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Hi folks

I am trying to fine tune my Tripple boot system

 

I can boot from the instalation DVD to my OSx partition if I do rd=disk0s3

I tried the coping chain0 to my Windows XP partition I just get "chain booting error" and it hangs. :)

I tried so many different chain0 files. From the DVD, from websites, from the darwinx86-801.iso.gz image and nothing seems to help.

I've read all posts and tuts regarding dual booting but nothing seems to help. :)

I have my XP partition set as Primary Active and my OSX partition is Primary. If I set it to active it doesn't help and I can't boot Windows.

Why can the DVD see and boot my OSX partition but the chain0 file can't?

 

What have I done wrong?

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Hey man. You say "I can boot from the instalation DVD to my OSx partition if I do rd=disk0s3", i have use the dvd and type an rd command in order to boot as well, i dont believe this is a problem with your chain0 file, as i am using a working one (worked with my 10.4.1 installation), and get the same error. I believe it is to do with either the bootloader of macosx, or the mbr. If you could get your pc to boot without using the dvd or the rd command, then your chain0 should work

 

If you figure it out let me know, because i cant find the solution anywhere

 

Cheers

 

Rhodar

Yeah thats exactly what was thinking.

But I can't figure out how to get the boot loader to kick in. I have managed to get Suse Linux booting from ntldr (windows XP nt boot loader) using dd but somehow OSX is a b:censored2:ch

The principle was you copy the installed 512 kb boot record from the disk to a file then put it in your active root partition and then tell ntldr with the boot.ini to boot the 512kb file. With Suse that worked fine using dd to write. dd is special linux proggy to write disk headers, boot records, and similar system data areas.

more info

With OSX I just used a pre-made boot file chain0 which is also 512 kb. But I don't know if that file was made correctly. It has to be a direct image of the boot record. That means to me that a proper boot record exclusively for my system hast to be installed first. Then I can copy it to a file for ntldr to boot. when I get the "chain booting error" I assume that darwin boot loader can't find my OSX partition. But that means that darwin IS loading just can't find OSX. Otherwise I wouldn't get any error it would just hang. When I boot from the DVD darwin kicks in and I have to manually point it to my partition. Like you said if I could gat that far from HDD then it would be ok.

I tried making my OSX partition active which I assume should boot OSX if the Darwin boot loader was correctly installed on that partition, however it doesn't.

So that leads me to believe that I never properly installed the Darwin boot loader. But I don't know how to go about that. When I use the "Start Up Disk" utility in OSX nothing happened. Restart doesn't work anyways...

My next attemt will be to use dd to write the boot record from the DVD to my own chain0-- not just copy the chain0 file from the DVD. I'll post my results.

Yeah thats exactly what was thinking.

But I can't figure out how to get the boot loader to kick in. I have managed to get Suse Linux booting from ntldr (windows XP nt boot loader) using dd but somehow OSX is a b:censored2:ch

The principle was you copy the installed 512 kb boot record from the disk to a file then put it in your active root partition and then tell ntldr with the boot.ini to boot the 512kb file. With Suse that worked fine using dd to write. dd is special linux proggy to write disk headers, boot records, and similar system data areas.

more info

With OSX I just used a pre-made boot file chain0 which is also 512 kb. But I don't know if that file was made correctly. It has to be a direct image of the boot record. That means to me that a proper boot record exclusively for my system hast to be installed first. Then I can copy it to a file for ntldr to boot. when I get the "chain booting error" I assume that darwin boot loader can't find my OSX partition. But that means that darwin IS loading just can't find OSX. Otherwise I wouldn't get any error it would just hang. When I boot from the DVD darwin kicks in and I have to manually point it to my partition. Like you said if I could gat that far from HDD then it would be ok.

I tried making my OSX partition active which I assume should boot OSX if the Darwin boot loader was correctly installed on that partition, however it doesn't.

So that leads me to believe that I never properly installed the Darwin boot loader. But I don't know how to go about that. When I use the "Start Up Disk" utility in OSX nothing happened. Restart doesn't work anyways...

My next attemt will be to use dd to write the boot record from the DVD to my own chain0-- not just copy the chain0 file from the DVD. I'll post my results.

 

It sounds like you've spent some time on this. I am curious about your OS installation order and steps. Assuming you're using 10.4.4...A couple of notes: XP always "likes" to be installed FIRST on a virgin drive and in the FIRST partition...so format your entire drive using XP installer and create your other partitions using XP installer (even if your don't format the others in XP installer). After installing XP on this drive, add the file chain0 to the root of the drive and take it from the DVD you plan to install MAC from and be sure to add the line to the Windows boot.ini: c:\chain0="Mac OSX" After Xp is installed:

 

Then install MacOS using the Mac disk utility to format the next available partition after Windows, e.g. D:\, Using HFS Extended Journaled (preferably). After you've installed the OS, Darwin bootloader either tries to start the pc or you get some weird error. Using your bootable utility or another such as Acronis Patition Expert 2003 (for example), set the Windows XP drive C: back to active. On rebooting, you should have the Windows bootloader with 2 options, Windows and Mac. Both Oses should work at this point booting from the NT bootloader.

 

Next Linux. If you install Linux on the next available partition after Mac, after installation set the Windows drive back to active, and either add a line to the Windows boot.ini to load your Linux OS or try to load Linux using Darwin's bootloader (booting, then choosing Mac from the NT bootloader, then pressing F8 at the Darwin bootloader, can you access Linux this way?

yeah did all that. I have no prob booting XP or linux and now even Vista. I removed linux cuz it got boring.

So its just OSX that won't boot without the DVD.

I looked at the partition with Acronis disk editor and it seems to me that there is no Boot record on that OSX partition. everything is just 00h. And in hex the first sectors-- everything is just zeros. So Darwin is not installed on the OSX partition, I think.

This problem doesnt seem tobe just an isolated incident. I have been searching forums for answers, i have found many people with the same problem. i just hope someone sees this thread that may know of a way to fix it.

 

 

P.S

It may have something to do with certain dvdimage files, as i have installed it on two seperate computers with the same problem on both

 

 

cheers

 

rhodar

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