On Sat, 2004-01-17 at 14:08, rian wrote:
> After lots of experimenting I found that the problem wasn't my
hardware
> at all. The problem lies with the default 1.6.1 NetBSD MacPPC kernel.
> 
> I replaced the kernel in my ATA Hard Drive with the Install Kernel
used
> in the boot floppy and then booted in OF using:
> 
> boot ata/ata-disk@0:0
> 
> Luckily the Install kernel booted successfully and natively from the
> hard drive, but this poses yet another problem.
> 
> I assume that there is some type of bug in the default 1.6.1 MacPPC
> kernel that wasn't caught and wasn't tested on the PowerMac 6500/250.
> I'm going to see if i can build a smaller custom kernel and see if
that
> boots.

Using the Install Boot Disk sets, i successfully built a custom kernel
for my PowerMac. It successfully booted from the OpenFirmware but comes
to an unfortunate halt.

After detecting all the devices the kernel proceeds to run /sbin/init.
The only problem is that it can't find /sbin/init. It responds with
something like:

boot device: wd0
root on wd0a dumps on wd0b
Cannot find init Error 14
Cannot find inito Error 14
Cannot find init.bak Error 14

Then it automatically reboots. I rebuilt the kernel again with
"config netbsd root on wd0a type ffs"

still no dice, same init errors. This doesn't make sense because when i
boot with the Install Boot Disks i can easily mount /dev/wd0a, and
/dev/wd0g/ and use the swap space. So what gives?

If anyone knows why this is, or why this happens after building a custom
kernel i woudl greatly appreciate it.
-rian

> Anyone with similar trouble?
> -rian
> 
> On Sat, 2004-01-17 at 02:02, rian wrote:
> > After much initial confusion i was able to get Open Firmware running
and
> > set the input and output devices using BootVars (I didn't set the
> > nvramrc as the model's page suggests, but i didn't have the problem
of
> > low screen contrast). Open Firmware is very unstable and will freeze
> > after enough successful commands.
> > 
> > Open Firmware refuses to boot my NetBSD/macppc iso cd after this
> > command:
> > boot scsi-int/sd@3:0 NETBSD.MACPPC
> > 
> > So i gave up on the cd, and used the floppy and that seemed to work
very
> > well. After the complete and total installation of NetBSD up until
the
> > first restart (when it says "NetBSD Installation is complete, please
> > restart from your hard drive, edit rc.conf blah") from the actual
hard
> > drive i get this message "/: Error partition full", something like
that.
> > so i just exited single user mode, went back to the Install menu and
> > rebooted the system.
> > 
> > When i reboot and go back into Open Firmware i enter this command:
> > boot ata/ata-disk@0:0
> > 
> > it completely loads "stage2" but it freezes when the activity bar is
> > spinning at stops at a certain number, like this:
> > 
> >  >> NetBSD/macppc OpenFirmware Boot, Revision 1.3
> >  >> (tsubai@mint.iri.co.jp, Sun Nov 26 01:41:27 JST 2000)
> > 309495 \
> > 
> > and it just says there. I retried the whole process, and same deal.
So
> > I wondered if maybe my hard drive's MBR (err, zero partition space)
is
> > corrupted (it's not the orginal). I doubt that though.
> > 
> > Any help would be largely appreciated. Just to remind all, i have
read through
> > the docs thoroughly. If anyone has had the PowerMac 6500
(performa-type)
> > i would appreciate it if you shared your experiences. Thanks a lot!
> > -rian