dudeinco Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 OK, so I have read through the guides (and I think I read through them before.) I'd rather not start over if I don't have to (specifically on the Windows side), so here we go... I had W8.1 installed on my machine ("hacknstream" in sig), and decided to make this a dualboot OSX. I purchased a second HD (because I heard this was easier) to install OSX on. I started off with the Niresh ISO that wouldn't boot when burned to USB, so I downloaded the dmg, and while it would boot, I'd always get a panic. So... I mounted the dmg (MacDrive), found some kexts for my PC and copied them in. Failure. I mounted the dmg again, copied kexts from the ISO to the dmg using MacDrive - perfection! Installed OSX, and with my USB still defaulted on boot, I was able to get in, update to 10.9.4, and everything worked beautifully (sound, acceleration, usb, everything). Pulled out the USB, didn't work - straight to Windows. I installed EasyBCD and went to town - 8.1 menu item, 10.9 menu item (MBR). Upon reboot, I had the two options and went for Mac - Chameleon loader (and 2.0 at that?). I hit a key to continue, and it would sit for a while, flash an error for a split second: efi_inject_get_devprop_string NULL trying stringdata (took me many reboots to get it to pause at that). -v option at boot flips through hundreds of kext items, and then just split-second reboots. I made the OSX partition active, still nothing. I've tried modifying the Chameleon bootlist to *almost* match the install dmg (left out the base dmg entry, of course). As an aside, I backup files before playing with them... Booting directly from Disk1 gives me the same thing. So here's where desperation kicks in... I start copying the kexts into OSX and fixing the permissions. No luck. I tried to install 2.2 Chameleon, and while it installed correctly, it also warned me in the logs that Chameleon was installed on Disk0, and that would be the default (how'd that get there?). I got really desperate and started coping over boot and boot.efi from the USB to Disk1. Nada... It appears that no matter what I do, it still goes to that Chameleon 2.0, then won't load. I've destroyed my bootloader for both Windows and OSX several times - no big deal, you just go back and fix it. So where we are today after 30-40 hours is: I'm stuck with the USB for booting. Nothing I seem to do changes that. My OSX runs gorgeously with it, and not at all without it. The only thing I can think of (because I was attached to using EasyBCD for boot) is to install Chameleon on Disk0? I think I tried that once, and it wouldn't let me. If someone thinks that's the solution, I'll try it later tonight again and report back... Help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polyzargone Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Well, first, could you tell us what type of HDD you're using ? Sata or PATA, in what bios mode AHCI or Enhanced IDE and, most importantly if those drives are in 512 bytes or 4k bytes sectors (google your brand and model HDD to find out) ? If they're 4k bytes sectors, there's a good chance that Chameleon bootloader is not properly installed. Since you seems to be comfortable with Linux, I suggest to take a look at here : http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/278198-boot0error-easiest-way-to-fix-it/ Did you tried Chameleon Wizard ? It's a must-have app for configuring the bootloader and install the right boot files (in your case, it should be Boot0md) at the root of your OS X partition. Ultimately, you could re-install OS X using a "vanilla" install method (which is always a better solution than Distro's because as you've experienced it, you are not polluted by useless kexts that can create conflicts). There's a lot of Guides on this forum to help you and I'm sure that there's also a lot of people that can assist you too. Hope this helps ! Welcome aboard and good luck ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudeinco Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 I'm not in front of it right this second, but I'm 90% sure it's: ST3500641AS-RK (for Disk1 - OSX drive) - I'll double check when I get home and update, but given I bought a Seagate 500Gb SATA 3Gbps internal from Best Buy for $50, that's a pretty solid guess. That being the case, we'd be looking at 512 based on the ST3500641AS specs. I went for AHCI (the default config for the machine was already set to AHCI). Disk0 (Windows/boot) is the original... I'd have to dig up what that is. I believe Chameleon Wizard was one of the installs I tried, and I believe it threw an error, but I'll look into it later today. Yeah, I'm guessing that Vanilla is likely the 'best' answer. The only thing that stops me from doing that is having to pull out the key on my W8.1 (I have too many keys and can't figure out which goes to which machine - hello Belarc), and having to figure out what it started out life as (do I need to burn W8, or was it from the W8.1 disc?). Yeah, minor, I know... just a little pain in the butt, but if I can get guaranteed love, then that might be the way to go. I know that my build has been used a few times successfully (that's what prompted me to do this). What kills me is that I have a *perfect* OSX machine up and running, sans boot... Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polyzargone Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 I made some research and unless there's differences between ST3500641AS and ST3500641AS-RK, it seems that's its a 512 byte sector drive. So the problem isn't there. Is your internet working on your setup ? I'm asking that because Chameleon WIzard tries to download the latest Chameleon revision before installing it and maybe it's the reason why you went though an error. If that's the case, you can download the Installer package on a USB stick and install it directly on your OS X partition. You should be able to boot on OS X at least. I didn't really understood where's the problem with Vanilla install and W8.1. You shouldn't worry about your Windows drive, OS X installer won't touch it. To be totally safe, you even should disconnect it when installing OS X so you can be sure you won't have bad surprise when rebooting. I forgot to ask, how did you partitionned your OS X drive ? MBR or GUID ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudeinco Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 I'm pretty sure it was GUID (once again, will have to confirm at home). Before the OSX install, I wiped out every partition and created the new partition with the installer defaults, and formatted as Extended Journaled. You are right on the Windows front - if I just disable that drive entirely and work on getting Mac to boot first, I won't need to concern myself with it at this time.Vanilla would look a lot more inviting approaching it from that direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polyzargone Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Yeah, I think that's a much simpler and safe way to start with About partitionning, well I have mixed feelings when it comes to choose between MBR or GUID. A lot af people will advise you to choose GUID because it's the native method used by OS X on "true" Macs, but - it's my own point of view - I found that GUID is much more less "permitive" than MBR partitionning. Even if you are limited to 4 primary partitions per disk (isn't it largely enough for the rest of us ?), it's easier to manage differents bootloader and OS's on same/differents drives especially if you're using Chameleon. GUID is fine when you use Clover and all of your OS's are EFI ready. But think that all of them aren't, eg OS X Leopard or old Linux distro's (Yeah, old school OS's but still good for somes ! ) and that Clover is a powerful beast with a more higher learning-curve than Chameleon. But, that's a matter of taste. Choose what works first is your new mantra ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudeinco Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 That's true, but that brings up a good point as well. If you are thinking that once Yosemite goes RTM that you're going to upgrade, it would probably be best to go GUID. It looks like they got Chameleon up on Yosemite as well with a standard BIOS: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/298753-boot-usb-os-x-yosemite-chameleon/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polyzargone Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Yeah, USB Install is both available with Clover or Chameleon bootloaders (you even can have both of them on the same stick) in GUID and hence EFI. But you can also have an MBR USB Install stick with, again, Clover or Chameleon (and guess what ? you can have both of them too on the same stick ). That's for Install. BTW, have you tried Clover to boot your OS's ? Now for everyday use, I still think that MBR is more flexible with partitionning and Chameleon is definitively faster to reach for than Clover (because Clover needs to load some stuffs before you access boot menu). That said, I'm not saying that Chameleon is better than Clover and vice-versa, it's an endless and no-winner debate (remember Windows vs Mac OS vs Linux ? ), I'm only saying that GUID or MBR partitionning is a point that you may consider because once you have made your choice, it could be tricky to go back Once again, do what you think is the best, after all, it's only for fun ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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