Dell Latitude E5470: Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! exitcode=0x0000000b after kernel update or clean install from v14 media

[LoVoltage]

Distribution (run cat /etc/os-release): pop-os-20.10_amd64_intel_14

Related Application and/or Package Version (run apt policy $PACKAGE NAME): pop-os-20.10_amd64_intel_14

Issue/Bug Description: Reboot after update, Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! exitcode=0x0000000b

Steps to reproduce (if you know):Can reproduce issue on demand. Steps to reproduce: Method 1

1. Fresh install of Pop OS from pop-os-20.10_amd64_intel_12 (UEFI) with LUKS configured during setup
2. After first run setup, run updates (sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -yy)
3. Reboot after update, the system hangs with the Kernel Panic error described earlier

Method 2

1. Create bootable USB from pop-os-20.10_amd64_intel_14
2. During boot from USB (UEFI) the system hangs with the Kernel Panic error described earlier

Expected behavior: Normal reboot after upgrade or install

Other Notes: Nasty surprise after installing the latest kernel and video driver updates 3/30/2021 for Pop OS 20.10. After reboot, the system hung.

Set the timer for 5 mins, no progress
Had to hold the power button to shutdown
Switched over to verbose mode during next boot
System halted with a Kernel Panic

Error Message: Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! exitcode=0x0000000b

Able to work around the issue at the moment by pressing the space bar at boot up and selecting the “Pop!_OS (Pop_OS-oldkern.conf)”

Affected System Info: Dell Latitude E5470 CPU: Intel i5-6300U (4) @ 3.000GHz GPU: Intel Skylake GT2 [HD Graphics 5 Memory: 16BG DDR3 HDD: 512GB LUKS Encrypted Drive BIOS Version: 1.23.3 08/24/2020

Troubleshooting

• Rolled the install back, was able to duplicate the issue again when upgrading
• Was able to successfully apply the update on other hardware including VMs and two lab desktops (dissimilar hardware), so the update is not broken for other things
• Wiped the laptop and reinstalled the Pop OS 20.10 from USB image (AMD/Intel) 12 (pop-os-20.10_amd64_intel_12.iso) . The Install completed without issue; During first update, the kernel update and video drivers caused the system to hang again at next boot
• Again wiped the laptop and reinstalled Pop OS 20.10 with the current image (pop-os-20.10_amd64_intel_14.iso). Install hung with a kernel panic and was not able to complete install
  • Using v14 image, was able to successfully complete a clean install on dissimilar hardware
• Adjusted the BIOS settings on the laptop, specifically storage controller mode (RAID vs AHCI), and verified that secure boot was disabled. No change, system hangs during boot of the install with v14 image or after updating from install from v12 image
• I use an E-series port replicator (docking station) and tried with and without the system being attached, no change
• Successfully completed the Bootloader repair instructions for encrypted SSD drives from the info here at https://support.system76.com/articles/bootloader/ but this did not correct the issue

[LoVoltage]

Additional Testing Results

• Re-seated memory modules; no change
• Isolated memory modules by installing one at a time, then tried to boot v14 media; no change
• Swapped SSD HDD out with a new SSD HDD; no change
• Swapped SSD HDD out with a new NVMe HDD; no change
• Completed all hardware diagnostics with no failures
• Tested all USB boot media, no failures. Can complete the install on other systems with non-similar hardware
• Using a client's older E5550 Latitude, was able to successfully install 20.10 v14 with no issues
• Using another E5470 Latitude with similar hardware; Was able to duplicate the issue on the same model with similar hardware
• Using Ubuntu beta builds for 21.04; Was able to duplicate the issue. System hangs during boot from media.

Final item tested was using Pop OS LTS 20.04 v26; Was able to duplicate the issue

• No issue booting and installing from earlier versions of the 20.04 image
• Used v23 of 20.04 LTS with no issue
• Successful install of 20.04 LTS v26 on Latitude E5500

Next steps

• Have a client with a E5470 with Nvidia discreet graphics I'm trying to get to test on with the latest Nvidia image of 20.04 LTS and 20.10
• Testing with other distros built on kernel v 5.11.0

Other notes: Researching the crash, it seems the system hang happens at or before detection of the video subsystem. Both of the E5470 Latitudes tested contain Intel Skylake GT2 HD 520 integrated graphics.

[LoVoltage]

Today's updates (4/7/2021) changed the error message when trying to boot 20.10 latest kernel (5.11.0). The package included "linux firmware" updates. During boot up, the system hangs with kernel panic. The error message is

Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception in interrupt Kernel Offset: 0x3b200000 from 0xffffffff1000000 (relocation range: 0xffffffff80000000-0xffffffffbffffff) End Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception in interrupt

[LoVoltage]

Today's update (4/23/2021) has corrected the kernel panic during boot on the Dell Latitude E5470. Will close the issue when completed testing of another affected E5470. Also will test LTS 20.04 to see if the issue was corrected there too.

The current install media (pop-os_20.10_amd64_intel_14) looks to be unchanged. Will test with updated install media when released.

Thanks to the team for fixing this one

[LoVoltage]

Closing the issue after testing on another similar Latitude E5470 laptop. No kernel panics during boot on that system either.

Thanks again to all who helped resolve the issues.