[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: Unable to log in to iMac G4, graphical login workaround?



Ah, this information is helping! The following options allow me to get to where what should be the login screen appears, but it is black with a purple cursor:

  nomodeset

or

nouveau.modeset=0 

From there I can press Ctrl-Alt-F1 and get to a command prompt.

I also tried these commands but neither of them change anything:

nouveau.noaccel=1

or

nouveau.config=NvMSI=0

Maybe I can try them all together? I don't know. I feel like I am getting closer, though. It is a problem with the Nouveau driver.

On Wed, Sep 30, 2015 at 11:26 PM, Herminio Hernandez, Jr. <herminio.hernandezjr@gmail.com> wrote:
Check this post out http://powerpcliberation.blogspot.ca/2015/05/jessie-meets-bigmac.html

It is deal with G5 but I think the Nvidia issue may apply to you.

On Wed, Sep 30, 2015 at 10:18 PM, <http@shaw.ca> wrote:
Dear Roger,

What I would try is appending "single" to the "Linux" option at the second stage yaboot prompt.

Peter



On 30/09/15 07:33 PM, Roger Harkavy wrote:
I originally posted this on the Debian user forums but I was directed to
this mailing list. Hopefully I can give you enough information for some
guidance on troubleshooting this.

I have an iMac G4 "desk lamp," 512k of RAM, 200 GB HD, I believe the
processor is a 7450. I downloaded the Debian Jessie netboot powerpc
"mini.iso" image from here and burned it to a CD:

http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/jessie/main/installer-powerpc/current/images/powerpc/netboot/

Installation seemed to go smoothly, no errors, and I selected MATE as the
desktop choice during install. The only other option I selected was the
"additional desktop software" (sorry, do not remember the exact text).

However, after installation, when it boots, one of the last messages you
see is:

[FAILED] Failed to start Load Kernel Modules.

Last line is something along the lines of:

fb: switching to nouveaufb from OFfb NVDA,NVMac

And then the text starts dissolving, and the entire screen cycles through
different colors. I presume it is sitting at the graphical login prompt but
it's not displaying correctly.

Based on some Google searches, it seems like I should be able to resolve
this by editing /etc/modules using nano from a command prompt but I can't
get to that point. After the machine starts cycling through the colors, I
press ctrl-alt-F1 through ctrl-alt-F12. If there is a command prompt being
offered, I can't see it.

I also tried different yaboot options I found in searches that were
supposed to avoid using the video driver. Unfortunately these didn't work
either, but maybe I'm not choosing the right ones.

How do I get the machine to boot straight to a regular text login instead
of the X-based one?

Also, this machine worked fine running Mac OS X this morning (partition was
deleted during the install process), so I don't think it's the hardware.

Please let me know what I can do. Thank you in advance for any help you can
provide.





Reply to: