Cannot reach OS X Installer, "Still waiting for root device."

[scottperezfox]

[SOLVED] Cannot reach OS X Installer, "Still waiting for root device."

Built my first machine using the guidelines on this site, but I've hit my first glitch and need the help of the community.

Here's my hardware configuration:

Processor: Intel IvyBridge Core i7-3770K
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP5-TH (wi-fi/bluetooth card not installed)
Graphics Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 680, 2GB
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16 GB (2×8 GB), 1600 Mhz, DDR3
Power Supply: Corsair 650 watt
Hard Drive 1: SanDisk Extreme SSD – 2.5″, 240 GB
Hard Drive 2: Seagate Baracuda HDD – 3.5″, 1 TB, 7200 RPM
Optical Drive: Pioneer DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW
Case: Corsair Vengeance C70 (Arctic White)

I started by installing Windows just so I could test the various hardware and make sure everything functions. Tried to install OS X Mountain Lion by creating a Unibeast USB thumb drive. But I can't reach the installer. Using verbose mode, I can see 23 screens of text successfully loaded, but finally I reach a stopping point where something is wrong. Here is the last few lines displayed:

AppleIntelE1000e(Info): changing MTU from 0 to 1500
FireWire (OHCI) VendorID 1106 ID 3044 PCI now active, GUID 0049e5506dd94b00; max speed s400
ApplleIntelE1000e(Info): AppleIntelE1000e:WOL = 2
Still waiting for root device.

I really have no idea what this all means so I appreciate any help you can offer. Do I need to install with certain hardware removed?

Thanks for your help, and pardon my rookie mistakes.

 

[davidr418]

I solved this problem by switching the boot disk to a SATA3G port. That's not the only thing that can cause the problem, but it worked for me.

BTW, let me know if you get the 680 working. That's what I'm stuck on now.

 

[scottperezfox]

[SOLVED] Cannot reach OS X Installer, "Still waiting for root device."

I have reached the installer. I tried several configurations of hardware and bios settings, all of which stalled at the same point. The final move which allowed me to reach the installer was actually two moves simultaneously, so I'm not certain which did the trick.

• I moved my hard drive (at this point I only have a single drive installed) to SATA port 4 on the motherboard. I believe that only ports 0, 1, and 2 are SATA 6-GB, so that's something.
•*I moved the USB thumb drive which contains Unibeast and Mountain Lion Installer to a USB 2.0 port on the back of the computer, not the front panel.

•*In running Unibeast from the thumb drive, I used "GraphicsEnabler=No PCIRootUID=0 -x -v", in other words, all of the recommended arguments in Tony's guide.

I'm now onto installation and further configuration so wish me thanks. Thanks for chiming in with your replies.

 

[amlutz160]

Thanks very much.

it was two tweaks for me that made it work:

1) move SSD to one of ports 2-4 (SATA3)

2) plug usb into one of the usb2 ports on back of machine.

extra options were not necessary, though running w/ verbose is always helpful

 

[JakeStoeffler]

Thank you. Moving the Unibeast USB drive to a USB 2.0 port worked for me. I previously had it in a USB 3 port on the back. I didn't have to switch to the 3.0 Gb/s SATA ports.

 

[fr_guerin]

Plugin into a USB2 instead of 3 did also the trick for me and I have no more the "waiting for root device" problem; however after the boot log in verbose mode (starting with only -v) I now run into a black screen...
I am trying to install Moutain Lion from tonymac tuto on a DELL laptop E6530 with CPU Core i7-3520QM and GPU NVIDIA NVS 5200M.

 

[fr_guerin]

Plugin into a USB2 instead of 3 did also the trick for me and I have no more the "waiting for root device" problem; however after the boot log in verbose mode (starting with only -v) I now run into a black screen... but PCIRootUID=0 did solve the problem nicely (starting -v PCIRootUID=0 )
I am trying to install Moutain Lion from tonymac tuto on a DELL laptop E6530 with CPU Core i7-3520QM and GPU NVIDIA NVS 5200M. I hope it will work because I had a nice all functional Lion on my previous DELL E6500

 

[Pduk]

I have almost all same parts in my machine as you scottperezfox, except graphic card is NV GTX 260 and Kingston SSD.
However... I have been trying all commands what i have found from any site but nothing works for me. I have been stuck in "Still waiting for root device" for days now... I really don't know what to do anymore

 

[RehabMan]

I have almost all same parts in my machine as you scottperezfox, except graphic card is NV GTX 260 and Kingston SSD.
However... I have been trying all commands what i have found from any site but nothing works for me. I have been stuck in "Still waiting for root device" for days now... I really don't know what to do anymore

At what stage of installation?

 

[Pduk]

At what stage of installation?

Here is picture to clarify. It stucks at same point, no mater what i try.. :/


Edit: I took that PCI firewire card off, and i'm using motherboards craphics. It's still same but those couple last lines about doens't show up (suprising cause i don't have firewire anymore)