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

[Albin]

Dear Francis,

Could you please revert the commit
0c651b42de90173206bcbfc5d5aa4e71e973177f ("grub.cfg: Don't load module
for usbserial_pl2303")?

1. It doesn't do what it says: "Should solve this error message in GRUB:
--MORE--Unknown key 0xff detected".

2. There are people, myself included, who are actually using the pl2303.

Regards,

Albin

Den 2016-01-04 kl. 16:32, skrev 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
>>
>