Framework 13 AMD: libxenlight failed to create new domain 'sys-net' (device model did not start: -9)

User Support
1

I installed Qubes 4.2.3 on my Framework 13 AMD Ryzen 7840U. Doing this required disabling Secure Boot in the UEFI BIOS, using the latest kernel (otherwise the screen would go blank immediately after asking for the FDE password) and adding the ioapic_ack=new kernel param (to get the touchpad working). Other than that, I left all options at their default.

The installation goes fine, then towards the end of the configuration during the first boot, I get the following error:

['/usr/bin/qvm-start', 'sys-firewall'] failed:
stdout: ""
stderr: "Start failed: internal error: libxenlight failed to create new domain 'sys-net', see /var/log/libvirt/libxl/libxl-driver.log for details
"

/var/log/libvirt/libxl/libxl-driver.log contains:

libxl: libxl_dm.c:2857:stubdom_xswait_cb: Domain 5:stubdom 6 for 5 startup: startup timed out
libxl: libxl_create.c:1975:domcreate_devmodelstarted: Domain 5:device model did not start: -9

Things I have tried to fix this, which have not worked:

  • Changing sys-net to us PV instead of HVM
  • Adding the iommu_inclusive_mapping=1 boot parameter (as per a comment in issue #5445)
  • Disabling autostart for sys-net and sys-usb (as per this reddit comment)
  • Both variations of combining sys-net and sys-usb and not
  • Both Fedora and Debian
  • Manually creating VMs as described here

Other notes:

  • BIOS is at version 3.05, the latest available at the moment

Anyone have ideas on how to fix this or debug?

2

I tried installing from Qubes-4.3.202412242300-x86_64.iso from the OpenQA instance, and did not have the PCI/sys-net problems. ioapic_ack=new is still needed to get the touchpad working, though. I used the latest kernel, not sure if that’s required or not.

Now I need to decide what to do about actually using the laptop. If I build a ISO myself, will updating when Qubes 4.3 is actually released be simple?

3

Actually, it seems that the real solution here is setting the system clock accurately (my system clock was set to 2023, since it was fresh from the factory). Once I did that, it worked even with the 4.2 installer. The reason that 4.3 seemed to work is that it failed the install with a more noticeable (although not clear at all, see #9686) error due to the system clock, forcing me to fix that.

It seems this problem is tracked as #9440, not sure why that didn’t show up in my searching.

4

Hello !

What kernel is your dom0 in ? If you are in version 6.12 try and use the 6.11.

Good luck!