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

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.

Power Management on 10.5.3

10.5.3 update has ruin my Power Management icon in the menu bar, i fixed it using this method:

ether use this auto installer or use the manual method described here:

1. open terminal

2. write: sudo -s

3. enter password and press enter

4. write: vi /System/Library/Extensions/AppleACPIPlatform.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleACPIPowerSource.kext/Contents/Info.plist

5. press / (and don't press any thing else this will enter search mode)

6. write: com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform and press enter, it will locate the driver line
7. using the keyboard arrows goto the next line
8. press i (in order to enter edit mode)
9.change the value 1.1.0 to 1.2.1
10. press escape from the keyboard
11. press : (enter prompt mode)
12. write: w! (and press enter, it means write to disk even if read only file)
13. press : (to enter prompt mode again)
14. press q (to exit vi editor)
15. repeat steps 4 - 14 for the files:
/System/Library/Extensions/AppleACPIPlatform.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleACPIThermal.kext/Contents/Info.plist
/System/Library/Extensions/AppleACPIPlatform.kext/Contents/PlugIns/ACPIPS2Nub.kext/Contents/Info.plist

16. download this file to your Downloads folder

17. write: mv /System/Library/SystemConfiguration/PowerManagement.bundle /System/Library/SystemConfiguration/PowerManagement.bundle.10.5.2 (it will backup your old Power Management bundle)

18. write: cp -R ~/Downloads/PowerManagement.bundle /System/Library/SystemConfiguration

19. write: chown -R 0:0 /System/Library/SystemConfiguration/PowerManagement.bundle

20. write: chmod -R 755 /System/Library/SystemConfiguration/PowerManagement.bundle

21. reboot

22. from finder goto folder: /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras

23. double click the file: Battery.menu

thats it, you should see the power icon in the menu bar,

Enjoy the power.

All About Kext

What is KEXT?
KEXT stands for Kernel Extension, this means that whatever needs to run in the kernel (OS core) environment can be written as extension and then loaded, even after the OSX has finished loading, this mostly answer the needs for hardware drivers.

Where are kext located?
kext are not files rather a folder (disguised as a file),

Leopard holds kext files/folders in the /System/Library/Extensions folder,
at boot time the relevant kext are uploaded from Extensions.mkext this is a cache folder that contains kext related to the installed hardware,

you can delete it, if Leopard can't find it, it will create it again,

you can also state to rebuild it from darwin prompt at boot time using the switch -f see this post for further information.

How to Load and UnLoad Kext?
Kext can be loaded and unloaded during runtime using the kextload and kextunload command lines.

in order to load kext, from terminal write:
sudo kextload kextName (where kextName stands for the kext name you want to load)
enter your password and press enter
the system should reply with a success or fail message.
see the manual page for this command

in order to unload kext, from terminal write:
sudo kextunload kextName (where kextName stands for the kext name you want to unload)
enter your password and press enter
the system should reply with a success or fail message.
see the manual page for this command

you can also check the load status of your kext using kextstat, from terminal write:
sudo kextstat
the system will display a list of loaded kext and details on it
see the manual page for this command

How to Install a new Kext?
cd /System/Library/Extensions
mv KextName.kext KextName.old (where kextName stands for the kext you want to replace)this will rename the kext and this way back it up, it is highly recommended, warmly advised, very important to follow this step, it saved my OS many times

cd /path/to/new/kext (put your downloaded kext path here)
cp -R KextName.kext /System/Library/Extensions

next you need to fix permissions so the kext can be executed by OS user (root/system)
cd /System/Library/Extensions
chmod -R 755 KextName.kext
chown -R 0:0 KextName.kext (this will set the ownership on files to system user (root))
rm /System/Library/Extensions.mkext (this will reset all kext caching done by OSX)

KextHelper


there is an easier method (not appropriate for all kext installs but works for 99% of them),
it is a little utility named KextHelper and can be downloaded here.

kext helper is a window that allow a drag and drop interface to install quickly a kext (including fix permissions).

in order to install new kext using KextHelper follow these steps:
1. launch KextHelper
2. drag and drop to the center of the application the kext you wish to install
3. enter your password in the bottom textfield
4. press the "Easy Install" button
5. wait for success reply
6. reboot

there are also advanced features such as backup, run script, etc.
if you are a developer you might want to read apple "Kernel Extension Programming"

Enjoy.

Hackintosh Drivers

Edie:
soon my site will be ready give it a try:
http://www.osx86driver.com/osx86driver

"Where can i find OSX86 / hackintosh drivers"
this post is for all the people that asked "where can i find a driver for..." well here is a link list that i will maintain:

for those of you that don't know a kext is mac kernel extension or as called in windows a driver.
access "All About Kext" post in order to find out how to install one.

links to the drivers is at the OSX86 Project HCL (Hardware Compatibility List) there is one for each OSX version released on the OSX86 Project:
Leopard 10.5.2
Leopard 10.5.1
Leopard 10.5.0
Tiger 10.4.9
Tiger 10.4.8

link lists and threads found on insanelymac:
a great compiled list of kext
Keyboard and trackpad/mouse
Video Cards
Ethernet
Wifi
CardBus/PCMCIA
Network Printers
Audio
Misc

here are some important kext that may get lost in the list:
NVInject - NVidea Injection kext that support nVidia video cards
Titan - Support for ATI and nVidia video cards
Natit - Open-Source Support for ATI and nVidia video cards
Natit - Natit releases by Netkas (better IMO)
PC_EFI - EFI support for PC, what makes OSX86 updates, and run native kernel possible
AppleSMBios - Apple System Management BIOS Driver

Enjoy.

PS2 doesn't work after 10.5.2 update

this is another thing that didn't work for me after updating to 10.5.2 on several computers, and several installations including laptop trackpad,

the solution is fairly easy, you need to restore your ApplePS2Controller and AppleACPIPlatform kext (Kernel Extensions).

so the first thing you need to have is the 10.5.1 kext here are links (in case you didn't back it up):
AppleACPIPlatform.kext
ApplePS2Controller.kext

the way to restore them is from the command line:

1. open terminal and write these commands:
2. sudo -s (press enter and write your password and press enter again)
3. mv /System/Library/Extensions/ApplePS2Controller.kext /System/Library/Extensions/ApplePS2Controller.kext.10.5.2
4. mv /Extensions/AppleACPIPlatform.kext /Extensions/AppleACPIPlatform.kext.10.5.2
5. these commands will backup your current 10.5.2 kext, just in case
6. next copy the 10.5.1 kext and set their premissions like this:
7. cp -R /ExtensionsBackup/ApplePS2Controller.kext /System/Library/Extensions
8. chmod -R 755 /Extensions/ApplePS2Controller.kext
9. chown -R 0:0 /Extensions/ApplePS2Controller.kext
10. cp -R /ExtensionsBackup/AppleACPIPlatform.kext /System/Library/Extensions
11. chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/AppleACPIPlatform.kext
12. chown -R 0:0 /System/Library/Extensions/AppleACPIPlatform.kext
13. Reboot

that's it, if you are suffering from any problem please post comments on this post.

Enjoy.

HFS+ partition type changed - what to do?

if you have for some reason a partition that is not recognized as HFS+ but it is (for instance if you tried to resize using Gparted and the HFS+ converted to something else), this is what you do in order to fix it:

enter fdisk, once you have entered fdisk and pressed p for print it will display a table with partitions details looking like this:



Note the second column (id), it is telling us what is the type of the partition in a hex representation. the HFS+ partitions should have AF as ID.

if it is not AF and the last column does not say HFS+ then use the command:
setpid X (where X stands for the partition number)
then the fdisk will show the partition table just for the X partition and ask for the partition ID you want to set like this:



write AF as the ID and press enter.
u (stands for Update)
w (stands for write)
it will tell you that you need a reboot like this:



write y (stands for yes)
q (stands for quit)

reboot, your done.

Enjoy.

Restore bootable partition

You have recently installed kext, application, update, another OS on a different partition and after boot all you get is a blinking cursor, and no darwin boot, and system not booting.

this post will explain step by step how to turn your partition back to a bootable state.

Data you should know.

you need to know what are you hard disk and partitions configuration,

• how many drives do you have
  
• how many partition on each drive
  
• what OS and File System is installed on each Partition
  
• what OS you would like to restore as primary boot loader

Solution 1:
first solution is accomplished using the "GNU Gparted Live CD", it is free Linux based application, you can download it here as an ISO file, you need to burn the iso file on to a CD and boot from it.

once you boot from the Live Cd you see this screen:


in the upper graphic parts you see square shapes that each represent a partition, above them there is a drop down that display the currently selected hard drive (in this case hda and its size is 37G), in linux (as in mac) drive is represented as file under folder dev, so the first drive is: /dev/hda.

if you choose from the drop down another driver it will display that drives partitions.
the lower table display the partitions in more details, you can see in this example that the first partition is NTFS, and it has the boot flag marked, that means that the NT file system will be booted from.

one of the thing you can do, is set a partition to being a bootable by setting the boot flag to it. you do that by right clicking with the mouse on the desired partition and choosing "manage flags" , from the pop up window check the boot flag check-box, close the window and click the "Apply Changes" button after it finish, reboot, and your HFS+ file system should be bootable again.

Solution 2:
there is another option to do this from command line using the fdisk utility available from the leopard DVD.
steps:

1. insert the Leopard install DVD and boot from it
2. at boot time press F8, and you will see the darwin boot screen
3. write -s and press enter this will enter "Single User" mode
4. execute the two lines that appear there regarding fsck and mount as described in the "Single User" post.
5. next enter these commands:

fdisk -e /dev/rdiskX (where X stands for your leopard install hard disk number (first one is 0 second is 1 etc.))
then in the fdisk utility write ? for list of commands (help screen)



write p (short for print) and press enter then it will display a table of disks and partitions
find your HFS+ partition and remember its number (if it is the first partition it will be 1)
next write: f X where X stands for the HFS+ partition probably 1 if it is the first partition,
next write: u (short for update) and press enter
then write: w (short for write) and press enter
lastly press q (quit)
then restart and the HFS+ partition should be bootable again.

so for summary, the commands should look like this:
boot single mode (after restart press F8, at the prompt write -s and press enter)
/usr/sbin/fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0

f 1

u

w

q

Reboot

if these solutions did not help that means one of two things:

1. you have just installed Leopard and did not install Darwin as described in the "Install Leopard" post.
2. or for some reason your partition ID has changed from AF to something else causing the HFS+ file system to recognized incorrectly.

the first case is solved by simply installing the darwin from the DVD.
the second case can be solved from the fdisk utility instructions in this post.

Enjoy.

How to read and understand Kernel Panic Screen

here are some Panic messages example and how to read them:

example 1:

Unresolved kernel trap(cpu 0): 0x300 - Data access DAR=0x0000000030D6334E PC=0x0000000027B5CD3C
Latest crash info for cpu 0:
Exception state (sv=0x27CA4500)
PC=0x27B5CD3C; MSR=0x00009030; DAR=0x30D6334E; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x27B5CD24; R1=0x0D80BAE0; XCP=0x0000000C (0x300 - Data access)
Backtrace:
0x27B5E6C4 0x27B5D82C 0x27B5607C 0x27B45C74 0x002E9A80 0x002EB94C
0x0008C248 0x00029234 0x000233F8 0x000ABEAC 0x8001016C
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.GeForce(4.1.8)@0x27b3a000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(1.7)@0x1d8f7000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(1.4.2)@0x27867000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(1.4.2)@0x2788b000
dependency: com.apple.NVDAResman(4.1.8)@0x278a1000
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x27CA4500)
previously dumped as "Latest" state. skipping...
Exception state (sv=0x1D92D280)
PC=0x9000B348; MSR=0x0200F030; DAR=0x02A8A000; DSISR=0x42000000; LR=0x9000B29C; R1=0xBFFFE900; XCP=0x00000030 (0xC00 - System call)


Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.11.0: Wed Oct 10 18:26:00 PDT 2007; root:xnu-792.24.17~1/RELEASE_PPC
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xFFFF0003): 0x300 - Data access
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x000954F8 0x00095A10 0x00026898 0x000A8204 0x000ABB80
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x27CA4500)
PC=0x27B5CD3C; MSR=0x00009030; DAR=0x30D6334E; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x27B5CD24; R1=0x0D80BAE0; XCP=0x0000000C (0x300 - Data access)
Backtrace:
0x27B5E6C4 0x27B5D82C 0x27B5607C 0x27B45C74 0x002E9A80 0x002EB94C
0x0008C248 0x00029234 0x000233F8 0x000ABEAC 0x8001016C
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.GeForce(4.1.8)@0x27b3a000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(1.7)@0x1d8f7000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(1.4.2)@0x27867000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(1.4.2)@0x2788b000
dependency: com.apple.NVDAResman(4.1.8)@0x278a1000
Exception state (sv=0x1D92D280)
PC=0x9000B348; MSR=0x0200F030; DAR=0x02A8A000; DSISR=0x42000000; LR=0x9000B29C; R1=0xBFFFE900; XCP=0x00000030 (0xC00 - System call
*********

OK you should understand that what happened here is that the OS has stopped working since it has a problem, the first thing it does is look for a debugger to pass the control to (since this is not a Mac OS X developer station it will not find one), next thing it will do is dump to the screen all the data it can on the incident so you or a qualified technician can understand what the problem is.

the first part (blue part) display data of the CPU registers, program control exception state for CPU number 0 (this is your first CPU) at the time of crash, this data is hex address in the memory, it will not do you much good unless you are a mega advanced user.

next part Backtrace (green part) also uses hex memory address to point the command the CPU ran before crashing, again will not do us any good.

next part (bolded black) is still regarding backtrace (what happened before the crash), but it tells us what modules (usually kext) where loaded, usually this part can tell us allot, since this loading sequence ended with crashing the OS. in this section we see the last loaded module (in this example the GeForce) and the modules it depends on that needed to be loaded before it so they probably did not cause the crash since they are already loaded (although still possible that they are the fault - but rarely they are).

next part (Red part) is the exception chain, again stating the data as hex memory address and the CPU registers, will not help us.

last interesting part is the kernel version part (orange part) this part will state what kernel you are using, name version build date and platform in this example:

Darwin

8.11.0

oct 10

PPC (Power PC)

the rest is the same data from the caller point of view but you might find different data there (i never had).

Conclusion 1: the problem is with the GeForce kext.

Example 2:

panic(cpu 0 caller 0x001A429B): Unresolved kernel trap (CPU 0, Type 14=page fault), registers:
CR0: 0x8001003b, CR2: 0x00000024, CR3: 0x00d7b000, CR4: 0x000006e0
EAX: 0x00000000, EBX: 0x02bacc00, ECX: 0x025dc9a4, EDX: 0x00000000
CR2: 0x00000024, EBP: 0x14053ef8, ESI: 0x00841684, EDI: 0x0083df64
EFL: 0x00010206, EIP: 0x003bd3b3, CS: 0x00000008, DS: 0x14050010

Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack) 
0x14053d38 : 0x128d08 (0x3cb134 0x14053d5c 0x131de5 0x0) 
0x14053d78 : 0x1a429b (0x3d0e4c 0x0 0xe 0x3d0670) 
0x14053e88 : 0x19ada4 (0x14053e98 0x14053ea8 0xe 0x48) 
0x14053ef8 : 0x83df81 (0x2bacc00 0x841684 0x14053f28 0x38073e) 
0x14053f28 : 0x39c536 (0x2bacc00 0x28b9880 0x8 0x2) 
0x14053f78 : 0x13d7d9 (0x28b9880 0x2686021 0x0 0xbffff378) 
0x14053fc8 : 0x19ac1c (0x0 0x0 0x4 0x207) Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0x0
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.driver.IOBluetoothHIDDriver(1.7.2b2)@0x8 37000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothFamily(1.7.14f14)@0x6be 000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily(1.4.10)@0x531000

Conclusion 2:we probably have a problem with the Bluetooth kext.

so up to here it was easy and straight forward, the next doesn't have the loaded module part.

Example 3:

Unresolved kernel trap(cpu 0): 0x300 - Data access DAR=0x0000000000000010 PC=0x00000000000819E8
Latest crash info for cpu 0:
Exception state (sv=0x3D849280)
PC=0x000819E8; MSR=0x00009030; DAR=0x00000010; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x000819CC; R1=0x2720BB00; XCP=0x0000000C (0x300 - Data access)
Backtrace:
0x00032AC8 0x000823DC 0x00075F58 0x00075918 0x0006B45C 0x0006B730 
0x000578A0 0x0002921C 0x000233F8 0x000ABAAC 0x414C5945 
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x3D849280)
previously dumped as "Latest" state. skipping...
Exception state (sv=0x42AF9280)
PC=0x9000AB48; MSR=0x0000F030; DAR=0x011DB004; DSISR=0x42000000; LR=0x9000AA9C; R1=0xF0101080; XCP=0x00000030 (0xC00 - System call)

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.8.0: Fri Sep 8 17:18:57 PDT 2006; root:xnu-792.12.6.obj~1/RELEASE_PPC
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xFFFF0003): 0x300 - Data access
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x00095138 0x00095650 0x00026898 0x000A7E04 0x000AB780 
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x3D849280)
PC=0x000819E8; MSR=0x00009030; DAR=0x00000010; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x000819CC; R1=0x2720BB00; XCP=0x0000000C (0x300 - Data access)
Backtrace:
0x00032AC8 0x000823DC 0x00075F58 0x00075918 0x0006B45C 0x0006B730 
0x000578A0 0x0002921C 0x000233F8 0x000ABAAC 0x414C5945 
Exception state (sv=0x42AF9280)
PC=0x9000AB48; MSR=0x0000F030; DAR=0x011DB004; DSISR=0x42000000; LR=0x9000AA9C; R1=0xF0101080; XCP=0x00000030 (0xC00 - System call)

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.8.0: Fri Sep 8 17:18:57 PDT 2006; root:xnu-792.12.6.obj~1/RELEASE_PPC

*********

Conclusion 3: so this can happen for several reasons:

1. first option is a random memory access error, meaning that the memory has been accessed to an area that wasn't expected or allowed, maybe even an application has written into memory that it shouldn't have (that was not its space) and by that caused the OS/kernel to crash, you should check what recent applications/utilities/kext/bundle/plugin/login items you have installed and remove it or disable its launch for a while until you can sort it out.

2. second option is usually the case for real macs but also possible for PC, as simple as a hardware problem, or bad memory card that causing the problem, maybe it act badly only if it is cold (immediately after booting the machine) or when it is hot (after several hours of work, depends sometimes minutes is enough on a sunny day), another hardware problem can be any hardware that access memory asynchronously, like IO (bluetooth card, modem, wifi, network card, etc.).

3. another option is that your combination of kext and bundles is not working (maybe versions of them some are older then should be?) so for such a case i always keep a bootable/loadable System/Library/Extensions folder on the disk.

4. this option is rarely the case, but can happen, if the main boot partition doesn't have enough free space it could cause the problem, so all you need to do in this case is to boot in safe mode and free some space.

5. another simple option is the case of a kext/application/kernel trying to access a file that it doesn't have a permission to access to, this can be caused due to wrong unix file mod, in this case boot into single user and fix permissions.

6. last option (that i can think of) is a bad kernel, so since the kernel itself is badly behaving that is why there are no kext loaded yet, since the kernel hasn't finished loading the core. this is why i keep a spare bootable/loadable copy on the disk so i can boot from it on a rainy kernel problem day.

so here are some articles like 10 things to do in order to get rid of the Panic:

The X Lab FAQ

General steps in OS X troubleshooting

Twenty steps to help diagnose and fix system issues

Enjoy (from a Panic? how can you?).

Hackintosh Hang - what to do?

this is a Troubleshooting post due to all the comments i get from users that face this problem and don't know what to do.

situation: you have recently installed a kext or some bundle that update your OS X, after reboot the system will not load and the "Gray Apple screen" displayed forever ("system Hangs at boot").

another option is: that you get a Kernel Panic message (A.K.A SOD Screen Of Death).

Solution: the solution is to first find what preventing your system from loading and fix it, or disable its load. another approach is to reverse the install of the causing problem (the kext or the bundle...)

Find out what is wrong (getting access to your system so you can try to fix it):

1. boot your computer, press F8 continueslly until you see the Darwin boot prompt

2. if you got to here then your partition is bootable, if not (try several times) then goto restore bootable partition post.

3. next write at the prompt "-v" (without the quotation marks) this will boot the OS without displaying the "Gray Apple Screen", but it will display log lines instead (A.K.A verbose mode).

5. in this mode you can see all the steps that the OS is taking in order to load, you will see kext load, bundle loaded, errors and warnings that will appear.

6. you need to search lines that looks like an error, usually contain the words "error" or "exception" in it, you should also search for the word "Panic" it means that the OS cannot continue after this point, when you find such lines read several lines before them and several lines after them (if they exist), they will tell you more what has happened or what is missing, or failing. check these Panic examples to get the idea.

7. write the lines you suspect and google for them, or you already know that they are regarding the kext or bundle you installed.

8. next reboot but this time write at the prompt "-s -f -x -v" (without the quotation marks) this will try to boot the OS into safe mode and single user for more details on the procedure goto "Boot into Single User" post.

9. if you got to this point, then your system can be launch but during GUI launch (or kext load) it fails (go to next step). if not then goto "Access OS X files externally" post and restore the backed up files prior to the recent installation, if you haven't backed up your files, then try to rename the installed files (that probably cause the panic) so the OS can't load them, and boot (in some cases it will work).

10. if you got this far then you are in a better shape then it looks now go to "fix solutions" and try them, after every "fix solution" you should try rebooting to test if the fix is enough for booting the OS, if not then press on to the next solution, if you are out of solutions then you can try one of two things: comment this article for help, or re-install, ofcourse there is always google.

Fix Solution 1:

this first solution tries to fix unix permissions for all the files on the disk,

from the command line prompt write:

diskutil repairPermissions diskXsY

where X stands for your disk number (starting from 0) and Y stands for your partition number (starting from 1), example: first primary disk on the second partition will look like this: disk0s2.

this should take a while, at the beginning you will see indication that the check has started like this: Started verify/repair permissions on disk disk0s2 Leopard

next you will see a text progress indication looking like this:

[ | 0%..10%..20%......................................... ]

if there are permission fixes you will see an indication looking like this:

Group differs on "Applications/.DS_Store", should be 80, group is 501

User differs on "Library/Internet Plug-Ins/flashplayer.xpt", should be 0, user is 501

at the end the progress will reach 100% and there will be an indication looking like this:

[ + 0%..10%..20%..30%..40%..50%..60%..70%..80%..90%..100% ]

Finished verify/repair permissions on disk disk0s2 Leopard

Fix Solution 2:

this fix procedure suggest to simply restore the backed up files (you should always save the kext you are about to install, i usually rename it to kextName.old and this way i can always come back to it, even if i find out in a week that there are problems with the new kext). in order to restore from single user mode do this (replace KextName with the kext name you want to restore):

cd /System/Library/Extensions

mv KextName.kext KextName.bad (this will rename the bad kext)

mv KextName.old KextName.kext (this will rename the backed up kext and set it as current)

chmod -R 755 KextName.kext (this will set the correct permissions)

chown -R 0:0 KextName.kext (this will set the ownership on files to system user (root))

rm /System/Library/Extensions.mkext (this will reset all kext caching done by OSX)

Fix Solution 3:

if you don't have a backup or the restore did not help, then the next step suggest to remove the kext/bundle/demon/application from being loaded at all, Note this will work only with non essensials files, for instance if you remove the GeForce.kext or ATIx1000.kext it is ok if you have more kext files (like default VESA driver) to take care of load generic driver, or if you get rid of PS2 or bluetooth it is ok since the max harm their absents can cause is no mouse/keyboard or no bluetooth but system will still load, but if you try to remove AppleSMBIOS.kext or AppleACPIPlatform.kext then the system will probably will not even boot into single user mode again.

so in order to rename your kext do this:

cd /System/Library/Extensions

mv KextName.kext KextName.bad

rm /System/Library/Extensions.mkext

reboot.

Fix Solution 4:

if you don't have a backup, you can try to download the kext file from the web, or extract it from the install ISO or DVD using pacifist application, or you can install a fresh copy on a different hard drive or different partition or different computer and extract the required kext from there or even the whole extensions folder.

Fix Solution 5:

some times the hang can be caused by an application or a configuration panel you installed that alter the default preferences of the OS, the way to reset it is to remove the preferences files that the application is installing and the OS will read the values from its defaults system.

in order to do that rename the files you suspect (using the mv command like before), they can be found at these folders:

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration (system wide configuration files)

/Library/Services (installed services)

/Library/StartupItems (items that loads with the system)

/System/Library/LaunchDaemons (this folder contains all the demons started at boot time)

/System/Library/LaunchAgents (this folder contains all the agents started at boot time)

/Library/LaunchDaemons (this folder contains all the demons started for root user)

/Library/LaunchAgents (this folder contains all the agents started for root user)

/System/Library/SystemConfiguration (system wide configuration files)

/Users/[some user name]/Library/Preferences (preferences for specific user)

Fix Solution 6:

this solution is one step before considering re installing the OS, but it can be long and you will need another mac, the solution is to reinstall the kext/bundle/application again, perhaps the copy/install did not fully succeed. if you have installed a package file with mpkg/pkg extension then that mpkg is a folder containing folder named Packages inside it that contains all the pkg files to be installed, the pkg file is also a folder that contains archive gzip, and a set of scripts telling it what to extract and where to copy the files (there can be many places not just one directory).

if you want to manually install (or check what files where copy during the install and remove them or make sure they have been copied) then you should take the time to extract all the archive files, list the files, find them on the disk and overwrite them, or remove them.

this procedure is recommended only if you have a small list of files, there can be even a small mistakes that can cost hours of work, but what i do recommend to do before installing such a package (if it is core related like bluetooth, or airport update etc.) then do the same procedure, and find the files that are going to be replaced and back them up. you can also use pacifist on the "bom" file (next to the archive file) and see the files and folders in there.

another way is to find out what packages are already installed on your machine (and maybe uninstall the problematic) this can be done from the command line using "pkgutil" write it and press enter and you will see the help screen, you can also look inside the folders named: "Receipts" that save the pkg installed in the appropriate volume, these folders can be found:

/Library/Receipts

/Users/[some user name]/Receipts

Further Digging:

if the first verbose mode boot did not help in understanding the problem then you can search for a clue in the system log files, these log files reside in these locations:

/Library/Logs

/var/log

/Users/[some user name]/Library/Logs

Enjoy (hope this will help you).

Nice set of how-to

this link: http://osx86.wikidot.com/how-to-s

have several how-to posts, try it if you need one of them it includes:

How to: Load Kext
How to: Enable Root Access
How to: Use Bootloader Flags
How to: Inject Kexts into Leopard DVD
How to: Use online updates
How to: Fix the GUID bootloader (Blinking cursor)
How to: Create and Install GFX Strings for EFI
How to: Install Leopard on a software RAID(without an existing installation)
How to: Find device id with Windows
How to: Find device id with Mac OS / Linux
How to: Disable SPOTLIGHT
How to: Install and use GIMP without X11
How to: Changing "About this Mac" info

Enjoy.

Install Leopard - iATKOS_v1.0i

this is a continue to the "BIOS Options for hackintosh" post

this post will be a screen-shot guide of how to install Leopard on a PC,
if this is the first post you read regarding this issue please read the previous sections they will save you a lot of troubleshooting in the install process,

this guide is based on iAtkos 1.0i 10.5.1 without the 10.5.2 PPF, the installation DVD i used is an upgrade and require a pre installed Mac, i used for that an iAtkos tiger install, in order to see the tiger installation post refer to the "Install Tiger" post, another solution is to download a full installation of leopard (not an upgrade), i know there is a Kaliway and uphack iAtkos versions of it.

these screenshots comes from my LG W1 Laptop, it has this hardware mounted on it:

• Core2Duo 1.83Ghz x2 (only one working when the other is enabled i get a reboot loop)
  
• 2G DDR2 667
• 120G SATA HD (can support RAID)
• PCMCIA Texas Instruments Card Reader
• Dual-Layer DVD Burner
• USB 2.0 x4 or USB 1.0 x2 + USB 2.0 x2 (both successfully supported)
• ATI X1600 Mobility (working with ATIinject)
• Sound Card (internal speakers not working)
  
• 17" LCD
  

yet i have successfully installed this leopard version in more the ten computer types, including laptops and desktops (though i didn't try AMD yet, i have one at home waiting to do just that, it will require a different leopard version one that supports SSE2, i will add a post regarding that), among them Core2Duo, 1G/2G, internal HD/External HD, WIFI, ethernet cards, cable internet, ADSL, LCD, CRT, bluetooth, etc. if you want to know if your PC will be supported check the OSX86 HCL (Hardware Compatibility List)

lets begin, first insert the burned DVD (i used alcohol 120% with generic format to burn the copy)


next turn the computer on, so it will boot from the DVD (make sure the BIOS is set to boot from DVD first)


after booting you see a screen similar to this, counting backwards, and notifying that it is loading the Darwin boot loader, allow it to proceed until you see the next gray apple screen


next you see the apple boot screen this should take between a minute to 5 minutes


in the meanwhile connect a USB keyboard (if you are on a laptop it is a good bet that the internal will not work out of the box), in desktop try not to mix mouse and keyboard ps2 with USB, ether both USB or both PS2 (although it can work mixed).


i use a silicon roll up keyboard so it bothers me less (but it still bother)


next you see the 'About' screen of the install and the 'About' message was removed and what left is just "Click Next" message so go ahead an click next


the 'next' button is in the lower right side of the screen


a progress indication dialog appears should take up to 1 minute or so


next a 'Welcome' screen appears and since this is a tweaked leopard install you see the hacker group message here, mine say iAtkos + version, click Continue


next screen should have been the Apple License agreement but here we get the iAtkos group "readme" file content, use only English language and click Agree


now the fun begins, this screen ether display hard drive partition that you can install leopard on, or not most of you will not see the Hard drive icons, don't worry about it we will soon create one that will be visible, and usable, if you see one and want to use it as your install partition then click it and jump the "Darwin Install" step.


next click on the "Utilities" menu from the upper menubar


and choose "Disk Utility", the screen will be replaced by the disk utility application


in this screen you see a center section that is empty for the moment and on the left you will see all the disks and partitions available on your PC, on the upper part you see an icon bar that can perfom several operations on the selected disk/partition


select the partition you want to erase (and install leopard on) from the left disk/partition tree, immediately you see the center changes allowing you to see summary info on the selected partition and perform operations like erase, create, format, fix etc.


from the center part of the screen press the Erase tab


choose a volume format, Mac OS Extended (Journaled),
in the name text field write the name of the partition (this is the name of the HD icon on the Mac desktop and the name of the boot partition you will see in the Darwin boot screen, so choose it carefully, i think only English is supported, try not to use spaces in the name and it is Case sensitive), i used Leopard2 in this example, and click the "Erase" button


next you get a popup screen (in mac its rather a scroll down) that asking you to confirm to erase the partition looking like this: (click the erase)


next the partition is erased and a progress bar indication available at the bottom of the screen, after the erase finish you see a complete message and on the left partition/disk tree there is a new icon of the recently formated/erased mac partition (leopard2 in this example), close the "Disk Utility" window and exit to the main install window


Darwin Install:
after the disk formatting you should be able to see its icon in the main screen, do not select it yet we need to finish one more step, that is the installation of the darwin boot loader it is responsible to initialize all the kext(Kernel extension) and boot the system, also we will install the EFI system that will allow to run a vanilla kernel.
from the Utilities menu in the menu bar select Darwin Boot


next the main screen disappear and a terminal window appears elaborating on the procedure, go ahead and read it,


at the end it ask you: do you want to continue, press y


it asks you to write the number of the Hard Drive you want to install Darwin on (the drive that will be bootable and mac will be installed on it) use the drive that you recently erased (it should be available from the data you gathered in an earlier stage), please note that every hard drive number should be added 1 to it so for instance your first driver (number 0) you should enter here 1 instead, etc.


next comes the partition number write the real number (first is 1, second partition on that disk is 2, etc.) (sorry i dont have a screen shot for that one).

last step is to install the EFI (it works on most PCs, if it won't work on yours, just reinstall and skip the EFI part), EFI allows the hackintosh to operate as a real leopard, including Software Update and several kext (drivers), it uses a vanilla kernel code,
so in the next question: "Do you want to install boot EFI" press Y (sorry no screen shot for this one as well).

lastly you will be asked: "Are you sure? " (for all the previous answers you gave), if you answer yes the darwin and EFI (if you selected Yes on EFI question) will be written to the disk and partition you selected, if you answer no all will be discarded and you can redo this part and reselect your options.
write Y, after the darwin install is finish it will write exit, logout, [Process Completed], the install takes 5-10 seconds


after the install is completed we need to flag this partition as bootable, this will allow you to boot from the newly installed partition,
to open a new terminal window from the Shell Menu, choose new Window->Homebrew


a new terminal window appears, enter the fdisk CLI (Command line interface) using this command:
/usr/sbin/fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0
replace the last number (in this example 0) with the your leopard install HD number


you can use question mard (?) and see the command list


write p (short for print) it will display you with all the available partitions on the selected disk, including details such as size, type etc. you will also see an astrik sign (*) next to the current bootable (flagged) partition, in this example case its 2.


flag your partition to be bootable using the command:
f 1
(f is a short for flag) replace the number 1 with your installed leopard partition


after you do that you can see there is an astrik sign (*) next to your prompt indicating that a change has occurred and no commit has been applied, you can use p (print) again, to make sure that the appropriate partition has been flagged


now write u (short for update)


and w (short for write)


the astrik sign (*) has disappeared from your prompt indicating all changes have been applied, you can write q (short for quit)


once finished with the fdisk utility we can exit the Terminal application, you do that by clicking the Terminal Menu->Quit Terminal from the menubar it will bring you back to the main install window


now select the icon of the partition you want to install leopard on (the same partition you erased and named, same one you installed darwin on) and click continue


now you get to the actual install screen (after all the preperation)


in the lower left corner there is a Customize button that, press it.


it opens a window that allow you to select what components to install, if you know what you are doing then check your selection, if you are a beginner with hackintosh select only the ones that are marked in the image, note select EFI only if in "Darwin Install" you selected Yes in the Install EFI question, otherwise uncheck it.


when you finish click on the Done button in the lower right corner


you will returned to the "Install Summary" screen, press the install button


a popup (or scroll down) will appear and perform a checksum on the Install DVD to make sure all the files are correct intact and original, you can select to wait 2-3 minutes, or press skip


after the validation part is done (or skip is pressed) the OS file copy stage begins, this will take time, lay back and relax


the progress window looks like this:


when the install process finishyou get this "Install Succeeded" screen and it will stay this way for 30 seconds, waiting for you to press restart, if you don't it will automatically restart anyway


before it will boot back up, eject the install DVD, you will not need it any more (for this install)


after the BIOS screen press F8 so the darwin boot screen will load


make sure you see the recently installed partition with the name you gave it (my example "Leopard2"), select it and press enter


now you see the apple gray boot screen


if all went well you will soon see (and hopefully hear) the great apple "Welcome video", you cannot press esc and stop it, so enjoy it until it ends and the next customization screen set appears


first screen is the region selection screen, select your region, if you cant see it check the the lower "Show All" checkbox


next is the country selection screen, choose your country, if you cant find it check the lower "Show All" checkbox


next is the keyboard layout screen, select your keyboard layout, if you cant see the one for you check the lower "Show All" checkbox


next screen is important, it gives you the opportunity to migrate data, setup, application etc. from an existing mac installation, if you have an upgrade install DVD version of leopard then you must have an earlier install of mac OS (like Tiger, check the "Install Tiger" post), if you don't have an upgrade install DVD you can choose the last option "do not transfer my information now" and click "continue", but if you have an upgrade version and you have previously installed a Tiger version on this PC then just choose: "from another volume on this mac" and click "continue", note: if this is an upgrade version DVD and you have not installed Tiger after you click "continue" it will go back to the "welcome video" stage and it will do that only 3 times after that the installation will be corrupted.


if you choose to transfer the information from previously installed mac, then this screen appears, asking you to select the data you want to transfer (you must select at least one user), make sure you have enough disk space and click transfer.


a transferring progress indication screen appear, it will take time depending on the size to transfer.


next it will ask you to select your internet connection type and set it up, it can be done but i prefer for first install to do only what has to be configured so i can see the leopard is launching and not that the internet connection has failed the installation, this wizard can always be activated from within leopard,


next it will display the registration sceen, fill in the fields and press continue


now it will warn you about fields you forgot to fill or filled incorrectly or if the email is invalid, ether fix the data (if it will not allow you to continue) or press ok to ignore


next the more questions screen appear asking you where do you use this mac and what describes your uses for it, and you may check the ckeckbox in order to be notified of new sales and new products etc. by email (don't check this checkbox)


next it will ask to send the registration info to apple, obviously you select "register later" and press continue.


next the set the date and time window appears allowing you to set the clock, set it and press continue.


now it will remind you not to forget to register with apple, press Done.


thats it in a minute you will have a leopard system working, now just calibrate your keyboard, so leopard will load the appropriate code for it, press continue.


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


in my case it is Z, click it once


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


in my case it is the question mark key (?) press it only once,


next it should notify you that the keyboard has been identified and allow you to ether press done or change the identification from the options available, (leave it and press done)


next you will see the leopard login window (actually the hackintosh hacked login screen) choose your user enter the password and click login


lastly you should see the leopard desktop and dock.


thats it, if you have problems or questions send a post here, if you succeed send your success story in insanelymac and your hardware setup in the OSX.org HCL Page,

Enjoy your Mac.