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Author Topic: Please help remove chamelon.  (Read 7272 times)

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chinoy

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Please help remove chamelon.
« on: May 18, 2010, 05:30:27 PM »
My setup.
XPS M1530 Dell 2Ghz, 800 FSB, Nvida,  Win7 / XP / OSX
I had 10.5.6 working fine.
I could set the win7 partition as active or I could set the OSX either way I would get a choice of options asking what OS or Hard disk I wanted to boot.
On the WIn7 partition I had win7 with easy BCD.

Then I installed Chamelon for the GUI interface.
Lets say things started to go down hill from there. It started with a kernel panic and I could not even safe boot into OSX.
It was like Chamelon was loading the problem Kext even before OSX loaded.

So decided to remove the OSX partition and start a fresh install.
Now I cant even get the Retail DVD to boot. After using the 321 Boot CD.

I tried re-installing EASY BCD, re-wrote the MBR, tried recovery in Easybcd.
Tried with and without a Partition.

For some reason either Chamelon or PC EFI has got its hook into the system and is not letting go.
Even with the Boot 321 CD I get a msg that its trying to load some kext from what looks like a hiden partition on the disk.
Diskutil doesn't show any hidden partion though. So where are these Kext files coming from.

How do I wipe out all traces of all OSX boot managers.
I have searched the net high and low for a post on how to remove Chamelon.
Found only one post on this forum marked as solved. But the solution was somebody told the guy asking the question that he did not understand boot loaders.
And he responded that he just had to clean up his EFI partition manually.

Im not 100% sure which boot loader screwed up my system but it looks like I need to clean up my efi partition. Or remove any kext files loaded anywhere. The partition which was runing mac osx has been removed.

One option I read was to run diskpart and run the clean disk command but that would wipe out all my data and both my win7 and XP install right ?
I just want to be able to re-install 10.5.6
« Last Edit: May 18, 2010, 08:12:54 PM by chinoy »

Gringo Vermelho

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Re: Please help remove chamelon.
« Reply #1 on: May 19, 2010, 06:08:57 AM »
Your drive doesn't have a hidden EFI partition, it is MBR formatted (at least that's what my crystal ball says).
Another thing, you cannot install retail OS X on an MBR formatted drive without modifying OSInstall.mpkg on the DVD.

You should post the output from diskutil list in Terminal, or from some Windows based utility that shows an overview of the partitions on your HDD.

I think something is screwed up with easy BCD but who knows.
« Last Edit: May 19, 2010, 06:13:38 AM by Gringo Vermelho »
10.9.5 - ASUS P8Z77-V Pro - i5 3570K - GTX 660 - Chameleon 2.3 svn-r2xxx
How to...
Install Chameleon: http://forum.voodooprojects.org/index.php/topic,649
Make your own Chameleon boot CD: http://forum.voodooprojects.org/index.php/topic,484.msg2131.html#msg2131

chinoy

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Re: Please help remove chamelon.
« Reply #2 on: May 19, 2010, 06:51:46 AM »
Maybe the DVD I have is not retail it was called XxX_x86_10.5.6_Install_Disc_Universal_Final
All I know is that I was able to load win7 first to a blank hard disk. I created two partitions when I installed Win7.
Later from within win7 I created a 80 GB Partition onto which I loaded OS X. and get everything working after struggling with it for  3 weeks.

Now I have no OS and cant even re-load the os.
Diskpart shows me
DISKPART> list partition

  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    Primary            100 GB   101 MB
  Partition 2    Primary            117 GB   100 GB

I have the same 132 CD and the same Retail DVD how come its not installing this time.
If I try with a -v I get Msgs about boot.plist settings and duplicate Kext files.

How was OSX/Win7/XP all working no matter which partition was active. (There used to be a 3rd partition which held OSX now removed.

Im just trying to get a fresh install working. I wish I could get to the install screen at least so I could run diskpart create my OSX partition and install the os. But all I get are kernel panics. When the Retail DVD starts to load.

As you can see there used to be a 100 MB partition at the start of the hard disk which I have removed. Re-Created - formatted and removed again in the hope that it was my EFI partition and I could get the \extra folder and problem Kext files out. I also totally removed the OSX Partition.

It would seem like the EFI partiton somehow became a Mac partition and got flagged as dirty / corrupted.
Im now going to go in with Gparted and see if I can re-create a fresh EFI partition.

Check out this link
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766465%28WS.10%29.aspx

Do you think I can use the windows util diskpart to create a EFI partition ?
When you load win7 on a blank brand new disk does it create a Gparted partition or does it go MBR. ?

Another byproduct of all this my win7 boot loader has also stopped working.



« Last Edit: May 19, 2010, 07:37:40 AM by chinoy »

Blackosx

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Re: Please help remove chamelon.
« Reply #3 on: May 19, 2010, 09:02:22 AM »
I have searched the net high and low for a post on how to remove Chamelon.
Hi chinoy

To answer this specific question, all you need to do is rebuild the MBR of your HDD as the Chameleon stage0 bootloader lives there. The easiest was to do it here is to boot from the Windows CD and run the repair option and you can choose to re-write the MBR.  You might need to do some research to the find the exact commands, maybe Google for FIXMBR.

But note: It is your reponsibility to understand exactly what each command does, before doing anything to your machine.
« Last Edit: May 19, 2010, 09:09:21 AM by Blackosx »
10.10.5 / 10.11 GM1 | Asus Maximum IV Gene-Z | i7-2600 3.40GHz | 4GB | Radeon 5770 1GB

Gringo Vermelho

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Re: Please help remove chamelon.
« Reply #4 on: May 19, 2010, 03:01:20 PM »
Maybe the DVD I have is not retail it was called XxX_x86_10.5.6_Install_Disc_Universal_Final
Sorry dude, that's not a retail DVD.
A rule of thumb, if it fits on a single layer DVD, it isn't retail. And this thread is headed for the Black Hole.
I have the same 132 CD and the same Retail DVD how come its not installing this time.
I don't know how you did that the first time, because you cannot boot a hacked install DVD with a boot-132 cd!
As you can see there used to be a 100 MB partition at the start of the hard disk which I have removed
Fail. You have deleted the "System Reserved" partition that gets created by the Windows 7 installer when installing to a blank drive. That partition holds the Windows 7 bootloader, hence:
Another byproduct of all this my win7 boot loader has also stopped working.
It would seem like the EFI partiton somehow became a Mac partition and got flagged as dirty / corrupted.
For the second time, please try to understand that your drive has never had an EFI partition, it is MBR formatted.
You said so yourself:
All I know is that I was able to load win7 first to a blank hard disk.
Which means the drive was MBR formatted.
This is why I recommend installing OS X on a separate drive folks...or just plain buying a Mac.
« Last Edit: September 19, 2010, 08:26:27 AM by Gringo Vermelho »
10.9.5 - ASUS P8Z77-V Pro - i5 3570K - GTX 660 - Chameleon 2.3 svn-r2xxx
How to...
Install Chameleon: http://forum.voodooprojects.org/index.php/topic,649
Make your own Chameleon boot CD: http://forum.voodooprojects.org/index.php/topic,484.msg2131.html#msg2131

chinoy

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Re: Please help remove chamelon.
« Reply #5 on: May 25, 2010, 07:22:06 AM »
Thanks for your help in pointing out my misunderstandings.
Lets face a few facts.
a. Chemelon is a Great software and its the only way to do things going forward i.e. Snow Leopard etc. But things can go south with an install and when this happens if you got looking for help your often meet with open hostility. This seems to happen on all forums, and to a lot of people.

Anyway Im now pretty close to sorted.
Got 10.5.6 installed and all things working except sleep and wifi. Then Updated to 10.5.8 still working.
Then formatted and installed 10.6 and Im now positing from 10.6.
I was not able to remove chamelon. i.e. If I tried to load any other boot loader it would fail. So I said screw it and just focused on getting the setup to work with Chaemelon.


You can install SL to a MBR just as easy as you can to a GPT in fact I prefer the MBR route. Because at least your Windows and other OS are safe. If things go south its easy to recover your windows.
Not the same case with GPT I feel.
You have to know 90% of the guys trying a hackintosh are just curious. They still need to work and earn their daily bread on windows.

Just a note of thanks to all the guys who have put so much effort into making the Hackintosh possible.
« Last Edit: May 25, 2010, 07:25:30 AM by chinoy »

Gringo Vermelho

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Re: Please help remove chamelon.
« Reply #6 on: May 25, 2010, 08:59:15 PM »
if you got looking for help your often meet with open hostility. This seems to happen on all forums, and to a lot of people.
Not in my experience. I my experience people have been very helpful, and in the few cases where I haven't been able to get an answer by posting, I've been able to find the information myself by searching.
I was not able to remove chamelon. i.e. If I tried to load any other boot loader it would fail.
You're assuming that it's Chameleon's fault that you have been unable to "load" (what do you mean by that exactly?) another boot loader, just like you assumed that it was Chameleon's fault that you could no longer boot Windows 7.
You can install SL to a MBR just as easy as you can to a GPT
I know, but that's beside the point - you said you were using a retail DVD.
you cannot install retail Snow Leopard to an MBR formatted drive unless the installer package has been modified for it.

You have to know 90% of the guys trying a hackintosh are just curious. They still need to work and earn their daily bread on windows.
It doesn't matter what your or anybody else's motive is for installing OS X on your PC. Everyone should educate themselves as much as possible before starting out - there is no free lunch, unless you're extremely lucky. If you don't do your homework, you will most likely get in trouble.

Again, I'm not being hostile, I'm just telling it like it is.
« Last Edit: September 19, 2010, 08:23:30 AM by Gringo Vermelho »
10.9.5 - ASUS P8Z77-V Pro - i5 3570K - GTX 660 - Chameleon 2.3 svn-r2xxx
How to...
Install Chameleon: http://forum.voodooprojects.org/index.php/topic,649
Make your own Chameleon boot CD: http://forum.voodooprojects.org/index.php/topic,484.msg2131.html#msg2131

chinoy

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Re: Please help remove chamelon.
« Reply #7 on: May 27, 2010, 12:05:48 AM »
I appreciate the honesty.
Im not exactly clueless or some 18 year old pimply kid playing around.
Im 45 with over 15 years in the iT feild. And the last 10 in the automotive world.

Ive finally got OSX 10.6 up and running.
The problem is with chamelon and how it allows some kexts to load from extra and others will not load till they are put in /s/l/e add to this the issues with if you add this kext you must remove that kext. If you use a DSDT.aml then you must add this and remove that. etc etc.

my 2 cents after this complete exercise Yes I loaded every version of OSx did the updates and all this in under a week.
Id like you to go back to your early days with OSX and how long it took you to get it to work.

Yes all the answers are out there.
But there are very few people who are really helping the cause.
Which is making this something easy and fun to do.

Reminds me of the early  days with linux when we would get code updates on 720K flopies because the internet as a word wasnt coined or exited in our country.

Compared to that this is a walk in the park.

I may or may not stick it out on OSX its already burnt out one MB with the temps shooting thru the roof and the inbuilt thermal protection tripping multiple times.

You guys are doing a great job. And I have to admit its only because of all the info out there that an OSX noob like me could load and configure and update all versions in under a week.

This is pure mental masturbation if you ask me and its a project I took up to relax in my free time.
Was it fun yes.
Ps: I also run a pretty large forum. And you must understand that being clueless on a subject will result in some Frustration.

Oh while Ive got 10.6 up and runing from my 8GB DL DVD I still dont have sound. If i get sound I loose QE the joys of OSX.
If I try VoodooHDA it results in kernel panics and it wont load from /extra/ext it has to be in s/le/ or manually loaded.
But like the hundreds of little problems one runs into and figures out Im sure it will be sorted in a few hours.






Gringo Vermelho

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Re: Please help remove chamelon.
« Reply #8 on: September 12, 2010, 04:55:10 AM »
The problem is with chamelon and how it allows some kexts to load from extra and others will not load till they are put in /s/l/e add to this the issues with if you add this kext you must remove that kext.
Kernel extension dependency issues have nothing to do with Chameleon, that's simply part of how Mac OS X works. You would have the same issues no matter which bootloader you used. Even on a real Mac.
If you use a DSDT.aml then you must add this and remove that. etc etc.
That depends on what modifications you make, and by the way that has nothing to do with Chameleon either.
Using a patched DSDT.aml is not a requirement, it's a personal, conscious choice.
When you make specific modifications to your DSDT to resolve some kind of conflict or to add or improve compatibility with a motherboard device then you're doing it because you're expecting a specific outcome, you don't just go randomly editing your DSDT and then suddenly a kernel extension is needed or not needed.
« Last Edit: September 12, 2010, 04:57:03 AM by Gringo Vermelho »
10.9.5 - ASUS P8Z77-V Pro - i5 3570K - GTX 660 - Chameleon 2.3 svn-r2xxx
How to...
Install Chameleon: http://forum.voodooprojects.org/index.php/topic,649
Make your own Chameleon boot CD: http://forum.voodooprojects.org/index.php/topic,484.msg2131.html#msg2131