Building of payloads fails, SeaBIOS fails in qemu

[Philipp Stanner]

Hi,

according the first problem I've already created a ticket. I (and others
in IRC) failed building rom-images using nconfig+make with other
payloads than seabios. See the txt-files in the ticket system; make
reports something like: "Rule for filo unkown".

The second problem is that a self-build seabios doesn't boot in qemu
(again for me and people in IRC). While the default-qemu-bios boots any
diskimage just fine, -boot build/coreboot.rom causes seabios to start
fine (at first), too. But when it actually tries to boot from an image,
the errors: "Graphic initalization failed. Error setting up gfxboot.
boot: Could not allocate memory."

If I build a new virtual harddrive, install Ubuntu there (using qemu's
default bios) then I'm able to start the new image using my self-build bios.

ISOLINUX gfx problems under qemu/coreboot/SeaBIOS (was: Building of payloads fails, SeaBIOS fails in qemu)

[Jonathan Neuschäfer]

On Mon, Oct 24, 2016 at 07:42:36AM +0200, Philipp Stanner wrote:
> Hi,

[...]
> The second problem is that a self-build seabios doesn't boot in qemu
> (again for me and people in IRC). While the default-qemu-bios boots any
> diskimage just fine, -boot build/coreboot.rom causes seabios to start
> fine (at first), too. But when it actually tries to boot from an image,
> the errors: "Graphic initalization failed. Error setting up gfxboot.
> boot: Could not allocate memory."

I think I was able to reproduce the problem, when Philipp described it
on IRC:

1. checkout coreboot from git[1], or run make clean && rm .config

2. make menuconfig, select Emulation/QEMU-i440fx. SeaBIOS will
   automatically be selected.

3. make

4. Test with QEMU. I'm using QEMU 2.6.0 from Debian testing (a.k.a.
   stretch) on an x86_64 laptop. Both of the tested CDs use ISOLINUX.

4.1.1. get xubuntu-16.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso[2]

4.1.2. qemu-system-x86_64 -cdrom xubuntu-16.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso -m 512
  A splash screen is shown, and then a graphical boot menu, which allows
  to select language, different boot modes, kernel command line, etc.

4.1.3. qemu-system-x86_64 -cdrom xubuntu-16.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso -m 512
                          -bios build/coreboot.rom
  The splash screen doesn't appear; instead an error is shown:

graphics initialization failed
  Error setting up gfxboot
  boot:

4.2.1. get debian-live-8.2.0-amd64-lxde-desktop.iso[3]

4.2.2. qemu-system-x86_64 -cdrom debian-live-8.2.0-amd64-lxde-desktop.iso
  A graphical boot menu is shown.

4.2.3. qemu-system-x86_64 -cdrom debian-live-8.2.0-amd64-lxde-desktop.iso
                          -bios build/coreboot.rom
  ISOLINUX fails to present a graphic menu and falls back to a
  text-based menu.

I haven't looked at how ISOLINUX does graphics, or what "gfxboot" does
exactly, but there's apparently something (graphics-related) in QEMU's
stock BIOS, which coreboot+SeaBIOS doesn't provide.
> If I build a new virtual harddrive, install Ubuntu there (using qemu's
> default bios) then I'm able to start the new image using my self-build bios.

I'm not sure what you mean here. Can you explain it in more detail?

Greetings,
Jonathan Neuschäfer

[1] I'm currently on commit f5f0b7b71a450 plus some irrelevant local
    patches.
[2] Available at http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/16.04/release/,
    sha1sum: 4094e1c353742754064c59200ea5d5db0651e948
[3] Available at http://cdimage.debian.org/mirror/cdimage/archive/8.2.0-live/amd64/iso-hybrid...,
    sha1sum: b0dbe4ca8f526d1e43555459c538607d4a987184

ISOLINUX gfx problems under qemu/coreboot/SeaBIOS

[Philipp Stanner]

Sure: Do the following:

1. qemu-img create test.img 10G
 2. qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -hda test.img -cdrom ubuntu.iso -boot
    d -m 512
 3. Install ubuntu on test.img

After installing, boot the new virtual machine with your self-build bios:

* qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -hda test.img -m 512 -bios
    build/coreboot.rom

See how the machine starts successfully, using the 'broken' seabios.
Ubuntu boots successfully. Even starting my Windows7-machine nearly
works, but while "Windows is loading files" is written the virtual
screen / text becomes yellow and booting stops.

But Ubuntu can successfully be booted and used absolutely normaly with
cb+seabios - only installing seems impossible and the errors you
(Jonatahan) described, appear.

Greetings

Am 25.10.2016 um 01:10 schrieb Jonathan Neuschäfer:
> > If I build a new virtual harddrive, install Ubuntu there (using qemu's
> > default bios) then I'm able to start the new image using my self-build bios.
>
> I'm not sure what you mean here. Can you explain it in more detail?

ISOLINUX gfx problems under qemu/coreboot/SeaBIOS

[Jonathan Neuschäfer]

On Tue, Oct 25, 2016 at 08:20:12AM +0200, Philipp Stanner wrote:
> Sure: Do the following:
> qemu-img create test.img 10G
> qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -hda test.img -cdrom ubuntu.iso -boot
> d -m 512
> Install ubuntu on test.img
>
> After installing, boot the new virtual machine with your self-build bios:
> qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -hda test.img -m 512 -bios
> build/coreboot.rom
>
> See how the machine starts successfully, using the 'broken' seabios.
> Ubuntu boots successfully. Even starting my Windows7-machine nearly
> works, but while "Windows is loading files" is written the virtual
> screen / text becomes yellow and booting stops.
>
> But Ubuntu can successfully be booted and used absolutely normaly with
> cb+seabios - only installing seems impossible and the errors you
> (Jonatahan) described, appear.

Ah, that's probably because Ubuntu boots through GRUB when it's
installed, and GRUB doesn't need the graphical mode that ISOLINUX uses.

Jonathan Neuschäfer

ISOLINUX gfx problems under qemu/coreboot/SeaBIOS

[Arthur Heymans]

Jonathan Neuschäfer  writes:
> I think I was able to reproduce the problem, when Philipp described it
> on IRC:
>
> checkout coreboot from git[1], or run make clean && rm .config
>
> make menuconfig, select Emulation/QEMU-i440fx. SeaBIOS will
> automatically be selected.
>
> make
>
> Test with QEMU. I'm using QEMU 2.6.0 from Debian testing (a.k.a.
> stretch) on an x86_64 laptop. Both of the tested CDs use ISOLINUX.
>
> 4.1.1. get xubuntu-16.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso[2]
>
> 4.1.2. qemu-system-x86_64 -cdrom xubuntu-16.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso -m 512
>   A splash screen is shown, and then a graphical boot menu, which allows
>   to select language, different boot modes, kernel command line, etc.
>
> 4.1.3. qemu-system-x86_64 -cdrom xubuntu-16.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso -m 512
>                           -bios build/coreboot.rom
>   The splash screen doesn't appear; instead an error is shown:
>
> graphics initialization failed
>   Error setting up gfxboot
>   boot:
>
> 4.2.1. get debian-live-8.2.0-amd64-lxde-desktop.iso[3]
>
> 4.2.2. qemu-system-x86_64 -cdrom debian-live-8.2.0-amd64-lxde-desktop.iso
>   A graphical boot menu is shown.
>
> 4.2.3. qemu-system-x86_64 -cdrom debian-live-8.2.0-amd64-lxde-desktop.iso
>                           -bios build/coreboot.rom
>   ISOLINUX fails to present a graphic menu and falls back to a
>   text-based menu.

A quick test shows me that selecting CONFIG_SEABIOS_VGA_COREBOOT is the
culprit. This change https://review.coreboot.org/#/c/16965/ selects this
by default when native graphic init is used but apparently needs an
exception for QEMU.

Kind regards

ISOLINUX gfx problems under qemu/coreboot/SeaBIOS (was: Building of payloads fails, SeaBIOS fails in qemu)

[Gerd Hoffmann]

Hi,
> graphics initialization failed
>   Error setting up gfxboot
>   boot:

Not sure how coreboot+seabios is configured by default.
I see that too when running with coreboot native graphics.

SeaBIOS has a coreboot vgabios which uses the coreboot framebuffer and
provides text mode emulation using the framebuffer, i.e. it works on
*any* display hardware supported by coreboot.  But in that case only a
single graphics mode is available (whatever the coreboot framebuffer
resolution is, for qemu it is compile-time configurable and IIRC
1024x768 by default).

I guess gfxboot is unhappy about not finding the mode it wants use ...

With coreboot vgabios NOT being rolled into the coreboot.rom (and
CONFIG_FRAMEBUFFER_KEEP_VESA_MODE=n) seabios will load the vgabios from
the qemu vga pci rom bar instead and everything works fine because all
usual resolutions are available then.

cheers,
  Gerd

PS: https://www.kraxel.org/repos/jenkins/ has rpms with both variants
    built, here is the config diff:

# diff /usr/share/doc/coreboot.git-4.5/coreboot-i440fx-seabios*
--- /usr/share/doc/coreboot.git-4.5/coreboot-i440fx-seabios-corevga.config      2016-10-26 09:06:27.000000000 +0200
+++ /usr/share/doc/coreboot.git-4.5/coreboot-i440fx-seabios.config
2016-10-26 09:06:08.000000000 +0200
@@ -117,13 +117,11 @@ CONFIG_MAINBOARD_VENDOR="Emulation"
 CONFIG_MAX_CPUS=1
 CONFIG_CACHE_ROM_SIZE_OVERRIDE=0x0
 CONFIG_CBFS_SIZE=0x400000
-CONFIG_VGA_BIOS_ID="1234,1111"
 # CONFIG_ONBOARD_VGA_IS_PRIMARY is not set
-CONFIG_VGA_BIOS=y
+# CONFIG_VGA_BIOS is not set
 CONFIG_MAINBOARD_SERIAL_NUMBER="123456789"
 CONFIG_DCACHE_RAM_BASE=0xd0000
 CONFIG_DCACHE_RAM_SIZE=0x10000
-CONFIG_VGA_BIOS_FILE="/usr/share/seabios.git-coreboot/vgabios-coreboot.bin"
 CONFIG_MAINBOARD_SMBIOS_MANUFACTURER="Emulation"
 CONFIG_POST_IO=y
 CONFIG_MAX_REBOOT_CNT=3
@@ -372,7 +370,7 @@ CONFIG_SUBSYSTEM_DEVICE_ID=0x0000
 #
 # Display
 #
-CONFIG_FRAMEBUFFER_KEEP_VESA_MODE=y
+# CONFIG_FRAMEBUFFER_KEEP_VESA_MODE is not set

#
 # Generic Drivers
@@ -399,8 +397,6 @@ CONFIG_FRAMEBUFFER_KEEP_VESA_MODE=y
 # CONFIG_HAVE_USBDEBUG is not set
 # CONFIG_HAVE_USBDEBUG_OPTIONS is not set
 CONFIG_DRIVERS_EMULATION_QEMU_BOCHS=y
-CONFIG_DRIVERS_EMULATION_QEMU_BOCHS_XRES=1024
-CONFIG_DRIVERS_EMULATION_QEMU_BOCHS_YRES=768
 # CONFIG_SMBIOS_PROVIDED_BY_MOBO is not set
 # CONFIG_DRIVERS_I2C_PCF8523 is not set
 # CONFIG_DRIVERS_I2C_RTD2132 is not set