Jump to content

From noob to noob


Chakonari
 Share

2 posts in this topic

Recommended Posts

Hello. There probably is a collection like this around here somewhere but I could not find one when I started. If you have never done this before (I just started a month ago), you might give up or resort to tools provided on places we shall not speak of or even give up due to frustration that can be avoided (in my case I had some data corruption). These things might seem like common sense to a lot of people, but if I had been aware before... . Anyway... :

 

Get a basic understanding of the process: What are the individual elements needed? How do UEFI/BIOS, bootloader and OS interact? How does the OS interact with the hardware? What do what boot flags do? What installation method are you going to use?

 

Age of the information: You might find a post that describes the exact problem you are seeing, however it could be that the information is outdated - which can happen pretty quick. So make sure the solution is actually current and applicable to the OS version you are installing and bootloader solution.

 

UEFI/BIOS settings: I did not pay enough attention to this and ran into some very strange problems.

 

Windows time: A Linux freak will probably not be reading this, so it's likely you'll be dual booting with Windows. OS X will set the time in your BIOS to UTC. This will affect the time under Windows. Do a search for how to set Windows to use UTC with the correct entry in the registry (there are other methods to tackle this but this seem to be the preferred one)

 

Disconnect drives not needed for the process: Unless you get lucky, you'll be doing a lot of rebooting. Aside from the unnecessary start cycles, you might end up with data corruption like I did (fortunately it 'only' affected some files belonging to a programme)

 

A reboot is not a reboot: When you apply a fix, reboot and it does not work, reboot again .... and again... . I have not yet fully understood this, but sometimes multiple reboots are required for a fix to become permanent. Or if like is still the case for me, multiple reboots are required without making any changes (meaning of course something is still wrong)

 

Messages in verbose mode: The last message you see before the system fails may not tell you anything about the error. Often it is just the last thing that the system was able to display. Unless you have a photographic memory, take photos of the messages before they disappear - usually you will find a clue there.

 

If you are using an old motherboard: Change the CMOS batter before you start. Mine died when I was doing this (it was old) and caused additional problems which I was trying to fix elsewhere.

 

Include hardware info in your forum signature: Also provide manufacturer and model, i.e. not just the graphic chip and how much memory it has.

 

That's it. Hope I don't get laughed at and this helps someone. Happy hacking!

 

Original post:

WARNING: Reading this post may be an utter waste of your time.

 

REAL WARNING: This stuff can seriously mess with your BIOS (computer won't boot at all) and cause data corruption on any other drives that might be attached (and no I am not talking about accidentally selecting a wrong drive). Many will tell you "That does not happen" or "Only if had wrong settings" as though it is a trivial matter - it is not! Because I did not know anything about the importance of the correct BIOS settings, I probably booted with the wrong BIOS settings a few times.

 

I'm currently running into issues even getting my El Capitan installer to boot. No, I'm not asking for specific help right now because I know there is a lot more to learn and I'm confident all the answers I need are here (or there) - I should be able to at least get the installer to boot. Others have done it on my hardware (though not the same combo on not always the same version of OS X).

 

Whilst the lack of success is a huge downer, on the other hand I'm using parts of my brain that I haven't in a while.

 

Had been thinking of writing a noob guide that's up to date when I understand a bit more (and actually have everything up and running) but realised that by that time it would probably be out of date. So here some of my current thoughts (also I'm tired of just reading) in order they are coming to mind (doubt I'll ever be writing any real guides):

 

1. How old is the material you are reading? Mixing information form a post from 2012 with a current one may or may not work. If you find something that looks like what you need in an old post, look for newer related information.

 

2. If your installer does not boot or rather reboots - the last message displayed on screen might not have anything to do with the problem causing the crash. In my case I found that it has actually just been the last message that the system was able to display before crashing - I only noticed because messages kept reoccurring at seemingly random times but sometimes truncated at different places. (Even though I had 'fixed' it a few boots earlier :hysterical: )

 

3. Try and get at least basic understanding of the process. I had a look at the Clover documentation on day one and nearly gave up. Now, a lot of reading of threads, trying out things and chasing irrelevant boot messages later, it's not so scary any longer.Thank you everyone working on Clover!

 

4. Which brings me to my final thought for the day. I had been wondering why so many people who appeared to already know what they were doing were thanking chris1111 for his Clover installer tool. Merci Chris! ... Now I understand. The first time I used it I of course failed miserably because I had no idea what I was doing, so of course it would not work. Now I'm at least imagining that I am getting some sort of an idea and will try it again.

 

5. Familiarise yourself with boot flags. I would have saved myself a lot of time and grief if I had from the beginning. And I keep seeing more or less the same solutions being posted. If you have problems getting the installer to boot, there is of course the config.plist but also the boot flags.

 

6. If you are using an old motherboard: Change the CMOS battery before starting. - I have not yet got the system to run all of the time. One of the issues I faced turned out to be the CMOS battery.

 

7. Include you hardware info in your forum signature and provide the manufacturer model. With graphics cards for example, some models all follow the reference design and with some there are a lot of variations that might make a difference to any issue you are facing. So don't just say you have a 750Ti, say which one.

 

8. Reboot may be different even if you did not change anything. After making a change, don't just reboot once to see if it worked. Also see 2..

 

And a big thank you to all the other community members - contributing, developing, asking and answering questions. :thumbsup_anim:

 

EDIT: I finally got the USB installer to boot. Next step - Install!!! Need a break first though. Thanks for the like. Added no. 5.

EDIT 2(14th Sep.): Sometimes boots correctly, sometimes not. Added 6., 7. and 8. Added real warning above.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...