[Libreboot-dev] Test report: mb2,1 - 2016-01-02 (unstable)

[Albin]

Hi! Here is another test report for the macbook2,1.


Release and image details
=========================

Release
-------
r20150518fix-672-g91aec7e

Date and time
-------------
2016-Jan-02 21:46:18

Image
-----
macbook21_svenska_vesafb.rom


Results
=======

Works
-----
* GRUB: Boot Operating System -- The GRUB menu installed on the HDD
loads automatically after a few seconds, from which the OS (Trisquel 7
in my case) can be booted normally.
* GRUB: Reboot
* GRUB: Booting from USB key (if inserted when inside GRUB, see below).

Doesn't work / issues
---------------------
* Booting with USB key plugged in -- GRUB doesn't start. Instead the
following message is shown: "Unknown key 0xff detected" and after a
while the system reboots. Tested with and without battery.
* GRUB: Search for GRUB configuration (grub.cfg) outside of CBDS -- it
doesn't create any new boot entries. The latest stable release, however,
generates (on my system) a "Load Config from (ahci0,1)" entry that can
be used to boot GNU/Linux.
* GRUB: Poweroff -- the screen goes blank but the system doesn't shut down.
* It is no longer possible to boot from CD as there is no GRUB entry for
it. For me this feels like a regression, but perhaps it makes the
project more easy to maintain and so I can understand it.

Not tested
----------
* Everything else


Comparison with r20150518fix-652-g48821e5 unstable release
==============================

With this release, Trisquel 7 installed on the HDD loads automatically,
which is a nice improvement. Otherwise the same issues remain.


Comparison with the latest stable release (2015-05-18)
======================================================

Improvements
------------
* With no USB storage device plugged in, "Unknown key 0xff detected" is
no longer shown over the GRUB menu.
* It is no longer necessary to press Enter to load the OS on the
internal storage.
* The new "Reboot" GRUB entry works (but when would this be useful?).

Regressions
-----------
* Booting with USB storage inserted doesn't work. Instead "Unknown key
0xff detected" is printed all over the screen.
* Search for GRUB configuration (grub.cfg) outside of CBDS doesn't work.
* The new "Poweroff" entry blanks the screen but doesn't shut down the
computer.


Recommendations
---------------
I will keep this latest unstable version (until the next one) since it's
an overall improvement to me that the computer can now boot without
manual intervention. However, I don't think it's good enough to become
the next stable release.


Comments on Eemeli's latest email
=================================

> a) Right after booting the machine and grub has loaded there's a huge
> spam of text "--MORE-- Unknown key 0xff detected". The machine is
> unresponsive and has to be turned off and then on again. This issue
> appeared on my machine mostly when two conditions were met: 1) the
> battery is in the laptop, 2) the machine has been turned off for about
> an hour or more.

I have never experienced it like this. For me, with the latest stable
release, "--MORE-- Unknown key 0xff detected" is instead printed over
the first few lines of the libreboot GRUB menu. Moving the arrow keys up
and down works and so does pressing the Enter key. So it appears that
the "Unknown key" issue shows up differently on different computers.

> If someone would teach me how to git bissect
> I'd be more than happy to try to locate the fix.

I would also like to learn how to perform a git bisect. I can't promise
that I'll be able to do it any time soon though.


Best regards,

Albin

Den 2016-01-04 kl. 05:50, skrev Eemeli Blåsten:
> Happy 2016 everybody!
> 
> As far as I know there are two types of "Unknown key 0xff detected"
> issues on the librebooted mackoob 2.1:
> 
> a) Right after booting the machine and grub has loaded there's a huge
> spam of text "--MORE-- Unknown key 0xff detected". The machine is
> unresponsive and has to be turned off and then on again. This issue
> appeared on my machine mostly when two conditions were met: 1) the
> battery is in the laptop, 2) the machine has been turned off for about
> an hour or more.
> 
> b) Having a USB stick in one of the usb ports and booting will give a
> spam of "--More-- Unknown key 0xff" once grub is loaded. The machine
> restarts after a while. The battery doesn't affect this behaviour.
> 
> 
> Issue b) was experienced by Albin in the release
> "r20150518fix-652-g48821e5". I have not tried that one and so haven't
> experienced that issue. On my laptop issue a) was fixed somewhere
> between the stable release 20150518 and the commit
> 7c5fc471cfcdc48086491c87773a3667ae016873 (20151222). If someone would
> teach me how to git bissect I'd be more than happy to try to locate the
> fix. Note that this will take a long time since the machine has to "cool
> down" for an hour or more for issue a) to appear.
> 
> Francis asked me to try the fix in the commit
> http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/libreboot.git/commit/?id=0c651b42de90173206bcbfc5d5aa4e71e973177f
> . It did nothing (neither fixed the issue or introduced new ones) in
> relation to issue a), neither at the release 20150518 nor at the commit
> from 20151222 that I talked about earlier. I have not tried it with
> issue b).
> 
> Best regards,
> Eemeli
>