[PATCH v9] PCI: Add device-specific reset for Qualcomm devices
Baochen Qiang
baochen.qiang at oss.qualcomm.com
Tue Jun 23 01:55:41 PDT 2026
On 6/18/2026 2:33 PM, Jose Ignacio Tornos Martinez wrote:
> Hi Mani,
>
> Let me clarify the exact scenario and where the reset is necessary:
>
> * For the commented WiFi devices (WCN6855/WCN7850):
>
> Standard VFIO passthrough flow (this works fine):
> 1. Unbind native driver (ath11k/ath12k/MHI)
> 2. Bind vfio-pci driver
> 3. Assign device to VM
> 4. VM boots, loads its own driver → device works perfectly
> 5. VM shuts down cleanly → device can be reassigned → works fine
>
> The problem occurs with unclean VM termination:
> 1. VM crashes or is force-terminated
> 2. VFIO tries to reset the device before reassignment
> 3. Without a working PCI reset method, reset fails
> 4. Device stuck in undefined state → cannot be reassigned to another VM
>
> Unbinding the driver again doesn't help because the device hardware
> itself is in a bad state. From hypervisor:
> $ lspci -vvv -s 0000:03:00.0
> 03:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Technologies, Inc (rev ff) (prog-if ff)
> !!! Unknown header type 7f
> And a full host power-cycle is necessary to recover.
>
what is the difference between a clean VM shutdown and an unclean termination?
specifically, will pci driver's .shutdown callback be triggered during the clean VM
shutdown, and not be triggered during a unclean termination?
> * For the commented modem devices (SDX62/SDX65):
>
> Even worse because it fails during the first VM boot without proper reset
> capability, standard VFIO passthrough flow:
> 1. Unbind native driver (MHI)
> 2. Bind vfio-pci driver
> 3. Assign device to VM
> 4. VM boots, loads its own driver and crashes:
> [ 24.024165] mhi mhi0: Device failed to enter MHI Ready
> [ 24.024168] mhi mhi0: MHI did not enter READY state
>
> Unbind/rebind attempts fail:
> [ 352.643601] mhi mhi0: Requested to power ON
> [ 352.643611] mhi mhi0: Power on setup success
> [ 373.442954] mhi mhi0: Device failed to clear MHI Reset
> [ 373.442970] mhi mhi0: MHI did not enter READY state
> And requires a full host power cycle to recover,
> even outside of VFIO scenarios.
>
> * MHI Host driver's remove callback may handle clean software state
> teardown, but it doesn't provide a PCI reset capability that VFIO can
> invoke. VFIO needs a reset method registered in the PCI reset hierarchy
> (device_specific, pm, flr, bus, etc.). VFIO invokes this reset both during
> initial device binding (before the VM starts) and when reassigning the
> device between VMs - without a working reset method, the device cannot
> reach a clean state for initialization.
>
>
>
> I hope this clarifies the scenario better. Please let me know if I can
> provide more information or run any specific tests to help investigate this
> further.
>
> Thanks
>
> Best regards
> José Ignacio
>
>
More information about the ath11k
mailing list