Booting Fedora (any) on a Macbook Pro 8,2

[SwissalpS]

In summary:
The live-CD iso was downloaded Sunday, it booted fine, installed but failed to install bootloader.

Now that I can copy/paste, here my two working GRUB entries:

menuentry "Fedora 16 fakebios, askmethod" {
        fakebios
        linux (hd0,4)/vmlinuz-3.1.0-7.fc16.x86_64 root=/dev/sda10 askmethod
        initrd (hd0,4)/initramfs-3.1.0-7.fc16.x86_64.img
}

menuentry "Fedora 16 fakebios rhgb rd.luks rd.md rd.dm" {
        fakebios
	root=(hd0,10)
        linux (hd0,4)/vmlinuz-3.1.0-7.fc16.x86_64 root=/dev/sda10 rhgb rd.luks=0 rd.md=0 rd.dm=0
        initrd (hd0,4)/initramfs-3.1.0-7.fc16.x86_64.img
}

for the first boot only the second entry worked, from then on both boot fine.

got EFI here

Boot partition(sda4/hd0,4) is formated as ext2.
As previous attempts had failed to install bootloader, I skipped that part.

BOOTX64.efi and grub.cfg reside on FAT32 partition sda6.

---------- Post added at 04:41 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:37 AM ----------

Originally Posted by chrismurphy

OK interesting. I take it you did not use yum to install GRUB2? What happens if you type

yum info grub2-efi

I probably didn't use yum until now. Installed all software with the GUI front-end.

here's the output you requested:

Available Packages
Name        : grub2-efi
Arch        : x86_64
Epoch       : 1
Version     : 1.99
Release     : 13.fc16
Size        : 1.3 M
Repo        : updates
Summary     : GRUB for EFI systems.
URL         : http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/
License     : GPLv3+
Description : The GRand Unified Bootloader (GRUB) is a highly configurable and
            : customizable bootloader with modular architecture.  It support
            : rich varietyof kernel formats, file systems, computer
            : architectures and hardware devices.  This subpackage provides
            : support for EFI systems.

[chrismurphy]

Well at least that version is not installed. The GUI software installer should be using yum. Try downloading bootinfoscript and running it, then posting the results.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/bootinfoscript/

---------- Post added at 11:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:00 PM ----------

Those GRUB entries look like Grub Legacy entries rather than generated by grub2-mkconfig. I'm guessing that grub.cfg is custom. So maybe the fakebios is now working.

This disk has 10 partitions?

[SwissalpS]

To speed up the process, I cloned the live-CD to a USB-stick. And used it and OS X to manipulate the 'not working' F16 installation.

Originally Posted by chrismurphy

Those GRUB entries look like Grub Legacy entries rather than generated by grub2-mkconfig. I'm guessing that grub.cfg is custom. So maybe the fakebios is now working.

I only used yum (directly or indirectly) when booted from the USB-stick to download the kernel documentation. That did not help much. I used the .cfg that came with the .efi file as template and manually adjusted according to information found around the web.

Originally Posted by chrismurphy

This disk has 10 partitions?

11, I prefer flexibility over space The HD was previously a multibooter in a MacBook (white) with Fedora, Ubuntu, Snow Leopard and various puppies. I hadn't managed to get Windows to work, so I used that in a VM.

Grub on sda1 no longer works, eventually will be replaced by whatever manages to boot all flavours again.

[SwissalpS]

There was a Firmware update lately.... maybe that helped.

I just remembered that before attempting to install Fedora 16, I ran Software Update in OS X 10.6.x and installed the new Firmware.

[chrismurphy]

Oops! My original reply on this I deleted because I realized after posting that I had confused it with another thread entirely.

1. GRUB2 is in the MBR, so that would indicate you're booting CSM/BIOS mode, not EFI.

2. Question. How *exactly* are you booting into Fedora? Start with a computer that's completely turned off and provide an exact step by step on how you're getting Fedora to boot. Power button, and then you are holding down the option key? And what icons do you see? Which icon do you choose? Etc.

3. Your hybrid MBR is cluttered as well as rather dangerous. So it's possible the Mac's EFI is getting confused. I would use gdisk, 'yum install gdisk' to make a new hybrid MBR with a single partition, 10, added to the MBR. You do want to add EFI System to the protective MBR, and you do want partition 10 marked as bootable in the MBR ("gpt fdisk" will ask these questions).

4. You've got bootloaders on multiple partitions. I can't tell you how Apple's CSM/BIOS is going to react to these. I found partition specific bootloaders to give me a really hard time and so I've stopped using them.

Not sure what to recommend what you do next, but it appears to be booting.

[SwissalpS]

Originally Posted by chrismurphy

2. Question. How *exactly* are you booting into Fedora? Start with a computer that's completely turned off and provide an exact step by step on how you're getting Fedora to boot. Power button, and then you are holding down the option key? And what icons do you see? Which icon do you choose? Etc.

1. Power button
2. rEFIt on OSX6[sda5] partition lists 3 options: Linux(dead ATM [sda1]), OSX6 (works fine) and Unknown OS [sda4]. I choose Unknown[sda4]
3. Grub 1.99 shows my .cfg on sda4 -> I choose either of the options I posted earlier, they both boot Fedora 16

I can use the option key, but it is simpler this way.

Originally Posted by chrismurphy

3. Your hybrid MBR is cluttered as well as rather dangerous. So it's possible the Mac's EFI is getting confused. I would use gdisk, 'yum install gdisk' to make a new hybrid MBR with a single partition, 10, added to the MBR. You do want to add EFI System to the protective MBR, and you do want partition 10 marked as bootable in the MBR ("gpt fdisk" will ask these questions).

I agree, it has become a mess. This machine is mission critical to me ATM, so I'm hesitant to do anything that could stop my OS X from working. (until around mid April, by then my current project will be done). So I will only proceed with this suggestion if you can confirm that I won't mess up my OS X doing so.

Originally Posted by chrismurphy

4. You've got bootloaders on multiple partitions. I can't tell you how Apple's CSM/BIOS is going to react to these. I found partition specific bootloaders to give me a really hard time and so I've stopped using them.

Not sure what to recommend what you do next, but it appears to be booting.

I can live with this until mid April. In the meantime I could offer to recreate on my white MacBook (fried USB-ports) with reproduced partition scheme. I currently use it as an on-site backup.

If anyone could help me get audio working, that'd be swell, but not important as this would only be for bragging to my friends/co-workers who are Ubuntu and OS X enthusiasts. (Lucid Lynx plays audio but no keyboard and screen dimming control)

[jfoechsler]

I'm used this nice guide to install Fedora 16: http://fedorasolved.org/Members/jmon...sing-grub2-efi on late 2011 model MBP.
Which means GPT and grub2-efi (no rEFIt just option key to select EFI disk with Fedora on it)
Seems I have to use nomodeset and/or radeon.modeset=0 on kernel line to boot else it locks up.

I still haven't figured out if I can make graphical mode work and how, so if anyone has some input let me know