cpu offline is getting me crazy

[mgiammarco]

Hello,
I have an AMD Athlon(tm) II X4 635 Processor
with asusm4a89td pro/usb3 motherboard and 8gb of ecc ram.

OS is Ubuntu 12.10 (but problem is present also with other linux versions)
Sometime (very frequently when I see films or audio) the sistem freeze a bit (and so film but also flash video and other skip frames).

Finally searching log I have discovered that this is (maybe) the problem:

Dec 28 22:11:21 virtual1 kernel: [15774.560617] CPU 1 is now offline
Dec 28 22:11:21 virtual1 kernel: [15774.574638] CPU 2 is now offline
Dec 28 22:11:21 virtual1 kernel: [15774.686339] CPU 3 is now offline
Dec 28 22:11:21 virtual1 kernel: [15774.686343] SMP alternatives: switching to UP code
Dec 28 22:11:23 virtual1 kernel: [15776.842037] SMP alternatives: switching to SMP code
Dec 28 22:11:23 virtual1 kernel: [15776.864307] Booting Node 0 Processor 1 APIC 0x1
Dec 28 22:11:23 virtual1 kernel: [15776.875618] LVT offset 0 assigned for vector 0x400
Dec 28 22:11:23 virtual1 kernel: [15776.889207] Switch to broadcast mode on CPU1
Dec 28 22:11:23 virtual1 kernel: [15776.899514] microcode: CPU1: new patch_level=0x010000db
Dec 28 22:11:23 virtual1 kernel: [15776.914679] Booting Node 0 Processor 2 APIC 0x2
Dec 28 22:11:23 virtual1 kernel: [15776.934471] Switch to broadcast mode on CPU2
Dec 28 22:11:23 virtual1 kernel: [15776.942432] microcode: CPU2: new patch_level=0x010000db
Dec 28 22:11:23 virtual1 kernel: [15776.947273] Booting Node 0 Processor 3 APIC 0x3
Dec 28 22:11:23 virtual1 kernel: [15776.961731] Switch to broadcast mode on CPU3
Dec 28 22:11:23 virtual1 kernel: [15776.963390] microcode: CPU3: new patch_level=0x010000db


Why my system is putting down three cores of my cpu?
I have tried checking bios, overheating, kernel version, and other things without luck.

Please help me pointing me to right direction!

Thanks,
Mario

[mizzle]

My first guess is there's a problem with system power saving / turbo settings. Try disabling CPU power saving / turbo settings in bios.

[mgiammarco]

My first guess is there's a problem with system power saving / turbo settings. Try disabling CPU power saving / turbo settings in bios.

Ok first guess unfortunately wrong
I have resetted bios to default settings, and checked powersaving and turbo settings, but no luck.
I never overclock.
Perhaps is something related to apci? I see that bios default is acpi2.0=yes that seems to make problem worse.

Thanks,
Mario

[mizzle]

I didn't say reset them to default. I said disable them.

[mgiammarco]

I didn't say reset them to default. I said disable them.

I reset all "just to be sure". Basically I have very few power saving options.
There is no APM, I cannot disable ACPI because I lose multi processing.
I have not disabled cool&quiet, I will disable it now, hoping that it is not the source of my trouble.

Thanks,
Mario

[mgiammarco]

Sigh the problem is the cool&quiet option
Now the system works, how can I save power (and reduce noise)?

[mizzle]

Couldn't find a fix for it, but I did find a thread that might steer you in the right direction:
AMD Cool'n'Quiet in Ubuntu - spodesabode.com

[mgiammarco]

Anyway I thank you much you are helping me a lot.
Now I have to find if it is possible to say to linux kernel to ignore bios and enable anyway powersave daemon.
Or understand why with so many people buying that motherboard/cpu combo no one noticed this problem.

Thanks again,
Mario

[mizzle]

Well, I think you might be able to enable it in bios, then load the appropriate kernel module.

I know personally my 'turbo core' AMD technology was a little bit buggy on my desktop, so I just disabled it.

[mgiammarco]

If I enable it on the bios then I have the orrible error that I started the thread with.