login problems PowerBook G4 dead PRAM

Hi everyone,

I've downloaded the new release of Ubuntu 9.10 PowerPC (*both* the 'desktop' and the 'alternate' version, since with 9.04 I had some problems....) using BitTorrent, as suggested in the forum's sticky posts, getting the .torrent files from the webpage found at

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/9.10/release/

I booted the 'desktop' variant on my Powerbook G4: the system seems to boot fine, if it wasn't for the fact that, at the moment of automatically logging in, it says "authorization failed", and there is no combination of "user:ubuntu/password:[name one]" that works...
During the boot process an error message stating something like "can't add ubuntu user" flashes on the screen... then disappears when the X server starts.

So, I tried the the 'alternate' variant: the install starts, it seems to go fine (I'm doing a fresh install on the notebook hd, using the whole disk -- no dual boot -- and ext3 as filesystem), except for an error when it comes to the "install software" option in the install menu...although choosing the option manually seems to do the trick.
I rebooted the system and.... same story, but this time doesn't allow me to log in using the username/password that I just created...

Solution:
The problem resides in the fact that the PRAM battery is dead. If there is not right time set during boot, login will not be possible. See this thread.

To do this access open firmware by booting the computer while holding down the O, F, Apple and Option keys. The command to set the date and time is:

decimal dev rtc sec min hour day month year set-time

So to set the clock to 10 seconds past 11:15PM on December 31st, 2005, the command would be:

decimal dev rtc 10 15 23 31 12 2005 set-time

The Open Firmware prompt should type ok after this. You can then reboot and do an install and it should not fail at the "select and install software" step.

The option to boot in open firmware is

mac-boot

I think