Downloaded Nvidia Driver now system crashes on reboot

[zash]

I've updated 10.6.3 to 10.6.6 and rebooted. everything was fine and I used it for a day like that. Then I realized that video output is slow while a movie plays and so I downloaded the the tonymacx86-NVIDIA-Update.zip ... Now after rebooting OSX won't start.

It crashes right after selecting the boot partition in iBoot. Is there a way to uninstall that driver??? Or do I have to wipe the drive and start over with a fresh install? I have lots of apps installed and configured, so I'd like to make it work again.

I've made a backup disk image with the disk utility, but it's useless. Won't mount, won't restore or anything (I get error messages on restore, but it created it fine without errors)... How do you make a working disk image of a boot disk (for the next time)?

Thanks!

 

[waffle head]

If you have windows installed on another drive and are able to boot from it, you could use HFSExplorer to delete the kexts that the tonymacx nvidia update installed in extras/extensions and system/library/extenions.

Alternatively: remove the hard disk and connect it to a windows machine (using e-sata or put the hdd in a cheap USB enclosure) and use HFSExplorer to delete the kexts.

HFSExplorer is freeware and you can download it here:
http://www.catacombae.org/hfsx.html

It's always best to clone your boot disk before you do any updates in case something like this happens. Use the search in this forum to find out how to clone your drive.

 

[waffle head]

Just to clarify - I don't know for sure that what I suggested will work, and it may be risky as I think you are supposed to run Multibeast and check system utilities when you delete stuff from the extras and system/library/extensions folders. But it might be worth a shot.

 

[waffle head]

Just realised that HFSExplorer is read-only.

You might be able to delete the files using MacDrive. You can install a free trail version from this link:

http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive

 

[zash]

Thanks for the reply. I've looked in the directories you mentioned and didn't see any kext or other file with a name or date that suggests it's the new nvidia drivers.. I guess I have to wipe the drive...