Hey, folks,
Sometimes my workstation bogs down... slows to a crawl. Using gkrellm, it's obvious the CPU is the laggard. The top utility confirms: the load average gets up over 4 at times. But this occurs when cpu stepping pegs the speed at 600MHz. This processor is capable of 1.5GHz and when it's allowed to run at that speed, the load average is under 2, which is fine.
So the question is: what's a good /etc/sysconfig/cpuspeed file? This workstation is a notebook and it can get hot. Of course I'd rather type on slow machine than a machine with a fried mainboard, so a report of a high temperature should kick in the governor and lower the speed.
Currently my /etc/sysconfig/cpuspeed has no variables defined (it's been this way at least since Apr 24) and I don't know what the number ranges and other values for them might be.
Thanks.
On 6/16/2010 1:47 PM, ken wrote:
Hey, folks,
Sometimes my workstation bogs down... slows to a crawl. Using gkrellm, it's obvious the CPU is the laggard. The top utility confirms: the load average gets up over 4 at times. But this occurs when cpu stepping pegs the speed at 600MHz. This processor is capable of 1.5GHz and when it's allowed to run at that speed, the load average is under 2, which is fine.
So the question is: what's a good /etc/sysconfig/cpuspeed file? This workstation is a notebook and it can get hot. Of course I'd rather type on slow machine than a machine with a fried mainboard, so a report of a high temperature should kick in the governor and lower the speed.
Currently my /etc/sysconfig/cpuspeed has no variables defined (it's been this way at least since Apr 24) and I don't know what the number ranges and other values for them might be.
Chances are that it is really your disk io that is the problem. Linux likes to count iowait time as CPU time. What do sar or vmstat say about your wait time?
On 06/16/2010 03:09 PM Les Mikesell wrote:
On 6/16/2010 1:47 PM, ken wrote:
Hey, folks,
Sometimes my workstation bogs down... slows to a crawl. Using gkrellm, it's obvious the CPU is the laggard. The top utility confirms: the load average gets up over 4 at times. But this occurs when cpu stepping pegs the speed at 600MHz. This processor is capable of 1.5GHz and when it's allowed to run at that speed, the load average is under 2, which is fine.
So the question is: what's a good /etc/sysconfig/cpuspeed file? This workstation is a notebook and it can get hot. Of course I'd rather type on slow machine than a machine with a fried mainboard, so a report of a high temperature should kick in the governor and lower the speed.
Currently my /etc/sysconfig/cpuspeed has no variables defined (it's been this way at least since Apr 24) and I don't know what the number ranges and other values for them might be.
Chances are that it is really your disk io that is the problem. Linux likes to count iowait time as CPU time. What do sar or vmstat say about your wait time?
# vmstat procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- --system-- -----cpu------ r b swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id wa st 1 0 148 104328 156776 601100 0 0 26 89 525 118 87 12 1 0 0
Sorry for the wrap.
ken wrote:
Hey, folks,
Sometimes my workstation bogs down... slows to a crawl. Using gkrellm, it's obvious the CPU is the laggard. The top utility confirms: the load average gets up over 4 at times. But this occurs when cpu stepping pegs the speed at 600MHz. This processor is capable of 1.5GHz and when it's allowed to run at that speed, the load average is under 2, which is fine.
So the question is: what's a good /etc/sysconfig/cpuspeed file? This workstation is a notebook and it can get hot. Of course I'd rather type on slow machine than a machine with a fried mainboard, so a report of a high temperature should kick in the governor and lower the speed.
well, *is* the CPU really hot when cpuspeed slows it down? If it is then there's no need to tweak /etc/sysconfig/cpuspeed , the defaults are doing what you want. Depending on your CPU you can monitor its temp with rpms from elrepo, eg kmod-coretemp for some intels.
On 06/17/2010 04:16 AM Nicolas Thierry-Mieg wrote:
ken wrote:
Hey, folks,
Sometimes my workstation bogs down... slows to a crawl. Using gkrellm, it's obvious the CPU is the laggard. The top utility confirms: the load average gets up over 4 at times. But this occurs when cpu stepping pegs the speed at 600MHz. This processor is capable of 1.5GHz and when it's allowed to run at that speed, the load average is under 2, which is fine.
So the question is: what's a good /etc/sysconfig/cpuspeed file? This workstation is a notebook and it can get hot. Of course I'd rather type on slow machine than a machine with a fried mainboard, so a report of a high temperature should kick in the governor and lower the speed.
well, *is* the CPU really hot when cpuspeed slows it down? If it is then there's no need to tweak /etc/sysconfig/cpuspeed , the defaults are doing what you want.
No, The temperature can be relatively low and cpu is still stepped down to 600MHz, this while the load is over 3 (the cpu idle reads 1%).
Depending on your CPU you can monitor its temp with rpms from elrepo, eg kmod-coretemp for some intels.
I've been monitoring the temperature, cpu speed (governed), and other system factors for years with ondemand and gkrellm.
The problem really is as I first stated. And the solution-- good settings for /etc/sysconfig/cpuspeed-- is really what is needed (at least as far as can be discerned at this time).
Thanks for your help.
ken wrote:
On 06/17/2010 04:16 AM Nicolas Thierry-Mieg wrote:
ken wrote:
Hey, folks,
Sometimes my workstation bogs down... slows to a crawl. Using gkrellm, it's obvious the CPU is the laggard. The top utility confirms: the load average gets up over 4 at times. But this occurs when cpu stepping pegs the speed at 600MHz. This processor is capable of 1.5GHz and when it's allowed to run at that speed, the load average is under 2, which is fine.
So the question is: what's a good /etc/sysconfig/cpuspeed file? This workstation is a notebook and it can get hot. Of course I'd rather type on slow machine than a machine with a fried mainboard, so a report of a high temperature should kick in the governor and lower the speed.
well, *is* the CPU really hot when cpuspeed slows it down? If it is then there's no need to tweak /etc/sysconfig/cpuspeed , the defaults are doing what you want.
No, The temperature can be relatively low and cpu is still stepped down to 600MHz, this while the load is over 3 (the cpu idle reads 1%).
Depending on your CPU you can monitor its temp with rpms from elrepo, eg kmod-coretemp for some intels.
I've been monitoring the temperature, cpu speed (governed), and other system factors for years with ondemand and gkrellm.
The problem really is as I first stated. And the solution-- good settings for /etc/sysconfig/cpuspeed-- is really what is needed (at least as far as can be discerned at this time).
OK. can't help you much then, the defaults have worked well for me.
It could be useful to know what CPU you have, what governor you're using (/etc/init.d/cpuspeed status), and look at stuff in /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/ .
You could lower UP_THRESHOLD in /etc/sysconfig/cpuspeed , see what value you're currently using and lower that. Or try another governor.
ken wrote, On 06/17/2010 10:46 AM:
The problem really is as I first stated. And the solution-- good settings for /etc/sysconfig/cpuspeed-- is really what is needed (at least as far as can be discerned at this time).
looking in /etc/sysconfig/cpuspeed around MAX_SPEED= they suggest looking in /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_available_frequencies
i.e. for me cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_available_frequencies returns all good settings for the cpu frequencies. which _for_the_laptop_I_have_ is 1700000 1400000 1200000 1000000 800000 600000 Setting either MAX_SPEED=1000000 or MIN_SPEED=800000, and restarting the system, has had desired effect for me, i.e., keep the laptop from locking due to overheat.
However, Nicolas suggestion of messing with UP_THRESHOLD might be better for you, or should be done in addition to messing with MIN_SPEED=
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ken -
Les Mikesell -
Nicolas Thierry-Mieg -
Todd Denniston