OverClocking 101

[dpaine88]

If it is allowing you to go down to 19.2 like you mentioned sounds to me like you have the wrong device selected now. I'd press menu and reselect what device. And in doing so make sure you select Autodetect. Anything else will cause nothing but issues as I've done it on accident myself before. If I were to guess it sounds like you have selected Custom frequencies

Edit: Shortly I'll upload a copy of P3's 1.0Ghz kernel with the 125Mhz slot. It is on my sons phone currently and I know for a fact it is allowing you to select 125Mhz. If it doesn't on your end there there is something else going on.

Here ya go LV-125-1000-v32kernel.zip - *********** - online file sharing and storage - download

Thanks for the help.

When I did the first uninstall/reinstall and reboot it did not ask me for the autodetect but on the second time it did and I was able to fix that problem.

Now I have it running fine, and P3 runs very stable and cool at 1.25Ghz compared to Chevy's which did not mesh with my Droid.

So now I'm back where I started with 1250/250mhz.

Thanks for the upload, pretty sure it is on my end but will download this file to double check it isn't corrupt or something.

EDIT: Used your file and it works!! Lets me select 125mhz.Thanks a ton. Not sure what was wrong with the ones I downloaded.

Any chance you could be awesome and upload a 1.25ghz P3 copy?

EDIT 2: Man wtf...Downloaded the 1.25 one on my computer here at work, and once again back to 1250/250mhz. Yours did work though, but I would love to have the 1.25Ghz option.

 

[dpaine88]

Good news everyone!

All BUT 1.25Ghz give me the 125mhz option, so 1.20 Ghz will have to do

Thanks for all the advice:heart:

 

[YankInDaSouth]

Skull,
Great information, thanks for all the hard work!!

I followed you advice and started testing kernels on my phone (Chevy's kernels cuz I am running Simply Stunning). Started with the medium voltages like you suggested and found my phone ran MUCH cooler with the medium voltages! Prior to using the medium voltages I was having heat issues (especially when using the browser) and often my browser (I use Dolphin) would just close and bring me back to the home screen.

Anyway, I conducted these medium voltage kernel tests at work (yeah, it's REAL slow) and everything was running great! Got up to Chevy's medV-1.1Gz kernel and everything was running smooth and more importantly cooler. I downloaded OS Monitor so I could keep an eye on the CPU temp and then I would open the browser and do some serious browsing to see what the temp would do. Everything was great - about 5-6 degree rise after 5-10 minutes of browsing like that. THEN, I get home ... same ROM, same kernel, same theme. I go to test again and first start with a temp check. CPU at 95 degrees. Open the browser (just one window) and within 2 minutes the temp is up to 104, 5 minutes I'm up to 114 then eventually 120 when I close everything down to let it cool off.

Sorry for such a long post but I am just wondering why it seems like I have 2 different phones! Should I throttle back with SetCPU when I get home to avoid over heating?

 

[Skull One]

Skull,
Great information, thanks for all the hard work!!

I followed you advice and started testing kernels on my phone (Chevy's kernels cuz I am running Simply Stunning). Started with the medium voltages like you suggested and found my phone ran MUCH cooler with the medium voltages! Prior to using the medium voltages I was having heat issues (especially when using the browser) and often my browser (I use Dolphin) would just close and bring me back to the home screen.

Anyway, I conducted these medium voltage kernel tests at work (yeah, it's REAL slow) and everything was running great! Got up to Chevy's medV-1.1Gz kernel and everything was running smooth and more importantly cooler. I downloaded OS Monitor so I could keep an eye on the CPU temp and then I would open the browser and do some serious browsing to see what the temp would do. Everything was great - about 5-6 degree rise after 5-10 minutes of browsing like that. THEN, I get home ... same ROM, same kernel, same theme. I go to test again and first start with a temp check. CPU at 95 degrees. Open the browser (just one window) and within 2 minutes the temp is up to 104, 5 minutes I'm up to 114 then eventually 120 when I close everything down to let it cool off.

Sorry for such a long post but I am just wondering why it seems like I have 2 different phones! Should I throttle back with SetCPU when I get home to avoid over heating?

I am going to throw out my first instinct, which could be a complete miss:

You were on WiFi at work and 3G at home when the tests were done.

My second instinct, which might also be a miss is:

You were on 3G at work and at -82 decibels or more (closer to 0 is better in this case) and you were on WiFi at home with only a 35% to 40% signal strength.

Both conditions are technically the same. Your phone was using more power to make up for a weaker signal at home than at work.

If neither is the case, then the next step would be to look at what your phone is running and what kind of updating/pulling/pushing of data is going on as well as are you running an app that changes Bluetooth/GPS/Screen Brightness when you are at different locations. There is a whole "ton of stuff" that could be making the difference.

 

[YankInDaSouth]

I am going to throw out my first instinct, which could be a complete miss:

You were on WiFi at work and 3G at home when the tests were done.

My second instinct, which might also be a miss is:

You were on 3G at work and at -82 decibels or more (closer to 0 is better in this case) and you were on WiFi at home with only a 35% to 40% signal strength.

Both conditions are technically the same. Your phone was using more power to make up for a weaker signal at home than at work.

If neither is the case, then the next step would be to look at what your phone is running and what kind of updating/pulling/pushing of data is going on as well as are you running an app that changes Bluetooth/GPS/Screen Brightness when you are at different locations. There is a whole "ton of stuff" that could be making the difference.

Thanks for the quick reply!

I was using 3G at both locations - Just found out how to check it and at work I am getting between 81-83 dBm 0asu. I'm curious to see what I'll get when I get home. If i could just get my Wi-Fi to work right at home I wouldn't have this issue :icon_evil:

 

[Skull One]

I am going to throw out my first instinct, which could be a complete miss:

You were on WiFi at work and 3G at home when the tests were done.

My second instinct, which might also be a miss is:

You were on 3G at work and at -82 decibels or more (closer to 0 is better in this case) and you were on WiFi at home with only a 35% to 40% signal strength.

Both conditions are technically the same. Your phone was using more power to make up for a weaker signal at home than at work.

If neither is the case, then the next step would be to look at what your phone is running and what kind of updating/pulling/pushing of data is going on as well as are you running an app that changes Bluetooth/GPS/Screen Brightness when you are at different locations. There is a whole "ton of stuff" that could be making the difference.

Thanks for the quick reply!

I was using 3G at both locations - Just found out how to check it and at work I am getting between 81-83 dBm 0asu. I'm curious to see what I'll get when I get home. If i could just get my Wi-Fi to work right at home I wouldn't have this issue :icon_evil:

I didn't even think of the double 3G situation. Rough guess, 92 to 96 dBm a home if you are pulling that much more battery at home.

 

[YankInDaSouth]

I didn't even think of the double 3G situation. Rough guess, 92 to 96 dBm a home if you are pulling that much more battery at home.

DAMN, you're good!! 92 dBm.
I just disabled Timeriffic and tried my WiFi, I've been browsing for 20 minutes now!! That's the longest ever!!! I did have to close and reopen the browser once, but I think that was the page I was on not my WiFi. AND after 20+ minutes of WiFi browsing my CPU temp is a COOL 87.8 degrees!!

Edit: I have to give credit for disabling Timeriffic to solve the WiFi issue to Bugless Fan ...
http://www.droidforums.net/forum/bu...aving-wifi-problems-thread-11.html#post662450

 

[TuBitMittens]

I still feel like I can't get settled with my battery life. I just hate the fact that there isn't an ultimate suggestion cuz everybody's phone runs different. now I'm the type of guy who can't take his hands of his phone, and I've been obsessing so much with my battery recently and constantly switching kernels and themes but I can't find that "sweet spot" if I wanna use my phone for like 5 minutes at a time between browsing the web and what not. I guess you can call me a pretty heavy user. But it seems like I'm only lucky enough to barely get 8 hours of battery life on a charge if I'm really not using my phone that much and I hate that. I really hate all this experimentation cuz it drives my patience. Before I rooted my phone I would use it a lot and it seemed like I was getting a lot more usage out of it. Of course I always have the settings off that I'm not using and all that general jazz. Right now I'm on the latest froyo build FRG01B with no theme on it.
I have setcpu with the default kernel and these are my profiles.(max-min, from left to right)

Screen off: 500-125, priority100, on demand
charge/full: 500-125, priority 99, on demand
temp>39.1c: 600-250, priority 98, on demand
battery<70%, 700-125, priority 97, on demand
battery<50%, 550-125, priority 96, on demand

Again, I know everyone has different results and there are so many variables to this kinda stuff but I'm wondering what you guys think of these profiles??? sometimes I'll leave some of them off in hope of saving battery, but it's really hard for me as a noob to make sense of it all. Just for extra info, the default kernel runs at 125 min and a max of 600 mhz, but I'm guessing a lot of you experts knew that already. I took my phone off the charge at like 11 something in the morning, didn't use it too much to a little later. I did have one freeze where i had to reboot my phone which luckily doesn't happen to often. Right now its around 5:15 pm at the time of my post and I have 30 % left which isn't the worst but I am still aiming for better. WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?? IS IT JUST MY USAGE??? IS THERE REALLY SUCH A THING AS A SO CALLED MODERATE TO HEAVY USER WHO GETS 15 HOURS OF BATTERY ON A ROOTED PHONE??
sorry for the long post. I've been ocd'ing CRAZY with my battery life, it's sad. I just wanna enjoy the damn phone but I'm having trouble doing that which is BEYOND PATHETIC, and I feel like I'm getting overwhelmed with this more than I should be.
And this is a bit off topic from overclocking but my battery info CHANGES COMPLETELY ONCE I INSTALL THE BLACK GLASS THEME. My display shows it's been using like 45% of battery RIGHT FROM WHEN I BOOT IT.
I know in reality the display uses the most power but I still think something is wrong with that.
thank you for reading my VEEERRY LONG POST.

 

[TuBitMittens]

I think it just comes down to "every droid is different". Sometime I think I was just better off running stock and not knowing whats going on with it but its just a major frustration at this point. :icon_evil:

This is MY EXACT THOUGHT. I can't help but to hack everything I own. lol then its a whole 'nother deal once you can do things you couldn't have done before. But I feel it also gets me even more anxious than I should be. To think these stupid things were ONCE USED FOR JUST TALKING TO PEOPLE....wow:icon_eek:

 

[dpaine88]

No expert here, but I'll try and offer my advice TuBitMittens.

1st, if the default clock is 600mhz max, how do you have it to 700mhz when battery is <70%? Is this a typo?
And why do you have the clock speed at max(600) when the temp is getting hot?

Secondly, I too have been searching for this "sweet spot".

I have mine clocked to 1.20Ghz and get at least 10+ hours so you running at basically stock should be a pretty damn solid battery life.

Like you, the past 2 weeks I had been goin crazy doing all this testing, constantly changing kernels etc.

What kernels have you been using? You said your on stock right now, did CHevy's or P3 not work for you?

I would try out different kernels, and try to get a Low Volt or Ultra-Low Volt one on there since lower voltage should hypothetically give you better battery life. I would assume the stock one is Standard Voltage.

Also, I would try a custom ROM, as they have a lot of battery/performance tweaks to them. I use Bugless Beast v0.4(which is Froyo) and love it.

In the past few days I installed JuiceDefender and found that worked wonders for me. Some don't like it though so give it a shot.

Aside from all the technical ****, you may have heard this 1000 times but whatever:

Create a "Power Options" widget(comes with it) and follow this advice.
Keep your display on low as often as you can
Keep all the other stuff, GPS, WiFi, Sync etc, off unless you need it.
Oh , and keep your display turnoff at like 30 or 15 seconds.



Hope I helped man

 

[Skull One]

I still feel like I can't get settled with my battery life. I just hate the fact that there isn't an ultimate suggestion cuz everybody's phone runs different. now I'm the type of guy who can't take his hands of his phone, and I've been obsessing so much with my battery recently and constantly switching kernels and themes but I can't find that "sweet spot" if I wanna use my phone for like 5 minutes at a time between browsing the web and what not. I guess you can call me a pretty heavy user. But it seems like I'm only lucky enough to barely get 8 hours of battery life on a charge if I'm really not using my phone that much and I hate that. I really hate all this experimentation cuz it drives my patience. Before I rooted my phone I would use it a lot and it seemed like I was getting a lot more usage out of it. Of course I always have the settings off that I'm not using and all that general jazz. Right now I'm on the latest froyo build FRG01B with no theme on it.
I have setcpu with the default kernel and these are my profiles.(max-min, from left to right)

Screen off: 500-125, priority100, on demand
charge/full: 500-125, priority 99, on demand
temp>39.1c: 600-250, priority 98, on demand
battery<70%, 700-125, priority 97, on demand
battery<50%, 550-125, priority 96, on demand

Again, I know everyone has different results and there are so many variables to this kinda stuff but I'm wondering what you guys think of these profiles??? sometimes I'll leave some of them off in hope of saving battery, but it's really hard for me as a noob to make sense of it all. Just for extra info, the default kernel runs at 125 min and a max of 600 mhz, but I'm guessing a lot of you experts knew that already. I took my phone off the charge at like 11 something in the morning, didn't use it too much to a little later. I did have one freeze where i had to reboot my phone which luckily doesn't happen to often. Right now its around 5:15 pm at the time of my post and I have 30 % left which isn't the worst but I am still aiming for better. WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?? IS IT JUST MY USAGE??? IS THERE REALLY SUCH A THING AS A SO CALLED MODERATE TO HEAVY USER WHO GETS 15 HOURS OF BATTERY ON A ROOTED PHONE??
sorry for the long post. I've been ocd'ing CRAZY with my battery life, it's sad. I just wanna enjoy the damn phone but I'm having trouble doing that which is BEYOND PATHETIC, and I feel like I'm getting overwhelmed with this more than I should be.
And this is a bit off topic from overclocking but my battery info CHANGES COMPLETELY ONCE I INSTALL THE BLACK GLASS THEME. My display shows it's been using like 45% of battery RIGHT FROM WHEN I BOOT IT.
I know in reality the display uses the most power but I still think something is wrong with that.
thank you for reading my VEEERRY LONG POST.

Would you be so kind and conduct a test for me?

Charge your phone to 100% and then wait an extra 30 minutes to an hour. If you decide to charge all night that will be perfect. Before you unplug it from the charger delete /data/system/batterystats.bin, then unplug the phone and use the phone normally.

Tell me what your results are for that day.

Thanks!

 

[TuBitMittens]

No expert here, but I'll try and offer my advice TuBitMittens.

1st, if the default clock is 600mhz max, how do you have it to 700mhz when battery is <70%? Is this a typo?
And why do you have the clock speed at max(600) when the temp is getting hot?

Secondly, I too have been searching for this "sweet spot".

I have mine clocked to 1.20Ghz and get at least 10+ hours so you running at basically stock should be a pretty damn solid battery life.

Like you, the past 2 weeks I had been goin crazy doing all this testing, constantly changing kernels etc. and I have the phone on 14 secs min and screen brightness on low so I got the basic stuff. thanks for your feedback.

What kernels have you been using? You said your on stock right now, did CHevy's or P3 not work for you?

I would try out different kernels, and try to get a Low Volt or Ultra-Low Volt one on there since lower voltage should hypothetically give you better battery life. I would assume the stock one is Standard Voltage.

Also, I would try a custom ROM, as they have a lot of battery/performance tweaks to them. I use Bugless Beast v0.4(which is Froyo) and love it.

In the past few days I installed JuiceDefender and found that worked wonders for me. Some don't like it though so give it a shot.

Aside from all the technical ****, you may have heard this 1000 times but whatever:

Create a "Power Options" widget(comes with it) and follow this advice.
Keep your display on low as often as you can
Keep all the other stuff, GPS, WiFi, Sync etc, off unless you need it.
Oh , and keep your display turnoff at like 30 or 15 seconds.



Hope I helped man

thanks. To the first question you asked. I just simply overclocked it and it let's me do it. Since it's not a custom kernel that goes into the ghz range I can go up to 800mhz. Unless you are questioning the logic of the settings, which I don't mind. Quite frankly I'm not quite sure what I'm doing so...yea
yes I have the widget and I tried the p3 kernels. I think I'm probably not letting my phone settle for enough time on specific settings to get the best out of it.
So are you just keeping it clocked at 1.20 ghz without profiles???
I've been switching between chevy and p3 low and ultra low voltages and have been having a tough time making up my mind. Perhaps I am just not setting good profiles or switching things too consistently to give my phone breathing time..
Vaguely speaking, I just wanna get decent speed from my phone while connected with the web while having a good method of getting maybe a good 12 hours of life on a charge with decent usage. I'm having a hard time organizing my settings quite frankly.
As far as general power saving methods go I think I'm good. low timeout rate power widget, brightness low, etc.

 

[dpaine88]

Oh no, I have profiles set. I use the ones Skull provided back on Page 1, Post #2 in this thread.

I was constantly changing my **** too the first 3 days and switched too much to really tell the difference.

I say find one thats stable, try it a couple days and then switch it up.

I barely put my phone down the first 48 hrs I rooted it and tried a million things. My advice is to take your time.

 

[TuBitMittens]

I still feel like I can't get settled with my battery life. I just hate the fact that there isn't an ultimate suggestion cuz everybody's phone runs different. now I'm the type of guy who can't take his hands of his phone, and I've been obsessing so much with my battery recently and constantly switching kernels and themes but I can't find that "sweet spot" if I wanna use my phone for like 5 minutes at a time between browsing the web and what not. I guess you can call me a pretty heavy user. But it seems like I'm only lucky enough to barely get 8 hours of battery life on a charge if I'm really not using my phone that much and I hate that. I really hate all this experimentation cuz it drives my patience. Before I rooted my phone I would use it a lot and it seemed like I was getting a lot more usage out of it. Of course I always have the settings off that I'm not using and all that general jazz. Right now I'm on the latest froyo build FRG01B with no theme on it.
I have setcpu with the default kernel and these are my profiles.(max-min, from left to right)

Screen off: 500-125, priority100, on demand
charge/full: 500-125, priority 99, on demand
temp>39.1c: 600-250, priority 98, on demand
battery<70%, 700-125, priority 97, on demand
battery<50%, 550-125, priority 96, on demand

Again, I know everyone has different results and there are so many variables to this kinda stuff but I'm wondering what you guys think of these profiles??? sometimes I'll leave some of them off in hope of saving battery, but it's really hard for me as a noob to make sense of it all. Just for extra info, the default kernel runs at 125 min and a max of 600 mhz, but I'm guessing a lot of you experts knew that already. I took my phone off the charge at like 11 something in the morning, didn't use it too much to a little later. I did have one freeze where i had to reboot my phone which luckily doesn't happen to often. Right now its around 5:15 pm at the time of my post and I have 30 % left which isn't the worst but I am still aiming for better. WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?? IS IT JUST MY USAGE??? IS THERE REALLY SUCH A THING AS A SO CALLED MODERATE TO HEAVY USER WHO GETS 15 HOURS OF BATTERY ON A ROOTED PHONE??
sorry for the long post. I've been ocd'ing CRAZY with my battery life, it's sad. I just wanna enjoy the damn phone but I'm having trouble doing that which is BEYOND PATHETIC, and I feel like I'm getting overwhelmed with this more than I should be.
And this is a bit off topic from overclocking but my battery info CHANGES COMPLETELY ONCE I INSTALL THE BLACK GLASS THEME. My display shows it's been using like 45% of battery RIGHT FROM WHEN I BOOT IT.
I know in reality the display uses the most power but I still think something is wrong with that.
thank you for reading my VEEERRY LONG POST.

Would you be so kind and conduct a test for me?

Charge your phone to 100% and then wait an extra 30 minutes to an hour. If you decide to charge all night that will be perfect. Before you unplug it from the charger delete /data/system/batterystats.bin, then unplug the phone and use the phone normally.

Tell me what your results are for that day.

Thanks!

I would gladly do a test for you. thanks.
just a few questions what is/where do I find this batterystats.bin??? I have the astro file manager so maybe I can find it in there??
An just an extra tidbit of info, I usually unplug my phone and then turn it off for a couple of minutes, don't know how much that makes a difference.
So for this experiment, should I disable setcpu and keep my phone at 600mhz max and 125 min??

 

[Skull One]

I would gladly do a test for you. thanks.
just a few questions what is/where do I find this batterystats.bin??? I have the astro file manager so maybe I can find it in there??
An just an extra tidbit of info, I usually unplug my phone and then turn it off for a couple of minutes, don't know how much that makes a difference.
So for this experiment, should I disable setcpu and keep my phone at 600mhz max and 125 min??

I don't use Astro, I use "Root Explorer". So lets try it this way:

Launch Termnial.
su
cd /data/system
rm batterystats.bin
exit
exit
Then hit the home button.

Just unplug the phone and use as normal. No need to do anything special.

Setup your phone just like you want it to be as if everything was already perfect.