What are the reasons behind the SONA IF573 driver experiencing a timeout and failing to load during the boot process?

This is most likely caused by the "PCIEASPM" kernel config option being set to "SuperPowerSave." To fix this, set this option to "Performance" in menuconfig before building your kernel.

Additional Information

The PCIEASPM kernel configuration option in Linux stands for PCI Express Active State Power Management. This feature is used to manage the power consumption of devices connected through the PCI Express (PCIe) interface, which is commonly used for a wide range of components including Wi-Fi devices.

Overview of PCIEASPM:

1) Purpose:

• The main goal of PCIEASPM is to reduce power consumption when the PCIe devices are not in full use. This is particularly important in battery-powered devices like laptops but is also beneficial in reducing overall energy consumption in servers and desktops.

2) Functionality:

• Active State Power Management (ASPM) manages the power usage of PCIe devices by dynamically adjusting the power state based on current usage. It has several states, from L0 (fully on) to L1 (low power) and L2 (off).
• The states are managed automatically by the operating system and hardware, depending on the current needs of the device.

3) Configuration Options:

• PCIEASPM can typically be configured with three settings:
  • Default: The default setting uses the BIOS or firmware settings for ASPM.
  • Powersave: This setting aggressively uses ASPM to save power, which might lead to increased latency in devices.
  • Performance: This setting minimizes the use of ASPM to reduce potential latency, at the cost of higher power consumption.

4) Considerations:

• While ASPM is designed to save power, it can sometimes cause issues with Wi-Fi hardware, leading to instability or performance degradation.
• In some cases, users may choose to disable ASPM entirely if it causes compatibility issues with Wi-Fi PCIe devices.

5) Setting PCIEASPM:

• The PCIEASPM setting can be configured when compiling the kernel or passed as a boot parameter (e.g., pcie_aspm=off to disable it).

6) Impact on Performance:

• The impact of ASPM on system performance can vary. While it can save power, the transition between power states can introduce latency. For high-performance computing, the added latency might be undesirable.

Conclusion:

The PCIEASPM setting is a part of the Linux kernel's approach to power efficiency and management. It's particularly relevant for systems where power saving is a priority, but it should be used with an understanding of the potential trade-offs in terms of compatibility and performance.