For users of Gentoo Linux on PowerPC computers

Mark Knecht | 23 Sep 2010 00:59

yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

Hi,
  OK, I'm dead tired. I admit it - yaboot has kicked my butt this
time around. Can anyone help? I did post this problem here 2-3 weeks
ago but still haven't been able to solve the problem so I'm back to
the well for another drink.

  The machine is the original 80GB PPC Mac Mini. I used to run Gentoo
on it and it ran great for years so I know at one time yaboot worked
just fine. For various reasons I hadn't updated it in a long, long
time (2 years) and instead of trying to go through the Gentoo update
process which is difficult after that much time I decided to just do a
new install. I saved copies of my kernel config and etc/make.conf but
unfortunately, being primarily an x86 guy didn't think to save
yaboot.conf and fstab. I've now done 5 complete Gentoo installs,
starting over from scratch in case something I was doing was messing
things up but so far I cannot get the machine to boot. Every time, no
matter what I do at install time, I get a message

"Can't check if filesystem is mounted due to a missing mtab file"

A somewhat out of focus screen shot is shown here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29328985 <at> N03/5014227831

Generally speaking I'm following the Gentoo PPC install guide located here:

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-ppc.xml?part=1&chap=10

I've tried both the yabootconfig method as well as manual route.
Nothing works for me so far. THey both fail the same way.

(Continue reading)

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Joseph Jezak | 23 Sep 2010 03:33

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

 On 09/22/10 18:59, Mark Knecht wrote:
> Hi,
>   OK, I'm dead tired. I admit it - yaboot has kicked my butt this
> time around. Can anyone help? I did post this problem here 2-3 weeks
> ago but still haven't been able to solve the problem so I'm back to
> the well for another drink.
>
>   The machine is the original 80GB PPC Mac Mini. I used to run Gentoo
> on it and it ran great for years so I know at one time yaboot worked
> just fine. For various reasons I hadn't updated it in a long, long
> time (2 years) and instead of trying to go through the Gentoo update
> process which is difficult after that much time I decided to just do a
> new install. I saved copies of my kernel config and etc/make.conf but
> unfortunately, being primarily an x86 guy didn't think to save
> yaboot.conf and fstab. I've now done 5 complete Gentoo installs,
> starting over from scratch in case something I was doing was messing
> things up but so far I cannot get the machine to boot. Every time, no
> matter what I do at install time, I get a message
>
> "Can't check if filesystem is mounted due to a missing mtab file"
>
> A somewhat out of focus screen shot is shown here:
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/29328985 <at> N03/5014227831
>
> Generally speaking I'm following the Gentoo PPC install guide located here:
>
> http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-ppc.xml?part=1&chap=10
>
> I've tried both the yabootconfig method as well as manual route.

(Continue reading)

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Mark Knecht | 23 Sep 2010 05:33

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

On Wed, Sep 22, 2010 at 6:33 PM, Joseph Jezak <josejx <at> gentoo.org> wrote:
>  On 09/22/10 18:59, Mark Knecht wrote:
>> Hi,
>>   OK, I'm dead tired. I admit it - yaboot has kicked my butt this
>> time around. Can anyone help? I did post this problem here 2-3 weeks
>> ago but still haven't been able to solve the problem so I'm back to
>> the well for another drink.
>>
>>   The machine is the original 80GB PPC Mac Mini. I used to run Gentoo
>> on it and it ran great for years so I know at one time yaboot worked
>> just fine. For various reasons I hadn't updated it in a long, long
>> time (2 years) and instead of trying to go through the Gentoo update
>> process which is difficult after that much time I decided to just do a
>> new install. I saved copies of my kernel config and etc/make.conf but
>> unfortunately, being primarily an x86 guy didn't think to save
>> yaboot.conf and fstab. I've now done 5 complete Gentoo installs,
>> starting over from scratch in case something I was doing was messing
>> things up but so far I cannot get the machine to boot. Every time, no
>> matter what I do at install time, I get a message
>>
>> "Can't check if filesystem is mounted due to a missing mtab file"
>>
>> A somewhat out of focus screen shot is shown here:
>>
>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/29328985 <at> N03/5014227831
>>
>> Generally speaking I'm following the Gentoo PPC install guide located here:
>>
>> http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-ppc.xml?part=1&chap=10
<SNIP>

(Continue reading)

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kahl | 23 Sep 2010 14:05

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

Mark,

 > However I note that I cannot run updatedb for slocate without
 > also getting a message about /etc/mtab not existing. Should mtab exist
 > withing the chroot?

For certain things, it seems to be needed --- the amd64 handbook includes a
way to get it among the grub instructions.

By the way, if I recall correctly, you once mentioned you had an ubuntu on
that machine with grub working --- I would just reuse that grub for booting
gentoo. (I have done this before on amd64, but not on any Mac.)

Wolfram

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Mark Knecht | 23 Sep 2010 19:55

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 5:05 AM,  <kahl <at> cas.mcmaster.ca> wrote:
> Mark,
>
>  > However I note that I cannot run updatedb for slocate without
>  > also getting a message about /etc/mtab not existing. Should mtab exist
>  > withing the chroot?
>
> For certain things, it seems to be needed --- the amd64 handbook includes a
> way to get it among the grub instructions.
>
> By the way, if I recall correctly, you once mentioned you had an ubuntu on
> that machine with grub working --- I would just reuse that grub for booting
> gentoo. (I have done this before on amd64, but not on any Mac.)
>
>
> Wolfram
>
>
Wolfram,
   On first reading I would have said 'he's crazy!' because grub is
for x86/PC architecture only, right? At least I think that's the case
with the original grub.

   However apparently grub2 does now run (sort of) on PowerPC:

http://grub.enbug.org/TestingOnPowerPC

   I think it's more in a testing phase, and if Joe or others help me
work out what I'm doing wrong then I won't need grub2, but given a bit
of time it might be interesting to try out. Unfortunately the known

(Continue reading)

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Joseph Jezak | 23 Sep 2010 21:59

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

 On 09/23/10 13:55, Mark Knecht wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 5:05 AM,  <kahl <at> cas.mcmaster.ca> wrote:
>> Mark,
>>
>>  > However I note that I cannot run updatedb for slocate without
>>  > also getting a message about /etc/mtab not existing. Should mtab exist
>>  > withing the chroot?
>>
>> For certain things, it seems to be needed --- the amd64 handbook includes a
>> way to get it among the grub instructions.
>>
>> By the way, if I recall correctly, you once mentioned you had an ubuntu on
>> that machine with grub working --- I would just reuse that grub for booting
>> gentoo. (I have done this before on amd64, but not on any Mac.)
>>
>>
>> Wolfram
>>
>>
> Wolfram,
>    On first reading I would have said 'he's crazy!' because grub is
> for x86/PC architecture only, right? At least I think that's the case
> with the original grub.
>
>    However apparently grub2 does now run (sort of) on PowerPC:
>
> http://grub.enbug.org/TestingOnPowerPC
>
>    I think it's more in a testing phase, and if Joe or others help me
> work out what I'm doing wrong then I won't need grub2, but given a bit

(Continue reading)

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Joseph Jezak | 23 Sep 2010 16:10

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

 On 09/22/10 23:33, Mark Knecht wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 22, 2010 at 6:33 PM, Joseph Jezak <josejx <at> gentoo.org> wrote:
>>  On 09/22/10 18:59, Mark Knecht wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>   OK, I'm dead tired. I admit it - yaboot has kicked my butt this
>>> time around. Can anyone help? I did post this problem here 2-3 weeks
>>> ago but still haven't been able to solve the problem so I'm back to
>>> the well for another drink.
>>>
>>>   The machine is the original 80GB PPC Mac Mini. I used to run Gentoo
>>> on it and it ran great for years so I know at one time yaboot worked
>>> just fine. For various reasons I hadn't updated it in a long, long
>>> time (2 years) and instead of trying to go through the Gentoo update
>>> process which is difficult after that much time I decided to just do a
>>> new install. I saved copies of my kernel config and etc/make.conf but
>>> unfortunately, being primarily an x86 guy didn't think to save
>>> yaboot.conf and fstab. I've now done 5 complete Gentoo installs,
>>> starting over from scratch in case something I was doing was messing
>>> things up but so far I cannot get the machine to boot. Every time, no
>>> matter what I do at install time, I get a message
>>>
>>> "Can't check if filesystem is mounted due to a missing mtab file"
>>>
>>> A somewhat out of focus screen shot is shown here:
>>>
>>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/29328985 <at> N03/5014227831
>>>
>>> Generally speaking I'm following the Gentoo PPC install guide located here:
>>>
>>> http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-ppc.xml?part=1&chap=10

(Continue reading)

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Mark Knecht | 23 Sep 2010 18:17

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 7:10 AM, Joseph Jezak <josejx <at> gentoo.org> wrote:
<SNIP>
>
> mtab is generated on boot as you mount devices. It's not the problem here.
>
> Can you try adding this line to your yaboot config? It will make the
> system boot directly into a shell instead of starting init:
> ### Put this in the kernel section
> append="init=/bin/bash"
>
> Once this boots, does hda* exist in /dev? How about /dev/null and /dev/zero?
>
> -Joe

OK, so I did it like this:

boot=/dev/hda2
#device=/pci <at> f4000000/ata-6 <at> d/disk <at> 0:
device=hd:
timeout=30
install=/usr/lib/yaboot/yaboot
magicboot=/usr/lib/yaboot/ofboot

image=/boot/kernel-2.6.34-gentoo-r1
        label=Gentoo-2.6.34-r1
        append="init=/bin/bash"
        partition=4
        root=/dev/hda4
        read-only

(Continue reading)

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Joseph Jezak | 23 Sep 2010 22:02

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

 On 09/23/10 12:17, Mark Knecht wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 7:10 AM, Joseph Jezak <josejx <at> gentoo.org> wrote:
> <SNIP>
>> mtab is generated on boot as you mount devices. It's not the problem here.
>>
>> Can you try adding this line to your yaboot config? It will make the
>> system boot directly into a shell instead of starting init:
>> ### Put this in the kernel section
>> append="init=/bin/bash"
>>
>> Once this boots, does hda* exist in /dev? How about /dev/null and /dev/zero?
>>
>> -Joe
> OK, so I did it like this:
>
> boot=/dev/hda2
> #device=/pci <at> f4000000/ata-6 <at> d/disk <at> 0:
> device=hd:
> timeout=30
> install=/usr/lib/yaboot/yaboot
> magicboot=/usr/lib/yaboot/ofboot
>
> image=/boot/kernel-2.6.34-gentoo-r1
>         label=Gentoo-2.6.34-r1
>         append="init=/bin/bash"
>         partition=4
>         root=/dev/hda4
>         read-only
>
> and ran ybin -v

(Continue reading)

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Mark Knecht | 23 Sep 2010 22:41

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 1:02 PM, Joseph Jezak <josejx <at> gentoo.org> wrote:
>  On 09/23/10 12:17, Mark Knecht wrote:
>> On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 7:10 AM, Joseph Jezak <josejx <at> gentoo.org> wrote:
>> <SNIP>
>>> mtab is generated on boot as you mount devices. It's not the problem here.
>>>
>>> Can you try adding this line to your yaboot config? It will make the
>>> system boot directly into a shell instead of starting init:
>>> ### Put this in the kernel section
>>> append="init=/bin/bash"
>>>
>>> Once this boots, does hda* exist in /dev? How about /dev/null and /dev/zero?
>>>
>>> -Joe
>> OK, so I did it like this:
>>
>> boot=/dev/hda2
>> #device=/pci <at> f4000000/ata-6 <at> d/disk <at> 0:
>> device=hd:
>> timeout=30
>> install=/usr/lib/yaboot/yaboot
>> magicboot=/usr/lib/yaboot/ofboot
>>
>> image=/boot/kernel-2.6.34-gentoo-r1
>>         label=Gentoo-2.6.34-r1
>>         append="init=/bin/bash"
>>         partition=4
>>         root=/dev/hda4
>>         read-only
>>

(Continue reading)

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Joseph Jezak | 24 Sep 2010 07:04

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

 My responses are inline this time. It's easier when there's so much
going on!

On 09/23/10 16:41, Mark Knecht wrote:
> Two pictures posted:
>
> Top half of boot screen:
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/29328985 <at> N03/5018717650/
>
> Bottom half of boot screen
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/29328985 <at> N03/5018718202/
>

Okay, these look exactly as expected. You've booted into the shell fine
and the kernel does detect the hard drive fine. It appears that the disk
was not cleanly unmounted, which is what the messages in the bottom
picture indicate. Once you get USB working so we can type into the
console, we'll take a look at what's actually going on.

> Full USB HID support is built as modular. I don't seem to be able to
> change it to built in. make menuconfig is only giving me modular or
> not set.  (Kernel config USB info this is set is at the end)
If you use menuconfig and you go to the "Help" option, it will tell you
what dependencies need to be set in order to build the module. Most
likely, you did not set the USB subsystem itself to be built in.
> lspci says the controller is an Apple controller and the driver is
> 'macio' which seems sensible. I see it in the boot screen I think.
> That driver is built in, but the PATA_MACIO driver is not:
>
> (chroot) livecd linux # cat .config | grep MACIO

(Continue reading)

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Mark Knecht | 24 Sep 2010 22:30

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 10:04 PM, Joseph Jezak <josejx <at> gentoo.org> wrote:
>  My responses are inline this time. It's easier when there's so much
> going on!
>
> On 09/23/10 16:41, Mark Knecht wrote:
>> Two pictures posted:
>>
>> Top half of boot screen:
>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/29328985 <at> N03/5018717650/
>>
>> Bottom half of boot screen
>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/29328985 <at> N03/5018718202/
>>
>
> Okay, these look exactly as expected. You've booted into the shell fine
> and the kernel does detect the hard drive fine. It appears that the disk
> was not cleanly unmounted, which is what the messages in the bottom
> picture indicate. Once you get USB working so we can type into the
> console, we'll take a look at what's actually going on.
>
>> Full USB HID support is built as modular. I don't seem to be able to
>> change it to built in. make menuconfig is only giving me modular or
>> not set.  (Kernel config USB info this is set is at the end)
> If you use menuconfig and you go to the "Help" option, it will tell you
> what dependencies need to be set in order to build the module. Most
> likely, you did not set the USB subsystem itself to be built in.
>> lspci says the controller is an Apple controller and the driver is
>> 'macio' which seems sensible. I see it in the boot screen I think.
>> That driver is built in, but the PATA_MACIO driver is not:
>>

(Continue reading)

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Enlightened User | 25 Sep 2010 00:43

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

On Sep 24, 2010, at 4:30 PM, Mark Knecht wrote:

> On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 10:04 PM, Joseph Jezak <josejx <at> gentoo.org>  
> wrote:
>>  My responses are inline this time. It's easier when there's so much
>> going on!
>>
>> On 09/23/10 16:41, Mark Knecht wrote:
>>> Two pictures posted:
>>>
>>> Top half of boot screen:
>>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/29328985 <at> N03/5018717650/
>>>
>>> Bottom half of boot screen
>>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/29328985 <at> N03/5018718202/
>>>
>>
>> Okay, these look exactly as expected. You've booted into the shell  
>> fine
>> and the kernel does detect the hard drive fine. It appears that the  
>> disk
>> was not cleanly unmounted, which is what the messages in the bottom
>> picture indicate. Once you get USB working so we can type into the
>> console, we'll take a look at what's actually going on.
>>
>>> Full USB HID support is built as modular. I don't seem to be able to
>>> change it to built in. make menuconfig is only giving me modular or
>>> not set.  (Kernel config USB info this is set is at the end)
>> If you use menuconfig and you go to the "Help" option, it will tell  
>> you

(Continue reading)

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Mark Knecht | 25 Sep 2010 02:23

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

On Fri, Sep 24, 2010 at 3:43 PM, Enlightened User <linux <at> nc.rr.com> wrote:
> On Sep 24, 2010, at 4:30 PM, Mark Knecht wrote:
>
>> On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 10:04 PM, Joseph Jezak <josejx <at> gentoo.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>  My responses are inline this time. It's easier when there's so much
>>> going on!
>>>
>>> On 09/23/10 16:41, Mark Knecht wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Two pictures posted:
>>>>
>>>> Top half of boot screen:
>>>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/29328985 <at> N03/5018717650/
>>>>
>>>> Bottom half of boot screen
>>>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/29328985 <at> N03/5018718202/
>>>>
>>>
>>> Okay, these look exactly as expected. You've booted into the shell fine
>>> and the kernel does detect the hard drive fine. It appears that the disk
>>> was not cleanly unmounted, which is what the messages in the bottom
>>> picture indicate. Once you get USB working so we can type into the
>>> console, we'll take a look at what's actually going on.
>>>
>>>> Full USB HID support is built as modular. I don't seem to be able to
>>>> change it to built in. make menuconfig is only giving me modular or
>>>> not set.  (Kernel config USB info this is set is at the end)
>>>
>>> If you use menuconfig and you go to the "Help" option, it will tell you

(Continue reading)

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Mark Knecht | 25 Sep 2010 13:45

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 10:04 PM, Joseph Jezak <josejx <at> gentoo.org> wrote:
>  My responses are inline this time. It's easier when there's so much
> going on!
>
> On 09/23/10 16:41, Mark Knecht wrote:
>> Two pictures posted:
>>
>> Top half of boot screen:
>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/29328985 <at> N03/5018717650/
>>
>> Bottom half of boot screen
>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/29328985 <at> N03/5018718202/
>>
>
> Okay, these look exactly as expected. You've booted into the shell fine
> and the kernel does detect the hard drive fine. It appears that the disk
> was not cleanly unmounted, which is what the messages in the bottom
> picture indicate. Once you get USB working so we can type into the
> console, we'll take a look at what's actually going on.
>
>> Full USB HID support is built as modular. I don't seem to be able to
>> change it to built in. make menuconfig is only giving me modular or
>> not set.  (Kernel config USB info this is set is at the end)
> If you use menuconfig and you go to the "Help" option, it will tell you
> what dependencies need to be set in order to build the module. Most
> likely, you did not set the USB subsystem itself to be built in.
>> lspci says the controller is an Apple controller and the driver is
>> 'macio' which seems sensible. I see it in the boot screen I think.
>> That driver is built in, but the PATA_MACIO driver is not:
>>

(Continue reading)

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Joseph Jezak | 25 Sep 2010 17:12

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

 On 09/25/10 07:45, Mark Knecht wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 10:04 PM, Joseph Jezak <josejx <at> gentoo.org> wrote:
>>  My responses are inline this time. It's easier when there's so much
>> going on!
>>
>> On 09/23/10 16:41, Mark Knecht wrote:
>>> Two pictures posted:
>>>
>>> Top half of boot screen:
>>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/29328985 <at> N03/5018717650/
>>>
>>> Bottom half of boot screen
>>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/29328985 <at> N03/5018718202/
>>>
>> Okay, these look exactly as expected. You've booted into the shell fine
>> and the kernel does detect the hard drive fine. It appears that the disk
>> was not cleanly unmounted, which is what the messages in the bottom
>> picture indicate. Once you get USB working so we can type into the
>> console, we'll take a look at what's actually going on.
>>
>>> Full USB HID support is built as modular. I don't seem to be able to
>>> change it to built in. make menuconfig is only giving me modular or
>>> not set.  (Kernel config USB info this is set is at the end)
>> If you use menuconfig and you go to the "Help" option, it will tell you
>> what dependencies need to be set in order to build the module. Most
>> likely, you did not set the USB subsystem itself to be built in.
>>> lspci says the controller is an Apple controller and the driver is
>>> 'macio' which seems sensible. I see it in the boot screen I think.
>>> That driver is built in, but the PATA_MACIO driver is not:
>>>

(Continue reading)

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Mark Knecht | 25 Sep 2010 22:40

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

On Sat, Sep 25, 2010 at 8:12 AM, Joseph Jezak <josejx <at> gentoo.org> wrote:
<SNIP>
> None of these things are weird, they're expected!
>

Really? OK - cool then.

> When you start the system with "init=/bin/bash", the only thing your
> system does is start bash as the only process. Things like mounting
> proc, remounting the root file system r/w (and setting up mtab) aren't
> done because they're part of the normal startup process.
>

I need to find a good _SIMPLE_ book on how Linux boots. I'm just a
long time use with no real sys admin background so for a decade or
longer I just want the things go by at boot and then use my system.

> Can you run fsck.ext3 from the shell that starts when you replace init?
>

I cannot due to the same sort of message I get when trying to boot:

e2fsck_check_if_mount: Can't check if filesystem is mounted due to
missing mtab file
fsck.ext3: Device or resource busy while trying to open /dev/hda4
Filesystem mounted or opened exclusively by another program?

For kicks I tried umount /dev/hda4 but that complains about the
missing mtab file also. It seems from the man page I could force it
but I didn't want to do that, and again if I did and it even worked

(Continue reading)

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Mark Knecht | 25 Sep 2010 23:01

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

On Sat, Sep 25, 2010 at 1:40 PM, Mark Knecht <markknecht <at> gmail.com> wrote:
<SNIP>
> 3) If this is a kernel config issue - and it seem plausible that it is
> - then I'll point out that the kernel config page of the Gentoo PPC
> Istall Guide had a possible command that didn't work for me:
>
> http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-ppc.xml?part=1&chap=7
>
> Specifically:
>
> make pmac32_defconfig
>
> which supposedly will make a config file that would boot most 32-bit
> machines. Unfortunately the command doesn't work for me on current
> kernels. The install guide should be updated to either remove this or
> make it more clear if I need to do anything more than that command in
> the /usr/src/linux directory.
<SNIP>

Nix this comment. I got the command to work and am going back to
ground zero on the kernel config. We'll see what happens.

Sorry for the noise. Just frustrated after weeks of this. Mac is just
harder than PC I suppose...

Thanks,
Mark

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Mark Knecht | 26 Sep 2010 00:40

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

On Sat, Sep 25, 2010 at 1:40 PM, Mark Knecht <markknecht <at> gmail.com> wrote:
<SNIP>
>
>> Also, which version of udev are you using? I forgot to ask if you're
>> running ~ppc instead of ppc, you may want to try switching to the
>> PATA_MACIO driver in order for the system to work properly.
>
> udev would be whatever comes with a stable ppc system these days.
>

No change at all using the kernel created by 'make pmac32_defconfig'.
Fails at the same place.

udev is version 151-r4. I haven't created any rules for it. It's all
default Gentoo.

While I'm sure I won't actually do it I feel very close to burying a
ball-peen hammer right in the middle of this little box and being done
with this mess... 

 - Mark

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Joseph Jezak | 26 Sep 2010 19:36

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

 On 09/25/10 16:40, Mark Knecht wrote:

(snip)

> I cannot due to the same sort of message I get when trying to boot:
>
> e2fsck_check_if_mount: Can't check if filesystem is mounted due to
> missing mtab file
> fsck.ext3: Device or resource busy while trying to open /dev/hda4
> Filesystem mounted or opened exclusively by another program?
>
> For kicks I tried umount /dev/hda4 but that complains about the
> missing mtab file also. It seems from the man page I could force it
> but I didn't want to do that, and again if I did and it even worked
> then where would the system read fsck.ext3 from to do the check since
> it's on /dev/hda4 itself?
>

Okay, let's try a few things now that we can boot the machine (even if
it's not all the way!).

First, lets mount proc:
# mount -t procfs none /proc

Now, try fsck.ext3 again. Does it work?

Next, let's remount the root file system read/write so we can modify files:
# mount -o remount,rw /

We'll copy the current mount information from proc to /etc/mtab and see

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Mark Knecht | 26 Sep 2010 22:52

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

On Sun, Sep 26, 2010 at 10:36 AM, Joseph Jezak <josejx <at> gentoo.org> wrote:
>  On 09/25/10 16:40, Mark Knecht wrote:
<SNIP>
>
> Okay, let's try a few things now that we can boot the machine (even if
> it's not all the way!).
>
> First, lets mount proc:
> # mount -t procfs none /proc
>

OK - to me this doesn't look good:

 # mount -t procfs none /proc
mount:none has wrong device number or fs type procfs not supported

on the off chance you menat proc instead of procfs I tried it that way
and got a slightly more reasonable message:

# mount -t proc none /proc
can't create lock file /etc/mtab~1038: Read-only file system (use -n
flag to override)

> Now, try fsck.ext3 again. Does it work?
>

Worked fine. fsck.ext3 said it was clean

> Next, let's remount the root file system read/write so we can modify files:
> # mount -o remount,rw /

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Mark Knecht | 27 Sep 2010 01:09

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

On Sun, Sep 26, 2010 at 1:52 PM, Mark Knecht <markknecht <at> gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Sep 26, 2010 at 10:36 AM, Joseph Jezak <josejx <at> gentoo.org> wrote:
<SNIP>
>> The old PMAC_IDE driver is getting picked before the PATA_MACIO driver.
>> If you'd like to try the newer driver, you'll need to disable the old
>> one first.
>
> OK - I'll go back in and look at my kernel config again. Thought I'd
> post these results for now.
>

OK, I switched to the newer PMAC_MACIO driver built into the kernel.
Names changed but the result is the same - now it fails /dev/sda4

* Checking root filesystem...
fsck.ext3: No such file or directory while trying to open /dev/sda4
/dev/sda4:
The superblock could not be read or does not describe...

Note one interesting difference with the newer driver is that I
couldn't run fsck.ext3 until I rebuilt the kernel without all the
power management stuff. Seems that by default fsck thought we were
using the battery and deferred the check.

Possibly I could have used fsck -f but I didn't want to take any chances.

Anyway, the current state is that /dev/sda4 fails to mount. With the
newer driver and modified kernel I had no problems with your bash
instructions other than the procfs issue.

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Joseph Jezak | 1 Oct 2010 15:54

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

 Sorry, I've had a busy week and didn't have time to respond!

> OK - to me this doesn't look good:
>
>  # mount -t procfs none /proc
> mount:none has wrong device number or fs type procfs not supported

Sorry, that was my mistake, I was running from memory. :) You have the
right invocation below.

> on the off chance you menat proc instead of procfs I tried it that way
> and got a slightly more reasonable message:
>
> # mount -t proc none /proc
> can't create lock file /etc/mtab~1038: Read-only file system (use -n
> flag to override)
>
>> Now, try fsck.ext3 again. Does it work?
>>
> Worked fine. fsck.ext3 said it was clean
>

Cool, so now we know that fsck is fine.

>> Next, let's remount the root file system read/write so we can modify files:
>> # mount -o remount,rw /
>>
> Seemed to work. Got this message:
>
> EXT3-fs: (hda4):using internal journal

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Mark Knecht | 1 Oct 2010 23:03

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

On Fri, Oct 1, 2010 at 6:54 AM, Joseph Jezak <josejx <at> gentoo.org> wrote:
>  Sorry, I've had a busy week and didn't have time to respond!
>

Not a problem. I've been busy myself.

<SNIP>
>>> Now, try fsck.ext3 again. Does it work?
>>>
>> Worked fine. fsck.ext3 said it was clean
>>
>
> Cool, so now we know that fsck is fine.
>

Good.

<SNIP>
> Okay, so we fixed the first thing. That's good. :) Can you attach your
> whole kernel config? I'm wondering if maybe udev isn't running properly
> due to a misconfiguration.
>
> -Joe

Attached unless GMail does something to it.

Thanks,
Mark

Attachment (2.6.34-gentoo-r5.config): application/octet-stream, 55 KiB

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Joseph Jezak | 7 Oct 2010 19:34

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!


>> Okay, so we fixed the first thing. That's good. :) Can you attach your
>> whole kernel config? I'm wondering if maybe udev isn't running properly
>> due to a misconfiguration.
>>
>> -Joe
> Attached unless GMail does something to it.
>
> Thanks,
> Mark

Another busy week, but I think we might have your answer.

Disable these options in your kernel config, recompile and give it a try:
CONFIG_SYSFS_DEPRECATED=y
CONFIG_SYSFS_DEPRECATED_V2=y

I think these options interfere with udev.
-Joe

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Mark Knecht | 7 Oct 2010 20:29

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 10:34 AM, Joseph Jezak <josejx <at> gentoo.org> wrote:
>
>>> Okay, so we fixed the first thing. That's good. :) Can you attach your
>>> whole kernel config? I'm wondering if maybe udev isn't running properly
>>> due to a misconfiguration.
>>>
>>> -Joe
>> Attached unless GMail does something to it.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Mark
>
> Another busy week, but I think we might have your answer.
>
> Disable these options in your kernel config, recompile and give it a try:
> CONFIG_SYSFS_DEPRECATED=y
> CONFIG_SYSFS_DEPRECATED_V2=y
>
> I think these options interfere with udev.
> -Joe

Thank you Joe. For the first time in a couple of months the machine just booted.

Note that I didn't easily find  CONFIG_SYSFS_DEPRECATED in make
menuconfig so I only disabled  CONFIG_SYSFS_DEPRECATED_V2 which was
enough to allow it to boot.

I took a quick look at the PPC install guide and frankly I don't see
instructions there to disable this option, although I have done this
on other machines. Is it just me or are the instructions actually not

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Klaus Müller | 26 Sep 2010 18:48

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

Am 23.09.10 00:59, Mark Knecht wrote:
>[snip]
>Can anyone see what I've done wrong?

Most likely nothing at all.

Your hd may be faulty.
I had a problem with such a hd some time ago
(not on PPC, and a really old hd btw).

No error was found by any hd-check.

[X]Ubuntu and Puppy installed, booted and worked fine,
Gentoo installed fine but refused to boot.

After replacing the hd, Gentoo installed, booted and works.

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Mark Knecht | 26 Sep 2010 21:08

Re: yaboot has kicked my butt - 5 times?!

On Sun, Sep 26, 2010 at 9:48 AM, Klaus Müller <mk.2001 <at> web.de> wrote:
> Am 23.09.10 00:59, Mark Knecht wrote:
>>[snip]
>>Can anyone see what I've done wrong?
>
> Most likely nothing at all.
>
> Your hd may be faulty.
> I had a problem with such a hd some time ago
> (not on PPC, and a really old hd btw).
>
> No error was found by any hd-check.
>
> [X]Ubuntu and Puppy installed, booted and worked fine,
> Gentoo installed fine but refused to boot.
>
> After replacing the hd, Gentoo installed, booted and works.
>
>

Well, that's sort of scary but exactly describes my predicament!

Thanks,
Mark