[Solved] no iwlwifi nodes available when booting dracut initramfs

Moo-Crumpus · 2022-05-28 09:40:58

I use two PCs with Archlinux. Both have Intel wireless cards that use the iwlwifi kernel module.

My problem is that when I use an initramfs created with dracut, no device nodes are created for the wireless cards, only for Ethernet. If I switch back to mkinitcpio everything works.

Does dracut have an issue with Intel wireless cards? I don't run any individual dracut config.

Last edited by Moo-Crumpus (2022-06-13 13:39:57)

loqs · 2022-05-29 15:10:45

Wireless modules are excluded by design https://github.com/dracutdevs/dracut/bl … tup.sh#L15

Moo-Crumpus · 2022-05-30 05:28:12

Thanks for your interest. I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing, so I guess I wasn't clear enough.

Yes, dracut should not care about my wireless network. It shouldn't, it's not relevant to booting. After booting, I would have systemd-network and iwd and could establish a connections. This is not my problem. The problem is that this is not possible when using dracut.

Using dracut causes my device to not create any wireless network card nodes at all at boot and therefore systemd, iwd cannot access anything - no phy0, wlan0, wlp2s0 exists. This is reproducible.

I experience this identically on my devices, all of which have Intel wireless cards.

V1del · 2022-05-30 15:39:23

the initramfs really shouldn't have an impact on the stuff that happens after it in terms of late loading modules. How sure are you you are booting the correct kernel image that would properly match the kernel in runtime? What's your

uname -a
pacman -Q linux #Or whatever installed kernel

from a dracut boot? Can you "force" the interfaces to appear by manually loading iwlwifi after boot? Symptoms strongly sound like you aren't booting the proper kernel after the initramfs stage

Moo-Crumpus · 2022-05-31 05:26:43

Thank you for taking the time.
I'm sure it's not a fake kernel, since when I switch from mkinitcpio to dracut I remove all the legacies each time: remove EFI stubs, remove intram files, uninstall the respective initramfs creator, then reinstall the single kernel - vanilla linux.
Watch the initramfs creator write the new initram images, sbctl process the bundles and rewrite and sign the EFI stubs. Check the date of the files, reboot. Bam.

uname -a && pacman -Q linux == results are equal

Moo-Crumpus · 2022-05-31 05:29:35

V1del wrote:

Can you "force" the interfaces to appear by manually loading iwlwifi after boot?

No. However, Intel's modules are loaded completely, even using dracut. Wicked, isn't it?

Last edited by Moo-Crumpus (2022-05-31 05:30:18)

loqs · 2022-05-31 08:07:33

Moo-Crumpus wrote:

V1del wrote:
Can you "force" the interfaces to appear by manually loading iwlwifi after boot?
No. However, Intel's modules are loaded completely, even using dracut. Wicked, isn't it?

Please post the system journal for that boot along with the outputs of `lsmod` and `ip l` .

Moo-Crumpus · 2022-05-31 18:36:48

loqs wrote:

Please post the system journal for that boot along with the outputs of `lsmod` and `ip l` .

What exactly are you locking for. I won't share all that informations, a complete journal, mac adresses...

loqs · 2022-05-31 19:40:44

Redact any information you do not want to share. Lots of things in the journal would be of use from confirming the kernel version to any network related messages.

Moo-Crumpus · 2022-05-31 20:01:36

I found out there is a difference in dmesg logs.
As follows when using dracut:

[    4.463424] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[    4.467459] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-72.ucode failed with error -2
... loads of more errors mentioned here until ...
[    4.467773] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-39.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.467774] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: no suitable firmware found!
[    4.467800] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: minimum version required: iwlwifi-cc-a0-39
[    4.467826] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: maximum version supported: iwlwifi-cc-a0-72
[    4.467849] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: check git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git

while with mkinitcpio it reads

[    5.270339] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[    5.280437] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-72.ucode failed with error -2
[    5.308421] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: api flags index 2 larger than supported by driver
[    5.308435] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: TLV_FW_FSEQ_VERSION: FSEQ Version: 89.3.35.37
[    5.308683] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: loaded firmware version 71.058653f6.0 cc-a0-71.ucode op_mode iwlmvm
[    5.361070] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Detected Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX200 160MHz, REV=0x340
[    5.486064] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Detected RF HR B3, rfid=0x10a100
[    5.551675] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: base HW address: 50:eb:71:fa:d8:68
[   18.075800] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Not associated and the session protection is over already...

Apparently, running dracut's initramfs, the system stumbles when processing the firmware and does not get the unit activated. Using mkinitcpio's initramfs there is no issue.

Last edited by Moo-Crumpus (2022-05-31 20:06:31)

schard · 2022-05-31 20:07:25

Please provide

$ cat /proc/cmdline

from both boots with either mkinitcpio and dracut.
Also please post the output requested by V1del in post #4, since

Moo-Crumpus wrote:

uname -a && pacman -Q linux == results are equal

cannot be true, as the package at least uses different punctuation.

loqs · 2022-05-31 20:09:38

In the dracut dmesg is there a line

iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-71.ucode failed with error -2

indicating it tried to load usr/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-cc-a0-71.ucode.xz which mkinitcpio was able to use but failed to find it.

Moo-Crumpus · 2022-06-01 06:19:54

Seems dracut and linux-lts work fine, while dracut and linux / linux-zen fail. But step by step.

kernel
uname -r && pacman -Q linux

5.18.1-arch1-1
linux 5.18.1.arch1-1

mkinitcpio

cmdlines

initrd=\amd-ucode.img initrd=\intel-ucode.img initrd=\initramfs-linux.img systemd.unit=graphical.target root=LABEL=ARCHLINUX_ROOT rw amd_iommu=off iommu=pt nowatchdog resume=LABEL=SWAP

dmesg

[    5.351067] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[    5.354466] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-72.ucode failed with error -2
[    5.376950] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: api flags index 2 larger than supported by driver
[    5.376962] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: TLV_FW_FSEQ_VERSION: FSEQ Version: 89.3.35.37
[    5.377140] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: loaded firmware version 71.058653f6.0 cc-a0-71.ucode op_mode iwlmvm
[    5.432225] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Detected Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX200 160MHz, REV=0x340
[    5.557177] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Detected RF HR B3, rfid=0x10a100
[    5.622150] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: base HW address: 50:eb:71:fa:d8:68
[   17.943084] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Not associated and the session protection is over already...

dracut

cmdlines

initrd=\amd-ucode.img initrd=\intel-ucode.img initrd=\initramfs-linux.img systemd.unit=multi-user.target root=LABEL=ARCHLINUX_ROOT rw amd_iommu=off iommu=pt nowatchdog resume=LABEL=SWAP

dmesg linux / linux-zen
See how loading firmware cc-a0-66 fails here.

[    4.751995] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[    4.758732] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-72.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758743] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-71.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758751] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-70.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758759] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-69.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758768] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-68.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758782] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-67.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758795] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-66.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758808] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-65.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758819] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-64.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758828] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-63.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758837] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-62.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758848] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-61.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758859] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-60.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758866] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-59.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758874] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-58.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758880] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-57.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758888] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-56.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758895] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-55.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758902] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-54.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758910] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-53.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758922] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-52.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758935] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-51.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758942] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-50.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758950] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-49.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758957] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-48.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758964] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-47.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758971] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-46.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758978] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-45.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.758988] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-44.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.759000] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-43.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.759011] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-42.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.759023] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-41.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.759035] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-40.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.759048] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-cc-a0-39.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.759049] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: no suitable firmware found!
[    4.759082] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: minimum version required: iwlwifi-cc-a0-39
[    4.759124] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: maximum version supported: iwlwifi-cc-a0-72
[    4.759157] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: check git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git

dmesg linux-lts
See how loading firmware cc-a0-66 succeeds here.

[    4.965282] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[    4.986836] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: api flags index 2 larger than supported by driver
[    4.986846] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: TLV_FW_FSEQ_VERSION: FSEQ Version: 89.3.35.37
[    4.986968] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: loaded firmware version 66.f1c864e0.0 cc-a0-66.ucode op_mode iwlmvm
[    4.995495] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Detected Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX200 160MHz, REV=0x340
[    5.119469] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Detected RF HR B3, rfid=0x10a100
[    5.185419] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: base HW address: 50:eb:71:fa:d8:68
[    5.199202] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0 wlp6s0: renamed from wlan0
[   21.772264] iwlwifi 0000:06:00.0: Not associated and the session protection is over already...

So, after a series of further combinations of configuration, dracut or mkinitcpio and various kernels, efi stubs created by dracut or sbctl, that's what I've found.
Running the system by dracut and linux-lts works just fine. Well, at least on one of my systems... weird.

So, what is the issue now, linux and linux-zen? Both work fine in case of mkinitcpio.
Or is it dracut? Which works fine in case of linux-lts, but not with linux and linux-zen.

I am lost.

Last edited by Moo-Crumpus (2022-06-01 11:19:34)

loqs · 2022-06-01 06:41:25

Please post the start of the dmesg for linux / linux-zen which shows the version and build date.
Edit:
If you decompress iwlwifi-cc-a0-71.ucode.xz is the firmware then loaded?

cd /usr/lib/firmware/
# xz -dk iwlwifi-cc-a0-71.ucode.xz

You can delete the decompressed firmware after testing the compressed version is preserved by the keep option.

Last edited by loqs (2022-06-01 07:21:02)

schard · 2022-06-01 06:45:43

I guess it's dracut. Spcifically some kernel module configuration.
Please provide

modprobe -c | grep ^options

from boots with both dracut and mkinitcpio with the same kernel (vanilla linux would be best).

Moo-Crumpus · 2022-06-01 10:58:02

loqs wrote:

Please post the start of the dmesg for linux / linux-zen which shows the version and build date.
Edit:
If you decompress iwlwifi-cc-a0-71.ucode.xz is the firmware then loaded?
cd /usr/lib/firmware/
# xz -dk iwlwifi-cc-a0-71.ucode.xz
You can delete the decompressed firmware after testing the compressed version is preserved by the keep option.

I suppose this has to be done in case of dracut, right?

Moo-Crumpus · 2022-06-01 11:15:52

schard wrote:

I guess it's dracut. Spcifically some kernel module configuration.
Please provide
modprobe -c | grep ^options
from boots with both dracut and mkinitcpio with the same kernel (vanilla linux would be best).

With kernel = linux

dracut

modprobe -c | grep ^options

options amdgpu bapm=1 deep_color=1
options iwlmvm power_scheme=1
options nfs nfs4_disable_idmapping=0
options nfsd nfs4_disable_idmapping=0
options snd_hda_intel power_save=0 power_save_controller=N
options btusb reset=1
options nfs nfs4_disable_idmapping=0
options nfsd nfs4_disable_idmapping=0
options bonding max_bonds=0
options dummy numdummies=0
options systemd unit=multi-user.target

mkinitcpio

modprobe -c | grep ^options

options amdgpu bapm=1 deep_color=1
options iwlmvm power_scheme=1
options nfs nfs4_disable_idmapping=0
options nfsd nfs4_disable_idmapping=0
options snd_hda_intel power_save=0 power_save_controller=N
options btusb reset=1
options nfs nfs4_disable_idmapping=0
options nfsd nfs4_disable_idmapping=0
options bonding max_bonds=0
options dummy numdummies=0
options systemd unit=graphical.target

Moo-Crumpus · 2022-06-01 11:18:02

loqs wrote:

Please post the start of the dmesg for linux / linux-zen which shows the version and build date.
Edit:
If you decompress iwlwifi-cc-a0-71.ucode.xz is the firmware then loaded?
cd /usr/lib/firmware/
# xz -dk iwlwifi-cc-a0-71.ucode.xz
You can delete the decompressed firmware after testing the compressed version is preserved by the keep option.

With kernel = linux
With initramfs-generator = dracut

cd /usr/lib/firmware/
# xz -dk iwlwifi-cc-a0-71.ucode.xz
ls iwlwifi-cc-a0-71.ucode*

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1,3M 13. Mai 09:39 iwlwifi-cc-a0-71.ucode
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 449K 13. Mai 09:39 iwlwifi-cc-a0-71.ucode.xz

Last edited by Moo-Crumpus (2022-06-01 11:18:41)

schard · 2022-06-01 11:51:29

Dracut has the options --fwdir and --no-kernel.
Maybe check your configuration for faulty settings regarding these options.

Edit: Why is mkinitcpio booting into graphical.target while dracut is bootin into multi-user.target?
Please provide your dracut configs.

Last edited by schard (2022-06-01 11:56:46)

Moo-Crumpus · 2022-06-02 06:35:33

schard wrote:

Dracut has the options --fwdir and --no-kernel.
Maybe check your configuration for faulty settings regarding these options.
Edit: Why is mkinitcpio booting into graphical.target while dracut is bootin into multi-user.target?
Please provide your dracut configs.

I don't use a setting like fwdir or no-kernel. Why I made mkinitcpio and dracut boot into different targets? Because I can, that's all. ?

Here is the dracut config I use on my laptop;

hostonly="yes"
hostonly_cmdline="yes"

force_drivers+=" i915 "
add_drivers+=" f2fs "
omit_drivers+=" i2o_scsi "

fscks=" f2s-tools "

add_dracutmodules+=" base dash dracut-systemd systemd i18n udev-rules usrmount resume "
omit_dracutmodules+=" brltty bootchart rngd mksh busybox squash network-wicked dmraid multipath fcoe fcoe-uefi nbd nvmf biosdevname memst>

kernel_cmdline=" nowatchdog root=LABEL=ROOT rw resume=LABEL=SWAP "

Moo-Crumpus · 2022-06-02 07:05:53

Moo-Crumpus wrote:

V1del wrote:
Can you "force" the interfaces to appear by manually loading iwlwifi after boot?
No. However, Intel's modules are loaded completely, even using dracut. Wicked, isn't it?

I am only able to do this on one of two computers.

Last edited by Moo-Crumpus (2022-06-02 15:35:01)

Moo-Crumpus · 2022-06-13 13:39:33

Back from vacancies, both computers demand a hundred of packages updated and things go so well. The tings work, allthough the issue itself is not solved in a way I know what was going on. Nevertheless, solved.

Arch Linux

#1 2022-05-28 09:40:58