# how to enable cpu scaling on a amdx2 6000+ cpu ?[SOLVED]

## julien-1993

Hi , im trying to turn that feature on but i cant find some explanations on what is needed to do so on gentoo.

I have read the power management documentation from the gentoo doc but its not completely clear to me.

i have said yes to almost all options in the kernel regarding cpu scaling.

do i need to emerge any software for this to work or is it all already there in the kernel,

i have searched a bit in emerge and i see cpufrequtils and powernowd that might be related...not sure if i need those.

im on a desktop so i just want to enable the ondemand governor and once done, ill probably never touch to that again.

thank youLast edited by julien-1993 on Sun Jan 18, 2009 12:44 am; edited 1 time in total

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## DaggyStyle

 *julien-1993 wrote:*   

> Hi , im trying to turn that feature on but i cant find some explanations on what is needed to do so on gentoo.
> 
> I have read the power management documentation from the gentoo doc but its not completely clear to me.
> 
> i have said yes to almost all options in the kernel regarding cpu scaling.
> ...

 

CONFIG_X86_POWERNOW_K8 is enabled?

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## julien-1993

i am not certain if thats the same thing, but i did choose y to powernow-k8 in cpu-scaling when i did the kernel in menuconfig

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## DaggyStyle

 *julien-1993 wrote:*   

> i am not certain if thats the same thing, but i did choose y to powernow-k8 in cpu-scaling when i did the kernel in menuconfig

 

ok, do you see it loaded in dmesg?

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## julien-1993

ok here is my output of dmesg:

http://pastebin.ca/1310483

i have those lines regarding powernow-k8 in it

powernow-k8: Found 1 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+ processors (2 cpu cores) (version 2.20.00)

powernow-k8: ACPI Processor support is required for SMP systems but is absent. Please load the ACPI Processor module before starting this driver.

powernow-k8: ACPI Processor support is required for SMP systems but is absent. Please load the ACPI Processor module before starting this driver.

i am not sure what they mean by acpi processor module

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## poly_poly-man

CONFIG_ACPI_PROCESSOR

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## julien-1993

ok thanks guys  :Very Happy: 

it seem that this kernel option is what was missing for it to work.

before starting this thread, i had tried a couple of things to get it working, one of which was to emerge powernowd, is that something that is used atm, or can i unmerge it ?

i only emerged it, i did not configure anything or run any command other than powernowd itself

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## poly_poly-man

 *julien-1993 wrote:*   

> ok thanks guys 
> 
> it seem that this kernel option is what was missing for it to work.
> 
> before starting this thread, i had tried a couple of things to get it working, one of which was to emerge powernowd, is that something that is used atm, or can i unmerge it ?
> ...

 use cpufrequtils, IMO.

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## Cyker

You can remove powernowd; The kernel has all the drivers most people need built in. As long as you at least have the "ondemand" governor compiled in, you'll have basic frequency scaling  :Smile: 

On mine I have all 4 govenors installed, and wrote a simple script to switch between them:

```
#!/bin/bash

cyGOV=/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq

echo "---------------------------------------"

echo "|                                     |"

echo "|  Cyker's Dynamic CPU Mode Switcher  |"

echo "|                                     |"

echo "---------------------------------------"

echo

echo "Current mode is: `cat $cyGOV/scaling_governor`"

echo

echo "1) Low Power-use mode (powersave)"

echo "2) Full Speed mode (performance)"

echo "3) Fast Dynamic switcher (ondemand)"

echo "4) Slow Dynamic switcher (conservative)"

echo "Q) Abort"

echo

echo "Please pick an option, or any other key to abort: "

read CPUOPT

case $CPUOPT in

    1)

        echo "Setting CPU to min speed..."

        echo powersave > $cyGOV/scaling_governor

    ;;

    2)

        echo "Setting CPU to max speed..."

        echo performance > $cyGOV/scaling_governor

    ;;

    3)

        echo "Setting CPU to fast dynamic scaling..."

        echo ondemand > $cyGOV/scaling_governor

#NOTE: ignore_nice_load is broken in 2.6.28!!

        echo 1 > $cyGOV/ondemand/ignore_nice_load

    ;;

    4)

        echo "Setting CPU to delayed dynamic scaling..."

        echo conservative > $cyGOV/scaling_governor

#NOTE: ignore_nice_load is broken in 2.6.28!!

        echo 1 > $cyGOV/conservative/ignore_nice_load

    ;;

esac

echo ""

echo "Scaling governor is `cat $cyGOV/scaling_governor`"

```

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