From: Sebastian T. <se...@sm...> - 2011-01-09 18:40:22
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Hi all, I have an aluminium Macbook Pro (Jan 2008) with a broken internal optical drive. I can boot from the Snow Leopard install DVD using the external optical drive without any problem whatsoever but it simply will not boot from any of the GNU/Linux boot CDs I have at my disposal (Debian Squeeze, Debian Lenny, Ubuntu 9.0, I've even tried a GParted Live CD). The result is always the same - rEFIt identifies the CD as a GNU/Linux boot CD, I select it, hit Enter, smile at Tux in the middle of my screen... but then everything goes black and I'm presented with the depressingly unhelpful error message "Missing operating system". I've synced the partition tables, the EFI firmware is as up-to-date as it can be, I've even tried a bootable USB flash drive or two - again rEFIt identifies the media correctly - but then... nada. Any advice/tips/pointers/suggestions very much appreciated. Sebastian -- Emacs' AlsaPlayer - Music Without Jolts Lightweight, full-featured and mindful of your idyllic happiness. http://home.gna.org/eap |
From: Tino K. <tin...@ti...> - 2011-01-09 22:40:10
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On Sun, Jan 09, 2011 at 18:33:06 +0000, Sebastian Tennant wrote: > Hi all, > > I have an aluminium Macbook Pro (Jan 2008) with a broken internal optical > drive. > > I can boot from the Snow Leopard install DVD using the external optical drive I think you mean a USB drive. > without any problem whatsoever but it simply will not boot from any of the > GNU/Linux boot CDs I have at my disposal (Debian Squeeze, Debian Lenny, Ubuntu > 9.0, I've even tried a GParted Live CD). > > The result is always the same - rEFIt identifies the CD as a GNU/Linux boot CD, > I select it, hit Enter, smile at Tux in the middle of my screen... but then > everything goes black and I'm presented with the depressingly unhelpful error > message "Missing operating system". > > I've synced the partition tables, the EFI firmware is as up-to-date as it can > be, I've even tried a bootable USB flash drive or two - again rEFIt identifies > the media correctly - but then... nada. > > Any advice/tips/pointers/suggestions very much appreciated. AFAIK booting from USB media is not supported in the legacy BIOS emulation. This is used if you try to boot from a DOS bootblock. You need an EFI boot media to be able to boot from USB media. Regards, Tino |
From: Justin M. <jus...@gm...> - 2011-01-09 23:06:33
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On Jan 9, 2011, at 2:39 PM, Tino Keitel wrote: > On Sun, Jan 09, 2011 at 18:33:06 +0000, Sebastian Tennant wrote: >> Hi all, >> >> I have an aluminium Macbook Pro (Jan 2008) with a broken internal >> optical >> drive. >> >> I can boot from the Snow Leopard install DVD using the external >> optical drive > > I think you mean a USB drive. > >> without any problem whatsoever but it simply will not boot from any >> of the >> GNU/Linux boot CDs I have at my disposal (Debian Squeeze, Debian >> Lenny, Ubuntu >> 9.0, I've even tried a GParted Live CD). >> >> The result is always the same - rEFIt identifies the CD as a GNU/ >> Linux boot CD, >> I select it, hit Enter, smile at Tux in the middle of my screen... >> but then >> everything goes black and I'm presented with the depressingly >> unhelpful error >> message "Missing operating system". >> >> I've synced the partition tables, the EFI firmware is as up-to-date >> as it can >> be, I've even tried a bootable USB flash drive or two - again rEFIt >> identifies >> the media correctly - but then... nada. >> >> Any advice/tips/pointers/suggestions very much appreciated. > > AFAIK booting from USB media is not supported in the legacy BIOS > emulation. This is used if you try to boot from a DOS bootblock. You > need an EFI boot media to be able to boot from USB media. > > Regards, > Tino > works on the iMac9,1over here(liveusb, or usb install) but the macbookpro2,2 wont.. Justin P. Mattock |
From: Sebastian T. <se...@sm...> - 2011-01-09 23:52:29
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Quoth Tino Keitel <tin...@ti...>: > On Sun, Jan 09, 2011 at 18:33:06 +0000, Sebastian Tennant wrote: >> I can boot from the Snow Leopard install DVD using the external optical drive > > I think you mean a USB drive. Maybe. I mean my external (USB) optical drive - also a SuperMulti drive. > AFAIK booting from USB media is not supported in the legacy BIOS emulation. > This is used if you try to boot from a DOS bootblock. You need an EFI boot > media to be able to boot from USB media. I'm playing around with grub.efi on a USB drive as we speak. I built it as described here: http://grub.enbug.org/TestingOnMacbook rEFIt sees it no problem and the minimal grub shell actually works!!! :) When I type 'ls' I get the following: (hd0) (hd1) (hd1,gpt2) (hd1,gpt1) (cd0) (cd1) cd0 is the broken internal optical drive and cd1 is the external drive. I suppose hd0 is the EFI partition and hd1 the main 300GB (MacOSX) partition. No idea what to do next. When I type 'boot cd1' I get a message saying 'no loaded kernel'? Needless to say, I'm way out of my depth, but having fun nonetheless. Seb -- Emacs' AlsaPlayer - Music Without Jolts Lightweight, full-featured and mindful of your idyllic happiness. http://home.gna.org/eap |
From: Sebastian T. <se...@sm...> - 2011-01-10 00:00:25
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Quoth Justin Mattock <jus...@gm...>: > works on the iMac9,1over here(liveusb, or usb install) but the > macbookpro2,2 wont.. Hmm... MacBook Pro 3,1 here. -- Emacs' AlsaPlayer - Music Without Jolts Lightweight, full-featured and mindful of your idyllic happiness. http://home.gna.org/eap |
From: Tino K. <tin...@ti...> - 2011-01-10 06:14:56
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On Sun, Jan 09, 2011 at 15:06:23 -0800, Justin Mattock wrote: [...] > works on the iMac9,1over here(liveusb, or usb install) but the > macbookpro2,2 wont.. Maybe this was changed when Apple released MacBooks without internal optical drives. In my case, it is an ancient Mac mini (pre-nvidia). Regards, Tino |
From: Justin M. <jus...@gm...> - 2011-01-10 06:36:50
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On Jan 9, 2011, at 10:14 PM, Tino Keitel wrote: > On Sun, Jan 09, 2011 at 15:06:23 -0800, Justin Mattock wrote: > > [...] > >> works on the iMac9,1over here(liveusb, or usb install) but the >> macbookpro2,2 wont.. > > Maybe this was changed when Apple released MacBooks without internal > optical drives. In my case, it is an ancient Mac mini (pre-nvidia). > > Regards, > Tino > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Gaining the trust of online customers is vital for the success of > any company > that requires sensitive data to be transmitted over the Web. Learn > how to > best implement a security strategy that keeps consumers' information > secure > and instills the confidence they need to proceed with transactions. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/oracle-sfdevnl > _______________________________________________ > Mactel-linux-users mailing list > Mac...@li... > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/mactel-linux-users probably.. from what I remember there is some error about the firmware not supporting legacy or something in that area.(iMac works fine) Justin P. Mattock |
From: Sebastian T. <se...@sm...> - 2011-01-10 06:58:35
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Quoth Ricky Campbell: > Booting from USB is an issue. It has been for a long time. The problem > is related to the legacy bootloader used on the CD mixed with oddities > of the Mac EFI firmware. Understood. > I think it is possible if you create a grub-EFI USB drive and load the kernel > from the CD. I think this approach is definitely my best bet. Anyone done this, or someting like this? > There is a big thread on booting via EFI in ubuntuforums. Thanks for the tip. *Lots* of useful stuff there ^^^, although not in much order (as far as I can tell at first glance). Seb -- Emacs' AlsaPlayer - Music Without Jolts Lightweight, full-featured and mindful of your idyllic happiness. http://home.gna.org/eap |
From: Sebastian T. <se...@sm...> - 2011-01-10 07:05:54
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Quoth Justin Mattock <jus...@gm...>: > works on the iMac9,1over here(liveusb, or usb install) Can you remember how you prepared your USB drive? Which distro did/do you use? Seb -- Emacs' AlsaPlayer - Music Without Jolts Lightweight, full-featured and mindful of your idyllic happiness. http://home.gna.org/eap |
From: Osamu A. <os...@de...> - 2011-01-10 14:35:34
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On Sun, Jan 09, 2011 at 06:33:06PM +0000, Sebastian Tennant wrote: > Hi all, > > I have an aluminium Macbook Pro (Jan 2008) with a broken internal optical > drive. I do not have such fancy tool ... But in general, have you tied network booting? That seems to be the least common denominator method of booting. http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/ch04s05.html.en Osamu |
From: Sebastian T. <se...@sm...> - 2011-01-27 13:52:48
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Hi all, I got it working after a few days but I've been mega-busy since then. In the end I did it using a USB flash drive as a boot disk and installer disk all-in-one, i.e., I gave up on the external optical drive. I found that the trick was to put a GPT partition table on the USB drive. (I did this using Mac's Disk Utility, but I've no doubt it would work using parted). Then, once you've built grub2 and put it on the boot disk, rEFIt finds it and grub2 runs no problem. Apart from that, pretty much everything you need to know is documented here: http://grub.enbug.org/TestingOnMacbook Hope this helps. Seb -- Emacs' AlsaPlayer - Music Without Jolts Lightweight, full-featured and mindful of your idyllic happiness. http://home.gna.org/eap |