A8Js and Intel Speedstep CPU Support - Changes after BIOS 204?

I've been trying to track down the root cause of a particularly bothersome problem with my A8Js, as it relates to the Speedstep feature of the Intel CPU, and the laptop's support of it. Running under Linux, I could not enable CPU Frequency Scaling (the Linux support for Intel's Speedstep feature), until I changed to BIOS version 204. In fact in my testing of all BIOS releases for this laptop these were my results;

BIOS version 203 - CPU Speedstep under Linux works
BIOS version 204 - CPU Speedstep under Linux works
BIOS version 205 - CPU Speedstep under Linux doesn't work
BIOS version 207 - CPU Speedstep under Linux doesn't work
BIOS version 210 - CPU Speedstep under Linux doesn't work

So it seems clear to me that Asus has changed something, probably as it relates to Speedstep support, in their BIOS from 205 onwards, which breaks Speedstep under Linux. The problem is that it seems to operate somewhat under Windows XP. My testing results were inconsistent under XP, so in reporting this back to Asus, I can't be specific about an XP Speedstep problem that may be BIOS related. My question for anyone who would like to respond, have you noticed anything different about your A8Js-Windows XP CPU Speedstep operation between BIOS 204 and later revs? Feel free to provide as many details as you can, such as problem seen, power management software used, etc.

Thanks.

 

Speedstep is now working in kernel 2.6.20-2 also with the newest bioses

I'm running ubuntu feisty fawn and the last kernel update came with a nice surprise

 

Also if you do

sudo chmod +s /usr/bin/cpufreq-selector

in console, you can change processor scaling with powernowd gnome panel applet! Just right click the applet and goto preferences and select Show Menu: Frequencies and Governors. The you can just left click the applet and it lets you choose different modes!

 

That and other methods for changing CPU speeds will work only IF the core speedstep support is enabled and working. In my opinion, the simplest way to see if the speedstep support is enabled and working is to look in the following directory;

/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/

If there's a subdirectory called cpufreq there, then the speedstep support is enabled. If it's not there, then the support is not enabled, (and accessible). That was the problem with the A8Js with my current kernel, (2.6.19-r2) and the latest BIOS, (207). Downgrading the BIOS to 204 enabled speedstep support for now. It's good to hear that this may be fixed in a future speedstep-centrino module (delivered in the future kernel).

BTW, powernowd is a program that adjusts CPU speed, based on system load, for AMD CPUs that support AMD's PowerNow technology. The Gnome applet is simply called the Gnome CPU Frequency Scaling applet and it's part of the gnome-applets package...

 

Yes, speedstep works in newest kernel with bios 207 Those directories are created for both processors and all governors are usable.

Ok, I thought gnome cpu scaling applet used powernowd for scaling Powernowd has supported speedstep a long time and I used it to change processor speed with my old Pentium m laptop. Well i guess the applet uses just cpufreqd then.

EDIT: I searched a bit about that gnome cpu frequency applet. Looks like that it can use cpufreqd, powernowd or cpudyn for scaling. It needs one of those packages installed to work. Well it will work without one of those, but then cpu scaling is not supported. The applet just provides user control for those packages.

 

How does Ubuntu run with other hardware on the A8Js, graphics, wlan, audio etc? Cheers.

 

Not specific to Ubuntu, here are some postings from the internet that indicate that the A8Js is well supported under Linux in general.

http://rothlaender.net/a8js.htm
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-524965.html
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-517120.html

My guess would be that the latest Ubuntu probably supports the WiFi (Intel 3945) directly, and provides the proper nVidia and Alsa support. My guess is that the most you would have to do is manually edit your Alsa configuration file in order to get sound working. Other than that you could follow tips on the first posting above to tweak an Ubuntu install on an A8Js, but it should install and have almost everything working right from the start...

 

Yes, A8Js is well supported in linux. There are few problems though. To get soundmax working, you have to edit alsa config. Just change an 0 to 1 (can't remember what exactly). Also you can only change headphone volume. I haven't figured out how to change the internal speaker volume.

Nvidia has great drivers. You can also overclock/underclock the card with nvclock, but the driver also can manage clocks depending on use. Wifi is working out of box

For example the webcam isn't supported and I haven't looked any drivers for it.