# powernow-k8: transition frequency failed

## mpytasz

Hi all,

Does anyone have an idea what could I be doing wrong trying to make powernow work for Mobile Sempron 2800+ (AFAIK k8 based) ?

I have built kernel (vanilla 2.6.9 with acpi, powernow and cpufreq), acpi, acpid and powernowd. On startup I get:

powernow-k8: vid trans failed, vid 0x3, curr 0x4

powernow-k8: transition frequency failed

I can see it in dmesg as well when poweernowd is on.

I have a newly built gentoo with:

acpid 1.0.2

powernowd 0.90hun6

gcc 3.4.2-r3

Laptop is Acer Aspire 1362 (via k8n800 chipset).

Michal

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## brodo

check for a BIOS update, if that doesn't help, complain at the linux kernel cpufreq mailing list at cpufreq AT www DOT linux DOT org DOT uk

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## deniros

What a coincidence. I have the same laptop, and that same problem.

I just can't make frequency scaling working. Everything works.. lan, wifi, modem, soundcard, but no frequency scaling. And we all know this is a quite  essential part of a laptop.

Now, i saw in the latest changelog of , even, kernel 2.6.10RC that there was a problem with this module. So, no luck for now. Didn't worked for me in previous 2.6.X kernels as well

If anyone else has a solution, please reply.

extra info:

Mobile AMD Sempron, 1600 MHz (8 x 200)  (2 frequencies, 800 and 1600 )

CPU Alias	Paris S754

edit: oh damned.. now i recognize you  from the amd forum.  :Wink: 

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## mpytasz

I just got a very simple patch from Paul Devriendt (thanks) which seems to solve the problem (at least for my cpu).

Here goes:

diff -r -u old/powernow-k8.c new/powernow-k8.c

--- old/powernow-k8.c   2004-11-15 21:02:20.988038920 -0600

+++ new/powernow-k8.c   2004-11-15 21:37:06.077057208 -0600

@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@

                        return 1;

        }

-       while (rvosteps > 0) {

+       while ( (rvosteps > 0) && ( (data->rvo + data->currvid) > reqvid ) ) {

                if (data->currvid == 0) {

                        rvosteps = 0;

                } else {

Micha³

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## deniros

great stuff, thanks :p

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## infirit

I do not have a laptop but i am getting these errors on my athlon64 3200+. The patch does not work on 2.6.10 and 2.6.11-rc2.

Error in log:

```
powernow-k8: vid trans failed, vid 0x3, curr 0x4

powernow-k8: transition frequency failed
```

Compile error

```
CC [M]  arch/x86_64/kernel/cpufreq/../../../i386/kernel/cpu/cpufreq/powernow-k8.o

arch/x86_64/kernel/cpufreq/../../../i386/kernel/cpu/cpufreq/powernow-k8.c: In function `core_voltage_pre_transition':

arch/x86_64/kernel/cpufreq/../../../i386/kernel/cpu/cpufreq/powernow-k8.c:281: error: parse error before '(' token

arch/x86_64/kernel/cpufreq/../../../i386/kernel/cpu/cpufreq/powernow-k8.c:268: warning: unused variable `savefid'

make[2]: *** [arch/x86_64/kernel/cpufreq/../../../i386/kernel/cpu/cpufreq/powernow-k8.o] Error 1

make[1]: *** [arch/x86_64/kernel/cpufreq] Error 2

make: *** [arch/x86_64/kernel] Error 2
```

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## dystopianray

I have an Athlon64 3000+ socket 939, with a MSI K8T Neo2-FIR with the latest BIOS update and I am getting similar errors using the ondemand cpu governor with kernel 2.6.11-r6:

Apr 19 11:51:06 dystopianray powernow-k8: vid trans failed, vid 0x3, curr 0x4

Apr 19 11:51:06 dystopianray powernow-k8: transition frequency failed

Apr 19 11:51:07 dystopianray powernow-k8: vid trans failed, vid 0x3, curr 0x4

Apr 19 11:51:07 dystopianray powernow-k8: transition frequency failed

Apr 19 11:51:09 dystopianray powernow-k8: vid trans failed, vid 0x3, curr 0x4

Apr 19 11:51:09 dystopianray powernow-k8: transition frequency failed

Apr 19 11:51:21 dystopianray ignoring illegal change in lo freq table-2 to 0x2

Apr 19 11:51:21 dystopianray powernow-k8: transition frequency failed

Apr 19 11:51:33 dystopianray ignoring illegal change in lo freq table-2 to 0x2

Apr 19 11:51:33 dystopianray powernow-k8: transition frequency failed

Apr 19 11:51:46 dystopianray ignoring illegal change in lo freq table-2 to 0x2

Apr 19 11:51:46 dystopianray powernow-k8: transition frequency failed

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## MrIch

dystopianray I have the same hardware and the same problem  :Sad: 

who can help?

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## TerranAce007

I have an athlon64 3200+ in my laptop, and frequency scaling works. I have an older model though, the socket 754 130nm chip. I read in another thread here about the problems are occurring on the socket 939 and/or 90nm chips. I don't know which socket the Sempron falls in, but I think it is 754. There must be a difference in the way the different hardware versions do the switching, so cpufreqd might need some fixing...

Also, I have a Uniwill based system with the SiS 755 chipset. What chipsets are you all running?

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## MrIch

I have an Athlon64 3000+ socket 939, with a MSI K8T Neo2-FIR with the latest BIOS update too

VIA KT800Pro Chipset I think

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## tam

 *mpytasz wrote:*   

> powernow-k8: vid trans failed, vid 0x3, curr 0x4
> 
> powernow-k8: transition frequency failed

 

Same here with Winchester AMD 3200+ on nForce4 ultra board. Does anyone have found a solution for this?

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## MrIch

I have bought my amd64 only because of cool and quite and now it does not work  :Sad: 

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## TerranAce007

Well, the lack of Cool n' Quiet on the desktop side is not a major issue, unless you have an unbearably loud cpu fan or your system is having heat troubles (in which case the Cool n' Quiet is the least of your problems...), but without PowerNow for the mobile chips, laptops are going to be running hot and sucking up batteries.

Is it possible for you to change the cpu frequency by hand via the command line?

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## MrIch

it is also a problem on desktop systems... because I want a low noise system...

some links:

http://www.devx.com/amd/Article/20078

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/history/307938

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/archive/index.php/t-21137.htmlLast edited by MrIch on Mon May 09, 2005 9:00 am; edited 1 time in total

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## tam

Any news?

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## MrIch

no  :Sad:   :Sad:   :Sad: 

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## tam

Strange - Because many users report this failure it must be a common issue. I wonder why this is not being fixed. Anyway, cool&quite works nice on my system.

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## MrIch

the problem is who is able to fix this problem? the cpufreq developers amd itself, the motherboard manufactor by releasing a new bios?????????

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## perry

Just started messing around w/ the powernow-k8 stuff today on my Winchester 3000+ on a Gigabyte K8N Ultra-9 (nForce4 Ultra chipset).  I was getting those errors so I hit the kernel bugzilla and found this bug.  The patch seems to have fixed the problem on 2.6.11-gentoo-r7 for me.

As reported by sensors and /proc/cpuinfo

```

Idle:

vCPU:      +1.12 V

cpu MHz         : 1005.165

With cpuburn going:

vCPU:      +1.44 V

cpu MHz         : 1809.297

```

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## MrIch

perry thank you... it seems to work!

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## dystopianray

Thanks perry, the patch works great and all the error messages disappeared  :Very Happy: 

Does anyone have any idea if this patch will be integrated into future kernels? :s

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## tam

 *dystopianray wrote:*   

> Does anyone have any idea if this patch will be integrated into future kernels? :s

 

I have no idea, but I still hope the best.

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## perry

Seems like the problem is fixed in vanilla 2.6.12, at least for me.. They didn't use the patch mentioned in the bug report, but there was code changed in the area of that patch.

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## uprooter

Developers? What about patching the gentoo-sources ? 

My log file grew up to 10MB because of this crap

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## tam

I think it's in 2.6.12-r4

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