Bug 6679

Summary: Trusted Execution Engine (TXE) exposed over PCI
Product: [Hardware Platforms] MinnowBoard MAX Reporter: Marcel Holtmann <marcel>
Component: hw-minnowmaxAssignee: Marcel Holtmann <marcel>
Status: RESOLVED MOVED QA Contact:
Severity: normal    
Priority: Medium CC: david.wei, marcel, michael.p.krau, sjolley.yp.pm, warthog9
Version: 2C A1   
Target Milestone: Production Release   
Hardware: MinnowBoard Max   
OS: Multiple   
Whiteboard:
OS type for building Yocto: --- Type of Regression: ---
Verified: Documentation change: No (bug/feature does not impact docs)

Description Marcel Holtmann 2014-09-04 04:50:26 UTC 
In both ACPI and PCI enumeration modes, the TXE PCI device is exposed:

00:1a.0 Encryption controller: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Trusted Execution Engine (rev 0c)

According to ARK this CPU does not have TXE support. This means it should not be exposed at all. If it is exposed, the mei_txe.ko module tries to access it.

[    7.359206] mei_txe 0000:00:1a.0: irq 262 for MSI/MSI-X
[    8.362307] mei_txe 0000:00:1a.0: wait for readiness failed
[    8.362323] mei_txe 0000:00:1a.0: wating for readiness failed
[    8.362333] mei_txe 0000:00:1a.0: hw_start failed ret = -62
[    8.668828] intel_soc_dts_thermal: request_threaded_irq ret -22
[    9.363897] mei_txe 0000:00:1a.0: wait for readiness failed
[    9.363928] mei_txe 0000:00:1a.0: wating for readiness failed
[    9.363950] mei_txe 0000:00:1a.0: hw_start failed ret = -62
[   10.365226] mei_txe 0000:00:1a.0: wait for readiness failed
[   10.365258] mei_txe 0000:00:1a.0: wating for readiness failed
[   10.365280] mei_txe 0000:00:1a.0: hw_start failed ret = -62
[   10.365299] mei_txe 0000:00:1a.0: reset: reached maximal consecutive resets: disabling the device
[   10.365321] mei_txe 0000:00:1a.0: reset failed ret = -19
[   10.365338] mei_txe 0000:00:1a.0: link layer initialization failed.
[   10.365356] mei_txe 0000:00:1a.0: init hw failure.
[   10.366617] mei_txe 0000:00:1a.0: initialization failed.
Comment 1 Michael Krau 2014-09-09 01:00:37 UTC 
Which version of the firmware re you using?  

There has been a recent change to the firmware to turn off and hide the SEC firmware.  This change may not be in production yet, but a firmware version will help understand things.
Comment 2 Marcel Holtmann 2014-09-09 01:02:28 UTC 
The firmware version is 071. What I have been told that is the latest public one.
Comment 3 Michael Krau 2014-09-09 01:17:37 UTC 
Yes, 0.71 is the latest public image. 

I have confirmed with the firmware manager, that the effort to turn off and hide may not be in 0.71 but in the newer 0.72, which is still in the publication process.  

I will see what can be done to get you to the 0.72 firmware.
Comment 4 David_Wei 2014-09-29 07:10:59 UTC 
After shutdown and hide TXE, system would hang after thousands of cycles of reset. So we reverted our code which disabling TXE.  We talked this issue with IoTG, and also reviewed their code patch, finding that IoTG's code actually also has a bug and actually does not hide TXE. We will continue following up this issue.
Comment 5 John 'Warthog9' Hawley 2014-10-30 23:10:51 UTC 
Working on trying to figure out how to work around this chicken and egg
Comment 6 David_Wei 2015-04-10 05:15:43 UTC 
V0.79 BIOS has done basic initiaization steps for TXE. Please boot with V0.79 and check if these error messages are gone.
Comment 7 Stephen K Jolley 2017-06-13 18:03:57 UTC 
We are no longer tracking in Yocto Project Bugzilla MinnowBoard and MinnowBoard-MAX HW and firmware bugs.