ubuntu install fail

[booda_33]

hi everyone...sorry to be a noob...i just acquired a PowerMac G4 with Ubuntu already installed...i bought this computer from the IT department where i work, because it has not been used in a couple years. Nobody is still with the company that can tell me what the username and password is. I downloaded and burned the Ubuntu boot disk, but when i try to boot it to reinstall it just says: booting CDROM... and does nothing. tried a couple different copies of the Ubuntu boot disk and still nothing. i also cannot get into the root login, nor can i get it to boot into 'recovery Mode' im new to the website so sory if this is a repost...please help

[hugortega]

Chek this: Tips for Ubuntu on PowerBook G4 - Ubuntu Forums

[booda_33]

Its a PoweMac not a PowerBook

[Rubberman]

It doesn't matter whether or not it is a PowerMac or PowerBook. You need any Linux recovery/rescue disc for the G4 processor. Boot with the recovery CD, login as root, create a mount point for the original file system (such as /mnt/oldroot), mount the original file system on the newly created mount point, then run the command chroot /mnt/oldroot. Finally, you can create a new user+password with the passwd command, then add the new user to the sudoers list. Reboot normally and use the new user+password to login.

[booda_33]

is there a redily available download for the recover ISO

[booda_33]

found one, ill update if this works

[booda_33]

i cannot get it to boot from CD ROM, and still no luck on the recovery Mode...im up sh!t creek

[Outcast_Aussie]

You can't get into bios and change the boot order from HD to cd ?

btw.. you need PPC version of live disk

[booda_33]

You can't get into bios and change the boot order from HD to cd ?

btw.. you need PPC version of live disk

i am extremely new to mac, i didnt think the bios was accessable, also the ubuntu disk i have has installed on other machines fine.

[D-cat]

Actually the MAC has what's called an EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface), it's kind of like a BIOS but settings and firmware are stored on disk. The idea was to allow it more space and make it more flexible. If your PowerMac is trying to boot from the CD, then this is all irrelevant.

I don't know what's used for a bootloader in the PPC version. If you can edit the menu command on boot, remove "quiet splash" from the end of the kernel line and add init=/bin/sh . Boot with that, and if you're lucky, you'll get a command prompt. from here you can do some basic tasks like change passwords.