Unable to install from DVD

[Zbiggy]

Tried several times to install at first 10.5.6 - and now 10.6.1 "Hazard" - and everytime an attempt to install is interrupted most probably by read error(?). It seems (although I'm not sure), that nForce driver (by MeDevil) is very sensitive to any read problems (not errors, but just momentary problems), and instead of waiting a while for correction (or another read attempt) it just breaks somehow the installation process. I'm not that sure of this; it's just my conclusion, because my disks aren't able to pass "checking data consistency" stage, and even when skipped this stage, the following installation always has been broken after several minutes of copying.

 

Wasted several DVD disks in a hope, that "the new one will be recorded better" - but it's of no use: as I checked under Linux with "dd" tool, the DVDs are perfectly readable (under Linux); I was able to restore complete ISO-image from the same DVD-disc, which failed during installation. So both my DVD-recorder (CDDVDW SH-S223C) and SATA interface (on-board nForce) are quite OK as a hardware.

 

Perhaps someone more experienced could make a tip, what actually can I do to avoid the read problems during installation? Perhaps there's any way to slow DVD down, and such way it'll work slower, but the reading will be reliable? Perhaps I'm totally wrong, and the source of the problem is quite different? I need some tips - because I'm out of ideas by now.

 

I'm using GA-M56S-S3 motherboard, with 1 GB RAM, dual Athlon (it has SSE2), TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S223C DVD-recorder/reader, and STM3320418AS harddisk.

[verdant]

Tried several times to install at first 10.5.6 - and now 10.6.1 "Hazard" - and everytime an attempt to install is interrupted most probably by read error(?). It seems (although I'm not sure), that nForce driver (by MeDevil) is very sensitive to any read problems (not errors, but just momentary problems), and instead of waiting a while for correction (or another read attempt) it just breaks somehow the installation process. I'm not that sure of this; it's just my conclusion, because my disks aren't able to pass "checking data consistency" stage, and even when skipped this stage, the following installation always has been broken after several minutes of copying.

 

Wasted several DVD disks in a hope, that "the new one will be recorded better" - but it's of no use: as I checked under Linux with "dd" tool, the DVDs are perfectly readable (under Linux); I was able to restore complete ISO-image from the same DVD-disc, which failed during installation. So both my DVD-recorder (CDDVDW SH-S223C) and SATA interface (on-board nForce) are quite OK as a hardware.

 

Perhaps someone more experienced could make a tip, what actually can I do to avoid the read problems during installation? Perhaps there's any way to slow DVD down, and such way it'll work slower, but the reading will be reliable? Perhaps I'm totally wrong, and the source of the problem is quite different? I need some tips - because I'm out of ideas by now.

 

I'm using GA-M56S-S3 motherboard, with 1 GB RAM, dual Athlon (it has SSE2), TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S223C DVD-recorder/reader, and STM3320418AS harddisk.

 

The problem is that the SH-S223C is a SATA DVDRW.........the MeDevil AppleNForceATA_TEST.kext is just that, a TEST kext.........if you want reliable optical disk read/writes on a non-AHCI compliant nForce chipset mOBO, then get yourself a PATA (IDE) DVDRW and connect it as Master......

[Zbiggy]

MeDevil AppleNForceATA_TEST.kext is just that, a TEST kext

 

Must be kind of miracle, but at last I made an installation (of the older 10.5.6), after several more attempts. But it's still troublesome, unfortunately:

 

 

1. After the installation I couldn't run the installed system, because of the (in)famous "still waiting for root device" error. Am I correct, that it is because of the SATA-driver? If not that MeDevil driver - which one could you recommend for nForce 560, for 10.5.6 version of system? BTW: I'll need also drivers for 3C905 networking adaptor, and for ALC888 codec (if I'm correct, there is a driver written especially for Gigabyte mobos?). Where can I find the "kexts" that will work reliably with my version of OS?

 

2. My HDD is shared between Linux - and now OSX (and Windows 7 soon). I want to use GRUB as bootmanager, since it is probably the most flexible one. Some time ago I found somewhere the proposed section for OSX:

 

hide (hd0,0)

root (hd0,1)

chainloader +1

makeactive

unhide (hd0,0)

 

 

Unfortunately, it doesn't work - still getting "error1" (or something like this) instantly, and the kernel isn't loaded (GRUB's "hide" command even complained about "invalid parameter", so I had to delete "hide/unhide" lines before boot attempt). Does there exist proven and reliable solution for booting OSX using GRUB as bootmanager? The above structure describes my disk: "hd0,0" is that little starting partition of OSX, "hd0,1" is its root HFS+ partition, then "hd0,2" is the Linux's ext4 root partition.

 

3. At the moment I've got an access to HFS+ partition from within Linux. However: there is a warning, that there's no write support to journaled partition, although I can enforce write. It seems, that I'll have to, because it's the only method available to me at the moment, to copy the proper drivers into HFS+ filesystem. But will I be able to correct the ev. problems later - when OSX will become bootable and I'll be able to run it at last? How (with some "fsck"-like utility)?

 

4. Trying yesterday various BIOS settings, I've installed OSX, when having SATA set to "AHCI" mode, while Linux prefers it to have in "IDE" mode rather (it refused to work with "AHCI", because of "too high cylinder number", IIRC). Since I'm working mostly with Linux, I've got to leave SATA switched to IDE mode. I would to avoid another installation attempt, because I'm not sure, whether will I be able to istall it again. Now at last it's on HDD. But should I expect any problems with system being installed, when SATA was set to "AHCI" - and then it's used with "IDE" setting?

 

Thanks in advance for your help - I'm unable to fix this, because of no experience with OSX (my first steps).

[Zbiggy]

OK, meanwhile made a few steps ahead:

 

My problems with errors while reading DVD has been caused by the fact, that MeDevil's SATA driver for nForce 560 won't reveal HDD, when one has - on the same channel - HDD as master, and DVD-reader as slave. I had to connect DVD-reader to the other channel also as master; unfortunately, exactly this is the cause of the unreliable work (even under Linux!), but one can't access harddisk (when booting from OSX DVD) otherwise. So there's a need to pass the painful installation stage somehow, just to copy all the needed files to HDD - and only then one can connect DVD-reader as slave back.

 

BTW: maybe someone will find it useful to improve the driver - while under Linux, connection of DVD-reader as "master" on the another channel is causing errors of the type:

 

ata1: hard resetting link

ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 13 SControl 310)

ata1: hard resetting link

ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310)

ata1.00: configured for UDMA/33

ata1: EH complete

ata1: hard resetting link

ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310)

ata1.00: configured for UDMA/33

ata1: EH complete

ata1: hard resetting link

ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310)

ata1.00: configured for UDMA/33

ata1: EH complete

ata1: hard resetting link

ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 13 SControl 310)

ata1: hard resetting link

ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310)

ata1.00: configured for UDMA/33

ata1: EH complete

ata1: hard resetting link

ahci 0000:00:0a.0: PCI INT A -> Link[APSI] -> GSI 23 (level, low) -> IRQ 23

ahci 0000:00:0a.0: controller can't do PMP, turning off CAP_PMP

ahci 0000:00:0a.0: AHCI 0001.0100 32 slots 4 ports 3 Gbps 0xf impl IDE mode

ahci 0000:00:0a.0: flags: 64bit ncq sntf pm led clo pio ccc

 

 

I suppose, similar problems arose during installation, and OSX seems to be much less tolerant for this, than Linux is. I've got no idea, is it specific to nForce 560 only, or also for SATAs of the other vendors. I repeat: the main issue with MeDevil's driver was, that it's "losing" somehow the HDD's presence, when one has HDD on master, and DVD as slave on the same channel.

 

The problem with GRUB solved quite simply: took the "boot_v8" file from this package, and then created the entry:

 

title Leopard

root (hd0,2)

kernel /boot/boot_v8

 

 

(of course "hd0,2" is my Linux partition, where - in "/boot" catalog - there is "boot_v8" file right now)

 

By now I can see the "Voodoo" kernel booted, but still got "waiting for root device" error, caused most probably by lack of proper driver for nForce 560.

 

Then issue 2. has been solved - I hope, the above could be helpful for other OSX newbies. But could someone help me in case of 1. 3. and 4th issues from my list?

[verdant]

OK, meanwhile made a few steps ahead:

 

My problems with errors while reading DVD has been caused by the fact, that MeDevil's SATA driver for nForce 560 won't reveal HDD, when one has - on the same channel - HDD as master, and DVD-reader as slave. I had to connect DVD-reader to the other channel also as master; unfortunately, exactly this is the cause of the unreliable work (even under Linux!), but one can't access harddisk (when booting from OSX DVD) otherwise. So there's a need to pass the painful installation stage somehow, just to copy all the needed files to HDD - and only then one can connect DVD-reader as slave back.

 

BTW: maybe someone will find it useful to improve the driver - while under Linux, connection of DVD-reader as "master" on the another channel is causing errors of the type:

 

ata1: hard resetting link

ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 13 SControl 310)

ata1: hard resetting link

ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310)

ata1.00: configured for UDMA/33

ata1: EH complete

ata1: hard resetting link

ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310)

ata1.00: configured for UDMA/33

ata1: EH complete

ata1: hard resetting link

ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310)

ata1.00: configured for UDMA/33

ata1: EH complete

ata1: hard resetting link

ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 13 SControl 310)

ata1: hard resetting link

ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310)

ata1.00: configured for UDMA/33

ata1: EH complete

ata1: hard resetting link

ahci 0000:00:0a.0: PCI INT A -> Link[APSI] -> GSI 23 (level, low) -> IRQ 23

ahci 0000:00:0a.0: controller can't do PMP, turning off CAP_PMP

ahci 0000:00:0a.0: AHCI 0001.0100 32 slots 4 ports 3 Gbps 0xf impl IDE mode

ahci 0000:00:0a.0: flags: 64bit ncq sntf pm led clo pio ccc

 

 

I suppose, similar problems arose during installation, and OSX seems to be much less tolerant for this, than Linux is. I've got no idea, is it specific to nForce 560 only, or also for SATAs of the other vendors. I repeat: the main issue with MeDevil's driver was, that it's "losing" somehow the HDD's presence, when one has HDD on master, and DVD as slave on the same channel.

 

The problem with GRUB solved quite simply: took the "boot_v8" file from this package, and then created the entry:

 

title Leopard

root (hd0,2)

kernel /boot/boot_v8

 

 

(of course "hd0,2" is my Linux partition, where - in "/boot" catalog - there is "boot_v8" file right now)

 

By now I can see the "Voodoo" kernel booted, but still got "waiting for root device" error, caused most probably by lack of proper driver for nForce 560.

 

Then issue 2. has been solved - I hope, the above could be helpful for other OSX newbies. But could someone help me in case of 1. 3. and 4th issues from my list?

 

See this guide......

[Zbiggy]

I managed to replace the nForce 560 kext with the one recommended in this thread. Unfortunately, it gave nothing. Tried various settings: with/without DVD-reader connected, then both ways while setting SATA to AHCI/IDE mode alternatively. Of course, the first start after replacing the driver was with "-f" parameter.

 

But the strange thing, that I noticed, is that perhaps the SATA driver isn't loaded at all during boot? While installing from DVD, I could see the message, like "nForce SATA: 2 units" (or something similar), unfortunately, when trying to boot the installed system it doesn't say anything like this anymore (see attached picture)

 

 

Could someone tell me, is it possible, that the nForce driver just isn't used at all by now? What can be the cause? And, if this is the problem, how to persuade the system to use it again?

[verdant]

I managed to replace the nForce 560 kext with the one recommended in this thread. Unfortunately, it gave nothing. Tried various settings: with/without DVD-reader connected, then both ways while setting SATA to AHCI/IDE mode alternatively. Of course, the first start after replacing the driver was with "-f" parameter.

 

But the strange thing, that I noticed, is that perhaps the SATA driver isn't loaded at all during boot? While installing from DVD, I could see the message, like "nForce SATA: 2 units" (or something similar), unfortunately, when trying to boot the installed system it doesn't say anything like this anymore (see attached picture)

 

 

Could someone tell me, is it possible, that the nForce driver just isn't used at all by now? What can be the cause? And, if this is the problem, how to persuade the system to use it again?

 

The problem appears to start with AppleACPIPCI.kext, which is not being loaded into the kernel.......which version of OS X are you trying to install?

 

AppleACPIPCI.kext is located in the PlugIns folder of the ACIPlatform.kext in OS X Leopard but is not there in OS X Snow Leopard and OS X Lion.......

 

In any case, use Terminal to repair the ownership and permissions on your /System/Library/Extensions/ as follows:

 

sudo chown -R 0:0 /System/Library/Extensions/
sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/
sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions/
exit

 

and then reboot with -v -f........

[Zbiggy]

The problem appears to start with AppleACPIPCI.kext, which is not being loaded into the kernel.......which version of OS X are you trying to install?

It's s.c. "Leo4all", described as having 10.5.6 kernel, but somewhere inside it was also reported as 10.5.4, so I'm a little confused about exact version number.

AppleACPIPCI.kext is located in the PlugIns folder of the ACIPlatform.kext in OS X Leopard but is not there in OS X Snow Leopard and OS X Lion.......

Checked the HDD contents - yes, it's there, as you described above.

 

In any case, use Terminal to repair the ownership and permissions on your /System/Library/Extensions/ as follows:

 

sudo chown -R 0:0 /System/Library/Extensions/
  sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/
  sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions/
  exit

 

and then reboot with -v -f........

Made it all - unfortunately, still no desired effect.

 

 

I managed to take a little better picture:

 

 

Pay attention, that above the yellow "Failed..." warning there is a remark: "12AppleACPIPCI is not compatible with its superclass, 11IOPCIBridge superclass changed?".

 

Is it the culprit? If so - is it possible to make any correction?

[verdant]

It's s.c. "Leo4all", described as having 10.5.6 kernel, but somewhere inside it was also reported as 10.5.4, so I'm a little confused about exact version number.

Checked the HDD contents - yes, it's there, as you described above.

 

 

Made it all - unfortunately, still no desired effect.

 

 

I managed to take a little better picture:

 

 

Pay attention, that above the yellow "Failed..." warning there is a remark: "12AppleACPIPCI is not compatible with its superclass, 11IOPCIBridge superclass changed?".

 

Is it the culprit? If so - is it possible to make any correction?

 

Replace your ACIPlatform.kext with the attached one: 1056_ACPIPlatform_Kext.zip

 

Then again use Terminal to repair the ownership and permissions on your /System/Library/Extensions/ as follows:

 

sudo chown -R 0:0 /System/Library/Extensions/
sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/
sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions/
exit

and then reboot with -v -f........

[Zbiggy]

Thanks for your prompt response.

 

I didn't make use out of the supplied kext yet (although saved it on my disk "just in case"), because before I read your reply, I made some more attempts.

 

Being tired of the mentioned problems, I decided to give a shot to "Snow Leopard" 10.6.1 (prepared by "Hazard"). Although during two following installations I had no mentioned problems with reading the DVD (I was amazed), the ISO seems to be flawed, because it couldn't set properly the boot-up sequence. Tried two different kernels for AMD, and not having the expected result, I had to give up in the end.

 

Then I read your reply, and I decided to "revert" to the older one. Of course there were the irritating read problems during installation, but at the fifth attempt I've installed it at last again. But this time with one difference: I didn't choose the "IOPCIfix" package (or the like; can't recall its name precisely), from the section "Fixes and Updates", and... yes! It was the culprit. It seems, that beside "fixes" it contains some quite new flaws as well. I was installing it before in a hope, that - according to description - it'll allow better recognition of PCI cards, but this was the package, that made me waste so much time.

 

The installed system booted at last, but still not without problems:

 

 

 

BTW: there were during boot-up numerous lines like these:

 

 

 

Should I be worry?

 

Then I switched SATA from "AHCI" to "IDE" mode, and made another boot attempt; this time I went somewhat further, until it crashed again:

 

 

...and now I'm stuck. It's always crashing after filling the form, when clicking "Continue" (AHCI or IDE - it doesn't seem to make any difference). Besides: during boot-up stage it's "losing" somehow the presence of my PS/2 keyboard and mouse; I had to connect additional keyboard and mouse both via USB, to be able to interact.

 

 

It seems, that the kernel is to blame this time. If so - does there exist a better one for 10.5.6 (for AMD)? And if so - where could I fetch it from, and how is its install procedure (I'm pretty sure, there are tutorials "how to install a new kernel")?

 

Again thanks for your time.

[verdant]

Thanks for your prompt response.

 

I didn't make use out of the supplied kext yet (although saved it on my disk "just in case"), because before I read your reply, I made some more attempts.

 

Being tired of the mentioned problems, I decided to give a shot to "Snow Leopard" 10.6.1 (prepared by "Hazard"). Although during two following installations I had no mentioned problems with reading the DVD (I was amazed), the ISO seems to be flawed, because it couldn't set properly the boot-up sequence. Tried two different kernels for AMD, and not having the expected result, I had to give up in the end.

 

Then I read your reply, and I decided to "revert" to the older one. Of course there were the irritating read problems during installation, but at the fifth attempt I've installed it at last again. But this time with one difference: I didn't choose the "IOPCIfix" package (or the like; can't recall its name precisely), from the section "Fixes and Updates", and... yes! It was the culprit. It seems, that beside "fixes" it contains some quite new flaws as well. I was installing it before in a hope, that - according to description - it'll allow better recognition of PCI cards, but this was the package, that made me waste so much time.

 

The installed system booted at last, but still not without problems:

 

 

 

BTW: there were during boot-up numerous lines like these:

 

 

 

Should I be worry?

 

Then I switched SATA from "AHCI" to "IDE" mode, and made another boot attempt; this time I went somewhat further, until it crashed again:

 

 

...and now I'm stuck. It's always crashing after filling the form, when clicking "Continue" (AHCI or IDE - it doesn't seem to make any difference). Besides: during boot-up stage it's "losing" somehow the presence of my PS/2 keyboard and mouse; I had to connect additional keyboard and mouse both via USB, to be able to interact.

 

 

It seems, that the kernel is to blame this time. If so - does there exist a better one for 10.5.6 (for AMD)? And if so - where could I fetch it from, and how is its install procedure (I'm pretty sure, there are tutorials "how to install a new kernel")?

 

Again thanks for your time.

 

You are going around in circles here........

 

I recommend that you initially install OS X Leopard using a AMD compatible Install DVD distro such as:

 

LawlessPPC-10.5.4-Phenom-AMD

iATKOS 4a AMD

Leo4Allv4.1 AMD

iPC 10.5.6

iDeneb V1.4 10.5.6 etc.

 

to set up two OS X volumes on your HDD and then install Leopard on one of the volumes to figure out exactly what you need to do boot and run OS X Leopard on your system using the Voodoo kernel......and then use Leopard to help you install OS X Snow Leopard on your second HDD volume...........look via Google for Snow Leopard OS X version kernels by qoopz/nawcom that support SSE2 and AMD CPUs.......

[Zbiggy]

Actually, I'm so fed up with all these (re)installations, that I prefer to make the installed system work. It isn't possible to replace/fix/upgrade just a kernel, without a need to fetch another distro, make another installation, and so on...?

[verdant]

Actually, I'm so fed up with all these (re)installations, that I prefer to make the installed system work. It isn't possible to replace/fix/upgrade just a kernel, without a need to fetch another distro, make another installation, and so on...?

 

You could try by using different kernels but that assumes that the kernel is the only problem with your installed OS X system.........and how can you be certain.....?

 

Remember you have an older CPU with a SSE2 instruction set and so it is likely to work much better with a OS X Leopard installation and the Voodoo kernel......which will at least help you to figure the problems out more easily......

[Zbiggy]

OK, so I made another installation of Snow Leopard 10.6.1 ("Hazard"). As earlier, the installation went (almost) fine, with one little exception: having it on HDD, I'm unable to start it.

 

The older "Leo4all" after every installation changed something in bootsector(?), setting its own boot-manager, but Snow Leopard didn't. There is "Startdisk utility", and I was thinking, that it'll be enough to click the target partition, and then it'll set things for me automagically - unfortunately, it doesn't show my OSX target partition in the window (only DVD and "search network" as startup options). By now I still have GRUB menu (Leo4all was switching it off at every new installation, replacing it with its own manager), but when I choose OSX, I can see only "Loading Darwin/x86", and then machine is hung. That message is most probably a "memory" of the former leo4all installation. "Hazard" told me at the end: "installation failed, failed to start system from HDD - restart and use startdisk utility". Although it "failed", my guess is, that system is actually OK (I can see all the files on the OSX partition), I need just to "connect" it somehow to boot manager (most probably install its own bootmanager, then again reinstall GRUB). After restart "Startdisk" seems to be unable to show me OSX partition as another option to choose from (tried several times).

 

Then my guess is, that I need to make from the terminal something like "sys c:" in DOS - to transfer the needed files and set the boot-sector/partition (the small one at the very beginning? No idea). Could you perhaps make a tip; or maybe the exact procedure is described somewhere?

 

Update: tried to modify MBR with "fdisk -u /dev/disk0" - but, alas, no... it won't be that easy.

 

Update2: the procedure described here woke my Snow Leopard at last; yes, it's working.

[verdant]

OK, so I made another installation of Snow Leopard 10.6.1 ("Hazard"). As earlier, the installation went (almost) fine, with one little exception: having it on HDD, I'm unable to start it.

 

The older "Leo4all" after every installation changed something in bootsector(?), setting its own boot-manager, but Snow Leopard didn't. There is "Startdisk utility", and I was thinking, that it'll be enough to click the target partition, and then it'll set things for me automagically - unfortunately, it doesn't show my OSX target partition in the window (only DVD and "search network" as startup options). By now I still have GRUB menu (Leo4all was switching it off at every new installation, replacing it with its own manager), but when I choose OSX, I can see only "Loading Darwin/x86", and then machine is hung. That message is most probably a "memory" of the former leo4all installation. "Hazard" told me at the end: "installation failed, failed to start system from HDD - restart and use startdisk utility". Although it "failed", my guess is, that system is actually OK (I can see all the files on the OSX partition), I need just to "connect" it somehow to boot manager (most probably install its own bootmanager, then again reinstall GRUB). After restart "Startdisk" seems to be unable to show me OSX partition as another option to choose from (tried several times).

 

Then my guess is, that I need to make from the terminal something like "sys c:" in DOS - to transfer the needed files and set the boot-sector/partition (the small one at the very beginning? No idea). Could you perhaps make a tip; or maybe the exact procedure is described somewhere?

 

Update: tried to modify MBR with "fdisk -u /dev/disk0" - but, alas, no... it won't be that easy.

 

Update2: the procedure described here woke my Snow Leopard at last; yes, it's working.

 

Glad you got it working.........

[Zbiggy]

Glad you got it working.........

I was somewhat surprised, that it was without any crashes this time... BTW: as I can see, there is no SL driver for 3C90x/3C90xB network adaptors. Not sure: is there a habit in OSX86 community to call for a "bounty", for the developer willing to create the software, and earning something at the same time?

For the knowledgeable man it'll take most probably at most a week, since there are various sources available (e.g. from Linux and xBSD projects), so there's no need for any "reverse engineering" - just to "sit and write", if one knows OSX86 "innards" good enough. Personally I could add to such bounty my share of $10 - which I'll have to spend for other NC otherwise.

 

Maybe there are more people interested in such driver, and the willing OSX86 developer?