Pappy's Kernel Seeds Part IV

pappy_mcfae · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 9:39 pm Post subject:

Tariella,

Except for the firmware weirdness, things look fairly normal. Please let me know if NeddySeagoon's idea cures that last issue, so I can remember and use those settings on other machines with the same issues.

NeddySeagoon,

Thanks for filling in the cracks. I didn't know that ATI had firmware associated with it. That is definitely good to know.

Cheers,
Pappy
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NeddySeagoon · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 9:46 pm Post subject:

pappy_mcfae,

The firmware loading sequende goes like this.

The driver is loaded and does looking for its firmware. If the driver is in the kernel (=y) the firmware must be too as root is not yet mounted, so /lib/firmware cannot be read.
If the driver is modular (=m) then its loaded from /lib/modules/uname -r/, so /lib/firmware is available too. Any kernel space that was holding the firmware has been freed, so a modular driver and in kernel firmware fail too.

This applies to all drivers that need firmware, not just video cards. This is why is a really good idea to make wireless drivers as modules. Many of them need firmware.
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Computer users fall into two groups:-
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pappy_mcfae · Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2012 4:53 am Post subject:

That makes perfect sense. I just didn't know that ATI video cards were of that same stripe. Like I said, that's really good to know.

Cheers,
Pappy
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Tariella · Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2012 10:43 am Post subject:

I entered the following in make menuconfig

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2012 6:01 pm Post subject:

Tariella,

Sooo close!

Tariella · Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2012 9:19 pm Post subject:

I should have realized that myself. Of course it would need the full path. :oops:

(For the file R600_rlc.bin I had to emerge the package radeon-ucode. Info from this thread)

A few tries later I found all the firmware I need and everything works.

Now there is only one kernel message

pappy_mcfae · Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 5:14 am Post subject:

Try setting it as a module. If that doesn't work, see if there might be a bug report on that particular issue.

Cheers,
Pappy
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pappy_mcfae · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 8:44 am Post subject:

Another day, another batch of sources from kernel-dot-org. I've just uploaded .configs for 3.0.28, 3.2.15, and 3.3.2 in both x86 and x86_64 flavors. Enjoy! I love it when I get seeds done before the source shows up in portage.

Cheers,
Pappy
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Moriah · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 8:03 pm Post subject:

Pappy, HELP! I am messing around with that old AMD quad core box again -- the one that seems to stall out until I tap a key or move the mouse to create an interrupt, or whatever.

I just completely rebuilt the software for it using your 3.2.1-gentoo-r2-x86_64-08.config and the appropriate kernel release. This box has a 4-core AMD cpu and 8 GB of RAM, along with 3 1.5 TB SATA drives in a hot-swap SATA backplane running Linux software RAID-1 as a 3-way mirror on /dev/md0. /dev/md0 is then encrypted with LUKS and then is made a physical volume under LVM2. The PV has a single volume group on it, and that VG has a single logical volume on it, which is the root filesystem under XFS. The whole mess is booted with an initramfs from USB flash stick as the boot device.

I know this sounds messy, but it works great on several other systems I am running around here, including my trusty laptop, which has been running this way for over 2 years.

My problem is that this particular motherboard seems to be my nemesis! :evil:

I had hoped that by starting completely over, and using the series 3.x.x kernel, that all my woes would just dissapear into thin air. No such luck!

The thing runs fine under the live-CD, so it is possible to make it work; I just can't figure out how to do it.

It boots from the stick, but never gets to the point where it starts running the init script in the initramfs. Something probably has the wrong driver configured would be my guess.

The boot screen looks like this when it stalls: http://www.elilabs.com/~rj/foo.gif

The lspci -n output is:

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 9:27 pm Post subject:

Moriah,

If you want a WAG from me, turn off Message Signalled Interrupts, if you can.
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Computer users fall into two groups:-
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those that have never had a hard drive fail.

Moriah · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 9:35 pm Post subject:

Where do I find that in the "make menuconfig" tool?

Or is that a BIOS configuration item?
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NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 9:41 pm Post subject:

Moriah,

Its a kernel option, under

Moriah · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 9:58 pm Post subject:

That's ugly! I need AMD_IOMMU, IOMMU_SUPPORT, X86_64, and PCI because its an AMD 4-core cpu with 8 GB ram. The question is, "What's ACPI?" I don't know if I need that or not.
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NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 10:43 pm Post subject:

Moriah,

ACPI is power management. You can do without it for a test.
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NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

Moriah · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 10:58 pm Post subject:

Duh! I got confused because of AHCI looks a lot like ACPI, and I am doing several things at once right now, so my concentration is divided. Yes, I can turn off ACPI for a test. Thanks for the suggestion. I will let you know how it works.
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Moriah · Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 4:14 am Post subject:

OK, that worked when I got rid of ACPI.

I also had to correct an unrelated typo, but that was not related. :oops:

So what do I do now? Just run without power management? Does that affect cpu throttling or fan speed control? I don't really care about sleep and wake-up, etc. as this is a server that will be running continuously, but I do care about heat. High temperatures kill electronics components, and run up my air conditioning bill too.

But at least it boots, so now I can get on with the rest of the configuration -- tomorrow.

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pappy_mcfae · Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 6:43 am Post subject:

Moriah,

I think it's very likely that your MSI issue was caused by the selection of an incorrect driver, or two. I went through the .config, and did find some incorrect drivers. I replaced them with the proper ones. I also temporarily turned off MSI. If this .config works, and it should, turn MSI back on, and see if the issue is now gone. Don't worry about ACPI in this kernel, it is properly set, and unaffected by MSI.

I also set you up for ATI KMS (Kernel Mode Setting), which is basically a different kind of frame buffer. It will build firmware, and that firmware should be properly installed by the make modules_install command. If that doesn't work, try make firmware_install. This command will create all in-kernel firmware blobs. That's actually a bit of overkill, but if the firmware isn't generated with the former command, the latter will definitely make it happen.

Assuming the coming severe storms don't shred the place where I'm living, I'll stop by to check out how this went later on today.

Click here for the new .config. Use the standard rules for setting things up, and post /var/log/dmesg, assuming you get a proper boot. If you don't, I'm fairly sure it won't be because of an MSI quirk.

Cheers,
Pappy
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Moriah · Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 12:11 pm Post subject:

Pappy: I would like to know which drivers were incorrect, if you remember. Even with the Debian web page, it is not always completely obvious which driver one needs all the time.

Hopefully the storms will be a blessing only, in that they will provide rain to relieve the drought down there, without the damaging winds or flooding.

I am busy this morning with church, but I will try to play with your new config this afternoon. Thanks!

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pappy_mcfae · Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:43 pm Post subject:

The I2C was definitely incorrect, That would render the SMBUS and all devices under it useless. The CPU was set for generic x86_64. While this is technically correct, it's not as correct as setting for the AMD option. The PCMCIA options were also enabled. While this shouldn't cause an issue, it's better to not have options enabled that don't exist. The PATA interface wasn't set at all. While you may not be using it, it's probably better to have it using its resources so other devices don't try to step on them. Most importantly, I changed from the UHCI USB host to the OHCI.

The latter may well be the cause of the worst of your issues. In general, if the mobo has an Intel or Via chipset, UHCI is the order of the day, along with EHCI for machines with USB2, which is pretty much everything. If the mobo isn't, and has any other chipset (AMD/ATI, etc), then OHCI is a must, and EHCI should be there as well for UBS2. Because you're using a USB key to boot the machine, the fact that the machine can't switch to OHCI to continue to boot could easily cause the hang you experienced.

Fortunately, while those storms did pass here, they were very weak. This is probably because they were early in the day, and didn't have solar heating to give them the power they were showing in Oklahoma yesterday. The condition of the web server tells me we didn't even lose power.

Anyway, let me know how things are booting at this point.

Cheers,
Pappy
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NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 9:12 pm Post subject:

Moriah,

What pappy says is correct but incomplete. Some chipsets have USB Transaction Translation hardware, this means that you can turn off both OHCI and UHCI, turn on Transaction Translation Support and USB1 devices still work. This gives you wierd dmesg like

pappy_mcfae · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 5:26 am Post subject:

I never knew that. I love when I learn new things.

I have also noted that at times, on certain motherboards, turning UHCI in lieu of OHCI, or vice versa, can cause hangs. Sometimes, mixing UHCI and OHCI can do the same thing, especially when only one is represented in the hardware setup. I have also seen mobos that have not only OHCI, UHCI, and EHCI, but also add in XHCI, the driver for USB-3.

In the final analysis, it is definitely better to set for what you have hardware-wise. That allows you to at least know that any issues you have that are driver related are caused by bugs, not interaction between needed and unneeded drivers.

I am definitely curious as to whether the kernel will now fully boot. Please keep us informed.

Cheers,
Pappy
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Moriah · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 2:57 pm Post subject:

I will keep you informed. I am learning a bunch of new things here too.

I had a drive die in a web/email server yesterday afternoon, so I need to replace that and get that server back up and running, then I will be able to get back on this "nemesis" machine we have been talking about. I first need to locate a PATA drive to put in the dead server that is 160 GB or bigger, as these beasts are getting scarce. I will check a couple of local sources. Hopefully this will not be a mail order.
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Moriah · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 11:23 pm Post subject:

I found a 250 GB PATA drive, so I swapped out the dead drive and put the 250 GB one in. It is running badblocks -wv right now. After that finished -- assuming it is good -- I will partition and set up LVM and restore files from the backup server to reincarnate that web/email server. Meanwhile, I am starting to look over the config you sent me to the "nemesis" machine.

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pappy_mcfae · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 5:12 am Post subject:

The Nemesis Machine... it sounds like a title for a Star Trek episode.

Cheers,
Pappy
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Moriah · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 4:05 am Post subject:

Pappy: I built a new kernel with the config you gave me, and it barfed; it wouldn't boot all the way. In fact, it died at the same place as the snapshot of the screen I sent with my original request a few days ago. I haven't looked yet, but I suspect you turned ACPI back on, and it doesn't like that. It's midnite here, and I am going to bed. I will reboot from the liveCD and take a look at the ACPI setting with make menuconfig tomorrow.

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Foghorn Leghorn is a Warner Bros. cartoon character.