• Bjorn Helgaas's avatar
    [PATCH] move HCDP/PCDP to early uart console · 1af22f6d
    Bjorn Helgaas authored
    This changes the HCDP/PCDP support to use the early uart console
    rather than using early_serial_setup().
    
    As a consequence, ia64 serial device names will now stay constant
    regardless of firmware console settings.  (A serial device selected as
    an EFI console device on HP ia64 boxes used to automatically become
    ttyS0.)
    
    This also removes the ia64 early-boot kludge of assuming legacy COM
    ports at 0x3f8 and 0x2f8.  For boxes that have legacy ports but no
    HCDP, "console=ttyS0" will still work, but the console won't start
    working until after the serial driver initializes and discovers the
    devices.
    
    WARNING:
    
    If you have an HP machine and you're using the MP serial console port
    (the connector labelled "console" on the 3-headed cable), this patch
    will break your console!
    
    HOW TO FIX IT:
    
     1) The console device will change from /dev/ttyS0 to /dev/ttyS1,
        ttyS2, or ttyS3, so:
    
        1a) Edit /etc/inittab to add a getty entry for
               /dev/ttyS1 (rx4640, rx5670, rx7620, rx8620, Superdome),
               /dev/ttyS2 (rx1600), or
               /dev/ttyS3 (rx2600).
    
        1b) Edit /etc/securetty to add ttyS1, ttyS2, or ttyS3.
    
        1c) Leave the existing ttyS0 entries in /etc/inittab and
            /etc/securetty so you can still boot old kernels.
    
     2) Edit /etc/elilo.conf to remove any "console=" arguments (see [1]).
    
     3) Run elilo to install the bootloader with new configuration.
    
     4) Reboot and use the EFI boot option maintenance menu to select
        exactly one device for console output, input, and standard error.
        Then do a cold reset so the changes take effect.
    
        For the MP console, be careful to select the device with
        "Acpi(HWP0002,700)/Pci(...)/Uart" in the path (see [2]).
    
    DETAILS:
    
      - Prior to this patch, serial device names depended on the HCDP,
        which in turn depends on EFI console settings.  After this patch,
        the naming always stays the same, regardless of firmware settings.
    
        For example, an rx1600 with a single built-in serial port plus
        an MP has these ports:
                                       Old             Old
                      MMIO         (EFI console    (EFI console
                     address        on builtin)     on MP port)      New
                    ==========      ==========      ==========     ======
        builtin     0xff5e0000        ttyS0           ttyS1         ttyS0
        MP UPS      0xf8031000        ttyS1           ttyS2         ttyS1
        MP Console  0xf8030000        ttyS2           ttyS0         ttyS2
        MP 2        0xf8030010        ttyS3           ttyS3         ttyS3
        MP 3        0xf8030038        ttyS4           ttyS4         ttyS4
    
      - If you want to have multiple devices in the EFI console path, you
        can, but Linux won't be able to deduce which console to use, so it
        will default to using VGA.  You can use "console=hcdp" (the UART
        device from the EFI path) or "console=ttyS<n>" to select the
        device directly.
    
    TROUBLESHOOTING:
    
      - No kernel output after "Uncompressing Linux... done":
    
            -> You're using an MP port as the console and specified
               "console=ttyS0".  This port is now named something else.
               Remove the "console=" option.
    
            -> Multiple UARTs selected as EFI console devices, and you're
               looking at the wrong one.  Make sure only one UART is
               selected (use the EFI Boot Manager "Boot option maintenance"
               menu).
    
            -> You're physically connected to the MP port but have a
               non-MP UART selected as EFI console device.  Either move
               the console cable to the non-MP UART, or change the EFI
               console path to the MP UART (the MP UART is the one with
               "Acpi(HWP0002,700)/Pci(...)/Uart" in it.)
    
      - Long pause (60+ seconds) between "Uncompressing Linux... done"
        and start of kernel output:
    
            -> No early console, probably because you used "console=ttyS<n>".
               Remove the "console=" option.
    
      - Kernel and init script output works fine, but no "login:" prompt:
    
            -> Add getty entry to /etc/inittab for console tty.  Use the table
               in (1a) above or look for the "Adding console on ttyS<n>" message
               that tells you which device is the console.
    
      - "login:" prompt, but can't login as root:
    
            -> Add entry to /etc/securetty for console tty.
    
    [1] When the EFI console path contains exactly one device (either
        serial or VGA), 2.6.6 and newer kernels default to that device
        automatically.  So if you remove "console=" arguments, you can use
        the same elilo configuration to boot any 2.6.6 or newer kernel
        with or without this patch.
    
        If you need to boot kernels older than 2.6.6 (including RHEL3 and
        SLES9), keep an 'append="console=ttyS0"' line in those elilo.conf
        stanzas.
    
        Non-HP machines will still need "console=" for serial consoles
        because they don't supply the HCDP table.
    
    [2] The HP management card (MP) causes confusion because it is always
        active as an EFI console, even if it doesn't appear in the EFI
        console path.  If your console path is set to a non-MP UART, and
        you happen to be attached to the MP UART, everything works in EFI,
        but the kernel will think the non-MP UART is the console, so you
        won't see any kernel output.
    Signed-off-by: default avatarBjorn Helgaas <bjorn.helgaas@hp.com>
    Signed-off-by: default avatarAndrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
    Signed-off-by: default avatarLinus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
    1af22f6d
Kconfig 2.17 KB