yelloguy Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 I have had this Inspiron 530 desktop for nearly three years running rock solid first on Leopard, then on SL and for a year on Lion. A couple of days ago, I removed the Windows partition thinking it is not needed but I didn't realize the boot sector would be screwed up. Next day the computer didn't boot and as luck would have it, its PSU died the same day after showing the boot error message. I tried a CMOS reset to troubleshoot the PSU problems and that probably screwed me up. I replaced the PSU and booted the computer. Then I connected the HDD to my Macbook Pro and did a manual install of Chameleon and the boot, boot1h files etc. Now it tries to boot and loads all the kexts but finally it shows the message about starting Darwin x86_64 and then it reboots. I have tried booting it with a USB stick but I either get Kernel Panics from the extra kexts on most boot disk images, or, if I copy the same kexts as the internal HDD, it goes past everything and reboots at the same place, the same way. Makes me think it is something to do with the BIOS settings since all the extensions are the same as were working and DSDT.aml is also the same (compiled by me for the hardware). Could a PSU change have caused the DSDT to get out of sync? Does it store that kind of info? Any ideas appreciated. I have tried everything and I am at my wits end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eep357 Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Have you successfully booted anything since replacing the PSU? Linux, Windows, something? Dell likes to have what look to be normal ATX power supply connectors but instead follow a different pin-out. I would suspect it would not post if this were the case, but something to double check anyway. I don't think Dell does this anymore and hasn't for a while now, because it obviously it doesn't go over too well when people find out the hard way. See here for starter's Issues with Dell power supplies 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yelloguy Posted July 22, 2012 Author Share Posted July 22, 2012 Dell says on their website it is a regular ATX PSU they use. And I compared a lot of the pins when doing the switch. And you are right, it wouldn't post. However, there might be some subtle differences I don't know about. No I haven't booted another OS yet but going by the problems I am having Windows is looking like a good choice right now :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eep357 Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 From your macbookPro, run the actual Chameleon installer and just choose that drive as your target, this should also set the partition as active and eliminate any other possible issues that manually installing the different pieces may have caused, like not installing boot0 using dd if=boot0 of= in terminal as root. And of course since you reset the cmos check your bios settings, limited options on most Dell's but for starters set sata controller to AHCI of if it doesn't have that option, setting it to RAID will do the same thing on Dell bios. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gringo Vermelho Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 Could be on the right track with the DSDT though. Try booting with DSDT=none -v If it makes any difference, then re-extract and patch the DSDT. Does it boot in safe mode? (with -x) 32-bit mode? (arch=i386) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eep357 Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 On that same line of thinking, may want to download and install most recent bios even if it's the same version, check RAM etc. incase PSU took some friends out with it. Also if you didn't already, with the odd timing and all, double check the PSU is in fact dead, super easy to do while it's outside the case, just have to jump 2 pins on the ATX connector and you can turn it on and off using the rocker switch on it http://www.overclock.net/t/96712/how-to-jump-start-a-power-supply-psu-test-a-power-supply-and-components This also can lead to other fun projects, for example I used one to hook up a car alarm just to test the alarm out, this let to a very secure coffee table with power locks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gringo Vermelho Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 Shorting the green wire to ground to turn on the PSU doesn't tell you anything except whether the fan is working or not. The fan could be spinning but that doesn't matter if the 12V rail is only delivering 9V. And checking with a multimeter if the voltages are correct at that point will not tell you anything - you must measure the PSU while it's under some kind of load in order to determine if it's working correctly or not. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eep357 Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 true, there are plenty of ways to put a load on it, but probably best for most not to try. Was assuming it wasn't spinning up at all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yelloguy Posted July 22, 2012 Author Share Posted July 22, 2012 Thanks eep and GV for the excellent ideas. I appreciate the comments a lot. The problem is now solved. eep was right on the mark with his suggestion of the Chameleon reinstall. While searching google for the second day, I came across this excellent app called Chameleon Wizard. I tried running it on my MBP and saw a ton of options in there. So I quickly plugged my desktop hard drive via USB to the MBP and pointed the Chameleon Wizard app to the Chameleon partition. The CZ app has the latest Chameleon (boot) file that it installed to the partition and that booted it right up. In retrospect it make sense. When I blew away my Windows partition, I blew away the good Chameleon (boot) and when I "fixed" my booting, I ended up installing the buggy copy of Chameleon. But I never suspected that. eep did. So thank you, sir. Noticed something weird, though. After I fixed boot, I had the "Still waiting for root device..." issue. And I knew from past experience that it wasn't seeing my hard drive. So I went back in the BIOS and changed the SATA setting from RAID to IDE. Mind you IDE is the default and I had changed it to RAID because everything I read on the net seems to say that Dell BIOSes use RAID to do AHCI. It ain't so. Because after I changed it, it picked up the HDD and booted right up! I did have to add the npci=0x2000 because it was stuck scanning PCI devices once but that maybe because I had taken out my PCI cards during problems phase. It does not need the switch any more. Of course newer Chameleon wanted me to rename the boot.plist which I did. And then I tried to boot 64-bit and that worked too. So I am all set now. Probably I will make a bootable USB drive with the knowledge I gained today. That way I will be better prepared when Mountain Lion drops this week. Can't wait... PS: Yes I had tried -x -f -v cpus=1 and npci=0x2000 etc etc but was still having the same reboot because of buggy Chameleon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eep357 Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 Glad we could be of assistance to you today Sir! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gringo Vermelho Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 Hey, I didn't do anything, I'm not taking any credit. lol Intel says that RAID implies AHCI, so I don't know why that doesn't work. Actually I believe that they recommend that you set your ICHxR to RAID mode right away, before installing any OS, even if you're not going to build a RAID array, as that gives you the highest level of flexibility right off the bat. Does the Inspiron 530 have an Intel chipset? I don't know if the same (ie RAID implies AHCI) applies to SATA controllers from other manufacturers but I would think so. My mobo has the ICH10R but I've never ran it in RAID mode. I know the old Chameleon AHCIPortInjector.kext has device IDs in it for all ICHxR controllers running in RAID mode though. I did my own thing and ripped the ICH10R (AHCI mode) patch out and added it to my own P5Q-E.kext where it now lives in harmony with the 88E8056 LAN device ID injection code and something else I can no longer remember. I've been using that since late 10.5.x and it still works in 10.7.4. It's possible that the SATA controller driver the OP is using needs patching for the Southbridge in the Dell to work with OS X in RAID mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eep357 Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 I have a feeling if it's booting now, OP won't care about it again until it doesn't boot True on the RAID/AHCI enabled from initial setup. Was working on a similar Dell tower for a friend, AHCI worked in RAID, but with windows already installed the BIOS took like 2 mins to post while it tried really hard to find a RAID array, regardless of other boot settings and enabling AHCI in windows. Dell goes out of their way to make anything more than turning it on and running Window a big pain in the neck. Not sure why they have buttons to release the case latch and open it, might as well weld it shut and show everyone how they really feel about you putting anything not dell into it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yelloguy Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 Yes I have been neglecting to look into it more because it works (now) and I have other things to worry about especially after losing a couple of days on this problem. But I do need to install Mountain Lion on a separate internal SSD in a few hours so I will need to pay attention to this stuff again. I hope to reuse my Chameleon partition and kexts for booting ML too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yelloguy Posted July 26, 2012 Author Share Posted July 26, 2012 Hey, I didn't do anything, I'm not taking any credit. lol Intel says that RAID implies AHCI, so I don't know why that doesn't work. Actually I believe that they recommend that you set your ICHxR to RAID mode right away, before installing any OS, even if you're not going to build a RAID array, as that gives you the highest level of flexibility right off the bat. Does the Inspiron 530 have an Intel chipset? I don't know if the same (ie RAID implies AHCI) applies to SATA controllers from other manufacturers but I would think so. My mobo has the ICH10R but I've never ran it in RAID mode. I know the old Chameleon AHCIPortInjector.kext has device IDs in it for all ICHxR controllers running in RAID mode though. I did my own thing and ripped the ICH10R (AHCI mode) patch out and added it to my own P5Q-E.kext where it now lives in harmony with the 88E8056 LAN device ID injection code and something else I can no longer remember. I've been using that since late 10.5.x and it still works in 10.7.4. It's possible that the SATA controller driver the OP is using needs patching for the Southbridge in the Dell to work with OS X in RAID mode. After doing a little more tinkering your language above is making more sense to me now. :-) I have ICH9R and when I enable RAID with the two internal SATA disks I have now (SSD and HDD) it shows me AHCI is enabled and allows me to press Ctrl-I to enter RAID setup. I am not setting up a RAID and since I don't, it doesn't let me boot from SSD (when in RAID mode). I can still boot from HDD. When I go back to IDE mode, it lets me boot fine from either HDD or SSD. I have ML installed in the SSD but I am willing to wipe it and start over if that means I can use AHCI and TRIM correctly on the SSD. Any advice is appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eep357 Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 What is "it" that won't let you boot from the SSD? Can you not choose it as a boot device from bios? Or when at chameleon screen does it not show as a bootable OS device? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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