TSC urgent problem :(

[troe666]

Just noticed this in my boot up ...

CPU: AMD X2 4600,overclocked,but was showing frequency fine before SL update, want to know if other AMD X2 users with same kernel have same issue.

 

Problem is on the 4th line down: "TSC Frequency = 0.0000Mhz" - ?? bus and FSB are being read correctly.

 

5/01/10 11:15:07 PM kernel PAE enabled

5/01/10 11:15:07 PM kernel rtclock_init: Taking bus ratio path 1 (AMD Athlon)

5/01/10 11:15:07 PM kernel TSC: Verification of clock speed PASSED.

5/01/10 11:15:07 PM kernel TSC: Frequency = 0.0000MHz, FSB frequency = 241.7490MHz, bus ratio = 11

5/01/10 11:15:07 PM kernel Darwin Kernel Version 10.2.0: Tue Nov 17 01:24:40 EST 2009; annappirtrvh v2:xnu-1486.2.11/BUILD/obj/RELEASE_I386

 

followed a little later by this one:

 

5/01/10 11:15:07 PM kernel Unsynchronized TSC for cpu 1: 0x0000001182b50596, delta 0x45c29

 

System does show correct clock speeds in 'about this mac' but I am very worried since I know in the past (on my leopard box, for example) it was showing the Frequency = exactly 11x241.7490 not 0.0000 ;(

 

any idea why this might be?

I got hold of RC4 chameleon again and fdisk'd the new boot0 and placed matching boot file into / and it all works nicely but just worried.

[troe666]

looks like its the kernel. I reinstalled snow leopard from scratch on another partition and it had the exact same issue straight up. I dont think there is a way to fix it without a new kernel. I tried several bootloaders to no avail and even a couple of different boot0's.

 

not causing any problems so I will let sleeping dogs lie

Trav

[Mushishi]

well there are some 10.6.2 kernels google for snow leopard chocolate kernel or join the irc

 

irc server: irc.osx86.hu

room: #snowleopard

 

there you might be able to get ahold of someone that can give you help with what the best kernel would be

[troe666]

um i still need help if anyone can pleeease I cant find a kernel for snow leopard 1062 that can read my CPU speed and I use the same A8N SLI board a lot of people do

 

cant get this to show correct value:

5/01/10 11:15:07 PM kernel PAE enabled

5/01/10 11:15:07 PM kernel rtclock_init: Taking bus ratio path 1 (AMD Athlon)

5/01/10 11:15:07 PM kernel TSC: Verification of clock speed PASSED.

5/01/10 11:15:07 PM kernel TSC: Frequency = 0.0000MHz, FSB frequency = 241.7490MHz, bus ratio = 11

 

 

and its causing major dramas with app crashes, network problems and mouse stutter. FFS looks like maybe back to leopard after ALL this effort

 

anyone help>?

[troe666]

more info: dropped voodoo kernel 9.5 in there (knew it wouldnt work because its a snow install) but sure enough it correctly reads the CPU TSC and syncs the cores.

 

So whatever has changed in the new kernels for Snow Leopard has broken Athlon X2 on Asus A8N board.

 

any kernels I can try that will boot SL / AMD and detect TSC / speed properly...

 

 

Trav

[troe666]

more info on how they fixed this TSC drift bug in the Voodoo 9.5 kernel

 

Snow leopard is un-usable on socket939 athlons and a few other types until this TSC patch is implemented in the new 10.2 kernel sets.

 

 

UPDATE!: Good news. The 'Chocolate' kernel successfully picks up the correct TSC and timing information for Socket 939 boards and boots Snow Leopard 10.6.2

 

Thanks Mushishi for your help. Was it your driver I downloaded earlier too? or was that musashi. either way thanks for reminding me of the chocolate kernel, I thought it was intel only but when I investigated further and tried it, it was my saviour for now.

 

Wohooooo!!!

 

and to the guys who make the xnu/voodoo/derived kernels with AMD, please show us socket 939 guys some love with TSC detection like chocolate and sync

 

Trav

[troe666]

far out i give up.

 

the chocolate kernel does indeed now correctly show clock speeds unlike the other 2 (mobdin and the other 3 or so.)

NONE provide TSC synchronisation management.

 

when you compile a linux kernel from memory it asks if you want to support this feature. all voodoo 9x kernels im aware of support it. but none of the 10x ones

 

which screws up my multi-core. so due to all this im on the chocolate kernel with cpus=1 as the solution. dropping me to single core and chocolate kernel in case of any clock rate calculation problems.

Damn it!!!!!

 

 

Trav

[troe666]

I know my TSC is out of sync due to the 10.2 darwin kernel reporting 'TSC unsynchronized' and also not showing any CPU clock speed, only FSB. as shown below:

5/01/10 11:15:07 PM kernel PAE enabled

5/01/10 11:15:07 PM kernel rtclock_init: Taking bus ratio path 1 (AMD Athlon)

5/01/10 11:15:07 PM kernel TSC: Verification of clock speed PASSED.

5/01/10 11:15:07 PM kernel TSC: Frequency = 0.0000MHz, FSB frequency = 241.7490MHz, bus ratio = 11

5/01/10 11:15:07 PM kernel Darwin Kernel Version 10.2.0: Tue Nov 17 01:24:40 EST 2009; annappirtrvh v2:xnu-1486.2.11/BUILD/obj/RELEASE_I386

5/01/10 11:15:07 PM kernel Unsynchronized TSC for cpu 1: 0x0000001182b50596, delta 0x45c29

 

 

furthermore, I know the Chocolate 10.0.0 kernel is still out of sync despite showing correct clock speed and not reported 'tsc unsynchronised', as I still get the trademark unsyc'd core problem with mDNSPlatformResponder time values in system log, shown below:

7/01/10 3:03:49 AM kernel TSC: Verification of clock speed PASSED.

7/01/10 3:03:49 AM kernel TSC: Frequency = 2651.90827MHz, FSB frequency = 241.8257MHz, bus ratio = 11

7/01/10 3:03:49 AM kernel Darwin Kernel Version 10.0.0: Mon Oct 12 04:06:05 AST 2009; anappirtrvh:xnu-1456.1.26/BUILD/obj/RELEASE_I386

7/01/10 3:03:49 AM kernel vm_page_bootstrap: 766473 free pages and 19959 wired pages

7/01/10 3:03:49 AM kernel standard timeslicing quantum is 10000 us

7/01/10 3:03:49 AM kernel mig_table_max_displ = 73

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement

(e.g you can see how chocolate 10.0.0 kernel shows correct TSC clock speed when compared to later 10.2.0 version above).

and yet I still get (due to unsync'd TSC) in system.log whenever on internet, as well as native app crashes intermittent:

 

Jan 7 01:12:41 troes-iMac mDNSResponder[25]: mDNSPlatformRawTime: last_mach_absolute_time CA9D5BE6000000D0

Jan 7 01:12:41 troes-iMac mDNSResponder[25]: mDNSPlatformRawTime: this_mach_absolute_time CA9A758B000000D0

Jan 7 01:12:41 troes-iMac mDNSResponder[25]: mDNSPlatformRawTime: last_mach_absolute_time CAADC151000000D0

Jan 7 01:12:41 troes-iMac mDNSResponder[25]: mDNSPlatformRawTime: this_mach_absolute_time CAAA7E73000000D0

Jan 7 01:12:41 troes-iMac mDNSResponder[25]: mDNSPlatformRawTime: last_mach_absolute_time F01F7A66000000D0

Jan 7 01:12:41 troes-iMac mDNSResponder[25]: mDNSPlatformRawTime: this_mach_absolute_time F01CEA92000000D0

Jan 7 01:12:41 troes-iMac mDNSResponder[25]: mDNSPlatformRawTime: last_mach_absolute_time F6E4C5F1000000D0

Jan 7 01:12:41 troes-iMac mDNSResponder[25]: mDNSPlatformRawTime: this_mach_absolute_time F6E16D8F000000D0

Jan 7 01:12:42 troes-iMac mDNSResponder[25]: mDNSPlatformRawTime: last_mach_absolute_time 29563129000000D1

Jan 7 01:12:42 troes-iMac mDNSResponder[25]: mDNSPlatformRawTime: this_mach_absolute_time 29526FBC000000D1

Jan 7 01:12:42 troes-iMac mDNSResponder[25]: mDNSPlatformRawTime: last_mach_absolute_time 308D7B2B000000D1

Jan 7 01:12:42 troes-iMac mDNSResponder[25]: mDNSPlatformRawTime: this_mach_absolute_time 308A7E38000000D1

Jan 7 01:12:42 troes-iMac mDNSResponder[25]: mDNSPlatformRawTime: last_mach_absolute_time 39674F17000000D1

Jan 7 01:12:42 troes-iMac mDNSResponder[25]: mDNSPlatformRawTime: this_mach_absolute_time 39640853000000D1

 

I can fix all issues by running 10.0.0 kernel with 10.2.0 snow and then having CPUS=1 in my kernel flags, which of course allows CPU clock speed to detect properly (due to 10.0.0 kernel) and then prevents TSC sync problems by only using One of the two cores. (due to kernel flag cpus=1)

Overall though its a bit {censored} because im only running 1 core, and its already shame enough running maxmem=2048 ;p

 

 

would REALLY appreciate some input from the chocolate or xnu/xni kernel authors on this one...theres obviously been a change from 9.8 voodoo in terms of now we dont have TSC sync in our kernels nor are the later ones picking up TSC clock speed correctly from socket 939 boards.

These features are pretty critical to AMD users im afraid. A lot of people just wont be noticing the TSC problems in their boot messages or the side effects in their app stability and system.logs etc.

 

 

I highly recommend all AMD users on 10.6.2 run for now with cpus=1 kernel flag and the 10.0.0 chocolate kernel. people say the phenom has hardware tsc-sync but there are plenty reporting problems around the place I found when trying to research this problem.

 

Linux guys have solved it all a long time ago it seems, there are TSCSync patches galore. I wish I knew even vaguely how to approach a port or I'd have done it asap. ;(

Trav

[scififan68]

For all you AMD users who can't run Snow Leopard with more then 1 core without the tsc skrew, theres a new 10.2.0 kernel fixes the tsc problem for me on my amd cpu and I can now run on both of my cores in 10.6.2! and it even loads in 64bit! Darwin 10.2 Darwin 10.3

 

rtclock_init: Taking bus ratio path 1 (AMD Athlon)

TSC: Verification of clock speed PASSED.

TSC: Frequency = 2812.851791MHz, FSB frequency = 200.917985MHz, bus ratio = 14

AMD: disabling C1 clock ramping (node 0)

Unsynchronized TSC for cpu 1: 0x000000114516c3a1, delta 0x1155a5

[TSC] original delta: -1136434, new delta: 81. (CPU1)