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[HOW TO] Get past 'Still waiting for root device errors'


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I just got a P4 Machine (1.8 Ghz, MSI 6526 GL Mobo) and no matter what OSX version dvd i tried it would not boot. If i ran it with -v, it would say something like

 

"Using 2621 buffer headers and 2621 Clusters buffer headers ......." and would hang there

 

I tried -x -v platform=X86PC / ACPI.

 

I thought, I finally got a P4 and it turns out to be f*cked. :angry:

 

Anyway, this is how i fixed it.

 

Got a WinXPE CD. I didnt have windows, so i had to use one. If you have Windows you wont need the XPE CD. If u donot know what XPE is install Windows.

 

Next i got a sweet brainwave :idea: (Its a bit slow, took 3 Days to come up with answer)

 

1) I got my 10.4.1 diskimage

2) DD'd this image onto P4's HDD

3) Booted 10.4.1 after much ado, with -x -v platform=X86PC

4) Now when I insert the OSX 10.4.3 DVD,(with -x -v platform=X86PC), it runs perfect. No errors.

5) Now I booted back into windows, deleted 6.6 GB 10.4.1 Partition

6) Created 10 GB partition with 'diskpart', id=af primary

7) Booted DVD with -x -v platform=X86PC

8) Formatted 10 GB partition with Disk Utility

9) 10.4.3 Worked perfect. Boots up without any options. :guitar::gun:

 

 

CONCLUSION

If you are having problems installing,

1) Create an 'id=af' primary partition using 'diskpart'

2) Install 10.4.1 using the disk image (I hope u find it at piratebay or demonoid) :)

3) If needed as last resort, upgrade your 10.4.1 to 10.4.3 then 10.4.5 and finally 10.4.6

 

EDIT

4) Make sure the HD you are installing to is Primary Master. (Thanks to S1LV3R)

 

NOTE: I didnot reburn the install DVD. Attached below is my created (put together from other guides) guide on how to install 10.4.1. Please put your comments

Step_by_step_n00b_guide_to_install_Mac_OS_X_x86_beta.doc

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  • 2 weeks later...

i had the 'waiting for root device' for ages when trying to install osx86 on a 2nd hard drive (windows xp on the first). after a lot of head scratching (about 2 days worth) i tried reconnecting the 2nd drive as primary master and bingo it worked....

 

hope that helps someone else.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

i had the still waiting root device , and just changed the HD where osx was installed to IDE1, and in bios i changed the first boot device to the Second HD, where xp is so os selector would appear.

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VMware is toooooooooo o oo oo o o oo ssll ll l ll o o w o oo woow w w ww ww.. I can sadly say I would rather go Windows than not native OS X . ;)

Using VMWare 5.0 you can connect physical drive as virtual. Install in VMWare and reboot to native.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
excuse me , "osx should be in "primary master", right? i have mine in secondary master and it works for a long time now. does that mean it works whether primary or secondary as long as it is master? anyone have the same setup as mine?

 

It's different for different hardware, different install versions etc. I have two desktops with it on, and one required the hdd to be primary slave and dvd primary master no matter what. The pentium machine didn't seem to give a {censored} either way. As for my laptop, {censored}, you can't so easily swap stuff like that! VMWare dosn't work either because I have a 400mhz Dothan, most of which have no PAE so VMWare dosn't work right (even with the paevm=true fix)

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Well after much wailing and nashing of teeth. I finally have Darwin getting installed. I was suffering from the dreaded "still waiting for root device" error for quite some time and since I have a laptop (compaq R3000, P4, 512 Mb Ram, ATI Radeon, etc) i could not switch my cdrom drive from the secondary ide to the primary or however the laptop has it setup on the inside. This frustrated me immensly (There is a reason I am called errorinspelling) till I had an apostrophe, epitath, appithany, eh something like that, Anyhow I simply stole the DVD drive from my wifes computer, which made her somewhat upset but I told her it was in the name of progress, tore apart my buddies external usb drive case, gutting the harddrive from it and replacing it with mine wifes DVD drive. Of course if you simply have an external USB DVD drive that really could save you from getting yelled by both your friend and your wife. Anyhow plug er into the laptop (It does help having a leptop that will boot off of USB) and VIOLA!! CELLO!! BASS!! Eh ANyhow it booted and started the installation. So now that you are done reading this you just have to ask yourself, Couldn't this guy simply said Try booting off an external DVD drive instead of having me read all this drivel? Cheers and Beers For Many Years!!!

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  • 4 months later...

Hello All.....

 

i've also have the same problem with still waiting for booting device.....i've tried everything and this is my last scream for help. I checked my jumpers on cd rom Hd--->> on cdrom drives it was on master and slave just as i should be. I only have one harddrive 120gb ata..im running it on p4 2.8 and the installation process went through just fine...no problems...after installation it reboots and promts "STIILL WAITING FOR BOOT DEVICE" i ve searched al over the internet and nothing related to my problem were found...is there anyone in here that please ca´n help me??? i love mac and really wants to run it..please help me

 

best regards

 

shino

!!

 

 

PS : everyone in here are talking about swithching jumpers to Master and ect...that really dont help ..my jumpers are all set correct and im stilling getting the prompt...!!!nasty problem!!!!

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It doesnt matter about jumpers because Computer select simply implies that the BIOS will label it as it sits on the rack according to its channel, so if its In master (primary) position on the channel then it will be labeled as primary. You have 2 sub channels on a channel master and slave end of the cord (master,) and middle of the cord (slave.)

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As I have said above, there is no hard and fast rule for getting past this error.

Also give rd=diskXsY a try

where X = Disk number, 0 for first HDD, 1 for second HDD

Y = Partition Number, 1 for first partition, 2 for second partition.

 

To type this press F8 and type it during bootup. Also I have found that in most cases, OSX likes to boot from Primary partitions on Master HDD's

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As I have said above, there is no hard and fast rule for getting past this error.

Also give rd=diskXsY a try

where X = Disk number, 0 for first HDD, 1 for second HDD

Y = Partition Number, 1 for first partition, 2 for second partition.

 

To type this press F8 and type it during bootup. Also I have found that in most cases, OSX likes to boot from Primary partitions on Master HDD's

 

Thanks for your respond...can u be more specific...what does this command do??? how should that help my booting device problem?? please tell me a little more about this command....

 

shino

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are you completly sure that all your hardware is supported Shino?

 

Yes iam---this is my hardware SPECS... Pentium 4 processor 2.8ghz Socket 478..Motherboard ASUS P4V8X SSE2..running Cd/rw and DVD/RW on same channel Ide Primary and secondary (Master, Slave) my Harddrive 120gb Maxtor ATA have its own channel alone as Master..i do not have other hd's. Also i have 1.5 GB ram ddr400 KIngston...so as you can see my specs should be strong enough to run this OS X 10.4.6..i installed a patch on the cd named Intel and AMD FOR SSE 2 for OS X..after the installation this the computer starts loading the OS X and then it just goes blank and starts restarting?? any idea?? before installing the Pacth for SSE 2 it came up with the still waiting for root device....so i got a step further but stil no GUI!!!!

 

can u help??

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  • 10 months later...
  • 3 months later...
As I have said above, there is no hard and fast rule for getting past this error.

Also give rd=diskXsY a try

where X = Disk number, 0 for first HDD, 1 for second HDD

Y = Partition Number, 1 for first partition, 2 for second partition.

 

To type this press F8 and type it during bootup. Also I have found that in most cases, OSX likes to boot from Primary partitions on Master HDD's

 

Hey I have tried the above cmd rd-disk0s2 and it booted up fine ..

But i dont want to type that cmd every time i boot it there a work around

regard

Mark

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  • 2 months later...

Haven't seen this fix posted anywhere yet. However I'm a noob here, so indulge me if it has.

 

Specs

 

MB - Asus M2NPV-VM

CPU - AMD 4200

Mem - 4GB

Video - XFX 8600GT 256 MB

 

Could not get anything to work to get past the "Still waiting for root device" and tried everything on this thread including boot options, mem limit etc.. I am also using all IDE hardware and had set HDD as master on CH0 and DVD as master on CH1. Nothing worked.

 

Finally set my IDE DVD to primary master on CH0 using the 80-pin ATA/100 cable and left the HD disconnected. Install got all the way through but of course could not find a disk. Then connected the HD to the 40 pin cable that came with the MB for DVD connection and again got an error. Light bulb overhead... Bought a SECOND 80-pin ATA/100 cable and connected the HD with it. Wahlah! - install worked perfectly. Now since most older MB's (B4 sata) shipped with ONE 80 pin cable for HD and one 40 pin cable for the CD/DVD I suspect many of the problems here may be related not just to hardware but how the MB cabling is set up. It would appear that the install disk needs BOTH the DVD drive and HD either connected to the same channel as Master/Slave using the 80 pin cable OR on separate channels with two 80 pin cables with DVD on ch0 and HD on CH1 with both devices set as master.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Cheers to all.

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