Can't boot to Linux after PRAM Zap - More Info

[Olaf Olson]

I managed to do some more research, with a little brain wracking. The 
words Open Firmware came to me, as if a message from the ether. I hunted 
down some references to that and found the Command-Option-O-F that 
booted me into Open Firmware.

I studied further and found such vital information as this:

boot hd:,\\:tbxi

Will always boot, IF you have a legitimate boot device, with a 
legitimate bootable partition and you haven't messed with any of the 
things in Open Firmware that can kill you.

which just gets you back to the MacOS. Even some suggestion that booting 
with the spacebar held down would switch to the next OS that hadn't been 
used in the previous boot.

ericpeden also included a somewhat cryptic message in his yaboot FAQ:

http://penguinppc.org/projects/yaboot/doc/yaboot-faq.shtml#what_is_of

boot path-to-bootstrap-device:X,\\yaboot

Since I discovered that hd is an alias for the path-to-bootstrap-device 
and X is defined as the partition on which the boot is installed, AND X 
can be simply left out of the entire equation when it is already defined 
in O-F, the command:

boot hd:,\\yaboot

SHOULD restart, with YDL as a choice and everything should be hunky-dory.

Of course, that's only true when you haven't missed a VERY important 
piece of info, as I obviously have, because this still doesn't get me 
anywhere other than MacOSX 10.2.8, where my USB mouse (any USB mouse) is 
still not recognized.

Maybe this info can help someone diagnose what I have done and advise me 
on recovery?

Thanks,

Olaf

Olaf Olson wrote:

> Life was too boring. Everything was working, so I decided to upgrade 
> the Mac OS on my G3 350 B&W, to Mac OSX 10.2.8. So it could fail. YDL 
> was still there, right.
>
> After the install reboot, I couldn't move the cursor. The Mac refused 
> to recognize my mouse. It even refused to recognize the original 
> Hockey Puck. On the advice of a "Mac Expert", I zapped the PRAM. Now 
> it only boots to Mac OSX and STILL the mouse doesn't work.
>
> Can anyone direct me to the fix, so I can reboot and go to Linux? Once 
> there, I can always reinstall OSX 10.2 and upgrade it gently, once again.
>
> I tried to search the archives, but I don't know what to look for. I 
> also thought I'd try the FAQ, but I can't recall the address and my 
> bookmarks are on the inaccessible Mac. I am forced to use webmail on 
> a... you guessed it... Microflab <hack> <gasp> <spit> PC.
>
> Please help
>
> Olaf
>
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