[AMD/ATI graphics] Missing firmware not declared / kernel modules not included in initrd
Hi all,
after a test installation on an IBM thinkpad with radeon RV515/M52 graphics,
I ended up with a "broken" system (Gnome login screen was not shown, instead
there was the "boot-up screen" showing the starting services like
[ OK ] Started User Login Management.
[ OK ] Started Bluetooth service.
...
[ OK ] Started Network Manager.
...
[ OK ] Started Accounts Service.
...
[ OK ] Reached target sound card.
Starting GNOME Display Manager ...
and somewhere at that point it hangs.
No login possible from there!
Problem was the missing firmware for the Radeon graphics card (package
"firmware-amd-graphics"), similar to several other bugreports we had here in the
past:
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=660734
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=718720
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=825916
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=598653
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=931436
I asked myself why the "check-missing-firmware" mechanism does not solve
this problem (or at least notifies the user about a firmware issue).
While debugging this, I found that the "radeon" module - responsible
for this graphics card - is not included in the installer environment.
So, the kernel cannot load it when detecting the graphics card.
And because of that, the "check-missing-firmware" mechanism does not get
notified about missing firmware.
Is this intended this way?
(I was stumbling about the radeon module here, but apparently it's the same
for other graphic cards too, like Intel? I don't find any video-output
kernel modules at all in d-i environment ...)
Would adding such graphics modules to the installer cause any harm?
Or could they be added, and get such problems sorted out?
Sorry, if I got something completely wrong here ...
Regards
Holger
--
Holger Wansing <hwansing@mailbox.org>
PGP-Fingerprint: 496A C6E8 1442 4B34 8508 3529 59F1 87CA 156E B076
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