System No Longer Boots "Direct Firmware Load Failed"

PasBern · 06-01-2014, 04:03 PM

After an upgrade today on my Sabayon Linux all kernels installed fail to boot my system, since they fail to load a firmware, probably for my USB hubs. Kernel 3.9 fails to boot at all, after the GRUB menu list, the screen turns black and that's it.

Installed kernel versions:

sys-kernel/linux-sabayon-3.9.11
sys-kernel/linux-sabayon-3.14.4
sys-kernel/linux-sabayon-3.13.11
sys-kernel/linux-sabayon-3.12.20
sys-kernel/linux-sabayon-3.11.10

Here is the message when in recovery mode:

Code:

platform microcode: Direct firmware load failed with error -2
can't disable ASPM
usb 1-4: string descriptor 0 malformed (err = -61), defaulting to 0x0409

Please enter passphrase for disk Samsung_SSD_840_Pro_Series:!!

The boot process stops here, not matter whether enter re-enter the passphrase for my encrypted LVM. Before the error message I had already been asked for my passphrase, which was accepted: "logical volumes active", so that is not the problem. I can even open LVM via a live system.

Any tips on how to proceed from here? Re-installing the system and masking the kernel packages so they do not get upgraded. We are talking here aboutan upgrade of minor revisions 3.14.a to 3.14.b not major kernel versions.

Booting a live Gentoo CD and the manually compiling a kernel together with installing it in /boot and tinkering with it, so finally Sabayon boots a workable kernel?

dijetlo · 06-04-2014, 10:59 AM

Quote:

platform microcode: Direct firmware load failed with error -2
can't disable ASPM
usb 1-4: string descriptor 0 malformed (err = -61), defaulting to 0x0409

ASPM stands for advanced system power management, which can probably be shut off in the bios

PasBern · 06-05-2014, 12:37 PM

Thanks for the info about ASPM, but there is no option in the BIOS to turn it off, only to select the boot device and enabling UEFI.

The BIOS of my Acer laptop is even more annoying, as it pretends to have a second hard drive slot, which simply just isn't there. I screwed open the case and looked really, really hard for a bay for a second drive. Well, ripping out the battery would be an option, but I have my doubts, if that would be advisable.

Thanks Acer, I appreciate that!

dijetlo · 06-05-2014, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (or UEFI for short) is a new type of firmware that was initially designed by Intel (known as EFI then) mainly for its Itanium based systems. It introduces new ways of booting an OS

At it's most basic level, it keeps the main board powered up so you can trigger a boot remotely (or boot the machine off a different OS stored on the network)
It may tie into you power management issues. It's worth a look at least.
The wiki is Archlinux related but since it deals with the hardware beneath the OS, you'll probably find it helpful. The other option I'd pursue is to go to the manufacturerers website and look around for a fix they've provided. If it is UEFI related, I doubt your the only person to have experienced it.