Hi,

Your latest comments seem to indicate that the issue is not related to firmware
- it just happens to manifest itself at this stage as well when firmware is
loaded.

2 things to try:

1) Can you try loading Nouveau with the "config=NvForcePost=1" option? Adding
"nouveau.config=NvForcePost=1" to your kernel command line should do it.

2) Can I get a full log of you booting with the /lib/firmware directory
removed, or can you confirm that when you can see Nouveau complaining about the
firmware when you boot in this configuration?

Thanks!