SD card reader on Dell E7250 doesn't work in Ubuntu 15.10

[dexter1]

I booted the machine with the SD card removed. I logged into Unity, inserted the SD card and saw the error messages popping up in dmesg:
 sdhci: Timeout waiting for Buffer Read Ready interrupt during tuning procedure, falling back to fixed sampling clock
 mmc0: tuning execution failed
 mmc0: error -5 whilst initialising SD card

I was expecting to see the SD card mounted in the Unity actionbar, like in 15.04.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.10
Package: linux-image-4.2.0-18-generic 4.2.0-18.22
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.2.0-18.22-generic 4.2.3
Uname: Linux 4.2.0-18-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.19.1-0ubuntu4
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: <username> 1864 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: <username> 1864 F.... pulseaudio
Date: Tue Nov 10 13:56:18 2015
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=a507736b-2856-48bd-ae57-a3a1a678c150
InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-06-19 (144 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 15.04 "Vivid Vervet" - Release amd64 (20150422)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Latitude E7250
ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.2.0-18-generic root=UUID=fe9cd698-4d8c-4ea1-9cce-af132d859b83 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
PulseList:
 Error: command ['pacmd', 'list'] failed with exit code 1: Home directory not accessible: Permission denied
 No PulseAudio daemon running, or not running as session daemon.
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-4.2.0-18-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-4.2.0-18-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.149.1
SourcePackage: linux
UdevLog: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/var/log/udev'
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to wily on 2015-11-02 (8 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 09/01/2015
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A07
dmi.board.asset.tag: TUD254222
dmi.board.name: 0TVD2T
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: TUD254222
dmi.chassis.type: 9
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA07:bd09/01/2015:svnDellInc.:pnLatitudeE7250:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0TVD2T:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct9:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Latitude E7250
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Would it be possible for you to test the latest upstream kernel? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Please test the latest v4.3 kernel[0].

If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tag 'kernel-fixed-upstream'.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug as "Confirmed".

Thanks in advance.

[0] http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.3-wily/

[dexter1 (dexter1)]

I tried the latest mainline linux kernel for wily: no sd-card and the same errors in dmesg.
Oddly enough, an older 3.19.0-31 kernel which was still in my grub list also showed the same behavior. I cannot recall this happening when i used 15.04 vivid.

I booted from a live stick with 15.04 and the SD-card was detected.

I have added the dmesg output of the 4.3.0 mainline. Let me know if you need the dmesg output of the other two kernels and/or want me to do more testing and data collecting.

[dexter1 (dexter1)]

I've updated the BIOS to version A08

tud254222 ~$ sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date
A08
10/19/2015

... but it does not address the issue: The SD card still cannot be found, even after taking it out and re-inserting.
Same messages in dmesg as previously noted:

tud254222 ~$ dmesg | grep mmc0
[ 0.920781] mmc0: Unknown controller version (3). You may experience problems.
[ 0.928195] mmc0: SDHCI controller on PCI [0000:01:00.0] using ADMA
[ 1.183928] mmc0: tuning execution failed
[ 1.183932] mmc0: error -5 whilst initialising SD card
[ 1.452122] mmc0: tuning execution failed
[ 1.452126] mmc0: error -5 whilst initialising SD card
[ 1.728307] mmc0: tuning execution failed
[ 1.728310] mmc0: error -5 whilst initialising SD card
[ 2.024476] mmc0: tuning execution failed
[ 2.024480] mmc0: error -5 whilst initialising SD card
[ 81.325296] mmc0: tuning execution failed
[ 81.325300] mmc0: error -5 whilst initialising SD card
[ 81.637547] mmc0: tuning execution failed
[ 81.637551] mmc0: error -5 whilst initialising SD card
[ 81.961674] mmc0: tuning execution failed
[ 81.961679] mmc0: error -5 whilst initialising SD card

I've retested with the same kernels as in post #4, no change in behaviour of the SD card.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

dexter1, the next step is to fully commit bisect from kernel 3.19 to 4.2 in order to identify the last good kernel commit, followed immediately by the first bad one. This will allow for a more expedited analysis of the root cause of your issue. Could you please do this following https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/KernelBisection ?

Please note, finding adjacent kernel versions is not fully commit bisecting.

Thank you for your understanding.

Helpful bug reporting tips:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs

[Blackgr (blackfate86)]

I experienced exactly the same errors with a Dell E7450 which is practically the same one as the Dell E7250.
I'm on Ubuntu 15.10

Went through all the kernels from 3.19 to 4.2 (http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/) and found out that until 4.1.8-040108-generic the SD card readers played fine and only after I put 4.1.9 and on I started getting the errors.

For my tests I used a Sandisk ultra 64GB microSD with a sd slot adapter.

Dexter1 can you verify?

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Blackgr, it will help immensely if you filed a new report via a terminal:
ubuntu-bug linux

Please feel free to subscribe me to it.

[dexter1 (dexter1)]

I've updated the bios to version A09 today and checked if the problem still exists. It does.

So with the information from Blackgr i tested the two kernel versions and i can indeed verify that kernel 4.1.8-040108-generic reads mt SDXC card just fine (four line excerpt from dmesg):

[ 92.252656] mmc0: new ultra high speed SDR104 SDXC card at address 0007
[ 92.252866] mmcblk0: mmc0:0007 SD64G 58.1 GiB
[ 92.255131] mmcblk0: p1
[ 92.471332] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p1): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)

tud254222 ~$ uname -a
Linux tud254222 4.1.8-040108-generic #201509211431 SMP Mon Sep 21 18:34:20 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

whereas kernel 4.1.9-040109-generic shows the erroneous behaviour (three line excerpt from dmesg, repeated 4 times):

[ 64.118346] sdhci: Timeout waiting for Buffer Read Ready interrupt during tuning procedure, falling back to fixed sampling clock
[ 64.120131] mmc0: tuning execution failed
[ 64.120136] mmc0: error -5 whilst initialising SD card

tud254222 ~/Downloads/4.1.9$ uname -a
Linux tud254222 4.1.9-040109-generic #201509291430 SMP Tue Sep 29 18:32:50 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Thank you Blackgr for the hard work!
My SD card is a Kingston SD10VG2/64GB SDXC

[Blackgr (blackfate86)]

Hello Dexter1,

To my eyes this is the same issue as the one I reported under https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1523178
Feel free to check the details there (and especially the last comment)

Kind Regards,
Alex

[dexter1 (dexter1)]

Hi Alex,

Thanks for pointing out your thread on launchpad. You seem to have
progressed further than i am :)
I wasn't able to test all the kernel stuff because of the holidays,
apologies for that. I've just now read a few of the discussions with
Ulf and Peter. I have to reread it again tonight, but it looks like
the same issue.

Well done though :) Keep at it!

Yours sincerely,

Frank

On Thu, Jan 14, 2016 at 4:18 PM, Blackgr <email address hidden> wrote:
> Hello Dexter1,
>
> To my eyes this is the same issue as the one I reported under https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1523178
> Feel free to check the details there (and especially the last comment)
>
> Kind Regards,
> Alex
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1514821
>
> Title:
> SD card reader on Dell E7250 doesn't work in Ubuntu 15.10
>
> Status in linux package in Ubuntu:
> Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> I booted the machine with the SD card removed. I logged into Unity, inserted the SD card and saw the error messages popping up in dmesg:
> sdhci: Timeout waiting for Buffer Read Ready interrupt during tuning procedure, falling back to fixed sampling clock
> mmc0: tuning execution failed
> mmc0: error -5 whilst initialising SD card
>
> I was expecting to see the SD card mounted in the Unity actionbar,
> like in 15.04.
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.10
> Package: linux-image-4.2.0-18-generic 4.2.0-18.22
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.2.0-18.22-generic 4.2.3
> Uname: Linux 4.2.0-18-generic x86_64
> ApportVersion: 2.19.1-0ubuntu4
> Architecture: amd64
> AudioDevicesInUse:
> USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
> /dev/snd/controlC1: <username> 1864 F.... pulseaudio
> /dev/snd/controlC0: <username> 1864 F.... pulseaudio
> Date: Tue Nov 10 13:56:18 2015
> HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=a507736b-2856-48bd-ae57-a3a1a678c150
> InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-06-19 (144 days ago)
> InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 15.04 "Vivid Vervet" - Release amd64 (20150422)
> MachineType: Dell Inc. Latitude E7250
> ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
> ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.2.0-18-generic root=UUID=fe9cd698-4d8c-4ea1-9cce-af132d859b83 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
> PulseList:
> Error: command ['pacmd', 'list'] failed with exit code 1: Home directory not accessible: Permission denied
> No PulseAudio daemon running, or not running as session daemon.
> RelatedPackageVersions:
> linux-restricted-modules-4.2.0-18-generic N/A
> linux-backports-modules-4.2.0-18-generic N/A
> linux-firmware 1.149.1
> SourcePackage: linux
> UdevLog: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/var/log/udev'
> UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to wily on 2015-11-02 (8 days ago)
> dmi.bios.date: 09/01/2015
> dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
> dmi.bios.version: A07
> dmi.board.asset.tag: TUD254222
> dmi.board.name: 0TVD2T
> dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
> dmi.board.version: A00
> dmi.chassis.asset.tag: TUD254222
> dmi.chassis.type: 9
> dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
> dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellI...

[dexter1 (dexter1)]

1) tud254222 ~$ sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date
A09
11/18/2015

2) I tested it against 4.4.0 and 4.4.0_rc8 since the latter is more recent
4.4.0:
[ 84.138626] sdhci: Timeout waiting for Buffer Read Ready interrupt during tuning procedure, falling back to fixed sampling clock
[ 84.140408] mmc0: tuning execution failed
[ 84.140413] mmc0: error -5 whilst initialising SD card
tud254222 ~$ uname -a
Linux tud254222 4.4.0-040400-generic #201601101930 SMP Mon Jan 11 00:32:41 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

4.4.0_rc8:
[ 93.507938] sdhci: Timeout waiting for Buffer Read Ready interrupt during tuning procedure, falling back to fixed sampling clock
[ 93.509711] mmc0: tuning execution failed
[ 93.509716] mmc0: error -5 whilst initialising SD card
tud254222 ~$ uname -a
Linux tud254222 4.4.0-040400rc8-generic #201601130531 SMP Wed Jan 13 10:33:09 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[penalvch (penalvch)]

dexter1, could you please advise to https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1514821/comments/7 ?

[penalvch (penalvch)]

dexter1, as a sidebar, 4.4 came out after 4.4-rc8 as per:
http://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg2158762.html
http://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg2153302.html

The date stamp is related to how Ubuntu folks are adding/removing files, not which came out first, and when.

[dexter1 (dexter1)]

I have found a workaround for the SD card controller in my DELL Latitude 7250 with a SDXC card. I came accross this page:
http://www.0xf8.org/2016/01/workaround-for-broken-o2-micro-sd-card-reader-support-since-linux-kernel-version-4-1-8/

By setting "sdhci.debug_quirks2=0x4" as default kernel parameter in the grub configuration file, the 64GB Kingston SD card is now recognized and functional. I tried to put this parameter in /etc/modprobe.d but the controller does not see the SDXC card until it remove and add the module.

I have wondered if i should spend the time and trouble in performing a correct full git bisect as suggested by Christopher, but since Blackgr has issued his report on the bug in his latitude 7450 in https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1523178 and already did a full git bisect which is now investigated upstream in linux-mmc/sd mailing list and the fact that i have a workaround, i see no pressing need to duplicate this.

[Blackgr (blackfate86)]

I also find little point on doing that since both devices use the same Card Reader.
Also tried the workaround but the performance hit was too big for me.

What's the average read/write speeds you get with the workaround compared to the old kernels that are not affected by this bug?

[penalvch (penalvch)]

dexter1, what would be helpful is if you confirmed that reverting the offending commit fixes the issue with your hardware.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[dolfyn (hwkrus)]

It works and does not work; two ultra high speed DDR50 SDXC cards, same brand, same type, one mounts and the other does not mount.

The mounting card:

[94183.755973] mmc0: new ultra high speed DDR50 SDXC card at address aaaa
[94183.756646] mmcblk0: mmc0:aaaa SL64G 59.5 GiB
[94183.770742] mmcblk0: p1
udisksd[3993]: Mounted /dev/mmcblk0p1 at /media/xxx/6337-6134 on behalf of uid 1000
.
.
.
udisksd[3993]: Cleaning up mount point /media/xxx/6337-6134 (device 179:1 is not mounted)
udisksd[3993]: Unmounted /dev/mmcblk0p1 on behalf of uid 1000
[94251.132197] mmc0: card aaaa removed

The failing card (does not fail when running under an alternative OS):

[94804.132020] sdhci: Timeout waiting for Buffer Read Ready interrupt during tuning procedure, falling back to fixed sampling clock
[94804.132100] mmc0: tuning execution failed
[94804.132111] mmc0: error -5 whilst initialising SD card

Curious...

[penalvch (penalvch)]

dolfyn (hwkrus), it will help immensely if you filed a new report with the Ubuntu repository kernel (not mainline/upstream) via a terminal:
ubuntu-bug linux

Please feel free to subscribe me to it.

For more on why this is helpful, please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs.

[dolfyn (hwkrus)]

Christopher

Used ubuntu-bug linux

But sorry no idea how to subscribe you to it.

2016-09-11 7:22 GMT+01:00 Christopher M. Penalver <
<email address hidden>>:

> it will help immensely if you filed a new report with the Ubuntu
> repository kernel (not mainline/upstream) via a terminal:
> ubuntu-bug linux
>
> Please feel free to subscribe me to it.
>
> ​...
>

[penalvch (penalvch)]

dexter1, could you please advise to https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1514821/comments/19 ?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]