OSX Bless Testing

Bless is an OSX command used to set the active boot volume.

Tests performed

iMac - Intel Core Duo @ 1.83GHz

• Ubuntu was installed via Target Disk mode using the Freekbox pre-seeded image. Scellef 08:00, 2 September 2012 (UTC)
• Before bless:

51 second boot from light on, flashes empty folder symbol briefly, black screen before GRUB, defaults to OSX external drive if available

• Ran:

sudo bless --device /dev/disk0s1 --setBoot --legacy

• Result: 40 second boot, no empty folder shown, no lengthy black screen before GRUB, defaults to Ubuntu with OSX external drive available

Lynnae 19:03, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

iMac - Intel Core 2 Duo @ 1.83GHz

• Defaults to OX external drive
• Ubuntu was installed from an imaged drive
• 65 seconds to Ubuntu before bless
• 33 after bless

iMac - Intel Core Duo @ 1.83GHz

• Target Disk Mode Ubuntu installation
• White screen, no linux :(
• Ran:

 sudo bless --device /dev/disk0s1 --setBoot --legacy --verbose

• Received output that legacy boot was not available
• Attempted to run firmware update, but failed (unsupported software error) in
  • Network Boot environment
  • Firewire Boot environment
• System Profiler says:

 Model Name:	iMac
 Model Identifier:	iMac4,1
 Processor Name:	Intel Core Duo
 Processor Speed:	1.83 GHz
 Number Of Processors:	1
 Total Number Of Cores:	2
 L2 Cache:	2 MB
 Memory:	2 GB
 Bus Speed:	667 MHz
 Boot ROM Version:	IM41.0039.B00
 SMC Version (system):	1.1f5
 Serial Number (system):	QP622099U2R
 Hardware UUID:	00000000-0000-1000-8000-0016CB88C5A0

• Apple Support shows newest firmware at IM41.0055.B08 (EFI 1.1). Need to investigate alternative methods for running firmware update.
  • My current theory is that OSX doesn't like the notion firmware updates using an external disk. Need to image an internal HDD with OSX and see if this ameliorates the problem. Scellef 21:29, 11 September 2012 (UTC)