Booting from HDD (SSD) keeps rebooting, iBoot works ok

[pmapson]

My first attempt at a Hackintosh, having used and built/supported PC's for some years.
I installed my retail copy of Snow Leopard successfully, after downloading the correct iBoot image finally.
I used MultiBeast following the instructions faithfully, at first using the DSDT file for my mobo (Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 w/ F5 firmware update) - see later post
When I reboot from the hard drive it goes into an infinite reboot cycle right after it tries to load OS X. If I use iBoot it works fine, but is really inconvenient.
I had even less success with the 10.6.7 combo update as it just hung forever right at the start of loading with the gray Apple screen, and I had to reinstall from scratch.

I tried several different methods with MultiBeast, using EasyBeast, then tried just custom options. I made sure to use the System Utility in MultiBeast to update the caches etc. and deleting the Extra folder.

At first I thought it was because I was using the on-board graphics, so this morning I installed a Zotac 9600GT card, which seems to work ok (although xVid movies lag a bit with the DivX player I installed, but that's another topic).
Still only the iBoot CD can get me into OS X, and it seems many others are having the same issue.
Audio works fine out of the rear analog port; I haven't tried HDMI or SPDIF yet.

I am at a loss to know how to proceed. I don't think it's Chameleon, rather the com.Apple.Boot.plist file settings or something?

I did set up the drive as a GUID drive on my PC but repartitioned later on the Mac (I mean Hackintosh) - could that have done something to affect it?
I also disconnected all other drives and peripherals including the Win7 60GB SSD (Mushkin Callisto) which I intend to use for dual boot later.

Here are my specs:
Mobo: GA-H55N-USB3 - I made sure BIOS settings were as specified
CPU: Intel i3-550 (not OC'd)
Memory: 4GB Corsair DDR3 XMS 1600 (I also tried with one stick)
Drive: Mushkin Callisto 120GB with main 80GB Snow Leopard volume and 2nd 40GB volume
GPU: Zotac 9600GT w/ two DVI ports
PSU: 130W on the mobo and kludged setup with Seasonic 300W supplying the PCIe socket on the card for now (will fix later but I don't think that's an issue as the entire system only draws about 100W)
Monitor: LG W231 23" LCD - display looks fine once booted.
Apple keyboard at first but my wireless "other" brand one works too.

Any advice welcome, thanks.
- Peter

 

[tawelton]

Re: Booting from HDD (SSD) keeps rebooting, iBoot works ok ok

Hey I am having the same problem with a VERY similar setup. I have the H55M-USB3 with the Core i3-550 and when I try and boot into Snow Leopard from chameleon, it flashes the apple screen really quick and reboots

 

[pmapson]

I just checked my BIOS version. I had thought that F5 was the latest one, as it's the latest one with a DSDT file here, and I knew I had flashed the latest update, but it turns that is version F6a.
My humble apologies.

I don't know if this is easily fixable, as I would not like to have to reflash to an earlier version.
Now I know a possible cause of the error, does anyone have a workaround?
Thanks,
Peter

 

[Going Bald]

I just checked my BIOS version. I had thought that F5 was the latest one, as it's the latest one with a DSDT file here, and I knew I had flashed the latest update, but it turns that is version F6a.
My humble apologies.

I don't know if this is easily fixable, as I would not like to have to reflash to an earlier version.
Now I know a possible cause of the error, does anyone have a workaround?
Thanks,
Peter

Generally a number followed by a lower case letter in a BIOS version means it is a BETA. What you can do is download the F5 DSDT and save it somewhere. Then download DSDTSE and extract a DSDT for your board with the F6a BIOS. Use DSDTSE to convert both DSDT.aml files to DSDT.dsl files and use text editing software to compare them. Go to macman's blog and look at his DSDT editing posts and you can do a cut&paste job on the 6a version and make your own DSDT edits for the F6a.

If you decide to try it, good luck!

 

[pmapson]

Thanks for the advice, I may try that when I have time and will post results - in the meantime I'm also dealing with an iPhoto 11 failure to load even one photo due to "insufficient disk space", but I'll start a new topic if I don't find the answer myself.

 

[superchunk]

Hello.

I just wanted to add that my new system is extremely similar to both posters and am going through the exact same problem where it will not allow me to boot from the harddrive- only from the iBoot CD. If I try to boot from the harddrive, it gives me the exact same problem as what others have experienced. In the chameleon bootpage, I select the Snow Leopard drive (the only option as the CD is not in) and then it proceeds to just reboot. I am using just the install DVD version of Snow Leopard (10.6.3).

If anyone else has had a similar problem and found a workaround, please let us know. Thanks.

 

[abelpinate]

I will keep one eye in this post because I have this problem. I think isn't the hardware, because I have a Intel G35E mother board and C2Q 6600 2.4 processor...

I used Easybeast because all was recognized (well is sad the 5.1 don't works with iTunes like W7), but I get the cycling reboot if I don't have the iboot cd.

The other thing: I connect my W7 HD, and I can't boot. I need to do something in the W7. And, why I can use my files in the particion for them in the W7 HD and my mp3 in another disk? NTFS it's no friend of Mac? What can I do?

 

[superchunk]

I did a complete reinstall, even partitioning the harddrive again, but this time I used DSDT for my motherboard's BIOS to see if it was any different.

The only difference with this install is that at the Chameleon screen it doesn't wait for me to select the Snow Leopard HD to boot from (which is the only option obviously). It just selects that and starts booting but the problem hasn't been solved. The screen flashes right after Chameleon and it reboots.

So right now it's just this constant reboot of Chameleon over and over. Everything is fine if I boot from the iBoot disk but MultiBeast is not working. I will try with an earlier version of MultiBeast as I am working with Mac OS X 10.6.3.

The one thing I keep wondering is if I made some wrong selections on the options in MultiBeast. I assume that there is nothing in there that I could have selected (or forgotten to select) that could cause this but it was the only part that confused me slightly. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Any ideas?

 

[abelpinate]

But, why options you use?

Could you post it here?


Thanks!

 

[k1ngdv]

superchunk did you resolve your problem? I am getting the same thing!