[SOLVED] HD missing with "nodetect" kernel option

iMike · Last edited by iMike on Wed Mar 15, 2006 1:27 pm; edited 1 time in total

I have a Blue&White G3 (350 MHz) that I wanted to installed with the Gentoo 2006.0 minimal CD. When I went with the default (ppc32) kernel, I got the error "Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig 11 [#1]" during coldplugging of PCI devices so I tried a few kernel options. The only thing that worked was using "ppc32 nodetect". I was then able to get the network with "modprobe bmac", however only the cdrom shows up when I do:

grazie · n00b Joined: 14 Nov 2005 Posts: 61

I've got no solution, but I do have the same machine with the same problem. Is there anything in bugzilla?

iMike · Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 7:57 pm Post subject:

I haven't put anything in yet. I had one filed against Gentoo 2005.1 on the same type of a machine (G3) with a little different configuration (DVD instead of CDROM). There were quite a load of problems. As far as PPC's go, I only have Gentoo running on one, a G4. I am determined to make it work on this G3, though. If no one beats me to it, I'll file something in Bugzilla in a day or two.

But even if I put something in Bugzilla, I am still interested in any workarounds people think of. For my G3/DVD, I came up with the idea of using Ubtunu to get the Gentoo stages on disk and then going for there. I hope someone has got a better idea that that :wink:

.

Master of Puppets · n00b Joined: 13 Mar 2006 Posts: 2

I got the hd to show up in my B&W with "modprobe cmd64x", since I was having the same kernel panic while coldplugging. It showed up for me as /dev/hdc

iMike · Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 10:25 pm Post subject:

I tried the

iMike · Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 10:47 pm Post subject:

Just tried udevstart, but that didn't help. If I knew more of what I was doing, I would probably be a bit worried that there is nothing setup for hotplug:

Master of Puppets · n00b Joined: 13 Mar 2006 Posts: 2

lsmod gives me

JoseJX · Retired Dev Joined: 28 Apr 2002 Posts: 2774

Once you've modprobed the module, try running MAKEDEV. Also, what does dmesg say after you've modprobed the module?
_________________
Gentoo PPC FAQ: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-ppc-faq.xml

iMike · Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 9:01 am Post subject:

The modprobe cmd64x gives, in /var/log/messages:

JoseJX · Retired Dev Joined: 28 Apr 2002 Posts: 2774

What about hde and hdf? They're both mentioned in that dmesg snippet.
_________________
Gentoo PPC FAQ: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-ppc-faq.xml

iMike · Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 9:39 am Post subject:

Disclaimer: I thought I might have better luck with 2005.1, so that is what I am currently trying. I'll be happy to switch back, just thought I might get a little further along. In fact, it is smoother. In 2005.1 I do not need the "nodetect" option and cmd64x and other modules get loaded automatically. However, it's the same problem with the hard drive not showing up, even after MAKEDEV. I am quite sure the following would be the same result on 2006.0 since after MAKEDEV (as I showed above) no new entities were created in /dev (in particular, no /dev/hdf, /dev/hde, etc. only hda):

grazie · n00b Joined: 14 Nov 2005 Posts: 61

My machine's HW config is IDE primary=/dev/hda (CDROM), secondary=/dev/hdc & /dev/hdd (hard drives).This config is consistent on Ubuntu 5.10, Gentoo 2005.1 & 2006.0 LiveCDs and Ubuntu 5.10 HD installations. It is possible (but tricky) to swap IDE cables to reverse the order, but then you can't load bootable CDs by holding down the C key.

Loading module cmd64x fixes the problem for me, although I still get errors for /dev/hda with mac-fdisk -l as there's probably some kind of cdrom module not loaded.

I too am strugging to get Gentoo to boot from the HD on this machine. I have managed to boot Ubuntu from both the master and slave hard disks though, so technically it has to be possible.

iMike · Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:03 pm Post subject:

My hard drive is set up the same way, i.e., on a cable coming directly from the motherboard. It is not connected behind the CD-ROM in some sort master/slave arrangement. Perhaps that is the next thing I should try next, however, minus any other helpful hints.

grazie · n00b Joined: 14 Nov 2005 Posts: 61

It's stating the bleeding obvious, but is your hard drive known to be working and link set to master or CS? IIRC, CS doesn't work on my machine.

When you can see the hard drive, I found http://penguinppc.org/bootloaders/yaboot/doc/yaboot-howto.shtml/index.en.shtml#contents (English) or http://penguinppc.org/bootloaders/yaboot/doc/yaboot-howto.shtml/index.de.shtml#contents (German) a very good reference for yaboot.

BTW, it would be best use the 2006.0 CD if you can, as it took 8 or more hours compiling just to bring the 2005.1 base installation update to date.

JoseJX · Retired Dev Joined: 28 Apr 2002 Posts: 2774

If the 2005.1 or 2005.0 InstallCD works better, you could just boot with that then use the 2006.0 stages, that's a perfectly valid installation method. There's nothing really special about each InstallCD, it's just a minimal environment that's enough to unpack the stages and chroot into them.
_________________
Gentoo PPC FAQ: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-ppc-faq.xml

iMike · Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 2:32 pm Post subject:

No problem with stating the obvious

that is often the problem. I am now starting to suspect the HD too, although it worked perfectly last time I used it. I had carefully labelled it, for what that is worth. I see that an old Ubuntu CD seems to be having trouble finding any drive either. It will take a bit to investigate, but I'll come back with the results.

Yes, of course, I do agree that using the 2006.0 Gentoo CD would be preferable. Pragmatically, though, being the lazy bastard that I am, I often go with whatever is the least problem. I few hours of compiling is nothing compared to several hours of human time, in my book.

Thanks for the tips!
/Mike

JoseJX · Retired Dev Joined: 28 Apr 2002 Posts: 2774

iMike · Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 4:34 pm Post subject:

Yes, quite right. What I'm using are all minimal CDs so the stages and snapshots come from the net anyway. In theory, anything that would boot and give me net and disk access should work, I guess, cause then I could download stages and snapshots and chroot over into Gentoo. I usually run LVM so that puts a little tougher restriction on it, namely, it might be tough to set up the disk using Ubtuntu's LVM then expect Gentoo's LVM to go along.

I figure if I can keep it in the Gentoo family (2005.x, 2006.x) it should work fine. We'll see what happens when I get a chance to check on possible hard drive failure in more detail.

iMike · Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 1:25 pm Post subject:

It turned out to be a bad hard drive, so far as I can tell at this point. I am truly surprised, since the drive in question never gave me problems before; however, old drives can go quickly I guess.

Thanks for waking me up to the "bleeding" obvious of checking the hardware! Also, thanks much for the tip on cmd64x. I haven't dived into the ppc kernel enough to know what is what. That module provides just the right workaround for the 2006.0 CD "nodetect" problem. BTW, my replacement hard drive also shows up as /dev/hdc.

Thanks, everyone!
/iMike