Power mode is stuck in Performance

eperea · April 13, 2025, 5:18pm

Ubuntu Version: Ubuntu 24.10

Desktop Environment (if applicable): GNOME

Problem Description: I changed it from Balanced to Performance to see if that helped with a stuttering video stream, and now it refuses to change back to Balanced or Power Saver. The GUI does nothing and the terminal says:

sudo powerprofilesctl set balanced

Failed to communicate with power-profiles-daemon: g-io-error-quark: GDBus.Error:org.gtk.GDBus.UnmappedGError.Quark._g_2dio_2derror_2dquark.Code26: Failed to activate CPU driver ‘intel_pstate’: Error writing ‘/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy6/energy_performance_preference’: Device or resource busy (26)

Relevant System Information:
Dell XPS 13 9380

Screenshots or Error Messages:

Failed to communicate with power-profiles-daemon: g-io-error-quark: GDBus.Error:org.gtk.GDBus.UnmappedGError.Quark._g_2dio_2derror_2dquark.Code26: Failed to activate CPU driver 'intel_pstate': Error writing '/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy6/energy_performance_preference': Device or resource busy (26)

What I’ve Tried: I’ve tried the GUI and the terminal, to no effect. I’ve also tried logging out/in, and rebooting.

Any ideas?

1fallen · April 13, 2025, 6:13pm

I use a lot of CLI no GUI’s, but if you could give this a try:
I’m already in performance:

echo performance | sudo tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor
[sudo] password for me:
performance

Mine back to balanced or powersaver:

echo powersave | sudo tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor
powersave

A good view is:

grep . /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor:powersave
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu10/cpufreq/scaling_governor:powersave
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu11/cpufreq/scaling_governor:powersave
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_governor:powersave
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_governor:powersave
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_governor:powersave
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu4/cpufreq/scaling_governor:powersave
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu5/cpufreq/scaling_governor:powersave
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu6/cpufreq/scaling_governor:powersave
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu7/cpufreq/scaling_governor:powersave
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu8/cpufreq/scaling_governor:powersave
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu9/cpufreq/scaling_governor:powersave

eeickmeyer · April 13, 2025, 6:15pm

It’s possible that it only has one mode, or that the particular control is unavailable on that architecture as it’s an 8th generation Intel. I’ve only had the power profiles work on 9th generation and higher.

EDIT: I thought it was an arm machine so had bad info.

1fallen · April 13, 2025, 6:20pm

Are you sure? I already checked the specs:

Processor: 8th Generation Intel Core i7-8565U Processor (8MB Cache, up to 4.6 GHz, 4 cores)
RAM: 16 G
Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620

eeickmeyer · April 13, 2025, 6:20pm

I wasn’t. However, that’s an 8th generation Intel, which might not support the power profiles. I’ve only ever had it work with Gen 9 and higher. Edited my post to fix.

eperea · April 13, 2025, 6:37pm

I’d previously tried

sudo powerprofilesctl set balanced and that’s where I got the Failed to communicate with power-profiles-daemon

I tried your suggestion and it got interesting:

echo performance | sudo tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor
performance

eugenio@cadmium:~$ echo balanced | sudo tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor
balanced
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

eperea · April 13, 2025, 6:38pm

I’ve used Performance, Balanced, and Power Saver for years on this machine. Never had an issue.

eeickmeyer · April 13, 2025, 6:39pm

Power profiles are different from the CPU governor. That’s likely what you’ve been controlling.

eperea · April 13, 2025, 6:42pm

Ok. Well, Power Modes are what have now stopped working and powerprofilesctl is ineffective, too.
Screenshot From 2025-04-13 12-42-59

eeickmeyer · April 13, 2025, 6:45pm

Well, the GUI and powerprofilesctl both control the power profiles, not the CPU governor.

1fallen · April 13, 2025, 6:49pm

Now that the smoke has cleared, please try:

powerprofilesctl set balanced

and check with:

 powerprofilesctl
###Mine after the change
powerprofilesctl
  performance:
    CpuDriver:	amd_pstate
    Degraded:   no

* balanced:
    CpuDriver:	amd_pstate
    PlatformDriver:	placeholder

  power-saver:
    CpuDriver:	amd_pstate
    PlatformDriver:	placeholder

The output will show the current power profile with an asterisk ‘*’ next to it.

eperea · April 13, 2025, 6:59pm

sudo powerprofilesctl set balanced

Failed to communicate with power-profiles-daemon: g-io-error-quark: GDBus.Error:org.gtk.GDBus.UnmappedGError.Quark._g_2dio_2derror_2dquark.Code26: Failed to activate CPU driver 'intel_pstate': Error writing '/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy6/energy_performance_preference': Device or resource busy (26)

And then:

powerprofilesctl

* performance:
    CpuDriver:	intel_pstate
    PlatformDriver:	platform_profile
    Degraded:   no

  balanced:
    CpuDriver:	intel_pstate
    PlatformDriver:	platform_profile

  power-saver:
    CpuDriver:	intel_pstate
    PlatformDriver:	platform_profile

1fallen · April 13, 2025, 7:02pm

Are you charging the lappy now?

eperea · April 13, 2025, 7:05pm

A-HA!

That was it!

Weeeerd. It had never been an issue before. It’s an old machine and I keep it plugged in most of the time. Do you know why this happened?

1fallen · April 13, 2025, 7:11pm

Not really, but an educated “guess” is just a quirk in the EPP system.
Kind of like some installers don’t work if the Laptop battery is un-plugged or low.

eperea · April 13, 2025, 7:25pm

Thank you very very much. I was going insane with the fan noise.

1fallen · April 13, 2025, 7:30pm

Happy to help, and keep your sanity.

system · April 16, 2025, 7:31pm

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