforce2 board?

The ondemand governor looks interesting because it will automatically adjust the cpu speed based on cpu usage, without having to use a userspace daemon like cpufreqd / speedfreqd etc.

In theory, this is how you proceed:
1) Check that the on demand governor is available (it is!)

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# cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_governors
ondemand powersave userspace performance 

2) Use the ondemand governor as default

Code: Select all

#  echo ondemand  > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor

However, it doesn't work ... scaling_governor remains at the previous value. I can switch between powersave / userspace etc fine, but it won't let me use ondemand

[hothead]

Is nobody there who knows how to change the VCore on a Leadtek K7NCR18D?

[mikeraach]

I have a NF7-S v2 and all modules compiled/installed.

I have my rig overclocked to 10x230, so I set my min fsb to 180. Prime95 fails after a few minutes and I often get programs crashing.

I reboot, then try min fsb to 200 and get same results as above...min 220, same.
This is with a completely stable 230fsb setup (prime95 too).

I tried flashing to a different bios, no change, and I tried setting my chip to default 11x166 (xp2500). Setting min fsb to anything resulted in a instability problem as well.

Thinking this was maybe a problem with the way linux handles changing fsb with my board, I tried 8rdavcore and have the same problems as listed above.

HOWEVER, I have used 8rdavcore to RAISE the fsb and had no problems. It seems like my board just doesn't like lowering the fsb from stock. Is there a way that I can overclock instead of underclock with the cpufreq-nforce2 driver?

[Hasw]

@hothead: Sorry, the ATXP1 module doesn't support the K7NCR18D, this was a wrong entry (or they have different revisions, don't know yet). However the nforce2-smi module will support it.

@dob: Ondemand is not yet supported.

@mikeraach: I'll add a module patch to set the maximum FSB via module option (as initially, but it was removed).


Alexej has written a Python-script to change FSB and voltage on demand: http://www.lextech.net/work/autoFreq/

[bgradid]

I've followed the directions to the letter, but, I'm not having any luck changing the frequency, I run this

Code: Select all

bash-2.05b# echo 1700000 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_setspeed
bash-2.05b# cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep MHz
cpu MHz         : 1469.882

I'm running an nf7-s and a 1700+ anything I could be doing wrong?

[Hasw]

What are scaling_max_freq and scaling_min_freq saying? If you not have overclocked your CPU you will not get more than 1470 MHz, because this is the frequency of a 1700+.

[michael3]

hello

I got an error Message:
-bash: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_setspeed: Keine Berechtigung (no permission)

Yes, I have executed it as root.
I've got an Asus A78X-E Board with Nforce 2. The FSB and the Volt are displayed without problems.

ls /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq
affected_cpus cpuinfo_max_freq scaling_available_governors scaling_driver scaling_max_freq
cpuinfo_cur_freq cpuinfo_min_freq scaling_cur_freq scaling_governor scaling_min_freq

Thank you!

[Hasw]

Have you checked the file permissions?

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ls -la /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root    0 Mar 26 14:56 .
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root    0 Mar 26 15:31 ..
-r--r--r--  1 root root 4096 Mar 26 18:06 affected_cpus
-r--------  1 root root 4096 Mar 26 18:06 cpuinfo_cur_freq
-r--r--r--  1 root root 4096 Mar 26 18:06 cpuinfo_max_freq
-r--r--r--  1 root root 4096 Mar 26 18:06 cpuinfo_min_freq
-r--r--r--  1 root root 4096 Mar 26 18:06 scaling_available_governors
-r--r--r--  1 root root 4096 Mar 26 14:34 scaling_cur_freq
-r--r--r--  1 root root 4096 Mar 26 18:06 scaling_driver
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 4096 Mar 26 18:06 scaling_governor
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 4096 Mar 26 18:06 scaling_max_freq
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 4096 Mar 26 18:06 scaling_min_freq
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    0 Mar 26 14:56 scaling_setspeed

And whats the output of the kernel log (dmesg | grep cpufreq)? Is the frequency and multiplier correctly detected?

[michael3]

Hello

I don't have the File
"-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar 26 14:56 scaling_setspeed".
The File is missing.The other file permissions are correct. I have only 10 Files and you have got 11 Files.

bash-2.05b# lsmod
Module Size Used by
w83781d 33128 0
atxp1 7056 0
i2c_algo_pcf 5892 0
i2c_algo_bit 8328 0
i2c_isa 1792 0
i2c_dev 7680 0
cpufreq_nforce2 4816 0
asb100 21844 0
i2c_sensor 2944 3 w83781d,atxp1,asb100
i2c_nforce2 5376 0
i2c_core 18128 9 w83781d,atxp1,i2c_algo_pcf,i2c_algo_bit,i2c_isa,i2c_dev,asb100,i2c_sensor,i2c_nforce2

bash-2.05b# dmesg | grep cpufreq
cpufreq: Detected nForce2 chipset revision C1
cpufreq: FSB changing is maybe unstable and can lead to crashes and data loss.
cpufreq: FSB currently at 167 MHz, FID 12.5

i2c /dev entries driver
atxp1 1-0037: Using VRM: 9.0
atxp1 1-0037: Setting VCore to 1825 mV (0x01)

Yes, the frequenz and the multiplier are correct detected
I have also compiled in the patch in an 2.6.11.5 nitro2 Kernel.

bash-2.05b# cat scaling_available_governors
performance

Thanks!

[bgradid]

What are scaling_max_freq and scaling_min_freq saying? If you not have overclocked your CPU you will not get more than 1470 MHz, because this is the frequency of a 1700+.

I've also tried ranges from 90000 (my minimum reported) and the 1470 , nothing happened.

[Hasw]

Hello

I don't have the File
"-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar 26 14:56 scaling_setspeed".
The File is missing.The other file permissions are correct. I have only 10 Files and you have got 11 Files.
...

bash-2.05b# cat scaling_available_governors
performance

Thanks!

You need the userspace governor, then you will get scaling_setspeed.

Kernel config:

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CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_USERSPACE=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_PERFORMANCE=m
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_POWERSAVE=m
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_USERSPACE=y

[Hasw]

I've also tried ranges from 90000 (my minimum reported) and the 1470 , nothing happened.

Are you sure it's 90000, not 900000? 90000 would be 90 MHz CPU speed. Also 1470 should be 1470000.
The cpufreq-interface needs the values in kHz.

Try 1200000 and 1300000, or cat scaling_min_freq > scaling_setspeed and check then /proc/cpuinfo.

[bgradid]

no luck so far I tried overclocking it in the bios a bit to see if it needed to be 'nudged'

Code: Select all

bash-2.05b# cd /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/ 
bash-2.05b# cat scaling_max_freq 
1586500
bash-2.05b# cat scaling_min_freq
1111500
bash-2.05b#  echo userspace > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor 
bash-2.05b# echo 1200000 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_setspeed          
bash-2.05b# cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep MHz
cpu MHz         : 1586.945
bash-2.05b# cat scaling_min_freq > scaling_setspeed
bash-2.05b# cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep MHz
cpu MHz         : 1586.945

[Hasw]

Can you please run

Code: Select all

dmesg | grep cpufreq; egrep 'CPU_?FREQ' /usr/src/linux/.config

and post the output?