Nvidia-powerd.service aborts, failing with 'Error, could not open file for reading CPU frequency.0' (driver 570.144)

Graphics / Linux Linux
1

I am having an issue on my laptop running latest Arch Linux with the nvidia-powerd.service systemd unit failing. My laptop should support Dynamic Boost as proven by the specifications provided below. I’ve checked the documentation to verify that the configuration of nvidia-powerd.service is indeed correct on my system.

The system is a laptop MSI Pulse GL66 11UEK with Nvidia 3060 Laptop GPU.

Linux (KDE) Info:

Operating System: Arch Linux 
KDE Plasma Version: 6.3.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.13.0
Qt Version: 6.9.0
Kernel Version: 6.14.4-arch1-2 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 16 × 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-11800H @ 2.30GHz
Memory: 31.0 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor 1: Intel® UHD Graphics
Graphics Processor 2: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU

Nvidia Info:
/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0000:01:00.0/information

Model:           NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU
IRQ:             180
GPU UUID:        GPU-98ecba1d-446c-db2e-e6f9-29f6cd8ac9e8
Video BIOS:      94.06.16.00.4b
Bus Type:        PCIe
DMA Size:        47 bits
DMA Mask:        0x7fffffffffff
Bus Location:    0000:01:00.0
Device Minor:    0
GPU Firmware:    570.144
GPU Excluded:    No

/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0000:01:00.0/power

Runtime D3 status:          Enabled (fine-grained)
Video Memory:               Off

GPU Hardware Support:
 Video Memory Self Refresh: Supported
 Video Memory Off:          Supported

S0ix Power Management:
 Platform Support:          Not Supported
 Status:                    Disabled

Notebook Dynamic Boost:     Supported

The systemd unit status reports the following:

× nvidia-powerd.service - nvidia-powerd service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/nvidia-powerd.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
     Active: failed (Result: core-dump) since Wed 2025-04-30 22:45:58 CEST; 24s ago
   Duration: 1.712s
 Invocation: e3e728545401496592dc0355c2f6f5f1
    Process: 867 ExecStart=/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd (code=dumped, signal=ABRT)
   Main PID: 867 (code=dumped, signal=ABRT)
   Mem peak: 1.7M
        CPU: 28ms

Apr 30 22:45:56 generalg systemd[1]: Started nvidia-powerd service.
Apr 30 22:45:56 generalg /usr/bin/nvidia-powerd[867]: nvidia-powerd version:1.0(build 1)
Apr 30 22:45:57 generalg /usr/bin/nvidia-powerd[867]: Error, could not open file for reading CPU frequency.0
Apr 30 22:45:57 generalg /usr/bin/nvidia-powerd[867]: Error, could not open file for reading CPU frequency.0
Apr 30 22:45:57 generalg nvidia-powerd[867]: terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::runtime_error'
Apr 30 22:45:57 generalg nvidia-powerd[867]:   what():  cpuid_error
Apr 30 22:45:58 generalg systemd-coredump[1208]: [🡕] Process 867 (nvidia-powerd) of user 0 dumped core.
                                                 
                                                 Module /usr/bin/nvidia-powerd without build-id.
                                                 Stack trace of thread 1206:
                                                 #0  0x000076b8c381374c n/a (libc.so.6 + 0x9774c)
                                                 #1  0x000076b8c37b9dc0 raise (libc.so.6 + 0x3ddc0)
                                                 #2  0x000076b8c37a157a abort (libc.so.6 + 0x2557a)
                                                 #3  0x000000000041d445 n/a (/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd + 0x1d445)
                                                 #4  0x000000000041bdc6 n/a (/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd + 0x1bdc6)
                                                 #5  0x000000000041be01 n/a (/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd + 0x1be01)
                                                 #6  0x000000000041bca3 n/a (/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd + 0x1bca3)
                                                 #7  0x000000000040e00f n/a (/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd + 0xe00f)
                                                 #8  0x000000000040e36f n/a (/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd + 0xe36f)
                                                 #9  0x00000000004052d2 n/a (/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd + 0x52d2)
                                                 #10 0x000076b8c38117eb n/a (libc.so.6 + 0x957eb)
                                                 #11 0x000076b8c389518c n/a (libc.so.6 + 0x11918c)
                                                 
                                                 Stack trace of thread 1205:
                                                 #0  0x000076b8c3b0470b n/a (ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 + 0x2470b)
                                                 #1  0x000076b8c3aee04f n/a (ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 + 0xe04f)
                                                 #2  0x000076b8c3aecb9b n/a (ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 + 0xcb9b)
                                                 #3  0x000076b8c3ae2416 _dl_catch_exception (ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 + 0x2416)
                                                 #4  0x000076b8c3aec03c n/a (ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 + 0xc03c)
                                                 #5  0x000076b8c3ae2416 _dl_catch_exception (ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 + 0x2416)
                                                 #6  0x000076b8c3aec4de n/a (ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 + 0xc4de)
                                                 #7  0x000076b8c380db34 n/a (libc.so.6 + 0x91b34)
                                                 #8  0x000076b8c3ae2416 _dl_catch_exception (ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 + 0x2416)
                                                 #9  0x000076b8c3ae2569 n/a (ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 + 0x2569)
                                                 #10 0x000076b8c380d623 n/a (libc.so.6 + 0x91623)
                                                 #11 0x000076b8c380dbeb dlopen (libc.so.6 + 0x91beb)
                                                 #12 0x0000000000407302 n/a (/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd + 0x7302)
                                                 #13 0x00000000004070aa n/a (/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd + 0x70aa)
                                                 #14 0x0000000000407181 n/a (/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd + 0x7181)
                                                 #15 0x000076b8c38117eb n/a (libc.so.6 + 0x957eb)
                                                 #16 0x000076b8c389518c n/a (libc.so.6 + 0x11918c)
                                                 
                                                 Stack trace of thread 867:
                                                 #0  0x000076b8c3890ecd ioctl (libc.so.6 + 0x114ecd)
                                                 #1  0x0000000000411299 n/a (/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd + 0x11299)
                                                 #2  0x0000000000412572 n/a (/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd + 0x12572)
                                                 #3  0x000000000041346b n/a (/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd + 0x1346b)
                                                 #4  0x0000000000404360 n/a (/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd + 0x4360)
                                                 #5  0x00000000004031ca n/a (/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd + 0x31ca)
                                                 #6  0x000000000040362f n/a (/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd + 0x362f)
                                                 #7  0x000000000040302d n/a (/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd + 0x302d)
                                                 #8  0x000000000040299e n/a (/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd + 0x299e)
                                                 #9  0x000076b8c37a36b5 n/a (libc.so.6 + 0x276b5)
                                                 #10 0x000076b8c37a3769 __libc_start_main (libc.so.6 + 0x27769)
                                                 #11 0x0000000000402b35 n/a (/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd + 0x2b35)
                                                 ELF object binary architecture: AMD x86-64
Apr 30 22:45:58 generalg systemd[1]: nvidia-powerd.service: Main process exited, code=dumped, status=6/ABRT
Apr 30 22:45:58 generalg systemd[1]: nvidia-powerd.service: Failed with result 'core-dump'.
2

I too face the same issue. My laptop is Acer Nitro V15 ANV15-51 with Nvidia 4050 Laptop GPU. I am running Fedora 42 KDE.

Nvidia Info:
/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0000:01:00.0/information

Model:           NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU
IRQ:             197
GPU UUID:        GPU-2ca17e95-0022-2199-f652-c9492f7926fc
Video BIOS:      95.07.32.00.35
Bus Type:        PCIe
DMA Size:        47 bits
DMA Mask:        0x7fffffffffff
Bus Location:    0000:01:00.0
Device Minor:    0
GPU Excluded:    No

/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0000:01:00.0/power


Runtime D3 status:          Enabled (fine-grained)
Video Memory:               Active

GPU Hardware Support:
 Video Memory Self Refresh: Supported
 Video Memory Off:          Supported

S0ix Power Management:
 Platform Support:          Not Supported
 Status:                    Disabled

Notebook Dynamic Boost:     Supported

systemctl status nvidia-powerd.service

● nvidia-powerd.service - nvidia-powerd service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/nvidia-powerd.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/service.d
             └─10-timeout-abort.conf
     Active: active (running) since Tue 2025-05-13 08:11:07 IST; 5min ago
 Invocation: 77f07754b68f4c2a87555b7e2c97421c
   Main PID: 995 (nvidia-powerd)
      Tasks: 5 (limit: 18607)
     Memory: 8.4M (peak: 9.1M)
        CPU: 1.466s
     CGroup: /system.slice/nvidia-powerd.service
             └─995 /usr/bin/nvidia-powerd

May 13 08:11:07 Lovelace nvidia-powerd[995]: nvidia-powerd version:2.0 (build 1)
May 13 08:11:07 Lovelace systemd[1]: Started nvidia-powerd.service - nvidia-powerd service.
May 13 08:11:12 Lovelace nvidia-powerd[995]: DBus Connection is established
May 13 08:11:12 Lovelace nvidia-powerd[995]: ERROR! Error, could not open file for reading CPU frequency.0

nvidia-smi -q


==============NVSMI LOG==============

Timestamp                                 : Tue May 13 08:17:49 2025
Driver Version                            : 575.51.03
CUDA Version                              : 12.9

Attached GPUs                             : 1
GPU 00000000:01:00.0
    Product Name                          : NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU
    Product Brand                         : GeForce
    Product Architecture                  : Ada Lovelace
    Display Mode                          : Requested functionality has been deprecated
    Display Attached                      : No
    Display Active                        : Disabled
    Persistence Mode                      : Disabled
    Addressing Mode                       : None
    MIG Mode
        Current                           : N/A
        Pending                           : N/A
    Accounting Mode                       : Disabled
    Accounting Mode Buffer Size           : 4000
    Driver Model
        Current                           : N/A
        Pending                           : N/A
    Serial Number                         : N/A
    GPU UUID                              : GPU-2ca17e95-0022-2199-f652-c9492f7926fc
    Minor Number                          : 0
    VBIOS Version                         : 95.07.32.00.35
    MultiGPU Board                        : No
    Board ID                              : 0x100
    Board Part Number                     : N/A
    GPU Part Number                       : 28A1-750-A1
    FRU Part Number                       : N/A
    Platform Info
        Chassis Serial Number             : N/A
        Slot Number                       : N/A
        Tray Index                        : N/A
        Host ID                           : N/A
        Peer Type                         : N/A
        Module Id                         : 1
        GPU Fabric GUID                   : N/A
    Inforom Version
        Image Version                     : G002.0000.00.03
        OEM Object                        : 2.0
        ECC Object                        : N/A
        Power Management Object           : N/A
    Inforom BBX Object Flush
        Latest Timestamp                  : N/A
        Latest Duration                   : N/A
    GPU Operation Mode
        Current                           : N/A
        Pending                           : N/A
    GPU C2C Mode                          : N/A
    GPU Virtualization Mode
        Virtualization Mode               : None
        Host VGPU Mode                    : N/A
        vGPU Heterogeneous Mode           : N/A
    GPU Reset Status
        Reset Required                    : Requested functionality has been deprecated
        Drain and Reset Recommended       : Requested functionality has been deprecated
    GPU Recovery Action                   : None
    GSP Firmware Version                  : N/A
    IBMNPU
        Relaxed Ordering Mode             : N/A
    PCI
        Bus                               : 0x01
        Device                            : 0x00
        Domain                            : 0x0000
        Base Classcode                    : 0x3
        Sub Classcode                     : 0x0
        Device Id                         : 0x28A110DE
        Bus Id                            : 00000000:01:00.0
        Sub System Id                     : 0x171E1025
        GPU Link Info
            PCIe Generation
                Max                       : 4
                Current                   : 1
                Device Current            : 1
                Device Max                : 4
                Host Max                  : 4
            Link Width
                Max                       : 8x
                Current                   : 4x
        Bridge Chip
            Type                          : N/A
            Firmware                      : N/A
        Replays Since Reset               : 0
        Replay Number Rollovers           : 0
        Tx Throughput                     : 50 KB/s
        Rx Throughput                     : 0 KB/s
        Atomic Caps Outbound              : N/A
        Atomic Caps Inbound               : N/A
    Fan Speed                             : N/A
    Performance State                     : P8
    Clocks Event Reasons
        Idle                              : Active
        Applications Clocks Setting       : Not Active
        SW Power Cap                      : Not Active
        HW Slowdown                       : Not Active
            HW Thermal Slowdown           : Not Active
            HW Power Brake Slowdown       : Not Active
        Sync Boost                        : Not Active
        SW Thermal Slowdown               : Not Active
        Display Clock Setting             : Not Active
    Clocks Event Reasons Counters
        SW Power Capping                  : 7956699 us
        Sync Boost                        : 0 us
        SW Thermal Slowdown               : 7956699 us
        HW Thermal Slowdown               : 0 us
        HW Power Braking                  : 0 us
    Sparse Operation Mode                 : N/A
    FB Memory Usage
        Total                             : 6141 MiB
        Reserved                          : 123 MiB
        Used                              : 2 MiB
        Free                              : 6018 MiB
    BAR1 Memory Usage
        Total                             : 8192 MiB
        Used                              : 2 MiB
        Free                              : 8190 MiB
    Conf Compute Protected Memory Usage
        Total                             : 0 MiB
        Used                              : 0 MiB
        Free                              : 0 MiB
    Compute Mode                          : Default
    Utilization
        GPU                               : 0 %
        Memory                            : 0 %
        Encoder                           : 0 %
        Decoder                           : 0 %
        JPEG                              : 0 %
        OFA                               : 0 %
    Encoder Stats
        Active Sessions                   : 0
        Average FPS                       : 0
        Average Latency                   : 0
    FBC Stats
        Active Sessions                   : 0
        Average FPS                       : 0
        Average Latency                   : 0
    DRAM Encryption Mode
        Current                           : N/A
        Pending                           : N/A
    ECC Mode
        Current                           : N/A
        Pending                           : N/A
    ECC Errors
        Volatile
            SRAM Correctable              : N/A
            SRAM Uncorrectable Parity     : N/A
            SRAM Uncorrectable SEC-DED    : N/A
            DRAM Correctable              : N/A
            DRAM Uncorrectable            : N/A
        Aggregate
            SRAM Correctable              : N/A
            SRAM Uncorrectable Parity     : N/A
            SRAM Uncorrectable SEC-DED    : N/A
            DRAM Correctable              : N/A
            DRAM Uncorrectable            : N/A
            SRAM Threshold Exceeded       : N/A
        Aggregate Uncorrectable SRAM Sources
            SRAM L2                       : N/A
            SRAM SM                       : N/A
            SRAM Microcontroller          : N/A
            SRAM PCIE                     : N/A
            SRAM Other                    : N/A
    Retired Pages
        Single Bit ECC                    : N/A
        Double Bit ECC                    : N/A
        Pending Page Blacklist            : N/A
    Remapped Rows
        Correctable Error                 : 0
        Uncorrectable Error               : 0
        Pending                           : No
        Remapping Failure Occurred        : No
        Bank Remap Availability Histogram
            Max                           : 64 bank(s)
            High                          : 0 bank(s)
            Partial                       : 0 bank(s)
            Low                           : 0 bank(s)
            None                          : 0 bank(s)
    Temperature
        GPU Current Temp                  : 43 C
        GPU T.Limit Temp                  : 44 C
        GPU Shutdown T.Limit Temp         : -12 C
        GPU Slowdown T.Limit Temp         : -2 C
        GPU Max Operating T.Limit Temp    : 0 C
        GPU Target Temperature            : 87 C
        Memory Current Temp               : N/A
        Memory Max Operating T.Limit Temp : N/A
    GPU Power Readings
        Average Power Draw                : 1.45 W
        Instantaneous Power Draw          : 1.45 W
        Current Power Limit               : 60.00 W
        Requested Power Limit             : 60.00 W
        Default Power Limit               : 60.00 W
        Min Power Limit                   : 5.00 W
        Max Power Limit                   : 75.00 W
    GPU Memory Power Readings 
        Average Power Draw                : N/A
        Instantaneous Power Draw          : N/A
    Module Power Readings
        Average Power Draw                : N/A
        Instantaneous Power Draw          : N/A
        Current Power Limit               : N/A
        Requested Power Limit             : N/A
        Default Power Limit               : N/A
        Min Power Limit                   : N/A
        Max Power Limit                   : N/A
    Power Smoothing                       : N/A
    Workload Power Profiles
        Requested Profiles                : N/A
        Enforced Profiles                 : N/A
    Clocks
        Graphics                          : 210 MHz
        SM                                : 210 MHz
        Memory                            : 405 MHz
        Video                             : 765 MHz
    Applications Clocks
        Graphics                          : N/A
        Memory                            : N/A
    Default Applications Clocks
        Graphics                          : N/A
        Memory                            : N/A
    Deferred Clocks
        Memory                            : N/A
    Max Clocks
        Graphics                          : 3105 MHz
        SM                                : 3105 MHz
        Memory                            : 8001 MHz
        Video                             : 2415 MHz
    Max Customer Boost Clocks
        Graphics                          : N/A
    Clock Policy
        Auto Boost                        : N/A
        Auto Boost Default                : N/A
    Voltage
        Graphics                          : Requested functionality has been deprecated
    Fabric
        State                             : N/A
        Status                            : N/A
        CliqueId                          : N/A
        ClusterUUID                       : N/A
        Health
            Bandwidth                     : N/A
            Route Recovery in progress    : N/A
            Route Unhealthy               : N/A
            Access Timeout Recovery       : N/A
    Processes                             : None
    Capabilities
        EGM                               : disabled
3

I can confirm that this error is caused by the CPU frequency scaling driver. nvidia-powerd service requires access to a specific file at /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/base_frequency.

This file however is only present when using the intel_pstate driver. With AMD CPU this would be amd_pstate. You can check which one is in use using this command: cpupower frequency-info. (You might have to download a package providing the command.)

I had to enable a setting in BIOS called Intel Speed Step Technology, which enabled hardware P-states on my laptop and so that allows the Linux kernel to load the intel_pstate driver, which means the required file is present and the nvidia-powerd service can function as intended.

You can read more about CPU frequency scaling in the arch wiki frequency scaling article.

4

Thanks. I had disabled intel pstate in grub and now removed, it is working.

1 Like
5

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