Arch Linux

vlfig

Member

Registered: 2014-09-14

Posts: 10

kernel 6.6.9/6.7.0 fails to reach graphical (<=6.1.70-1-lts is fine)

Hi,

I've been holding this off for a while by sticking to LTS in hopes that upgrades to current non-lts kernel would solve it. Now that LTS is moving on to 6.6.x I need to address this.

Symptom is: boot hangs just before graphical. No switching VTs, no reaction. Hard power off is the only way out.
Laptop: Dell XPS 9570.

Has happened with previous versions of linux, above 6.1. Version 5.1.5 (previous lts) was good, as is current 6.1.70-lts.

I've looked into possible culprits. I've removed v4lloopback-dc-dkms (plus userspace tools). I've commented out the kernel tainting options in i915 (enable_fbc=1 disable_power_well=0 enable_psr=0). None worked. Same behaviour with all usb unplugged.

Here are the journalctl boot logs for the current (working) boot and the previous one (faulty): all of journalctl, just kernel, and just systemd. With each, a diff at the end.

linux-lts (working) journalctl (all syslog)
linux (faulty) journalctl (all syslog)
journalctl diff (all syslog)

linux-lts (working) journalctl (only kernel)
linux (faulty) journalctl (only kernel)
journalctl diff (only kernel)

linux-lts (working) journalctl (only systemd)
linux (faulty) journalctl (only systemd)
journalctl diff (only systemd)

Thanks in advance for any help.

Last edited by vlfig (2024-01-17 22:06:22)

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 17,483

Re: kernel 6.6.9/6.7.0 fails to reach graphical (<=6.1.70-1-lts is fine)

Is the issue still present in linux 6.7.arch3-1 currently in core-testing?  To confirm 6.2 - 6.6 all trigger the issue?

vlfig

Member

Registered: 2014-09-14

Posts: 10

Re: kernel 6.6.9/6.7.0 fails to reach graphical (<=6.1.70-1-lts is fine)

6.7.0 does indeed boot.

➜  ~ uname -r
6.7.0-arch3-1

I had to make some space for its new initram images though.

➜  ~ sudo ls -lh /boot/init*
-rwx------ 1 root root 222M Jan 14 22:51 initramfs-linux-fallback.img
-rwx------ 1 root root 179M Jan 14 22:50 initramfs-linux.img
-rwx------ 1 root root  69M Jan  2 12:57 initramfs-linux-lts-fallback.img
-rwx------ 1 root root  21M Jan  2 12:57 initramfs-linux-lts.img

Am I doing something wrong or are they just large like that? (using COMPRESSION=xz).

Thanks!

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: London

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 7,765

Website

Re: kernel 6.6.9/6.7.0 fails to reach graphical (<=6.1.70-1-lts is fine)

Am I doing something wrong or are they just large like that?

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=291900

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vlfig

Member

Registered: 2014-09-14

Posts: 10

Re: kernel 6.6.9/6.7.0 fails to reach graphical (<=6.1.70-1-lts is fine)

So 6.7.0 did boot with core-testing/linux, but now isn't booting again after doing a full upgrade without core-testing, now that it got promoted to core.

I'm still gathering data to understand what's going on. I have LTS frozen to 6.1.70-1.

I've done away with acpi_call that was also tainting, to no effect. I'm testing now with the mkinitcpio update. Suggestions for investigation welcome.

Last edited by vlfig (2024-01-15 21:14:43)

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: London

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 7,765

Website

Re: kernel 6.6.9/6.7.0 fails to reach graphical (<=6.1.70-1-lts is fine)

Symptom is: boot hangs just before graphical. No switching VTs, no reaction. Hard power off is the only way out.

What happens if you set multi-user.target as the default instead of graphical.target?

Reference: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/System … _boot_into

You mention Intel graphics kernel parameters but your kernel command line has a nouveau parameter. What is your graphics hardware?

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vlfig

Member

Registered: 2014-09-14

Posts: 10

Re: kernel 6.6.9/6.7.0 fails to reach graphical (<=6.1.70-1-lts is fine)

If I set target to be multi-user I do get dropped on the VT and the system is running.

I have a dual intel/nvidia laptop. lspci -k:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation CoffeeLake-H GT2 [UHD Graphics 630]
        DeviceName:  Onboard IGD
        Subsystem: Dell CoffeeLake-H GT2 [UHD Graphics 630]
        Kernel driver in use: i915
        Kernel modules: i915
01:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile] (rev a1)
        Subsystem: Dell GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile]
        Kernel modules: nouveau

Notice nouveau would be, but is not in use...

➜  ~ cat /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf 
blacklist nouveau
blacklist rivafb
blacklist nvidiafb
blacklist rivatv
blacklist nv

...as is blacklisted (also on the kernel command line "module_blacklist=nouveau") and indeed not loaded.

➜  ~ sudo lsmod | grep -e nvidia -e nouveau

What is loaded is

➜  ~ sudo lsmod | grep i915
i915                 3211264  34
drm_buddy              20480  1 i915
video                  65536  3 dell_wmi,dell_laptop,i915
ttm                    94208  1 i915
drm_display_helper    184320  1 i915
cec                    81920  2 drm_display_helper,i915
intel_gtt              28672  2 intel_agp,i915

➜  ~ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf     
Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Intel Graphics"
        Driver      "intel"
        Option      "Backlight"  "intel_backlight"
        Option      "TearFree"        "false"
        Option      "TripleBuffer"    "false"
        Option      "SwapbuffersWait" "false"
EndSection

the latest 6.7.0 attempt
the 6.7.0 boot that somehow worked
the diff

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,831

Re: kernel 6.6.9/6.7.0 fails to reach graphical (<=6.1.70-1-lts is fine)

Remove xf86-video-intel and that config file. If you want to handle backlight install acpilight instead of xbacklight, add your user to the video group and continue to use xbacklight without getting shackled by xf86-video-intel.

You also get a crash in attempting to enable pm on the usb-c bus. I suggest you get rid of pcie_port_pm=on (maybe even acpi_rev_override=1) and then explicitly enable PM on devices you know that work/respectively exempt the faulty ones. But what we surely see is a i915 flipping error that's commonly triggered by xf86-video-intel which you don't want to use on this hardware anyway.

vlfig

Member

Registered: 2014-09-14

Posts: 10

Re: kernel 6.6.9/6.7.0 fails to reach graphical (<=6.1.70-1-lts is fine)

Thanks! I uninstalled xf86-video-intel and removed that config file. Uninstalled xbacklight, installed acpilight and added my user to the video group.

I've booted with 6.7.0 again, without either the pcie_port_pm=on or the acpi_rev_override=1 kernel command line options, and symptoms persist.

Here are the logs.

bootlog-kernel0
bootlog-kernel-1
diff-kernel

bootlog-systemd0
bootlog-systemd-1
diff-systemd

bootlog-all0
bootlog-all-1

0 is current boot (lts) -1 is previous boot (6.7.0)

(some usb devices might differ from previous posts (but not between these two runs) as I've changed docking station).

Last edited by vlfig (2024-01-17 16:14:50)

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: London

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 7,765

Website

Re: kernel 6.6.9/6.7.0 fails to reach graphical (<=6.1.70-1-lts is fine)

The brightnessctl package lets you control the backlight without adding users to the video group.

If the Intel graphics worked with an old kernel but doesn't now you have probably encountered a kernel regression. See also https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=291943, it might even be the same bad commit(s) causing the problems.

And please remove the nonsense "hangs" from the thread title. Your machine does not "hang" at all, it just can't load a graphical desktop.

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