Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 04:26:02 -0700 From: Mark Millard <markmi@dsl-only.net> To: freebsd-ppc@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Same boot SSD: 8GByte PowerMac G5 Dual boots fine; 12GByte and 16GByte PowerMac G5 Quad cores usually hang... Message-ID: <16B2E7C6-CB8F-4255-86ED-6F81AC691FC8@dsl-only.net> In-Reply-To: <40CEB6E7-2DB3-40ED-AE74-81151348A5E8@dsl-only.net> References: <40CEB6E7-2DB3-40ED-AE74-81151348A5E8@dsl-only.net>
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I should have also mentioned that I've never had any PowerMac G5 fail to =
boot from powerpc/GENERIC boot SSDs, only from powerpc64/GENERIC64 ones. =
For example:
FreeBSD FBSDG4S0 10.1-PRERELEASE FreeBSD 10.1-PRERELEASE #0 r271215: Sat =
Sep 6 23:56:15 PDT 2014 root@FBSDG4S0:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC =
powerpc
always has worked. (This, of course, largely ignores most of the 8GByte+ =
of RAM.) This is true no matter what I've done after booting before =
trying to reboot (or shutdown -p now then power on), such as use =
startxfce4 (which is the way I normally start Xorg). (See below for why =
I mention startxfce4 as the example here.)
Now narrowing the context down to the problematical Quad Core PowerMac =
G5's where I frequently see the boot problem with powerpc64/GENERIC64...
But on thinking of this I realized something else: After such a =
powerpc/GENERIC boot of a Quad Core G5 PowerMac the first boot after =
switching to a powerpc64/GENERIC64 boot SSD also always worked. For =
example the fairly modern:
FreeBSD FBSDG5S1 10.1-PRERELEASE FreeBSD 10.1-PRERELEASE #0 r271243: Mon =
Sep 8 06:28:03 UTC 2014 =
root@releng1.nyi.freebsd.org:/usr/obj/powerpc.powerpc64/usr/src/sys/GENERI=
C64 powerpc
does in my experiments. And in experimenting I've discovered that I can =
then reboot using that powerpc64/GENERIC64 SSD over and over just fine =
--as long as I do not use startxfce4/Xorg at any point. (I've not tried =
other Xorg uses in any of my activities.)
But if I use startxfce4 then after that I have blank-screen/fans-spin-up =
problems for many/most later reboots (or shutdown -p now then power on) =
--until I go back and boot from the powerpc/GENERIC SSD.
This description holds for both the 12GByte Quad Core PowerMac G5 and =
the 16 GByte one. (Both have NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT's, unfortunately. I =
currently do not have access to a Radeon for PCI-Express PowerMacs. Nor =
to some other NVIDIA card for them. No comparison/contrast material to =
try.)
(I'll keep monitoring for a violation of this pattern in my future use. =
But I've not noticed an violation of the pattern yet.)
This suggests some sort of recording that carries over context across =
reboots and even across power-off/power-on --a recording that is messed =
up after startxfce4 and cleaned up by powerpc/GENERIC use. Possibly =
problems configuring the GeForce 7800 GT cards if they can carry such a =
context across off/on.
It also tends to mean that just having the large amount of RAM is not =
sufficient context to initiate the boot problem.
The only other PowerMac G5 I've access to has Radeon video hardware, =
PCI-X/AGP instead of PCI-Express, and has 8 GBytes of RAM (its limit), =
single-core processors (2 of them). (I do not have access to a NVIDIA =
video board for this PowerMac G5.) This PowerMac G5 does not show the =
problem when I experiment with it, at least not with modern builds. I =
can use startxfce4 and I do not have later boot problems.
[I have updated my ports and have picked up the updated Xorg, drivers, =
and the change to lang/gcc being 4.8.3. The recent experiments have that =
new context involved.]
=3D=3D=3D
Mark Millard
markmi at dsl-only.net
On Sep 13, 2014, at 2:12 AM, Mark Millard <markmi@dsl-only.net> wrote:
Context: a boot SSD with
FreeBSD FBSDG5S1 10.1-PRERELEASE FreeBSD 10.1-PRERELEASE #0 r271243: Mon =
Sep 8 06:28:03 UTC 2014 =
root@releng1.nyi.freebsd.org:/usr/obj/powerpc.powerpc64/usr/src/sys/GENERI=
C64 powerpc
moved between PowerMacs. One PowerMac kind has no boot problems. The =
other kind frequently ends up hung with a blank screen just before the =
Copyright would normally show up: the start of the FreeBSD boot messages =
never show up. (The fans eventually speed up.)
The working PowerMac is the Dual Processor (single core each) PCI-X =
based one:
FreeBSD 10.1-PRERELEASE #0 r271243: Mon Sep 8 06:28:03 UTC 2014
=
root@releng1.nyi.freebsd.org:/usr/obj/powerpc.powerpc64/usr/src/sys/GENERI=
C64 powerpc
gcc version 4.2.1 20070831 patched [FreeBSD]
VT: running with driver "ofwfb".
cpu0: IBM PowerPC 970 revision 2.2, 2000.23 MHz
cpu0: Features dc000000<PPC32,PPC64,ALTIVEC,FPU,MMU>
cpu0: HID0 511081<NAP,DPM,NHR,TBEN,ENATTN>
real memory =3D 8569122816 (8172 MB)
avail memory =3D 8148094976 (7770 MB)
FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 2 CPUs
cpu0: dev=3Dff887e10 (BSP)
cpu1: dev=3Dff889150
[ 277.833] (--) RADEON(0): Chipset: "ATI Radeon 9800PRO NH (AGP)" =
(ChipID =3D 0x4e48)
An example of the frequently failing-boot kind of PowerMac Quad core G5 =
PCI-Express context is:
FreeBSD 10.1-PRERELEASE #0 r271278: Mon Sep 8 12:40:56 PDT 2014
root@FBSDG5S0:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC64 powerpc
gcc version 4.2.1 20070831 patched [FreeBSD]
VT: running with driver "ofwfb".
cpu0: IBM PowerPC 970MP revision 1.1, 2500.34 MHz
cpu0: Features dc000000<PPC32,PPC64,ALTIVEC,FPU,MMU>
cpu0: HID0 1511081<DEEPNAP,NAP,DPM,NHR,TBEN,ENATTN>
real memory =3D 17152716800 (16358 MB)
avail memory =3D 16374759424 (15616 MB)
FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 4 CPUs
cpu0: dev=3Dff89d680 (BSP)
cpu1: dev=3Dff89eb70
cpu2: dev=3Dff89f248
cpu3: dev=3Dff89f920
(The other example I have access to has 12 GBytes of RAM instead. Both =
examples behave the same.)
[ 3310.669] (--) NV(0): Chipset: "GeForce 7800 GT"
Some of the differences are (working context on left of "vs.", failing =
on right):
PowerPC 970 rev 2.2 vs. PowerPC 970MP rev 1.1
(I.e., two single-core processors vs. two dual-core processors)
8 GBytes RAM vs. 12 or 16 GBytes RAM (and slower vs. faster RAM)
ATI Radeon 9800PRO NH (AGP) vs. GeForce 7800 GT
clock rate: 2GHz vs. 2.5 GHz
PCI-X vs. PCI-Express
gem ethernet vs. bge ethernet
Whatever the OpenFirmware and such details are for the two kinds of =
PowerMacs.
Merely having more than 2 GBytes RAM or 4 GBytes RAM is not enough =
context for there to be a boot-hang problem.
=3D=3D=3D
Mark Millard
markmi at dsl-only.net
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