Chimera and 4k HDD boot issues

[jwk]

Whenever you install Chimera either thru the standalone installer of thru MultiBeast ALL of the boot files are written to /usr/standalone/i386/ and fdisk440 and bdmesg to /usr/sbin. There is no need to ever extract these files after an install.

Agreed.

Can you answer these 2 questions please?

1) Unmounting the drive seems to work for getting dd to write a 1k block without throwing an error. Does your method for specifying a 4k block write eliminate the need to unmount the drive and write from another active OS? In other words, can I boot to my hard drive OS X installation with my bootable Lion installer USB key and use Terminal on the hard drive to write the boot1h to the same hard drive?

2) Where does boot1h actually get written when I dd it, and how to I look there to see if it was actually written?

Thank you...

jwk

 

[bc24]

Can we get this solution posted as a Golden Thread so people with those type of HDDs can find it quickly? Good work!

 

[jwk]

Can we get this solution posted as a Golden Thread so people with those type of HDDs can find it quickly? Good work!

Depending on MacMan's answers to my questions above, specifying a block write size of 4k may make it totally unnecessary to unmount the drive being written to, and make my instructions completely unnecessary...

Let's wait and see what MacMan has to say regarding the necessity of unmounting the drive being written to before we talk about Golden Threads...

 

[Timeslice]

Well, sadly it did not work. I tried your method, MacMans and even the Ubuntu technique from the site I quoted. I do suspect that it has something to do with my dual boot - that the HD is partitioned in two and Windows makes its partition active thus forcing the BIOS to boot into that partition. All of the above methods boot straight into Windows.

I will delete the Windows partition and see if this works. If it does then at least we know that the 4k workaround works but it still leaves me with how to boot into Chimera to give me the option of either OS.

But I think I should first get some sleep...

Any ideas on the partition issue? I read somewhere that the best place to install Chimera is in the 200 mb partition 0, but how would BIOS know it was there?

Thanks again.

 

[jwk]

Well, sadly it did not work. I tried your method, MacMans and even the Ubuntu technique from the site I quoted. I do suspect that it has something to do with my dual boot - that the HD is partitioned in two and Windows makes its partition active thus forcing the BIOS to boot into that partition. All of the above methods boot straight into Windows.

I will delete the Windows partition and see if this works. If it does then at least we know that the 4k workaround works but it still leaves me with how to boot into Chimera to give me the option of either OS.

But I think I should first get some sleep...

Any ideas on the partition issue? I read somewhere that the best place to install Chimera is in the 200 mb partition 0, but how would BIOS know it was there?

Thanks again.

Okay. You should have mentioned that part, thats a completely different story. From what I've read, it's doable, but problematic to dual boot, and much easier/ safer to install a second hard drive for windows. Then, after installing OS X and MultiBeast/ Chimera and getting it functional, you can plug in the second drive and the bootloader will just work with no further changes. If your hard drive crashes, you won't have to re-install 2 different (3, if you use Ubuntu also, like I do) operating systems. However, it can be done with 1 drive if you want to or the cost of a second drive to too much for you. I use 2-1/2" 7200 RPM drives in my hack.

Good luck!!!

 

[jwk]

Well, sadly it did not work. I tried your method, MacMans and even the Ubuntu technique from the site I quoted. I do suspect that it has something to do with my dual boot - that the HD is partitioned in two and Windows makes its partition active thus forcing the BIOS to boot into that partition. All of the above methods boot straight into Windows.

Are you sure you wrote boot1h to the correct partition?

Also, you probably have seen this, but I'll post the link just in case you haven't:

Dual Boot Windows 7 and OS XX Snow Leopard Using Chameleon:
http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2009/11/ ... -snow.html

I will delete the Windows partition and see if this works. If it does then at least we know that the 4k workaround works but it still leaves me with how to boot into Chimera to give me the option of either OS.

Are you able to boot to the USB installer and select your OS X installation from the boot menu?

Any ideas on the partition issue? I read somewhere that the best place to install Chimera is in the 200 mb partition 0, but how would BIOS know it was there?

You should probably stick to one method and figure out why it's not working instead of jumping from one to the next.

 

[Timeslice]

jwk, thanks, finally a result!

Update:

A bit of perspective first:

A week ago I started the whole this whole build and installation from and following the post you recommended - Dual Boot Windows 7 and OS XX Snow Leopard Using Chameleon: http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2009/11/ ... -snow.html

The installations went swimmingly and I was able to boot to both OS's from the USB. When I tried to boot from HD it gave me the Boot0 errors. This is when I wrote my post that you and MacMan kindly responded to.

So I was able to boot from USB drive but not from HD. I then tried three techniques to manually load boot1h (to the correct partition/drive/rdisk0s2 - the same as you as Win7 was in /rdisk0s3) - Yours, Macman's and the Ubuntu ones. As per my last post all three failed. I could still boot from USB but not HD. Still got Boot0 errors.

Present:
I then erased the dos/Windows7 partition/drive and tried again. Nada... would not boot except this time instead of boot0 errors I just got "non system disk etc". I re-installed boot1h as per the three methods but still achieved the same result.

So I started from scratch ( this is when Tonymacs wise words "Please understand that building a custom machine for OS X is a difficult, and sometimes frustrating process. resonated in my ears...)

I erased the drive and repartitioned it with one partition (Did a by-the-book USB UniBeast install) and tried the HD boot. Did not work. Boot0 errors. I then followed your instructions and BINGO , I could reliably boot from the HD. (Which I did a couple of times just to grin!) I'll never know if the other methods would have worked as yours was the first I tried... and I dont think I'm going to do that again!

So...

Because I was such a cheapskate I bought the bare-bones GA-H61N MB which only has two SATA ports and nothing else - no IDE's even; 1 for the optical drive and the other my HD obviously. My thinking was that I'll partition the the drive anyway. (In retrospect a mistake as two drives would have been a lot better - for the reasons you mention.) However I'm stuck with this and apart from being a cheapskate I'm also obstinant and want to overcome this issue. If it can be done a la Tonymac dual boot method then I am sure it can be done with a 4K issue. ( I presume that it is the same method for Lion as it is for SL?)

In the above mentioned guide, Tonymac says that Win7 should be installed first, do think that this is essential? ( I'm sure I read somewhere that this did not matter?)

Unfortunately I am not too clued up on the booting procedure and how active partitions work and how it affects the boot sequence. I can only assume that Windows makes it's partition active so that the BIOS is directed there.

Sorry for laying this on you but there is nowhere else, though I should possibly start a new post in another section in the forum.

Cheers

 

[jwk]

First of all, 'congratulations' on a successful build. You've made a lot of progress because you now know that all of your hardware will work and that the procedure for a single boot works and that making the correction to a 4k drive works- and you've learned a lot along the way.

As I said before, I am a noob, even though I've built 5 different hacks (and have plans for 2 more). I never used a mac before I built my first hack, so I've learned a lot, but there is still a lot more for me to learn. I've yet to build a dual boot on a single drive, and I've avoided doing that for the obvious complications that can occur, so I won't be much help in that regard, but if you do some searching here for 'dual-boot' you'll probably find other people's methods and experiences and can get some further information there. I don't know if tony's snow leopard method will work with Lion, but I've installed both versions of those mac operating systems and the procedure is the same for single boot installations. I do think I recall reading elsewhere that windows likes to be on the first partition (I think I read that when reading about dual booting Windows with Linux) so that's probably why Tony recommends it. It likely can be done the other way too, but will more terminal work involved. Once you've succeeded in creating a dual boot system, you should look into a way to image it so if your hard drive crashes in a year you don't have to go through all that pain again after you forgot how you did it in the first place.

As far as booting goes, here is what I can tell you (which isn't a lot and you may already know this): When you install OSX it creates a small EFI partition and a system partition and as many other partitions as you choose. The EFI partition is for extensions to the EFI in real Apple computers- which don't have a BIOS. The EFI partition allows for additions to be made to the hardware EFI for future features or operating system compatibility. I will have to install one of these on my Macbook Pro to reap some of the Cloud benefits in Lion. I believe this is all accurate, but I'm just a noob. The system partition must be marked as 'active' for you to boot from it, but the installer should do that for you. Some people exploit the mostly unused EFI partition to isolate their chameleon loader, Extras folder and backups of non-apple branded stuff so that their system partition is pretty much an official apple installation. It's something for you to delve into when you get more experienced- at this point, it may only be a further complication to your education. Windows 7 is very similar. It's 1st partition is 100mb and unused (probably exists for the day when Windows computers no longer have a BIOS, which should be sooner rather than later), then there is a system partition, and whatever other partitions you choose to install. The Windows boot process starts by looking at that first 100mb partition, which is probably where Chameleon will be installed, and once OS X is installed, you should get icons for both operating systems when you boot (you may have to press the up arrow at boot time to get them, I'm not sure about that though.

If you encounter problems, or just want to document your build, I would suggest starting a new thread. I'm watching this thread, so if you start a new thread, post that info here with a link to it and I'm keep an eye on your progress. Who knows, with the price of hard drives, I may start thinking about dual-booting from the same drive too!

I hope MacMan responds to my earlier questions- I'd love to find out that there's an easier way to overcome the 4k sector issue...

Cheers!

 

[Timeslice]

I'd just like to thank you for your kind assistance and generosity of knowledge.

This was also my first mac experience, other than tinkling on a friends machine and using my iPad. I am pretty well versed in DOS and have built countless PC's in my time, but this offers new challenges. The learning curve has been impressive and I have just started!

I shall venture forth on my quest and report any progress and link it here. If Tonymac/MacMan can shed any light on the 4k issue it would be very usefull. What I dont get is how come this isn't more of an issue. Are most HDD's still 512?

Thanks again and good luck with your next builds.

 

[jwk]

I finished doing my 3rd install with the method I detailed earlier in this thread- I'm 3 for 3, so it seems to work consistently. Still no word from MacMan... I'm sure he's busy with more important things. The next build I do I'll try what he posted in this thread without unmounting the drive and see if that works.

You were 'tinkling' on a friend's Mac with your iPad? How did that work out for you??? I'm sure you meant tinkering....

The learning curve is impressive... but, wasn't it fun??? and you learned something... that's a good day for me!!!

The 4k sector drives are relatively new, I think a few started showing up last fall, but there were still old drives in the pipeline, and about the time the new ones started trickling in, the the water started pouring in- to Thailand... where a lot of factories got flooded and the rest is history. The threads regarding the problems with 4k seemed to start last fall and got real busy around December. The price of drives doubled and you couldn't find a 512 byte sector drive to save your soul around the end of last year... the new order is 4k so we have to deal with it. The hardest part is over though- we know what the problem is and how to overcome it, and I think it's very likely someone will come up with an automated solution before too much longer. As far as not being a bigger issue, it's a pretty widespread issue, there are a number of threads here and many elsewhere... I collected a stack of threads I printed out from all over the web while trying to understand just what was going on, and it's about 4-5 inches thick.

I ran my newest mini into my AV receiver tonight and from there, into my HDTV and spent an hour or so watching vimeo vids of time-lapse aurora borealis and other stuff that looked absolutely stunning! Sound was great also. So far, I haven't experienced any of the audio pops in my analog audio that other people have reported on either of my hacks, and the HDMI audio is awesome. One of these is destined for my AV rack as soon as I clean up the mess of papers I left all over my house while researching and building these hacks. One of the most satisfying builds I've undertaken to date...

If you run into further problems let me know and I'll use what little knowledge I have to try to help you... have fun!