Broken virtualisation (and more) on ASRock AB350 Pro4

Software & Operating Systems
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21

Hmmm…

What output does this now give:

journalctl -k | egrep -i "tsc|clocksource"

Also @MarcT can you post your’s too as a comparison?

Apr 23 13:33:34 jupiter kernel: tsc: Fast TSC calibration failed
Apr 23 13:33:34 jupiter kernel: tsc: Using PIT calibration value
Apr 23 13:33:34 jupiter kernel: clocksource: refined-jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 6370452778343963 ns
Apr 23 13:33:34 jupiter kernel: clocksource: hpet: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 133484873504 ns
Apr 23 13:33:34 jupiter kernel: tsc: Fast TSC calibration failed
Apr 23 13:33:34 jupiter kernel: tsc: PIT calibration matches HPET. 1 loops
Apr 23 13:33:34 jupiter kernel: tsc: Detected 3393.265 MHz processor
Apr 23 13:33:34 jupiter kernel: clocksource: tsc-early: mask: 0xffffffffffffffff max_cycles: 0x30e974a77bc, max_idle_ns: 440795308615 ns
Apr 23 13:33:34 jupiter kernel: clocksource: jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 6370867519511994 ns
Apr 23 13:33:34 jupiter kernel: clocksource: Switched to clocksource tsc-early
Apr 23 13:33:34 jupiter kernel: clocksource: acpi_pm: mask: 0xffffff max_cycles: 0xffffff, max_idle_ns: 2085701024 ns
Apr 23 13:33:34 jupiter kernel: tsc: Refined TSC clocksource calibration: 3393.623 MHz
Apr 23 13:33:34 jupiter kernel: clocksource: tsc: mask: 0xffffffffffffffff max_cycles: 0x30eac649395, max_idle_ns: 440795252668 ns
Apr 23 13:33:34 jupiter kernel: clocksource: Switched to clocksource tsc
Apr 23 13:33:34 jupiter kernel: vboxdrv: TSC mode is Invariant, tentative frequency 3393610709 Hz

Note how calibration fails twice and then matches first hpet and then acpi_pm.
There’s something up with Ryzen and the clocksource calibration, particularly when overclocking.

22 
Apr 23 21:12:25 smeg kernel: tsc: Fast TSC calibration failed
Apr 23 21:12:25 smeg kernel: tsc: Using PIT calibration value
Apr 23 21:12:25 smeg kernel: clocksource: refined-jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 6370452778343963 ns
Apr 23 21:12:25 smeg kernel: clocksource: hpet: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 133484873504 ns
Apr 23 21:12:25 smeg kernel: tsc: Fast TSC calibration failed
Apr 23 21:12:25 smeg kernel: tsc: PIT calibration matches HPET. 1 loops
Apr 23 21:12:25 smeg kernel: tsc: Detected 2993.962 MHz processor
Apr 23 21:12:25 smeg kernel: clocksource: tsc-early: mask: 0xffffffffffffffff max_cycles: 0x2b27fd42f6e, max_idle_ns: 440795240346 ns
Apr 23 21:12:25 smeg kernel: clocksource: jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 6370867519511994 ns
Apr 23 21:12:25 smeg kernel: clocksource: Switched to clocksource tsc-early
Apr 23 21:12:25 smeg kernel: clocksource: acpi_pm: mask: 0xffffff max_cycles: 0xffffff, max_idle_ns: 2085701024 ns
Apr 23 21:12:25 smeg kernel: tsc: Refined TSC clocksource calibration: 2994.373 MHz
Apr 23 21:12:25 smeg kernel: clocksource: tsc: mask: 0xffffffffffffffff max_cycles: 0x2b2981a153b, max_idle_ns: 440795305653 ns
Apr 23 21:12:25 smeg kernel: clocksource: Switched to clocksource tsc
Apr 23 21:12:25 smeg kernel: vboxdrv: TSC mode is Invariant, tentative frequency 2994354421 Hz
1 Like
23

Here’s mine (NB: Slackware doesn’t have systemd or journalctl, so dmesg for me):

root@deepthought:~# dmesg | egrep -i "tsc|clocksource"
[    0.000000] tsc: Fast TSC calibration failed
[    0.000000] tsc: Using PIT calibration value
[    0.000000] clocksource: refined-jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 1910969940391419 ns
[    0.000000] clocksource: hpet: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 133484873504 ns
[    0.000000] tsc: Fast TSC calibration failed
[    0.002000] tsc: PIT calibration matches HPET. 1 loops
[    0.002000] tsc: Detected 3600.011 MHz processor
[    0.043420] clocksource: jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 1911260446275000 ns
[    0.310039] clocksource: Switched to clocksource hpet
[    0.322039] clocksource: acpi_pm: mask: 0xffffff max_cycles: 0xffffff, max_idle_ns: 2085701024 ns
[    1.503318] tsc: Refined TSC clocksource calibration: 3600.282 MHz
[    1.503876] clocksource: tsc: mask: 0xffffffffffffffff max_cycles: 0x33e55d41bc4, max_idle_ns: 440795207871 ns
[    2.511970] clocksource: Switched to clocksource tsc
[   31.673139] vboxdrv: TSC mode is Invariant, tentative frequency 3600241268 Hz
1 Like
24

As an aside, my system does have PS/2 KB & mouse.

25

Interesting how this has the same timer calibration problem. Then succeeds later.
Something is up with the TSC Calibration code for Ryzen, in particular when overclocking via the BIOS things go out of whack.

Unfortunately kernel timers is not my specialty, I know enough to poke around but this may require an expert to review what exactly is going on here.

Of Note:

On an Intel Ivy Bridge system, not even a single failure of any sort.

Apr 23 09:24:56 saturn kernel: tsc: Fast TSC calibration using PIT
Apr 23 09:24:56 saturn kernel: clocksource: refined-jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 1910969940391419 ns
Apr 23 09:24:56 saturn kernel: clocksource: hpet: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 133484882848 ns
Apr 23 09:24:56 saturn kernel: tsc: Fast TSC calibration using PIT
Apr 23 09:24:56 saturn kernel: tsc: Detected 2494.496 MHz processor
Apr 23 09:24:56 saturn kernel: TSC deadline timer enabled
Apr 23 09:24:56 saturn kernel: clocksource: jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 1911260446275000 ns
Apr 23 09:24:56 saturn kernel: clocksource: Switched to clocksource hpet
Apr 23 09:24:56 saturn kernel: clocksource: acpi_pm: mask: 0xffffff max_cycles: 0xffffff, max_idle_ns: 2085701024 ns
Apr 23 09:24:56 saturn kernel: tsc: Refined TSC clocksource calibration: 2494.333 MHz
Apr 23 09:24:56 saturn kernel: clocksource: tsc: mask: 0xffffffffffffffff max_cycles: 0x23f45085418, max_idle_ns: 440795285711 ns
Apr 23 09:24:56 saturn kernel: clocksource: Switched to clocksource tsc

If I look at the tsc.c code the calibration issues may have to do with alternative clock sources not being available yet for some reason?

1 Like
26

That’s progress…! :slight_smile:

27

Yeah this is pretty much narrowed down to clocksource calibration now.
VM’s in particular are sensitive to this.

Possibly somewhere in between the BIOS update, tsc calibration and overclocking something has broken for sure. I do remember that TSC calibration wasn’t always an issue. On early BIOS versions I had some mad overclocks + running VM’s without any timer issues.

28

@wendell You might be interested to have a look here. Have a look if you can reproduce this.

2 Likes
29

Thanks for your input guys, for now I’m just glad I can get some work done. I’ll take a look at overclocking from within Linux later.

2 Likes
30

So, I updated the ASRock x370 Taichi BIOS 4.60 to 4.70, and also updated the kernel. Now I have this exact same problem. I suspect the BIOS update caused it.

Performance in my Win10 VM in VirtualBox now sucks.

root@deepthought:/home/marc# dmesg | egrep -i "clock|TSC"
[    0.000000] tsc: Fast TSC calibration using PIT
[    0.000000] clocksource: refined-jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 1910969940391419 ns
[    0.000000] clocksource: hpet: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 133484873504 ns
[    0.000000] hpet clockevent registered
[    0.000000] tsc: Fast TSC calibration using PIT
[    0.001000] tsc: Detected 3600.317 MHz processor
[    0.022000] TSC synchronization [CPU#0 -> CPU#1]:
[    0.022000] Measured 4775348882 cycles TSC warp between CPUs, turning off TSC clock.
[    0.022000] tsc: Marking TSC unstable due to check_tsc_sync_source failed
[    0.028109] clocksource: jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 1911260446275000 ns
[    0.244682] acpi PNP0A08:00: _OSC: OS supports [ExtendedConfig ASPM ClockPM Segments MSI]
[    0.291032] clocksource: Switched to clocksource hpet
[    0.302701] clocksource: acpi_pm: mask: 0xffffff max_cycles: 0xffffff, max_idle_ns: 2085701024 ns
[    0.422562] clocksource: tsc: mask: 0xffffffffffffffff max_cycles: 0x33e57f72b0e, max_idle_ns: 440795387883 ns
[    8.610009] PTP clock support registered
[   17.520286] vboxdrv: TSC mode is Invariant, tentative frequency 3800917500 Hz

zenstates output has changed from stock too.

ISTR there is an ASRock auto over-clock in the UEFI, so I’m off to disable that now. BRB

31

Nope - it wasn’t that. It was the setting labelled “Sapphire Boost”.

I didn’t have it enabled before & switching it off resolved the TSC sync issue that caused poor VM performance/stability.

32

Not sure if you resolved the issue but I ran into the same issue last night after upgrading from v3.2 to v3.4/v4.90. Stumbled upon your thread to confirm I wasn’t the only one with this issue thought I am using windows instead of linux. But I was also using virtualization for linux… though window vm was having the same performance issue.

created 3 threads in reddit but didn’t get an answer.

Finally ran into this http://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=8141&title=asrock-ab350-pro4-470-attempted-write-to-readonly saying to revert back to a previous firmware everything is working now as expected. see : https://i.imgur.com/Q7KiQOH.png I couldn’t even get to the installer before

You must flash to bridge 3.4 and then to a stable firmware… for me that was v3.2… I don’t trust v3.3

I hope this helps.

I’m running windows 10 pro 1803

System details: Graphics Chipset - Radeon ™ RX 480 Graphics Windows Version - Windows 10 (64 bit) System Memory - 16 GB CPU Type - AMD Ryzen 5 1600 Six-Core Processor