grub2 EFI boot loader internal/external booting

[pxwpxw]

Having a day off here - power is going off for the day.

[step21]

Sorry to hear that. Hope it doesn't get cold or anything.

Anyway, did some more investigating, with some guys from #grub on freenode and some more googling.
- Changing sdX to hdX did nothing, so I assume the kernel I tried fails earlier?
- I passed init=/bin/sh to the debian install kernel so I coul read the last errors. This gives me busybox, but the keyboard is still dead. Also lots of PCI errors, so I assume most if not all devices are unavailable. Errors are simmiliar to:

[time after boot]PCI No IRQ known for interrup pin C of device 0000:00:1a.7. Please Try using pci=biosirq
[time after boot]ehci_hcd 0000:00:1a.7 Found HC with no IRQ. Check BIOS/PCI 0000:00:1a.7 setup!
[time after boot]ehci_hcd 0000:00:1a.7 fail, -19

This repeats, probably for various devices, as device IDs and pins change (pins from A-D)
I tried passing pci=biosirq (I didn't think it would work, because obv. there is no bios) but tried anyway, but no change.
After reading a page on the debian wiki http://wiki.debian.org/MacBook I tried some other options (they also have a mention of a "dead keyboard" issue, like passing "noapic acpi=force and irqpoll" (both only the former and all together) but I didn't see any change. Unfortunately debian does not seem to have a page specific to the macbook air, and also googling more specifically for efi issues with the macbook air did not lead to good results apart from this very thread, which leads me to believe no one (or as good as no one) actually tested this so far.
Not sure what to try now as no PCI access sounds pretty fatal ...

[shadowdude1794]

I reinstalled, and no dice. Same results as before, it locks up =(.
Edit: Sorry to hear about your power loss Pxwpxw, I can't live without power...

[pxwpxw]

I reinstalled, and no dice. Same results as before, it locks up =(.
Edit: Sorry to hear about your power loss Pxwpxw, I can't live without power...

I survived, then the internet went down for 8 hours. Makes you appreciate these things.

I think there may be some issue with 64bit grubefi and variious later macs. Suggest you watch and see if anyone can in fact get linux booted and running using the 64bit version, the score so far is NIL.
It is probably going to need someone from grub-devel and the trick is to get them interested and equipped with Macs to test on, but I will keep looking at it, try some of the efi development tools just for fun, and step21 is also getting somewhere.
I dont think there is anything else I can suggest unless you have another mac model, which could behave differently. I will keep this thread up to date, and add a summary.
Hope we get somewhere with this, it just seems to be grub-devel lagging behind Apple doing their own thing with EFI.

[pxwpxw]

Sorry to hear that. Hope it doesn't get cold or anything.

Anyway, did some more investigating, with some guys from #grub on freenode and some more googling.
- Changing sdX to hdX did nothing, so I assume the kernel I tried fails earlier?
- I passed init=/bin/sh to the debian install kernel so I coul read the last errors. This gives me busybox, but the keyboard is still dead. Also lots of PCI errors, so I assume most if not all devices are unavailable. Errors are simmiliar to:

[time after boot]PCI No IRQ known for interrup pin C of device 0000:00:1a.7. Please Try using pci=biosirq
[time after boot]ehci_hcd 0000:00:1a.7 Found HC with no IRQ. Check BIOS/PCI 0000:00:1a.7 setup!
[time after boot]ehci_hcd 0000:00:1a.7 fail, -19

This repeats, probably for various devices, as device IDs and pins change (pins from A-D)
I tried passing pci=biosirq (I didn't think it would work, because obv. there is no bios) but tried anyway, but no change.
After reading a page on the debian wiki http://wiki.debian.org/MacBook I tried some other options (they also have a mention of a "dead keyboard" issue, like passing "noapic acpi=force and irqpoll" (both only the former and all together) but I didn't see any change. Unfortunately debian does not seem to have a page specific to the macbook air, and also googling more specifically for efi issues with the macbook air did not lead to good results apart from this very thread, which leads me to believe no one (or as good as no one) actually tested this so far.
Not sure what to try now as no PCI access sounds pretty fatal ...

The debian installer image was just meant as a convenient basis for comparison, it worked with EFI on the MacBook2,1, and at least it got to the installer menu for you, minus keyboard. I dont think there is much value in trying to debug it unless you actually want to use it, although it might identify the cause. Better to try other kernels that might do what you want.

On MacBook2,1 I also checked other i386 installer images for debian lenny/sid and ubuntu 810/904.

Debian lenny and sid (using the same 2.6.26 kernel) worked, keyboards and all.

Ubunt 810 also ok, kernel 2.6.27-7
ubuntu 904 missed a lot of the init logging but got to the installer 1st menu (language) with dead kbd. I dont know what kernel version they are using.

Point is that results are unpredictable with the interaction between bootloader, EFI, and kernel config + initramfs and scripts, and also the Mac model h/w. A lot of variables.

I think it is possible that some other kernel may work better, and you may as well try any others you are interested in, at this state of knowledge it is a gamble.
Also a fix for one kernel/Mac combination may not work for others.


On the MacBook2,1 the keyboard died on ubuntu 904 installer using a grub1-pc boot, and also at the grub menu when booting using grub2-pc, so it may not be entirely caused by EFI booting.

In another thread we tried to get grubefi to run an amd64 kernel, with other init failure issues, I tried numerous acpi options, and a reconfigure kernel, no luck.

MacBook2,1 amd64 (12021)
Blessable Boot Partition
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=995276

To fix this needs getting into the grub code and the EFI interface standard and Apples variations, and probably the kernel, I will be having a go at the EFI part because my imac8,1 wont even run grubefi-64bit so it makes it hard to debug (a MBP4,1 I tried also hung at startup).

It needs someone from grub-devel with in depth knowledge to catch up here.
Or maybe an alternative to grubefi, developed specifically for apple intel mac varieties - like rEFIt.

I will go back to grub-devl later if I have something to get attention at their level - like a specific bug fix.

But keep up the good work, your input is appreciated.

BTW saw your thread in grub-devl, not much luck there.

[step21]

The debian installer image was just meant as a convenient basis for comparison, it worked with EFI on the MacBook2,1, and at least it got to the installer menu for you, minus keyboard. I dont think there is much value in trying to debug it unless you actually want to use it, although it might identify the cause. Better to try other kernels that might do what you want.
On MacBook2,1 I also checked other i386 installer images for debian lenny/sid and ubuntu 810/904.
Debian lenny and sid (using the same 2.6.26 kernel) worked, keyboards and all.
Ubunt 810 also ok, kernel 2.6.27-7
ubuntu 904 missed a lot of the init logging but got to the installer 1st menu (language) with dead kbd. I dont know what kernel version they are using.

Yeah sure, doesn't make that much sense, I didn't really mean that kernel in particular, that is just the one I got farthest with.

Point is that results are unpredictable with the interaction between bootloader, EFI, and kernel config + initramfs and scripts, and also the Mac model h/w. A lot of variables.

True. Even grub.cfg behaves abnormal sometimes for me, like I didn't change anything, but after just rebooting or so I get an error and it doesn't display the menu, but when I boot into a working system like os x or windows it's fine again.

I think it is possible that some other kernel may work better, and you may as well try any others you are interested in, at this state of knowledge it is a gamble.
Also a fix for one kernel/Mac combination may not work for others.
On the MacBook2,1 the keyboard died on ubuntu 904 installer using a grub1-pc boot, and also at the grub menu when booting using grub2-pc, so it may not be entirely caused by EFI booting.
In another thread we tried to get grubefi to run an amd64 kernel, with other init failure issues, I tried numerous acpi options, and a reconfigure kernel, no luck.
MacBook2,1 amd64 (12021)
Blessable Boot Partition
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=995276
To fix this needs getting into the grub code and the EFI interface standard and Apples variations, and probably the kernel, I will be having a go at the EFI part because my imac8,1 wont even run grubefi-64bit so it makes it hard to debug (a MBP4,1 I tried also hung at startup).
It needs someone from grub-devel with in depth knowledge to catch up here.
Or maybe an alternative to grubefi, developed specifically for apple intel mac varieties - like rEFIt.
I will go back to grub-devl later if I have something to get attention at their level - like a specific bug fix.
But keep up the good work, your input is appreciated.
BTW saw your thread in grub-devl, not much luck there.

I did some more investigating with my own kernel (compiled from intrepid git repo) and another version of grub (from some guy on #grub irc) but no luck. it loads kernel/initrd, but then no farther (with that kernel), sometimes it doesn't even read grub.cfg properly, the (grub) console freezes/gets dead keyboard or when it boots something nothing works (dead keyboard and dead PCI everything)
About something specific for intel-macs: not sure if that's a good idea, could be hard to find enough ppl that know about the low-level stuff that have at least one mac/don't hate apple hardware and are not occupied with other stuff.

I talked about this on #grub some more and they agreed that something seems to be broken there, most likely (in my opinion) because apple mixed EFI 1.10 and UEFI 2.0 and 32/64 bit creating something not documented anywhere I think ... see http://refit.sourceforge.net/info/apple_efi.html at "Santa Rosa"

There was also some new guy on who wanted to work on xnu/bsd stuff, and once he is far enough into the code/knows what he's doing might have a look at fixing this (and lives close enough so that we could meet up if necessary so he could debug on the MBA)
We also talked about the usb-debug port ... might see if lspci in grub tells me something, but do you know if any apple hardware exposes the debug port?

About grub-devel: yeah, not much luck so far, but still some of the guys that coded efi/mactel stuff might reply, if they have a minute, irc ppl said most of the time they were busy with RL stuff, so maybe it just takes time.

EDIT: might eventually just add a about 100 MB partition in size for a grub-pc, that should work I think ... also I _was_able to boot a live cd in the past, and there are numerous reports of ppl installing linux in "legacy mode" on their macbook airs.

[pxwpxw]

grub.efi 64bit bugs.

imac8,1 was starting grub64.efi then failing to run it.
(refit message 'starting grub.efi', cursor, no progress)

Installed RAM was max at 4GB (2x2GB DIMM)
Now reduced to 2GB (1x2GB DIMM)

Result -

Imac8,1 now runs grub.efi (64bit), gets menu and command line utilities - and I am seeing all the bugs as reported by people above trying the 64bit grub.efi

chainloader will not load MacOSX
'error: cannot load image"
(search finds it and refit has it as blessed file)

linux kernel vmlinuz and initrd.img (or installer linux and initrd.gz) will load manually from grub> cli, but after the grub> boot command and ~1 second, boot screen goes to black and no progress.

So there are 3 main issues -

1. 4GB RAM is too much (until the bug is fixed)
2. Can not boot Mac OSX
3. After loading linux, linux wont boot.
(I could load but not boot, any of the debian or ubuntu installer kernels or my installed ubuntu810 )

Plenty of scope for debugging.

[step21]

Hey, nice you could reproduce stuff at least!

I tested some custom grub.efis from devs on #grub (for example one that should output increasing mubers on its own to determine whether it's just an input issue) but so far no luck ... on most of the debug ones so far I only got as far as "loading grub.efi"

Just to clarify, but I shouldn't have to bless every grub.efi on its own, once they show up in refit that should be enough, right?

[pxwpxw]

Hey, nice you could reproduce stuff at least!

I tested some custom grub.efis from devs on #grub (for example one that should output increasing mubers on its own to determine whether it's just an input issue) but so far no luck ... on most of the debug ones so far I only got as far as "loading grub.efi"

Just to clarify, but I shouldn't have to bless every grub.efi on its own, once they show up in refit that should be enough, right?

Hi, if it shows in refit you dont need to bless. But you should check out the refit efi shell - you can select and boot fronm its command line and get a bit more feedback. Also check the help -b and try the
mem command which lists the EFI header and system tables.
Why cant you build your own grub.efi if necessary on a PC cross compiled, or why cant you install linux on the MacBook Air?

[cyberdork33]

So there are 3 main issues -

1. 4GB RAM is too much (until the bug is fixed)
2. Can not boot Mac OSX
3. After loading linux, linux wont run.
(I could load but not run, any of the debian or ubuntu installer kernels or my installed ubuntu810 )

Plenty of scope for debugging.

Will it load a CD?