Re: rescue of install / booting from USB
Hi Frank! good news. On 1/3/19 8:13 AM, Frank Scheiner wrote: Afterwards maybe check a hash (e.g. SHA256) of the file on both sender and receiver to be sure it was transferred intact. When chrooted to the actual installation, you should have hfsutils around (`/proc` and `/sys` might need to be mounted). First - if it is mounted - unmount the HFS partition with `umount`, then (pseudo)mount it again with `hmount`, then use `hattrib -t tbxi -c UNIX yaboot`. Afterwards, `humount` the HFS partition and try a reboot with the older yaboot from disk. I was able to transfer the yaboot of the debian 7.11 disk to the HFS boot partition and thus boot the previously installed debian. Strangely, I was unable to mount the HFS partition when using the "shell", or, better, it always mounted read-only (I do wonder how the installer is capable of installing Yaboot then). However, mounting the target root and chrooting (proc, sys and dev need to be mounted to be able to mount under the chrooted environment succesfully). Luckily, the installer image has a yaboot file in it in the installer directory. Voilà, I was able to boot and continue installation, upgrading and installing and have again a working iBook. I'm operative again! I have a couple of issues though. This replacement I got is slightly different than the old one I had: 14" vs 12", hardware is slightly different (including the yaboot issue which did not happen on the 12") Do we have a new reliable yaboot? I have the fear that at the next upgrade and thus install of its package, the computer will halt again (I made a back-up copy of the working yaboot file for safety) I will describe these issues in separate mails to have clean threads! I already started working again on ArcticFox... more to report on that too! Riccardo
Re: rescue of install / booting from USB
On 1/3/19 00:53, Riccardo Mottola wrote: On 1/1/19 7:48 PM, Frank Scheiner wrote: now however I perhaps need some magic to fix things. I am able to get into the "ash" and mount my hard disk, so I have on /cdrom my local key stuff and in /mnt my target. I an also mount the small HFS partition which contains 3 files: ofboot.b yaboot yaboot.conf What could I do to transplant Yaboot ? Where does it live? I suppose both a file in the linux partition as well as one in the small HFS partition I have, right? I thought that they USB key would also have two partition, mac-fdisk lists sdb1 and sdb2, sdb1 being mounted, but I cannot mount sdb2 (HFS), no device node exists for that Any tricks off-heads for the frankenstein Yaboot I want to attempt? If all else fails, you can still mount the original ISO on another machine and copy the included `yaboot` (from `/install`) to a convenient place. From there you can transfer it into the rescue system or directly to the HFS partition with e.g.: On receiver: ``` nc -l -p 9000 > yaboot ``` On sender: ``` nc receiver 9000 < yaboot ``` Afterwards maybe check a hash (e.g. SHA256) of the file on both sender and receiver to be sure it was transferred intact. When chrooted to the actual installation, you should have hfsutils around (`/proc` and `/sys` might need to be mounted). First - if it is mounted - unmount the HFS partition with `umount`, then (pseudo)mount it again with `hmount`, then use `hattrib -t tbxi -c UNIX yaboot`. Afterwards, `humount` the HFS partition and try a reboot with the older yaboot from disk. HTH, Frank
Re: rescue of install / booting from USB
On Tue, Jan 01, 2019 at 07:10:17PM +0100, Riccardo Mottola wrote: [ ... ] Fine, why not try just booting a debian 8 image and see? I could tryi fixing yaboot (e.g. by installing the one just booted) or by installing debian 8 and then upgrading later. I got the netinst iso on a USB stick just by doing on Linux (intel): sudo dd if=debian-8.11.0-powerpc-netinst.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=4M; sync looks good ... one just has to be extremely careful about the the "of=sdX" part of the incantation ... ;) one small mistake and a disk might be destroyed .. Is that fine on PPC too? I hope so. To boot it, enter in Open-Firmware and "boot usb". would be nice if it was that easy ... ;) ... You're close, but still: there's more to it: see below .. I get into the First Stage GNU/Linux bootstrap and type "l" for GNU/Linux. I get: Decrementer exception at %SRR0: 001001d8 %%SRR1: 10003030 Am I sure I am booting from the USB key and not from HD or the two boot stages are getting mixed? Detailed instructions on how to boot from a USB stick via Open Firmware to a PowerPc machine: https://lists.debian.org/debian-powerpc/2012/08/msg00042.html The page is a few years old but it worked here about a year ago. You probably already know that you'll be, IIRC, on an qwerty keyboard in OF - so be prepared to search and find the needed keys: https://lists.debian.org/debian-powerpc/2017/12/msg8.html Good luck! Wolfgang
Re: rescue of install / booting from USB
On 1/1/19 7:48 PM, Frank Scheiner wrote: To boot it, enter in Open-Firmware and "boot usb". I get into the First Stage GNU/Linux bootstrap and type "l" for GNU/Linux. I get: Decrementer exception at %SRR0: 001001d8 %%SRR1: 10003030 First, what gives `devalias usb` on your machine? no alias Then, what happens if you boot with `boot usb:,\install\yaboot`? Prior to that you can also check with `dir usb:,\` if you can actually list the files on the USB device. The correct command on my machine is boot usb0/disk@1:,\install\yaboot With that I can boot the 7.11 USB key I made (maybe it worked also before) now however I perhaps need some magic to fix things. I am able to get into the "ash" and mount my hard disk, so I have on /cdrom my local key stuff and in /mnt my target. I an also mount the small HFS partition which contains 3 files: ofboot.b yaboot yaboot.conf What could I do to transplant Yaboot ? Where does it live? I suppose both a file in the linux partition as well as one in the small HFS partition I have, right? I thought that they USB key would also have two partition, mac-fdisk lists sdb1 and sdb2, sdb1 being mounted, but I cannot mount sdb2 (HFS), no device node exists for that Any tricks off-heads for the frankenstein Yaboot I want to attempt? Riccardo
Re: rescue of install / booting from USB
On 1/1/19 19:10, Riccardo Mottola wrote: To boot it, enter in Open-Firmware and "boot usb". I get into the First Stage GNU/Linux bootstrap and type "l" for GNU/Linux. I get: Decrementer exception at %SRR0: 001001d8 %%SRR1: 10003030 First, what gives `devalias usb` on your machine? Then, what happens if you boot with `boot usb:,\install\yaboot`? Prior to that you can also check with `dir usb:,\` if you can actually list the files on the USB device. Cheers, Frank
rescue of install / booting from USB
Hi all! if you remember, I was able to install from CD-ROM to my hard disk of the iBook G4, but then I am unable to boot it because yaboot issues the dreaded "Decrementer exception". I thought at first to try the trick I used for booting using the USB key and then from the CDROM also for booting from the HD, but it did not work. Fine, why not try just booting a debian 8 image and see? I could tryi fixing yaboot (e.g. by installing the one just booted) or by installing debian 8 and then upgrading later. I got the netinst iso on a USB stick just by doing on Linux (intel): sudo dd if=debian-8.11.0-powerpc-netinst.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=4M; sync Is that fine on PPC too? I hope so. To boot it, enter in Open-Firmware and "boot usb". I get into the First Stage GNU/Linux bootstrap and type "l" for GNU/Linux. I get: Decrementer exception at %SRR0: 001001d8 %%SRR1: 10003030 Am I sure I am booting from the USB key and not from HD or the two boot stages are getting mixed? Or is 8.11.0 already "bad" ? I tried 8.10.0 and I get the same decrementer exception so I ask :) Riccardo
