Still waiting for root device II

This post is a continue part of my previouse "Still waiting for root device" post that covered several solutions including:

• use RD=DiskXsY darwin switch
• BIOS configuration
• flag OSX86 partition as bootable

this post will display more good options to get pass this error, starting with the simplest:

1. Download another distribution
the simplest solution is sometimes the less obviouse, although you probably thinking "what good can another copy of Hackintosh do for my hardware compatability error?" well the thing is that OSX86 is a shrinked OSX with hacked, tweaked, opensource drivers for a PC, this what makes you PC compatible with OSX, one distribution does not include the same drivers as the other, also versions of the same published contains different drivers, for instamce Leo4All_v2 may work on your machine but Leo4All_v3 might not. so be sure to download as much distributions you can until your problem is solved.

2. Plug USB/Firewire drive (even DiskOnKey)
another simple solution is to plug an external drive like a USB or Firewire drive or even a USB DiskOnKey (size doesn't matter, in this case anyway) in your USB port and reboot the system, with the Hackintosh OSX86 DVD in the DVD drive, once the darwin countdown appear press F8 in order to get the boot prompt and use the RD=DiskXsY switch (switch use is explained in this post in greater details) and point the disk number and partition number to the external drive. this solution is only to get the installtion started, not a permanent solution, after the installation is running you can choose different combination of drivers until the installed system will load without the need to use the USB plug trick.

3. Use External DVD
if you can access external DVD drive or a SATA drive then try using it, most of the times the problem is hardware inconsistency with the driver installed on the DVD, this means that you might have a DVD that the booting driver set (this set is different then the driver it contains in order to install on your system) includes SATA harddrive driver, and your harddrive might be SATA but the DVD is IDE, and ofcource it can be vice versa, that the HD is IDE and the DVD is SATA and driver is one of them (IDE/SATA), so try to make it consistent, use the same HD and DVD type (even by plugging external DVD so it will be USB instaed of SATA or IDE) and find a distribution that will load them.

4. Play with Master/Slave settings
sometimes when your PC contains IDE hraddrive and IDE DVD you need to play with the master slave configuration (use this option only if you know what it means, this option involve openning the PC case and play with harddrive/DVD jumpers)

5. More darwin swiches to try
there are more swich you can try beside rd=diskXsY, you can read about them in this post, try these next swiches: platform=X86PC -x -f cpus=1, try them in different combinations until you succeed.

6. Create an HFS+ partition prior to the installation
if the installation cannot find your root device although you tried previouse sulutions then try creating an HFS+ partition and point to it using the rd=diskXsY at boot time.

from windows create a partition of AF type (HFS+ type), do it like this:

• from windows press Start->run and write: cmd and press enter
  
• write diskpart and press enter


• write: list disk (it will display all available HD)


• select the number of the one you want to install Leopard on like this: write: select disk NUM_OF_DISK and press enter (replace NUM_OF_DISK with the number of the disk you want)


• next write: list partition and press enter


• it will display all the partitions on that disk, now delete the partition you planed to install on like this: delete part NUM_OF_PART and press enter (replace NUM_OF_PART with the partition you wanted to install leopard on), if you don't have such partition then skip to the next part


• create a partition of the AF type like this: write: create partition primary id=AF and press enter


• write: active and press enter


• reboot and try to load the installation from the DVD again

7. Copy the Extensions folder from DVD to the Harddrive
this solution is for all of you that got the "Still waiting" error after the installation processed finished and first reboot occurred. if this is your case then it means that you have succeeded to boot into the DVD inorder to install (so the correct drivers for your system reside in the DVD boot extensions folder) but when you finished installing the drivers you selected they just won't boot and the Still waiting for root device appears, then all you have to do is to copy the DVD boot extensions folder into your installed copy and by that boot from your harddrive using the DVD drivers, do it like this:

boot from the install DVD, from utilities menu item select the terminal and write the following commands, but replace the word Leopard with your installation partition name (you set it during installation):
cd /System/Library
mv /Volumes/Leopard/System/Library/Extensions /Volumes/Leopard/System/Library/Extensions.bak
cp -R Extensions /Volumes/Leopard/System/Library
cd /Volumes/Leopard/System/Library
chmod -R 755 Extensions
chown -R 0:0 Extensions

after this the system should be able to boot on its own, you may need to flag the partition as bootable read how to do this here.

8. Change the ATA driver on the DVD
this last suggestion is very good but very hard to nail. it involves hacking the IOATAFamily.kext. this is the kext that is responsible for the attached hardware on your machine (ATA= AT Attachments, SATA = Serial ATA) like IDE hard drives or CD/DVD we will insert your controller Vendor ID and Device ID to it. follow these instructions:

• boot into windows


• open control panel


• find your Disk controller


• right click and choose properties


• chose the Details tab


• the first line contains something like this: PCI\VEN_30BE&DEV_004A...


• Vendor id is the 4 characters after the word: VEN_


• Device id is the 4 characters after the word: DEV_


• write on a paper the sting like this: 0x + VendorID + DeviceID (without plus or space for instance this example should be like this: 0x30BE004A)


• next stage involve using MacDrive and some util that will mount your install DVD ISO file (like alcohol), you need to mount the DVD after installing MacDrive that allows you to access Mac file system,


• cd into the folder:


• make sure you have at least these folders in there: AppleGenericPCATA.kext AppleOnboardPCATA.kext IOATAPIProtocolTransport.kext AppleIntelPIIXATA.kext AppleVIAATA.kext AppleNForceATA.kext IOATABlockStorage.kext


• also make sure you have the folder: /System/Library/Extensions/JMicronATA.kext (if you use a JMicron controller and IDE hard drive)


• next open in an editor the file: /System/Library/Extensions/IOATAFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleVIAATA.kext/Contents/Info.plist


• find this tag: <>IOPCIPrimaryMatch< /key >


• after it you will find a tag: <> with allot of strings like you wrote on the paper in it.


• add your string (one you wrote on the paper, but first make sure it is not already there, if it is - abort this step (Solution 8) completely) with a space between it to the others (location isn't matter as long as it is in the tag like the others)


• save it


• delete the file: /System/Library/Extensions.mkext


• save the ISO file with these changes, burn it onto a DVD, boot from it with -F at the darwin prompt.

hope all these solutions help you,
ShayBC.

You might want to read these related posts:
Still waiting for root device
Darwin Boot Options
Download Hackintosh OS X Leopard
Blinking cursor after OSX86 install
Restore bootable partition

Make secondary install bootable

This post explain how to make a Leopard (hackintosh) secondary install bootable, any computers that has more then one OSX86 installd have a primary install and secondary install, a secondary install can be install on USB driver, Disk-On-Key, another partition, as long as you can boot more then one OSX86 on that computer, that means that you will load the working OSX86 and from there repair the non-bootable OSX.
for only and primary install read this post.

please note that this proccess will work for MBR and GUID partition scheme, if you don't know what this means, or want to learn how to check which of the two partition scheme you have then you can read this post.

in order to make your secondary partition bootable, please follow these next steps:
1. boot into your working OSX86 partition
2. download this file and extract it, for this post i will extract it in the root folder / so now i have a folder named: /MakeBootable
3. make sure you know what partition scheme you have (MBR or GUID)
4. open terminal (Applications->Utilities) and write the following commands
5. sudo -s (and write your password)
6. cd /MakeBootable (this is the folder you downloaded and extracted at step 2)
7. diskutil umount force /Volumes/Leopard (replace the word Leopard with your non-bootable drive name)

the result should look like this:

Volume Leopard on disk1s1 forced unmounted

if you don't know the name of the drive (that is non-bootable) then you can write this:
mount -t hfs

then you get a list of all known drives in your system the result should look like this:

/dev/disk0s2 on / (hfs, local, journaled)
/dev/disk1s1 on /Volumes/Leopard (hfs, local, journaled)

8. now write the command:
dd if=./mbr/boot1h of=/dev/rdiskXsY bs=512 count=1
(replace the letter X with your non-bootable drive number and the letter Y with your non-bootable partition number, in this example it will be: rdisk1s1)
also if you have MBR partition scheme then leave the word mbr as written in the example, if you have a GUID partition scheme then write guid instead of the mbr word then it should look like this: dd if=./guid/boot1h of=/dev/rdiskXsY bs=512 count=1

the result should look like this:

1+0 records in
1+0 records out
512 bytes transferred in 0.008498 secs (60250 bytes/sec)

9. write the command:
dd if=./mbr/boot0 of=/dev/diskX bs=400 count=1

(replace the letter X with the number of the non-bootable disk, in this example it will be 1 then for this example it should look like this: disk1)
also if you have MBR partition scheme then leave the word mbr as written in the example, if you have a GUID partition scheme then write guid instead of the mbr word then it should look like this: dd if=./guid/boot0 of=/dev/diskX bs=400 count=1

the result should look like this:

1+0 records in
1+0 records out
400 bytes transferred in 0.018606 secs (21498 bytes/sec)

10. write the command:
diskutil umount force /Volumes/Leopard
(replace the word Leopard with your non-bootable drive name)

the result should look like this:
Volume DiskOnKey on disk1s1 forced unmounted

11. write the command:

./startupfiletool -v /dev/diskXsY ./boot_v8

(replace the letter X with your non-bootable drive number and the letter Y with your non-bootable partition number, in this example it will be: disk1s1)

the result should look like this:
HFS+ filesystem detected
Looking for 1 word free
reading 4096,4096
Marking word 196
writing back 4096,4096
allocated blocks 32 at start 6272

now the disk should be bootable and should be able to boot on his own, you may do the steps in this post or this post as a completeing procedure in order to make sure that the OSX is the first partition to boot from.

Shay.

Make primary install bootable

how to make a primary installation OSX partition bootable?
sometimes you are going to need a solution for a non bootable partition that was previousely bootable or after successful installation the partition remain non-bootable.

please note that the solution sugested here is for a primary installtion, which means it is for the main and only OSX installation on your computer and you have no way to boot into another OSX system. although it is possible to restore a secondary OSX installaion to be bootable again using this method, there is a simpler solution and it is described at this post.

primary installaion = the first and only OSX installation on your computer.
secondary installation = second (or greater) installation of OSX type (means you have more then one OSX installed on your computer) a disk-on-key/external USB/Firewire drive can be considered a secondary installation for this matter.

also note that this post is for MABR partition scheme (and not for GUID partition scheme). if you don't know what MBR or GUID partition scheme means then please read this post first.

in order to make an OSX86 partition bootable follow these next steps:
1. boot leopard DVD into Single Mode (you can red how to do that here)

2. type the next commands at the command line:
cd /usr/standalone/i386
ls

the result of these two lines should be a list displaying all the files in the i386 folder,
please make sure that at least these files exist:
boot0
boot1h
boot_v8
startupfiletool

if these files does not exist they can be copied from the installation DVD, in order to copy the files from the DVD use the method explained in this post. the files can also be downloaded from here.

3. if this is the case then type:
dd if=./boot1h of=/dev/rdiskXsY bs=512 count=1
(replace the X letter with the drive number that the OSX is installed on, the first drive is 0 the second is 1 and so on. replace the Y letter with the OSX partition number, the first partition is 1, the second partition is 2 etc. example: my computer has only one drive so my drive number is 0, and i have windows installed on the first partition and OSX on the second partition, so my OSX partition should be 2, therefor my parameter should be: rdisk0S2)

you should see an output result similar to this:
1+0 records in
1+0 records out
512 bytes transferred in 0.008498 secs (60250 bytes/sec)

4. now type this command:
dd if=./boot0 of=/dev/diskX bs=400 count=1
(replace the X letter with the OSX drive number, first drive is 0, second drive is 1 etc. also please note that it is diskX and not rdiskX as the previouse command)

you should see an output result similar to this:
1+0 records in
1+0 records out
400 bytes transferred in 0.018606 secs (21498 bytes/sec)

5. type in the next command:
./startupfiletool -v /dev/diskXsY ./boot_v8
(replace the X with the number of the OSX drive and Y with the number of the OSX partition)

you should see an output result similar to this:
HFS+ filesystem detected
Looking for 1 word free
reading 4096,4096
reading 8192,4096
reading 12288,4096
Marking word 510
writing back 1288,4096
allocated blocks 32 at start 81856

now the disk should be bootable and should be able to boot on his own, you may do the steps in this post or this post as a completeing procedure in order to make sure that the OSX is the first partition to boot from.

Shay.

Install Package from terminal

this post will explain how to install packages from command-line interface (terminal or Single User mode),

where to get packages?
first thing you need to do is get the package, if you have downloaded it then cd to its location for instance:
cd /Users/shay/Downloads
if you have it only in the leopard install dvd then cd to the packages location like this:
cd /Volumes/Leo4Allv3-10.5.2/System/Installation/Packages
Note: your dvd name will probably be different then "Leo4Allv3-10.5.2"

next you should create a temp folder where you can work at:
mkdir /mytemp
and copy the desired packages to there:
cp -R powermanagement.pkg
and move to the folder (so each command you execute will be executed in relative to that folder):
cd /mytemp

what is a package?
a package is a compressed file or folder (can come in two forms), that can be executed due to its extensions pkg.
after execution a graphical installer will be launched and after several clicks a script will install files and folders into your hackintosh/Mac system.

how to extract package?
the package file can be extracted into a folder form using a command line tool named pkgutil,
you can check if your package is a flat file package or a directory package like this:
try to: "cd powermanagement.pkg"
if the result is: "-bash: cd: powermanagement.pkg: Not a directory"
then you are dealing with flat file, in order to install it from command line you need the folder form so lets convert it to a folder form, you do it like this:

pkgutil --expand powermanagement.pkg powermanagement_ex.pkg

so now you may "cd powermanagement_ex.pkg" successfully.

what's inside a package?
if you look inside the pkg folder (from finder right click and choose "Show Package Contents") or from command line using the cd command you will find the next folder structure:


the most important files are:
Archive.bom - this file contains information of what is the content of the package, where it should be installed, etc.
Archive.pax.gz - this is the actual content of the package zipped (this is where we are heading)

you may sometimes find in folder Resources a shell scripts that should be run pre install and post install these scripts handle creation of folders, deleting temp files, fix permissions etc.

how to extract package content?
you can expand the Archive.pax.gz in order to get the files and copy them to the destination folder manually (and by that install the package) like this:

(the first cd command is adviced so files and folder extracted will not overwrite existing system files and folder, ofcource you may want to create a new folder and cd to it instead of the myTemp folder)

cd /mytemp
gzip -d powermanagement_ex.pkg/Contents/Archive.pax.gz
pax -r '*' <>

the result will be the contents of the package sorted in the destination folders at the current directory, in this example:

how to manually install the package?
after extracting the content you need to copy each file to its destination,
this package for instance, have System as root of files meaning the kext files should be on your hard drive at /System/Library/Extensions etc.
the simplest way to "install them will be to copy the whole tree like this:

cp -R /mytemp/System /

this will tell leopard to copy the current folder System into the root (so if it exist it will populate it if not it will be copied)

last thing to do is to go over the post install script and see if there are other actions need to be taken as part of the install process, display the content of the script like this:

cat powermanagement_ex.pkg/Contents/Resources/postinstall | more

in this case the script will look like this:

so in this case we need to copy the files to system (we already done that), and fix permissions, a faster way will be to do this:
chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions
chown -R 0:0 /System/Library/Extensions

or even safer like this:
diskutil repairPermissions /System/Library/Extensions

Summary
so lets go over the commands we need to do in order to install powermanagement.pkg from command line:
cd /Volumes/Leo4Allv3-10.5.2/System/Installation/Packages
mkdir /mytemp
cp -R powermanagement.pkg
cd /mytemp
pkgutil --expand powermanagement.pkg powermanagement_ex.pkg
gzip -d powermanagement_ex.pkg/Contents/Archive.pax.gz
pax -r '*' <>always use pacifist or packageutil or simply double click the pkg file if you are in GUI in order to install the package.

is there a difference between manual install and GUI automatic install?
yes, during GUI install the installed package is registered in mac install database and a receipt is kept there with the information of the installed files, location etc. this info may come handy when you want to reinstall, uninstall, or verify that the install is intact.

more then that most install create backup and allow uninstall feature in a later time, although you can do backup, a complex install makes uninstall process almost impossible.

Shay.

Apple OS X Server Admin Tools

if you haven't heard of Leopard Server 10.5.2 then you should know that there is such a release of leopard, a server side, note that there is no distribution yet for OSX86, but you can patch it using the old methods of brazilmac, also you can install some OSX86 release and then open the server dmg and install it (so i heard, never tried it).

but if it is the tools and apps that found on the server (and don't come with client leopard) you are looking for, then you can download the leopard server full version (about 6.5G) and extract the tools using pacifist and run them on your leopard.

apps included in the server release includes:
iCal Server
wiki
Podcast producer
Spotlight server
iChat Server
Mail services
Web Hosting
Directory
etc.

if you are looking for the cool blue aurora desktop image, it can be found here.

also if you would like to control your server from a remote leopard client then download the remote server admin tools, you can get it for free (apple give it away), it can be downloaded from version tracker at this link or directly from apple at this link.

after download has completed mount the dmg, and install the package it will install these tools:
Server Monitor
Server Assistance
Server Admin
Server Preferences
System Image Utility
Workgroup Manager
Xgrid Admin

here are the screenshots:













Enjoy.

Install Leopard - Leo4Allv3

this is my second tutorial step by step for leopard installation guide, simply follow the images, if you don't know what to do then use the written explanations, if you are still having problems comment here or use my mail address and i will try to help. also try accessing the first guide located here, perhaps a better explanation can be found there and of course use the troubleshooting menu item in order to solve more complicated situations.

this guide follows the Leo4Allv3 beta it is a Leopard 10.5.2 distribution.

first burn the Leo4Allv3 (beta or final) on a DVD as slow as you can, insert it and boot the computer, first screen you will see is this, press any key:

next you will see a black and white text screen, unlike other distro Leo4All never display the gray apple screen.

after loading you see abeautiful sunset background loading

first screen appears select your install language and press continue arrow

next you see a progress bar screen

and a welcome screen with "More Information" button,

press continue,

accept the license agreement that scrolls down,

next comes the "Select Destination" screen that allow you to select the destination hard drive, if you see a blank screen like this, it means you don't have any suitable hard drive or partition to install on (yet). if you see a hard drive that you want to install on, click on it and press continue, also read on from "Boot Step" images.

next press on the menu item Utilities and select "Disk Utility"

this screen will appear, identify on the left the hard drive you wish to install leopard on, and right click it and press "Erase"

it can be also a partition (not a hard drive) like in this image,

you may also click on the hard drive or partition to select it, and from the center tabs select "Erase" tab

after selecting "Erase" option (ether way) you need to select the "Volume Format" this is the file system you will use, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled),

at the "Name" field enter the name you would like to call that partition, it will be the name at the darwin boot menu, and the Icon of your main HD on the desktop, try not using space, special characters or non-english characters.

next press the "Erase..." button

and again on the "Erase" from the scroll down window, to confirm

notice the progress bar at the lower part it will take about 5 seconds or so,

when the progress bar disappear, choose "Quit Disk Utility" from the "Disk Utility" menu

you will return to the "Select Destination" screen only this time the recently deleted hard drive or partition will appear with the name you entered.

Boot Step:from the Utilities menu select the Terminal menu item and this window will appear,write: fdisk -e /dev/rdiskX where X stands for the hard drive number you are going to install leopard on (starting from 0 as the first drive 1 as the second etc.)

follow the commands written here and appearing in the image (a more detailed explanation can be found here start at point 4 or follow next lines):p and press enterit will display all available partition on the hard drivef  Y and press enterwhere Y stands for the partition number you want to install leopard onu and press enter,w and press enter,if it gives a warning and asks a question like in the image (A Reboot will be required) press Y and press enter,q and press enter (to quit).

next select "Quit Terminal" from the Terminal menu,

at the "Select Destination" screen select continue it will lead you to the Install Summary screen looking like this:

notice the "Customize" button at the lower left corner of the screen,

it allows you to preview and change the packages installed with leopard, at first installation you would like to leave the defaults, if things go wrong you can reinstall and start changing the selected packages, starting with selecting different kernel until it will install correctly, if your after installation the screen looks black the select different Video kext from the "Third Party Drivers", try many combinations until you will nail it.

after pressing done in the Customize screen, and pressing Continue in the Install Summary screen, you will see this progress bar checking the validity of the DVD, (making sure it is legit and every bit is readable), you can press skip if you trust your dvd,

if the dvd is damaged or dirty or not burned correctly then you will eventually get to a screen saying installation failed since the dvd could not be validated looking like this:

if validation is OK then the Installing screen with the progress bar will appear and will take about 10-15 minutes.

at the end of a successful installation you will reach this screen that will count back 25 seconds till reboot, you may press reboot yourself or wait for the timeout to reach and the install will reboot itself

after reboot you will see this screen (note no welcome video, such a shame), press ok

next screen will ask you to press the key next to the left shift, press it once

the screen changes and ask you to press the key next to the right shift key, press it once,

now you will be notified that your keyboard has been identified, press Continue

at the next screen select your country,

if you can't see yours, you may use the lower "Show all" checkbox, it will reveal all countries available,

next select your keyboard second language,(again you may use "Show all")

this screen helps you to upgrade from previous mac (via fire wire, network, or other partition on this mac),

if you don't own previous mac or you don't want to migrate your user home directory then select "Do not transfer my information now" and press Continue,

next screen ask you to select the way you connect to the internet, choose your method or you can leave it for now and install network later,

if you selected an internet connection, then you see this next screen asking you for the parameters, such as IP Address, router address (use the help of your ISP support)

if you supply faulty configuration you will see this scroll down that allow you to press cancel in order to retry entering the data or ok, to continue without internet setup,

next you will be asked to enter your apple ID and password, leave it empty and press Continue,

next screen asks for your registration information, fill what ever you want, please note that if you have internet connection then this data will be used to send registration to apple,

next screen asks you to supply information of where and how you are going to use this mac, i select home and other, and uncheck the "Stay in touch" checkbox,

at the "Create your account" screen you setup a user that will be used to login into this mac, enter your username password and hint and press Continue,

at the next screen select the time-zone by clicking on the world map at your area and tuning using the bottom drop down menu, and press Continue,

last, adjust the clock and time, press "save" and continue,

next screen will remind you not to forget registering your data with apple, (since you are a hackintosh member, please forget), press Done,

and at last you should see your leopard home screen,

there can be many problems along the way, do not forget to use comments and Troubleshooting from the blog menu.

Enjoy.