Cannot boot Feb 16th natty-server-powerpc.iso on pSeries mod 520

[pakraticus]

This server has successfully booted /install/powerpc64/vmlinux from ubuntu 10.04 and 10.10 (Only to be thwarted by lack of veth and vscsi support (Bug 712188).
In seeing if the problem has been resolved in natty yet, I pulled the February 16th daily ISO build.

yaboot starts successfully.
Then I have the following failure.

boot: expert-powerpc64
Please wait, loading kernel...
/install/powerpc64/vmlinux: Not a valid ELF image

It would appear that the creation of vmlinux was slightly botched.
$ file /tmp/1*4/install/powerpc64/vmlinux
/tmp/10.04/install/powerpc64/vmlinux: ELF 64-bit MSB executable, 64-bit PowerPC or cisco 7500, version 1 (SYSV), statically linked, not stripped
/tmp/11.04/install/powerpc64/vmlinux: ELF 64-bit MSB shared object, 64-bit PowerPC or cisco 7500, version 1 (SYSV), statically linked, not stripped

[pakraticus (pakraticus)]

To further clarify. The non-working natty vmlinux is a shared object. The working lucid image is an executable object.

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Hi pakraticus,

Please be sure to confirm this issue exists with the latest development release of Ubuntu. ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily/current/ . If the issue remains, please run the following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p linux 720911

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

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[pakraticus (pakraticus)]

Jeremy,

Apport requires linux and a shell to be running.
Because the install/powerpc64/vmlinux is a shared object instead of an executable object, yaboot declares it to be an invalid object and I can't get past yaboot.

The results from the 2011Feb23 natty-alternate-powerpc.iso

boot: expert-powerpc64
Please wait, loading kernel...
/install/powerpc64/vmlinux: Not a valid ELF image

And examining /install/powerpc64/vmlinux
/tmp/mnt/install/powerpc64/vmlinux: ELF 64-bit MSB shared object, 64-bit PowerPC or cisco 7500, version 1 (SYSV), statically linked, not stripped

I'm fairly certain the version of yaboot on the CD image doesn't support loading shared objects.

Also, kernel mainline is useless at this point unless someone wants to post detailed instructions on how build a powerpc install CD from a Debian chroot.

[Robert Hagan (roberthagan)]

Dear colleagues, has this problem been fixed. I have a YDL PowerStation which has experienced the same ELF issue. I would like to install ubuntu but do not know how to proceed. Any guidance would be most appreciated.

[Sergey V. Udaltsov (sergey-udaltsov)]

The problem is still there. Natty is unusable on ppc

[Sergey V. Udaltsov (sergey-udaltsov)]

Can this bug be marked as critical or smth?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]