Still waiting for root device
From OSx86
A major problem preventing lots of users from using OSX86 on their pc.
Contents |
[edit] nForce SATA
[edit] No detection of SATA at boot in nForce3 once MacOS 10.4.6 is installed
After installing OS X 10.4.6 native with VMware with any of the method listed in the installation guides, the first boot was OK, configure the OSX with keyboard, personal info, etc...But when you turn it off and on again, it freezes in the holy "Still waiting for root device". My solution was, start OSX with the -v -x flags, for my surprise it recognize the SATA disk and start in safe mode. Then i went to Terminal, entered as root and typed the following...(extracted from "AppleVIAATA.kext" Method)
rm /System/Library/Extensions.kextcache
kextcache -k /System/Library/Extensions/
kextcache -L -N -e
Then rebooted and everything worked fine...
Seems like reloading the extensions cause OSX load the SATA driver correctly at boot. If someone know why, you are welcome :) .
[edit] You can use chroot to run this from the installer disc
Note that you can operate on an already-installed copy of Mac OS X from the install disc by accessing the Terminal utility. kextcache will crash, however, as it doesnt have write access to /tmp (as its mounted to a location on the read-only optical disc). You can work around this by running another instance of bash inside of chroot... type chroot /Volumes/MyOSXInstall bash and the new bash shell will have a root path set to the root path of your installed volume. kextcache will work correctly. . .
[edit] Other Problems
Likely problems:
SATA
Hard drive not set as Primary Master
Incompatible hardware
Solutions:
"AppleVIAATA.kext" Method
Make Hard drive Primary Master hd 1
If you are using a SATA disk, make sure it is set for IDE legacy mode in the PC BIOS and not 'enhanced'
Get a IDE Hard Disk(you can attach the IDE hard disk, but still install the OS on the SATA drive. It just helps to get past the "still waiting for root device error".)
(Post them if it is not listed)
Disscussions:
OSX86 Forum
OSX86 Wiki
7 single lines
p.s. if you have the problem don't cry, there are a lot of things that cause this problem. Many of us out there are also experiencing this problem. . . .
