new ibook 2002 install failure

[Stefan Jeglinski]

>I was able to get the installer to partially work in text safe mode with
>doing the custom option and specifying the partitioning explicitly.

Can you clarify what you mean by "partitioning explicitly"? In the 
text safe mode, there is only one step to set the partitions. I 
repartitioned the disk from its factory config using the OSX disk 
utility. When I got to the partition step in the YDL installer, they 
were all there as they should be, so I had no need to do any 
additional partitioning.

The only other step regarding the disks is to set the mount point, 
which seems pretty straightforward.

I was able to access the shell during the installation using these key combos:

fn-ctrl-option-F1: YDL installer
fn-ctrl-option-F2: command line
fn-ctrl-option-F3: console messages (install.log)
fn-ctrl-option-F4: dmesg (syslog)

I was wrong about theorizing that it was trying to install to swap. 
The error I see is this, which actually occurs well before the YDL 
installer error (makes sense):

mount: Mounting /dev/hda12 on /tmp/root failed: no such device

Looks pretty ominous. I do have /dev/hda12. It was partitioned by the 
OSX disk utility as sun-ufs (the only unix choice). Which begs the 
question, where is the format step in all this? It looks like the 
installer is copying rpms to install, but there is no evidence that 
an ext2 filesystem was created yet...

>The installation seems to have worked *EXCEPT* that the LCD backlight turns
>itself off shortly after booting.  I've tried doing the default video
>selection (with and without acceleration) and explicitly setting the video
>to 1024x768, 16 bit, 60 Mhz refresh.

I was thinking this is what happens (I described it as screen going 
dark) when I try to install in any mode other than text-safe, but I'm 
not sure.

>Is trying to buy installation support my best bet?

I would not. This machine would not be on any official supported list 
anyway, so they could just deny you. Plus, I doubt they'll know the 
answer much faster than a solution posted to the list. Of course, if 
this is an installer issue and not a new-ibook issue, they should 
have had a fix for this error a long time ago. Or at least an 
explanation. I've never seen an official one.


Stefan Jeglinski