i386 CPU scaling issue

[shvehlava]

Hello!

I'm still using my beloved IBM T42. It has issues that we've learned to live with (the machine and I), but since 7.1 CPU scaling doesn't work whatsoever. It is always locked at 1600Mhz, no matter the settings in apmd (apm -L) or sysctl setperf. apm reports that the speed is set manually, ignoring the -L or -H flags. (apmd is running)

I even tried disabling and enabling any and all BIOS options. Funnily enough, turning off CPU scaling and/or locking the CPU at 600Mhz in BIOS still results in OpenBSD reporting (I guess supposedly) and running at 1600Mhz.

The machine does support CPU scaling and I've tested it in FreeBSD (where the BIOS options also have no effect).

This is not an incredibly terrible issue, but I suppose it does take its toll on battery life. I have recently obtained a new battery and could do about 7 hours, now it seems to be about 4 (but that could be a placebo effect). It also doesn't seem to be an i386 specific problem, as I have an X41 which works fine. I did make sure it's not faulty hardware (I have another (same) machine which has the issue as well).

What options do I have in debugging this? Or perhaps testing, if the CPU is actually running at the reported speed.

Thank you!

[jggimi]

There are still some developers with i386 machines, so reporting the problem may result in a solution. You might also consider trying sysutils/obsdfreqd to circumvent the problem. It's a userland CPU frequency manager.