Bug #14739

Tails 3.1+ do not start on Compaq Presario CQ60-214DX

Added by goupille 2017-09-29 12:40:48 . Updated 2018-02-17 07:46:47 .

Status:
Resolved
Priority:
Normal
Assignee:
Category:
Hardware support
Target version:
Tails_3.6
Start date:
2017-09-29
Due date:
% Done:

100%

Feature Branch:
doc/compaq-cq60
Type of work:
End-user documentation
Blueprint:

Starter:
Affected tool:
Deliverable for:

Description

a user reported that with most of Tails release he or she tested, the computer just reboots after the boot menu. no error is displayed, even by adding ‘debug nosplash’ to the boot command line.

the user’s computer is a Compaq Presario CQ60-214DX with a Mobile Intel GM45 Express GPU

the only Tails releases that do start completely are Tails 2.12 (kernel: 4.9.13-1~bpo8+1) and tails 3.0.1 (kernel: 4.9.30-2+deb9u2). if I’m not mistaking, these releases are the only one with thes kernel version, so I suspect that’s where the problem is.

Subtasks

Related issues

Blocks Tails - Feature #14758: Core work 2017Q4 → 2018Q1: Technical writing Resolved 2017-09-17

History

#1 Updated by intrigeri 2017-09-29 12:44:10

  • Assignee changed from intrigeri to goupille
  • QA Check set to Info Needed

How was this Tails installed? We’ve seen similar reports from unetbootin users, and the symptoms look more like an installation / boot loader problem than something about GPU support.

#2 Updated by goupille 2017-09-29 12:53:34

  • Assignee changed from goupille to intrigeri
  • QA Check deleted (Info Needed)

the user said that, depending the release, the device were installed with Universal USB Installer or by a manual upgrade from Tails Installer. I asked confirmation about that to be sure.

#3 Updated by intrigeri 2017-09-29 13:21:29

  • Assignee changed from intrigeri to goupille
  • QA Check set to Info Needed

> the user said that, depending the release, the device were installed with Universal
> USB Installer or by a manual upgrade from Tails Installer. I asked confirmation about
> that to be sure.

Thanks. Does a clean, new installation with Tails Installer expose the same problem?

#4 Updated by synthe 2017-09-29 14:25:27

Could you try to see if the kernel parameter video=SVIDEO-1:d solves the issue? I’ve seen this very often with any Debian beyond wheezy on older laptops.

#5 Updated by intrigeri 2017-09-29 15:37:25

Someone reported the exact same thing (Tails 3.2 USB stick installed with dd and GNOME Disks) on XMPP.

#6 Updated by goupille 2017-10-02 20:14:17

  • Assignee changed from goupille to intrigeri

> Does a clean, new installation with Tails Installer expose the same problem?

yes it does, if a clean installation is an installation with UUI or a DVD.

> Could you try to see if the kernel parameter video=SVIDEO-1:d solves the issue?

no, according to the user

> I’ve seen this very often with any Debian beyond wheezy on older laptops.

I did not asked the user to try Debian-live, since I blamed the kernel and, if I’m correct, the stable debian-live is shipping a 4.9 kernel.

#7 Updated by intrigeri 2017-10-03 06:16:32

  • Subject changed from tails 3.2 and earlier do not start with Intel GM45 GPU to Tails 3.2 and earlier do not start with Intel GM45 GPU
  • Assignee changed from intrigeri to goupille

First of all, you wrote “3.2 and earlier do not start” but 3.0.1 starts. I guess this means “starts fine on 3.0.1 but does not start on 3.1 and 3.2”. Correct?
Below I’ll assume that I have understood/guessed correctly.

Tails 3.1 upgraded the kernel from 4.9.30-2+deb9u2 to 4.9.30-2+deb9u3. The corresponding changelog entry makes me strongly doubt that update broke what we’re talking about here, but who knows. The Tails 3.1 changelog entry has nothing related either except “Upgrade to Debian 9.1” so I’ve compared the list of included packages and noticed we updated intel-microcode from 3.20170511.1 to 3.20170707.1~deb9u1, whose only changes are adding new microcode (unlikely to apply to old hardware like this) and update microcode for very recent Intel CPUs (unrelated too).

So really I have no clue what’s going on and I’m starting to wonder if how Tails was installed matters more than which version of it is :/

Could the affected user(s) test 3.0.1, 3.1 and 3.2 installed on DVD? (I don’t want UUI involved here at this point.)

When it fails, in addition to adding debug nosplash, please have them (as separate tests):

  • remove quiet as well
  • try Troubleshooting Mode
  • remove slab_nomerge slub_debug=FZP mce=0 vsyscall=none page_poison=1 and if that fixes the problem, bisect it until they find which one is the culprit

Also, it would be nice to have them test
https://get.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/weekly-live-builds/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-testing-amd64-gnome+nonfree.iso

Finally, I suspect mercedes508 has access to hardware with a GM45 GPU. If you have, please try to reproduce :)

#8 Updated by goupille 2017-10-03 13:00:36

> First of all, you wrote “3.2 and earlier do not start” but 3.0.1 starts. I guess this means “starts fine on 3.0.1 but does not start on 3.1 and 3.2”. Correct?

exactly.

#9 Updated by goupille 2017-10-07 22:44:46

  • Assignee changed from goupille to intrigeri

according to the user, troubleshooting mode, as well as removing all the parameters you proposed ended up with the same result : a reboot without any error messsage.

however Debian is working well.

#10 Updated by intrigeri 2017-10-18 10:53:46

  • QA Check deleted (Info Needed)

#11 Updated by intrigeri 2017-10-22 11:20:40

  • Subject changed from Tails 3.2 and earlier do not start with Intel GM45 GPU to Tails 3.1+ do not start with Intel GM45 GPU

#12 Updated by intrigeri 2017-10-22 11:29:04

  • Subject changed from Tails 3.1+ do not start with Intel GM45 GPU to Tails 3.1+ do not start with Intel GM45

(While the Intel GM45 integrates a GPU, it does much more than that.)

#13 Updated by intrigeri 2017-10-22 11:56:01

  • Subject changed from Tails 3.1+ do not start with Intel GM45 to Tails 3.1+ do not start on Compaq Presario CQ60-214DX
  • Assignee changed from intrigeri to goupille
  • QA Check set to Info Needed

I’ve tried to reproduce this with Tails 3.2 (installed with Tails Installer to a USB stick) on a ThinkPad X200, that happens to have a GM45 chipset as well. Tails started just fine => this problem does not affect all GM45 systems, retitling accordingly. If this is the only affected computer, then I’m afraid I won’t be able to spend much more time on this. I would welcome some info from help desk wrt. whether other systems are affected: I guess not, since I don’t recall any other such report, but please ask your team mates.

Still, what the user could try:

Also, when quiet is removed and debug nosplash is added, one should see these messages:

loading /live/vmlinuz...
loading /live/initrd.img...

Can the affected user see that? If they do then this is likely a BIOS or kernel problem. If they don’t, then this is likely a BIOS or syslinux problem.

#14 Updated by goupille 2017-11-16 14:00:29

intrigeri wrote:
> I would welcome some info from help desk wrt. whether other systems are affected

I don’t remember seeing other reports like this

>
> Still, what the user could try:
>
> * https://nightly.tails.boum.org/build_Tails_ISO_devel/lastSuccessful/archive/build-artifacts/ (that has Linux 4.13)

the user reported the same issue with tails 3.3 (however Debian Live
9.2.0 works “flawlessly”)

> * adding edd=off to the boot options

did not work

> * removing quiet and adding debug nosplash drm.debug=7 to the boot options in the hope it produces more debug output

> * BIOS update

the bios installed is the latest version available (2011)

> * allocating more video memory in the BIOS

no option available to do that in the Bios

>
> Can the affected user see that? If they do then this is likely a BIOS or kernel problem. If they don’t, then this is likely a BIOS or syslinux problem.

the user is able to see

loading /live/vmlinuz... loading /live/initrd.img..."


then the system reboots.

#15 Updated by goupille 2017-11-16 14:05:09

adding acpi_backlight=vendor acpi_osi=Linux to the boot options doesn’t work.

#16 Updated by goupille 2017-11-17 16:50:17

  • Assignee changed from goupille to intrigeri
  • QA Check deleted (Info Needed)

#17 Updated by intrigeri 2017-11-18 11:01:50

  • Status changed from New to Confirmed
  • Assignee changed from intrigeri to sajolida
  • Type of work changed from Research to End-user documentation

At this point I think we should add this to Known Issues: Tails does not start on Compaq Presario CQ60-214DX, no workaround known.

#18 Updated by intrigeri 2017-11-18 11:02:08

  • blocks Feature #14758: Core work 2017Q4 → 2018Q1: Technical writing added

#19 Updated by intrigeri 2017-11-18 11:02:33

sajolida, I suspect this ticket would be ideal for one of your apprentices :)

#20 Updated by sajolida 2018-02-16 18:54:57

  • Assignee changed from sajolida to intrigeri
  • Feature Branch set to doc/compaq-cq60

intrigeri: Can you check if I got it right?

#21 Updated by sajolida 2018-02-16 21:13:17

  • Status changed from Confirmed to In Progress

Applied in changeset commit:9db75e7ea97d0816dd1ee3f045a344cbebc675a7.

#22 Updated by intrigeri 2018-02-17 07:27:43

  • Target version set to Tails_3.6
  • % Done changed from 0 to 50
  • QA Check set to Ready for QA

#23 Updated by intrigeri 2018-02-17 07:35:08

  • Status changed from In Progress to Resolved
  • % Done changed from 50 to 100

Applied in changeset commit:51a9907fc97f6ae55ff9b50c8431fbc84330e269.

#24 Updated by intrigeri 2018-02-17 07:46:47

  • Assignee deleted (intrigeri)
  • QA Check changed from Ready for QA to Pass