ucsi_acpi PPM init failed (-110)

Question

Description of issue

Boot (or reboot) of machine will load decryption screen Enter the key and continue to boot Black screen displaying just "[20.226612] usci_acpi USBC000:00 PPM init failed (-110)]"

When does this happen?

[Sometimes] When the monitor is connected to the laptop via a usbc to hdmi cable.

[Never] When I remove the cable and wait for the machine to boot "normally" and attach the cable later.

Machine details

• Fresh install of Ubuntu 20.04 (downloaded beta 10/04/2020)
• Installed third party drivers as part of install
• Provided key for third party software and enrolled MDK on first boot
• Reset UEFI keys from bios prior to install
• sudo apt update ran on the machine before ever rebooting it
• Additional drivers: NVIDIA Corporation: TU117M (GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile / Max-Q], "Using NVIDIA driver metapackage from nvidia-driver-440 (proprietary, tested)"
• Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Extreme (2nd gen)

Notes

What confuses me here is that with the cable plugged it, it only "sometimes" fails to load. Looking into this, people have encountered it on other versions of Ubuntu and what's fixed it for them is to make sure they have the latest NVIDIA drivers installed. I have those from what I can see. Not sure what's causing this problem, especially as it doesn't happen all the time.

In case it is relevant... sometimes when the machine boots, it won't recognise the keyboard plugged in via USB so I have to remove and add the keyboard. This is a regular USB, not USB-C like the display cable.

Solution

I was having the same issue with a Dell Precision 7760, Turned off hybrid graphics in the BIOS and everything booted correctly. BIOS has a note that this setting is not supported by Linux distros.

Comments

[Kevin Bowen]

Welcome to Ask Ubuntu! Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference.