Get HFS+ boot error and nothing more

[Damocles]

Hi there everyone,

 

First, I'd like to make it plain that, although this may have been addressed before, I'm not sure what to search for, and what I have searched for have brought a load of command-line 'fixes' that I'm not too sure on. If I'm not reading things correctly, I appologise.

 

OK, so, I managed to DD the image file to a spare 10GB hard drive. I used diskpart to create a single partition 9.something gig in size, using the whole disk. This was using DD under Windows XP, with my 80GB XP drive set as Primary Master, and the OS X drive as Primary Slave (both my CD drives share the Secondary). I removed the Windows drive from the machine, set the OS X drive to Primary Master and rebooted. The BIOS found a boot record on the drive, but instantly threw up this error:

 

"HFS+ Partition Error"

 

and subsequently ground to a halt. The machine won't boot from the OS X hard drive, but Windows works fine. I was prepared to try it under Linux (got the Ubuntu disc), but then I realised the image file is 6GB in size, Ubuntu won't read NTFS partitions and 6GB single files on FAT32 partitions are disasterous. My search turned up this command:

 

fdisk -u /dev/rdisk0

 

From what I can gather, this will repair the MBR on the drive, allowing OS X to boot. I'm going to try this, but I have the strangest feeling it won't work. That is, if I can even find a floppy drive...

 

My processor is a P4 2.8GHz Prescott with HyperThreading, 1MB cache and SSE3 support (Rosetta should be fine ). I have 512MB RAM, a 10GB IBM DeskStar hard drive, DVD burner, DVD-ROM, Radeon 9550 256MB AGP graphics card (gulp), a motherboard with a VIA PT800 chipset (ASRock P4VT8+), a PCI sound card, TV tuner and audio capture cards, not to mention various USB devices including keyboard and mouse. By my thinking, this should run x86 well enough. I'd like to get this thing going, as I've recently screwed up my old PowerBook G3 Firewire, which ran Tiger (D'oh).

 

The image file works, as I successfully ran it under VMWare, albeit v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. I don't mind re-DD'ing the image if fdisk doesn't work - I'm just covering my bases.

 

Thanks in advance,

Damocles

[Rammjet]

Reinstall the Windows hard drive.

 

Use a Windows/Linux disk/partition utility to repair the MBR on the OSX drive. One way is to use the Windows install disk and go into the Recovery Console at boot and run FIXMBR. Or find a bootable utility disk like Hiren's or Ultimate.

 

However, you have chosen to install OSX 10.4.1. This version is old and busted. Apple made major changes to OSX starting with 10.4.3 and as a result, most current Intel OSX apps won't run on 10.4.1. I recommend looking for an install DVD of 10.4.5, 10.4.6 or 10.4.7.

[Damocles]

Hey there,

 

Thanks a lot for the fast reply. Just my luck - I lent my XP Cd out to a friend of the family (oh well, no real loss...). I downloaded the Ultimate Boot CD but couldn't get my head around the MBR stuff - it also said in big, bold letters not to play around with MBR unless you know what you're doing, and, naturally, I don't. I found a floppy drive, but the startup disk made by XP was absolutely useless. I'm trying to get the install DVD for 10.4.6, which should be a lot smoother, if I can get my hands on it...

What I plan on doing is seeing if I can get OS X running on the 10GB drive first, then maybe putting it on my 80GB Windows drive. I'd have to partition it, as I'd need to keep XP for schoolwork, games, etc, but if I have any trouble with that, I'll post again when I actually posses the DVD.

Thanks for your help,

Damocles (Why is 'Daedalus' always taken?)