Clear Linux boot issue after update to 32780

News and Announcements
1

On April 8th 2020 we received reports from users about Clear Linux OS installations failing to reboot after updating to 32780. This Clear Linux version included an update to Linux kernel 5.6 which introduced a configuration CONFIG_EFI_DISABLE_PCI_DMA that does not work consistently with many EFI implementations. Impacted systems do not boot successfully, getting stuck at the error messages “exit_boot() failed! efi_main() failed!”. This does not appear to impact all systems. To prevent this issue from impacting more systems, we are pushing an update to revert the introduced changes.

If you have a system which is experiencing this issue:

A previous version of the kernel is still available on your system to boot from and can be used to work around the problem.

  1. Reboot the system.
  2. Interrupt the bootloader by holding the SPACE bar key on the keyboard after the system POSTS.
  3. From the bootloader screen, select a kernel 5.5.x or older using the arrow keys and hit the ENTER key on the keyboard.

If for any reason a previous kernel is not available for selection:

  1. Highlight the 5.6.x kernel from the bootloader screen.
  2. Push e on the keyboard to edit the kernel cmdline.
  3. Use the right arrow key on the keyboard to reach the end of the line.
  4. Add efi=no_disable_early_pci_dma and hit the ENTER key on the keyboard to boot with the modified kernel cmdline.

If you have a running system which has not yet rebooted:

  1. Defer rebooting if possible.
  2. Manually run swupd update and make sure it updates to 32800 or newer before rebooting.
4

Is it OK if i’m on 32760 and no update is available?

swupd reports that it’s already the newest version.

5

Same here.

Screenshot from 2020-04-08 23-37-54

6

Same here.
This is why I have disabled automatic updates. This is the second time with major problems because the updates are “defective” for a short period of time. Too bad you can’t choose the latest one, for example, so you can feel more confident that the one you’re installing has been evaluated. Feels a little unsure since I’m not a used user of Linux. Sadly it starts to look like updates from Windows. Must be next to impossible to create fully functional updates with the wide variety of different hardware the OS is installed on.

7

Thank you for the hint:

Version on server (32760) is not newer than system version (32780)
Update complete - System already up-to-date at version 32780
8

@Apollo18 @Thisu @spktkpkt @StefanH
The new 32800+ build has not been pushed yet. Today hopefully. I’ll post here once it is.

1 Like
9

The 32800 release is out now which disables the problematic config for now.

4 Likes
10

Will update version 32810 work with Microsoft Secure Boot??