RPi3 issues with linux-rpi and bootloader after pacman -Syu

[MattM]

After today’s pacman -Syu on a Raspberry Pi 3 (aarch64), the system became unstable after upgrading these packages:
[2026-03-13T00:47:36+0100] [ALPM] upgraded raspberrypi-bootloader (20260302-1 -> 20260306-1)
[2026-03-13T00:48:04+0100] [ALPM] upgraded linux-rpi (6.18.15-1 -> 6.18.16-3)

After reboot, the kernel showed repeated firmware timeouts and VC4 failures.
Examples from dmesg:
[ 0.000000] Linux version 6.18.16-3-rpi (builduser@arch-nspawn-3038569) (aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu-gcc (GCC) 15.2.1 20260209, GNU ld (GNU Binutils) 2.46) #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Mar 11 23:42:21 UTC 2026
...
[ 7.134650] ------------[ cut here ]------------
[ 7.134691] Firmware transaction 0x00030066 timeout
[ 7.134773] WARNING: CPU: 3 PID: 169 at drivers/firmware/raspberrypi.c:131 rpi_firmware_property_list+0x1f8/0x278
[ 7.134822] Modules linked in: vc4(+) snd_soc_hdmi_codec drm_client_lib snd_soc_core snd_compress snd_pcm_dmaengine snd_pcm snd_timer snd drm_exec drm_display_helper drm_dma_helper drm_kms_helper drm drm_panel_orientation_quirks backl
ight cec
[ 7.134928] CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 169 Comm: (udev-worker) Not tainted 6.18.16-3-rpi #1 PREEMPT
[ 7.134952] Hardware name: Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Rev 1.2 (DT)
[ 7.134967] pstate: 60000005 (nZCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
[ 7.134986] pc : rpi_firmware_property_list+0x1f8/0x278
[ 7.135005] lr : rpi_firmware_property_list+0x1f8/0x278
[ 7.135023] sp : ffff800080dbb730
[ 7.135034] x29: ffff800080dbb750 x28: ffffa2fe0c461758 x27: 0000000000000000
[ 7.135061] x26: ffffa2fe80772f30 x25: ffff0000028d2080 x24: ffff000007586280
[ 7.135086] x23: 0000000000001000 x22: 000000000000000c x21: 0000000000000000
[ 7.135112] x20: ffff0000028d2080 x19: ffff80008067f000 x18: 0000000000000010
[ 7.135137] x17: 0000000000001000 x16: 0000000000000036 x15: 0000000000000020
[ 7.135163] x14: 00000000ffffffff x13: 0000000000000030 x12: 0000000000000008
[ 7.135188] x11: 0000000000000058 x10: 0000000000000018 x9 : ffffa2fe7ef4c84c
[ 7.135213] x8 : 0000000000057fa8 x7 : 0000000000000147 x6 : 0000000000000001
[ 7.135239] x5 : ffff00003b1ca488 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : 0000000000000027
[ 7.135264] x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : ffff00002ea8a180
[ 7.135290] Call trace:
[ 7.135301] rpi_firmware_property_list+0x1f8/0x278 (P)
[ 7.135323] rpi_firmware_property+0x70/0xc0
[ 7.135342] vc4_drm_bind+0x380/0x3c0 [vc4]
[ 7.135448] try_to_bring_up_aggregate_device+0x174/0x1f0
[ 7.135470] component_master_add_with_match+0xb8/0x100
[ 7.135489] vc4_platform_drm_probe+0xc0/0x108 [vc4]
[ 7.135573] platform_probe+0x64/0xb8
[ 7.135592] really_probe+0xc4/0x2c0
[ 7.135609] __driver_probe_device+0x80/0x128
[ 7.135626] driver_probe_device+0xc4/0x188
[ 7.135643] __driver_attach+0x98/0x1a0
[ 7.135660] bus_for_each_dev+0x84/0x100
[ 7.135677] driver_attach+0x2c/0x40
[ 7.135693] bus_add_driver+0xec/0x220
[ 7.135709] driver_register+0x70/0x138
[ 7.135726] __platform_driver_register+0x28/0x40
[ 7.135745] vc4_drm_register+0x58/0xf98 [vc4]
[ 7.135829] do_one_initcall+0x5c/0x2a0
[ 7.135849] do_init_module+0x5c/0x270
[ 7.135868] load_module+0x1910/0x1ee0
[ 7.135885] __do_sys_init_module+0x150/0x200
[ 7.135903] __arm64_sys_init_module+0x20/0x40
[ 7.135921] invoke_syscall.constprop.0+0x48/0x100
[ 7.135941] el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0xc0/0xe8
[ 7.135959] do_el0_svc+0x24/0x38
[ 7.135975] el0_svc+0x34/0xe8
[ 7.135993] el0t_64_sync_handler+0xa0/0xe8
[ 7.136010] el0t_64_sync+0x198/0x1a0
[ 7.136027] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
[ 7.136057] vc4-drm soc:gpu: [drm] Couldn't stop firmware display driver: -110
[ 7.136227] vc4-drm soc:gpu: bound 3f400000.hvs (ops vc4_hvs_ops [vc4])
[ 10.206652] raspberrypi-clk soc:firmware:clocks: Failed to change fw-clk-arm frequency: -110
[ 11.125118] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p2): mounted filesystem f8604c08-50c4-497d-a528-0c33378e4537 r/w with ordered data mode. Quota mode: none.
[ 13.278654] raspberrypi-clk soc:firmware:clocks: Failed to get fw-clk-arm frequency: -110
[ 16.350647] raspberrypi-clk soc:firmware:clocks: Failed to change fw-clk-arm frequency: -110
[ 19.422649] raspberrypi-clk soc:firmware:clocks: Failed to get fw-clk-arm frequency: -110
...
[ 242.653791] INFO: task kworker/u16:1:43 blocked for more than 120 seconds.
[ 242.653838] Tainted: G WC 6.18.16-3-rpi #1
[ 242.653852] "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message.
[ 242.653867] task:kworker/u16:1 state:D stack:0 pid:43 tgid:43 ppid:2 task_flags:0x4208060 flags:0x00000010
[ 242.653898] Workqueue: async async_run_entry_fn
[ 242.653924] Call trace:
[ 242.653935] __switch_to+0xf0/0x1c8 (T)
[ 242.653956] __schedule+0x3d8/0xc30
[ 242.653973] schedule+0x3c/0x120
[ 242.653990] schedule_preempt_disabled+0x2c/0x50
[ 242.654007] __mutex_lock.constprop.0+0x51c/0xc88
[ 242.654026] __mutex_lock_slowpath+0x1c/0x38
[ 242.654043] mutex_lock+0x50/0x68
[ 242.654060] rpi_firmware_property_list+0xe4/0x278
[ 242.654079] rpi_firmware_property+0x70/0xc0
[ 242.654096] rpi_exp_gpio_get_direction+0x64/0x100
[ 242.654113] gpiochip_get_direction+0x20/0x50
[ 242.654133] gpiod_get_direction+0x84/0x178
[ 242.654150] gpiod_request_commit+0xa0/0x178
[ 242.654171] gpiod_request+0x48/0xc0
[ 242.654189] gpiod_find_and_request+0xa0/0x390
[ 242.654206] gpiod_get_index+0x60/0x90
[ 242.654227] devm_gpiod_get_index+0x28/0xa0
[ 242.654245] devm_gpiod_get_optional+0x20/0x48
[ 242.654262] bcm_get_resources+0xb4/0x290 [hci_uart]
[ 242.654303] bcm_serdev_probe+0xd0/0x1a0 [hci_uart]
[ 242.654334] serdev_drv_probe+0x38/0x58
[ 242.654355] really_probe+0xc4/0x2c0
[ 242.654373] __driver_probe_device+0x80/0x128
[ 242.654391] driver_probe_device+0xc4/0x188
[ 242.654408] __driver_attach_async_helper+0x50/0xc0
[ 242.654426] async_run_entry_fn+0x3c/0xf8
[ 242.654444] process_one_work+0x15c/0x3c0
[ 242.654461] worker_thread+0x18c/0x320
[ 242.654477] kthread+0x148/0x208
[ 242.654495] ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20
[ 242.654552] INFO: task kworker/u16:1:43 is blocked on a mutex likely owned by task sugov:0:77.

Rolling back to the previous versions restores normal operation:
sudo pacman -U \
/var/cache/pacman/pkg/raspberrypi-bootloader-20260302-1-any.pkg.tar.xz \
/var/cache/pacman/pkg/linux-rpi-6.18.15-1-aarch64.pkg.tar.xz

This looks like a regression affecting Raspberry Pi 3 in linux‑rpi 6.18.16‑3 or the corresponding bootloader/firmware.

[graysky]

6.18.17-2 is building. When it hits the repos can you plz try it and report back.