Remove Extensions.kextcache and Extensions.mkext for good?

[g2k2002]

I have installed MAC OSX86 10.4.5 on my Compaq V2410CA successfully using VMware. After installing, I used VMware to boot and added the AppleOnboardPCATA.kext and removed the AppleGeneric...kext files. I also made the neccessary changes the the IO80211.kext file to make my wireless work.

me

To be able to boot into safe mode or even to boot up successfully, I removed the IOUSBFamily.kext. After that, everything worked great. I was able to boot into safe mode with no problems what so ever. But when I want to boot up normally, it would give me the "still waiting for root device" message.

 

But everytime I remove the Extensions.kextcache and the Extensions.mkext files, i was able to successfully boot up normally into MAC.

 

Is there a fix for this problem so that I don't have to always delete those 2 files everytime I reboot?

 

My Laptop Specs:

AMD Turion64 - 1.6 GHz (SSE2, SSE3)

ATI SB400 Chipset (Xpress 200G)

ATA 80GB HHD

Broadcom Wireless 54/11/b/g

1.2GB RAM

[jrrjrr]

Until someone suggests a real fix, you can add commands to the /etc/rc.shutdown file to delete the two files each time you shutdown (or reboot). You'd add just like you would type it in terminal, but you don't need to add su or sudo because the rc.shutdown file needs to be edited as su in the first place, so anything you put in it gets run as su. So, somewhere near the top, before it starts the actual shutdown and kill stuff, add:

 

rm /System/Library/Extensions/Extensions.kextcache

rm /System/Library/Extensions/Extensions.mkext

 

The /etc folder is a hidden folder, so you'll need to enable viewing hidden files somehow to see it in finder, or you can call it up directly in an editor like pico or vim using terminal. Post back if you need help with this.

[g2k2002]

Until someone suggests a real fix, you can add commands to the /etc/rc.shutdown file to delete the two files each time you shutdown (or reboot). You'd add just like you would type it in terminal, but you don't need to add su or sudo because the rc.shutdown file needs to be edited as su in the first place, so anything you put in it gets run as su. So, somewhere near the top, before it starts the actual shutdown and kill stuff, add:

 

rm /System/Library/Extensions/Extensions.kextcache

rm /System/Library/Extensions/Extensions.mkext

 

The /etc folder is a hidden folder, so you'll need to enable viewing hidden files somehow to see it in finder, or you can call it up directly in an editor like pico or vim using terminal. Post back if you need help with this.

 

 

Acutally I really do need help with this. This is my first time using a MAC..lol. So if you don't mind, it would be great to have a step by step instructions on how to do it....Thanks!

[kristie_jeff]

Acutally I really do need help with this. This is my first time using a MAC..lol. So if you don't mind, it would be great to have a step by step instructions on how to do it....Thanks!

 

I haven't put these commands in my shutdown script myself, but I can tell you how to get them in there to see if they work.

 

 

1. Open terminal (Applications folder -> Utilities)

2. Type: sudo -s and press Enter

3. Type your password and Enter

4. Type: cd /etc and press enter

5. Type nano rc.shutdown

6. Add the lines that Jrrjrr posted

rm /System/Library/Extensions/Extensions.kextcache

rm /System/Library/Extensions/Extensions.mkext

7. Press CTRL-X -> Y -> and Enter (Exit -> yes to save the changes -> enter to accept the name and location)

 

That should get you going. This is all from memory (I'm at work now) so if something doesn't look right when you get there, come back and ask.

 

Hope this helps though

Jeff

[g2k2002]

I haven't put these commands in my shutdown script myself, but I can tell you how to get them in there to see if they work.

1. Open terminal (Applications folder -> Utilities)

2. Type: sudo -s and press Enter

3. Type your password and Enter

4. Type: cd /etc and press enter

5. Type nano rc.shutdown

6. Add the lines that Jrrjrr posted

rm /System/Library/Extensions/Extensions.kextcache

rm /System/Library/Extensions/Extensions.mkext

7. Press CTRL-X -> Y -> and Enter (Exit -> yes to save the changes -> enter to accept the name and location)

 

That should get you going. This is all from memory (I'm at work now) so if something doesn't look right when you get there, come back and ask.

 

Hope this helps though

Jeff

 

 

I did exactly as you said, but it still doesn't work... it doesn't seems to remove those files when I restart or shutdown...

 

I don't know if i'm putting the rm statements in the wrong location... I tried putting them before and after the "if" statement, but it doesn't work...

 

Can you please tell me where extactly I need to put in those rm statements? Thanks!

[jrrjrr]

This is my rc.shutdown file. I would try putting the commands where I've added ********

 

------------------------------------

 

#!/bin/sh

# Copyright 1997-2004 Apple Computer, Inc.

 

. /etc/rc.common

 

if [ -f /etc/rc.shutdown.local ]; then

sh /etc/rc.shutdown.local

fi

 

********

 

SystemStarter stop

 

kill -TERM 1

 

exit 0

 

-------------------------------------------------------

 

I will boot into OS X and try this myself in an hour or so, and post back if I get anywhere with it.

[sixth]

I am acutally going to try this tonight, i cant boot my machine, i keep getting "Still waiting for boot device"..i have been trying everything too....

 

 

EDIT- shoot now that i think about it i am not even sure how i would change/remove these files from the disks....since i cant boot the os....damn it

[jrrjrr]

sixth--

 

Still waiting for boot device usually means (I think) that it doesn't know how to talk to your hard drive -- like you might have a SATA drive that uses an unsupported chipset. Some people have been able to get around this by changing a BIOS setting to use ATA instead of SATA. You should start a new thread here, though, if this is your problem and you want better help.

 

g2k2002--

 

I tried the rc.shutdown thing on my machine and it does work to delete those two files. I can tell because the spinning stuff on boot up is noticeably longer when those files need to be rebuilt. I also made a small text file at /System/Library/Test.txt and added in a rm command for that one too, and it is gone when I reboot, so the rc.shutdown process did delete it for sure.

 

Here is the exact rc.shutdown file I used (without the Test.txt line):

 

--------------

 

#!/bin/sh

# Copyright 1997-2004 Apple Computer, Inc.

 

. /etc/rc.common

 

if [ -f /etc/rc.shutdown.local ]; then

sh /etc/rc.shutdown.local

fi

 

rm /System/Library/Extensions.kextcache

rm /System/Library/Extensions.mkext

 

SystemStarter stop

 

kill -TERM 1

 

exit 0

[sixth]

jrrjrrr- thanks for the tip...but i have went through everything in making sure the drive is correct, bios, controller settins on the drive itself (slave,master etc) and i am still tracking down the reasoning of this not booting, btw i am not hijacking this thread or anything, these steps sound like it could help my issues also. Thanks!

[jrrjrr]

sixth--

 

Will it boot into single user text mode, with the -s switch? You would at least be able to delete or move/rename files that way. Or maybe it will boot off the install DVD or CD and then let you select the hard drive as the volume to continue booting?

[g2k2002]

sixth--

 

Still waiting for boot device usually means (I think) that it doesn't know how to talk to your hard drive -- like you might have a SATA drive that uses an unsupported chipset. Some people have been able to get around this by changing a BIOS setting to use ATA instead of SATA. You should start a new thread here, though, if this is your problem and you want better help.

 

g2k2002--

 

I tried the rc.shutdown thing on my machine and it does work to delete those two files. I can tell because the spinning stuff on boot up is noticeably longer when those files need to be rebuilt. I also made a small text file at /System/Library/Test.txt and added in a rm command for that one too, and it is gone when I reboot, so the rc.shutdown process did delete it for sure.

 

Here is the exact rc.shutdown file I used (without the Test.txt line):

 

--------------

 

#!/bin/sh

# Copyright 1997-2004 Apple Computer, Inc.

 

. /etc/rc.common

 

if [ -f /etc/rc.shutdown.local ]; then

sh /etc/rc.shutdown.local

fi

 

rm /System/Library/Extensions.kextcache

rm /System/Library/Extensions.mkext

 

SystemStarter stop

 

kill -TERM 1

 

exit 0

 

 

Thank You guys very much, my system is now working great. I can boot into normal mode now with no errors what so ever. No to start working on the sound and video.

 

I noticed that most people have their DVD/CD-ROM drive detected by MAC, but mine doesn't for some reason, is there a fix for this as well?

[jrrjrr]

Go here and try Patchburn.

http://www.patchburn.de

It may straighten out your DVD/CD. It is really for adding burning support to recognized but unsupported devices, but it might help get your drive seen in the first place. If it doesn't help, you can undo the changes it makes by going into its "expert mode", so you don't have modifications sitting around that might conflict with some other solution later on.

[JonBOY]

Thank You guys very much, my system is now working great. I can boot into normal mode now with no errors what so ever.

 

 

hi G2k2002, could you please tell me which bit of advice it was you followed that fixed the problem for you, I also have the 'still waiting for root device' problem. Was it adding the delete command to the shutdown file to auto delete the two files you listed that fixed it?

[g2k2002]

hi G2k2002, could you please tell me which bit of advice it was you followed that fixed the problem for you, I also have the 'still waiting for root device' problem. Was it adding the delete command to the shutdown file to auto delete the two files you listed that fixed it?

 

Were you able to install the OS in the first place? I installed MAC using VMware because when I tried to install it natively using a DVD, it got errors... The error you are getting has nothing to do with the extensions i'm deleting because the OS can't find you Hard drive.

 

There was a way of getting rid of that error message... It was something like "rdisk=????" I don't remember the command right off my head.. maybe someone else can give you a hand...

[spangler]

Hi, adding those two lines of code fixed this problem for me. Does anyone know why the kext cache causes the hanging on boot?

[jrrjrr]

spangler---

 

If your sig is accurate and you are running 10.4.3, moving up to a newer version might clear up the kext issue and fix a few other things too. Each "myzar" or "wesley" or "JaS" release from 10.4.4 onwards included more and more kext fixes for our non-Apple hardware.

[Rayan]

spangler---

 

If your sig is accurate and you are running 10.4.3, moving up to a newer version might clear up the kext issue and fix a few other things too. Each "myzar" or "wesley" or "JaS" release from 10.4.4 onwards included more and more kext fixes for our non-Apple hardware.

 

Hi Guys,

 

I'm using Myzar's 10.4.5 and has the same boot issue. At least with my HP ZV6000 laptop, but thanks to your great idea of modifying the rc.shutdown it now boots every time without problems. Before I was using an Automator routine before I shutdown the OS but nothing beats this idea!

 

Thanks!

Rayan