# Firmware The C630's firmware splits into two groups, and the split is about licensing, not difficulty. ## What ships in the image Qualcomm permits redistribution of these, so Fedora packages them and the build installs them: | Package | Files | Enables | |---|---|---| | `atheros-firmware` | `ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/{firmware-5.bin,board-2.bin,wlanmdsp.mbn}` | WiFi and Bluetooth | | `qcom-firmware` | `qcom/a630_gmu.bin`, `qcom/a630_sqe.fw` | The generic half of the Adreno 630 — necessary but not sufficient | Networking therefore works on a freshly written image. Graphics does not: see below. ## What you have to supply These are signed against per-model keys and Fedora does not ship them, so a stock install has none of them. Nothing about them is unredistributable in principle — the equivalent files for the ThinkPad X13s *are* in linux-firmware — it is that nobody has obtained permission for this model. See [If you have no backup](#if-you-have-no-backup). The list is not a guess: it is every `firmware-name` property in the mainline device tree, `arch/arm64/boot/dts/qcom/sdm850-lenovo-yoga-c630.dts`: | File | Device tree node | Lost without it | |---|---|---| | `qcdxkmsuc850.mbn` | `gpu_zap_shader` | **Accelerated graphics** | | `qcadsp850.mbn` | `adsp_pas` | Audio — speakers, microphone | | `qcslpi850.mbn` | `slpi_pas` | Sensor hub — lid switch, accelerometer, auto-rotate | | `qccdsp850.mbn` | `cdsp_pas` | Compute DSP offload | | `qcvss850.mbn` | `venus` | Hardware video decode | | `qcdsp1v2850.mbn` | `mss_pil` | Modem, stage 1 | | `qcdsp2850.mbn` | `mss_pil` | Modem, stage 2 | | `ipa_fws.elf` | `ipa` | IPA datapath, needed by the modem | They belong under `/lib/firmware/updates/qcom/sdm850/LENOVO/81JL/`. The GPU one is worth calling out, because it is easy to assume otherwise: Fedora does ship an `sdm845/a630_zap.mbn`, but that is the generic Snapdragon 845 zap shader and **not** what this device asks for. The C630's device tree names `qcom/sdm850/LENOVO/81JL/qcdxkmsuc850.mbn` specifically, so until you supply it you get an unaccelerated display. Each file is independent, so a partial recovery is still worth having — `qcdxkmsuc850.mbn` on its own buys you working graphics. ### Confirmed on the hardware This is not inferred from the device tree. On a machine with the generic Adreno firmware present and the model-signed blob absent, the GPU gets two files in and then stops: ``` [drm:adreno_request_fw] loaded qcom/a630_sqe.fw from new location [drm:adreno_request_fw] loaded qcom/a630_gmu.bin from new location [drm:zap_shader_load_mdt] *ERROR* Unable to load qcom/sdm850/LENOVO/81JL/qcdxkmsuc850.mbn [drm:adreno_load_gpu] *ERROR* gpu hw init failed: -2 ``` So the generic pieces are necessary and not sufficient, and the zap shader is a hard requirement rather than an optimisation. Two details follow from that trace: The driver never falls back to `sdm845/a630_zap.mbn`, even though the file is installed — the device tree's `firmware-name` pins the model-specific path. Nor would falling back help: the zap shader is signed against the device's own secure-boot chain, and the Snapdragon 845 development board's copy will not validate here. The display keeps working throughout. `msm_dpu` binds the panel and the console lands on `msmdrmfb` regardless, so a failed GPU costs you acceleration, not a picture. A desktop still runs on llvmpipe — though `/dev/dri/renderD128` is present even when `hw init` has failed, so mesa may try freedreno, fail, and take the display manager down with it. `LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1` in `/etc/environment` avoids that. ### These have to be in the initramfs `msm_dpu` probes about six seconds in, while the initramfs is still the root filesystem, and does not retry. Firmware that only exists on the real root is therefore invisible to it: ``` msm_dpu ae01000.display-controller: Direct firmware load for qcom/a630_sqe.fw failed with error -2 ``` `overlay/etc/dracut.conf.d/10-c630.conf` puts the Adreno files in the initramfs for this reason, and `c630-firmware` adds `qcdxkmsuc850.mbn` once it exists. Only the GPU needs this. The ADSP, CDSP, SLPI, venus and modem all probe around forty seconds in, well after the real root is mounted, and load from it perfectly happily. That distinction is worth keeping: `qcdsp2850.mbn` alone is 60 MB, so sweeping the whole firmware directory into the initramfs would inflate it roughly twentyfold for no benefit. ## Finding them on a backup If Windows is long gone from the machine but you kept a copy of the files, one search catches all eight, since seven share a suffix: ```sh find /mnt/backup -type f \ \( -iname 'qc*850.mbn' -o -iname 'ipa_fws.elf' -o -iname 'bdwlan*.bin' \) \ -printf '%10s %p\n' ``` They originally lived in `C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\`, in directories named `qcdx850.inf_arm64_*` and `qcadsp*.inf_arm64_*`. If the loose files turn up nothing, look for those directories wholesale: ```sh find /mnt/backup -type d -iname 'qc*.inf_arm64_*' ``` Sizes range from 14 KB (`qcdxkmsuc850.mbn`) to 60 MB (`qcdsp2850.mbn`). Despite the `.mbn` extension they are ELF images, and `file` should say so: ``` qcdxkmsuc850.mbn: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, QUALCOMM DSP6, version 1 (SYSV) ``` Anything reporting as text or HTML is a download that went wrong. Lenovo does not appear to publish a driver package for the 81JL containing these. If the backups turn up nothing, see [If you have no backup](#if-you-have-no-backup) — the files are not tied to your individual machine, so yours is not the only possible source. ## If you have no backup Losing the Windows partition is not the end of it, because **these blobs are signed per model, not per machine**. A copy from any other Yoga C630 works on yours. The evidence is in linux-firmware itself, which already ships the exact analogous set for the ThinkPad X13s — one copy serving every unit of that model: ``` qcom/sc8280xp/LENOVO/21BX/qcdxkmsuc8280.mbn zap shader qcom/sc8280xp/LENOVO/21BX/qcadsp8280.mbn audio qcom/sc8280xp/LENOVO/21BX/qccdsp8280.mbn compute DSP qcom/sc8280xp/LENOVO/21BX/qcslpi8280.mbn sensors qcom/sc8280xp/LENOVO/21BX/qcvss8280.mbn video ``` A one-to-one match with the C630's list, differing only in the model. So these files are redistributable once Lenovo and Qualcomm permit it — it is a licensing question, not a technical one. `qcom/sdm850/LENOVO/81JL/` has simply never been contributed. Fedora ships no sdm850 model firmware at all, so it will not turn up in a `linux-firmware` update. Three routes, easiest first: **WOA-Project.** collects the Windows-on-ARM driver packages by SoC. The C630's are three cabinet files, and between them they hold every file this machine asks for: | Cabinet | Contains | |---|---| | `qcdx850.cab` | `qcdxkmsuc850.mbn` (zap shader), `qcvss850.mbn` (venus) | | `qcipa850.cab` | `ipa_fws.elf` | | `qcsubsys850.cab` | `qcadsp850.mbn`, `qccdsp850.mbn`, `qcslpi850.mbn`, `qcdsp1v2850.mbn`, `qcdsp2850.mbn`, and `WLANMDSP.MBN` | That last one is a bonus — the WiFi firmware, which is not in the device tree's `firmware-name` list but is what the onboard ath10k needs. `cabextract` or `7z x` will open them: ```sh for f in qcdx850.cab qcipa850.cab qcsubsys850.cab; do 7z x -o./extracted "$f"; done find ./extracted -iname 'qc*850.mbn' -o -iname 'ipa_fws.elf' -o -iname 'WLANMDSP.MBN' ``` Ignore the `_nm` and `_CLS` variants; the device tree asks for the plain names. Verify what you get with `file` — they should report as `ELF 32-bit LSB executable, QUALCOMM DSP6`, not as text or HTML. **Lenovo's Digital Download Recovery Service.** Lenovo builds a Windows recovery image against a machine's serial number and lets the owner download it. That image contains `Windows/System32/DriverStore/FileRepository`, and therefore all eight files. Slower than the cabinets, but it is unambiguously your own machine's firmware. **Another C630 owner.** The aarch64-laptops project is where these have circulated before, and any 81JL's copy is as good as your own. Whichever route, drop the result into `firmware/local/` and rebuild — see [Baking firmware into the image](#baking-firmware-into-the-image). ## What the firmware does not fix Installing all of it still leaves two things broken, both for reasons that are not about firmware. Recorded here so nobody repeats the search. ### Onboard WiFi needs the modem, and the modem needs firmware nobody publishes The name gives it away: **wlan*mdsp*** is the WLAN *Modem* DSP. On SDM845 the WiFi firmware is loaded by the modem subsystem, so `ath10k_snoc` binds to `18800000.wifi` and then sits silent, waiting on a QMI service that only appears once the modem is up. It never logs an error, because from its point of view nothing has gone wrong yet. The modem itself boots and then dies: ``` qcom-q6v5-mss 4080000.remoteproc: MBA booted without debug policy, loading mpss qcom-q6v5-mss 4080000.remoteproc: fatal error received: RFLM@rflm_qlnk.cpp:1087 [3,3] RF stuck in QLINK start state: 0x0 after maximum remoteproc remoteproc0: crash detected ... recovering ``` QLINK is the RF front-end interface. Why it hangs is **not established**. The machine has a SIM slot and its modem worked under Windows, so the radio hardware is present and functional — this is not a WiFi-only SKU. Candidates worth investigating: a version mismatch between these images and what the device's TrustZone or boot chain expects, missing calibration data the modem cannot reach, or a kernel-side gap. It restarts about every 42 seconds until stopped. Note the same cabinets supply the GPU, DSP and venus firmware, all of which work. Whatever is wrong is specific to the modem. Things that sound like they should help and do not: - **`rmtfs`.** The modem stores its NV and calibration on the `modemst1`, `modemst2`, `fsg` and `fsc` partitions and reaches them through the `rmtfs` daemon. Fedora packages it, and it is disabled by default. Enabling it is correct and worth doing — `sudo systemctl enable --now rmtfs` — but the QLINK failure persists with it running. Its "failed to update start state" warnings are its optional remoteproc-control helper and are harmless. - **The `_nm` firmware variants.** `qcdsp1v2850_nm.mbn` and `qcdsp2850_nm.mbn` are the no-modem images, 5.7 MB against 60 MB, analogous to the `modem_nm.mbn` Fedora ships for generic sdm845. They are rejected before they even run: `PBL returned unexpected status`. - **Unplugging the USB WiFi dongle.** Different bus, different driver, no interaction. `ath10k_snoc` is waiting on the modem, not competing for a radio. A USB dongle or USB tethering from a phone is the practical answer. ### Audio is a kernel driver problem The ADSP runs, the audio services register, and the codec answers: ``` wcd934x-slim 217:250:1:0: WCD934x chip id major 0x108, minor 0x1 ``` So SLIMbus, the ADSP and the hardware are all fine. What fails is one sub-device of the codec: ``` qcom-soundwire wcd934x-soundwire.12.auto: din-ports (2) mismatch with controller (6) platform sound: deferred probe pending: msm-snd-sdm845: SLIM Playback: codec dai not found ``` The codec's SoundWire block declares two data-in ports where the controller expects six, so it never probes, so the sound card has no codec DAI and never appears. That is a mismatch inside the kernel, and needs a kernel or device-tree change rather than any blob. One thing worth knowing if you go looking: `slim_qcom_ngd_ctrl` can probe before the ADSP is ready and log `QMI wait timeout`. Reloading the module afterwards gets the codec detected, which is how the chip ID above was obtained — but it does not get past the SoundWire mismatch. ## Extracting them The image ships Fedora's `qcom-firmware-extract`. Run it once: ```sh sudo c630-firmware sudo reboot ``` That wraps `qcom-firmware-extract` and regenerates the initramfs afterwards, which matters — the ADSP firmware has to be available before the root filesystem is mounted, and `overlay/etc/dracut.conf.d/10-c630.conf` only takes effect on a rebuild. If it cannot find Windows, mount it yourself and point the tool at it: ```sh lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,FSTYPE,LABEL # find the NTFS partition sudo mkdir -p /mnt/windows sudo mount /dev/sda4 /mnt/windows sudo qcom-firmware-extract --windows-dir /mnt/windows ``` `qcom-firmware-extract` was written for the Snapdragon 8cx and X Elite laptops. If it does not recognise the SDM850, copy the files by hand — they are in `Windows/System32/DriverStore/FileRepository/` under a `qcdx*.inf_arm64_*` directory: ```sh sudo find /mnt/windows/Windows/System32/DriverStore/FileRepository \ -iname 'qc*850.mbn' -o -iname 'ipa_fws.elf' -o -iname 'qcdxkmsuc850.mbn' sudo mkdir -p /lib/firmware/updates/qcom/sdm850/LENOVO/81JL sudo cp /lib/firmware/updates/qcom/sdm850/LENOVO/81JL/ sudo dracut --force --regenerate-all ``` Check it took: ```sh dmesg | grep -iE 'remoteproc|adsp|cdsp' ``` ## Baking firmware into the image If you would rather not repeat the extraction on every reinstall, drop the files into `firmware/local/` in this repo, mirroring the `/usr/lib/firmware/updates/` layout: ``` firmware/local/qcom/sdm850/LENOVO/81JL/qcadsp850.mbn firmware/local/qcom/sdm850/LENOVO/81JL/qccdsp850.mbn ... ``` `build/stage2.sh` picks them up automatically. They are gitignored, and should stay that way — this repository is public and the blobs are not yours to publish.