Hi
Since a while now (don’t remember with which Fedora release it started to happen) when my battery level reaches 30% or lower the whole system becomes very slow and sluggish, when I plug in back to the PSU it starts immediately working as fast as before - it must be some weired power-saving mode I guess - how to fix this to get full performance all the time independent of power source?
Thanks!
Hi @rbirkner this also happens with me but at less that 10% of the charge. The OS forcefully slows down your computer’s processor to save battery and last longer on less charge.
That is a power saving feature of the BIOS. Where it happens varies between manufacturers, but at the setpoint the machine reduces the system to minimum cpu performace & power demand until AC power is connected and the machine is not relying on an almost empty battery to operate. Not weird, but rather normal for most laptops.
Thanks for your suggestions, but this would be really strange, as I cannot remember having updated the BIOS recently or seen any settings for it (I think I’m since 5 years on Linux and how I could had updated the BIOS without booting DOS?) - but nevertheless: if the BIOS has some settings, should the OS not be able to override (I would expect to see something in the Gnome Power setting or at least in the Tweak-Tool?
Edit: I just think something changed within the recent kernels, the ondemand/conservative PCUfreq governors are gone so I have powersave (800Mhz min. clock) all the time enabled, will test it with performance (2600Mhz min clock) now:
slicer@ideapad ~ [2]> echo "ondemand" | sudo tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor
ondemand
tee: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor: Invalid argument
tee: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_governor: Invalid argument
tee: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_governor: Invalid argument
tee: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_governor: Invalid argument
tee: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu4/cpufreq/scaling_governor: Invalid argument
tee: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu5/cpufreq/scaling_governor: Invalid argument
tee: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu6/cpufreq/scaling_governor: Invalid argument
tee: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu7/cpufreq/scaling_governor: Invalid argument
slicer@ideapad ~ [0|1]> echo "conservative" | sudo tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor
conservative
tee: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor: Invalid argument
tee: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_governor: Invalid argument
tee: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_governor: Invalid argument
tee: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_governor: Invalid argument
tee: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu4/cpufreq/scaling_governor: Invalid argument
tee: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu5/cpufreq/scaling_governor: Invalid argument
tee: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu6/cpufreq/scaling_governor: Invalid argument
tee: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu7/cpufreq/scaling_governor: Invalid argument
slicer@ideapad ~ [0|1]> cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_available_governors
performance powersave
performance powersave
performance powersave
performance powersave
performance powersave
performance powersave
performance powersave
performance powersave
slicer@ideapad ~> echo "performance" | sudo tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor
performance
slicer@ideapad ~> cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor
performance
performance
performance
performance
performance
performance
performance
performance
slicer@ideapad ~>
OK, so I was on the wrong trail (even though the performance governor helps a bit to improve performance) this slow down happens independent of the governor, I can literally switch it by plugging the power cable ON/OFF at will. On hi-load the CPU switched between 800MHz and max. there and back, and because I use the Intel integrated GFX also this is probably slowing down.
Any other suggestions how to prevent this?
Below you can see more related info:
AFAIK there is no way to prevent the bios controlled slow down.
Which would you prefer:
Run at continuous max speed until the battery dies with the potential (likely) of corrupting your mail OS file system due to dying during a write AND the near certainty of destroying the battery by draining it too far?
or
The system automatically slows down, becomes noticeably less responsive, and reminds you to connect the AC power and recharge the battery.?
You might be interested to know that some systems will forcibly shut down and become totally comatose shortly before the battery fully dies simply to prevent battery damage which likely will be caused by draining it fully.
Battery life can be drastically shortened by draining the power too far.
