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Gigadoc 2

Member

Registered: 2009-11-14

Posts: 16

Website

W530 freezing on boot when CSM enabled

So, i have this rather strange problem:
While most people encounter issues when they want to boot with UEFI, i can boot UEFI just fine, but am having issues when trying to boot having the Compatibility Support Module (CSM) of my W530 enabled. CSM still boots my Arch via UEFI, but emulates some features of a BIOS system (like running/loading the VGA BIOS). And funny enough, my system only boots if the Firmware is NOT doing this.

I used a pure UEFI boot for quite some time, simply because the CSM is slowing down my boot, and i don't need it for Linux or Windows to work. However, I ran into some problems with the proprietary nvidia-driver lately (not part of this thread) and tried to boot with CSM enabled, to see if it fixes anything.

When i try to boot with CSM enabled, there seems to be a race condition. In rare cases, the system simply boots, but in most cases, the Laptop completely freezes, some time after starting udev (i think). But even if i enable kernel debug messages, the system freezes before showing anything related in the output. The last message from the journal is about starting udev, no error messages seem to be logged. Magic SysRQ does not work either.

Has anyone of you experienced a similar problem?
Can someone tell me a bit more specific what the CSM of a Lenovo W530 does? Maybe I can disable a few modules for troubleshooting?
And what would be a good way to debug the boot process, if everyhting is freezing? I could think of disabling udev, and listing modules statically, but how do i know which modules are required?

Thanks in advance for helping.

GSF1200S

Member

Registered: 2008-12-24

Posts: 474

Re: W530 freezing on boot when CSM enabled

So, i have this rather strange problem:
While most people encounter issues when they want to boot with UEFI, i can boot UEFI just fine, but am having issues when trying to boot having the Compatibility Support Module (CSM) of my W530 enabled. CSM still boots my Arch via UEFI, but emulates some features of a BIOS system (like running/loading the VGA BIOS). And funny enough, my system only boots if the Firmware is NOT doing this.

I used a pure UEFI boot for quite some time, simply because the CSM is slowing down my boot, and i don't need it for Linux or Windows to work. However, I ran into some problems with the proprietary nvidia-driver lately (not part of this thread) and tried to boot with CSM enabled, to see if it fixes anything.

When i try to boot with CSM enabled, there seems to be a race condition. In rare cases, the system simply boots, but in most cases, the Laptop completely freezes, some time after starting udev (i think). But even if i enable kernel debug messages, the system freezes before showing anything related in the output. The last message from the journal is about starting udev, no error messages seem to be logged. Magic SysRQ does not work either.

Has anyone of you experienced a similar problem?
Can someone tell me a bit more specific what the CSM of a Lenovo W530 does? Maybe I can disable a few modules for troubleshooting?
And what would be a good way to debug the boot process, if everyhting is freezing? I could think of disabling udev, and listing modules statically, but how do i know which modules are required?

Thanks in advance for helping.

I am on a pure UEFI setup with secure boot disabled. I have a T530.

I cannot boot the discrete card (remember, the T530 has a different nvidia card nowhere near as good as yours) without a kernel panic occuring at EXACTLY the same point you mention. If I add 'noapic' to the kernel line, it boots fine on the discrete card. My DPI settings are all wacked out then though (compared to using the intel card). I have no issues with the discrete card using bumblebee (except that it sucks ).

I dont think my info really helps you, but I figured id mention it in case it gives you any clue. Let me know if you want me to try something..

Last edited by GSF1200S (2014-01-18 00:32:19)

Gigadoc 2

Member

Registered: 2009-11-14

Posts: 16

Website

Re: W530 freezing on boot when CSM enabled

I am on a pure UEFI setup with secure boot disabled. I have a T530.

I cannot boot the discrete card (remember, the T530 has a different nvidia card nowhere near as good as yours) without a kernel panic occuring at EXACTLY the same point you mention. If I add 'noacpi' to the kernel line, it boots fine on the discrete card. My DPI settings are all wacked out then though (compared to using the intel card). I have no issues with the discrete card using bumblebee (except that it sucks ).

I dont think my info really helps you, but I figured id mention it in case it gives you any clue. Let me know if you want me to try something..

Acutally, this is very interesting. So you cannot boot with discrete graphics at all?

What happens if you turn on CSM, and try to boot?

GSF1200S

Member

Registered: 2008-12-24

Posts: 474

Re: W530 freezing on boot when CSM enabled

I am on a pure UEFI setup with secure boot disabled. I have a T530.

I cannot boot the discrete card (remember, the T530 has a different nvidia card nowhere near as good as yours) without a kernel panic occuring at EXACTLY the same point you mention. If I add 'noacpi' to the kernel line, it boots fine on the discrete card. My DPI settings are all wacked out then though (compared to using the intel card). I have no issues with the discrete card using bumblebee (except that it sucks ).

I dont think my info really helps you, but I figured id mention it in case it gives you any clue. Let me know if you want me to try something..

Acutally, this is very interesting. So you cannot boot with discrete graphics at all?

What happens if you turn on CSM, and try to boot?

I have CSM on right now, and I am currently using the discrete graphics card. I edited my response above from "noacpi" to "noapic" as thats what it takes in my case- noacpi it will freeze at the udev message, while noapic it boots fine.

So to be clear: CSM enabled in bios, discrete graphics only, nvidia proprietary drivers, noapic on the kernel line, and it boots fine.

The only issue I have with this setup is my fonts are a lot bigger than the intel card which likely has to do with DPI settings. I dont really ever use my Nvidia card for the whole desktop, instead choosing to use bumblebee/optirun to launch stuff with the discrete card. I use intel 95% of the time.

Just ask if you want any printouts or whatever. Good luck

Gigadoc 2

Member

Registered: 2009-11-14

Posts: 16

Website

Re: W530 freezing on boot when CSM enabled

The bigger fonts are because the nvidia-driver sets up DPI according to your screens physical properties, while the intel driver doesn't do that.

I tried booting with noacpi, and it worked, but this option disables a lot of features your hardware has to offer, for example multiple cores, and the graphics card itself. Not shure if this is the case with noapic as well, i am going to try this.

EDIT: noapic works as well, and doesn't disable my cores. But as it turns out, enabling the CSM doesn't help in getting nvidia working anyway.
I am not sure if i should mark this thread as solved, but maybe i should open a bug report for this.

EDIT2: I just tried booting with "BIOS only" and GRUB2, encountering the same problems as before. Also, kernel 3.13 is failing as well. This means, it is completely impossible to boot Linux on this Hardware, if not for using a "pure" UEFI boot. I'm trying out some other distros, and maybe going to make a bug report on this.

Last edited by Gigadoc 2 (2014-01-18 23:28:05)