Re: G4 MacMini network boot of install media failing at system clock set
OK, Mathieu asked me off-list about whether my USB key was HFS formatted, and I finally clicked!
I had been doing dd ... of=/dev/sda1 whereas I should have been doing it to /dev/sda
This of course makes all the difference, OpenFirmware was seeing a DOS-style partition scheme and getting confused. So I have now successfully installed Debian Jessie to my Mac Mini.
I must say I'm kicking myself now... I knew this.
(OTOH, maybe the docs should remind people? I'm not the only stupid one...)
Mathieu says I should report the the OpenFirmware version, which I will do once I reboot... unless I can find it while in Linux somehow?
The resolution is low, so everything's huge, but I'm sure I can make that better somehow...
thanks again,
-arc.
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>Thanks to those who responded.
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>boot usb1/disk:,\install\yaboot
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>gets me a
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>Warning: Sector Size Mismatch! can't OPEN boot usb1/disk:,\install\yaboot
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>message, which is what has happened before.
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>I did get further with the installer from the network boot! It got up to 'detecting hardware please wait' and then stopped at 0%.
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>I thought this was because I had put
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>append="radeon.agpmode=-1 modprobe.blacklist=ams"
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>as suggested here: https://wiki.debian.org/PowerPC/FAQ#How_do_I_get_graphics_working.3F
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>in yaboot.conf, but I tried it a second time and got the old behaviour of stopping at rtc-generic.
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>That's quite mysterious. The only thing I can think of is that OF seemed to hang when i tried accessing one of the USB devices, and this managed to boot immediately afterwards. Maybe that reset something?
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>I don't have a firewire CD-ROM.
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>I do however have a firewire hard-drive enclosure somewhere. What would I need to do to boot off that? Make an HFS partition or something?
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>-arc.
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>If your G4 mini is having trouble with the internal hard-drive, you might try installing to an external FireWire hard drive. Booting from FireWire is a supported feature of the NewWorld Mac OpenFirmware. While booting from USB is possible with some models, it’s not as well supported.
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>My G4 minis (I have 3) all have, at one time or another, booted from a FireWire external. But YMMV, of course.
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>Also, if you suspect the problem is with the internal HD itself (i.e. not a problem with the motherboard), it’s not too difficult to replace it with an SSD, which would make the G4 mini a bit more responsive.
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>Good luck on getting it running. They are great little machines!
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>Rick
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>On Apr 26, 2016, at 9:04 AM, Milan Kupcevic <milan@debian.org> wrote:
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>> On 04/26/2016 05:53 AM, arc@vorsicht-bissig.de wrote:
>>> Hi folks,
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>>> I have been trying to resurrect my MacMini.
>>>
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>> Is your internal CD/DVD broken?
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>> People had success installing from an external firewire CD/DVD drive
>> and/or from a memory stick containing raw debian installer iso as is
>> described in this message:
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>> https://lists.debian.org/debian-powerpc/2012/08/msg00041.html[https://lists.debian.org/debian-powerpc/2012/08/msg00041.html]
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>> You could also try to connect an external USB CD/DVD drive and try to
>> boot the machine using the same commands as is instructed for raw iso
>> memory stick in the mentioned message.
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>> Let us know if this works for you with current Debian install media.
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>> Milan
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