Adding an NVRAM variable entry fails with status=8000000000000009

[z]

I have noticed this problem with all kernels in the 3.8 series. Any attempts to add a new NVRAM variable fails. The error in syslog is:

| kernel: [41072.889984] efivars: set_variable() failed: status=8000000000000009

The command used to create the variable is:

efibootmgr -c -d /dev/sda -p 1 -L "Ubuntu" -l "\EFI\ubuntu\kernel.efi" -u "ro root=/dev/sda2 initrd=\EFI\ubuntu\initrd.img"

My EFI partition is /dev/sda1, formatted FAT-32. My root partition is /dev/sda2, formatted EXT4.

If I boot with some sort of Debian-based live USB containing an older kernel, I can create NVRAM variables without any problem. This may be an upstream bug, as I noticed the same problem on an Arch build I was setting up a few days ago.

I'm seeing it on two separate, but similar, laptops: a Lenovo Thinkpad T520 and a Thinkpad X1.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
Package: efibootmgr 0.5.4-2ubuntu2
Uname: Linux 3.8.6-030806-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.6.1-0ubuntu10
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue Apr 16 21:12:07 2013
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-09-16 (212 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Alpha amd64 (20120916)
MarkForUpload: True
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: efibootmgr
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[z (steveriley-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount)]

Ah, here's the culprit.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1167622