Booting Issues - reconsidered

[Derick Centeno]

Hi Chris:
I was following a different discussion posted on this list which might 
be related to your difficulties; it was begun by Steven Didier and the 
subject was entitled [ydl-gen] Firewire install question and dated 
March 17, 2006.  The discussion came to exploring the possibility that 
firewire and other modules were missing or unavailable during the boot 
sequence.  The discussion came to the attention of TSS employees which 
are now examining the details. Before making the assumption however 
that there are similarities with your difficulty here are some things 
you should check:

1.  In our prior discussion we already mentioned that each YDL iso 
downloaded should be tested with the md5 test and compared against the 
md5 values which TSS published as the correct md5 values.

2.  The CDs which are burned after the test should themselves be tested 
by another exam.  This other exam is available from within the first 
YDL install disk.  The way to access it is to boot from that CD and 
when there is a pause where the installer waits for input type: install 
mediacheck.  The screen will proceed to turn blue and then allow you to 
test each newly burned CD.  Run each test on each CD twice to be sure 
noting the result mediacheck reports each time.

3.  You should eventually come to what Bill Mueller of TSS recommends 
(if you search through the above mentioned subject title I referred you 
to), and his request for others experiencing similar problems to report 
these difficulties to him and he will forward them onto those examining 
the problem and it's resolution in greater detail.

I hope this gets you farther along to a resolution.

On Mar 22, 2006, at 8:21 PM, Christopher Nunu wrote:

> All right I think I know what's wrong. For some reason, after the 
> yaboot prompt to load YDL, OpenFirmware loads as well and freezes. I 
> think I remember reading about, if Linux is not the first partition on 
> the hard drive, this could happen. Could it be that the same thing is 
> happening because YDL is installed on an external hard drive? If so, 
> is there a way to boot from my firewire drive while in OpenFirmware? 
> I've already tried holding down option+command+z+delete to bypass the 
> internal hard drive but apparently it doesn't work in Panther. I'm 
> thinking that is I start up in OpenFirmware by holding 
> command+option+o+f, and then tell it to boot from the firewire disk, 
> then when I get to the yaboot prompt and press "l", OpenFirmware won't 
> override it and freeze on me. What do you think? The only reason I 
> haven't tested this theory yet is because I don't know the command to 
> boot from a FireWire disk in OpenFirmware since I am not familiar with 
> it.
>
> I hope this is helpful. We seem to be making some progress.
>
> Thank you again,
> -Chris
>
>
>>
>>
>> Hi Chris:
>> I've been thinking about your problem and was keeping in mind what you
>> already reported.  There is an option I failed to bring up regarding
>> the installation of YDL as I just became aware in the last few hours 
>> as
>> to how to invoke it.
>>
>> The YDL installer allows installation of a variety of different kind 
>> of
>> kernels for different kinds of environments.  One of these specially
>> designed kernels is a special kernel which allows YDL to boot from a
>> firewire drive... this is exactly the kernel you need installed onto
>> that firewire drive you wish to run YDL from.  Following this method
>> means a complete reinstall as the previous kernel wasn't doing the
>> "job", meaning it wasn't working, for you anyway.
>>
>> Procedure:  The YDL disk is starting up and the screen with white
>> lettering on black background appears.  Just at that point where there
>> is a pause which allows you to type something.  Type this:
>>
>> install firewire
>>
>> After that is done installation proceeds almost as normal; the
>> difference will be that a special kernel will be installed onto the
>> drive and be the basis of your installation.
>> If before you type, install firewire, you want to view what options
>> there exist with the YDL installer, type the TAB key and the available
>> options will come up.
>>
>> I hope this works for you...
>>
>> Good Luck ...
>>>
>>>> I am booting by holding down the option key. Even when I let it load
>>>> the default choice, it still brings me to the "enter "mac-boot" to
>>>> proceed with booting" screen and then freezes. I'm never given the
>>>> option to load the KDE or Gnome environment. Would a screenshot 
>>>> help?
>>>> I can tell you that right before the prompt  it says "Welcome to 
>>>> open
>>>> firmware" and that it's black text on white background.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Thank you, I partitioned the drive as you said, and Yellow Dog
>>>>> installed without a hitch. Unfortunately I'm not quite out of the
>>>>> woods
>>>>> yet. When I  boot from my firewire drive, I enter "l" to load from
>>>>> Linux and it brings me to a screen where I need enter "mac-boot" to
>>>>> proceed with booting or "shut-down" to shut down. But from there 
>>>>> the
>>>>> screen freezes. I can't type anything, so i can't make the computer
>>>>> shut down except by pressing the power button. I tried booting from
>>>>> my
>>>>> brother's G4 iMac and it skips the second screen (where my G5 iMac 
>>>>> is
>>>>> having issues) but then I get a message saying "Kernel Panic, tried
>>>>> to
>>>>> stop init!". What's going on?
>>>>>
>>>>> Thank you for your time.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm having trouble creating the partitions for Yellow Dog. I own a
>>>>>> G5
>>>>>> iMac (PowerPC) with 1GB of RAM, and am trying to install Yellow 
>>>>>> Dog
>>>>>> on
>>>>>> a LaCie 40GB Mobile Hard Drive brand new, no previous OS installed
>>>>>> on
>>>>>> it. The drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended (not journaled). 
>>>>>> When
>>>>>> I
>>>>>> boot from the Yellow Dog install disk, and enter install firewire 
>>>>>> at
>>>>>> the "boot" prompt, i get all the way to the manual partitioning 
>>>>>> with
>>>>>> Disk  Druid. It lets me partition the Apple Bootstrap (although I
>>>>>> notice that it partitions at 8mb, even though I told it to
>>>>>> partition as
>>>>>> 1mb. When I try to create the swap partition at 512mb, it gives 
>>>>>> me a
>>>>>> "cannot allocate partition error". The same thing happens when I
>>>>>> try to
>>>>>> make the root partition.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Anyone know how to correct this, preferably FREELY? I know I could
>>>>>> use
>>>>>> iPartition to make the partitions for me, but spending $50 on
>>>>>> something
>>>>>> I'll probably use once is not exactly appealing. Do I need to 
>>>>>> format
>>>>>> the drive in some other format (such as FAT32), or is there 
>>>>>> another
>>>>>> way?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi Chris:
>>>>>> Generally, before you install YDL (Yellow Dog Linux) you need to
>>>>>> format
>>>>>> the drive onto which YDL will exist.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If only YDL will exist on that drive then before you run the
>>>>>> installer
>>>>>> you need to boot from the Apple System Disk which came with your
>>>>>> computer.  In other words before we get to do anything involving
>>>>>> Linux
>>>>>> or YDL we need to format the drive using Apple's Disk Utility 
>>>>>> which
>>>>>> resides within the System Disk (if you have the DVD form of that
>>>>>> System
>>>>>> Disk which comprises the Hardware Test and everything else for OS 
>>>>>> X
>>>>>> otherwise you'll have a string of CDs; either way the program to 
>>>>>> use
>>>>>> will be Apple's Disk Utility regardless and it  should see the
>>>>>> entire
>>>>>> drive you intend to dedicate to YDL.  As nothing else but YDL will
>>>>>> be
>>>>>> on that drive all you need to do is select it to create 1 
>>>>>> partition
>>>>>> and
>>>>>> select the kind of partition called Free Space.  It is important 
>>>>>> to
>>>>>> note here that although Disk Utility calls it Free Space, in
>>>>>> actually
>>>>>> that is the format structure upon which YDL will use to create 
>>>>>> ext3
>>>>>> partition from that free space.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> After Disk Utility creates what it considers to be Free Space if 
>>>>>> the
>>>>>> Drive was mounted, it will disappear from the desktop.  OS X will
>>>>>> ask
>>>>>> you to mount the drive, choose instead to ignore that request; in
>>>>>> other
>>>>>> words ignore the drive.  After Disk Utility has finished creating
>>>>>> the
>>>>>> Free Partition, and you've closed that application.  Then boot 
>>>>>> from
>>>>>> the
>>>>>> YDL installation disk and tell YDL to format that newly formatted
>>>>>> drive.  Be sure that you can recognize which drive you are
>>>>>> formatting
>>>>>> and read the partition maps of which drive you are telling the YDL
>>>>>> installer (anaconda) to turn into a Linux or YDL only disk.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It might be a good idea to review the installation manual before
>>>>>> proceeding further.
>>>>>> If you need to review a manual regarding the instructions just
>>>>>> download
>>>>>> it (for free) from here:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/support/installation/
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I expect that the rest should be smooth sailing from that point.
>>>>>> Good Luck...
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi Chris:
>>>>> Well, something is moving along in a positive direction, and that 
>>>>> at
>>>>> least ... is a good thing.
>>>>>
>>>>> Instead of booting the way you described, why not just press the
>>>>> option
>>>>> key just as your computer is booting up?  This will bring up a 
>>>>> series
>>>>> of images representing all the drives the computer sees both OS X 
>>>>> and
>>>>> Linux (after the YDL installation has successfully completed of
>>>>> course;
>>>>> you can recognize it as a Penguin sitting down along the lower 
>>>>> right
>>>>> side of the HD icon).  You should wait until all the drives 
>>>>> available
>>>>> are listed; that is, wait for the cursor to return to normal.  On
>>>>> that
>>>>> screen there is also the option for you to have the computer
>>>>> recognize
>>>>> more newly attached drives (that button looks like a circle 
>>>>> pointing
>>>>> to
>>>>> itself); this is useful in case you turned on an external drive 
>>>>> just
>>>>> a
>>>>> wee bit after the computer already was booting up.  In that case,
>>>>> pressing that button forces the computer to review again whatever 
>>>>> is
>>>>> attached to it's ports as an external HD.
>>>>>
>>>>> Anyway, after the cursor is back to normal in that setting then  
>>>>> you
>>>>> select the drive you want the computer to boot from at that moment
>>>>> (you
>>>>> can use the arrow keys, or move the mouse, or move your fingers 
>>>>> along
>>>>> the trackpad) and then press the return/enter key and you should be
>>>>> on
>>>>> your way booting into that OS.  The rest takes care of itself.
>>>>>
>>>>> If you choose the Linux drive, you'll see linux startup and an 
>>>>> option
>>>>> offering you to enter a selection from the keyboard.  My suggestion
>>>>> is
>>>>> that you don't enter anything; a script will take over enter the 
>>>>> word
>>>>> "linux" and continue with the boot process.  Then you select which
>>>>> environment you want: KDE or Gnome.
>>>>>
>>>>> Good Luck ...
>>
>>
>>
>
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