PowerMac G5 Install Problems

[stmiller]

Originally Posted by jmelizondo Ok so i tried to install the yabootconfig file but I still get errors I exectued the shell and I am getting this error (my typing in blue) # yabootconfig yaboot is the Linux loader for PowerPC. yabootconfig sets up your system to boot direclty from your hard disk, without the need for a boot cd, floppy or a network boot. Install yaboot bootstrap on dev/sda2 to boot from /dev/sda3? [Yes] ybin -v Create simple /etc/yaboot.conf without installing the bootstrap? [Yes] yes Creating a simple /etc/yaboot.conf... yabootconfig: Could not determine necessary information, aborting... yabootconfig: Are you using chroot yabootconfig instead of yabootconfig --chroot?

[Make sure you choose
"Execute a shell in /dev/sda3 [or whatever it says root partition is]" from the step in my previous post.]


And at this point when running yabootconfig:

"Install yaboot bootstrap on dev/sda2 to boot from /dev/sda3? [Yes] "

Just hit Enter.

"Create simple /etc/yaboot.conf without installing the bootstrap? [Yes] "

Enter.

Creating a simple /etc/yaboot.conf...

should complete.

Then when that is finished, type

ybin -v

and hit enter.

I tested this on my Powermac G5 machine to test, and it successfully created a new yaboot.conf and wrote the file to the boot partition. So hopefully this will work for you. Let me know...

[stmiller]

What did it say when you ran

ybin -v

? Were there any errors?

[kvapil]

Ok so this works

I can confirm that my G5 is now up and running ubuntu.

I have also done some reading and as i understand it Yabootconfig does not work on the G5, so manuel editing of the yaboot.conf is necessary.

But remember, to update the yaboot.conf is not enough you have to run ybin -v to update the bootstrap partition with the new settings.

The last step proved to be a little tricky for me so i used the gentoo live cd to boot the machine and to edit the yaboot.conf this is more i guess because i like to use vi.

here the command to mount the hard drive is ex: mount /dev/ext3 /mnt/gentoo
this will place your yaboot.conf in /mnt/gentoo/etc/yaboot.conf

after editing the file i booted up on the alternative ubuntu cd starting in the rescue mode. This will after a while take you to "execute shell on root drive" sda3 in my case.

And now the ybin -v worked.

I hope this can help someone else as well.

If you have any questions please dont hesitate to ask.

/kvapil

[pxwpxw]

jrlohr, kvapil

Thanks for the feedback.

All above, and anyone else interested:

I want to find why the problem/solution for my powermacg5 and the posts above does not seem to apply to all g5 with sata drives (or perhaps it does).
(i.e. in yaboot.conf, need to edit "device= " and "ofboot= ").

Could you please post the results for your G5 for these commands:
(change if necessary to suit your drive names)

sudo ofpath /dev/sda

sudo cat /proc/device-tree/aliases/hd;echo

sudo cat /proc/device-tree/aliases/sd0;echo

sudo find /proc/device-tree/ -name '*disk*'

sudo mac-fdisk -l /dev/sda

=====================================

Here is what I get, and some explanation.

$ sudo ofpath /dev/sda
/disk@0:
$ sudo ofpath /dev/sda2
/disk@0:2

This is the cause of the problem on this platform.
AFAIK the device /disk@0 is invalid in openfirmware on any applemac, its a default from ofpath when it gets lost. Unfortunately it is used to find the bootblock, and again to find yaboot in the boot partition.

The open firmware alias "hd" is commonly used by open firmware for the first boot disk, for ibook, powermac and probably others and can refer to sata or ata/ide drives with different full paths.

(see: man bootstrap mkofboot ybin yaboot.conf)

Aliases in /proc/device-tree/ , from openfirmware:

$ sudo cat /proc/device-tree/aliases/hd ;echo
/ht/pci@7/k2-sata-root/k2-sata@0/disk@0
$ sudo cat /proc/device-tree/aliases/sd0;echo
/ht/pci@7/k2-sata-root/k2-sata@0/disk@0

The full device paths are in /proc/device-tree/

$ sudo find /proc/device-tree/ -name '*disk*'
/proc/device-tree/ht@0,f2000000/pci@7/k2-sata-root@c/k2-sata@1/disk@0
/proc/device-tree/ht@0,f2000000/pci@7/k2-sata-root@c/k2-sata@0/disk@0
/proc/device-tree/ht@0,f2000000/pci@5/ata-6@d/disk
/proc/device-tree/ht@0,f2000000/pci@4/usb@b/hub@1/disk@3
/proc/device-tree/firewire-disk-mode
/proc/device-tree/packages/sbp2-disk
/proc/device-tree/packages/atapi-disk
/proc/device-tree/packages/ata-disk
/proc/device-tree/packages/disk-label
$

disk partitions:

$ sudo mac-fdisk -l /dev/sda
/dev/sda
        #                    type name                  length   base      ( size )  system
/dev/sda1     Apple_partition_map Apple                     63 @ 1         ( 31.5k)  Partition map
/dev/sda2         Apple_Bootstrap ubootsda              262144 @ 64        (128.0M)  NewWorld bootblock
/dev/sda3               Apple_HFS Apple_HFS_Untitled_1  25126936 @ 262208    ( 12.0G)  HFS
/dev/sda4         Apple_UNIX_SVR2 dbroot              39062501 @ 25389144  ( 18.6G)  Linux native
/dev/sda5         Apple_UNIX_SVR2 swap                 5859376 @ 64451645  (  2.8G)  Linux swap
/dev/sda6         Apple_UNIX_SVR2 uspare              19531251 @ 70311021  (  9.3G)  Linux native
/dev/sda7         Apple_UNIX_SVR2 uxroot2             39062501 @ 89842272  ( 18.6G)  Linux native
/dev/sda8         Apple_UNIX_SVR2 uspare2             27396715 @ 128904773 ( 13.1G)  Linux native

Block size=512, Number of Blocks=156301488
DeviceType=0x0, DeviceId=0x0

[pxwpxw]

stmiller

in an earlier post above you quoted from yaboot.conf

device=/ht@0,f2000000/pci@5/k2-sata-root@c/k2-sata@0/disk@0:

Do you get this using

 sudo ofpath /dev/sda

[jrlohr]

Originally Posted by pxwpxw This might help. ## yaboot.conf generated by yabootconfig 1.0.8 ## ## run: "man yaboot.conf" for details. Do not make changes until you have!! ## see also: /usr/share/doc/yaboot/examples for example configurations. ## ## For a dual-boot menu, add one or more of: ## bsd=/dev/hdaX, macos=/dev/hdaY, macosx=/dev/hdaZ boot=/dev/sda2 device=/disk@0: partition=7 root=/dev/sda7 timeout=30 install=/usr/lib/yaboot/yaboot magicboot=/usr/lib/yaboot/ofboot image=/boot/vmlinux label=Linux read-only initrd=/boot/initrd.img initrd-size=8192 Edited installer version that works: ###edited ## yaboot.conf generated by the Ubuntu installer ## ## run: "man yaboot.conf" for details. Do not make changes until you have!! ## see also: /usr/share/doc/yaboot/examples for example configurations. ## ## For a dual-boot menu, add one or more of: ## bsd=/dev/hdaX, macos=/dev/hdaY, macosx=/dev/hdaZ boot=/dev/sdb2 ofboot=sd1:2 device=hd: ###/disk@0: ###partition=7 ###root=/dev/sda7 timeout=100 install=/usr/lib/yaboot/yaboot magicboot=/usr/lib/yaboot/ofboot enablecdboot macosx=sd1:3 ###macosx=/dev/sdb3 image=/boot/vmlinux root=/dev/sda7 label=Lx read-only initrd=/boot/initrd.img partition=7 ###dont hide the action ### append="quiet splash" ## the rest is irrelevant image=halt halt If the OP could post a copy of yaboot.conf and the output of mac-fdisk -l I could offer to correct the yaboot.conf.

Changing the 1 lineand adding the other for our G5 got it to boot correctly thanks

we changed
boot=/dev/sda2
device=/disk@0: -> device=hd:

and added the line

ofboot=sd0:2
and now it all works fine

[jmelizondo]

Sorry for the delayed response. Things got a little crazy at work for a few days. So, I am gonna list out all the steps i took installing

So i booted the alternate cd and ran "install-powerpc64"

I did not configure a network (the computer is not hooked up to the net at the time of installation) and used the guided partition - entire disk for my partitions.
It partitioned my drive as so:

partition #3 od scsi1 (0,0,0) (sda) as ext3
partition #4 of scsi1 (0,0,0) (sda) as swap

Once the installer is done, this is the message on the screen:

(!!) Finish the installation

Installation complete

Installation is complete, so it is time to boot into your new system. Make sure to remove the installation media (CD-ROM, floppies), so that you boot into the new system rather than restarting the installation

At this point i push alt+control+F2 and that takes me to a screen:

Please press Enter to activate this console.

I push enter and it takes me to this screen

BusyBox v1.1.3 (Debian 1:1.1.3-3ubuntu33) Built in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.
~#

Now i type in yabootconfig and the input looks like this

~# yabootconfig

and the response is this

-sh: yabootconfig: not found
~#

so then my next input looks like this

~# sudo yabootconfig

and i get

-sh: sude: not found

thanks in advance for the help