Re: Unable to log in to iMac G4, graphical login workaround?
Hi!
You can ssh into the machine? So it is running, but the video doesn't
work? Yes, the nvidia driver is broken at the moment, because it doesn't
load the open firmware parameters needed for the driver to work.
Currently the only solution is to download the correct video BIOS
(VBIOS) for the specific graphics card (there is almost always a PC
version of the same graphics card, so there is a PC VBIOS for it) and
make the nouveau driver use this BIOS form file instead of reading it
from the graphics card itself, which only has the open firmware fcode on it.
I did that on my G4 with nVidia GeForce 6200 (flashed PC card) and it
works – as a workaround for now.
See https://lists.debian.org/debian-powerpc/2015/07/msg00043.html for
how to do it.
Get the BIOS e.g. from https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/
Good luck!
Mac User #330250
Am 2015-10-01 um 15:32 schrieb Roger Harkavy:
> Okay, again, thank you everyone for the information. Looks like this is
> definitely the video driver.
>
> I am wondering, would I have better results if I tried installing Wheezy or
> Squeeze instead of Jessie?
>
> On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 1:37 AM, Herminio Hernandez Jr. <
> herminio.hernandezjr@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Another great resource is here
>> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCFAQ#Nvidia_cards
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Sep 30, 2015, at 11:23 PM, Roger Harkavy <rogerharkavy@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> 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.
>>>>>
>>>>>
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