Mac OS X on x86 Hardware 2008–2024 Technical Archive
InfiniteMac OSx86 › OSx86 Core & 10.X › boot up problems
5,733 reads · 2009-01-12 – 2009-01-20
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boot up problems

is there a way to boot into osx86 after installing a bad kext.. i had a working system and installed a bad kext and now it hangs after reboot i tried the usual -x, -f -s option but no luck... i really don't want to reinstall from scratch..…

Primary Author
@ziggy_909 Published 2009-01-12
Collection
OSx86 Core & 10.X
Archival Footprint
5,733 historical reads · 9 curated field notes (from 11 dispatches) · 2009-01-12 – 2009-01-20
Credited Voices (4)
@lanceomni (5)@cmdshft (3)@ziggy_909 (2)@Voyn1x

is there a way to boot into osx86 after installing a bad kext..

i had a working system and installed a bad kext and now it hangs after reboot i tried the usual -x, -f -s option but no luck...

i really don't want to reinstall from scratch.. as finding a solution to this will help me in the future... and save a lot of time updating etc...

Author Updates & Technical Revisions

Follow-up dispatches by @ziggy_909

Author Update #1 @ziggy_909 2009-01-12

off the top of my head i don't know the full names but i would recognize them in my extensions folder,
of if i could have a look at my download/desktop folder a copy of them would be there..

Synthesized Community Field Notes

9 technical responses curated from 11 original dispatches

Field Note #1 @lanceomni 2009-01-12

Yes you can. Which kext was it that you installed?

Field Note #2 @lanceomni 2009-01-12

It is strange that you cant boot into Single User Mode using -s If you can't boot into Single User Mode you may have other problems. You can give it a try if you like but you may end up making the problem worse. I highly recommend doing steps 4 & 5 and also keep a note of the kexts you remove as you may wish to restore them.

You can boot your Install DVD and modify them via Terminal. When you get into the installer choose Terminal from the tool bar.

1. We need to find the volume OSX is installed on. For example I labeled mine "Leopard" If your not 100% sure you can check by typing:

ls /Volumes

2. Now we can change directories to your volume's /System/Library folder (Replace "Leopard" with the name of your OSX volume)

cd /Volumes/Leopard/System/Library

3. Now lets get a list of those kexts

ls Extensions/

4. Lets make a backup copy of your extensions folder just in case you need to restore some files. First make a folder to save them in. Well call it backup.

mkdir /Backup

5. Now lets copy the contents of your Extensions folder to your backup folder. (Highly recommend you do this)

cp -r Extensions/ /Backup/Extensions

6. Now we can do some editing. If you see a kext you want to remove then you can use (Replace PROBLEM.kext with the one you want to remove)

rm -Rf Extensions/PROBLEM.kext

Repeat this step for the kexts you want to remove.

7. Now that we are finished removing we want to delete the extensions cache to force OSX to rebuild it with the ones you just removed.

rm -rf Extensions.mkext

Now reboot with -v -f

[EDIT] If you want to restore one of these kexts do the same as above but replace Step 6 with the below (replacing KEXTTORESTORE with the one you want to restore.

6a. Copy the kext from your backup folder to your Extensions folder

cp -r /Backup/KEXTTORESTORE.kext Extensions/KEXTTORESTORE.kext

Repeat this step for each additional kext you need to restore.

6b. Correct permissions for our extensions folder.

chmod -R 755 Extensions/

6c. Correct ownership for our extensions folder.

chown -R root:wheel Extensions/

6d. Touch the extensions folder

touch Extensions/

Continue with Step 7 from above.

Field Note #3 @cmdshft 2009-01-14

Make note that if you have a space in any directory, you must use a backslash in that spot.

Shadow-of-Intent:~ harataiki$ /Users/harataiki/Desktop/untitled\ folder

If you don't, it will tell you the directory doesn't exist.

Field Note #4 @lanceomni 2009-01-14

Was there something in my post? Or was this just for reference?

Field Note #6 @lanceomni 2009-01-15

That is true. Ive been PC command line savvy for 15-20 years and only recently sat down and read up on Unix. Learning it makes life a great deal easier.

Field Note #7 @cmdshft 2009-01-15

I took a rather pointless class at Devry my second semester there, which was an introduction to UNIX.

We would connect to the school's UNIX server and were taught the very basics (I already knew this stuff, took it for the credits and would fall asleep as everyone else snickered quietly about the finger command...) on Windows with PuTTY (oh the irony), and toy around for a bit.

I usually tried to read man pages. I still need to buy myself a UNIX handbook.

Field Note #8 @lanceomni 2009-01-15

Ever used the man command?

man cp

Gives you a manual for any command. Its pretty useful however sometimes they make no sense.

For example, using the same word you are trying to define… in the definition. But yeah If you come across a good comprehensive book on UNIX command line or better yet the OSX's UNIXish command line let me know.

Field Note #9 @Voyn1x 2009-01-20 ↳ Re: @Hara Taiki
@Hara TaikiMake note that if you have a space in any directory, you must use a backslash in that spot. Shadow-of-Intent:~ harataiki$ /Users/harataiki/Desktop/untitled\ folder If you don't, it will tell you the directory doesn't exist.

Putting quotes around the directory works as well:

Shadow-of-Intent:~ harataiki$ /Users/harataiki/Desktop/"untitled folder"
Sources & Contributor Provenance (4 credited usernames · Thread #1918)
UsernameDossier ContributionDispatchesActive Window
@lanceomniCore Contributor52009-01-12 → 2009-01-15
@cmdshftCore Contributor32009-01-14 → 2009-01-15
@ziggy_909Primary Author22009-01-12
@Voyn1xContributor12009-01-20