How to check if I'm really missing the firmwaer for xhci_pci

balance · 2020-09-05 12:31:04

Hello,

so when running mkinitcpi -P I get the usual warning that I'm missing xhci_pci firmware. Now I know thatI can ignore it if I don't have such hardware. But how do I know if I have such hardware? Or rather, how can I be sure I don't have any such hardware?

In my research I found those two links:
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commi … 11094b6f09
https://lore.kernel.org/patchwork/patch/686290/

So apparently this firmware would be for some usb-device with uPD720201 and uPD720202 chipsets from the company Renesas.

If I run lsusb it doesn't show up any device from Renesas. Does that imply, that I'm fine without this extra firmware?

V1del · 2020-09-05 12:37:35

lspci should show the usb controller that's in use on the system.

d_fajardo · 2020-09-05 12:48:32

There's also a brief discussion of this here.

balance · 2020-09-07 15:20:54

Thanks, I actually found that thread when googling.

So I guess that if lspci only shows Intel USB then I'm fine without the firmware, right?

d_fajardo · 2020-09-07 16:35:09

If a lot of people are having problems with this missing firmware, I'm sure it will be scrutinized and patched so yes you're OK.

hoschi · 2020-09-13 21:50:01

I hope so

Warnings exist to care and handle the issue. While it is not an error for most of us here. There is enough of that stuff in my system log already

d_fajardo · 2020-09-14 05:54:05

hoschi wrote:

Warnings exist to care and handle the issue.

The firmware is now available here if you want to suppress the warning.

Last edited by d_fajardo (2020-09-14 05:54:30)

hoschi · 2020-09-14 09:12:01

Thank you! I think it would be a little awkward installing a not required firmware manually to get rid of the warning? On the other hand I like to clear up such things.

I was bewildered because I get the warning in the 'default' preset only my ThinkPad X220 and not on my T420. The X220 is better equipped and supports USB 3.0 with a chip from Broadcom.

Last edited by hoschi (2020-09-14 09:21:18)

Ropid · 2020-09-14 09:58:55

I decided to create an empty file instead of installing that AUR package. It seems my computer here doesn't need the firmware so I don't predict the empty file causing problems in the future, and the empty file suppresses the warning message. I did this here to create the file:

sudo touch /usr/lib/firmware/renesas_usb_fw.mem

After mkinitcpio does its work, I can see that the new file is part of the initramfs image. I checked like this:

lsinitcpio /boot/initramfs-linux.img  | grep renesas

d_fajardo · 2020-09-14 10:45:05

hoshi wrote:

it would be a little awkward installing a not required firmware

You can just do as Ropid did, create an empty file.

Edit: The AUR package is just more 'official'.

Last edited by d_fajardo (2020-09-14 10:46:00)

Amphitryon · 2020-09-18 15:54:05

After reading all the links I am still none the wiser as to why the xhci_pci_renesas kernel module is being loaded when it looks like I don't have one of the Renesas USB controllers. On my system:

$ lsmod | grep -i rene
xhci_pci_renesas       20480  1 xhci_pci

and yet:

$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v2/3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v2/3rd Gen Core processor PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v2/3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller (rev 04)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev c4)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev c4)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev c4)
00:1c.7 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 8 (rev c4)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Z77 Express Chipset LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 04)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 09)
04:00.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1083/1085 PCIe to PCI Bridge (rev 03)
05:00.0 Multimedia audio controller: Xilinx Corporation RME Hammerfall DSP (rev 32)
06:00.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6315 Series Firewire Controller (rev 01)

so no sign of renesas. It seems like mkinitcpio is quite correctly determining that the xhci_pci_renesas module will get loaded and is therefore checking for the fimrware. The real question is why is that kernel module being loaded? Have Intel re-badged a renesas controller os is there a bug in the detection?

Ropid · 2020-09-18 19:45:03

@Amphitryon:

My system here is AMD and it also doesn't show any devices from Renesas. The different USB controllers of this PC here are from AMD and from ASMedia. I then thought the module is probably not needed, but it seems that's wrong and it really is needed.

I tried blocking the module by editing the kernel command line in the boot menu and adding this here to the end of the line:

module_blacklist=xhci_pci_renesas

This then broke all USB devices for me here.

loqs · 2020-09-18 20:02:37

See https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commi … 0c1745e680 and https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commi … d7fe0644b3

If CONFIG_USB_XHCI_PCI_RENESAS is Y or M then xhci_pci_renesas is a dependency of xhci_pci.

Last edited by loqs (2020-09-18 20:03:01)

Arch Linux

#1 2020-09-05 12:31:04

How to check if I'm really missing the firmwaer for xhci_pci

#2 2020-09-05 12:37:35

Re: How to check if I'm really missing the firmwaer for xhci_pci

#3 2020-09-05 12:48:32

Re: How to check if I'm really missing the firmwaer for xhci_pci

#4 2020-09-07 15:20:54

Re: How to check if I'm really missing the firmwaer for xhci_pci

#5 2020-09-07 16:35:09

Re: How to check if I'm really missing the firmwaer for xhci_pci

#6 2020-09-13 21:50:01

Re: How to check if I'm really missing the firmwaer for xhci_pci

#7 2020-09-14 05:54:05

Re: How to check if I'm really missing the firmwaer for xhci_pci

#8 2020-09-14 09:12:01

Re: How to check if I'm really missing the firmwaer for xhci_pci

#9 2020-09-14 09:58:55

Re: How to check if I'm really missing the firmwaer for xhci_pci

#10 2020-09-14 10:45:05

Re: How to check if I'm really missing the firmwaer for xhci_pci

#11 2020-09-18 15:54:05

Re: How to check if I'm really missing the firmwaer for xhci_pci

#12 2020-09-18 19:45:03

Re: How to check if I'm really missing the firmwaer for xhci_pci

#13 2020-09-18 20:02:37

Re: How to check if I'm really missing the firmwaer for xhci_pci

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