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asb avatar Ubuntu

Ubuntu Mate 21.04 Hirsute boots into emergency mode after (!) installation

ru flag
asb

I am trying to set up a desktop system with Ubuntu Mate 21.04 (Hirsute). The components I bought are intentionally 'dated' because I tried to avoid immature firmware or compatibility issues due to bleeding edge hardware.

Installation from a bootable USB stick works fine, checksum of boot image is correct. Rebooted once (!) without any issues after initial installation/configuration, and updating the system with aptitude. Boot device is a NVMe M.2. System also has two regular hard disks. After setting up a RAID1 on the two hard disks with md (Linux software RAID), Grub boots into emergency mode with multiple issues. The kernel showing this behaviour is 5.11.0-25-generic #27-Ubuntu SMP from July 9th, 2021.

This behaviour is 100% reproducable and there seems to be no way to proceed with booting.

The first three issues I could 'resolve' by making changes to the BIOS ("DMAR: [Firmware Bug]: No firmware reserved region can cover this RMRR […]"; "x86/cpu: VMX (outside TXT) disabled by BIOS"; and "x86/cpu: SGX disabled by BIOS").

Now I am stuck with:

"gpio gpiochip1: (gpio_aaeon): tried to insert a GPIO chip…" and

"gpiochip_add_data_with_key: GPIOs 0..-1 (gpio_aaeon) failed […]".

I can not find helpful information about these error messages.

I found this post which did not help to resolve my issue. Also I tried to blacklist the gpio-aaeon kernel module by issuing this command:

echo "blacklist gpio-aaeon" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

Though the boot issue persists. The strange thing is that as well booting from the USB stick as booting once after installation worked fine. I do not understand why these four issues (DMAR, VMX, SGX, and gpio_aaeon) did not show up immediately. Did the kernel update to 5.11.0-25 introduce all these regressions affecting a system with Z390 (released in 2018)?

Other details about the system that might be relevant:

Hardware:

  • Mainboard: Asus Prime Z390-A (LGA 1151, Z390, ATX)
  • CPU: Intel Core i7-9700 (LGA 1151, 3GHz, 8-Core)
  • RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPS DDR4, 2x32 GB, 3200 MHz
  • CPU cooler: Noctua NH-U12S
  • PSU: Enermax Revolution D.F. Gold 650W (ERF650AWT)
  • Boot device: Samsung 970 PRO V-NAND SSD NMVe M.2, 1 TB
  • RAID1: 2x WD Red Plus WD40EFZX

BIOS & firmware:

  • Vers. 1802 x64 from 12/01/2020 (UEFI) - latest version
  • EC version MBEC-Z390-0123
  • LED EC1 version AUMAO-E6K5-0106
  • ME FW version 12.0.70.1652
  • PCH stepping B0
  • Brand string: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9700 CPI @ 3.00 GHz

I'd appreciate any suggestions to get this bloody system operational.

Thank you!

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N0rbert avatar
zw flag
N0rbert
For more comfortable usage it is recommended to install LTS versions, it will have 5 years of support. Did you tried to install Ubuntu MATE 20.04 LTS on the same hardware?
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oldfred avatar
cn flag
oldfred
Is that newest UEFI firmware & did you update SSD firmware? Samsung has a bootable ISO for NVMe drives. https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/ ( see firmware). Are you using Wireless or wired Ethernet? Is gpio_aaeon related to Wi-Fi?
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asb avatar
ru flag
asb
Updates: - Ran Passmark Memtest86 V9.2 for about 16 hrs to make sure that RAm is good. Result: Finished all passes of tests 1-4 with cumulative error count 0. So RAM is most probably as good as it gets. - SSD firmware: Samsung does not offer any firmware for the 970 Pro NVMe M.2. So no SSD firmware update. - Checked again for a UEFI/BIOS update. Yes, Asus released a new version two days ago (Ver. 1903). Flashed the update, rebooted. Result: All settings are set to factory defaults; none of the issues have been resolved. So back to square one where I was a couple of weeks ago.
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asb avatar
ru flag
asb
Asus customer support has been contacted because of the now unresolved "DMAR: [Firmware Bug]: No firmware reserved region can cover this RMRR […]" issue.
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Keith5001 avatar
pw flag
Keith5001
I would do this, put /home on the ssd & create a /home/admin & make the admin user added to the root group, create the user account in /home. on the raid I make it /data. You could sym link /data to /home/user/data - in the emergency mode follow instructions to read errors log, errors normally near end of log. Maybe re-install with above. All the data to boot into gui is on ssd. So the raid should not affect things.
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Keith5001 avatar
pw flag
Keith5001
Or reinstall without any hard drives attached, add drives after every thing is working.
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Keith5001 avatar
pw flag
Keith5001
Also create the raid using a boot USB, so it does not create new disks IDs with the ssd system.
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Keith5001 avatar
pw flag
Keith5001
gpio error solved https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=353739
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asb avatar
ru flag
asb
Got a reply from Asus support. They are referring to their technical specification and state that the mainboard Asus Prime Z390-A is solely "dedicated" for Windows 10. Asus does **not** support Linux and does not care if a UEFI/BIOS bug crashes the Linux kernel boot. Lesson learnt - DO NOT BUY ASUS IF YOU WANT LINUX!
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asb avatar
ru flag
asb
Since there will not be help from the hardware supplier, I need to work around it. Tried Ubuntu Mate 20.04 LTS as suggested by N0rbert, and it installs and boots **without any issue**. Kernel 5.4.0-80-generic does not show any problems so far. That does not resolve the issue with Ubuntu Mate 21.04 (Hirsute) as it only postpones the problems until I upgrade the system, but at least I got a functional Ubuntu system. So the fallback to Ubuntu Mate 20.04 LTS seems to be a fully operational workaround.
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