[How to] Setting Your Partition "Active" Using Fdisk in MacOSX

[seye]

Hi

 

This procedure works fine. Alghough I'm recommending the free "Ultimate Boot Disk" if you have to boot from CD. That one only takes 10 seconds to boot to the menu and you have a guided utility.

 

I have a different problem. I have a dual boot system and my Mac partition often accidentaly becomes active. Therefore the Bootloader is skipped.

 

Is there a way to make this procedure into a shell script or an automator script? I tried but didn't succeed.

 

Regards

Simon

[Adi Lucian]

Hey, guys, i did the command

 

fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0

 

Then

 

Flag 1

 

now there is a * next to my first partition,

 

so i save,

 

then exit

 

then it reboots,

 

and again b0 error.

 

in fdisk utility is shows me ..the partition active....but still not working.

[oscarg]

-Arul-

 

Did you confirm that the partition type is MBR (from Disk Utility) and that you had selected EFI_MBR for the boot loader?.

 

Although if you are still having trouble, maybe you should forget about dual boot, till you understand the process more.

 

Cheers

 

Oscar.

[labyrinthworm]

okay, i am new to trying this, and I spend the last two days trying to get it to work, Finally, it installed, and I WAS USING LEOPARD, woohoo, so i think everything on that front is set.

 

I did some updates and REBOOTED (noooo) b0 error naturally. I did everything in this guide, and I still get a b0 error.

 

I assume when I installed everything worked fine, since it loaded up , i was using leopard, programs were working, internet was working, etc. etc.

 

and in the terminal, it said partition active.

 

any clues?

[oscarg]

labyrinthworm...

Did you actually see the install finish (tick in big green spot) or did it reboot automatically.

Are you using GUID or MBR?

how do you know?

can you confirm that you SPECIFICALLY loaded the correct EFI driver (EFI_GUID or EFI_MBR) from the pre install customise screen?

 

I am <still working> on a definitive explanation of everything I did at my blog;

 

http://cpubbq.blogspot.com/2008/01/osx86-o...structions.html

 

So ultimately the answer will be there.

[Datasiphon]

Hey, guys, i did the command

 

fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0

 

Then

 

Flag 1

 

now there is a * next to my first partition,

 

so i save,

 

then exit

 

then it reboots,

 

and again b0 error.

 

in fdisk utility is shows me ..the partition active....but still not working.

 

I am running a Thinkpad T60 with Kalway Leopard 10.5.1

I am not dual booting or multibooting. 1 Laptop, 1 Hardrive, 1 Mac OS partition/installation.

I have tried the fdisk under different variations such as booted in as root, booted off of install DVD but none of them work.

 

I keep getting b0 error

Is there a different method for Leopard? It seems that the posts for this fdisk tutorial are for previous versions of OS X and are posted a long time ago.

 

What is the whole GUID?

 

Thanks...

[labyrinthworm]

labyrinthworm...

Did you actually see the install finish (tick in big green spot) or did it reboot automatically.

Are you using GUID or MBR?

how do you know?

can you confirm that you SPECIFICALLY loaded the correct EFI driver (EFI_GUID or EFI_MBR) from the pre install customise screen?

 

I am <still working> on a definitive explanation of everything I did at my blog;

 

http://cpubbq.blogspot.com/2008/01/osx86-o...structions.html

 

So ultimately the answer will be there.

 

well, i was taking a shower while it was installing, but when I came back, leopard was ON, and it was working, it's weird though, even with the disk, it is rather sporadic with WHEN it wants to work. Sometimes i get a frozen blue screen, and sometimes it will flicker black then actually load.

 

I DID try

A.) terminal activating partition

B.) using the Hyren Boot CD (partition magic says bad partition table)

C.) Using Get Parted

 

nothing seems to consistently be working.

 

I am not sure about GUID though, is there a way to tell if i get leopard open?

 

I'd rather not RE-INSTALL (i have been working 3 days to get this to work, and i was IN IT, using it minus sound working which I was working on), but if it won't boot consistently, i'd rather wait or fix that first. I read in a few places that with The Kalyway (which I am using) GUID vs. MBR does not matter, but I guess if it is 100% I have to re-install I will, it's just a bummer to be USING leopard and have to go back BIOS

 

EDIT : is there a way to switch from GUID to MBR besides reformatting?

[labyrinthworm]

OKAY, well i reformatted, reinstalled and def. did the MBR thing wrong, BUT now I have a new problem,

 

it boots without the disk, to the gray apple screen, then reboots.....

 

? any ideas?

[orange.x]

I didn't see this error, so here is mine!

 

i go into the terminal. Do the diskutil -list. So far So good.

 

then i type "fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0" but it gives me an error: "enter 'help' for information" and the prompt says "fdisk: 1>"

 

I don't understand. I'm using the iATKOS 1.0i DVD.

[labyrinthworm]

I didn't see this error, so here is mine!

 

i go into the terminal. Do the diskutil -list. So far So good.

 

then i type "fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0" but it gives me an error: "enter 'help' for information" and the prompt says "fdisk: 1>"

 

I don't understand. I'm using the iATKOS 1.0i DVD.

 

that isn't an error, it's just telling you that if you need help there it is

 

you are fine after FDISK 1:>

 

TYPE

 

5. Determine which partition for MacOSX needs to be set "Active"

Type

p

 

Verify which partition is for MacOSX (1, 2, 3, etc.)

 

6. Set the partition "Active"

Assuming it is partition 1, then

type

f 1

<== use your partition number here !!

 

7. Save and exit

Type

write

 

Type

y

(yes you are sure)

 

Type

exit

(to quit)

[labyrinthworm]

okay, so i reformatted AGAIN, thinking i put some wrong options into the customization.

 

NOW I am having the same problem I had with the disk with installation, at times it would get through the mac kernal and then just freeze on a blue screen. Sometimes it will load sometimes it will not, so we are getting PAST my last problem, but the main problem is CONSISTENTLY booting. Sometimes it will go past the blue screen and other times it just freezes there, which makes me think "how can it be a boot error if it works sometimes", so i am a little confused.

MBR is def. on, otherwise I did not check ANYTHING (minus sound driver) and that got me further than last time (continuous rebooting)

 

any help?

 

EDIT ::

 

so i found this fix below, and it works but when i restart i have to do it over again (i used -s to remove the files) any idea why it won't stay?

 

I thought I would post this for Mac users who may be having startup problems after installing Leopard. Please note, I will not pass myself off as an expert, just a normal Joe trying to get my Mac going.

 

I used a combination of advice after reading the discussions myself for about an hour. My personal opinion is that there is a glitch in the install software that does not allow the computer to log in to the user correctly after the Leopard install. Here is my step by step fix for my problem.

 

•Start the affected computer up in Target Disc Mode via Firewire cable to a working Mac.

 

•Navigate into the affected Mac's drive after it appears on the host Mac's desktop and delete the following 2 files:

 

/Library/Preferences/com.apple/loginwindow.plist

/Users/username/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist

 

I am going to guess that if you have more than one user, you will need to delete all the users loginwindow.plist

 

__

EDIT EDIT :

 

Okay so I guess that above part was only coincidental that it was working. It worked 3 times in a row, then blue screen, so it's back and forth between Blue Screen and actually loading, there was info about removing APE files for blue screen but it's not a CONSISTENT blue screen for me, and there is no APE on my computer. Any hints about random blue screens?

 

(also when removing the loginwindow files are they supposed to keep coming back? because they do)

 

thanks

[oscarg]

Labyrinthworm.

I assume you are using the latest Kelyway 10.5.1

I don't know what Graphics card you have, this sounds like maybe a incorrect video driver or {something}

I suggest you only select the Vanilla ACPI_EFI (and its fix), and EFI_MBR (or EFI_GUID if thats what the partition type is).

don't select any other customisations (not yet anyway).

You may also want to watch the install log while the installation is happening (this is the option something like "View installation Log" from the "Window" menu during installation).

You will see if anything is having trouble during the install. Remember to set it to "All events".

 

I think I had to reinstall my machine about 8 or ten times before I was sure what was happening

Good luck.

 

Oscar.

[xyadam]

Nah guys I guess here is your saviour if you suffer from "b0 error" problem (and you want to dual boot vista too) You have to reinstall Leopard using EFI MRB (or put the DVD in and install from it, it worked for me as well), and there will be no problem with b0 error, but you wont be able to boot vista any more.

 

Sooooo this little solution only works if you installed OS X Kalyway Leopard with EFI MRB, and you wanna dual boot it with Vista that was installed earlier.

 

 

I'm not a computer scientist, but as far as i can see the source of the problem was that Kalyways Leopard ****ed up the MRB, and Vista wasnt so happy with it, for example in my case if I wanted to dual boot it, it kept throwing errors like winload.exe cannot be started and so on. There is a REALLY SIMPLY solution for that!

 

1, Use fdisk, to make the proper partition active like described earlier, BUT dont choose the Leopard partition, choose the Vista partition instead! Reboot and as you will see the Darwin bootloader is gone, dont worry, nothings wrong with it.

2, Put in Vista DVD and boot from it, but dont install of course, choose repair function, and the problem will be solved automatically (the winloader.exe problem). This was the simplest but most important part of the things.

3, Now change back the partition of Leopard to active. For example I luv Ubuntu, booted theLiveCD, and in the partition manager i clicked on the Leopard partition, preferences and boot, its better than fdisk, dont like consol too much

 

Now things should be working, you can dual boot Vista and Leopard, and the b0 error is gone. Dont have to be a genius to know there is a fairly high chance it will only work when the 2 OS were installed on the same hard drive...

 

Cheers, and enjoy the Dual Boot feeling or what

 

Ahh and dont ask from me too complicated things if there is a problem firstly coz my mother tongue is not english ( ), secondly coz I aint really a master of computers.

[Lpx]

Hi,

 

Still gives error after changing to active.

 

I have two disks. The OSX partition is on the first partition of the first disk (disk0s1. I have set it to active running fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0

and then f1.

 

Well, after reboot is the same problem.. Any suggestions?

 

I had already osx86 in this disk, in the same partition. i'm updating from 10.4.8.

 

Thx,

 

Nuno

[anguskk]

hi Rammjet

I have follow your instruction to:

Make the partition Primary

Make the partition ID=AF (signifies an HFS partition)

Make the partition Active

However after I have set the partition to "Active" and reboot it, it still gives me the error "b0 error"

why would that happen???

thanks

[Ol!ver]

I have a problem where the partition is active, but the bootloader is notloading. This is a drive I have used CarbonCopyCloner to copy from a working install. Is there any way to get Darwin back on there?

 

Cheers

 

EDIT: If I leave the install DVD in and boot from that, I can run the install that's already on the HDD, so it's simply a boot loader problem.

 

EDIT 2:

 

Seems my problem stems from using CCC when changing to a new drive.

[Ol!ver]

The partition IS set as MBR too. All I've done is CCC the drive to a new one, and it's not working.

[Beetle-Jet]

OK I blooody well got IT!!

 

FIRSTLY RESPECT FOR A GREAT POST THANKS!

 

Secondly, despite many (Ive lost count but at least 8) full rebuilds (including trying SATA and IDE drives I had zero success (all bo error)

 

I have been using Kelway 10.5.1 sse2 sse3 BTW

 

Despite trying the above process, I still got the bloody b0 error.

 

Anyone who has made the partition active, but with no result, try this...

 

1) During install, the installer seems to timeout. you have to keep moving the mouse every couple of minutes (weird I know - read it in another part of the forums). If I don't do this, the installer will lock up. It may be due to the SATA settings on my MB, but I dunno.

If you watch the logs, you can actually see the script that sets the partition to active exactly as described in this post (at the top). My install I think would timeout and never get that far, but I never noticed cause I was'nt watching.

In short - Keep moving the mouse every couple of minutes during the install.

 

2) The partition was set to MBR (Master Boot Record- You can get this from Disk Utility during the install), but the install defaulted to putting in the GUID EFI (?) - I can't remember the exact names, but you must confirm that you have the correct setting when you click "Customise" just before the final "Install" process.

In short - make sure your partition type matches the MDR or GUID driver from customise.

I also installed on the basics, not sse2 or Nv drivers, or any others. I am going to go back and test, but this is REAL progress!!! Yaaay!

I still have to get the networking working

.

 

Current system as in my sig, but current HDD is a seagate 7200.9 IDE

 

Thanks for the info

I did as you said and surprising evrey things works for me.

I have made fresh install from KALYWAY DVD and chose SSE2 And MBR, also i moved the mouse every couple of minutes

If it doesn't help surely it can't harm.

I have P-4 with 3 GHZ + STA HD 512 mb RAM

 

Again thanks after so much testing without any success. :D

[T34P075]

Thanks Rammjet-I am trying this out now, been so frustrated with that stupid blinking cursor. I'll post again and let you know how it goes.

[skyeatsairplane]

I still can't boot when I start my computer it gives me the option of which partition to start from and when I select the one with the mac os on it it says loading darwin and then my computer restarts. Anything I can do to fix this

[westdude]

yeah. I have the same problem. First it gave me the B0 error. Then reinstall and select the efi_mbr and no more B0 error but now it keep rebooting. No sure what's happening. Any thought.

[kamikaze2112]

I"m having an issue where it doesn't seem to get past the Verifying DMI Pool Data. No B0 error (altho i have followed the instructions in the first post) and the HDD light is on steady. It just hangs there. I am using a Gigabyte G31M-SL2.

 

Any ideas?

[ouyllik93]

reboot with the installation dvd inside.

press f8

type -s

some scripts will load up

when they have finished loading type

fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0

flag 1 (depends what your partition number is here)

write

update

quit

reboot

 

should boot into leopard

if not press f8 and type

cpus=1

should now boot!

[knobi]

Ramjet, i love you man.

 

I can now boot without the DVD in the drive thanks to you.

 

Its hard to get help around here and at least you are a few number of ppl who try.

 

Thanks so much.....

 

I have one problem now, my system clock in bios is set x (correct time) and then when i boot into leopard, the clock time is incorrect and then I set it y (correct time) but when i reboot and look at system clock in bios, its wrong again. This only happens if i change the time in leopard which makes the system clock incorrect.

 

Does this make sense?

[yamcha]

reboot with the installation dvd inside.

press f8

type -s

some scripts will load up

when they have finished loading type

fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0

flag 1 (depends what your partition number is here)

write

update

quit

reboot

 

should boot into leopard

if not press f8 and type

cpus=1

should now boot!

 

I've tried this it says You dont have permission.. anyone know how to make it work?