[Libreboot] GRUB hangs for about 3 minutes

[Tarin Gamberini]

Hello there,

I'm installing Debian 8.2.0 on my brand new libreboot T400 laptop
http://minifree.org/product/libreboot-t400/.

I have successfully installed Debian with full disk encryption.

I have successfully reflashed the grubtest.cfg with:

    cryptomount -a
    set root='lvm/grubcrypt-debian'
    linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/mapper/grubcrypt-debian
cryptdevice=/dev/mapper/grubcrypt-debian:root
    initrd /initrd.img

The system boots but not too well. This is my annoying booting phase:

1. type LUKS passphrase at GRUB
2. system hangs for about 3 minutes
3. type (again) LUKS passphrase during debian boot
4. type user passphrase at user login

The "hang up problem" appeared soon as I have turned on my laptop just
after I had successfully installed Debian with full disk encryption. In
fact I pressed `c' to enter in command-line mode, then a simple `ls`
made GRUB hung for about 3 minutes.



Following the Libreboot documentation
http://libreboot.org/docs/gnulinux/encrypted_trisquel.html I had a
problem which may be provide some other information.

I was at "Booting your system" section when I tried to mount the crypted
LUKS volumes:

    grub> cryptomount -a
    Attempting to decrypt master key....
    Enter passphrase for ahci,msdos1 (d309etc...etc...etc...):

but GRUB hung for about 3 minutes and then it printed:

    Slot 0 opened
    error: AHCI transfer time out.

I have investigated running:

    grub> ls -la

GRUB hung for about 3 minutes and then it printed:

    grub> ls -la
    Device memdisk: ...
    Device lvm/grubcrypt-swap: No known filesystem detected - ...
    Device lvm/grubcrypt-debian: Filesystem type ext* - ... UUID
      1cbd60e7-4b00-41cd-8220-944369022911 ...
    Device crypto0: No known filesystem detected - ...
    ...
    Device ahci0: No known filesystem detected - ...
      Partition ahci0,msdos1: No known filesystem detected - ...
    ...

I have tried again with the slightly different:

    grub> cryptomount -a lvm/grubcrypt-debian

GRUB hung for about 3 minutes and then it printed:

    error: AHCI transfer time out.

I have tried another:

    grub> cryptomount -u 1cbd60e7-4b00-41cd-8220-944369022911

GRUB hung for about 3 minutes and then it printed:

    error: AHCI transfer time out.
    error: no such cryptodisk found.

I have stubbornly continued ignoring the last errors:

    grub> set root='lvm/grubcrypt-debian'
    grub> linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/mapper/grubcrypt-debian
cryptdevice=/dev/mapper/grubcrypt-debian:root
    grub> initrd /initrd.img
    grub> boot

and incredibly it has worked! Debian 8.2.0 boot has started successfully.



There is a documented AHCI transfer timed out at
libreboot.org/docs/gnulinux/encrypted_trisquel.html#troubleshooting but
I don't understand what to do, and I don't know how could I check if my
T400 has the same problem.

Does someone could help me?



Kind regards,
Tarin

-- 
Tarin Gamberini
www.taringamberini.com