Bug 206257 - Intel Atom D945GCLF2 with Libreboot - the only x86 board with an open-source BIOS and without Spectre - does not boot with 4.14 or 4.19 but works 100% with 4.9
Summary: Intel Atom D945GCLF2 with Libreboot - the only x86 board with an open-source ...
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: Drivers
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Console/Framebuffers (show other bugs)
Hardware: x86-64 Linux
: P1 blocking
Assignee: James Simmons
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2020-01-19 10:40 UTC by D945
Modified: 2020-02-14 10:29 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:
Kernel Version: 4.9
Subsystem:
Regression: No
Bisected commit-id:


Attachments
lspci -vvv (20.53 KB, text/plain)
2020-01-19 10:58 UTC, D945
Details
/proc/cpuinfo (2.79 KB, text/plain)
2020-01-19 10:59 UTC, D945
Details
/proc/fb (13 bytes, text/plain)
2020-01-19 10:59 UTC, D945
Details
/proc/iomem (1.97 KB, text/plain)
2020-01-19 11:00 UTC, D945
Details
/proc/ioports (1.69 KB, text/plain)
2020-01-19 11:00 UTC, D945
Details
/proc/meminfo (1.10 KB, text/plain)
2020-01-19 11:01 UTC, D945
Details
/proc/modules (3.07 KB, text/plain)
2020-01-19 11:01 UTC, D945
Details
Boot messages debug (1.44 MB, image/jpeg)
2020-01-21 09:37 UTC, D945GCLF2
Details
boot messages debug 2 (1.42 MB, image/jpeg)
2020-01-21 09:38 UTC, D945GCLF2
Details
boot messages debug 3 (1.46 MB, image/jpeg)
2020-01-21 09:39 UTC, D945GCLF2
Details

Description D945 2020-01-19 10:40:02 UTC
After GRUB selection, if choosing a 4.14 (self-compiled) or 4.19 (Debian distro) kernel, the screen goes blank and the machine becomes unresponsive.
This is the case with various boards of the same model, including across different countries of CPU manufacture.

Strangely enough, if booting with Xen using a 4.19 dom0, the system boots, and I get a console, but there seem to be some IO bugs making it unusable.
Virtual machines run 4.19 fine as long when the dom0 is running 4.9.

I have been struggling to get serial console output but never had any luck. Serial support is enabled within the config file of Libreboot, and I enabled it on the OS via GRUB, and I used an RS232 - RS232 cable (RS232 to USB cables aren't compatible with Coreboot) but I just can't get output, even with 4.9.

It is a great board - it can compile a minimal kernel for itself in 30 minutes. A shame to see support disappearing.

I'm open to any suggestions or questions.
Comment 1 D945 2020-01-19 10:54:09 UTC
I should mention the 4.9 working kernel has always been the latest Debian 4.9, but self-compiled 4.9.185 also worked fine
Comment 2 D945 2020-01-19 10:58:56 UTC
Created attachment 286883 [details]
lspci -vvv

From running 4.9 system
Comment 3 D945 2020-01-19 10:59:28 UTC
Created attachment 286885 [details]
/proc/cpuinfo

From running 4.9 system
Comment 4 D945 2020-01-19 10:59:53 UTC
Created attachment 286887 [details]
/proc/fb

From running 4.9 system
Comment 5 D945 2020-01-19 11:00:17 UTC
Created attachment 286889 [details]
/proc/iomem

From running 4.9 system
Comment 6 D945 2020-01-19 11:00:45 UTC
Created attachment 286891 [details]
/proc/ioports

From running 4.9 system
Comment 7 D945 2020-01-19 11:01:09 UTC
Created attachment 286893 [details]
/proc/meminfo

From running 4.9 system
Comment 8 D945 2020-01-19 11:01:35 UTC
Created attachment 286895 [details]
/proc/modules

From running 4.9 system
Comment 9 D945GCLF2 2020-01-21 09:37:07 UTC
Created attachment 286919 [details]
Boot messages debug

'insane' debug mode - https://www.askapache.com/linux/linux-debugging/
Comment 10 D945GCLF2 2020-01-21 09:38:30 UTC
Created attachment 286921 [details]
boot messages debug 2

'extreme' boot debug - https://www.askapache.com/linux/linux-debugging/
Comment 11 D945GCLF2 2020-01-21 09:39:47 UTC
Created attachment 286923 [details]
boot messages debug 3

'heavy' debug mode - https://www.askapache.com/linux/linux-debugging/
Comment 12 Paul Menzel 2020-02-14 10:29:22 UTC
(In reply to D945 from comment #0)
> After GRUB selection, if choosing a 4.14 (self-compiled) or 4.19 (Debian
> distro) kernel, the screen goes blank and the machine becomes unresponsive.
> This is the case with various boards of the same model, including across
> different countries of CPU manufacture.
> 
> Strangely enough, if booting with Xen using a 4.19 dom0, the system boots,
> and I get a console, but there seem to be some IO bugs making it unusable.
> Virtual machines run 4.19 fine as long when the dom0 is running 4.9.
> 
> I have been struggling to get serial console output but never had any luck.
> Serial support is enabled within the config file of Libreboot, and I enabled
> it on the OS via GRUB, and I used an RS232 - RS232 cable (RS232 to USB
> cables aren't compatible with Coreboot) but I just can't get output, even
> with 4.9.

What Libreboot version do you use?

Please get serial working. coreboot does not care if you use a direct connection or an USB to RS232 adapter in between. First make sure, the serial connection actually works under Linux. Sometimes you need a null modem.

> It is a great board - it can compile a minimal kernel for itself in 30
> minutes. A shame to see support disappearing.
> 
> I'm open to any suggestions or questions.

1.  To solve this yourself, and because you are able to build your own Linux kernel, your quickest way to solve this, will be to bisect the commit breaking thinks. So first build through all the Linux releases (4.9 vanilla, 4.10 vanilla , and so on), and then post the commit here.

2.  Please attach the log of the successful 4.9 boot, and also the coreboot logs (`cbmem -1` from https://review.coreboot.org/cgit/coreboot.git/tree/util/cbmem).

3.  Please attach the logs from the Xen 4.19 kernel(?).

4.  Please try with coreboot master branch.

5.  Please see if you can boot with `maxcpus=1` added to the Linux CLI.


[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_modem

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