Quiet/splash stopped working recently

[uecasm]

Not sure if this is a firmware issue or a linux issue, but:

I use rpi-build to build a standard kernel with a few extra options. I've also installed plymouth on my Pi, so I have "quiet splash" in the cmdline.txt and an initramfs specified in config.txt.

I'm testing on a Pi2 at the moment. (I have a Pi1 handy as well but I haven't tested on that yet.)

A firmware+kernel build from a few days ago works perfectly.
A firmware+kernel build from a few hours ago fails (details below).
A standard rpi-update from an hour ago also fails.

(I have not changed the patches to kernel configuration at all between the working and non-working states; the only difference should be the RPi firmware that it installs plus any upstream kernel patches or config changes that may have been added in the interim. The kernel version numbers are the same: 3.18.7-v7+.)

"Fails", in this case, means that the boot text is not quieted and the plymouth splash screen is not shown. (I'm not sure whether this is because it does not load the initramfs or for some other reason -- other than being required for plymouth it's hard to tell the difference between a startup that uses the initramfs and one that doesn't.)

I can't point at specific commits, but these are the md5sums of the firmware files from the working system:

9a4ad6a12ad7dc1aae279888c25d2252  /boot/bootcode.bin
10fea5a695f3dc7ce2d5a819f0345791  /boot/fixup_cd.dat
7bc8c17ba812be2f422e26d569f99c03  /boot/fixup.dat
e0405e5eab5d6260be5fc776482c79cc  /boot/fixup_x.dat
a5a63194ceaae1e445dc7a086569362c  /boot/start_cd.elf
7df460e59405d0c946865c3af89840dd  /boot/start.elf
7f1d3e30ba600c5276d25a57fe4511ba  /boot/start_x.elf

And these are the md5sums of the firmware files from the non-working system:

9a4ad6a12ad7dc1aae279888c25d2252  /boot/bootcode.bin
abbe48f53b91a760b2f803ca42f1b4a5  /boot/fixup_cd.dat
575375a68d13a87740806e38749eca18  /boot/fixup.dat
1b4b8925fde7cc183e324aa858aedd3f  /boot/fixup_x.dat
1a901e1756d5e4c2fdd7879c270cc7d1  /boot/start_cd.elf
7dd3e07488f23c6de168b60748b49f91  /boot/start.elf
71c6f3d3c425b59d2b82fedb19c9223a  /boot/start_x.elf

cat /proc/cmdline does include quiet splash even on the non-working system.

Any ideas on how to fix it or diagnose it further would be appreciated.

[uecasm]

There do appear to have been some kernel config changes; following is a diff of /proc/config.gz from the working system to the non-working system, excluding my own config changes:

--- /working/proc/config
+++ /broken/proc/config
@@ -423,7 +423,7 @@
 # CONFIG_VMSPLIT_1G is not set
 CONFIG_PAGE_OFFSET=0x80000000
 CONFIG_NR_CPUS=4
-CONFIG_HOTPLUG_CPU=y
+# CONFIG_HOTPLUG_CPU is not set
 # CONFIG_ARM_PSCI is not set
 CONFIG_ARCH_NR_GPIO=0
 # CONFIG_PREEMPT_NONE is not set
@@ -493,8 +493,6 @@
 # CONFIG_CMDLINE_EXTEND is not set
 # CONFIG_CMDLINE_FORCE is not set
 # CONFIG_XIP_KERNEL is not set
-CONFIG_KEXEC=y
-CONFIG_ATAGS_PROC=y
 # CONFIG_CRASH_DUMP is not set
 # CONFIG_AUTO_ZRELADDR is not set

@@ -530,13 +528,7 @@
 #
 # CPU Idle
 #
-CONFIG_CPU_IDLE=y
-CONFIG_CPU_IDLE_GOV_LADDER=y
-CONFIG_CPU_IDLE_GOV_MENU=y
-
-#
-# ARM CPU Idle Drivers
-#
+# CONFIG_CPU_IDLE is not set
 # CONFIG_ARCH_NEEDS_CPU_IDLE_COUPLED is not set

 #
@@ -565,22 +557,11 @@
 #
 # Power management options
 #
-CONFIG_SUSPEND=y
-CONFIG_SUSPEND_FREEZER=y
+# CONFIG_SUSPEND is not set
 # CONFIG_HIBERNATION is not set
-CONFIG_PM_SLEEP=y
-CONFIG_PM_SLEEP_SMP=y
-# CONFIG_PM_AUTOSLEEP is not set
-# CONFIG_PM_WAKELOCKS is not set
 # CONFIG_PM_RUNTIME is not set
-CONFIG_PM=y
-# CONFIG_PM_DEBUG is not set
-# CONFIG_APM_EMULATION is not set
-CONFIG_PM_CLK=y
-# CONFIG_WQ_POWER_EFFICIENT_DEFAULT is not set
-CONFIG_CPU_PM=y
 CONFIG_ARCH_SUSPEND_POSSIBLE=y
-CONFIG_ARM_CPU_SUSPEND=y
+# CONFIG_ARM_CPU_SUSPEND is not set
 CONFIG_ARCH_HIBERNATION_POSSIBLE=y
 CONFIG_NET=y

@@ -987,7 +968,7 @@
 # CONFIG_X25 is not set
 # CONFIG_LAPB is not set
 # CONFIG_PHONET is not set
-# CONFIG_6LOWPAN is not set
+CONFIG_6LOWPAN=m
 # CONFIG_IEEE802154 is not set
 CONFIG_NET_SCHED=y
 @@ -1149,6 +1130,7 @@
 CONFIG_SIGMATEL_FIR=m
 CONFIG_MCS_FIR=m
 CONFIG_BT=m
+CONFIG_BT_6LOWPAN=m
 CONFIG_BT_RFCOMM=m
 CONFIG_BT_RFCOMM_TTY=y
 CONFIG_BT_BNEP=m
@@ -1639,7 +1621,6 @@
 # CONFIG_ATH9K_AHB is not set
 # CONFIG_ATH9K_DEBUGFS is not set
 # CONFIG_ATH9K_DYNACK is not set
-# CONFIG_ATH9K_WOW is not set
 CONFIG_ATH9K_RFKILL=y
 # CONFIG_ATH9K_CHANNEL_CONTEXT is not set
 CONFIG_ATH9K_HTC=m
@@ -1886,7 +1885,6 @@
 CONFIG_VT=y
 CONFIG_CONSOLE_TRANSLATIONS=y
 CONFIG_VT_CONSOLE=y
-CONFIG_VT_CONSOLE_SLEEP=y
 CONFIG_HW_CONSOLE=y
 CONFIG_VT_HW_CONSOLE_BINDING=y
 CONFIG_UNIX98_PTYS=y

I don't know if any of these are relevant.

[popcornmix]

Can you try mixing the firmware (start.elf/fixup.dat) and kernel versions to identify whether it is a firmware or kernel config change. That broke things.

Can you then identify the first version with the problem. You can download older versions of start.elf/fixup.dat from here: https://github.com/Hexxeh/rpi-firmware/commits/master

[uecasm]

I've done a bisection of commits from that repository, just using rpi-update to update both firmware and kernel.

• 8ddfa1f firmware+kernel: works
• 9e69b79 firmware+kernel: fails really badly (has this issue and also a kernel panic)
• ff93337 firmware+kernel: fails (this issue; works otherwise)

Interestingly the kernel panic only occurs on Pi2; it boots a Pi1 fine (unless it's just intermittent). But since later versions work I assume you know about that issue and have already fixed it. Incidentally the problem with "quiet splash" also seems to occur on Pi1, in case that helps.

As for mixing firmware and kernel:

sudo UPDATE_SELF=0 SKIP_SDK=1 rpi-update 8ddfa1f
sudo reboot
# result => working system
sudo UPDATE_SELF=0 SKIP_SDK=1 SKIP_KERNEL=1 rpi-update 9e69b79
sudo reboot
# result => failed

So it does look like a firmware issue, not a kernel issue. (That state should have been firmware 9e69b79 + kernel 8ddfa1f.)

[popcornmix]

Can you try test firmware here:
#374

[popcornmix]

Can you confirm latest rpi-update firmware fixes the issue.

[uecasm]

Confirmed working on c815d34.
And confirmed working on custom kernel built with firmware 46a04a4 (from this repo).