Hello,

I just baught a laptop from Zepto, a 6214W with core 2 duo (Merom) under Edgy.
I tried also under Dapper but same result so I decided to ugrade to Edgy, I saw some information that more recent Kernel have more chances to support this CPU.

Everything works great but my main problem is due to the cpu frequency scaling which is not working.
I have a kernel 2.6.17 generic this include support for multiprocessor, I see them separately, but when I try to load the speedstep centrino module, the machine say that is not supported.
I can not use the gnome applet to monitor and set the cpu frequency.

I can not find many information about this laptop in English, a lot forums are in Danish or other Northern Europe language.

So if someone found a solution to use the CPU frequency scaling I would appreciate to know more.

Thanks in advance.



PS: Sorry for my English, this is not my mother tongue.

I read about some backports happening to support this. Try dist-upgrading and see if you get a new kernel which solves the issues.
You could also see if the latest kernel 2.18.x solves the issue and try to manually compile it using guides.

Thank you for your answer, but regarding the test of the 2.6.18 I tried the live CD of sbayon 3.1 just to check if this new kernel was able to manage the cpu throttling but in fact not.

I think this should be take car by an other software like cpufreq.

When I do
dmesg | grep -i cpu

I saw my dual core cpu well recognized and it is writing that it supports 8 throttling states,

Initially I tried the 386 kernel version and my cpu frequency was always changing but only one cpu were shown in the machine.

Concerning the backports you mentioned, is it some repos to add to add to my source.list?


Thank you for your answer

A small up to hope finding a solution to this.

Other forums have pointed here. Do you have the SMP version of the kernel? I would assume that you do, seeing as both processors are detected, but I'm not positive that is correct.

Hope this helps.

In fact I have de facto smp Kernel according to the new designation under Edgy Eft, basically 2 possibles kernel one 386 and a Generic.
The generic one works for AMD K7, K8, 686, and also set up or not the SMP function.
The more funny things is that I have a kind of CPU Scaling (to much variation) only if I use the 386 version but in this configuration only one CPU is active.

I have already had a look to the thinkwiki page and I could not follow procedure, could not load drivers, message is no such device, in addition my /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq is not populated.

I still do not know if I have to wait for a bios update or if this is a software problem.

I tried a live CD of kanotix with the Kernel 2.6.18 and also I could not have the frequency scaling.

When I do a dmesg I see that CPU throttling is supported.

If someone around there having a Merom under ubuntu with working CPU scaling, just give me some information about what you did, this could help me.

Thanks a lot for your help,

I have a similar problem with Edgy - I have an Intel Cereon 2.6 (doesn't say "M" anywhere on the stickers or in /proc/cpuinfo though) but I had CPU Frequency Scaling working in Dapper, but not since the upgrade to Edgy. I also did dmesg | grep -i cpu and I also show 8 throttling states.

morrolan, after having looked everywhere I saw that the throttling states is not the part of the cpu which change the frequency dynamically, it is only a kind of security when cpu is heating too much.

Regarding our problem I tried to compile a 2.6.18 and 2.6.18.1 kernel and nothing to do the cpu frequency scaling where not activated, and couldn't insert mule speedstep centrino or acpi-cpufreq.
Always getting the same message no such device.

Now I think we just have to wait for updates.

Ihave Dell xps m1710, with merom T7600 and edgy eft 64. I am experiencing all kinds of pppproblems (as you can seee the keyboard is messed up - though I tttttried to change the settings, it opens apps incredibly slowly, it hangs here and thhhhere, the mouse will stop working, unless I tab like crazy to "reactivate it", etc...) It's obnoxious, but my code runs tons faster thaaaaaan under the problem-less 32 bits...

on to your question:

I do have cpu throttling perfectly working. I set an alias so that typing perf1 sets myy first processor to full speed, and perf2 sets the second one. (thiis is weeeird already, because that's what i had to do under dapper ------- and they fixed it under edgy 32 bits - but apparently not undder edgy 64 bits).

here's a clip from the file I keep which loggggggs what iiiiiiii do to solve problems:

CPU THROTTLING:
$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure gnome-applets
and answered “Yes” to the question regarding setting the suid of the cpufreq-selector executable
SETTING CPU0 to PERFORMANCE:
/usr/bin/cpufreq-selector -g performance
SETTING CPU1 to PERFORMANCE:
sudo cp /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor \
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_governor

I use the gnome applet only for visual feedbaack


I hope this helps you and someone can help with getting this distro straight, like the 32 bits oneeee, because I like its perf! (if you worrk with dell, pppplease, send me the 64 bits driver for my broadcom 4311 card - I asked a couple of weeks ago already!).

thomas

Chevrier,

You might want to try and boot your kernerl with the notsc option to cure your keyboard problems. (There's a thread about this subject at the Ubuntu forums entitled Report: Edgy 64 on Dell Inspiron 9400/E1705. Couldn't post the url yet..)

Anyway I have a T7400 in my Asus laptop and I can't get frequency scaling to work under 32bit Linux. I'm wondering if it will work under 64bit, but I need to wait until I can try it out. Otherwise I've heard a BIOS update may solve the problem. If anyone else has heard different, please post your experience.

That totally helped - fantastic! Thank you a TON! Then, as indicated on the thread, compiling the latest kernel definitely took care of all the remaining problems. I can even get the NVIDIA and the Broadcom 4311 card working together - life can be good under linux!!

If there is any way I can help with your cpu throttling - i'd be delighted to. it's working very smoothly for me, both 32 and 64 bits. It's not bios related - linux does not use the bios, as win would. even when the bios would not recognize my new Merom T7600 processor (I upgraded it myself in my M1710 laptop), Linux would totally recognize it all right.

Thanks a TON once again. That was the most helpful suggestions I was given so far.

thomas

I finally have this module working now, people from Zepto has released two new versions of the bios and now it is solved or at 90%.
In fact scalling now work from 1 Ghz to 2 Ghz with 4 steps, (1; 1,3; 1,6 and 2Ghz), now I am wondering if it is possible to go under the 1 Ghz just to save more power and reduce CPU temp.

In addition when I look CPU details I see stepping 6 so there is may be 2 others steps?

I will search how to add other frequencies may be it can be set manually...

So here's my final research into this problem. I didn't get CPU scaling to work on my Asus A8Js with a T7400 before I returned it to my dealer, who graciously agreed to upgrade it with a T7600. (I had originally wanted it with this CPU) However, when I received the upgraded laptop back, I noticed that the Linux CPU scaling still did not work with the upgraded CPU, (although Windows based scaling seemed to work much better). All along I have tried various different kernel settings, all to no avail. Thanks to the posters to this thread, as well as in the Gentoo discussion forums, I finally decided to focus on the laptop BIOS. Asus thankfully provides several versions of their BIOS releases, so I tried them all, and it was the earlier versions where it works perfectly.

BIOS version 203 - Scaling works
BIOS version 204 - Scaling works
BIOS version 205 - Scaling doesn't work
BIOS version 207 - Scaling doesn't work
BIOS version 210 - Scaling doesn't work

So for now I'm on 204, and I've logged an email into Asus to see if they will address this in a future BIOS, but something's definitely broke in the BIOS, and it directly impacts CPU Frequency Scaling under Linux.

Here's my thread over at Gentoo's forum's for reference;

http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-517120.html

If anyone is following this thread and is curious about A8Js Linux Speedstep support, there is a user over on the NBR forums who claims that the 2.6.20-r2 Linux kernel fully supports Speedstep with the latest BIOS. He's running an Ubuntu Feisty Fawn beta on his A8Js. If that's true then the speedstep-centrino module authors either patched around the BIOS, or fixed a bug in the module. Either way this is probably moot now and it makes Linux support of the A8Js very good. (I've got everything except the webcam operating well under Linux..)

For most not-so-recent laptops with broken BIOSes you can find a custom DSDT at http://acpi.sourceforge.net