Linux 7.3 includes fixes for Samsung 990 PRO and 990 EVO Plus SSDs
Key Takeaway
Linux 7.3 prevents issues with Samsung 990 PRO and 990 EVO Plus SSDs by ignoring incorrect Immediate Readiness advertisements.
Summary
Ahead of the Linux 7.3 stable kernel release, workarounds have been merged to address issues with Samsung 990 PRO and 990 EVO Plus NVMe SSDs. Certain firmware versions on these drives incorrectly advertise support for the PCIe 4.0 Immediate Readiness feature. This error causes problems for the Linux kernel and breaks VFIO pass-through functionality.
Immediate Readiness workaround details
- The kernel will now ignore the Immediate Readiness bit for Samsung 990 PRO (144d:a80c) and 990 EVO Plus (144d:a80d) drives.
- The Immediate Readiness bit in PCIe 4.0 indicates a drive can handle configuration requests immediately after a reset.
- Some Samsung firmware versions advertise this bit but fail to respond for up to 7 ms after a Function Level Reset (FLR).
- This mismatch breaks VFIO pass-through because configuration restores are lost following the FLR.
Why it matters
This fix ensures stability for users of high-performance Samsung NVMe drives, particularly those utilizing virtualization via VFIO.
Original reference: www.phoronix.com →