Network is not working in Ubuntu Xenial installer for Gigabyte MP30-AR0 (APM X-Gene 1)

[Ronald Maas]

When I start the Ubuntu Xenial Installer, the network adapter was not able to obtain an IP address. The installer was started from UEFI Shell using the command:

FS1:\EFI\BOOT\BOOTAA64.EFI

The xgene_enet ethernet driver does not seem to work properly when compiled as module. See more detail in another Bug Report I filed on the Debian EFI mailing list https://lists.debian.org/debian-efi/2016/03/msg00020.html

Expected to happen
-----------------
DHCP server is able to assign an IP address to the network after which I am able to ping another system.

What actually happened
----------------------
Network adapter failed to obtain an IP address. No network connection is possible with other systems.

Hardware
--------
Gigabyte MP30-AR0 motherboard with APM X-Gene 1 processor flashed with TianoCore UEFI
Kingston KVR16LE11S8/4HB 16 GB ECC DDR3 DRAM
HGST Deskstar NAS 6 TB drive
Logitech USB keyboard

Software
----
Ubuntu Xenial Mini ISO downloaded from http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/xenial/main/installer-arm64/current/images/netboot/mini.iso (dated 29-Mar-2016)
UBoot has been replaced by TianoCore UEFI using the steps described in: https://rwmj.wordpress.com/2016/03/08/gigabyte-mp30-ar0-flashing-uefi/

Notes
-----
Both Centos 7.2 and Debian Testing were successfully installed on the system and running stable with full network connectivity (Centos out-of-the-box and Debian after recompiling the kernel)

[Ronald Maas (ronaldjmaas)]

I tested with latest Xenial arm64 Mini ISO from http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/xenial/main/installer-arm64/current/images/netboot/mini.iso (dated 20-Apr-2016) and the network adapter was not working.

When I passed the kernel parameter clk_ignore_unused, the network adapter worked without issue. The installer successfully obtained an IP address and was able to download all files required for installation.

More information about the use of clk_ignore_unused work-around and the issues with xgene_enet when compiled as module can be found here:

https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=973756