[Bug 34508] 2.6.15-19 kernel fails to boot on ppc machine

[Ben Stanley]

I updated from a perfectly working Breezy to Dapper by apt-get dist-upgrade on 5/4/06, and now I have a wonderful paperweight that won't boot. The machine is a 2000 PowerBook "Pismo" model. (/proc/cpuinfo says PowerBook3). The installed kernel version is 2.6.15-19-powerpc.

When the machine tries to boot using the default (2.6.15-19) kernel, it displays only the following message:
[   24.007715] no framebuffer address found for /pci at f0000000/ATY,RageM3pParent at 10/ATY,RageM3pB

It then hangs for a few minutes and then displays the following message:
ALERT! /dev/hda13 does not exist. Dropping to a shell!

then drops into BusyBox.

If I try to boot using the previously working Breezy kernel (2.6.12-10), I get the following behaviour:
[   ??.??????] aty128fb: Invalid ROM signature 0 should be 0xaa55
[   ??.??????] no framebuffer address found for /pci at f0000000/ATY,RageM3pParent at 10/ATY,RageM3pB
Segmentation fault
<repeats for many screenfulls>
ALERT! /dev/hda13 does not exist. Dropping to a shell!
[Note that the messages about aty128fb and RageM3p were also displayed during normal operation of Breezy.]

If I try to boot using Linux debug at the yaboot prompt, it probes the ide devices (not the partition tables), starts up the TCP stack, and the last few messags are:
[   28.852783] Freeing unused kernel memory: 180k init
[   29.013427] Capability LSM initialized
[   29.121935] Found KeyWest i2c on "uni-n", 2 channels, stepping: 4 bits
[   29.128864] Found KeyWest i2c on "mac-io", 1 channel, stepping: 4 bits
Then it hangs for a little while and drops into BusyBox.

These tests were conducted with the laptop connected only to the power supply, an ethernet and a Logitech 3 button USB wheelmouse. Removing the mouse did not seem to have any effect.

The issue I am describing here seems to be a little different from that described by others.

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2.6.15 kernel fails to boot on ppc machine
https://launchpad.net/malone/bugs/34508