boot up problems
 

Hi

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...

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

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..

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:
2. Now we can change directories to your volume's /System/Library folder (Replace "Leopard" with the name of your OSX volume)
3. Now lets get a list of those kexts
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.
5. Now lets copy the contents of your Extensions folder to your backup folder. (Highly recommend you do this)
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)
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.
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
Repeat this step for each additional kext you need to restore.

6b. Correct permissions for our extensions folder.
6c. Correct ownership for our extensions folder.
6d. Touch the extensions folder
Continue with Step 7 from above.

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

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

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

Just reference, many people don't know this.

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. :)

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.

Ever used the man command?
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.