TPM_CRB probe fails on ASUS N552V, causes system to freeze while starting

[Sjoerd van Leent]

While starting up (arranged by systemd, the problem is in the kernel), The system attempts to perform some kind of probe, when that happens, there is 50% chance that the system simply freezes. It always occurs when these lines pass the screen (and are found on dmesg on a running instance):

[ 8.351515] tpm_crb MSFT0101:00: can't request region for resource [mem 0xfed40080-0xfed40fff]
[ 8.351550] tpm_crb: probe of MSFT0101:00 failed with error -16

I have noticed that this particular problem occurred in earlier releases of the kernel. I have the same problem in any of the following kernels:

4.8.0-36-generic
4.8.0-39-generic
4.8.0-41-generic

It is annoying, as I have to restart the system manually with a change of failure. Sometimes it takes over five reboots to get passed this problem. Which indicates that somehow the problem doesn't always lock the kernel from booting.

I hope you'll find an answer to this problem.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: systemd 229-4ubuntu16
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.8.0-41.44~16.04.1-generic 4.8.17
Uname: Linux 4.8.0-41-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.5
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue Mar 21 21:43:41 2017
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
ExecutablePath: /lib/systemd/systemd
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-03-01 (19 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20170215.2)
Lsusb:
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 004: ID 8087:0a2a Intel Corp.
 Bus 001 Device 003: ID 046d:c52f Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
 Bus 001 Device 002: ID 13d3:5666 IMC Networks
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
MachineType: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. N552VW
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=linux
 PATH=(custom, no user)
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.8.0-41-generic.efi.signed root=UUID=68636ac9-2333-44e0-9737-9dc43321bc8a ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: systemd
SystemdDelta:
 [EXTENDED] /etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service → /lib/systemd/system/display-manager.service.d/xdiagnose.conf
 [EXTENDED] /lib/systemd/system/systemd-timesyncd.service → /lib/systemd/system/systemd-timesyncd.service.d/disable-with-time-daemon.conf
 [EXTENDED] /lib/systemd/system/rc-local.service → /lib/systemd/system/rc-local.service.d/debian.conf

 3 overridden configuration files found.
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 08/31/2016
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: N552VW.300
dmi.board.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
dmi.board.name: N552VW
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrN552VW.300:bd08/31/2016:svnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:pnN552VW:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:rnN552VW:rvr1.0:cvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:ct10:cvr1.0:
dmi.product.name: N552VW
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.