Lenny Xserve-G5 Cluster Node install failure
People,
I finally found some time to give Lenny a run on my Xserve-G5 (Dual
2GHz, Cluster Node version).
Just for the record, installing Debian (or anything non-MacOSX) on
this box is not exactly easy, as there is no optical drive and no way
to boot it reliably over the network.
I ended-up writing the bare netboot/mini.iso on a SATA hard-disk
plugged in a spare box, sticking the disk back into the Xserve,
reaching for the OpenFirmware prompt (serial console), and issuing:
0 > boot hd:,\install\yaboot
Yaboot came up, typed 'install console=ttyS0,57600n8', and off we
went. Not for long:
[...]
ttyPZ0 at MMIO 0x80013020 (irq = 22) is a Z85c30 ESCC - Serial port
ttyPZ1 at MMIO 0x80013000 (irq = 23) is a Z85c30 ESCC - Serial port
RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 14676K size 1024 blocksize
MacIO PCI driver attached to K2 chipset
input: Macintosh mouse button emulation as /class/input/input0
Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 7.00alpha2
ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
ide0: Found Apple K2 ATA-6 controller, bus ID 3, irq 39
ohci_hcd 0001:02:0b.0: OHCI Host Controller
ohci_hcd 0001:02:0b.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
ohci_hcd 0001:02:0b.0: irq 63, io mem 0x80102000
usb usb1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
hub 1-0:1.0: 3 ports detected
ohci_hcd 0001:02:0b.1: OHCI Host Controller
ohci_hcd 0001:02:0b.1: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
ohci_hcd 0001:02:0b.1: irq 63, io mem 0x80101000
usb usb2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found
hub 2-0:1.0: 2 ports detected
mice: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
TCP bic registered
NET: Registered protocol family 1
NET: Registered protocol family 17
turn off boot console udbg0
And then nothing. At all. Noticing the two lines:
ttyPZ0 at MMIO 0x80013020 (irq = 22) is a Z85c30 ESCC - Serial port
ttyPZ1 at MMIO 0x80013000 (irq = 23) is a Z85c30 ESCC - Serial port
I cleverly tried with 'install console=ttyPZ0,57600n8'.
It went a bit further, but still no dice:
[...]
ttyPZ0 at MMIO 0x80013020 (irq = 22) is a Z85c30 ESCC - Serial port
ttyPZ1 at MMIO 0x80013000 (irq = 23) is a Z85c30 ESCC - Serial port
RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 14676K size 1024 blocksize
MacIO PCI driver attached to K2 chipset
input: Macintosh mouse button emulation as /class/input/input0
Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 7.00alpha2
ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
ide0: Found Apple K2 ATA-6 controller, bus ID 3, irq 39
ohci_hcd 0001:02:0b.0: OHCI Host Controller
ohci_hcd 0001:02:0b.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
ohci_hcd 0001:02:0b.0: irq 63, io mem 0x80102000
usb usb1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
hub 1-0:1.0: 3 ports detected
ohci_hcd 0001:02:0b.1: OHCI Host Controller
ohci_hcd 0001:02:0b.1: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
ohci_hcd 0001:02:0b.1: irq 63, io mem 0x80101000
usb usb2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found
hub 2-0:1.0: 2 ports detected
mice: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
TCP bic registered
NET: Registered protocol family 1
NET: Registered protocol family 17
registered taskstats version 1
input: PMU as /class/input/input1
Freeing unused kernel memory: 268k freed
cttyhack: can't open '/dev/ttyS0': No such device or address
cttyhack: can't open '/dev/ttyS0': No such device or address
cttyhack: can't open '/dev/ttyS0': No such device or address
cttyhack: can't open '/dev/ttyS0': No such device or address
[...]
So, two possibilities:
- Either the kernel is configured to use ttyS* by setting
CONFIG_SERIAL_PMACZILOG_TTYS
- Or the installer is hacked not to be hardwired with ttyS0.
Using CONFIG_SERIAL_PMACZILOG_TTYS seems to be mandatory, as people
upgrading from Etch will loose their console (I checked this by
installing Etch, and then upgrading to Lenny - had to reboot back on
the old kernel, hack /etc/yaboot.conf, /etc/inittab and
/etc/securetty to replace ttyS0 by ttyPZ0).
And for the record again, I got sick with ybin messing with the
boot-device variable in the OpenFirmware:
/ht@0,f2000000/pci@7/k2-sata-root@c/k2-sata@0/disk@0:2,\\:tbxi doesn't
work on the Xserge-G5. Don't ask me why.
I ended up manually setting boot-device to 'hd:,\yaboot', and add
'nonvram' to my /etc/yaboot.conf. End of story.
So, at the moment, installing Lenny on the Xserve is kind of a rough
ride. I'm willing to test any other installer to check if makes some
progress.
Cheers,
M.
--
And if you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there...
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