I’m trying to setup openSUSE 12.3 on a Mac Pro. Specs: 2 x 3 Ghz Quad-Core Intel Xeon running OSX 10.5.8.
Neither the DVD nor KDE LiveCD nor NetworkInstall will boot (same result if they were dd’ed onto a USB or burned on a DVD/CD). I installed rEFInd and have multiple boot choices:
(1) “Boot EFI\BOOT\bootx64.efi from BOOT”
(2) “Boot EFI\BOOT\grub.efi from BOOT”
(3) "Boot Legacy OS from CD"
The first two options result in: “Error: Unsupported while loading bootx64.efi/grub.efi” right after it says “Using load options ’ '”. I can then go back to the rEFInd menu. The third option results in:
**"1. Legacy (isolinux)
UEFI (elilo)
Select CD-ROM Boot Type :"**
at which point the system becomes unresponsive.
Although I know this is a 64bit system I also tried the 32bit version of openSUSE. In this case all I get is option 3 in the boot menu (the legacy one) and it does not work either.
Is there anything I can do to be able to boot into the openSUSE install media? Has anyone had success on a Mac Pro?
hi guys, I just had the same problem on a Dell Inspiron 1423, the home-burned 12.3 DVD hanged after the screen message “loading bootlogo” and freezed the machine: after trying three different DVDs burned on different hw with the same result, then I tried booting with an original RedHat EL 6 x64 DVD… it booted… then I tried with an original SuSE SLED 11 x64 DVD… it booted… suddenly I tried with OpenSuSE 12.2 NET x64 install-CD (please note: CD!) and it worked… SOLUTION: install OpenSuSE 12.3 from the NET install-CD: it’s only 242MB, at boot it loads from the web all the system files it needs, it gives all the options for the bootloader GRUB 2 and GRUB-EFI… done successfully! My freshly new 12.3 machine boots up in 9 sec at login and it takes about 25 sec to get my desktop.
Model’s Name: iMac
Model’s ID: iMac8,1
uProc Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
uProc Speed: 2,8 GHz
uProc Number: 1
uProc Cores: 2
Cache L2: 6 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 1,07 GHz
OS: Mac OS X - Snow Leopard
**SYMPTOMS OF THE PROBLEM
**-*None of the SuSE installation DVDs work *(Live, Network, Full… both 32 and 64 bits).
-DVDs can’t even be mounted with the OS, just rejected by the system.
OS Message: “The Computer can’t read the disc introduced”
**WORK AROUND **
Here what I am trying to do:
STEP 1 - 3 Partitions Creation:
Mac OS
SuSE Linux DVD
Free Space (for openSuSE full installation)
I’m running OS X Snow Leopard, Ubuntu Studio 12.10 and openSUSE 12.3 on my iMac 8,1 along with rEFInd as my boot manager. If you are still having trouble, please reply and I’ll do my best to assist.
For Cesar: I am confused about the method you chose for partitioning. What is the reason for the DVD partition? Also, I would suggest using rEFInd in place of rEFIt. I have found it to be much more versatile and compatible with a variety of multiboot linux installations on my iMac. Also, you can get current updates and communicate with the author if necessary, which is not possible with rEFIt as it’s no longer supported by the creator.
Very brief version: If using rEFInd, copy the ext4_x64.efi driver (or other driver matching the file system format choice for the openSUSE partition… my choice was ext4) into efi/refind/drivers_x64 folder on your OS X volume; If you can’t locate the drivers already on your Mac, then mount the rEFInd ISO and copy what you need from there. With text edit add these lines (with no # in beginning of line) to the efi/refind/refind.conf file:
Under “types of bootloaders to search” section add: scanfor internal,hdbios,external,biosexternal,optical,cd,manual
“Scan for Linux kernels that lack a “.efi” filename extension” section: remove #[size=2] from [/size]before “scan_all_linux_kernels”
Save file and quit text editor.
I burned the 64bit open SUSE installation DVD and booted directly into it by holding down the “C” key during a restart; From there the openSUSE install is very typical, with the main modification being my change during the partitioning session… I unchecked the "Propose separate home partition, as I store personal data on an external HD. I then chose to edit the partitions button at the bottom of the window. From the partitioning editor, I created a 2GB swap partition and a 30 GB " / " (root) partition… adjust size to meet your needs. Just make certain you don’t touch your OS X partitions prior to moving forward; Your partitions should be on sda3 or higher, not on sda1 or sda2 as those should be your OS X volumes. The entire installation should go to the / partition…including grub2 and you can verify all on the “installation settings” page which shows you the details prior to you clicking “install.”
Post installation you may have to reboot 1 or 2 times prior to rEFInd picking up and/or reinstall rEFInd from OS X… that has been my experience on several occasions. If you do reinstall it, just copy the entire refind folder to the desktop prior, then you can copy the custom files back into the fresh rEFInd install if necessary. Once rEFInd is functioning, you may see quite a few linux choices displayed… look for “vmlinuz-3.7.10-1.1-desktop” (with a hard drive icon displayed under it, NOT a CD icon) and click on that to boot openSUSE. Once logged in, launch the File Manager and choose the red Root folder on the left… choose the boot folder. Here we create the folder structure used earlier in our refind.conf file: efi/EFI/openSUSE … 3 new folders total. Now copy the contents of the boot/grub2 folder into your new openSUSE folder. Now shut down completely, boot up and see if you have “boot/efi/EFI/OpenSUSE/grub.efi” listed… that is the goal. Once achieved then we can go back into OS X and edit the refind.conf file to remove the extra garbage entries from the rEFInd menu:
Under “types of bootloaders to search” section remove “hdbios” from list
“Scan for Linux kernels that lack a “.efi” filename extension” section: add **#**before “scan_all_linux_kernels”
Save your refind.conf file, reboot and maybe reboot again and then with some luck you’ll end up with 2 Menu entries… Mac OS X and Linux (you can rename an icon file of your choosing in efi/refind/icons folder to “os_OpenSUSE.icns” to automatically be used in place of generic linux icon)
I have tried what Chris has said (thank you for trying to help!) - but I get the same result as described in my first post: rEFInd provides three options: (1) bootx64.efi and (2) grub.efi, which both end up with “Unsupported while loading…” and (3) Legacy OS, which results in the screen for selecting "1. Legacy, 2. UEFI (elilo) - Select CD-ROM boot type: " - at which point the computer is frozen (or at least does not accept any input to select one of the options).
If I start from CD straight away (holding “c” while booting) I end up with (3) and the “1. Legacy, 2. UEFI (elilo) - Select CD-ROM boot type” screen again.
I feel completely stupid with this. I have been working with Suse since version 9.x but getting this installed on a Mac sets me back to Kindergarten…
This appears to be a known Apple firmware bug - it fails to boot from legacy CD-ROM that has multiple boot images. openSUSE DVD supports both legacy BIOS and UEFI and each has own entry in boot catalog. The common workaround is to use CD with single boot entry. I think openSUSE live images do not support UEFI and should be bootable.
Apparently Apple needs a bit more on DVD to recognize that it is EFI-bootable. I experimented with grub2 rescue image and current development version creates images that are recognized by Apple as both legacy and EFI bootable and correctly boot in EFI mode.
I can’t comment on eEFInd as I have never used it. But as far as I know some older Macs have 32 bit firmware (even though processor is 64 bit). So you may need to use 32 bit grub in this case (or dual image, which current grub2 supports).
If you are interested I could upload somewhere grub2 rescue image created from current grub2 development version. It contains all three platform (legacy, 32 and 64 bit EFI); if it boots, you can check whether it picked up 32 or 64 bit.
Did you try to boot without rEFInd? I just tested openSUSE 12.2 x86_64 DVD on MacBook Pro 3.1. I booted holding Options key to enter boot menu; inserted DVD - after some time two icons (EFI and Windows CD) appeared. Selecting EFI correctly booted. I did not perform install this time, but it happily booted into rescue menu.
I had tried that initially, before installing rEFInd - and got to the same screen (“select boot option… (1) legacy (2) elilo”) where no keyboard input is possible. But I think there may be something to what you said in your previous post. Although the processor is 64bit - the firmware may be 32bit. I tried again with a 32bit 12.3 KDE Live CD and got to the installation screen! I haven’t tried the 32bit DVD yet.
Can you upload the grub2 rescue image that supports 32 and 64bit? I would like to test and confirm that this is the cause. Can you ultimately mix 32bit grub2 with a 64bit installation?
If grub is booted, use “set” to display variables. Check for grub_cpu and grub_platform values.
Can you ultimately mix 32bit grub2 with a 64bit installation?
it should be possible, but there is no direct support in openSUSE (for a start, you do not have 32 bit EFI package in 64 bit openSUSE). If you do not need EFI, legacy grub2 is always 32 bit anyway (i386-pc platform).
I would recommend inserting DVD after you have reached boot menu. Booting with DVD inserted results in two links for EFI boot and I have no idea which one is correct.
OK, I now reinstalled OS/X 10.7 and did second installation of openSUSE 12.3. I used EFI CD boot and it installed without much problems. I had to manually “bless” booting from EFI partition, otherwise it booted straight into OS/X without any way to manually select installed openSUSE.
The one problem is, I cannot boot OS/X from grub2 menu. It was added, but both 32 and 64 options result in OS/X kernel crash. I have near to zero experience with Mac, so I’m not even sure what difference between two options is and why I have two of them.
Using the grub2 iso from you I was able to confirm that this mac really does have 32bit EFI (but 64 bit kernel). The 32bit openSUSE 12.3 LiveCD will boot, but the 64bit openSUSE 12.3 LiveCD will not (it does not have just one boot option!). What a nightmare. I have tried so many options, booting manually in grub, etc. etc. I think I will just have to stick with 32bit openSUSE or look for a different distribution that is possible to boot.
Unless someone can make a 64bit openSUSE 12.3 image (liveCD, Net, DVD, whatever) that only has the legacy boot option…
Total failure here, still trying to solve the issue.
Here the description of the problem, eventually could help:
My iMac 24" Aluminium (november 2008) can’t boot, completely frozen, although all HW are perfectly working.
I’ll try to explain the issue best I can. SYMPTOMS- After a chime… grey screen of death without Apple’s logo.
No bootable devices detected (either HDD or DVD), when you hold ALT (Option) while booting.
No way to force boot from DVD. CAUSE OF PROBLEMS****a) HDD has 3 partitions created by DiskUtils:
/dev/disk0s2= Mac OS(HFS+)
/dev/disk0s3= Linux DVD Installer (FAT32)
/dev/disk0s4= User Data(HFS+). b) rEFIt installed and fully working on the system ( rEFIt - An EFI Boot Menu and Toolkit ) c) Linux DVD installer partition was filled this way: dd if=/path/to/linux.iso of=/dev/disk0s3
As you can see, there are no HW errors at all, everything was perfectly working before dumping the Linux iso into FAT partition. TEST BEDIn the process of dealing with iMac booting problems I organized a test bed which allow to detect where the booting is failing: STAGE 0 - Setting initial boot memory conditions. STAGE 1 - Reset NVRAM memory to factory defaults. STAGE 2 - Booting from external device. STAGE 3 - Reinstall iMac firmware. STAGE 4 - Hardware intervention.
Before running the test bed:
a) Unplug all devices except USB keyboard (no wireless keyboard, no mouse… you can plug an USB mouse once you see the graphical user interface up and running).
b) Combination of keys available on booting: Startup key combinations for Intel-based Macs STAGE 0 - Setting initial boot memory conditionsThis bundle of tests must be executed before any test of next stages.
TEST 0.1 - Erasing booting memory values.
Leave the iMac disconnected from all wires (especially power cord) for 15 minutes for memories to loose their values. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JId524890….
TEST 0.2- Resetting PRAM memory.
a) Press Power button
b) Press CMD+ALT+P+R keys while black screen, before you hear the chime.
c) Hold these keys until you hear 3 chimes (3 reboots). About NVRAM and PRAM.
**STAGE 1 - Reset NVRAM memories to factory defaults.**TEST 1.1 - Validate machine with Apple’s Hardware Test.
=> Detect Hardware errors with Apple’s Hardware Test
a) Original Apple’s Installation DVD on the machine
Installation DVD should show something like this
DISC 1
Mac OS version 10.5.4
AHT version 3A152
Disc version 1.1
2Z691-6304-A
To use Apple Hardware Test, hold down the D key as the computer starts up.
b) Holding Down D key as the computer starts up Intel-based Macs: Using Apple Hardware Test.
=> Hardware OK: continue with Stages 1, 2 and 3 => Hardware Failure: jump to Stage 4 (skip Stages 1, 2 and 3) => Unable to run Apple’s Hardware Test: jump to Stage 3, firmware restoration
TEST 1.2 - Change RAM Configuration: amount or disposition.
a) Open RAM Slot
b) Extract RAM stick from Slot.
c) If you only have one RAM stick, reintroduce it in the unused empty slot of memory.
TEST 1.3 - Resetting PRAM memory.
Please check TEST 0.2 STAGE 2 - Booting from external device TEST 2.1 - Boot from DVD.
a) Introduce Apple’s Mac OS original DVD on the unit.
b) Run Test 0.1 and Test 0.2
=> Force DVD as Booting Device.
c) Press power button.
d) Press C key while black screen, before you hear the chime.
e) Keep hold the C key until you see the MacOS installer window. Startup key combinations for Intel-based Macs
=> If still no boot from DVD: StartUp Manager with DVD inside the machine.
c) Keep hold Power Button 10 seconds to reboot the machine.
d) Press ALT key while black screen, before you hear the chime.
e) Keep hold the ALT key until you see the StartUp Manager.
f) From StartUp Manager, choose DVD as booting option. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/138…
=> If still no boot from DVD: StartUp Manager without DVD inside the machine.
c) Keep hold Power Button 10 seconds to reboot the machine.
d) Press F12 key while black screen, before you hear the chime.
e) Keep hold the F12 key until DVD is spelled from the iMac.
f) Run StartUp Manager again (see steps above) .
g) Insert Apple’s Mac OS DVD on machine while StarUp Manager is running.
h) From StartUp Manager, choose DVD as booting option. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/138…
TEST 2.3 - Remote Installation.
You can run this test twice: remote installation from PC and MAC.
=> Remote Installation Server on PC/MAC:
a) Mac OS DVD on PC/MAC optical drive
b) Install Network Client (just run setup.exe from DVD and follow the steps until everything is installed).
c) Keep open a window saying… machine is ready for Remote Install.
=> Physical Direct Network Connection between Remote Installation Server and iMac
a) Unplug power cord from iMac for 15 minutes.
b) Connect to the Server Machine this way:
Option 1.- Crossover Ethernet wire direct connection,
Option 2.- Using an Ethernet switch with no additional devices plugged to the switch.
=> StartUp Manager on Client
a) Run Test 0.1 and Test 0.2
b) Press power button.
c) Press ALT key while black screen, before you hear the chime.
d) Keep hold the ALT key until you see the StartUp Manager.
e) From StartUp Manager, choose NetInstall as booting option. Mac OS X 10.6: Using Remote Install Mac OS X
=> Force Boot from the Network
a) Run Test 0.1 and Test 0.2
b) Press Power Button.
c) Press N key while black screen, before you hear the chime.
d) Keep hold the N key until you see the Mac OS X Installation screen.
=> If no NetBoot after 15 minutes: NetBoot from StartUp Manager
a) Keep hold Power Button 10 seconds to reboot the machine.
b) Press ALT key while black screen, before you hear the chime.
c) Keep hold the ALT key until you see the StartUp Manager.
d) From StartUp Manager, choose NetInstall as booting option.
TEST 2.5 - Apple’s Mac OS Installer/Reparation from External USB HardDrive.
Very unlikely to work.
=> Boot iMac from USB device Starting from an external USB storage device (Intel-based Macs) STAGE 3 - Reinstall/Repair iMac Firmware TEST 3.1 - Using Firmware Reinstallation CD. a) Download and burn Firmware Restoration CD for your iMac
iMac 8,1: Software License Agreement for Firmware Restoration CD 1.3 b) From power off state, press the power button and continue to hold it down until the “Sleep” LED blinks rapidly three times, then slowly three times, then rapidly three more times… this could be chimes, instead of LED blinks! Keep the power button pressed down. c) Insert the Firmware Restoration CD you have burned into the iMac’s CD drive, then release the power button. d) Monitor the “Progress Bar” beneath the Apple logo as the restoration process updates your iMac’s firmware, taking care not to disconnect the power, shut down your computer or restart your computer (otherwise, you will have to start over). The iMac will restart automatically once the firmware restoration is complete.
TEST 3.2 - Using Apple’s Propietary Software.
Contact Apple’s Technical Support to know the price. STAGE 4 - Hardware Intervention TEST 4.1 - Replace the faulty Hardware on your own.
a) To detect faulty Hardware, please run Test 1.1
b) Replace the Hardware following those instructions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w6E2_Xqa…
Total failure here, still trying to solve the issue.
Here the description of the problem, eventually could help:
My iMac 24" Aluminium (november 2008) can’t boot, completely frozen, although all HW are perfectly working.
I’ll try to explain the issue best I can.
SYMPTOMS
After a chime… grey screen of death without Apple’s logo.
No bootable devices detected (either HDD or DVD), when you hold ALT (Option) while booting.
No way to force boot from DVD.
CAUSE OF PROBLEMS
a) HDD has 3 partitions created by DiskUtils:
/dev/disk0s2= Mac OS(HFS+)
/dev/disk0s3= Linux DVD Installer (FAT32)
/dev/disk0s4= User Data(HFS+). b) rEFIt installed and fully working on the system ( http://refit.sourceforge.net/ ) c) Linux DVD installer partition was filled this way: dd if=/path/to/linux.iso of=/dev/disk0s3
As you can see, there are no HW errors at all, everything was perfectly working before dumping the Linux iso into FAT partition.
TEST BED
In the process of dealing with iMac booting problems I organized a test bed which allow to detect where the booting is failing: STAGE 0 - Setting initial boot memory conditions. STAGE 1 - Reset NVRAM memory to factory defaults. STAGE 2 - Booting from external device. STAGE 3 - Reinstall iMac firmware. STAGE 4 - Hardware intervention.
Before running the test bed:
a) Unplug all devices except USB keyboard (no wireless keyboard, no mouse… you can plug an USB mouse once you see the graphical user interface up and running).
b) Combination of keys available on booting: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1533
STAGE 0 - Setting initial boot memory conditions
This bundle of tests must be executed before any test of next stages.
TEST 0.1 - Erasing booting memory values.
Leave the iMac disconnected from all wires (especially power cord) for 15 minutes for memories to loose their values. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JId524890….
TEST 0.2- Resetting PRAM memory.
a) Press Power button
b) Press CMD+ALT+P+R keys while black screen, before you hear the chime.
c) Hold these keys until you hear 3 chimes (3 reboots). Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support.
STAGE 1 - Reset NVRAM memories to factory defaults.
TEST 1.1 - Validate machine with Apple’s Hardware Test.
=> Detect Hardware errors with Apple’s Hardware Test
a) Original Apple’s Installation DVD on the machine
Installation DVD should show something like this
DISC 1
Mac OS version 10.5.4
AHT version 3A152
Disc version 1.1
2Z691-6304-A
To use Apple Hardware Test, hold down the D key as the computer starts up.
b) Holding Down D key as the computer starts up How to use Apple Hardware Test on your Mac - Apple Support.
=> Hardware OK: continue with Stages 1, 2 and 3 => Hardware Failure: jump to Stage 4 (skip Stages 1, 2 and 3) => Unable to run Apple’s Hardware Test: jump to Stage 3, firmware restoration
TEST 1.2 - Change RAM Configuration: amount or disposition.
a) Open RAM Slot
b) Extract RAM stick from Slot.
c) If you only have one RAM stick, reintroduce it in the unused empty slot of memory.
TEST 1.3 - Resetting PRAM memory.
Please check TEST 0.2
STAGE 2 - Booting from external device
TEST 2.1 - Boot from DVD.
a) Introduce Apple’s Mac OS original DVD on the unit.
b) Run Test 0.1 and Test 0.2
=> Force DVD as Booting Device.
c) Press power button.
d) Press C key while black screen, before you hear the chime.
e) Keep hold the C key until you see the MacOS installer window. http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1533
=> If still no boot from DVD: StartUp Manager with DVD inside the machine.
c) Keep hold Power Button 10 seconds to reboot the machine.
d) Press ALT key while black screen, before you hear the chime.
e) Keep hold the ALT key until you see the StartUp Manager.
f) From StartUp Manager, choose DVD as booting option. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/138…
=> If still no boot from DVD: StartUp Manager without DVD inside the machine.
c) Keep hold Power Button 10 seconds to reboot the machine.
d) Press F12 key while black screen, before you hear the chime.
e) Keep hold the F12 key until DVD is spelled from the iMac.
f) Run StartUp Manager again (see steps above) .
g) Insert Apple’s Mac OS DVD on machine while StarUp Manager is running.
h) From StartUp Manager, choose DVD as booting option. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/138…
TEST 2.3 - Remote Installation.
You can run this test twice: remote installation from PC and MAC.
=> Remote Installation Server on PC/MAC:
a) Mac OS DVD on PC/MAC optical drive
b) Install Network Client (just run setup.exe from DVD and follow the steps until everything is installed).
c) Keep open a window saying… machine is ready for Remote Install.
=> Physical Direct Network Connection between Remote Installation Server and iMac
a) Unplug power cord from iMac for 15 minutes.
b) Connect to the Server Machine this way:
Option 1.- Crossover Ethernet wire direct connection,
Option 2.- Using an Ethernet switch with no additional devices plugged to the switch.
=> StartUp Manager on Client
a) Run Test 0.1 and Test 0.2
b) Press power button.
c) Press ALT key while black screen, before you hear the chime.
d) Keep hold the ALT key until you see the StartUp Manager.
e) From StartUp Manager, choose NetInstall as booting option. http://support.apple.com/kb/PH6450
TEST 2.4 - NetInstall.
=> Prepare NetInstall Mac OS NetBoot Server
Option 1 - Using Mac OS X Server
=> Force Boot from the Network
a) Run Test 0.1 and Test 0.2
b) Press Power Button.
c) Press N key while black screen, before you hear the chime.
d) Keep hold the N key until you see the Mac OS X Installation screen.
=> If no NetBoot after 15 minutes: NetBoot from StartUp Manager
a) Keep hold Power Button 10 seconds to reboot the machine.
b) Press ALT key while black screen, before you hear the chime.
c) Keep hold the ALT key until you see the StartUp Manager.
d) From StartUp Manager, choose NetInstall as booting option.
TEST 2.5 - Apple’s Mac OS Installer/Reparation from External USB HardDrive.
Very unlikely to work.
=> Create Bootable OS X USB device
a) Format HDD with GUID partition. http://support.apple.com/kb/PH7247
b) Fill the partition with the Mac OS X installer (only the version your iMac came with, no newer, no older).
=> Boot iMac from USB device
STAGE 3 - Reinstall/Repair iMac Firmware
TEST 3.1 - Using Firmware Reinstallation CD. a) Download and burn Firmware Restoration CD for your iMac
iMac 8,1: http://support.apple.com/kb/TA24012 b) From power off state, press the power button and continue to hold it down until the “Sleep” LED blinks rapidly three times, then slowly three times, then rapidly three more times… this could be chimes, instead of LED blinks! Keep the power button pressed down. c) Insert the Firmware Restoration CD you have burned into the iMac’s CD drive, then release the power button. d) Monitor the “Progress Bar” beneath the Apple logo as the restoration process updates your iMac’s firmware, taking care not to disconnect the power, shut down your computer or restart your computer (otherwise, you will have to start over). The iMac will restart automatically once the firmware restoration is complete.
TEST 3.2 - Using Apple’s Propietary Software.
Contact Apple’s Technical Support to know the price.
STAGE 4 - Hardware Intervention
TEST 4.1 - Replace the faulty Hardware on your own.
a) To detect faulty Hardware, please run Test 1.1
b) Replace the Hardware following those instructions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w6E2_Xqa…