Originally Posted by nfoav8or

to add on to what everyone is replying with, "still waiting for root device" is a known error BUT the cause is an unloaded chipset extension.

to remove an extension you need to boot up into single user mode (this was never stated earlier in this post... come on guys)

but I don't think that is the issue in this case. the NForceATA kext (depending on which variant you are using) only allows a maximum memory of a little under 4GB and since you are using 4GB RAM I think your timeout issues are happening because of this.

Also, the output you are reading from verbose mode about the AppleNForceATA kext "dropping" the device from your earlier post:

this is normal. don't freak out. it happens on mine every time I boot up but it never drops anything.


This error is occurring because you've got some device attached via USB and it isn't responding. disconnect it unless it is your root hard drive.

First I'd like to test a few things out here. try to fix permissions

boot up into single user mode (-s) then follow erick2red's code (but I've modified it just a bit)
when you reboot use the boot flags: (remember to include the spaces in between the different flags: "-f" "-v" "maxmem=2048")

Let us know how this works out.