[Cbe-oss-dev] PS3 kernel does not load

Tue Oct 20 01:26:56 AEDT 2015

I managed to get this to almost work.

It seems that in order to downgrade with the custom 3.55 "special" firmware
(and qa flag extra package), one needs to go into recovery mode. It won't
install from xmb.

I downgraded to OFW 3.15, but in all the bootloaders (otheros.bld) I tried,
there were problems accessing the GameOS with the ps3utils programs. For
example:

# ps3-boot-game-os
os_area_header_verify:277: magic_num failed
os_area_header_read:70: invalid os_area_header
main:551: os_area_read_hp error.
ERROR: can't change boot flag

I had to install Debian twice on 3.15. I used debootstrap with an old
live squeeze image I had and installed it into /dev/ps3da1.
Unfortunately,
both times when I eventually shut down and went back into the Game OS
(via recovery mode), the system complained about the system
 having become corrupted so I had to start again.

After the second time this happened I got into a loop where the system
told me that "The system software cannot be run correctly" and
that I had to reinstall the firmware. I don't know. This might be a
disk error. Whatever it is, my system is now unusable.

If I do get the system working again, I'd like to get the ps3utils
programs working correctly. Is there some other step that needs to be
done on the 3.55 CFW to undo some patches before downgrading to 3.15?
I had problems running the restore_vflash.sh command
when I was in 3.55. Is that a necessary step? Your instructions never
mentioned that, or the fact that you need to go to recovery
mode to downgrade.

I'm mildly annoyed that I now have a broken system, but maybe it's a
sign I should just give up on PS3 altogether.

On 17 October 2015 at 05:25, Declan Malone <declan.malone at gmail.com> wrote:

> Unfortunately, the latest stable (4.2.3) kernel tarball didn't work
> either. Same symptoms as before: beeping and flashing red light.
>
> Any suggestions as to what my next move should be?
>
> Thanks,
> dec
>
> On 16 October 2015 at 15:26, Declan Malone <declan.malone at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi Geoff, and thank you.
>>
>> I started the process of downgrading to firmware 3.15 so that I could
>> reinstall, but I ran into problems.
>>
>> First, I discovered that the CFW I had installed was your
>> CFW355-OTHEROS++-22GB.PUP that had no SS patches. I installed your
>> CFW355-OTHEROS++-SPECIAL.PUP so that I could install and run the QA package
>> (otherwise there were no beeps to indicate success) to allow a firmware
>> downgrade.
>>
>> The QA "extra" package seemed to work as the PS3 restarted and allowed me
>> to use the controller key chord to activate the QA menu options and when I
>> inserted a USB disk with the official 3.15 firmware it let me start the
>> install.
>>
>> The install failed at 59% with the error message "the data type is not
>> supported (80029C9)." The hash checks out (sha1:
>> fc4e891e84333f9b37ff7f253eca165aa416c6ad) and I downloaded from two sources
>> to make sure it was legit.
>>
>> I thought that maybe the problem was that I had to run the restore_vflash
>> script, but that failed too, telling me (in petitboot)  "ps3stormgr: no
>> such device or address". I believe now that I didn't need to run that
>> script at all.
>>
>> Other info:
>>
>> * root=/dev/ps3dd2 seems correct, since all the other kernels I have use
>> this (and I would have expected an actual error message if it was wrong)
>> * I had problems porting the spufs fixes since there was more than one
>> patch involved and I had troubles identifying which ones they were
>> * I don't recall ever explicitly doing anything to lv1 so it's probably
>> some incompatibility with the BootOS/OtherOS++ stuff
>>
>> Since I still have a working system, I'll try to follow up by installing
>> the mainline kernel from kernel.org. I'm not sure about getting support
>> from the OtherOS++ guys, assuming I can find them and they're still working
>> on the PS3... hopefully the mainline kernel will work so I don't have to do
>> anything special
>>
>> It would still be nice if I could get past the 80029c2 error message on
>> downgrading from your "special" 3.55 firmware so that I could retain the
>> option to install something less than 3.21 and revert to using the original
>> OtherOS feature so as to avoid all the various hacks and incantations that
>> OtherOS++ seems to require. Have you ever come across this error before?
>>
>> Thanks for your help. I hope that installing the mainline kernel will
>> work, but I'd still like to be able to revert the firmware, if you have any
>> ideas..
>>
>> Regards,
>> dec
>>
>>
>> On 15 October 2015 at 22:31, Geoff Levand <geoff at infradead.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> On Thu, 2015-10-15 at 18:08 +0100, Declan Malone wrote:
>>> > I hope that this is the right place to ask this.
>>>
>>> This is the place for PS3 help with firmware 3.20 and earlier.
>>>
>>> > I downloaded what I think is the official kernel from
>>> >
>>> > http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/geoff/ps3-linux.git
>>>
>>> For firmware 3.20 and earlier, the latest is there.  The upstream
>>> stable kernel will also work.
>>>
>>> > After compiling and installing it and putting it into my kboot.conf
>>> > with the line
>>> >
>>> >     linux-4.2.0="/boot/vmlinux-4.2.0-01270-g19ff78f root=/dev/ps3dd2
>>>
>>> Maybe 'root=ps3da2'?  Not sure about otheros++ devices.
>>>
>>> > I did a shutdown -r to get into petitboot, but after selecting the
>>> > kernel and getting the usual "system is going down now" message
>>> > before the kexec, the PS3's power light just flashes red and there
>>> > are three quick beeps.
>>>
>>> Three beeps means there was some kind of invalid memory access or
>>> a bad LV1 call.
>>>
>>> > My system is at firmware version 3.55 and I'm using pslight to launch
>>> > the (iirc) otheros++ install.
>>>
>>> Sorry, my stuff on kernel.org is for firmware 3.20 and earlier.
>>> You'll need to get a kernel, or kernel patches from the otheros++ guys.
>>>
>>> > I'd like to get the latest official kernel since it seems to fix a
>>> > long-standing problem I had with spufs not being populated.
>>>
>>> You should be able to forward port any otheros++ kernel patches to the
>>> latest kernel.
>>>
>>> -Geoff
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> > I downloaded what I think is the official kernel from
>>> >
>>> > http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/geoff/ps3-linux.git
>>> >
>>> > At the time of downloading, the last commit is
>>> 19ff78fe6470bb44771c20c9b7546a2c7a631752 and I'm on branch "master".
>>> >
>>> > After compiling and installing it and putting it into my kboot.conf
>>> with the line
>>> >
>>> >     linux-4.2.0="/boot/vmlinux-4.2.0-01270-g19ff78f root=/dev/ps3dd2
>>> initrd=/boot/initrd.img-4.2.0-01270-g19ff78f"
>>> >
>>> > I did a shutdown -r to get into petitboot, but after selecting the
>>> kernel and getting the usual "system is going down now" message before the
>>> kexec, the PS3's power light just flashes red and there are three quick
>>> beeps.
>>> >
>>> > My system is at firmware version 3.55 and I'm using pslight to launch
>>> the (iirc) otheros++ install. I'm running a fully-updated Debian wheezy OS
>>> >
>>> > My kernel build should have been standard:
>>> >
>>> > make ps3_defconfig
>>> > make oldconfig
>>> > make
>>> > make install (failed with messages about not finding modules)
>>> > make modules_install
>>> > make install (previous error messages went away)
>>> >
>>> > After failing to reboot, I also did another make modules_install, but
>>> it didn't help.
>>> >
>>> > I'd like to get the latest official kernel since it seems to fix a
>>> long-standing problem I had with spufs not being populated (I'd tried
>>> applying the patches to other kernels I had but that didn't work). The
>>> above seems to be the right way to go about things, but perhaps the git
>>> repo or branch I'm using doesn't work?
>>> >
>>> > Failing getting this kernel to work, is there some up-to-date
>>> documentation for the preferred setup for re-installing Linux on my box? I
>>> think I can revert the firmware if needed. I'd like it if my setup was as
>>> close as possible to what you kernel development guys have. Before I nuke
>>> everything and start again, though, I'd just like to know what setup will
>>> give me the best compatibility/kernel support.
>>> >
>>> > Thanks in advance,
>>> > dec
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > cbe-oss-dev mailing list
>>> > cbe-oss-dev at lists.ozlabs.org
>>> > https://lists.ozlabs.org/listinfo/cbe-oss-dev
>>> > On Thu, 2015-10-15 at 18:08 +0100, Declan Malone wrote:
>>> > > I hope that this is the right place to ask this.
>>> >
>>> > This is the place for PS3 help with firmware 3.20 and earlier.
>>> >
>>> > > I downloaded what I think is the official kernel from
>>> > >
>>> > > http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/geoff/ps3-linux.git
>>> >
>>> > For firmware 3.20 and earlier, the latest is there.  The upstream
>>> > stable kernel will also work.
>>> >
>>> > > After compiling and installing it and putting it into my kboot.conf
>>> > > with the line
>>> > >
>>> > >     linux-4.2.0="/boot/vmlinux-4.2.0-01270-g19ff78f root=/dev/ps3dd2
>>> >
>>> > Maybe 'root=ps3da2'?  Not sure about otheros++ devices.
>>> >
>>> > > I did a shutdown -r to get into petitboot, but after selecting the
>>> > > kernel and getting the usual "system is going down now" message
>>> > > before the kexec, the PS3's power light just flashes red and there
>>> > > are three quick beeps.
>>> >
>>> > Three beeps means there was some kind of invalid memory access or a
>>> bad LV1
>>> > call.
>>> >
>>> > > My system is at firmware version 3.55 and I'm using pslight to launch
>>> > > the (iirc) otheros++ install.
>>> >
>>> > Sorry, my stuff on kernel.org is for firmware 3.20 and earlier.
>>> You'll need to
>>> > get a kernel, or kernel patches from the otheros++ guys.
>>> >
>>> > > I'd like to get the latest official kernel since it seems to fix a
>>> > > long-standing problem I had with spufs not being populated.
>>> >
>>> > You should be able to forward port any otheros++ kernel patches to the
>>> latest
>>> > kernel.
>>> >
>>> > -Geoff
>>> > > I hope that this is the right place to ask this.
>>> >
>>> > This is the place for PS3 help with firmware 3.20 and earlier.
>>> >
>>> > > I downloaded what I think is the official kernel from
>>> > >
>>> > > http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/geoff/ps3-linux.git
>>> >
>>> > For firmware 3.20 and earlier, the latest is there.  The upstream
>>> > stable kernel will also work.
>>> >
>>> > > After compiling and installing it and putting it into my kboot.conf
>>> > > with the line
>>> > >
>>> > >     linux-4.2.0="/boot/vmlinux-4.2.0-01270-g19ff78f root=/dev/ps3dd2
>>> >
>>> > Maybe 'root=ps3da2'?  Not sure about otheros++ devices.
>>> >
>>> > > I did a shutdown -r to get into petitboot, but after selecting the
>>> > > kernel and getting the usual "system is going down now" message
>>> > > before the kexec, the PS3's power light just flashes red and there
>>> > > are three quick beeps.
>>> >
>>> > Three beeps means there was some kind of invalid memory access or a
>>> bad LV1
>>> > call.
>>> >
>>> > > My system is at firmware version 3.55 and I'm using pslight to launch
>>> > > the (iirc) otheros++ install.
>>> >
>>> > Sorry, my stuff on kernel.org is for firmware 3.20 and earlier.
>>> You'll need to
>>> > get a kernel, or kernel patches from the otheros++ guys.
>>> >
>>> > > I'd like to get the latest official kernel since it seems to fix a
>>> > > long-standing problem I had with spufs not being populated.
>>> >
>>> > You should be able to forward port any otheros++ kernel patches to the
>>> latest
>>> > kernel.
>>> >
>>> > -Geoff> I hope that this is the right place to ask this.
>>> >
>>> > This is the place for PS3 help with firmware 3.20 and earlier.
>>> >
>>> > > I downloaded what I think is the official kernel from
>>> > >
>>> > > http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/geoff/ps3-linux.git
>>> >
>>> > For firmware 3.20 and earlier, the latest is there.  The upstream
>>> > stable kernel will also work.
>>> >
>>> > > After compiling and installing it and putting it into my kboot.conf
>>> > > with the line
>>> > >
>>> > >     linux-4.2.0="/boot/vmlinux-4.2.0-01270-g19ff78f root=/dev/ps3dd2
>>> >
>>> > Maybe 'root=ps3da2'?  Not sure about otheros++ devices.
>>> >
>>> > > I did a shutdown -r to get into petitboot, but after selecting the
>>> > > kernel and getting the usual "system is going down now" message
>>> > > before the kexec, the PS3's power light just flashes red and there
>>> > > are three quick beeps.
>>> >
>>> > Three beeps means there was some kind of invalid memory access or a
>>> bad LV1
>>> > call.
>>> >
>>> > > My system is at firmware version 3.55 and I'm using pslight to launch
>>> > > the (iirc) otheros++ install.
>>> >
>>> > Sorry, my stuff on kernel.org is for firmware 3.20 and earlier.
>>> You'll need to
>>> > get a kernel, or kernel patches from the otheros++ guys.
>>> >
>>> > > I'd like to get the latest official kernel since it seems to fix a
>>> > > long-standing problem I had with spufs not being populated.
>>> >
>>> > You should be able to forward port any otheros++ kernel patches to the
>>> latest
>>> > kernel.
>>> >
>>> > -Geoff
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>
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