Bug#1028547: MT7921e firmware blob exists but is not found

[Jamie Wilkinson]

Thankyou for this part of your reply:


> That's expected: no firmware is deployed at first, the kernel complains,
> d-i notices, and deploys stuff if relevant firmware packages are found,
> and reload the relevant modules. This reloading is what breaks the
> kernel. See upstream bug report:
>
> https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=216844


as that was an actually useful response, and explains why
check-missing-firmware never got invoked.

Bug#1028547: MT7921e firmware blob exists but is not found

[Cyril Brulebois]

Jamie Wilkinson  (2023-03-07):
> I am installing on an Asus PN51-E1 which includes the Mediatek MT7921e
> wifi device.
> 
> I came across this bug while trying to install from
> https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/bookworm_di_alpha2/ netinst iso on
> a USB stick.
> 
> I see the same error, but what I was trying to debug when I arrived at
> this bug is why we see the error in dmesg:
> 
> mt7921e :05:00.0: firmware: failed to load
> mediatek/WIFI_MT7961_patch_mcu_1_2_hdr.bin (-2)

That's expected: no firmware is deployed at first, the kernel complains,
d-i notices, and deploys stuff if relevant firmware packages are found,
and reload the relevant modules. This reloading is what breaks the
kernel. See upstream bug report:

https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=216844

> because when I break to the console in the installer, I see in
> /lib/firmware this very file:
> 
> ~ # ls /lib/firmware/mediatek/WIFI_*
> WIFI_MT7922_patch_mcu_1_1_hdr.bin
> WIFI_MT7961_patch_mcu_1_2_hdr.bin
> WIFI_RAM_CODE_MT7922_1.bin
> WIFI_RAM_CODE_MT7961_1.bin

That's expected after an initial check-missing-firmware run.

> When I tried again in Expert install mode, I looked before detecting
> network devices, and saw that /lib/firmware was empty.  What's
> populating this directory?  Is it a chroot and thus the kernel module
> can't see it?  Or... is the kernel module looking in a different path?

You can check /var/log/syslog, looking for check-missing-firmware lines.
You'll see what it notices, and does.


Cheers,
-- 
Cyril Brulebois (k...@debian.org)
D-I release manager -- Release team member -- Freelance Consultant


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Bug#1028547: MT7921e firmware blob exists but is not found

[Jamie Wilkinson]

I am installing on an Asus PN51-E1 which includes the Mediatek MT7921e
wifi device.

I came across this bug while trying to install from
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/bookworm_di_alpha2/ netinst iso on
a USB stick.

I see the same error, but what I was trying to debug when I arrived at
this bug is why we see the error in dmesg:

mt7921e :05:00.0: firmware: failed to load
mediatek/WIFI_MT7961_patch_mcu_1_2_hdr.bin (-2)

because when I break to the console in the installer, I see in
/lib/firmware this very file:

~ # ls /lib/firmware/mediatek/WIFI_*
WIFI_MT7922_patch_mcu_1_1_hdr.bin
WIFI_MT7961_patch_mcu_1_2_hdr.bin
WIFI_RAM_CODE_MT7922_1.bin
WIFI_RAM_CODE_MT7961_1.bin

When I tried again in Expert install mode, I looked before detecting
network devices, and saw that /lib/firmware was empty.  What's
populating this directory?  Is it a chroot and thus the kernel module
can't see it?  Or... is the kernel module looking in a different path?