[Resolved] ]missing microcode after Liquorix kernel update

[cinclus]

Short hardware/software description:
MX 17.1 on Live-Stick (16GB Sandisk Extreme Pro USB 3.0)
Intel H97 platform, CPU: Core i5 4590S.

After a live-kernel-update to the Liquorix 4.19.8 kernel (from the test repo) I get the following message when booting:

[Firmware Bug] TSC_DEADLINE disabled due to Errata; please update microcode to version: 0x22 (or later)

Now I cannot boot this Live System anymore.

Questions:
1) is there a way to boot directly into the previous kernel by a boot parameter
2) if not how do I use another MX live system for repair? Just renaming kernels and initrds?

Any help highly appreciated.
-Cinclus

[BitJam]

[Firmware Bug] TSC_DEADLINE disabled due to Errata; please update microcode to version: 0x22 (or later)

We may need to ensure live-kernel-updater adds microcode to the initrd. *sigh*

1) is there a way to boot directly into the previous kernel by a boot parameter
2) if not how do I use another MX live system for repair? Just renaming kernels and initrds?

There is no boot parameter to go back to the previous kernel BUT if you have another MX or antiX system then just plug the live-usb into that system and run live-kernel-updater on it. It should find your live-usb and let you roll back to the previous kernel. Yes, you could do this manually if you wanted but I think it is better to use the live-kernel-updater program if you can.

[BitJam]

If you can roll back to the previous kernel, either using live-kernel-updater or manually renaming files, then I suggest you try the following fix to see if you can get the updated Liquorix kernel to boot.

After booting live, the idea is to add required CPU firmware to the live initrd. The program /live/bin/unpack-initrd makes this easy. Here is the recipe:

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/live/bin/unpack-initrd
find /lib/firmware -name "*.initramfs" | cpio -pdmv initrd
sudo /live/bin/unpack-initrd -r

Then try using the udpated Liquorix kernel again.

BTW: to make your life a little easier, you could manually add a boot entry for the older kernel (and initrd) so you can easily get back if the new kernel still fails to boot. Trying to add those entries automatically in the live-kernel-updater program was a nightmare which is why I rely on you plugging the live-usb into a different system in order to do the rollback.

BTW-2: you don't actually have to boot live in order to use the unpack-initrd program but AFAIK, the program only exists in the live initrd but you could get it from my Live-initrd repo then mount the live-usb and use the --from parameter to specify the location of the initrd.gz on the mounted live-usb.

[BitJam]

I tried to replicate this but hit a few snags. First, after enabling the MX test repo the most recent liquorix kernel I could find was 4.19.0-8.1. Unfortunately, when I tried to boot it live there was no text output to the screen just a blinking cursor in the upper left. This was on a:

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Machine:   Device: laptop System: Dell product: XPS 13 9350
           Mobo: Dell model: 076F9T v: A02
           UEFI [Legacy]: Dell v: 1.4.14 date: 02/08/2017
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i5-6200U (-HT-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB 
           clock speeds: max: 2800 MHz 1: 1171 MHz 2: 799 MHz 3: 804 MHz 4: 1816 MHz

Maybe you meant a different test repo or maybe there is something else I need to do to get that kernel to boot on my machine.

Copying over the microcode to the initrd in live-kernel-updater (and in make-iso if needed) should be straightforward. I just want to verify exactly what microcode needs to be copied.

[Stevo]

Debian Stretch has added the latest intel-microcode as a security update, but if you're using the original 17.1 release without that update, then you won't have it. One of Adrian's recent updated snapshot ISOs should have it, though.

[cinclus]

Debian Stretch has added the latest intel-microcode as a security update, but if you're using the original 17.1 release without that update, then you won't have it. One of Adrian's recent updated snapshot ISOs should have it, though.

Isn't there more to it than that in the new ISOs? Other enhancements relevant to kernel?

I ask because I have compared the versions of the intel-microde on my MX 17.1 with the code directly from Intel: it is microcode-20180807a.tgz. They are the same.

I have now tried another Liquorix-kernel:

http://download.opensuse.org/repositori ... s_i386.deb

But I get the same error even after updating the microcode.

[Stevo]

Debian Stretch has added the latest intel-microcode as a security update, but if you're using the original 17.1 release without that update, then you won't have it. One of Adrian's recent updated snapshot ISOs should have it, though.

Isn't there more to it than that in the new ISOs? Other enhancements relevant to kernel?

I ask because I have compared the versions of the intel-microde on my MX 17.1 with the code directly from Intel: it is microcode-20180807a.tgz. They are the same.

I have now tried another Liquorix-kernel:

http://download.opensuse.org/repositori ... s_i386.deb

But I get the same error even after updating the microcode.

Well, that was a wild guess chase gone wrong, though I was talking about a November update snapshot for MX 17.1 that Adrian puts up, not the test versions of MX 18, which do have some big changes to support GIMP 2.10.8 and much newer hardware.

Is it just the Liquorix kernel, or does the 4.19.0-1 backported Debian kernel now in our main repo also have the same problem?

[cinclus]

Well, that was a wild guess chase gone wrong, though I was talking about a November update snapshot for MX 17.1 that Adrian puts up

I understood so.

Is it just the Liquorix kernel, or does the 4.19.0-1 backported Debian kernel now in our main repo also have the same problem?

Don't know. From main repo I use the 1000HZ kernel: linux-image-4.9.143-antix.1-486-smp (non-Liquorix) which works.

[Stevo]

I also send up the source to build for that other Liquorix kernel that you got from the openSUSE Build Service repo, so it's exactly the same as the MX version, except for the name. It should have the same problem!

The "MX 4.19 kernel" can easily be installed in the MX Package Installer. It's the default kernel for MX 18, and is backported from upstream Debian, except that it is also 1000 Hz instead of Debian's 250.

[cinclus]

OK. I shall try that one on my MX 17.1.