Re: Boot problems on a B&W G3.
Matt Gracie wrote:
I tried to install Debian on a Blue and White G3/400 (rev. 2) last
night. The installation goes fine, and the install kernel (2.4.18, I
believe) runs without issue. Whenever I try to upgrade to a 2.6 kernel,
though, the machine panics on boot and tells me that it can't find
/dev/console.
It's thrown the same error on 2.6.8, 2.6.11, and 2.6.12, all straight
from the stable and unstable repositories.
Anyone know how to fix this?
I've been doing a little more work on this. As far as I can tell, the
error in the debian packaged kernels is because the kernel modules
included in the 2.6 series kernels are different than the ones in the
2.4 kernels. The Silicon Image IDE controller that's in my Rev 2 B&W
isn't compiled in.
I compiled the 2.6.12.4 kernel from kernel.org, using a config based on
the 2.6.5 B&W config that someone posted at:
http://lists.debian.org/debian-powerpc/2004/04/msg00407.html
So now the machine boots. The only problem left is that I never get a
login prompt at the console: it launches all of the stuff in /etc/rc2.d
and then just...stops. Here's what I get in the logs:
Aug 13 15:37:17 green udev[2268]: configured rule in
'/etc/udev/rules.d/devfs.rules[54]' applied, 'vcs1' becomes 'vcc/%n'
Aug 13 15:37:17 green udev[2268]: creating device node '/dev/vcc/1'
Aug 13 15:37:17 green udev[2275]: configured rule in
'/etc/udev/rules.d/devfs.rules[56]' applied, 'vcsa1' becomes 'vcc/a%n'
Aug 13 15:37:17 green udev[2275]: creating device node '/dev/vcc/a1'
Aug 13 15:38:01 green /USR/SBIN/CRON[2311]: (mail) CMD ( if [ -x
/usr/lib/exim/exim3 -a -f /etc/exim/exim.conf ]; then /usr/lib/exim/
exim3 -q ; fi)
Aug 13 15:38:57 green init: Id "2" respawning too fast: disabled for 5
minutes
Aug 13 15:38:57 green init: Id "3" respawning too fast: disabled for 5
minutes
Aug 13 15:38:57 green init: Id "1" respawning too fast: disabled for 5
minutes
Aug 13 15:38:57 green init: Id "4" respawning too fast: disabled for 5
minutes
Aug 13 15:38:57 green init: Id "5" respawning too fast: disabled for 5
minutes
Aug 13 15:38:58 green init: Id "6" respawning too fast: disabled for 5
minutes
Aug 13 15:38:58 green udev[2343]: removing device node '/dev/vcc/1'
Aug 13 15:38:58 green udev[2345]: removing device node '/dev/vcc/a1'
Aug 13 15:43:58 green udev[2488]: configured rule in
'/etc/udev/rules.d/devfs.rules[54]' applied, 'vcs1' becomes 'vcc/%n'
So, something's still not right. Not that I especially care if I can log
in -- this is going to be a server box, not a workstation, so I'll be
accessing it over SSH. And that works, since sshd can start before this
problem crops up.
So, does anyone know what could be causing this?
(From what I can tell, the B&W G3 is exceptionally problematic for
running Debian. Lucky me. Good thing it was cheap.)
--Matt
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