Is there a slackware equivalent of AMD's Cool 'n Quiet driver?

Bowlslaw · 08-06-2011, 04:03 PM

About 4 months ago, I switched from being a lifetime Windows user (blech) to Ubuntu. After Ubuntu 11.04, I disliked many of the changes they made.

One of my friends, a lifelong computer and linux lover, told me to switch to Slackware. I must say, after switching, it seems as though Ubuntu is the Windows of the Linux world. Slackware is...fairly overwhelming, currently.

Anyway, I have an ASUS M3A78 MB, and I desperately wish to install the cool 'n quiet driver so that my PC isn't so loud.

Any suggestions?

EDDY1 · 08-06-2011, 05:02 PM

The AMD cool & quiet is enabled in the bios on asus motherboards, my system has it

Tinkster · 08-06-2011, 06:32 PM

Moved: This thread is more suitable in <SLACKWARE> and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

piratesmack · 08-06-2011, 06:51 PM

Yes, there is the "powernow-k8" kernel module.

But CPU frequency scaling is only enabled by default on laptops in Slackware.
To enable on a desktop:

Open /etc/rc.d/rc.modules in a text editor

Look for this section:

Code:

### CPU frequency scaling support
#
# Below, set CPUFREQ to enable CPU frequency scaling to save system power.
#
# To always try to use CPU frequency scaling, set to:  on
# To never use CPU frequency scaling, set to:  off
# To use it only when the battery module is loaded (this will cause it to
# be used by default with most laptops), set to:  battery
#
CPUFREQ=battery

Change it to:

Code:

### CPU frequency scaling support
#
# Below, set CPUFREQ to enable CPU frequency scaling to save system power.
#
# To always try to use CPU frequency scaling, set to:  on
# To never use CPU frequency scaling, set to:  off
# To use it only when the battery module is loaded (this will cause it to
# be used by default with most laptops), set to:  battery
#
CPUFREQ=on

and reboot

Woodsman · 08-06-2011, 08:09 PM

Slackware 13.1 and 13.37 come with a package called cpufrequtils. After enabling the powernow-k8 module, use the cpufreq-info command as a quick way to verify the CPU is running at a slower idle speed.

Additionally, ensure the BIOS Q-Fan option is enabled. That will allow controlling speeds of any pulse-width modulated (PWM) fans. The lm-sensors packages comes with two shell scripts called fancontrol and pwmconfig. The latter script will help create an /etc/fancontrol configuration file. The fancontrol script can be run automagically from rc.local or from an rc.d startup script.

You can read more here:

Green Computing

Bowlslaw · 08-06-2011, 10:19 PM

Interesting...

I tried all of that, and none of it worked.

markush · 08-07-2011, 03:14 AM

Hello Bowlslaw, welcome to LQ and welcome to Slackware

I have the following lines in my /etc/rc.d/rc.local file

Code:

modprobe powernow_k8
cpufreq-set --cpu 0 --governor conservative
cpufreq-set --cpu 1 --governor conservative

On my desktop/homeserver. Then governor conservative manages the cpu-frequency to be as low as possible at the given workload. Normally when surfing the internet it is at 800MHz.

Markus

Bowlslaw · 08-07-2011, 10:34 AM

Unfortunately, I still cannot get it to work with slackware. Quite irritating...I've got the chipset CD for my MB, if that helps anything...

markush · 08-07-2011, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bowlslaw

Unfortunately, I still cannot get it to work with slackware. Quite irritating...I've got the chipset CD for my MB, if that helps anything...

No, unfortunately this won't help. But please post the output of

Code:

uname -a

and

Code:

/sbin/lspci

and

Code:

lsmod | grep power

Markus

Bowlslaw · 08-07-2011, 03:01 PM

Linux dormant 2.6.37.6-smp #2 SMP Sat Apr 9 23:39:07 CDT 2011 i686 AMD Athlon(tm) Dual Core Processor 4850e AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux

00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RX780/RX790 Chipset Host Bridge
00:02.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RD790 PCI to PCI bridge (external gfx0 port A)
00:06.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RD790 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port C)
00:11.0 SATA controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA Controller [IDE mode]
00:12.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:12.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0 USB OHCI1 Controller
00:12.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0 USB OHCI1 Controller
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 3a)
00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 IDE Controller
00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 LPC host controller
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge
00:14.5 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI2 Controller
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G94 [GeForce 9600 GT] (rev a1)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 02)

There was no output for lsmod | grep power

markush · 08-07-2011, 03:17 PM

Well, you should load the module powernow_k8 with the command

Code:

modprobe powernow_k8

and afterwards you may check the current settings with

Code:

cpufreq-info

and you can execute the commands which I posted above (the entries in my rc.local).

Yet it isn't working for you because you're missing the module powernow_k8.

Markus

Bowlslaw · 08-07-2011, 03:22 PM

for lsmod | grep power

freq_table 2039 1 powernow_k8
mperf 923 1 powernow_k8
powernow_k8 12160 2
processor 23158 1 powernow_k8

markush · 08-07-2011, 03:38 PM

Well, and what does cpufreq-info show?

Now that the module is loaded, everything should work for you.

Markus

Bowlslaw · 08-07-2011, 04:03 PM

cpufrequtils 008: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2009
Report errors and bugs to cpufreq@vger.kernel.org, please.
analyzing CPU 0:
driver: powernow-k8
CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0 1
CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0 1
maximum transition latency: 109 us.
hardware limits: 1000 MHz - 2.50 GHz
available frequency steps: 2.50 GHz, 2.40 GHz, 2.20 GHz, 2.00 GHz, 1.80 GHz, 1000 MHz
available cpufreq governors: userspace
current policy: frequency should be within 1000 MHz and 2.50 GHz.
The governor "userspace" may decide which speed to use
within this range.
current CPU frequency is 2.50 GHz (asserted by call to hardware).
analyzing CPU 1:
driver: powernow-k8
CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0 1
CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0 1
maximum transition latency: 109 us.
hardware limits: 1000 MHz - 2.50 GHz
available frequency steps: 2.50 GHz, 2.40 GHz, 2.20 GHz, 2.00 GHz, 1.80 GHz, 1000 MHz
available cpufreq governors: userspace
current policy: frequency should be within 1000 MHz and 2.50 GHz.
The governor "userspace" may decide which speed to use
within this range.
current CPU frequency is 2.50 GHz (asserted by call to hardware).

markush · 08-07-2011, 04:09 PM

As you can see, your processor is running with the highest frequency. Now you may try the commands

Code:

cpufreq-set --cpu 0 --governor conservative
cpufreq-set --cpu 1 --governor conservative

and check what happens, at least the fan should slow down because of the lower temperature when the frequency of the cpus is lower.

Markus