Re: Bug#771465: i386 hd-media image does not boot on Macbooks with 32-bit EFI
[ CCing debian-kernel@lists.debian.org for some more insights ]
Teemu Ikonen <tpikonen@gmail.com> writes:
> Package: debian-installer
> Severity: important
>
> Hi,
>
> I recently installed jessie on a 2007 intel Macbook by booting d-i
> from a USB drive. Getting the installer to start required quite a bit
> of hand tuning.
>
> The Macbook versions Macbook1,1 and Macbook2,1 from 2006-2007 require
> a 32-bit EFI bootloader and thus do not work with amd64 version of
> d-i. On the other hand, the i386 hd-media/boot.img.gz image only works
> with BIOS systems.
Are you sure they don't run amd64 code? From what I've found on the web
these two models have Intel Core Duo and Core 2 Duo processors. Early
Intel based Macs have a 32bit EFI but perfectly run 64 bit code AFAIK.
Earlier kernels (before 3.4 IIRC) are not capable of crossefi booting
(different kernel arch than EFI arch), but that should not be a problem
on jessie's 3.16 kernel.
What you however need is a 32bit grub EFI image because your EFI
environment is 32bit.
>
> I got the installer running by manually installing GRUB (the i386-efi
> version) to a USB drive with an MBR partition table and a FAT32
> filesystem, copying grub.conf from the amd64 netboot ISO image and
> copying the kernel image and initrd from the i386 netboot image. This
> procedure is straightforward, but requires an existing linux computer
> and probably does not win any usability awards.
Can you test if you can boot the 64bit kernel and initrd from the amd64
image with this procedure (using the 32bit grub-efi)?
I know this works the other way around (64bit grub and EFI booting into
a 32 bit kernel) but never tested the 32bit to 64bit kernel case.
>
> The straightforward fix would be to install both syslinux and GRUB to
> the hd-media image, as they seem to be able to coexist without
> problem. If this is for some reason not possible, then the procedure
> to get i386 EFI systems booting should be at least documented on the
> Installation guide, somewhere around chapter 4.3.3.1.
EFI 32bit and 64bit and BIOS images of grub can all coexist on the same
installation media. IMO it would make sense to install all of them to
the 32bit and 64bit x86 images.
Gaudenz
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