Successfully installed FreeBSD 10.1 on Apple PowerMac G5 -- BUT -- system freezes after a few minutes of running.

[Rick Thomas]

Thanks!

I hope to be able to get the log files by removing the disk and putting it in a different machine, or by booting the install disk as a “live” system and extracting the log files from the disk to a USB stick.  I’ll report when I have something.

As for tracking down the specific versions of things, I installed from unmodified
	FreeBSD-10.1-STABLE-powerpc-powerpc64-20150121-r277483-disc1.iso
It was a plain vanilla install — nothing special.
It’s worth noting that the machine stayed up happily all through the install process.
I did check the MD5sum so I’m pretty sure I got a good copy.
And a big “Thank You!” to Bill Sorenson for confirming that this is the latest/best…

I will follow up on your point about removing parts until I get a working config.  I’ll start by stripping out all RAM above 2GB and any unneeded PCI cards.

Enjoy!
Rick

On Feb 2, 2015, at 12:05 AM, Mark Millard <markmi at dsl-only.net> wrote:

> If every boot gives some time before things freeze up you might be able to extract and report the outputs of commands like:
> 
> $ freebsd-version -ku; uname -a
> 10.1-RELEASE-p5
> 10.1-RELEASE-p5
> FreeBSD FBSDG5M1 10.1-RELEASE-p5 FreeBSD 10.1-RELEASE-p5 #0 r277808M: Fri Jan 30 00:58:33 PST 2015     root at FBSDG5M1:/usr/obj/usr/home/markmi/src_10_1_releng/sys/GENERIC64vtsc  powerpc
> 
> (There is more than one 'powerpc64 FreeBSD 10.1 "disk1" CD' that can be burned, such 10.1-RELEASE vs., say, a recent 10.1-STABLE. But it turns out that until very recently powerpc64 CD burns did not work for booting PowerMac G5s so more than normal is known about which versions could have be installed from a CD.)
> 
> Despite the mention of there being no console messages I list some basics below about dumping messages out anyway...
> 
> $ tail /var/log/messages
> Feb  1 21:37:40 FBSDG5M1 kernel: uhid1: <vendor 0x05ac product 0x9218, class 0/0, rev 1.00/1.0e, addr 7> on usbus1
> Feb  1 21:37:40 FBSDG5M1 kernel: hid_get_item: Number of items truncated to 255
> Feb  1 21:37:40 FBSDG5M1 last message repeated 2 times
> Feb  1 21:37:41 FBSDG5M1 ntpd[991]: ntpd 4.2.4p5-a (1)
> Feb  1 21:37:43 FBSDG5M1 dbus[924]: [system] Activating service name='org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit' (using servicehelper)
> Feb  1 21:37:43 FBSDG5M1 dbus[924]: [system] Activating service name='org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1' (using servicehelper)
> Feb  1 21:37:43 FBSDG5M1 dbus[924]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1'
> Feb  1 21:37:43 FBSDG5M1 dbus[924]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit'
> Feb  1 21:37:52 FBSDG5M1 ntpd[992]: time reset +1.748777 s
> Feb  1 21:38:01 FBSDG5M1 login: ROOT LOGIN (root) ON ttyv0
> 
> $ dmesg -a | tail
> Configuring vt: blanktime.
> Performing sanity check on sshd configuration.
> Starting sshd.
> Starting sendmail_submit.
> Starting sendmail_msp_queue.
> Starting cron.
> Starting background file system checks in 60 seconds.
> 
> Sun Feb  1 21:37:42 PST 2015
> Feb  1 21:38:01 FBSDG5M1 login: ROOT LOGIN (root) ON ttyv0
> 
> tail by itself may not give enough context. Full copies would be nice but I do not know about fitting the time before the hangup.
> 
> The intent is to have a more complete specification of which 10.1 variant and to see if problems are being logged before the complete hangup.
> 
> Others may well have better suggestions than mine for getting evidence.
> 
> 
> You should probably indicate if you are using just the console vs., say, X11. (Although it is probably just the console if it never stayed up long enough to establish more context.) Some folks may want to know the video card involved or other configuration information, even for simple console usage.
> 
> 
> 
> Historically for a base system configuration (video card & monitor, SSD appropriate to the SATA vintage, appropriate superdrive vintage/variant that FreeBSD would tolerate) if I've made it to the login prompt and I had not mixed and matched distinct kernel and world vintages for some reason then I've had no later troubles with panics, hangups, or the like for 10.0 or 10.1 vintages that I've installed.
> 
> But that was after I removed all the PCI-Express cards (G5 quad-core) but the video: My earlier attempts at using the pre-existing SATA cards and SSD's/disks from them was unreliable even for simple console usage. I took the direction of simplifying/removing stuff until what was left just worked, such as the built-in SATA. I've not gone back yet to figure out if I can make anything that I removed work well. (I'm still learning/investigating other things for FreeBSD and am in no rush about what I removed.)
> 
> I temporarily had my hands on a PowerMac G5 that would overheat if kept busy. But its fan would be going faster than normal after warming up while idle. The fans would go full speed well before the shutdown when it would overheat. So that sort of issue is not a match to what you report.
> 
> 
> ===
> Mark Millard
> markmi at dsl-only.net
> 
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