HFS+ partition error - please help!

[Valyz]

Hey guys.

 

I had JaS 10.4.7 installed on my t60p and updated to JaS 10.4.8.

 

I got the black screen error where I could not boot into OS X.

 

I attempted to fix it by using JaS' suggestion but kept getting a disk write locked error when i tried to mount it.

 

I then realized that it was saying disk1s3 before it did this, which is my dvd drive.

 

I then came to the conclusion that I had been booting through the dvd and not off my hard drive and that the reason I was getting the error was because when I booted into single user mode, my root was the dvd drive.

 

I tried booting directly from hard drive but I get "HFS+ partition error", whenever I try.

 

Of course, the solution should be to get the boot partition on my hard drive so that I can access the hard drive when Im in single user mode.

 

I've been trying to do just this with fdisk -u /dev/rdisk0, but when I try to do this in single user mode I get the error "disk 0: no such device".

 

I booted through the dvd and used disk utility and my hard drive is called disk0 and my osx installation is specifically on disk0s3.

 

Yes, ive already checked to make sure disk0 is active and primary, and it is.

 

I'm stuck because there's no way I can fix this without booting my os x installation from hard drive, but since I cant access my hard drive in single user mode, I see no way of doing this.

 

Can anyone please give me a working solution?

 

Sorry for the long post, but I'm trying to be as thorough as possible.

 

Thanks for all your help.

[Rammjet]

fdisk -u /dev/rdisk0

Boot into OSX using the DVD and run the command in Terminal, but using sudo: sudo fdisk -u /dev/rdisk0 or boot the install DVD and run it from Terminal in the installer without sudo.

[Valyz]

I just tried sudo and got the error, "sudo: command not found".

 

I've run it from the terminal, but it doesn't work either.

 

I believe when I try that I get an error about partition table not being setup and even if I hit y, it prints out a blank table.

[Rammjet]

I just tried sudo and got the error, "sudo: command not found".

Sudo is only going to work in the Terminal when you are booted into OSX. It will not work in single user mode or from Terminal in the installer.

 

You will also get the "command not found" when you typo the command.

[Valyz]

Ok, I just tried again in terminal.

 

It worked, but I'm still getting HFS+ partition error.

 

This is really strange.

 

Everything else I've seen about this problem would suggest that the only reason it shouldn't be working now is because my partition is not active or primary, but it most certainly is.

 

I appreciate your response, Ram.

 

Any other ideas?

 

Thanks.

[Rammjet]

Describe your hard drive. How many partitions? What software did you use to set it up?

[Valyz]

I have a 100gb 7200 rpm hd. SATA interface.

 

It is the only hard drive in my laptop.

 

It currently has 3 partitions on it, a 68 gig windows partition, a 5 gig ibm partition, and a 20 gig osx partition.

 

I used Paragon Partition Manager to partition the drive.

 

To check the status of the partitions I usually use qtparted from my live cd.

[Rammjet]

What bootloader are you using? I use Acronis and it sometimes gets screwed up and reports an HFS+ Partition error. Re-setting up the bootloader fixes it without messing with the MBR.

 

What is on the IBM partition? A restore partition for the laptop? I've read about problems with some of these.

 

Are all the partitions primary and not logical/extended?

 

Did you set the ID of the OSX partition to AF ?

[Valyz]

I'm not using any bootloader currently.

 

I've only been using OS X for a couple of days on my laptop and I left the dvd in the entire time so I was under the impression it was running off of the hard drive.

 

When I need to switch to XP I usually just boot up live cd and set my xp partition as active.

 

Restore partition on the IBM partition, yes.

 

All partitions are primary.

 

AF? No, I did not. Can I do that now or is that something that's supposed to have been done already?

 

Once again, thanks for the help.

 

Wait, nevermind.

 

According to Paragon Partition Manager the ID of my OSX partition is set to AF.

 

Is there a way to double check that so I can see if the program is reporting it correctly?

[Rammjet]

Is there a way to double check that so I can see if the program is reporting it correctly?

OSX -> Terminal -> sudo fdisk /dev/rdisk0

 

Without any options (-u), the command will display a list of the partitions and the ID will be in a column near the left. An asterisk will flag which partition is active.

 

You might try FIXMBR from Windows or FDISK from GParted to try and fix the MBR.

[Rammjet]

Other things to check out are:

 

This thread: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?s=&...st&p=210098

 

It refers to a utility that is supposed to be attached to that posting but isn't. The utility can be found here: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?s=&...st&p=166040

 

And a posting was just made saying this thread helped with HFS+ Partition errors, but you have tried virtually all of it: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?s=&...st&p=197333

[donh]

OSX -> Terminal -> sudo fdisk /dev/rdisk0

 

Without any options (-u), the command will display a list of the partitions and the ID will be in a column near the left. An asterisk will flag which partition is active.

 

You might try FIXMBR from Windows or FDISK from GParted to try and fix the MBR.

 

Read this. Could be your problem. You will need some bootloader to be able to switch without the DVD. The chain0 and XP may be the easiest. I like GRUB and there is a windows version but I have never used it.

 

I would guess your boot sector on your osx partition is not setup corectly.

 

Don

[Valyz]

I've seen and tried everything in the last link you posted, Ram.

 

The first link looks like it may work, but it seems much too complicated and I doubt it'd end well.

 

I tried fdisk without the -u and all it shows is a blank partition table.

 

Donh, if you need a bootloader to switch without the dvd, then that would indeed be my problem.

 

You don't happen to have a link to a simple way of setting this up would you?

 

Gonna try to look for one now.

 

Thanks for the help.

[Rammjet]

Read this. Could be your problem. You will need some bootloader to be able to switch without the DVD. The chain0 and XP may be the easiest. I like GRUB and there is a windows version but I have never used it.

 

I would guess your boot sector on your osx partition is not setup corectly.

Well, technically, if the boot sector is working, there really are bootloaders involved. You just can't see them.

 

When the Windows partition is made active, the Windows bootloader does its job. Since there is only one partition listed - Windows - you don't see it, but it boots...Windows. Chain0 would have to be added to boot OSX.

 

On the other hand, when the OSX partition is made active, the Darwin bootloader is doing its job. You just can't see it unless you modify the Timeout parameter in the boot.plist file. But it really is there. Hitting F8 at the right time will reveal it even without the Timeout modification - again, assuming the boot sector is working correctly.

 

II tried fdisk without the -u and all it shows is a blank partition table.

This is the problem that has to be fixed.

[donh]

Well, technically, if the boot sector is working, there really are bootloaders involved. You just can't see them.

 

When the Windows partition is made active, the Windows bootloader does its job. Since there is only one partition listed - Windows - you don't see it, but it boots...Windows. Chain0 would have to be added to boot OSX.

 

On the other hand, when the OSX partition is made active, the Darwin bootloader is doing its job. You just can't see it unless you modify the Timeout parameter in the boot.plist file. But it really is there. Hitting F8 at the right time will reveal it even without the Timeout modification - again, assuming the boot sector is working correctly.

This is the problem that has to be fixed.

From this post http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...amp;#entry15323

 

"From what I can understand, the boot process is:

chain0/boot0, which is stored in the MBR, is called by BIOS (assuming you're not doing grub or ntldr stuff) and scans for active partitions. Then it (or grub, ntldr) passes the disk number and partition entry of the active partition to boot1h, which is stored in the first sector of the HFS+ partition. boot1h reads the volume header of the HFS+ partition, and loads boot2, which gives the familiar boot menu, and allows you to enter kernel options. This is the part that reads the com.apple.Boot.plist. It is also the first thing written in C.

 

For the interested, common error messages and where to find them:

chain0/boot0:

'Chain booting error'/'b0 error'

(I believe, and this is just wild speculation, that this is where the problems are when the install DVD won't boot from an i850 chipset. It seems like the booter gets stuck in a loop when scanning for the boot partition or boot drive, which prevents it from printing this error. I tried to compile chain0 with debug support, but it resulted in too large of a file (max size is 446 bytes) so it didn't help.)

 

boot1h:

'HFS+ partition error' when failed to read HFS+ volume header.

'Error loading booter' when failed to find boot2.

"

 

I am pretty sure the HFS+ error comes because boot1h is not present in the first 512 bytes of the partition. Boot1h is what can read HFS+ and load the Darwin bootloader. Chain0 sees the partitions but can't read them it needs to pass control to boot1h. If you use grub and chainloader +1 it passes control to boot1h. If boot1h is not in place you will get HFS+ error.

 

Don

[Rammjet]

I agree his boot sector is messed up. Fdisk returns blank partition information.

 

I prefaced and suffixed my bootloader comments with qualification about the boot sector being correct.

 

I disagree with one thing. Windows will boot fine without Chain0. It will boot OSX with Chain0 only after physically copying Chain0 to the C:\ drive (not the boot sector) and then entering the c:\chain0="Mac OS X" into boot.ini. What happens is that BIOS runs (whatever program is in the boot sector) and then passes control to "ntldr" in the C:\ directory. Then boot.ini is read in and acted upon such that the boot menu is displayed. When you select Mac OS X, then it runs Chain0. That is why you put that line in boot.ini - to tell the Windows bootloader what program to run (c:\chain0) when you select the message (Mac OS X) that is displayed in the menu. By the time you run Chain0, you are well past BIOS.

 

And, as I said earlier, I have had the HFS+ Partition error when Acronis gets hosed. Reconfiguring Acronis fixes the problem and it doesn't involve recopying boot0, boot1h or boot2. I have given those instructions to others using Acronis who have suffered the HFS+ Partition error and they successfully fixed their problem. So there is more to getting an HFS+ Partition error than just a missing boot1h file. Besides, if the error "HFS+ Partition error" is physically in the boot1h file, then if that file is missing, the message cannot be displayed. And if the boot1h file is on the OSX partition, that means the bootloader successfully recognized which partition it had to look at and then it went to that partition and read the boot1h file to get the actual HFS+ Partition error message that it displays.

[joe75]

I don't know if it will help but Ive had the same problem before. I was able to get things right with a boot program BOOTPART. After trying to reinstall a few times and still getting HFS+ error, in desperation for a fix I tried all I could think of. I used a Hirens boot cd and tried BOOTPART, I'm not sure what exactly it doses, I followed the on screen instructions and then went through fdisk in terminal

[Rammjet]

From Google:

 

BootPart is an easy tool for adding additional partitions to the Windows NT multi boot menu (for example, add the OS/2 boot manager or a Linux partition).

Bootpart 2.60 is compatible with Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

 

BOOTPART lets you add partitions to the Windows NT/2K/XP Multiboot menu. Usually, you will only have a MSDOS or Windows 95 entry and one (or several) Windows NT entries on this boot menu.

 

With BOOTPART, you may add any partition to the menu. You may add an OS/2 Multiboot partition, or a Linux Partition (with Lilo) to this menu.

 

BOOTPART creates a 512 byte file which contains an image of the boot sector that loads the boot sector of the partition. After, this file is declared in C:\BOOT.INI (a text file used by the Windows NT boot menu). The boot sector itself comes from FDFormat and WinImage.

 

The current version 2.50 now has very cool features : repair the Windows NT loader boot sector on Fat partitions (but Bootpart cannot perform the repair running under Windows NT/2K/XP), easily add both MS-Dos 6.22 and Windows 95 to the boot menu, support FAT32 partitions and disks over 4 GB, LBA support (for disk over 8 GB)...

Sounds like BootPart does something similar as Chain0 (BOOTPART creates a 512 byte file which contains an image of the boot sector - and declares the file in boot.ini) except for Windows. However, the "cool feature" (repair the Windows NT loader boot sector on Fat partitions) sounds valuable.

 

Windows NT installs a boot sector that launches NTLDR and displays the Windows NT boot menu. If you lose this boot sector, BootPart can restore it.

[Valyz]

Update,

 

I tried chain0 and it would'nt boot from os x option on my bootloader, just restarted the computer.

 

I copied chain0 to c:\ and I edited bootini to read:

c:\chain0="OS X"

 

I tried bootpart and when I select OS X from the boot list I get the HFS+ partition error still.

 

Here's what I did exactly in bootpart.

 

I booted it up in cmd prompt and typed,

 

bootpart 2 C:\chain0 OS X

 

2 is the number of my OS X partition when i viewed it through bootpart.

 

I tried some procedure involving a program called macdrive, but could not get the mac files to show up in windows.

 

Once again, I appreciate everyone's help.

 

Any other ideas?

 

I may try to get Acronis working if I can figure out how to use it.

[donh]

Update,

 

I tried chain0 and it would'nt boot from os x option on my bootloader, just restarted the computer.

 

I copied chain0 to c:\ and I edited bootini to read:

c:\chain0="OS X"

 

I tried bootpart and when I select OS X from the boot list I get the HFS+ partition error still.

 

Here's what I did exactly in bootpart.

 

I booted it up in cmd prompt and typed,

 

bootpart 2 C:\chain0 OS X

 

2 is the number of my OS X partition when i viewed it through bootpart.

 

I tried some procedure involving a program called macdrive, but could not get the mac files to show up in windows.

 

Once again, I appreciate everyone's help.

 

Any other ideas?

 

I may try to get Acronis working if I can figure out how to use it.

 

Sorry the link didn't paste in my earlier post. Probably operator head space. Read these.

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...c=30322&hl=

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...c=29859&hl= Start at so what now?

 

Don

[Valyz]

Ok, after booting back into disc utility my disc is no longer even mounted and its renamed.

 

In short, something got majorly screwed up other than just the mbr.

 

Im gonna delete and remake the partition using these instructions, they look like they'll do the job.

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=24490

 

I'm pretty convinced the way the drive was originally partitioned screwed things up.

[calinb]

Im gonna delete and remake the partition using these instructions, they look like they'll do the job.

You could try TestDisk, if you'd like to save your data:

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

 

I made some notes at the bottom of this wiki after I blew away the partition table on one of my HFS+ drives. I completely recovered.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/OS_Notes

[Valyz]

I tried testdisk but at the speed it was going it wouldve taken about 5 days to scan my hard drive.

 

I ended up just wiping everything.

 

After reformatting the entire hard disk and creating two seperate partitions, I am now able to boot into OSX from the hard drive.

 

So if you have a t60p and are having similar problems to me, you may be best served just wiping your entire drive. I have suspicions, as I believe Ram mentioned earlier, that it may have been the IBM security partition that messed it up.

 

This is a very helpful community. Thanks for the help everyone.

[calinb]

I tried testdisk but at the speed it was going it wouldve taken about 5 days to scan my hard drive.

Well, glad you got it fixed, Valyz! I know my advice was a bit late and, apparently, moot. Maybe your disk was hosed worse than mine. Testdisk only took a few minutes for me.

 

-Cal