- Joined
- Jun 2, 2011
- Messages
- 134
- Motherboard
- Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4-B3
- CPU
- i7-2600K
- Graphics
- RX 560
Sorry for such a long post, but I think most of this history is relevant. Thanks for your help.
I have a working Yosemite installation (using Chimera) and am trying to update my system to Mojave (for now), and beyond. I have several partitions used for OSX:
Main HD (SSD) - Yosemite, Chimera
Backup HD - Clone of Yosemite
Test HD - Mojave (boots with USB stick)
Last Thanksgiving, I took a shot at updating to a newer OS, and had trouble getting Clover to boot my current system properly. Clover would boot the system, but within a few minutes the computer rebooted itself without any warning. I tried several versions of clover, different settings/kexts, posted at TonyMac, and never got it to work. I have more recently come across information suggesting it is a graphics issue (not a surprise, as my graphics card has always been problematic).
In that process last Thanksgiving, I created a Mojave USB stick with Clover, which *could* boot my system correctly, and also allowed me to successfully install Mojave onto my Test HD. This boot process is *very* slow (like 5+ minutes), not sure if it is just a slow USB drive, or if its the Clover itself for some reason. My graphics card is not Mojave-compatible so I have limited resolution, but it seems to otherwise work pretty well. (no auto-reboot). (I also have an RX 560 ready to install when I fully upgrade).
This Thanksgiving I picked back up where I left off, starting to re-test Clover installations (on a USB stick). The last clover USB I had from last year produced similar results (caused auto-reboot), and the Mojave USB could successfully boot both Main HD (Yosemite) and Test HD (Mojave), without rebooting. I started trying the latest Clover, following (a now very old guide: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/test-drive-how-to-create-a-clover-usb.127134/), hoping to become confident that I could configure Clover (so I could install in permanently). At first, Clover booted Main HD, but still caused auto-reboot after a few minutes. I tried different settings/kexts in Clover, intendeding to start with the "standard" and slowly add settings from there. One of these early tests (with basically no extra settings or kexts) was able to boot my Yosemite drive (Main HD), and it didn't cause an auto-reboot. I did get a warning that "Keychain had been reset" and I needed to do something to re-activate it (which is unusual, and in hindsight possibly a sign of the problem to come).
I used the system for a while, and I don't think I noticed any other problems. When I went to reboot and see if I could boot the Mojave drive, I think I got "this OS is not compatible with this system" (I think due to lacking a System Definition in Clover). I tried to reboot back into the Yosemite drive to keep tinkering with Clover, but at the point Clover booted to an apple logo, and the progress bar progressed very slowly and then I got the dreaded "do not enter" (prohibited) symbol. Chimera (still installed as the main boot method on my computer) booted with similar results. Verbose mode ended with "still waiting for root device." Nothing I had was able to boot the drive.
I booted into the Mojave drive and used Disk Utility to verify/repair/permissions on my Main HD. There were a few permission errors that it fixed, but nothing major. This did not resolve my boot issue. Now, I formatted Backup HD and cloned a backup copy of my Yosemite installation onto it. The Mojave installer can boot this system, and it generally works (except for audio). I then made another Clover USB, and added the recommended kexts, and set System Definition and FB for my graphics card. This is also able to boot the BU system, with no sound or internet (even though I added RTL8111 kext).
Then I cloned Backup HD (Yosemite backup) to Main HD (using CCC). All of my boot loaders still lead to the "do not enter" symbol, and cannot boot this. (I may not have formatted it first, so I may try that next).
At this point, I am partly curious what happened and curious about how I can fix it to restore a working Yosemite on my SSD. I'd like to get the Main HD working again, and am concerned why the clone/restoration cannot be booted. I am also somewhat concerned how I caused this problem, in order to avoid it in the future.
Ultimately, I'd like to get Main HD working again, finalize a Clover setup that works for my system, install Clover onto my system as the main boot loader, finish testing Mojave, then migrate my Yosemite back onto Backup HD so I can fresh-install Mojave onto Main HDD (SSD), and change my graphics card.
Any help or troubleshooting recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
I have a working Yosemite installation (using Chimera) and am trying to update my system to Mojave (for now), and beyond. I have several partitions used for OSX:
Main HD (SSD) - Yosemite, Chimera
Backup HD - Clone of Yosemite
Test HD - Mojave (boots with USB stick)
Last Thanksgiving, I took a shot at updating to a newer OS, and had trouble getting Clover to boot my current system properly. Clover would boot the system, but within a few minutes the computer rebooted itself without any warning. I tried several versions of clover, different settings/kexts, posted at TonyMac, and never got it to work. I have more recently come across information suggesting it is a graphics issue (not a surprise, as my graphics card has always been problematic).
In that process last Thanksgiving, I created a Mojave USB stick with Clover, which *could* boot my system correctly, and also allowed me to successfully install Mojave onto my Test HD. This boot process is *very* slow (like 5+ minutes), not sure if it is just a slow USB drive, or if its the Clover itself for some reason. My graphics card is not Mojave-compatible so I have limited resolution, but it seems to otherwise work pretty well. (no auto-reboot). (I also have an RX 560 ready to install when I fully upgrade).
This Thanksgiving I picked back up where I left off, starting to re-test Clover installations (on a USB stick). The last clover USB I had from last year produced similar results (caused auto-reboot), and the Mojave USB could successfully boot both Main HD (Yosemite) and Test HD (Mojave), without rebooting. I started trying the latest Clover, following (a now very old guide: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/test-drive-how-to-create-a-clover-usb.127134/), hoping to become confident that I could configure Clover (so I could install in permanently). At first, Clover booted Main HD, but still caused auto-reboot after a few minutes. I tried different settings/kexts in Clover, intendeding to start with the "standard" and slowly add settings from there. One of these early tests (with basically no extra settings or kexts) was able to boot my Yosemite drive (Main HD), and it didn't cause an auto-reboot. I did get a warning that "Keychain had been reset" and I needed to do something to re-activate it (which is unusual, and in hindsight possibly a sign of the problem to come).
I used the system for a while, and I don't think I noticed any other problems. When I went to reboot and see if I could boot the Mojave drive, I think I got "this OS is not compatible with this system" (I think due to lacking a System Definition in Clover). I tried to reboot back into the Yosemite drive to keep tinkering with Clover, but at the point Clover booted to an apple logo, and the progress bar progressed very slowly and then I got the dreaded "do not enter" (prohibited) symbol. Chimera (still installed as the main boot method on my computer) booted with similar results. Verbose mode ended with "still waiting for root device." Nothing I had was able to boot the drive.
I booted into the Mojave drive and used Disk Utility to verify/repair/permissions on my Main HD. There were a few permission errors that it fixed, but nothing major. This did not resolve my boot issue. Now, I formatted Backup HD and cloned a backup copy of my Yosemite installation onto it. The Mojave installer can boot this system, and it generally works (except for audio). I then made another Clover USB, and added the recommended kexts, and set System Definition and FB for my graphics card. This is also able to boot the BU system, with no sound or internet (even though I added RTL8111 kext).
Then I cloned Backup HD (Yosemite backup) to Main HD (using CCC). All of my boot loaders still lead to the "do not enter" symbol, and cannot boot this. (I may not have formatted it first, so I may try that next).
At this point, I am partly curious what happened and curious about how I can fix it to restore a working Yosemite on my SSD. I'd like to get the Main HD working again, and am concerned why the clone/restoration cannot be booted. I am also somewhat concerned how I caused this problem, in order to avoid it in the future.
Ultimately, I'd like to get Main HD working again, finalize a Clover setup that works for my system, install Clover onto my system as the main boot loader, finish testing Mojave, then migrate my Yosemite back onto Backup HD so I can fresh-install Mojave onto Main HDD (SSD), and change my graphics card.
Any help or troubleshooting recommendations would be greatly appreciated.