Bug #12244

Booting intermediary Tails on MBP9,2 might requires editing boot menu commanddline

Added by mercedes508 2017-02-16 11:32:11 . Updated 2017-03-20 14:42:56 .

Status:
Rejected
Priority:
Normal
Assignee:
Category:
Hardware support
Target version:
Start date:
2017-02-17
Due date:
% Done:

100%

Feature Branch:
Type of work:
Research
Blueprint:

Starter:
Affected tool:
Deliverable for:

Description

When trying to boot from intermediary Tails 2.10 installed using dd ocmmandline (from Linux though), the resulting Tails USB is recognized as bootable on a MBP 9,2, starts to boot but get stuck with a black screen and a top-left blinking cursor.

I can try to see if I can reproduce that bug using dd from OSX first, and using another USB as well, and Tails3.0-beta1.
It could also be tested on different models of MBP as it might be hardware specific.

Subtasks

Related issues

Related to Tails - Bug #12039: Tail 2.9.1 no longer booting on 2011 (Early) MacBook Pro Resolved 2016-12-18
Related to Tails - Bug #12248: Document workaround to boot intermediary Tails on MBP9,2 Resolved 2017-02-17

History

#1 Updated by mercedes508 2017-02-16 13:40:56

  • Assignee changed from mercedes508 to intrigeri
  • Type of work changed from Test to Discuss

I tested the following, always using intermediary Tails USB installed using dd on Linux:

  • 1.8.1
    - on MBP 9,2: doesn’t boot
    - on MBP 9,2 failsafe mode: doesn’t boot
    - on MBP 9,2 adding ‘edd=off’ to boot commandline: boots
    - on another non Apple laptop: boots
  • 2.10
    - on MBP 9,2: doesn’t boot
    - on MBP 9,2 failsafe mode: doesn’t boot
    - on MBP 9,2 adding ‘edd=off’ to boot commandline: boots
    - on another non Apple laptop: boots
  • 3.0-beta1
    - on MBP 9,2: doesn’t boot
    - on MBP 9,2 failsafe mode: doesn’t boot
    - on MBP 9,2 adding ‘edd=off’ to boot commandline: boots
    - on another non Apple laptop: boots

I don’t remember receiving much user reports having this issue, so it’s probably hardware specific. I can’t do much test on different MBP models.
Should we document this in the known issues page?

#2 Updated by mercedes508 2017-02-16 13:44:20

  • Subject changed from Can't boot intermediary Tails on MacBook Pro to Can't boot intermediary Tails on MacBook Pro 9,2

#3 Updated by mercedes508 2017-02-16 16:13:36

A test with Tails 2.10 installed the same way booted fine on another MBP 9,2 (i5 version while original post was with a i7 one).

They don’t have the same “BIOS” version though, the one which boots has an older one.

I’m wondering if it’s worth trying to go deeper in debugging this (update BIOS to latest version to see how it works or not) or simply have a note on the known issues or installation assistant page about that.

#4 Updated by mercedes508 2017-02-17 15:18:01

  • Subject changed from Can't boot intermediary Tails on MacBook Pro 9,2 to Booting intermediary Tails on MBP9,2 might requires editing boot menu commanddline

#5 Updated by intrigeri 2017-03-08 19:37:50

  • Category set to Hardware support
  • Assignee deleted (intrigeri)
  • Type of work changed from Discuss to Research

#6 Updated by intrigeri 2017-03-20 14:40:18

  • related to Bug #12039: Tail 2.9.1 no longer booting on 2011 (Early) MacBook Pro added

#7 Updated by intrigeri 2017-03-20 14:41:16

  • related to Bug #12248: Document workaround to boot intermediary Tails on MBP9,2 added

#8 Updated by intrigeri 2017-03-20 14:42:56

  • Status changed from Confirmed to Rejected

I see very little we can do about it on our side (we’re not kernel developers), so now that a workaround was documented, I’m going to close this ticket. Feel free to follow-up about this upstream (Debian or Linux) after having reproduced on non-Tails with a very recent kernel. Sorry I can’t be more helpful!