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I tried to install kernel 5.x from backports in a frsh installed debian 10 and I failed because I have a 10G NIC:

echo deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports main contrib non-free > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/buster-backports.list
apt-get update
apt-get -t buster-backports upgrade
apt-get install -t buster-backports firmware-linux firmware-linux-nonfree linux-headers-5.4.0-0.bpo.2-amd64 linux-image-5.4.0-0.bpo.2-amd64


update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-5.4.0-0.bpo.2-amd64
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/bnx2x/bnx2x-e2-7.13.11.0.fw for module bnx2x
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/bnx2x/bnx2x-e1h-7.13.11.0.fw for module bnx2x
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/bnx2x/bnx2x-e1-7.13.11.0.fw for module bnx2x

It doesn't find the firmware files. And the machine is not booting.

kernel log says:

Jan 29 11:06:00 Debian-102-buster-64-minimal kernel: [    3.609341] ipmi_si IPI0001:00: IPMI message handler: Found new BMC (man_id: 0x003c0a, prod_id: 0x1001, dev_id: 0x20)
Jan 29 11:06:00 Debian-102-buster-64-minimal kernel: [    3.672134] ipmi_si IPI0001:00: IPMI kcs interface initialized
Jan 29 11:06:00 Debian-102-buster-64-minimal kernel: [    3.677407] ipmi_ssif: IPMI SSIF Interface driver
Jan 29 11:06:01 Debian-102-buster-64-minimal kernel: [    5.476563] bnx2x 0000:61:00.1: firmware: failed to load bnx2x/bnx2x-e2-7.13.11.0.fw (-2)
Jan 29 11:06:01 Debian-102-buster-64-minimal kernel: [    5.476763] firmware_class: See https://wiki.debian.org/Firmware for information about missing firmware
Jan 29 11:06:01 Debian-102-buster-64-minimal kernel: [    5.476967] bnx2x 0000:61:00.1: Direct firmware load for bnx2x/bnx2x-e2-7.13.11.0.fw failed with error -2
Jan 29 11:06:01 Debian-102-buster-64-minimal kernel: [    5.477174] bnx2x: [bnx2x_func_hw_init:6002(eth1)]Error loading firmware
Jan 29 11:06:01 Debian-102-buster-64-minimal kernel: [    5.477331] bnx2x: [bnx2x_nic_load:2730(eth1)]HW init failed, aborting
Jan 29 11:06:02 Debian-102-buster-64-minimal kernel: [    5.672256] bnx2x 0000:61:00.0: firmware: failed to load bnx2x/bnx2x-e2-7.13.11.0.fw (-2)
Jan 29 11:06:02 Debian-102-buster-64-minimal kernel: [    5.672495] bnx2x 0000:61:00.0: Direct firmware load for bnx2x/bnx2x-e2-7.13.11.0.fw failed with error -2
Jan 29 11:06:02 Debian-102-buster-64-minimal kernel: [    5.672736] bnx2x: [bnx2x_func_hw_init:6002(eth0)]Error loading firmware
Jan 29 11:06:02 Debian-102-buster-64-minimal kernel: [    5.672895] bnx2x: [bnx2x_nic_load:2730(eth0)]HW init failed, aborting

With the Debian stock kernel everything runs fine.

How can I install a kernel 5.x in debian10 from backports or another ppa (without compiling my own kernel)?

Janning
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  • maybe this helps; `https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.5/` remind that imho it seems to me that you are not installed all required packages, see here for a hint `http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2019/11/linux-kernel-5-4-released/` – djdomi Feb 02 '20 at 15:33
  • So, when using the stock Debian kernel, your NIC works correctly, but if you boot on Linux 5.4 it cannot load the NIC firmware? – Piotr P. Karwasz Feb 02 '20 at 17:00
  • Yes, with stock kernel everything runs just fine. – Janning Feb 02 '20 at 19:28

1 Answers1

4

It's a bug in the package. The bug was already reported. The files were just missing, a patch is available in the bug report.

It works like this:

sudo su
echo deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports main contrib non-free > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/buster-backports.list
apt-get update
wget -P /lib/firmware/bnx2x/ https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/plain/bnx2x/bnx2x-e1h-7.13.11.0.fw
wget -P /lib/firmware/bnx2x/ https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/plain/bnx2x/bnx2x-e2-7.13.11.0.fw
wget -P /lib/firmware/bnx2x/ https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/plain/bnx2x/bnx2x-e1-7.13.11.0.fw
apt-get install -t buster-backports linux-image-amd64

reboot and you are running kernel 5.x

Janning
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    The **buster-backports** package does not include firmware version `7.13.11.0`, that's easy to see, but why didn't it work when you downloaded the firmware directly from **kernel.org**? – Piotr P. Karwasz Feb 03 '20 at 14:12
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    Just a typo in the wget commands. It works now. Added solution to my answer – Janning Feb 07 '20 at 11:19