[SOLVED] 6.12.8 issues with USB3 (XHCI_PCI_RENESAS)

[sdauth]

edit: See: https://lore.kernel.org/r/ZqqfXYRJf7kGa ... ent.org.uk

Hello,
With gentoo-sources-6.12.x (currently 6.12.8 ), none of my USB3 peripherals were detected.
grep XHCI /usr/src/linux/.config (same as with previous kernel: 6.6.69)

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CONFIG_USB_XHCI_HCD=m
# CONFIG_USB_XHCI_DBGCAP is not set
CONFIG_USB_XHCI_PCI=m
# CONFIG_USB_XHCI_PCI_RENESAS is not set
# CONFIG_USB_XHCI_PLATFORM is not set

lspci correctly detected my USB3 card:

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03:00.0 USB controller: Renesas Technology Corp. uPD720201 USB 3.0 Host Controller (rev 03)

lsmod also correctly shown that xhci_hcd & xhci_pci modules were loaded...

but...
lsusb didn't return "3.0 root hub" like before
and
dmesg | grep -i xhci

returned nothing..

Also, when I tried to plug a usb3 key or hdd, nothing was happening.
I tried to rmmod & insmod xhci_hcd & xhci_pci, still nothing.

So I reviewed the kernel config again and decided to enable XHCI_PCI_RENESAS to try (since my USB3 card uses that chipset after all)
and after a reboot, now everything works as normal :

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[   33.256444] xhci-pci-renesas 0000:03:00.0: failed to load firmware renesas_usb_fw.mem, fallback to ROM
[   33.256578] xhci-pci-renesas 0000:03:00.0: xHCI Host Controller
[...]

(Note that it tries to load a firmware but since it works fine without it, I have not installed it and let it uses the one in ROM)

lsusb:

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Bus 010 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

All good.

Anyway,
Why do I have to enable XHCI_PCI_RENESAS now to make my USB3 card works ?
It surely wasn't needed with 6.6.x (and before that), I just tried to reboot to 6.6.69 and no issues with USB3 (with CONFIG_USB_XHCI_PCI_RENESAS is not set )

Hopefully it helps someone else but it would be nice to understand the reason.

[sdauth]

Note that I also tried with built in instead of module

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CONFIG_USB_XHCI_HCD=y
# CONFIG_USB_XHCI_DBGCAP is not set
CONFIG_USB_XHCI_PCI=y
# CONFIG_USB_XHCI_PCI_RENESAS is not set
# CONFIG_USB_XHCI_PLATFORM is not set

Same results. It only works if I enable CONFIG_USB_XHCI_PCI_RENESAS now. (built in or module)

edit: Found this https://lore.kernel.org/r/ZqqfXYRJf7kGa ... ent.org.uk ; so it seems that it is needed now.

[sdauth]

Similar issue with an other machine (with a different chipset for the USB3 card)

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03:00.0 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VL805/806 xHCI USB 3.0 Controller

The card was not detected at all until I enable USB_XHCI_PLATFORM.
Very strange again as this was not needed with 6.6.x kernel ; I tried to look at the commit history for xhci code to find the reason but it gave me headache.
Anyway, if your USB3 card isn't recognized with >=6.12, that's one thing to try.

[ipic]

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[   33.256444] xhci-pci-renesas 0000:03:00.0: failed to load firmware renesas_usb_fw.mem, fallback to ROM
[   33.256578] xhci-pci-renesas 0000:03:00.0: xHCI Host Controller
[...]

(Note that it tries to load a firmware but since it works fine without it, I have not installed it and let it uses the one in ROM)

I went through the same process, then found your thread
My searching took me to this page: https://linux-hardware.org/?id=pci:1912-0014-ffff-ffff
I set everything listed there that could be set on x86-64

I would like to try the firmware, but my Google search skills aren't finding where it is - it's not in sys-kernel/linux-firmware

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# equery files sys-kernel/linux-firmware | grep -i renesas
# 

Do you know where one can find this firmware file?

[Anon-E-moose]

Not sure when it changed (I only have 6.8 and 6.12 sources at the moment) but ....

in 6.8

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config USB_XHCI_PCI
    tristate
    depends on USB_PCI
    depends on USB_XHCI_PCI_RENESAS || !USB_XHCI_PCI_RENESAS
    default y

config USB_XHCI_PCI_RENESAS
    tristate "Support for additional Renesas xHCI controller with firmware"
    help
      Say 'Y' to enable the support for the Renesas xHCI controller with
      firmware. Make sure you have the firmware for the device and
      installed on your system for this device to work.
      If unsure, say 'N'.

and in 6.12

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config USB_XHCI_PCI
    tristate
    depends on USB_PCI
    default y

config USB_XHCI_PCI_RENESAS
    tristate "Support for additional Renesas xHCI controller with firmware"
    depends on USB_XHCI_PCI
    help
      Say 'Y' to enable the support for the Renesas xHCI controller with
      firmware. Make sure you have the firmware for the device and
      installed on your system for this device to work.
      If unsure, say 'N'.

the later versions force you to set renesas Kconfig if you want to use it.

Edit to add: I think that part of it is renesas used to be real common, but it's becoming less so.

And as far as firmware, that needs to be done apart from the kernel firmware, google "renesas uPD720201" though most replies are old.