linux boot failure on 440bx/i82371eb [asus/p2b & p2-99] after [acpi/acpi.c: Reduce boilerplate] change

[Branden Waldner]

Hi Keith Hui & list

I just recently tested the latest coreboot ahead of the upcoming
release and found that there had been a regression that broke [linux]
booting with the disk controller timing out on the asus p2b.

It broke with change 76127 [1] and was improved, but not fixed by 76321 [2].

Initially after the change it would hang at:
"Write protecting kernel text and read-only data
Run /init as init process"

With the DSDT fix it would make it past there, but be unable to access
the ide drive with the root filesystem.

I haven't been able to look in to it much and don't know anything
about acpi anyways, but I figured I would at least make sure to post
logs.

I might still be able to get it booted through usb or a pci ide/sata
controller, but I haven't tried it, though it would probably help to
get more diagnostic info.

Branden Waldner

[1] acpi/acpi.c: Reduce boilerplate
https://review.coreboot.org/c/coreboot/+/76127
[2] acpi/acpi.c: Fix regression with DSDT
https://review.coreboot.org/c/coreboot/+/76321

[Kyösti Mälkki]

Hi

The mentioned board asus/p2b falls into a rare category of mainboards from
around 1999 (?) when discrete southbridge silicon did not implement an
IOAPIC. There is a hint in sb/intel/i82371eb/isa.c about enabling IOAPIC as
a discrete component for SMP configurations.

One thing I notice is that a failing boot sees ACPI table entry APIC
present, yet it is without any LAPIC entries. At least the following line
seems to disappear, diffing against a log that reaches login prompt:
[    0.858042] APIC: Switch to virtual wire mode setup with no configuration

I did not check the details for the kernel message yet, one definition of
the term "virtual wire" is the connection of a legacy PIC 8259 and the
"local interrupt" pin of the LAPIC. Appears as if kernel would skip said
virtual wire configuration now. Not getting interrupts would likely raise
timeouts on IDE DMA.

Kyösti

On Tue, Aug 22, 2023 at 8:07 AM Branden Waldner  wrote:
> Hi Keith Hui & list
>
> I just recently tested the latest coreboot ahead of the upcoming
> release and found that there had been a regression that broke [linux]
> booting with the disk controller timing out on the asus p2b.
>
> It broke with change 76127 [1] and was improved, but not fixed by 76321
> [2].
>
> Initially after the change it would hang at:
> "Write protecting kernel text and read-only data
> Run /init as init process"
>
> With the DSDT fix it would make it past there, but be unable to access
> the ide drive with the root filesystem.
>
> I haven't been able to look in to it much and don't know anything
> about acpi anyways, but I figured I would at least make sure to post
> logs.
>
> I might still be able to get it booted through usb or a pci ide/sata
> controller, but I haven't tried it, though it would probably help to
> get more diagnostic info.
>
> Branden Waldner
>
> [1] acpi/acpi.c: Reduce boilerplate
> https://review.coreboot.org/c/coreboot/+/76127
> [2] acpi/acpi.c: Fix regression with DSDT
> https://review.coreboot.org/c/coreboot/+/76321
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