Re: Power Mac G4 stuck "Loading second stage bootstrap"
Hi Bruno,
Based on what you describe, the Jessie installer did not properly install the second level bootstrap routine. For the PowerPC Macs, that program is called “yaboot”. On the x86 hardware that program is called Grub2, which is what Steve was talking about. As he said, he does not have any PowerPC hardware, so he’s using the terminology he’s used to. I’ll try to stick with the correct terminology for this hardware.
Please be as explicit as possible when you describe what you see. There’s lots of background information I don’t have about your situation and things will go much slower if I have to guess at things you could have told me in the beginning.
Just to be certain, does your Mac look like the one on this web page?
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g5/specs/powermac_g5_1.6.html
If not, please look around on the everymac.com website and report back with the web page that does look like your machine.
If your computer is *really* a G5, not a G4, I’d recommend you *not* use Jessie (also known as “Testing”). There are some serious bugs in Jessie on PowerPC G5 hardware that you almost certainly want to avoid.{1}
Now, You didn’t say so, but I’m guessing from what you do say that this is your only Macintosh machine and, because it won’t boot, you believe you have no way of downloading a Wheezy iso. If so, that’s the first problem we have to solve: Can you borrow a friend’s Windows PC? You don’t have to have a Mac to download and burn a CD-R for Debian PowerPC. You can do it just as well under Windows — or Linux.
If you can make a Wheezy “netinst” disk on some other computer (Windows, Linux or Mac) please let me know and we’ll take it one step at a time from there.
Does that help?
Rick
{1} For some reason, those bugs don’t manifest themselves on the G4 hardware, so if it’s *really* a G4 machine you can use Jessie, but if you’re not absolutely sure which it is, I’d stick with Wheezy (also known as “Stable”) if I were you.
On Sep 21, 2014, at 8:39 PM, bruno evangelista <brunoevangelista@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Rick,
>
> First of all thank you for your email and I am grateful to you for any help you can give me. I really hope you can help me.
>
> I was trying to install Debian (Jessie) in my Power Mac G5. I knew Debian runs well in this machine according to what I read on the internet.
>
> The computer accepted the installation and once the computer tray automatically opened I was instructed to take out the DVD with the Iso file. So I did and then on screen I clicked "Continue". A moment latter the computer shut down and automatically restarted and this is what it was and still is saying on the screen:
>
> First stage Debian GNU/Linux Bootstrap
>
> Press I for GNU/Linux
> Press c for CDROM
>
> Stage 1 Boot:
> Loading second stage bootstrap...
>
> Nothing happened after that.
>
> When I shut down the computer and restart it I have exactly the same thing on the screen.
>
> I can't get out of it. I am stuck.
>
> Then, I can try to install Wheezy version. But first, I need to know how do I get out of it.
>
> Please, could you help me?
>
> Bruno
>
> > Subject: Re: Power Mac G4 stuck "Loading second stage bootstrap"
> > From: rbthomas@pobox.com
> > Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 19:08:25 -0700
> > CC: debian-user@lists.debian.org; debian-powerpc@lists.debian.org
> > To: brunoevangelista@hotmail.com
> >
> >
> > Hi Bruno
> > Hi Steve
> >
> > Did you ever get this working for you? I’m a happy user of Debian Wheezy Gnu/Linux on some Apple G4 and G5 Macintosh machines, so I may be able to help.
> >
> > Bruno: If you haven’t succeeded yet, and you are willing to try again, I’ll try to walk you through the steps…
> >
> > First, what kind of Mac are you trying to install Debian Gnu/Linux on? e.g. iMac-G5, or PowerBook-G4 or what exactly?
> >
> > When you reply as we go through the steps, please describe - step by step, in as much detail as you can - what you are doing and what happens when you do it.
> >
> > I’m going to assume you have a working modern Mac that you can use to download and burn the iso for your installation.
> >
> > I think your best bet is to start from the “Stable” (Debian 7.6.0, code-named “Wheezy”) release at:
> > http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/7.6.0/powerpc/iso-cd/debian-7.6.0-powerpc-netinst.iso
> >
> > Download it to your Desktop.
> >
> > Once you have it downloaded, in a terminal window type:
> > cd Desktop
> > md5 debian-7.6.0-powerpc-netinst.iso
> > It will return a checksum for the iso file. It should look like this:
> > MD5 (debian-7.6.0-powerpc-netinst.iso) = bdf612b70fe4d589a6458ec49c85421d
> > If the checksum doesn’t look exactly like that, let me know and we’ll figure out how to proceed.
> >
> > The “netinst” image is small enough to fit on a CD-R. You don’t need a DVD-R blank, though you can use one if you don’t have a CD-R handy.
> >
> > If you get a successful checksum, you should burn the iso file to a blank CD-R using the “Disk Utility” program in the “Utilities” folder (“cmd-shift-U” in the Finder) on your Mac. Make sure you get the “burned successfully” window from disk-utility.
> >
> > Put the resulting CD in the tray of the target machine (your G4 or G5). Hold down the “c” key and turn the power on. It should boot the Debian installer.
> >
> > Give me a report on what you see, and we’ll proceed from there. It’s probably best to CC to the PowerPC mailing list “debian-powerpc@lists.debian.org” and the debian-user list “debian-user@lists.debian.org” as well, so that the experienced users on those lists can offer us help if they feel like it.
> >
> > Enjoy!
> >
> > Rick
> >
> >
> > On Sep 13, 2014, at 11:46 AM, Steven Chamberlain <steven@pyro.eu.org> wrote:
> >
> > > On 12/09/14 04:35, bruno evangelista wrote:
> > >> [...] I have right now the very same DVD with Ubuntu iso
> > >> file in the tray inside the computer. When I start the computer and
> > >> hold c key nothing happens. If I shut down the computer and restart it
> > >> I have exactly the same thing on the screen right from its start. If I
> > >> hold the c key when I start the computer it will replace (for about 30
> > >> seconds) the last line that reads *"Loading second stage bootstrap..."*
> > >> with "*Loadind CD ROM...".* But then it returns to *"Loading second
> > >> stage bootstrap...". *It does not do anything after that and **I can't
> > >> get out of it.
> > >
> > > I'm sorry, I don't know enough about the Power Mac G4 to help with this.
> > > I suspect you might have a hardware problem. You could also try to ask
> > > in Ubuntu user forums about this.
> > >
> > > I can only suggest to disconnect the internal hard drive to see if it is
> > > still possible to boot from the CD/DVDs that worked before.
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > > --
> > > Steven Chamberlain
> > > steven@pyro.eu.org
> <Power Mac G5 Spec-2.PNG>
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