Hi folks,

Bit of a newbie here and trying to get my head round why this thing doesn't seem to work as it should.

I've installed iATKOS S3 v2 onto a USB hard drive so that I don't have to mess about with my Windows setup and fanny around with dual booting - at least until I get this sorted!

So, the iATKOS goes through the installation process OK and I get a "Installation Successful" message once it's done. I let the system reboot and it then takes me into OSX and I configure the language, keyboard, etc and finally I have OSX running on the laptop. I connect my network cable and can get Internet access, etc (not so bothered about wireless).

Here's the bit I'm now stuck with.

When I come to relaunch into OSX, following reboot, I get no further than the Apple logo appearing followed by a grey/black screen telling me I have to restart my system.

From what I've read, this has lead me to believe it could be the display drivers not working correctly, so was wondering if anyone could offer any help?

Here's my spec & install details.

HP Pavilion laptop DV6174ea
Core2Duo @ 1.66
2GB RAM
320GB HDD (running Win7)
120GB USB-HDD (OSX installed to this)

Using the standard iATKOS install, with only Apple PS/2 driver selected.

Any clues?
Thanks.

Try to boot with

-x -v -f

to see if you could get it up.

If you think it your video problem then what is the card model/number? Did you install any kext for it?

The video card I am using is a NVIDIA GeForce 7400 and I haven't installed any kext's for it.

It did find a Core Vidia kext, which I tried yesterday, but it still gives me no joy.

One thing I am stuck on is trying to enter the boot options. I try to press F8 for the boot options but all this gives me is the choice to select which OS to boot from. I don't actually get the command prompt to allow me to enter any options.

Do you know why this may be? Do I need to be using a special type of bootloader for this??

Thanks again!
Tony B

Originally Posted by breskit

One thing I am stuck on is trying to enter the boot options. I try to press F8 for the boot options but all this gives me is the choice to select which OS to boot from. I don't actually get the command prompt to allow me to enter any options.

There should be no prompt at all.
After selecting your OSX partition/volume, then TYPE those command in, and then PRESS Enter.

Retry that to see if you could enter your boot option.

Still don't get any option to enter any command line options.

I've swapped the hard drive into the laptop now so that it boots direct from main HDD and not over USB. As I choose the OS partition to boot from, it then just takes me to a grey screen with the apple logo. It then tries to load OSX up. At no point can I enter any options.

Still stuck.

Originally Posted by breskit

As I choose the OS partition to boot from

Oh, boys.

Do you hit enter after that? It has to be, to boot OSX, correct?
Don't hit enter, instead type those command in. It should appear in bottom left hand corner.

Try this to see if you can enter boot option.

EDIT: It must be very sorry for those boot options. Should not be that hard and that long, unless your setup is different.

UPDATE: I reinstalled on MBR this time instead of GUID (not certain if that makes any difference), but this time I managed to type -x -v -f and it booted up.

The drawback here is that the laptop touchpad mouse doesn't work. Plugging in a USB mouse does work.

So could it be the mouse that is causing this issue?
And how can I make the -v -x -f thing more permanent - or would resolving the mouse issue (?) solve this.

Thanks again!
Tony B

Originally Posted by breskit

UPDATE: I reinstalled on MBR this time instead of GUID (not certain if that makes any difference), but this time I managed to type -x -v -f and it booted up.

The drawback here is that the laptop touchpad mouse doesn't work. Plugging in a USB mouse does work.

So could it be the mouse that is causing this issue?
And how can I make the -v -x -f thing more permanent - or would resolving the mouse issue (?) solve this.

Thanks again!
Tony B

1. MBR or GUID should not make any difference with system booting.
2. There is no drawback. You need to install a correct PS2 kext/driver for kb/mouse.
3. You don't want those boot options permanent as there is no need for them if your system functions properly.
Try to boot without them to see.

I seem to be there at last!!

I switched from using the Apple PS2 kext to using using the Voodoo PS2 kext and that seems to have resolved things. Have rebooted the thing twice now with no issues.

Happy days! Thanks for all your help man.

Originally Posted by breskit

I seem to be there at last!!

Happy days! Thanks for all your help man.

You're welcome.
Glad to hear you got it. Well done.