# powernowd borken under kernel 2.6.30-gentoo-r4

## jserink

Hi All:

Am running powernowd and have been running it for years.

I just upgraded my kernel to the above and now powernowd hangs when it tries to start...

It never sort of finishes starting. And I can't kill it either, it won't die.

I can't get the console back and it won't die. It also hangs the entre cpurfreq system and Gkrellm.

I took it out of my /etc/conf.d/local.start as my machine could not finish booting with it in there.

Has anyone else come across this? There is nothing in the logs either.

Cheers,

John

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## doctork

 *jserink wrote:*   

> Hi All:
> 
> Am running powernowd and have been running it for years.
> 
> I just upgraded my kernel to the above and now powernowd hangs when it tries to start...
> ...

 

Perhaps the relevant settings in the kernel changed -- I mean these:

 *Quote:*   

> $ zgrep FREQ /proc/config.gz
> 
> CONFIG_CPU_FREQ=y
> 
> CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_TABLE=y
> ...

 

If your kernel has these things set, you can check the situation by looking at:

 *Quote:*   

> $ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor
> 
> ondemandavailable_governors
> 
> conservative userspace powersave ondemand performance
> ...

 

I used to use powernowd, but I find that the in-kernel ondemand governor works quite well.

--

doc

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## jserink

Mine looks like this:

jerinkturion jserink # zgrep FREQ /proc/config.gz

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_TABLE=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEBUG=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_STAT=y

# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_STAT_DETAILS is not set

# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_PERFORMANCE is not set

# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_POWERSAVE is not set

# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_USERSPACE is not set

# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_ONDEMAND is not set

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_CONSERVATIVE=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_PERFORMANCE=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_POWERSAVE=m

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_USERSPACE=m

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_ONDEMAND=m

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_CONSERVATIVE=y

CONFIG_X86_ACPI_CPUFREQ=m

I am curious about 2 things I see:

1. I have performance and conservative both on as defaults....but it comes up conservative at boot. In fact, its on conservative now.

2. The acpi_cpufreq.

I wonder if this particular selection of is the cause of my problems?

Cheers,

John

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## drescherjm

 *Quote:*   

> I used to use powernowd, but I find that the in-kernel ondemand governor works quite well. 

 

Same here. My advice is to forget all userspace cpu scaling and use the in-kernel stuff instead. I have been doing this on dozens of machines for at least 3 years now without issue. Here is what I have in /etc/conf.d/local.start for my quad core.

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

echo 11 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/ondemand/up_threshold 

echo ondemand > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_governor

echo 11 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/ondemand/up_threshold 

echo ondemand > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_governor

echo 11 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/ondemand/up_threshold 

echo ondemand > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_governor

echo 11 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/ondemand/up_threshold 
```

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## drescherjm

 *Quote:*   

>  I have performance and conservative both on as defaults....but it comes up conservative at boot. In fact, its on conservative now. 

 

No. You do not have them as defaults you have them compiled into your kernel instead of an external module.

I have the following that sets ondemand to default:

```
jmd0 linux-2.6.27-openvz-git # zgrep FREQ /proc/config.gz

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_TABLE=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEBUG=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_STAT=m

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_STAT_DETAILS=y

# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_PERFORMANCE is not set

# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_POWERSAVE is not set

# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_USERSPACE is not set

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_ONDEMAND=y

# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_CONSERVATIVE is not set

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_PERFORMANCE=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_POWERSAVE=m

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_USERSPACE=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_ONDEMAND=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_CONSERVATIVE=m

CONFIG_X86_ACPI_CPUFREQ=m

CONFIG_X86_ACPI_CPUFREQ_PROC_INTF=y
```

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## doctork

 *jserink wrote:*   

> Mine looks like this:
> 
> jerinkturion jserink # zgrep FREQ /proc/config.gz
> 
> [.............]
> ...

 

No, you have selected CONSERVATIVE as the default which forces that and PERFORMANCE to be compiled into the kernel.  That's why conservative comes up at boot time.  You have powersave, userspace, and ondemand being built as modules.  My guess is that powernowd would probably work if you had them built in rather than as modules. 

 *Quote:*   

> 2. The acpi_cpufreq.
> 
> I wonder if this particular selection of is the cause of my problems?

 

I'm not sure what that does either.

--

doc

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## energyman76b

is there any reason to use powernowd?

just compile ondemand, performance and powersave into your kernel, make ondemand default governor and that's it. Freqs and voltage are nicely and quickly adapted to the load. If you need to save energy: powersave, if you need total performance, switch to performance. Easily done with cpufreq-set.

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## drescherjm

 *Quote:*   

> is there any reason to use powernowd? 

 

None that I have seen.

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## jserink

 *energyman76b wrote:*   

> is there any reason to use powernowd?
> 
> 

 

Cause I'm catholic I guess.

:)

John

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## drescherjm

 *Quote:*   

> Cause I'm catholic I guess.
> 
>  

 

Same here  :Laughing: 

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## BitJam

Development of powernowd has ceased due to the alternatives discussed above.

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