openSUSE 12.1 with a new linux kernel?

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

Hi all. I have a Core i5-2520M processor and there is a problem with the kernel 3.1.0-1.2-desktop (openSUSE 12.1) : the processor is never less than 1.8 GHz:

$ cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep MHz
cpu MHz        : 800.000
cpu MHz        : 800.000
cpu MHz        : 800.000
cpu MHz        : 800.000
$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor
ondemand
$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_frequencies
2501000 2500000 2200000 2000000 1800000 1600000 1400000 1200000 1000000 800000
$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/bios_limit
2501000
$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq
800000

Everything seems OK. The governor asked the processor to switch to 800 MHz when idle. But with a root access, despite these informations, I see that the CPU is never under 1.8 GHz (the real frequency varies between 1.8GHz and 2.5GHz). Example:

$ sudo cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_cur_freq
1800000

$ sudo cpupower -c 0-3 monitor
    |Nehalem                    || SandyBridge        || Mperf              || Idle_Stats                       
CPU | C3   | C6   | PC3  | PC6  || C7   | PC2  | PC7  || C0   | Cx   | Freq || POLL | C1-S | C3-S | C6-S | C7-S 
   0|  0,68|  0,00|  0,00|  0,00|| 92,49|  0,00|  0,00||  3,46| 96,54|  **1800**||  0,00|  1,89|  0,49|  0,00| 94,18
   1|  0,68|  0,00|  0,00|  0,00|| 92,49|  0,00|  0,00||  0,71| 99,29|  **1800**||  0,00|  0,76|  0,25|  0,00| 98,29
   2|  0,72|  0,08|  0,00|  0,00|| 96,56|  0,00|  0,00||  0,39| 99,61|  **1800**||  0,00|  0,40|  0,42|  0,00| 98,80
   3|  0,72|  0,08|  0,00|  0,00|| 96,56|  0,00|  0,00||  0,98| 99,02|  **1775**||  0,00|  0,40|  0,40|  0,08| 98,13

And i7z confirms.

I think that the kernel 3.1.1 or above fix this bug. I tried to install kernel-desktop-base 3.1.2-3.2 from this repository, and i7z reports a lower frequency, but the Core i5 graphic card is not recognized so I’m back to the kernel 3.1.0.

When the last Linux kernel will be in a standard update of openSUSE?

#2

You could look at this repo
Index of /repositories/Kernel:/HEAD/standard

#3

How can I update my kernel using this one or this one?

I add the repository in software sources, I see kernel-default etc. but there is nothing to update.

#4

OK I found: a button is available when the “Versions” (in the package’s description) are expanded.

My kernel is now: 3.1.2-3-desktop. :slight_smile:

But my CPU is still at 1.8 GHz. :frowning:

#5

Now that you have proven yourself that your first idea about changing the kernel does not solve your real problem, I would advise as your next step to start a new thread which asks about your CPU frequency problem. With a good title of course.

As it is now, those people that know something about CPU frequency will not look inside this thread, because it is about installing kernels, which is something completely different.

#6

OK, good idea. It’s done.