Re: Help needed booting NetBSD on Beige G3 Rev1 from the 2nd IDE Channel

[Michael <macallan%NetBSD.org@localhost>]

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Hello,

On Feb 16, 2009, at 6:34 AM, Gheorghe Ardelean wrote:

> On Sun, 15 Feb 2009, Michael wrote:
>
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> > Hello,
> >
> > On Feb 15, 2009, at 8:00 PM, Gheorghe Ardelean wrote:
> >
> > > On Sun, 15 Feb 2009, Gheorghe Ardelean wrote:
> > >
> > > [...]
> > > > Now that the installation is finished, I'd like to boot the NetBSD
> > > > from
> > > > the disk but I don't know how.
> > > >
> > > > First I tried to see the content of the HFS
> > > > partition on the first and the second IDE disks, but
> > > >
> > > > dir ide0/disk@0:x,\         where x is 0,1,...,10
> > > > dir ide1/disk@0:x,\
> > > > (pfdisk says that x should be 5 for ide0 and 7 for ide1)
> > > > returns the error message can't OPEN the DIR device.

OF 2.x is supposed to support HFS but with 2.0f I wouldn't bet on  
anything.

> > > After searching the archives and finding a message from Michael
> > > (macallan@ ---
> > > http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-macppc/2008/05/02/msg000119.html)
> > > I have tried the partition 0 boot method but without success (I
> > > reinstalled on the disk after dd-ing the first 1000 sectors with  
> > > 0). I
> > > copied ofwboot to the root partition, unmounted the wd1a and used
> > > installboot as follows:
> > >
> > > installboot /dev/rwd1c /usr/mdec/bootxx /ofwboot

try rwd1a - I keep forgetting which one is the one that works.
Also, I never tried to boot NetBSD from the 2d IDE disk - I wouldn't  
bet on OF even supporting it properly.

> > > after rebooting and issuing the following boot command
> > > 0 > boot ide1/@0:0 netbsd
> > > I get the following error message: "can't OPEN:"

That looks like bootxx wasn't installed properly, otherwise you should  
see at least output from the loader.

> > > I tried the same with the HDD placed on the primary IDE channel with
> > > exactly the same results (can't OPEN error message).
> > >
> > > Any idea why?
> >
> > Not really, but - DO you have the firmware patches installed? The
> > easiest way is to boot an OSX installation CD ( I tried 10.2, 10.3  
> > and
> > 10.4 - the latter two don't support the machine but install the patch
> > anyway ) - otherwise you won't be able to boot via OF from any IDE
> > device.
>
> Yes, I have them. Or at least I used System Disk under MacOS 8.6 and  
> when
> rebooting under OpenFirmware I can see a lot of things added to  
> nvramrc
> variable. So they should be. Unfortunately I do not have an OSX disk
> to test also in this way.

Ok, then you should have the patches.

> The next thing I am planning to test is to make a small DOS  
> partition and
> copy ofwboot.xcf over there. Is ofwboot.xcf searching than for the  
> kernel
> or should I specify somehow where the kernel is?

You better specify it.

> If this fails I will put a SCSI disk inside and try also this way.

The beige G3's IDE chip is extremely picky about cables and its  
OpenFirmware variant isn't exactly good at dealing with IDE problems.  
Please try different ( brand new is possible ) IDE cables. I had  
endless trouble with mine, replacements just worked and the old cables  
work fine in a different machine which isn't quite as picky. This  
particular OF won't give you any useful error messages regarding IDE -  
it's always 'can't OPEN' or something like that.
Finally - check if the drive you're trying to boot from is actually  
the master. Some drives have different settings for single, master- 
with-slave, cable select - they might work in NetBSD but OF may  
require different jumper settings. Try with only one disk per channel  
( it took me some time to get two disks at ide0 to work. The 2nd one  
isn't used for booting anything though )

Yes, OF 2.0f is the worst of the worst I've ever seen as far as NetBSD  
is concerned.

have fun
Michael

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