New Boot CD for External DVD Drive, I Need Testers! -Update: Non-functional

Update: The ISO is not working for anyone, I need to fix it somehow. Luckily I now have an external CD drive (not DVD) so I can at least test the ISO before I post another version. Better luck next time, eh?

Original Post:

I posted this at MyDellMini yesterday, but I could use all the help I can get. I have attempted to create a new boot CD for those who install Mac OS X from an external DVD drive, the only problem is that I don’t have an external drive to test it with! This would be helpful also to the Windows folks once I get all the kinks worked out. Please let me know how it goes! Link: http://osx.mechdrew.com/downloads/testnbbmcd.iso

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This entry was posted on Sunday, August 23rd, 2009 at 8:17 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Responses to “New Boot CD for External DVD Drive, I Need Testers! -Update: Non-functional”

  • Mike Peterson Says:
    August 24th, 2009 at 8:03 am

    Hi Drew. Thanks for al of your TERRIFIC efforts both here and on MyDellMini! I have a Dell Mini-10v, BIOS version A06. I have been having problems completing the install of a Triple-Boot system, although I was able to do this on my Dell Mini-9. After updating to 10.5.8, and after running the latest DellEFI 1.2a5, I could not see the Chameleon Boot Loader, and would only get a “blue screen” – even when using -x (Safe Boot) command. My Mini-10v came equipped with a 160 Gig Hard Drive, not an SSD. I found your request here to “test” your latest CD creation, so I figured “what the heck, maybe it will help”. First attempt was not promising, as I got a repeated error message saying: “EBIOS read error: Device Timeout
    Block 46256 Sectors 64″.
    It repeats this error numerous times, but if left alone, eventually “recovers” to the CD boot screen, and then, it boots my Mini-10v into OS-X!

    Not sure what happened here. Since I created a triple-boot system (Win7 RC-1, Dell Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.04 and Mac OS-X), I had to use EasyBCD as installed from Win7 to get an initial “boot menu” (just a blank screen with the 3 OSs listed). When I select Mac OS-X from this boot loader screen, I get the error “Chain booting error”. This is after pressing F2 to call up the Bios and then saving Disable “USB BIOS Legacy Support”.

    I don’t know what’s causing OS-X to “hang” with a BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death), but any help you could provide to fix this would be GREATLY appreciated. Everything else works GREAT (there’s no sound yet, but there’s also a fix avail), with the exception of that error. Ironically, it will eventually boot normally into my OS-X install using an external DVD drive to boot from your new CD. I looked at the contents of your CD, and it appears that there’s a lot more going on than what I’m seeing (I suspect your boot CD has all kinds of cool GUI stuff that comes up when it boots “normally”?) I hope I’ve given you enough detail in my use of your new boot CD with my Mini-10v to be of some help/use to you in your ongoing efforts. Excellent work!

  • Mike Peterson Says:
    August 24th, 2009 at 8:10 am

    I just booted from your CD again, and I noticed that the initial error message “EBIOS read error: Device Timeout
    Block 46256 Sectors 64″ has a few different “Block” numbers that are listed and repeated (besides 46256) before it finally “times out” and proceeds to boot my OS-X install. I don’t know if you need all the block numbers it lists, but if so, please reply and I’ll try to write them al down. Maybe this error is a combination of the Mini-10v BIOS version (A06) and the fact that mine’s equipped with a SATA HD instead of an SSD like Mini-9s have? Too deep for me……..(GRIN)