Re: Problem netbooting a prep machine
On Mon, Dec 20, 2004 at 02:51:23PM +0100, Philippe Guyot wrote:
> On Monday 20 December 2004 13:56, Sven Luther wrote:
> > On Fri, Dec 17, 2004 at 05:15:22PM +0100, Philippe Guyot wrote:
> > > Hi all!
> > >
> > > I am trying to install a Debian on a powerpc 604 machine from Bull
> >
> > This is probably a prep box, do you know if it uses the prep or ppcbug boot
> > mechanism ?
> >
> > > It has firmware 03.03.09 copyright Firmworks.
> > >
> > > If it doesn't lie, it is a prep machine.
> >
> > Cool.
> >
> > > I made all the stuff for netbooting (dhcd,tftp and so on).Seems OK.
> > >
> > > I am loading vmlinuz-prep.initrd ("load net") and the firmware answer:
> > >
> > > ### : 0 d e boot-file = vmlinuz-prep.initrd
> >
> > Is this the rc2 or daily build, 2.4 or 2.6 d-i kernel ?
>
> /ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/testing/main/installer-powerpc/rc2/images/powerpc/netboot/
Ok, so rc2, 2.6 netboot image.
Can you try also the netboot/2.4 image ?
> > > I examined the memory, the image seems well loaded at load-base
> > > (comparing hex display of memory at load-base and at load-base+size of
> > > vm...with the output of hexdump vm....
> > > (only first and last blocs of memory, of course)
> > >
> > > then I typed "go" to start execution. firmware answer : ### : 0 d f
> > > and the machine is frozen.
> > >
> > > (of course, "boot net" gives the same result).
> > >
> > >
> > > Can somebody point me to a right direction ?
> >
> > Not much, but i suppose that it may be that you run into some kernel size
> > limit. Where does load-base point to ?
>
> load-base = 0x 400000
This is 4MB, right ? The 2.6 kernel is smaller, but the intird used is big.
Does the whole d-i image fit in the 6MB between load-base and OF ?
>
> I made some experiences, not always pure orthodoxy:
>
> First of all, when booting disk ("boot disk"), the OF displays 0 d f then
> boots proceed, so I think this 0df is not an error message.
>
> As far as I can see by dumping memory from place to place, the vmlinuz loaded
> does not overwrite parts of code from OF (which should be at 0x 100000).
> There were only zeroes before loading.
Mmm, 0x100000 is 1MB, right ? Thisindeed cause problems.
> So I tried to load...yaboot. (yes, I know, not the right way for a prep
> machine but...)
Cool thing to try :)
> It gave strange things: It runs but you can enter only 2 chars at the prompt.
> I realize also (tcpdump) that when loaded and running, it request "yaboot" to
> the ftp server and not "yaboot.conf". I went around this by loading first
Known bug of the IBM OF implementation.
> yaboot, then moving a yaboot..conf on yaboot then "go" . Same result however
> (may be because this is *not* a chrp machine) but the fact is that yaboot is
> loaded and running. May be some clue arising from that? I red from IEEE
> standards that .ELF must be annotated for running on IBM machines (but saying
> the truth, I do not understand yet what doest that mean...).
You have to run addnote on them, but this should be done for the yaboot on the
rc2 CD.
Friendly,
Sven Luther
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