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Safely upgrade Lion 10.7.2 to 10.7.4 and newer


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Hello!

 

Excuse me if this has been asked before, but I didn't find it.

 

I remember back in Snow Leopard 10.6 I had a custom kernel for my Atom CPU, had compiled my own DSDT.aml file to match my netbook's motherboard and BIOS version and had loaded some kexts to enable sound etc. I had a dual-boot installation with Windows 7 and I had installed MacDrive in Windows so I can see my Mac partition. Every time I upgraded Snow Leopard through Software Upgrade, all I had to do was copy the custom kernel back in the Mac partition and it could boot without any problem. This was true up to version 10.6.7. The latest upgrade 10.6.8 could not boot even after copying back the kernel file and all I got was a gray screen with the Apple logo and the OS loading forever.

 

I was suspicious that Apple would do the same in Lion 10.7, so before upgrading, I used SuperDuper to backup my installation to another partition. I had a full installation of 10.7.2, MS Office 2011 etc, and of course I didn't want to go through all that again! As I suspected the upgrade to 10.7.4 finished "successfully" and then I could no longer boot into Lion! So I had to boot from the backup and restore Lion back to 10.7.2 using SuperDuper. Then it could not find the bootloader (wrong cloning settings?) and I had to boot from MacOS DVD-ROM and reinstall Chameleon...

 

So what can one do in order to upgrade from 10.7.2 to newer version? Do I have to wait for iATKOS to release a new DVD-ROM, or is there some fix? Assuming I upgrade again and I cannot boot to Lion. Is there anything I can do from another Mac installation to fix it? I can always boot to 10.7.2 backup I made with SuperDuper and then I have access to the Lion partition. Then what?

 

Please give detailed instructions as I am not a Terminal expert. If I could use GUI utilities, I would prefer it, but if I had to use the Terminal anyway, please tell me exactly what to do. Should I upgrade to 10.7.3 first, or I can go directly to 10.7.4?

 

Thank you in advance.

 

Sotirios Papakonstantinou

 

spapakons@yahoo.gr

 

By the way, I didn't manage yet to make my PS/2 keyboard and mouse work in Lion. Maybe I'm installing the wrong kexts... Anyone knows which ones work for sure?

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IATKOS (and other hacked DVDs) deploy a number of modifications in order to work with a wide variety of hardware. This means there are patches and configuration settings in effect on your installation that you don't know about. Some are necessary, some aren't.

 

When you update you lose them, as patched kernel extensions and other system files get replaced by new, unmodified Apple files.

 

You need to determine what and where these modifications are so that you can implement them in a different way, that will let you survive an update. Unfortunately there is no way anybody can help you or suggest anything until you find out. This is one of the downsides inherent to using hacked DVDs instead of doing a clean retail installation. When you install retail you are in control of what goes where. With a distro/hacked DVD you are entirely at the mercy of those who put together the distro.

With a retail installation there is a somewhat steep learning curve, but a lot less hassle in the long run.

 

My first advice would be to rename your patched kernel to atom_kernel so that it doesn't get overwritten by mach_kernel when you run an update. Don't forget to change mach_kernel to atom_kernel in /Extra/org.chameleon.Boot.plist accordingly.

 

About PS2 kexts, what works for others might not work for you. I haven't used PS2 input devices since last century so I can't help. Keep experimenting until you find a combination that works.

 

Cloning software does not normally clone the boot sector, you must reinstall Chameleon manually after cloning.

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IATKOS (and other hacked DVDs) deploy a number of modifications in order to work with a wide variety of hardware. This means there are patches and configuration settings in effect on your installation that you don't know about. Some are necessary, some aren't.

Patches and Configurations you don't know about! Yay! What kid wouldn't want that on their computer!? It gives you new exciting things to discover months after setting it up! Sounds cool, sign me up.

 

+1 for reinstalling Chameleon on your backup, it will also set the partition as active which is a common problem with clone boots.

 

My first advice would be to rename your patched kernel to atom_kernel so that it doesn't get overwritten by mach_kernel when you run an update. Don't forget to change mach_kernel to atom_kernel in /Extra/org.chameleon.Boot.plist accordingly.

To elaborate a bit. For manual boot using newly renamed kernel if you did not add it to org.chameleon.Boot.plist, at the chameleon boot prompt you can type:

 

kernel=atom_kernel

 

to add to org.chameleon.Boot.plist so you don't have to type manually each boot it would look like:

<key>Kernel</key>
<string>atom_kernel</string>

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Well, I went to Apple support site and downloaded both the 10.7.3 combo and the 10.7.4 combo. I first installed 10.7.3 I rebooted into Windows 7 and using MacDrive I deleted the AppleHDA.kext, just in case, since I read somewhere that it conflicts with VoodooHDA.kext and causes booting problems. It booted in Lion successfully, so I then decided to try the 10.7.4 combo. This is where some kexts where updated and screwed the installation. In verbose mode I saw the "Waiting root device" error and I read this can be fixed with setting SATA to AHCI in BIOS. But in my BIOS there is no such setting, SATA is always in IDE mode. Then I booted in Windows 7 again and using MacDrive tried to replace some kexts that I suspected they where updated from those of the backup. I initially deleted the kext from S/L/E in Lion and copied it from S/L/E in backup back in S/L/E in Lion. After copying some kexts Inculding some IO...kext (I don't remember exactly which ones) it seemed to pass this point, (it now find the hard disk) but it stucks somewhere else without completing the boot sequence to show the desktop. I will try to give you a photo. I didn't have time for more experiments, so I gave up. Is there a way to see exactly which kexts are updated so I can restore them from the backup? Can I determine it by looking at the date and time data in the S/L/E folder from Windows, or there are more folders I should keep track? Will it work if I just copy back these kexts or I should do something more using the terminal from backup? Fortunately Chameleon is set to use always "custom" kernel instead of "mach_kernel" so is not affected by the upgrade.

 

Thank you again.

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you can sort them by date modified, but you don't want to just go replacing every updated kext with the older backup version. Some of the newer ones are going to be required and what is the point in doing an update if you just then manually put everything back to the older version? Since we have very limited info I know about what hardware you have, I can't help advise what is or isn't needed. I recommend you find out and make note of what modified extension are installed initiially when you first set everything up. I like to rt click on them and assign them a color so their label is color coded and they are easy to spot from then on. Many setups are requiring appleACPIPlatform.kext be rolled back to version 1.3.5 from Snow leopard after updating to 10.7.4 and some may also need IOPlatformfamil.kext from Snow Leo as well, not sure in your case, but identify what your patching in 10.7.2 first. Update signature with your hardware info and can be more helpful at point

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Well, I restored Lion once more to 10.7.2 and I then upgraded to 10.7.3 This upgrade (at least in my setup) works without any issue. I wouldn't dare upgrade to 10.7.4 or I won't be able to boot into Lion. My setup is the following:

 

Motherboard: Intel D945GCFL2 (mini-ITX, Intel 945G chipset)

 

CPU: Intel Atom 330 1.6GHz

 

RAM: 2GB DDR2 667MHz

 

VGA: Intel GMA 950 (onboard)

 

Audio: Realtek HD

 

HDD1: 160GB IDE (Windows 7)

 

HDD2: 320GB SATA (IDE mode, GUID, two partitions, LION & Backup)

 

DVD-RW: IDE

 

 

If anyone knows any trick, then let me know. The symptoms are exactly the same back in Snow Leopard. I mean, I had installed version 10.6.1 vanilla (which I was trying for days until I managed to do it properly with DSDT and stuff) and then upgraded without any issue to 10.6.2, up to 10.6.7. All I had to do is replace the mach_kernel with custom Atom kernel and it was OK. But when I upgraded to 10.6.8 it could no longer boot. Same symptoms, now. I can upgrade to 10.7.3 but 10.7.4 fails. Maybe it tries to boot to 64-bit or something and it fails because there is no 100% CPU support or most my kexts are 32-bit only.

 

Thank you

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