Booting Linux using UEFI can brick Samsung laptops

the.ridikulus.rat · 2013-03-16 18:11:08

65kid wrote:

a funny thing just happened: I bricked it again (kind of)
good news is, I now know what causes this. It is actually not the fault of efibootmgr.
Look at the output of efibootmgr before I installed gummiboot:
BootCurrent: 0003
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0003,0004,0005,0006,0007
Boot0000  Setup	
Boot0001  Boot Menu	
Boot0002  Recovery	
Boot0003* SATA HDD:	030a2500d23878bc820f604d8316c068ee79d25b91af625956449f41a7b91f4f892ab0f600
Boot0004* USB CD:	030a2400d23878bc820f604d8316c068ee79d25b86701296aa5a7848b66cd49dd3ba6a55
Boot0005* USB FDD:	030a2400d23878bc820f604d8316c068ee79d25b6ff015a28830b543a8b8641009461e49
Boot0006* USB HDD:	030a2400d23878bc820f604d8316c068ee79d25b33e821aaaf33bc4789bd419f88c50803
Boot0007* NETWORK:	030a2400d23878bc820f604d8316c068ee79d25b78a84aaf2b2afc4ea79cf5cc8f3d3803
now after I ran "gummiboot install".
BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0003,0004,0005,0006,0007
Boot0000* Linux Boot Manager	HD(1,800,64000,f043edfc-c863-40a9-813f-4743204f0ba4)File(\EFI\gummiboot\gummibootx64.efi)
Boot0001  Boot Menu	
Boot0002  Recovery	
Boot0003* SATA HDD:	030a2500d23878bc820f604d8316c068ee79d25b91af625956449f41a7b91f4f892ab0f600
Boot0004* USB CD:	030a2400d23878bc820f604d8316c068ee79d25b86701296aa5a7848b66cd49dd3ba6a55
Boot0005* USB FDD:	030a2400d23878bc820f604d8316c068ee79d25b6ff015a28830b543a8b8641009461e49
Boot0006* USB HDD:	030a2400d23878bc820f604d8316c068ee79d25b33e821aaaf33bc4789bd419f88c50803
Boot0007* NETWORK:	030a2400d23878bc820f604d8316c068ee79d25b78a84aaf2b2afc4ea79cf5cc8f3d3803
That's right, gummiboot doesn't install itself on top of the list, it replaces the item on top of the list... and that just happens to be the BIOS Setup....
The lucky thing is, the latest gummiboot gives me the option to "Reboot into Firmware Interface" which still allows me to get into the BIOS setup, so I'm not as screwed as before. But getting into the BIOS via F2 is still broken.
Now while this is obviously still Samsung's fault, the question is whether there is also a bug in the gummiboot installer in that it replaces the entry instead of adding it. I will at least file an Arch Linux bug so gummiboot doesn't hit [extra] and more people will (kind of) brick their machines. Then I'm gonna have a look into gummiboot...
god damn you samsung...
edit: bug report here: https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/34248

This has been fixed by upstream in http://cgit.freedesktop.org/gummiboot/c … 432dd9cdff (part of gummiboot v28 release). Please test it.

65kid · 2013-03-16 18:57:02

the.ridikulus.rat wrote:

This has been fixed by upstream in http://cgit.freedesktop.org/gummiboot/c … 432dd9cdff (part of gummiboot v28 release). Please test it.

nice, thanks. just compiled from git, seems to work fine, now it adds itself add the bottom of the list but the boot order still makes sure it is started first.
So was this a bug in gummiboot itself after all or is this new behaviour considered a workaround? I thought this was only the firmware's fault. Either way, good to see this fixed.

the.ridikulus.rat · 2013-03-16 19:06:41

65kid wrote:

the.ridikulus.rat wrote:
This has been fixed by upstream in http://cgit.freedesktop.org/gummiboot/c … 432dd9cdff (part of gummiboot v28 release). Please test it.
nice, thanks. just compiled from git, seems to work fine, now it adds itself add the bottom of the list but the boot order still makes sure it is started first.
So was this a bug in gummiboot itself after all or is this new behaviour considered a workaround? I thought this was only the firmware's fault. Either way, good to see this fixed.

This seems to be a fault in gummiboot setup code. I just had a conversation with Kay Sievers over irc about this.

Also another issue in gummiboot "Configuration files in \loader\entries\*.conf are needed." (in some systems, mostly Asus ones) is fixed in http://cgit.freedesktop.org/gummiboot/c … e43456b9e2 .

WonderWoofy · 2013-03-16 19:20:57

Since I poted about this earlier in the thread, I thought I should follow up.

I got my laptop back from Lenovo on Thursday. The report/work order indicates that they did indeed have to replace the motherboard. Although this does not confirm my suspicions of the UEFI bug, it does not deny them either.

I contacted Matthew Garrett as sugested by Rod above, and his repsonse was that he had gotten a few reports similar to mine, and that it was not totally unlikely that this may have occurred. He also told me that in the most recent mainline kernel there is a patch to fix this (though I had thought that it was applied earlier) which should also be included in the the most recent stable kernels as well. This confused me a bit, as I am in fact using (and was when this occurred) graysky's linux-ck-ivybridge kernel which was 3.8.2 at the time.

So all is now well, though the new bios is a windows 8 bios. So although the post is very fast, I have not been able to find anyone with the knowledge of how to remove the whitelist from these specific bioses, so I am back to using the realtek wireless my computer came with (though it seems there have been vast improvements on the rtl8192ce module since I last used it).

One more totally OT note. I have seem so many complaints about Lenovo's customer service, so I just want to throw this out there. My experience was amazing. They overnighted me a box on Monday, so Tuesday morning I packed my computer up and shipped it that same day. They then got it on Wednesday, and were able to fix it fast enough that it was again shipped the same day. So I got it back Thursday morning! That is less tie than when I had to take my old MacBook 2,1 to the apple store and have the mobo replaced (it took about a full week which still seemed okay)

srs5694 · 2013-03-18 18:24:31

WonderWoofy wrote:

He also told me that in the most recent mainline kernel there is a patch to fix this (though I had thought that it was applied earlier)

The earlier "fix" turned out to only fix one path to the bricking bug -- namely, a Samsung kernel module that could trigger the real bug in the firmware. Other ways to trigger the bricking behavior exist. If the kernel developers have patched this more generally (say, by blocking all writes that they know cause problems), then that would be a new and improved fix.

WonderWoofy · 2013-03-18 22:26:51

This is what I thought, but I wasn't entirely sure. Though I am not sure why then Matthew Garrett would be telling me that there the newest mainline kernel and stable kernels should have this fix... not sure what to think. For now, I am still using UEFI simply because I still have warranty left on my computer. So for now I am at least covered by that. When that expires in late July, I think I might go back to bios booting unless there is some drastically better solution that comes around.

Thanks for your input srs5694, its always nice to be able to converse with a real expert.

kazuo · 2013-04-02 21:51:50

Any way to recover bios setup entry without needing windows or booting in UEFI mode?

Because I setup the bios to boot in CMOS mode, so I can't use the gummiboot to reboot in firmware now.

I have a Samsung laptop.

SSTC · 2014-04-17 00:14:52

I consider to buy a Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus, is this still a problem with Samsung, could not find any updates on the problem

parchd · 2014-05-23 09:19:10

I'm looking at getting an early 2013 Samsung Series 9.
Like SSTC I'm wondering if this problem is now solved, either by kernel workarounds or Samsung fixes.
I've read about a number of Ubuntu users installing in UEFI mode without problems now, but I've got no idea what magic might be in use that I might not think of doing myself with Arch.

jasonwryan · 2014-05-23 09:22:06

The offending module, samsung_laptop, has been removed. If you read through the thread, there is apparently still a risk but I have been UEFI booting from that time and have not had any issues once I blacklisted the module (which is now not necessary, of course).

Arch Linux

#76 2013-03-16 18:11:08

Re: Booting Linux using UEFI can brick Samsung laptops

#77 2013-03-16 18:57:02

Re: Booting Linux using UEFI can brick Samsung laptops

#78 2013-03-16 19:06:41

Re: Booting Linux using UEFI can brick Samsung laptops

#79 2013-03-16 19:20:57

Re: Booting Linux using UEFI can brick Samsung laptops

#80 2013-03-18 18:24:31

Re: Booting Linux using UEFI can brick Samsung laptops

#81 2013-03-18 22:26:51

Re: Booting Linux using UEFI can brick Samsung laptops

#82 2013-04-02 21:51:50

Re: Booting Linux using UEFI can brick Samsung laptops

#83 2014-04-17 00:14:52

Re: Booting Linux using UEFI can brick Samsung laptops

#84 2014-05-23 09:19:10

Re: Booting Linux using UEFI can brick Samsung laptops

#85 2014-05-23 09:22:06

Re: Booting Linux using UEFI can brick Samsung laptops

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