Installation Hangs: Still waiting for root device

[rgs8pu]

When using XPF4 to try to install OS X 10.4 on a PowerMac 8500/G4, the computer fails to boot from the installation disk, giving the endlessly repeating message: "Still waiting for root device".

The screen displays the following text:

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standard timeslicing quantum is 10000 us
vm_page_bootstrap: 123750 free pages
mig_table_max_displ = 70
added extension ”com.firmtek.driver.UltraTek133P_48” from archive.
AppleMacRiscVCI: bad range 2(a0000000:00000400)
Copyright (c) 1982, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1993
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

using 1310 buffer headers and 1310 cluster IO buffer headers
Extension ”com.apple.driver.AppleMaceEthernet” has no kernel dependency.
Security auditing service present
BSM auditing present
disabled
From path: ”pci1/@F/@1/@1D20500380B21/@40000/@0:9”, Waiting on <dict ID=”0”><key>IOPathMatch</key><string ID=”1”>IODeviceTree:bandit@F2000000/@F/@1/@1D205000380B21/@4000/@0:9</string></dict>
USBF: 99.870 AppleUSBOHCI[0x1e3d800]::start OHCI controller will be unloaded across sleep
ADB present:c
UltraTek::start: begin

Firmtek2BusCtrllr::InitlalState - card is in 33 MHZ slot
USBF: 100. 22 AppleUSBOHCI[0x1ea9800]::start OHCI controller will be unloaded across sleep
FireWire (OHCI) Lucent ID 5811 PCI now active, GUID 00389301 0000453a; max speed s400.
Extension ”com.apple.driver.LSI_FW_500” has no kernel dependency.
Extension ”com.apple.iokit.IOFireWlreSerialBusProtocolTransport” has no kernel dependency.
Extension ”com.apple.driver.initioFWBridge” has no kernel dependency.
Extension ”com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireSerlalBusProtocolTransport” has no kernel dependency.
Extension ”com.apple.driver.StorageLynx” has no kernel dependency.
Extenslon ”com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireSerialBusProtocolTransport” has no kernel dependency.
Extenslon ”com.apple.driver.Oxford_Semi” has no kernel dependency.
Extenslon ”com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireSerialBusProtocolTransport” has no kernel dependency.
Extenslon ”com.apple.driver.AppleHollywood” has no kernel dependency.
Extenslon ”com.apple.driver.PioneerSuperDrive” has no kernel dependency.
Still waiting for root device
Still waiting for root device
Still waiting for root device

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The computer is a PowerMac 8500 with a Sonnet Crescendo/PCI 800MHz G4 processor card, 512MB RAM, an ATI Radeon 7000 Mac Edition PCI video card, and a Sonnet Tempo Trio PCI ATA/FW/USB combo card attached to a 120GB internal ATA hard drive. The hard drive is partitioned into 3 volumes. The first hard drive partition is an empty 103GB volume for the OS X installation. There are 2 smaller partitions containing OS 9.1 and OS 9.2.2, respectively. The old internal SCSI hard drive has been removed, and an active end-cap terminator has been placed on the end of the internal SCSI cable. The internal SCSI CD-ROM drive remains in place.

The installation device is an OWC Mercury Pro external FW400/USB2 combo CD-RW/DVD-RW drive (Pioneer DVR-111DBK mechanism), attached by a firewire cable to the computer's Tempo Trio card.

Earlier this year I successfully used XPF4 and the same external combo CD-RW/DVD-RW drive to install OS X 10.4 on this same computer while it had a Sonnet Crescendo/PCI 500MHz G3 processor card in it. The OS X installation went smoothly. However, 10.4 seemed a bit sluggish with that 500MHz G3 processor, so I removed 10.4 and installed 10.3 instead (using XPF4 and the same external combo CD-RW/DVD-RW drive to make the installation). Later I replaced the G3 processor card with the 800MHz G4 card and found the computer would no longer boot into OS X. I thought that reinstalling the OS might fix that problem, so I erased the OS X partition. Now I'm unable to reinstall OS X.

I've made the following experiments to try to isolate the problem:
1) I successfully used the external combo CD-RW/DVD-RW drive to make trial installations of 10.4 on a 2001 CRT iMac and a PowerMac G4 AGP "Sawtooth", so there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the combo CD-RW/DVD-RW drive or the 10.4 installation disk. (These were standard installations that did not use XPF.)
2) I substituted a different firewire cable and swapped firewire sockets on both the combo CD-RW/DVD-RW drive and the computer's Tempo Trio card, with no effect.
3) I tried using a total of 3 different OS X 10.4 installer disks, and one OS X 10.3 installer disk with no effect.
4) I removed the ATI video card from the computer, with no effect.
5) I replaced the computer's G4 processor card with the older G3 card (with which I had been able to install 10.4 earlier this year), with no effect.
6) I removed the active terminator from the computer's internal SCSI cable and reinstalled an internal SCSI hard drive, with no effect.
7) I substituted a Sonnet Tango 2.0 FW/USB combo card and an ACARD AEC-6280M ATA-133 IDE adapter card for the Sonnet Tempo Trio ATA/FW/USB combo card, with no effect.
8) I substituted an Apple DVD-ROM drive mechanism for the Pioneer CD-RW/DVD-RW mechanism in the OWC Mercury Pro external drive case, with no effect.
9) I tried using a different PowerMac 8500 computer that is identically configured except it has a Sonnet Crescendo/PCI 700MHz G4 processor card instead of the 800MHz G4, with no effect.

I've tried everything I can think of, without success. I'd appreciate any help you can offer. Thank you.

[ktilford]

It appears the boot is starting normally on the internal HD and then getting lost in the hand-off to the Firewire CDRW. Anytime you get a "still waiting for root device" when the device it an external FW device, it's safe to try either cycling the power to the FW device; replugging the cable to the FW device; or both together (unplug cable, cycle power, and quickly replug cable).

Often this will get the FW device to continue the boot. I used to boot my 7500's from FW HDs and this problem was common. Normally I could just reach over and cycle the power once to the eternal HD and it would continue normally. On a CDRW it may take both since the CD/DVD takes longer to get going.

[rgs8pu]

Thanks for the suggestions ktilford.

I had tried turning the drive on an off a couple of times without success, but I had not tried disconnecting/reconnecting the firewire cable. I'll give that a try.

[rgs8pu]

Well, too bad. Unplugging and replugging the firewire cable (multiple times) and switching the drive's power on and off (multiple times) didn't help.

Any other ideas?

[ktilford]

You can "start over" with XPF only. This doesn't involve the System software, it's just deleting ALL the XPF stuff from EVERYWHERE and starting over. To delete the XPF stuff use the "Uninstall" feature to start with. Then use "Find" with "invisible" also selected and search for files with "XPF" or XPostFacto" in the names (there should be one or two per partition).

Also, even though XPF is carbon and launches in both OS 9 and OS X, it's much more problematic running under OS X, so I NEVER launch XPF under OS X. Instead, I use the "Option" key at boot to force OS 9 to boot (when OS X is the default boot device in XPF), and then change the startup partition or system using XPF in OS 9.

Remember, NEVER use Apple Startup Disk in OS 9 or OS X when you're using XPF. They conflict and will cause terrible hangs. The ONLY time to use Startup Disk is when you can't boot at all, and use an OS 9 disc to boot from and then use Startup Disk to get an initial boot after major issues. After that initial boot, ONLY use XPF or the Option key.

If you uninstall and delete ALL the XPF files from all partitions, and then start over booting from OS 9, running XPF, and selecting the Firewire drive, you "should" be OK.

One last thought, sometimes there are firmware updates for the Firewire bridges. You can check for Firewire firmware at http://www.fwdepot.com/thestore/default.php using the small link to "firmware updates".

[rgs8pu]

ktilford,

Forgive my ignorance, but I'm somewhat confused by your suggestions.

My hard drive has 3 partitions. One partition has OS 9.1, one partition has OS 9.2.2, and one partition (where I want to install OS X) is empty.

I'm booting into OS 9 every time (because that's the only OS that's installed) and running XPF from OS 9. (I can't run XPF from OS X, because OS X is not yet installed.) I've tried performing the OS X installation by booting into each OS 9 partition and running XPF from each OS 9 partition, and that makes no difference.

I'm not using Apple's Startup Disk. I'm using only XPF to change boot partitions.

I erase the empty partition each time I try to install OS X on it, so there aren't any XPF files on it before I begin the installation. (As an experiment, I also tried installing OS X without re-erasing the empty partition first, and that made no difference.)

If I remove the XPF files from my OS 9 partitions too, how will I be able to run XPF from OS 9?

Thanks.