Erroneous package power limit notification since kernel 2.6.39

[Jesse Barnes]

On Wed, 29 Jun 2011 00:01:58 +0200
Olaf Freyer <aaron667 at gmx.net> wrote:

> Am 28.06.2011 23:18, schrieb Jesse Barnes:
> > On Tue, 28 Jun 2011 23:09:45 +0200
> > Olaf Freyer <aaron667 at gmx.net> wrote:
> >>>>> I'd guess ccab5c82759e2ace74b2e84f82d1e0eedd932571 could be the
> >>>>> cause. Can you check if the appended revert of that commit makes
> >>>>> things disappear? 
> >>>> It seems like you guessed perfectly correct - reverting the commit makes
> >>>> those notifications go away at once.
> >>>>
> >>> Without this reverted you see messages?  I missed the earlier stuff,
> >>> what message are you seeing?
> >>>
> >> Since 2.6.39 I saw those as soon as I start up the xserver:
> >>
> >> May 22 14:41:34 localhost kernel: [   57.525848] CPU0: Package power
> >> limit notification (total events = 1)
> >> May 22 14:41:34 localhost kernel: [   57.536904] CPU0: Package power
> >> limit normal
> > Ok interesting, didn't realize X startup was so GPU intensive. :)
> >
> > The patch you reverted will definitely cause the GPU to ramp up its
> > frequency much faster than before, but it sounds like on your system
> > you might also see it with the revert if you run something GPU
> > intensive like nexuiz.
> >
> > The CPU (and by extension the GPU) will take care of itself though; if
> > things get too hot or over power, it will clock throttle to keep itself
> > in a safe range.
> I also see the message alot during my daily average usage of my computer
> (just using Firefox, Thunderbird and IntelliJ) - seeing things like
> CPU3: Package power limit notification (total events = 90809)
> after a normal day in the office became normal since 2.6.39.
> 
> I just gave nexuiz a try for about 30 minutes with the reversal patch
> applied -
> and not a single message appeared in my logs.

Sounds like with the patch reverted we can't drive your GPU and CPU
hard enough to generate the messages.  Not sure if that's a good thing
or a bad thing though...

-- 
Jesse Barnes, Intel Open Source Technology Center