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    Powerd on Atom machine does not seem to be working

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved 2.0-RC Snapshot Feedback and Problems - RETIRED
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    • G
      GoldServe
      last edited by

      I enabled powerd on my Lanner 7530 atom machine and it draws 18W from the AC side no mater if i have it enabled or not.

      dev.cpu.0.%desc: ACPI CPU
      dev.cpu.0.%driver: cpu
      dev.cpu.0.%location: handle=\_PR_.P001
      dev.cpu.0.%pnpinfo: _HID=none _UID=0
      dev.cpu.0.%parent: acpi0
      dev.cpu.0.freq: 1596
      dev.cpu.0.freq_levels: 1596/-1 1396/-1 1197/-1 997/-1 798/-1 598/-1 399/-1 199/-1
      dev.cpu.0.cx_supported: C1/0
      dev.cpu.0.cx_lowest: C1
      dev.cpu.0.cx_usage: 100.00% last 500us
      dev.cpu.1.%desc: ACPI CPU
      dev.cpu.1.%driver: cpu
      dev.cpu.1.%location: handle=\_PR_.P002
      dev.cpu.1.%pnpinfo: _HID=none _UID=0
      dev.cpu.1.%parent: acpi0
      dev.cpu.1.cx_supported: C1/0
      dev.cpu.1.cx_lowest: C1
      dev.cpu.1.cx_usage: 100.00% last 500us
      
      

      Any ideas on how I can get some power savings and reduce the heat on the fanless system?

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      • jimpJ
        jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
        last edited by

        powerd hasn't seen a lot of testing that I know of. Are you sure that it is running when you have it enabled?

        Can you look in the output of sysctl and see if you have any thermal zones that ACPI can understand on that board? (They'd be under hw.acpi.thermal )

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        • G
          GoldServe
          last edited by

          When I enable it, I see it running in TOP.

          Here are the hw.acpi sysctls without powered running (if that makes any difference):

          # sysctl hw.acpi
          hw.acpi.supported_sleep_state: S1 S4 S5
          hw.acpi.power_button_state: S5
          hw.acpi.sleep_button_state: S1
          hw.acpi.lid_switch_state: NONE
          hw.acpi.standby_state: S1
          hw.acpi.suspend_state: NONE
          hw.acpi.sleep_delay: 1
          hw.acpi.s4bios: 0
          hw.acpi.verbose: 0
          hw.acpi.disable_on_reboot: 0
          hw.acpi.handle_reboot: 0
          hw.acpi.reset_video: 0
          hw.acpi.cpu.cx_lowest: C1
          
          
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          • jimpJ
            jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
            last edited by

            Not sure

            What kind of CPU usage are you seeing on that box?

            powerd's adaptive mode, which pfsense uses, only kicks in if the system is under 50% cpu load, or so the man page implies. I haven't tried to use it on mine so I'm not sure how visible its effects may be. When you run commands it might be driving up the CPU usage and making it shift back up.

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            • G
              GoldServe
              last edited by

              It is an atom N270 using SMP kernel.

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              • Cry HavokC
                Cry Havok
                last edited by

                Atom processors do not have variable clock speeds - they run at full speed all the time.  As such you can't reduce the power draw.

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                • jimpJ
                  jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
                  last edited by

                  @Cry:

                  Atom processors do not have variable clock speeds - they run at full speed all the time.  As such you can't reduce the power draw.

                  If that were the case, it shouldn't be reporting that it does:

                  dev.cpu.0.freq_levels: 1596/-1 1396/-1 1197/-1 997/-1 798/-1 598/-1 399/-1 199/-1

                  But it's possible that is the cause.

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                  • G
                    GoldServe
                    last edited by

                    so I ran powerd with -v and it does seem like it is setting the frequencies correctly. I also did a test by setting the cpu.0.frequency manually but the power does not decrease. I think the CPU is throttling and not actually changing the voltage to the CPU. Now, if I can figure that part out…

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