Powerbook G4 won't boot Ubuntu after Install

[powerbookluv111]

Hello. I just installed Ubuntu 7.10 on my Powerbook G4 667mhz. I formatted and used the entire drive. When I turn on the computer, I get the boot screen and hit 'l' It loads a comple of screens and then stops at a black screen with a white non-blinking cursor in the upper left hand corner. What is this, and how do I get past it? There were no errors generated during Ubuntu installation. No errors at all. Please help! I seriously want Ubuntu.

[stream303]

You may have to use
video=ofonly

at the boot: prompt.

Check these faqs out and let us know how it goes:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCKnownIssues

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCFAQ

[powerbookluv111]

Already use:
live-nosplash-powerpc video=ofonly break=top

In order to get it to boot past a messed up visual affect. I get the same result using the alternate install or the live cd.

I've read that you need to edit /etc/initramfs-tools/modules and add: ide_core at the end. But, how do I edit /etc/initramfs-tools/modules, because I can never get to a terminal. Or should I boot the live CD, and edit it through there?

[powerbookluv111]

Let be more clear. I used those to boot the Live CD. Are you talking use video=ofonly to boot the installed linux? I just tried and couldn't get that to work either.

[stream303]

In order to get it to boot past a messed up visual affect. I get the same result using the alternate install or the live cd.

The Ubuntu splash screen never looks right, even on good installs so don't sweat that too much.

I've read that you need to edit /etc/initramfs-tools/modules and add: ide_core at the end. But, how do I edit /etc/initramfs-tools/modules, because I can never get to a terminal. Or should I boot the live CD, and edit it through there?

If your live-cd is usable, at least temporarily, I'd fire up the terminal and see if ide-core is in that directory already. NOTE: I see you used an underscore, use a hyphen instead: ide-core

If you need to add it, you can do ALT-F2 (no ctrl key) to bring up a gui window which will allow you to get into the editor as root to do your editing, ala

gksudo gedit /etc/initramfs-tools/modules

or you can start this the same way from the gui terminal: gksudo gedit .....

[powerbookluv111]

A hyphen! Wherever I found that had an underscore. If i entered that for the install, could that lead to all of these problems? I wouldn't have thought so, but I don't know. Thanks for you help, I'll have to reinstall it here now, I needed my latpop back, so I reloaded OS X. But I'll try.

[stream303]

I saw that underscore too, but I remember seeing it being corrected with a hyphen, and the PPC KnownIssues page shows it as a hyphen:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCKnownIssues

Even though you reinstalled OSX, if you feel like doing it again, you could partition your drive in half for example, and have a dual boot setup.

[powerbookluv111]

Which is what I originally attempted to do, but thought maybe it would just be better to wipe the drive, after it failed a couple of times. Do you also have any idea why "Select and Install Software" would fail using the alternate install CD? That was the only problem with that.

[stream303]

Hm... how about giving Feisty 7.04 alternate a try? Then maybe later do an in-place upgrade. It might be a bit easier..