GRUB2, EFI, Nouveau, display hang on Macbook Pro 4 1

[Chris Murphy]

SUMMARY:

During boot (both from disk drive and USB stick), text display hangs with no 
further update or change in resolution or to graphics mode, continues to boot 
and function fine (just can't see what I'm doing).


VERSIONS:

Macbook Pro 4,1*[1]
GRUB2 1.99 RC1
Linux 2.6.35.6-45.fc14.x86_64 and Linux 2.6.35.11-83.fc14.x86_64 with same 
results
Distribution used is Fedora 14 x86_64 DVD ISO (specified NOT to install a boot 
loader because RH uses GRUB Legacy hacked for EFI support, but I'm assuming it 
in fact puts the Macbook Pro in BIOS emulation which is why it works).


RESOURCES USED SO FAR:

https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=35267
http://grub.enbug.org/TestingOnMacbook


COMMENTS/QUESTIONS:
        
The bug report listed has most of the information and questions that I have in 
trying to track down the failed boot. Here is a summary:

1. ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi
reports back "firmware-abi" = <"EFI64"> so it seems I should compile GRUB2 for 
x86_64, which I did do. However the 2nd URL "Testing on Macbook" shows in the 
"Tested Configurations" grid, that 32-bit GRUB2 EFI was used. This does not 
make sense. But I did not test it, so maybe it works.

2. Also, same URL "Tested Configurations" grid under Extra Steps says: "Model 
details of "drivers/video/efifb.c" were wrong and
needed patching/recompiling" to which I assume it is referring to GRUB2. So I 
wonder if it's possible efifb.c in GRUB2 1.99 RC1 has some sort of "model 
details" wrong and if so how to fix this. The information in this URL does not 
elaborate on what was wrong or how it was fixed before recompiling.

3. I have tried following the TestingOnMacbook methods for capturing and using 
BIOS information in grub.cfg. The "with bios dump" and "with bios dump and fix 
video" and "without bios dump" and none of them work. I get the same results in 
any case.

4. Framebuffer console is statically included in the kernel. (I get a "y".)

5. Is the Nvidea GeForce 8600M GT an NV50 generation card? This hardware has an 
8600 M GT, nouveau reports it as an NV50 generation card.


SEEMINGLY RELEVANT ITEMS FROM DMESG:

These are just snippets, I can post the entire thing if it's useful.


[    4.342627] scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access     ATA      WDC WD5000BEVT-2 01.0 
PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[    4.370355] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 976773168 512-byte logical blocks: (500 GB/465 
GiB)
[    4.370358] sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
[    4.425679] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[    4.453440] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
[    4.453464] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, 
doesn't support DPO or FUA
[    4.454658] scsi 3:0:0:0: CD-ROM            MATSHITA DVD-R   UJ-867   HA13 
PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[    4.510065]  sda:sr0: scsi3-mmc drive: 62x/62x writer cd/rw xa/form2 cdda 
tray
[    4.539482] Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20
[    4.568032] sr 3:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0
[    4.568075] sr 3:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 5
[    4.724170] usb 3-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
[    4.877089]  sda1 sda2 sda3 sda4 sda5
[    4.906025] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
[    4.934520] Freeing unused kernel memory: 944k freed
*[2] [    4.963399] Write protecting the kernel read-only data: 10240k
[    4.992412] Freeing unused kernel memory: 1576k freed
[    5.022147] Freeing unused kernel memory: 1836k freed
[    5.051494] usb 3-1: New USB device found, idVendor=0a5c, idProduct=4500
[    5.080322] usb 3-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[    5.080325] usb 3-1: Product: BRCM2046 Hub
[    5.080327] usb 3-1: Manufacturer: Apple Inc.
[    5.084503] hub 3-1:1.0: USB hub found
[    5.167041] hub 3-1:1.0: 3 ports detected
[    5.228895] dracut: dracut-006-3.fc14
[    5.263813] udev[88]: starting version 161
[    5.301330] input: Video Bus as 
/devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXSYBUS:00/PNP0A08:00/device:01/LNXVIDEO:00/input/input4
[    5.330368] ACPI: Video Device [GFX0] (multi-head: yes  rom: no  post: no)
[    5.375716] [drm] Initialized drm 1.1.0 20060810
[    5.429814] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: enabling device (0002 -> 0003)
[    5.459233] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
[    5.488846] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[    5.488864] usb 7-1: new low speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
*[3] [    5.519487] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Detected an NV50 generation 
card (0x084700a2)
[    5.549399] checking generic (c0060000 960000) vs hw (c0000000 10000000)
*[4] [    5.549401] fb: conflicting fb hw usage nouveaufb vs EFI VGA - removing 
generic driver
[    5.579386] Console: switching to colour dummy device 80x25
[    5.599851] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Attempting to load BIOS image from 
PRAMIN
[    5.599861] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: ... BIOS signature not found
[    5.599865] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Attempting to load BIOS image from 
PROM
[    5.599872] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: ... BIOS signature not found
[    5.599876] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Attempting to load BIOS image from 
PCIROM
[    5.599962] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Invalid ROM contents
[    5.600011] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: ... BIOS signature not found
[    5.600015] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Attempting to load BIOS image from 
ACPI
[    5.600020] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: ... BIOS signature not found
[    5.600023] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: No valid BIOS image found
[    5.610921] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A disabled

SNIP

[    8.992816] ACPI: resource 0000:00:1f.3 [io  0xefa0-0xefbf] conflicts with 
ACPI region SMBI [irq 61344-61359 window disabled]
[    8.992822] ACPI: If an ACPI driver is available for this device, you should 
use it instead of the native driver
[    9.153179] mbp_nvidia_bl: MacBookPro 4,1 detected




*[1] MACBOOK PRO 4,1 according to Apple System Profiler:

  Chipset Model:        GeForce 8600M GT    
  Type: GPU
  Bus:  PCIe
  PCIe Lane Width:      x16
  VRAM (Total): 512 MB
  Vendor:       NVIDIA (0x10de)
  Device ID:    0x0407
  Revision ID:  0x00a1
  ROM Revision: 3212
  Displays:
Color LCD:
  Resolution:   1440 x 900
  Pixel Depth:  32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
  Main Display: Yes
  Mirror:       Off
  Online:       Yes
  Built-In:     Yes
Display Connector: No

*[2]  *[4] Text stops updating (hang) at one of these two points.

*[3]  nouveau reports the video card as an NV50 generation card.



Suggestions?


Chris Murphy