Re: netinst ppc64 2022-03-24 fails to install GRUB boot loader

[Dennis Clarke]

On 3/27/22 18:40, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz wrote:
>
>
>> On Mar 28, 2022, at 12:15 AM, Dennis Clarke <dcl...@blastwave.org> wrote:
>>
>> 
>> I just the normal process of booting the netinst DVD image and used
>> the default NOT-expert menu option. I see the usual message :
>
> Could be that the hfsprogs-udeb package is missing on the ISO.
>
> Try installing with the 32-bit powerpc image.
>


Why would I want the 32bit installer ?
Just to test if the package is missing there also?


--
Dennis

[John Paul Adrian Glaubitz]

> On Mar 28, 2022, at 12:15 AM, Dennis Clarke <dcl...@blastwave.org> wrote:
>
> 
> I just the normal process of booting the netinst DVD image and used
> the default NOT-expert menu option. I see the usual message :

Could be that the hfsprogs-udeb package is missing on the ISO.

Try installing with the 32-bit powerpc image.

Adrian

[Dennis Clarke]

On 3/27/22 18:40, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz wrote:
>
>

OKay I will dd nuke the sda and sdb disks in this G5 and start up the
powerpc netinst. Will report back at some point.


--
Dennis Clarke
RISC-V/SPARC/PPC/ARM/CISC
UNIX and Linux spoken
GreyBeard and suspenders optional

[Jeffrey Walton]

On Sun, Mar 27, 2022 at 6:15 PM Dennis Clarke <dcl...@blastwave.org> wrote:
>
>
> I just the normal process of booting the netinst DVD image and used
> the default NOT-expert menu option. I see the usual message :
>

> Unable to install GRUB in /dev/sda3
> Executing 'grub-install /dev/sda3' failed.
>
> This is a fatal error.
>
> I used netcat to fetch the syslog and partman files from /var/log
> and attach them here.
>
> Looks like the HFS boot partition was never formatted :
>
> Mar 27 21:57:35 grub-installer: info: Installing grub on '/dev/sda3'
> Mar 27 21:57:35 grub-installer: info: grub-install does not support
> --no-floppy
> Mar 27 21:57:35 grub-installer: info: Running chroot /target
> grub-install --macppc-directory=/boot/grub --no-nvram --force
> Mar 27 21:57:35 grub-installer: Installing for powerpc-ieee1275 platform.
> Mar 27 21:57:36 grub-installer: grub-install: error: filesystem on
> /boot/grub is neither HFS nor HFS+.
> Mar 27 21:57:36 grub-installer: error: Running 'grub-install
> --macppc-directory=/boot/grub --no-nvram --force failed.
> .
> .
> .
> Mar 27 21:59:13 main-mMar 27 21:57:35 grub-installer: info: Installing
> grub on '/dev/sda3'
> Mar 27 21:57:35 grub-installer: info: grub-install does not support
> --no-floppy
> Mar 27 21:57:35 grub-installer: info: Running chroot /target
> grub-install --macppc-directory=/boot/grub --no-nvram --force
> Mar 27 21:57:35 grub-installer: Installing for powerpc-ieee1275 platform.
> Mar 27 21:57:36 grub-installer: grub-install: error: filesystem on
> /boot/grub is neither HFS nor HFS+.
> Mar 27 21:57:36 grub-installer: error: Running 'grub-install
> --macppc-directory=/boot/grub -Mar 27 21:57:35 grub-installer: info:
> Installing grub on '/dev/sda3'
> Mar 27 21:57:35 grub-installer: info: grub-install does not support
> --no-floppy
> Mar 27 21:57:35 grub-installer: info: Running chroot /target
> grub-install --macppc-directory=/boot/grub --no-nvram --force
> Mar 27 21:57:35 grub-installer: Installing for powerpc-ieee1275 platform.
> Mar 27 21:57:36 grub-installer: grub-install: error: filesystem on
> /boot/grub is neither HFS nor HFS+.
> Mar 27 21:57:36 grub-installer: error: Running 'grub-install
> --macppc-directory=/boot/grub --no-nvram --force failed.
> .
> .
> .
> Mar 27 21:57:35 grub-installer: info: grub-install does not support
> --no-floppy
> Mar 27 21:57:35 grub-installer: info: Running chroot /target
> grub-install --macppc-directory=/boot/grub --no-nvram --force
> Mar 27 21:57:35 grub-installer: Installing for powerpc-ieee1275 platform.
> Mar 27 21:57:36 grub-installer: grub-install: error: filesystem on
> /boot/grub is neither HFS nor HFS+.
> Mar 27 21:57:36 grub-installer: error: Running 'grub-install
> --macppc-directory=/boot/grub --no-nvram --force failed.
> .
> .
> .
> Mar 27 21:59:13 main-menu[292]: (process:646): Volume group "sda" not
> found
> Mar 27 21:59:13 main-menu[292]: (process:646): Cannot process volume
> group sda
> Mar 27 21:59:13 main-menu[292]: (process:646): dpkg-divert: warning:
> diverting file '/sbin/start-stop-daemon' from an Essential package with
> rename is dangerous, use --no-rename
> Mar 27 21:59:13 main-menu[292]: (process:646): dpkg-divert: warning:
> diverting file '/sbin/start-stop-daemon' from an Essential package with
> rename is dangerous, use --no-rename
> Mar 27 21:59:13 main-menu[292]: WARNING **: Configuring 'grub-installer'
> failed with error code 1
> Mar 27 21:59:13 main-menu[292]: WARNING **: Menu item 'grub-installer'
> failed.
> se --no-rename
>
> Not sure what to make of that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-Ugfqj1ank

Use the 32-bit version of grubfix32.sh, even on the 64-bit install.
Use /dev/sda2 instead of /dev/sda3 when fixing grub.

Jeff

[Ken Cunningham]

> On Mar 27, 2022, at 6:10 PM, Jeffrey Walton <nolo...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-Ugfqj1ank
>
> Use the 32-bit version of grubfix32.sh, even on the 64-bit install.
> Use /dev/sda2 instead of /dev/sda3 when fixing grub.
>
> Jeff
>

FYI Adrian’s ISO works perfectly for me on both 32 bit and 64 bit systems.

There are (far too) many alternate ways of installing debian floating around, but I think the only method we should suggest is the one sanctioned here, as all the others lead to mayhem, IMHO.

Ken

[Dennis Clarke]

I can report that the 32-bit powerpc netinst presents me with a GRUB
menu and then "default install" leads to total failure. I took a picture
as there was no other option while staring at a big white console with
strange messages about invalid memory access.

The 64bit netinst seems to work fine until we get to the GRUB install
stage and perhaps the previous syslog and partman files I submitted
will shed some light. Otherwise a very stable machine that usually
just runs fine is now quite dead until further notice.

[Ken Cunningham]

Your log said that you saw this:

grub-install: error: filesystem on /boot/grub is neither HFS nor HFS+

I have no idea what the filesystem on /boot/grub might be, but it should be HFS or HFS+ for this to work.

So, assuming you are using the blessed ISO and no other, what I would do is start fresh.

eg, mount the drive from a different macOS system using Firewire mode, delete all the existing partitions on the drive using Disk Utility, and then reboot the system using the CD, holding down the “C” key during boot.

After it boots, let it have the entire disc, and let all the defaults be the defaults.

That should work. If it doesn’t work, time for a new log I guess.

Ken

[Dennis Clarke]

On 3/27/22 22:25, Stan Johnson wrote:
> On 3/27/22 7:56 PM, Dennis Clarke wrote:
>> ...

>>
>> The 64bit netinst seems to work fine until we get to the GRUB install
>> stage and perhaps the previous syslog and partman files I submitted
>> will shed some light. Otherwise a very stable machine that usually
>> just runs fine is now quite dead until further notice.
>>
>>
>

> I don't know whether this will help, but if you are able to boot Mac OS
> X from an external firewire drive, or even a Mac OS X installation CD
> (go to the Utility menu)

Sorry. I have never seen Mac OS X. The last time I was using an Apple OS
it was on a thing called a Quadra and there was a thing called the
finder. That was 1994 I think. It was a great machine too. Awesome
music player on it but the whole AppleTalk protocol to a Netware server
was just a nasty mess. Even worse with Token Ring inside an IBM shop :)

[Dennis Clarke]

On 3/27/22 22:25, Ken Cunningham wrote:
> Your log said that you saw this:
>
> grub-install: error: filesystem on /boot/grub is neither HFS nor HFS+
>
> I have no idea what the filesystem on /boot/grub might be, but it should be HFS or HFS+ for this to work.
>
> So, assuming you are using the blessed ISO and no other, what I would do is start fresh.
>
> eg, mount the drive from a different macOS system using Firewire mode, delete all the existing partitions on the drive using Disk Utility, and then reboot the system using the CD, holding down the “C” key during boot.
>
> After it boots, let it have the entire disc, and let all the defaults be the defaults.
>
> That should work. If it doesn’t work, time for a new log I guess.

I have already used dd from a shell prompt to wipe out significant
sections[1] of sda and sdb. The netinst installer then fails to install
GRUB with absolutely no valid reason. I have been doing this sort of
testing for years. What that same machine. I know that the netinst is
likely at fault and will simply wait a while. For whatever reasons the
boot partition was not formatted. No idea why.

Dennis

[1] dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=4096 count=16384

That is more than enough to clear out partition tables etc.

[John Paul Adrian Glaubitz]

> On Mar 28, 2022, at 3:57 AM, Dennis Clarke <dcl...@blastwave.org> wrote:
>
> I can report that the 32-bit powerpc netinst presents me with a GRUB
> menu and then "default install" leads to total failure. I took a picture
> as there was no other option while staring at a big white console with
> strange messages about invalid memory access.
>
> The 64bit netinst seems to work fine until we get to the GRUB install
> stage and perhaps the previous syslog and partman files I submitted
> will shed some light. Otherwise a very stable machine that usually
> just runs fine is now quite dead until further notice.

I will create new images later today and make sure the 64-bit image is correct.

There is no need to rely on random hacks from the internet when I just need to rebuild the images.

Adrian

[John Paul Adrian Glaubitz]

Hello!

On 3/28/22 00:14, Dennis Clarke wrote:
>
> I just the normal process of booting the netinst DVD image and used
> the default NOT-expert menu option. I see the usual message :
>
> Unable to install GRUB in /dev/sda3
> Executing 'grub-install /dev/sda3' failed.
>
> This is a fatal error.
>
> I used netcat to fetch the syslog and partman files from /var/log
> and attach them here.
>
> Looks like the HFS boot partition was never formatted :

Did you actually verify that by checking whether there was an HFS filesystem
created and mounted to /target/boot/grub after the partitioning step?

I checked the ppc64 image, it contains the necessary packages and I don't see
a reason why the installation shouldn't work unless the HFS partition was
intentionally removed. But in that case, the installer should warn you.

I don't see a reason at the moment why your particular problem should occur.

Adrian

--
.''`. John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
: :' : Debian Developer - glau...@debian.org
`. `' Freie Universitaet Berlin - glau...@physik.fu-berlin.de
`- GPG: 62FF 8A75 84E0 2956 9546 0006 7426 3B37 F5B5 F913

[John Paul Adrian Glaubitz]

Hi Ken!

On 3/28/22 03:34, Ken Cunningham wrote:
> FYI Adrian’s ISO works perfectly for me on both 32 bit and 64 bit systems.

Did you test the latest 64-bit image on a 64-bit machine?

Looking at the image, I'm very confident it should work and I have not yet
figured out what Dennis did that the GRUB installation would fail.

> There are (far too) many alternate ways of installing debian floating around,
> but I think the only method we should suggest is the one sanctioned here,
> as all the others lead to mayhem, IMHO.

I wished those people would reach out to me. That way, we would have been able
to tackle the issues together and probably saved a lot of time.

[John Paul Adrian Glaubitz]

On 3/28/22 03:10, Jeffrey Walton wrote:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-Ugfqj1ank
>
> Use the 32-bit version of grubfix32.sh, even on the 64-bit install.
> Use /dev/sda2 instead of /dev/sda3 when fixing grub.

This guy could have contacted me instead of creating a video which
shows how to apply an obscure hack to fix GRUB.

[Dennis Clarke]

On 3/28/22 01:59, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz wrote:
> Hello!
>
> On 3/28/22 00:14, Dennis Clarke wrote:
>>
>> I just the normal process of booting the netinst DVD image and used
>> the default NOT-expert menu option. I see the usual message :
>>
>> Unable to install GRUB in /dev/sda3
>> Executing 'grub-install /dev/sda3' failed.
>>
>> This is a fatal error.
>>
>> I used netcat to fetch the syslog and partman files from /var/log
>> and attach them here.
>>
>> Looks like the HFS boot partition was never formatted :
>
> Did you actually verify that by checking whether there was an HFS filesystem
> created and mounted to /target/boot/grub after the partitioning step?
>

Let me try again. I am just as baffled. This usually is a slam dunk
trivial process. Really we have been through all of this over and over
and over and we are way past the HFS tools issues from last year.

> I checked the ppc64 image, it contains the necessary packages and I don't see
> a reason why the installation shouldn't work unless the HFS partition was
> intentionally removed. But in that case, the installer should warn you.
>

Well, now is a good time for me to fire up the machine and give it
another try. However I will use a shell to dd nuke the sda and sdb
disks such that the partition step sees fresh unformatted disks.

> I don't see a reason at the moment why your particular problem should occur.

Me neither :\

[Dennis Clarke]

On 3/28/22 01:59, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz wrote:

> Hello!
>
> On 3/28/22 00:14, Dennis Clarke wrote:
>>
>> I just the normal process of booting the netinst DVD image and used
>> the default NOT-expert menu option. I see the usual message :
>>
>> Unable to install GRUB in /dev/sda3
>> Executing 'grub-install /dev/sda3' failed.
>>
>> This is a fatal error.
>>
>> I used netcat to fetch the syslog and partman files from /var/log
>> and attach them here.
>>
>> Looks like the HFS boot partition was never formatted :
>
> Did you actually verify that by checking whether there was an HFS filesystem
> created and mounted to /target/boot/grub after the partitioning step?
>

I can only guess that the partition step worked :

https://i.imgur.com/izFmDCe.png

However this is exactly what I saw the first time I tried.

Dennis

[John Paul Adrian Glaubitz]

On 3/28/22 09:18, Dennis Clarke wrote:
> I can only guess that the partition step worked :
>
> https://i.imgur.com/izFmDCe.png

Did you actually switch to a second console and checked there is an
HFS partition, i.e. by running:

# mount | grep hfs

> However this is exactly what I saw the first time I tried.

Why is the background red? What did you do?

[Dennis Clarke]

On 3/28/22 03:23, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz wrote:
> On 3/28/22 09:18, Dennis Clarke wrote:
>> I can only guess that the partition step worked :
>>
>> https://i.imgur.com/izFmDCe.png
>
> Did you actually switch to a second console and checked there is an
> HFS partition, i.e. by running:
>
> # mount | grep hfs

Just tried that. Sorry. Nothing there.

Also, same error as before the GRUB boot loader will not install.

>
>> However this is exactly what I saw the first time I tried.
>
> Why is the background red? What did you do?
>

I have never seen any other color on the console during install. Ever.

[Dennis Clarke]

On 3/28/22 03:23, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz wrote:
> On 3/28/22 09:18, Dennis Clarke wrote:
>> I can only guess that the partition step worked :
>>
>> https://i.imgur.com/izFmDCe.png
>
> Did you actually switch to a second console and checked there is an
> HFS partition, i.e. by running:
>
> # mount | grep hfs

Actually I wiped both disks and went back to the partition stage and
used sdb ( why not ? ) where I see good results :

https://i.imgur.com/wfCbQLQ.png

However I then get a nice blue failure :

https://i.imgur.com/0UpvwNC.png

For whatever reasons the installer is always red and only turns blue
when there is an error condition.

[John Paul Adrian Glaubitz]

On 3/28/22 09:50, Dennis Clarke wrote:
> Actually I wiped both disks and went back to the partition stage and used sdb ( why not ? ) where I see good results :
>
> https://i.imgur.com/wfCbQLQ.png

That looks good unless findfs() in grub-installer gets confused with /target/boot/grub
coming from /dev/sdb2.

> However I then get a nice blue failure :
>
> https://i.imgur.com/0UpvwNC.png

What was the partition layout for both disks when this happened and
what partitions where mounted?

And what was the error this time?

[John Paul Adrian Glaubitz]

On 3/28/22 09:39, Dennis Clarke wrote:
>> Did you actually switch to a second console and checked there is an
>> HFS partition, i.e. by running:
>>
>> # mount | grep hfs
>
> Just tried that. Sorry. Nothing there.

Strange.

> Also, same error as before the GRUB boot loader will not install.

Can you try with one of the hard drives removed?

>>> However this is exactly what I saw the first time I tried.
>>
>> Why is the background red? What did you do?
>>
>
> I have never seen any other color on the console during install. Ever.

Also very strange. It should be blue.

[Dennis Clarke]

>
> Also very strange. It should be blue.

However the machine runs great. Stable as a rock. When we get an install
done of course. ha ha

[Dennis Clarke]

>
> Can you try with one of the hard drives removed?
>

That would be somewhat difficult tonight. I have it in a stack with
another silver Power_Xeon_Mac under it and a system running on top of it
etc etc etc. However I can shut things down and begin the dusty process
if we really need to rip out the second disk.

[John Paul Adrian Glaubitz]

On 3/28/22 09:56, Dennis Clarke wrote:
>>
>> Can you try with one of the hard drives removed?
>>
> That would be somewhat difficult tonight. I have it in a stack with
> another silver Power_Xeon_Mac under it and a system running on top of it
> etc etc etc. However I can shut things down and begin the dusty process
> if we really need to rip out the second disk.

Since I cannot see any obvious reason why the installation fails on your system,
we need to start debugging and that will involve removing the second hard disk.

I simply don't see why GRUB installation should fail when your previous screenshot
proved that /dev/sdb2 was formatted with HFS and mounted to /target/boot/grub [1].

It must succeed at this point. If it doesn't, I want to see the exact error message
from the log.

Adrian

> [1] https://i.imgur.com/wfCbQLQ.png