Laptop limits CPU frequency upto 0.7GHz

Hi,
I have a Dell laptop which I run on AC Power without the battery. I have a good charger too but from the past few days it shows me a prompt that it might be faulty (Even though it’s perfectly fine) and limits the CPU frequency close to 0.7GHz. I’ve read that it might be a bios limiter but I couldn’t find any manjaro specific solutions. I don’t know if ubuntu solutions work for this( being new to Linux). I can’t even get and try a new charger as my country is in lockdown.
Help would be appreciated.

Edit: I checked in the bios-menu it shows my adapter type as unknown( It worked fine untill yesterday even though it’s aftermarket) and I can’t get a new one at the moment. Any workaround for this that will work on manjaro.

Here is the inxi output

System:
  Kernel: 5.10.34-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.0 
  parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.10-x86_64 
  root=UUID=4f503d32-9bd6-4460-9f6a-700d25dc8d14 rw quiet splash apparmor=1 
  security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3 intel_pstate=disable 
  processor.ignore_ppc=1 
  Desktop: GNOME 3.38.4 tk: GTK 3.24.29 wm: gnome-shell dm: GDM 40.0 
  Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Vostro 14-3468 v: N/A serial: <filter> 
  Chassis: type: 9 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Dell model: 01CM9N v: A01 serial: <filter> UEFI: Dell v: 2.5.0 
  date: 04/19/2018 
Memory:
  RAM: total: 3.71 GiB used: 1.85 GiB (49.9%) 
  RAM Report: permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required. 
CPU:
  Info: Dual Core model: Intel Core i3-7100U bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Amber/Kaby Lake note: check family: 6 model-id: 8E (142) stepping: 9 
  microcode: DE cache: L2: 3 MiB bogomips: 19200 
  Speed: 568 MHz min/max: N/A Core speeds (MHz): 1: 568 2: 428 3: 610 4: 703 
  Flags: 3dnowprefetch abm acpi adx aes aperfmperf apic arat arch_perfmon art 
  avx avx2 bmi1 bmi2 bts clflush clflushopt cmov constant_tsc cpuid 
  cpuid_fault cx16 cx8 de ds_cpl dtes64 dtherm dts epb ept ept_ad erms est 
  f16c flexpriority flush_l1d fma fpu fsgsbase fxsr ht hwp hwp_act_window 
  hwp_epp hwp_notify ibpb ibrs intel_pt invpcid invpcid_single lahf_lm lm mca 
  mce md_clear mmx monitor movbe mpx msr mtrr nonstop_tsc nopl nx pae pat pbe 
  pcid pclmulqdq pdcm pdpe1gb pebs pge pln pni popcnt pse pse36 pti pts rdrand 
  rdseed rdtscp rep_good sdbg sep smap smep ss ssbd sse sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2 
  ssse3 stibp syscall tm tm2 tpr_shadow tsc tsc_adjust tsc_deadline_timer vme 
  vmx vnmi vpid x2apic xgetbv1 xsave xsavec xsaveopt xsaves xtopology xtpr 
  Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled 
  Type: l1tf 
  mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable 
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable 
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI 
  Type: spec_store_bypass 
  mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
  Type: spectre_v1 
  mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional, 
  IBRS_FW, STIBP: conditional, RSB filling 
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode 
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 620 vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel 
  bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:5916 class-ID: 0300 
  Device-2: Microdia Integrated_Webcam_HD type: USB driver: uvcvideo 
  bus-ID: 1-5:3 chip-ID: 0c45:6a05 class-ID: 0e02 
  Display: wayland server: X.org 1.20.11 compositor: gnome-shell driver: 
  loaded: i915 note: n/a (using device driver) - try sudo/root display-ID: 0 
  resolution: <missing: xdpyinfo> 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 21.0.3 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_skl bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:9d71 
  class-ID: 0403 
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.10.34-1-MANJARO running: yes 
  Sound Server-2: JACK v: 0.125.0 running: no 
  Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes 
  Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.26 running: no 
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wireless 3165 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: f040 
  bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:3165 class-ID: 0280 
  IF: wlp1s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
  IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global 
  broadcast: <filter> 
  IP v6: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global 
  IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link 
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  vendor: Dell driver: r8169 v: kernel port: e000 bus-ID: 02:00.0 
  chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200 
  IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  WAN IP: <filter> 
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 
  bus-ID: 1-8:5 chip-ID: 8087:0a2a class-ID: e001 
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: down bt-service: enabled,running 
  rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes address: see --recommends 
Logical:
  Message: No logical block device data found. 
RAID:
  Message: No RAID data found. 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 9.13 GiB (1.0%) 
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends 
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Seagate model: ST1000LM035-1RK172 
  size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s 
  rotation: 5400 rpm serial: <filter> rev: SDM2 scheme: GPT 
  Optical-1: /dev/sr0 vendor: HL-DT-ST model: DVD+-RW GU90N rev: A1C1 
  dev-links: cdrom 
  Features: speed: 24 multisession: yes audio: yes dvd: yes 
  rw: cd-r,cd-rw,dvd-r,dvd-ram state: running 
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 931.22 GiB size: 915.53 GiB (98.32%) used: 9.13 GiB (1.0%) 
  fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2 label: N/A 
  uuid: 4f503d32-9bd6-4460-9f6a-700d25dc8d14 
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%) 
  used: 296 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1 label: NO_LABEL 
  uuid: 76AB-FC1E 
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found. 
Unmounted:
  Message: No unmounted partitions found. 
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 12 rev: 2.0 
  speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900 
  Device-1: 1-4:2 info: Validity Sensors VFS Fingerprint sensor 
  type: <vendor specific> driver: N/A interfaces: 1 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s 
  power: 100mA chip-ID: 138a:0010 class-ID: ff00 serial: <filter> 
  Device-2: 1-5:3 info: Microdia Integrated_Webcam_HD type: Video 
  driver: uvcvideo interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s power: 500mA 
  chip-ID: 0c45:6a05 class-ID: 0e02 
  Device-3: 1-6:4 info: Realtek RTS5129 Card Reader Controller 
  type: <vendor specific> driver: rtsx_usb,rtsx_usb_ms,rtsx_usb_sdmmc 
  interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s power: 500mA chip-ID: 0bda:0129 
  class-ID: ff00 serial: <filter> 
  Device-4: 1-8:5 info: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface type: Bluetooth 
  driver: btusb interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA 
  chip-ID: 8087:0a2a class-ID: e001 
  Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 6 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s 
  chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 44.0 C mobo: 41.0 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 
Info:
  Processes: 199 Uptime: 5m wakeups: 1 Init: systemd v: 247 tool: systemctl 
  Compilers: gcc: 10.2.0 Packages: pacman: 1164 lib: 301 flatpak: 0 Shell: Zsh 
  v: 5.8 running-in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.3.04 

Hi @UnHyperVenom, and welcome!

While I do not know if I’ll be able to help you, I can point you to this so long: How to provide good information

Good luck and I hope someone can help!

can you return

inxi -Fza
sudo cpupower frequency-info 

see this Kernel 5.8.x my system seems to be only running at it’s minimum clock of 800mhz - #12 by stephane

@stephane I have added the inxi output to the above post
Here is the cpupower frequency-info output

  no or unknown cpufreq driver is active on this CPU
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: Not Available
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: Not Available
  maximum transition latency:  Cannot determine or is not supported.
Not Available
  available cpufreq governors: Not Available
  Unable to determine current policy
  current CPU frequency: Unable to call hardware
  current CPU frequency:  Unable to call to kernel
  boost state support:
    Supported: no
    Active: no

lscpu shows the frequency as
CPU MHz: 399.999

Edit:I checked in the bios-menu it shows my adapter type as unknown( It worked fine untill yesterday even though it’s aftermarket) and I can’t get a new one at the moment. Any workaround for this that will work on manjaro

Thanks for trying to help.

what is the adapter you’re talking about? Is it the power supply? If so then maybe it is dying? Can you try another one? Can you try to plug the battery and charge it fully?

@omano By adapter I meant the AC power supply. My laptop’s battery is already dead and I am running it only on the power supply and as I said I cannot get a new charger at least for the next few weeks that’s why I am looking for another way to disable the limiter.
I know the power supply is fine as it worked well untill a few days ago and it doesn’t even excessively heat the laptop components. It’s just the Dell laptop suddenly doesn’t detect it and limits cpu frequency

I googled and found that it is a widespread issue on Dell laptops, officially to ‘protect’ the batery when used with non official Dell power supply (some would say to force you to buy Dell products), I also found that you can try to add a GRUB parameter to bypass the BIOS limitation.

processor.ignore_ppc=1

To try it at your own risk, if you want, you can edit the boot command line directly from GRUB menu (press E on the Manjaro line in GRUB menu, and add it to the end of the boot parameters line), and boot with this temporarily added parameter.

If it works, then add it to your regular grub file /etc/default/grub, EXAMPLE with MY OWN GRUB line (yours will be different so don’t copy/paste mine blindly, modify YOURS accordingly):

Before:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash apparmor=1 security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3 sysrq_always_enabled=1 nowatchdog"

After:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash apparmor=1 security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3 sysrq_always_enabled=1 nowatchdog processor.ignore_ppc=1"

See the added processor.ignore_ppc=1 at the end of the line (it is all ONE LINE it is not multiple lines).

After your GRUB file is modified, don’t forget to update GRUB with command sudo update-grub

PS: make sure it doesn’t create problem with over heating or something like that, maybe there is a legit reason your BIOS is limiting CPU.

@omano Thanks for replying
I tried modifying the GRUB file and rebooted but it didn’t do anthing my laptop still lags a lot, youtube can’t even play 720p, it could easily do 1080p before( I have a 100 mbps connection) and lscpu gives me frequencies in the 400-600 Mhz range.
I read many forums stating about the intel cpu scaling drivers and also this:

But I am a new user and don’t have much technical knowledge so I can’t figure much out.

You did exactly what I explained in details?

Show you modification to GRUB.

Are you sure you updated GRUB?

@omano

I didn’t understand how to do the above mentioned part but I did add the processor.ignore_ppc=1 line to the GRUB file.

'GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash apparmor=1 security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3 processor.ignore_ppc=1"

Yes I did update GRUB using sudo update-grub

Here’s the sudo cpupower -c all frequency-info output too if it’s helpful

  driver: intel_pstate
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0
  maximum transition latency:  Cannot determine or is not supported.
  hardware limits: 400 MHz - 2.40 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: performance powersave
  current policy: frequency should be within 1.10 GHz and 2.40 GHz.
                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency: Unable to call hardware
  current CPU frequency: 2.38 GHz (asserted by call to kernel)
  boost state support:
    Supported: no
    Active: no
analyzing CPU 1:
  driver: intel_pstate
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 1
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 1
  maximum transition latency:  Cannot determine or is not supported.
  hardware limits: 400 MHz - 2.40 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: performance powersave
  current policy: frequency should be within 1.10 GHz and 2.40 GHz.
                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency: Unable to call hardware
  current CPU frequency: 2.35 GHz (asserted by call to kernel)
  boost state support:
    Supported: no
    Active: no
analyzing CPU 2:
  driver: intel_pstate
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 2
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 2
  maximum transition latency:  Cannot determine or is not supported.
  hardware limits: 400 MHz - 2.40 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: performance powersave
  current policy: frequency should be within 1.10 GHz and 2.40 GHz.
                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency: Unable to call hardware
  current CPU frequency: 2.40 GHz (asserted by call to kernel)
  boost state support:
    Supported: no
    Active: no
analyzing CPU 3:
  driver: intel_pstate
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 3
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 3
  maximum transition latency:  Cannot determine or is not supported.
  hardware limits: 400 MHz - 2.40 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: performance powersave
  current policy: frequency should be within 1.10 GHz and 2.40 GHz.
                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency: Unable to call hardware
  current CPU frequency: 2.40 GHz (asserted by call to kernel)
  boost state support:
    Supported: no
    Active: no

Thank you all for trying to help I found the solution for this here:

This works well but now my CPU is constantly at Max clock speed if you can help please do.
Thanks anyways for your time and help everyone.

Edit: I tried tweaking TLP settings and now everything works normally

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