nvidia powermizer problem in linux

OK, here's the problem hopefully someone can shed some light on the matter:

I have kubuntu installed on my laptop (Intel C2D 2.6, 9800GTS, 4Gb ram is the m8660tu from clevo if i remember well the numbers). So far works flawlessly, few glitches, few crashes of firefox but otherwise I'm very happy, even took out the vista hard drive and put it in a drawer...
The only problem I get is with nvidia drivers. The powermizer from nvidia "sees" 4 levels of performance for the card labeled 0-3. When idle the card stays at 0, consumes less or whatever. However whatever I try it only jumps to level 1 which is slightly better than level 0 but never reaches levels 2 and 3. So basically is as if my nvidia 9800gts is an integrated gpu from intel (a bit worse I think since intel is nice under linux ).

A bit of google'ing and I saw I'm not the only one with the problem. Tried many of the advices:
- "touching" he gpu with query nvidia-settings puts it on lvl 1 not on max
- modifying modprobe.d/options to add other suggested options that should keep it on max leads to perma level 1 but never goes higher
- same as 2nd but in xorg.conf leads to same results...

Anyone knows of a way to get rid of this thing? Would be really nice to be able to tap into the gpu power under linux... And no, didn't try nibitor to modify the gpu bios, first because is under warranty and I don't know how the guys would take it and second because I'm hoping to solve it in a more "normal" way...

Any help would be appreciated ;-).

 

Which drivers do you have installed? Ubuntu 8.04 I think still only automatically installs 173, while 8.10 gives you the option of 173 or 177, 177 obviously being the updated option.

Alternatively, you can download the 180 Linux drivers from Nvidia and give those a try. I would start there and see if it fixes it.

I have an 8800m GTS in Linux Mint 6 (based off Ubuntu Intrepid), and when I open the Nvidia program I can see the powermizer fluctuating between 0 and 3.

 

tried 73, 77 and the 180 betas, no change . Also, keep in mind is a mobile gpu, maybe the deskop counterparts work better? Anyway would be nice to know if it comes from the distro or from the drivers but I'm a bit lazy to test a new one now. I'll keep in mind Mint if I decide to try something new .

 

I have the same problem!!! and it's a little frustrating because the maximize and other compiz effects don't run as smooth as it should be.

I'm under Fedora 10 x64 and have the 9800m gts, does anyone have a solution?

 

Same problem with M570RU-U, nvidia 8800M GTX.
There is some settings to try in xorg.conf, for example:

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"

# Force one level when AC power
Option "RegistryDwords" "PowerMizerLevelAC=0x3"

#Enable overclocking
Option "Coolbits" "1"

EndSection


All options are explained here:
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=110949

I've tried some, with almost no results (force 0 mode...), and activate overclock (at default freq) seems to help but not sure.

Please try and make report

EDIT: it seems to be a known problem!
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=124153

 

Mmmm, weird I didn't have any problems with my 8600m GT, is that bug limited to the g92?

 

With M570RU, 8700M GT, there's no problem. But with 8800M GTX, there is!

 

fedora , ubuntu 9.04, 9600m gt, same crap

 

I never had much luck with editing xorg.conf to keep it at max performance.
How I increased the smoothness and usability of compiz effects was turn on loose binding and indirect rendering (with the Fusion Icon in system tray). My cube used to slow down to 10-20FPS (measured with the compiz benchmarker), after I enabled those settings it remains perfectly stable and smooth with no dip in FPS.

 

I have a 9600m gt 512 and I don't seem to be having these issues. I'm not sure what I did differently though.

 

I ended up overclocking all levels through bios in the end, except the first level. Crap I have to resort to that.