Carbon Copy Cloner

iMac doesn't boot from back up

anna-luise
Aug 9, 2011 @ 5:40 pm

How do I boot from my external disk? I pressed alt when turning my computer on and chose Lacie. After quite a while the turning wheel appeared but nothing else happened. I have purchased the disk recently, partitioned it to GUID and made a bootable back up with Carbon Copy Cloner. What is wrong? Thanks!

1 Posted by Mike Bombich on Aug 10, 2011 @ 10:31 am

Hi Anna-Luise:

Let's try the following to get some more information about what is happening on startup:

  1. Open the Startup Disk preference pane in the System Preferences application
  2. Set your backup disk as the startup disk and click the Restart button
  3. As your iMac reboots, hold down Command+V -- this will enable "verbose mode" and the screen will turn black and display white text.
  4. When things settle down, please take a photo of the screen (e.g. with a digital camera, iPhone, etc) and attach the photo to this discussion.

Thanks,
Mike

2 Posted by anna-luise on Aug 10, 2011 @ 11:25 am

thanks for your answer, but if I do this I might never again be able
to use my computer - or this there "a way out"?
Anna

Am 10.08.2011 um 16:30 schrieb Mike Bombich:

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3 Posted by Mike Bombich on Aug 10, 2011 @ 8:58 pm

Hi Anna:

You can always hold down the Option key during startup to get the Startup Disk selection menu, then choose the functional volume as your startup disk.

Mike

4 Posted by anna-luise on Aug 11, 2011 @ 5:16 am

Hi again!
Here are the pictures - sory couldn't get them very sharp....
Anna

Am 11.08.2011 um 02:56 schrieb Mike Bombich:

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5 Posted by Mike Bombich on Aug 11, 2011 @ 12:35 pm

Let's try this:

On the backup volume, remove these items:

/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kernelcaches /System/Library/Extensions.mkext

Then try rebooting from the backup volume. If that doesn't resolve the issue, please submit your logs to me for review. The easiest way to do this is from within CCC:

  1. Choose "Report a problem" from the Help menu
  2. Click on the "Submit Logs" tab and review the information presented
  3. Click on the "Submit Logs" button
  4. Update this discussion to let us know that you've submitted your logs, and please note the submission ID at the bottom of the Submit Logs tab.

Thanks,
Mike

6 Posted by anna-luise on Aug 11, 2011 @ 1:55 pm

Hi again! Did as you said but nothing changed. Again it took (too)
long till the turning wheel appeared and then nothing else happened.
So I submitted the logs - ID: 4891.
Thanks for the patience! Anna

Am 11.08.2011 um 18:34 schrieb Mike Bombich:

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7 Posted by Mike Bombich on Aug 11, 2011 @ 9:41 pm

I'm a bit stumped... The cloned volume loads the kernel and kernel extension cache OK (except for two errors that are probably harmless). The hang appears to be related to the "devfs_make_node: not ready for devices!" message. I've seen an issue in the past in which the lack of a /dev folder on the cloned volume would lead to a brief attempt to boot from the cloned volume, but then it would restart after declaring the folder missing.

This volume was freshly formatted before you backed up to it, so I'd probably rule out filesystem damage. You did copy a lot of data, though, so it's probably worth a shot to:

  1. Run Disk Utility's "Verify disk" tool against it to rule out filesystem issues and
  2. Re-run the backup task. Every time CCC runs the backup task, it will regenerate the cache files that the system uses for startup. The steps I had you follow before would have rebuilt some of the caches, but there's a third cache (dynamic link library) worth rebuilding.

If you boot it in verbose mode again, let the system sit a little longer -- as long as it took for the spinning progress indicator to appear. If any additional text appears on screen, let's take a look at a picture of that.

Thanks,
Mike

8 Posted by anna-luise on Aug 12, 2011 @ 5:06 pm

Hi Mike,
I checked all drives and volumes - they are all alright.
Here are again the pictures from the verbose mode - do you also need
the CCC logs?

Maybe it is worth mentioning that I'm also in contact with support of
Lacie because the disk won't shut itself down when ejected. They
suggeested this - maybe the two problems are connected?? But I didn't
do it yet.

Thanks again!
Anna

Thanks a lot for your response. If the same issue persist on both of
your computers, then could you please format your drive by following
the procedure below, and let me know your results?

IMPORTANT NOTE: Following the procedure below will ERASE ALL DATA on
the drive. Prior to following these directions, verify important data
is stored securely on a different storage device.
Begin by opening Disk Utility. This program is found in Applications,
then in the Utilities folder. In the walkthrough below, we will be
fixing a 20GB hard disk. All computers will look slightly different.

The disk is listed on the left side. Click the entry that says the
size (18.6GB in this case.) Choose the Partition tab along the top.
Change settings to match the example. Volume Scheme should say 1
Partition, and Format should say Mac OS Extended (journaled)
Click the Options button.

From the following list, set the appropriate option for the computer
the drive will connect to.
GUID for Intel Macs
Apple Partition Map for PowerPC Macs
Master Boot Record for compatibility with Windows XP computers. This
options is for compatibility between Macs and PCs. If that is not
necessary, do not choose this option.
Click OK when the proper option is selected. Doing so will return the
display to the Disk Utility window. Click Apply.

Click Partition.
In fewer than 30 seconds, the drive will be reformatted and
repartitioned. The next step is to run a test on the drive to look for
other problems.
Choose the drive again, and choose the Erase tab.

Choose the desired format in the drop-down near Volume Format. In most
cases, Mac OS Extended (Journaled) is best.
Set the Name option to the name the desktop icon should be. Choose a
familiar name, as this will be the way the drive is identified on the
desktop.
Click the Security Options button.

Choose the option of Don't Erase Data, then click OK. When back in the
Erase window, click Erase in the bottom right of the window.

Another warning screen will appear. Click Erase when ready. This will
take several hours, and generally make the computer unusable during
the process. Ensure that is practical prior to starting this final
process.

Am 12.08.2011 um 03:39 schrieb Mike Bombich:

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9 Posted by Mike Bombich on Aug 12, 2011 @ 8:04 pm

The CCC logs aren't necessary, everything looked fine there. I suppose reformatting would be a logical next step, I'm out of ideas on what is making that volume not complete the startup process...

Mike

10 Posted by anna-luise on Aug 13, 2011 @ 7:01 pm

Alright, I reformatted th eexternal drive and ran the back up again.
This time it took several hours longer even though I didn't change
much in the mean time.
No wI could boout from Lacie but I believe it was fake. Everything was
as usual, I could use all my programms etc. But in the finder I found
myself on the internal drive and I could also eject the external drive
without any changes. Yet still the external drive didn't shut down
after being ejected.
So I tried the same on my MacBook Air. After choosing Lacie something
started but then the screen went black and said that I have the shut
down the computer. Is the problem that I use different operating
systems on the two computers? I thought with a back up from an
external hard drive I'm basicelly using only the screen of the
computer...
Are you still willing to help me?
Anna

p.s. Just in case I will attach the error message from the MacBook Air
which appeared after having started it again.

Interval Since Last Panic Report: 59725 sec
Panics Since Last Report: 1
Anonymous UUID: 05DCD1F6-BD46-4EA1-B1B8-D5928DA4EF4B

Sun Aug 14 00:05:14 2011
panic(cpu 0 caller 0x001AB0FE): Kernel trap at 0x307439c9, type
14=page fault, registers:
CR0: 0x8001003b, CR2: 0x00000018, CR3: 0x010df000, CR4: 0x00000668
EAX: 0x00000000, EBX: 0x00000000, ECX: 0x00000000, EDX: 0x0496e004
CR2: 0x00000018, EBP: 0x3021fbc8, ESI: 0x03bbd000, EDI: 0x03bbd000
EFL: 0x00010246, EIP: 0x307439c9, CS: 0x00000008, DS: 0x040f0010
Error code: 0x00000000

Backtrace (CPU 0), Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x3021f9d8 : 0x12b4c6 (0x45f91c 0x3021fa0c 0x13355c 0x0)
0x3021fa28 : 0x1ab0fe (0x469a98 0x307439c9 0xe 0x469248)
0x3021fb08 : 0x1a1713 (0x3021fb20 0x429f880 0x3021fbc8 0x307439c9)
0x3021fb18 : 0x307439c9 (0xe 0x48 0x10 0x10)
0x3021fbc8 : 0x3072d488 (0x0 0x429f880 0x3bbd000 0x1)
0x3021fc08 : 0x29afcc18 (0x3bbd000 0x1 0x0 0x13)
0x3021fc68 : 0x29af5be6 (0x3bbd000 0x3021fd2c 0x461a4cc 0x3bbd000)
0x3021fc98 : 0x415e83 (0x3bbd000 0x461a4cc 0x461a4cc 0x0)
0x3021fce8 : 0x44125f (0x3bbd000 0x461a4cc 0x461a4cc 0x0)
0x3021fd48 : 0x18e433 (0x3bbd000 0x461a4cc 0x0 0x0)
0x3021fdb8 : 0x12d4d6 (0x495b378 0x3c34890 0x3021fdf8 0x11f1c6)
0x3021fdf8 : 0x1264fa (0x495b300 0x39c7da8 0x45d3f80 0x0)
0x3021ff08 : 0x198fa3 (0x3021ff44 0x0 0x0 0x0)
0x3021ffc8 : 0x1a1cfa (0x43bc280 0x0 0x1a40b5 0x43bc280)
No mapping exists for frame pointer
Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0xbffff378

   Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
      com.apple.NVDAResman(5.4.8)@0x3072a000->0x30988fff
         dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(1.7.3)@0x29b0a000
         dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.6)@0x29b8d000
         dependency:

com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(1.7.3)@0x29aed000

      com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(1.7.3)@0x29aed000->0x29b09fff
         dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.6)@0x29b8d000

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: WindowServer

Mac OS version:
9L31a

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.8.0: Wed Jul 15 16:55:01 PDT 2009;
root:xnu-1228.15.4~1/RELEASE_I386
System model name: MacBookAir3,1 (Mac-942452F5819B1C1B)

System uptime in nanoseconds: 26732735360
unloaded kexts:
(none) loaded kexts:
com.apple.filesystems.autofs 2.0.2 - last loaded 20572227277
com.apple.driver.AppleHDAPlatformDriver 1.7.1a2
com.apple.driver.AppleHDAHardwareConfigDriver 1.7.1a2
com.apple.driver.AppleUpstreamUserClient 2.7.5
com.apple.driver.AppleHDA 1.7.1a2
com.apple.driver.DiskImages 199
com.apple.driver.AppleHDAController 1.7.1a2
com.apple.Dont_Steal_Mac_OS_X 6.0.3
com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsControl 2.8.15
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHIDDriver 3.4.6
com.apple.driver.AirPortBrcm43xx 367.91.22
com.apple.driver.AudioIPCDriver 1.0.6
com.apple.driver.ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin 3.4.0a17
com.apple.driver.AppleBacklight 1.6.0
com.apple.driver.AppleTyMCEDriver 1.0.0d28
com.apple.GeForce 5.4.8
com.apple.iokit.SCSITaskUserClient 2.1.1
com.apple.driver.iTunesPhoneDriver 1.0
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBMassStorageClass 2.0.8
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBComposite 3.2.0
com.apple.driver.XsanFilter 2.7.91
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage 1.2.2
com.apple.driver.AppleFileSystemDriver 1.1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM 1.2.0
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHub 3.4.9
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBUserClient 3.5.2
com.apple.driver.AppleAHCIPort 1.7.0
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBOHCI 3.4.6
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBEHCI 3.4.6
com.apple.driver.AppleRTC 1.2.3
com.apple.driver.AppleHPET 1.4
com.apple.driver.AppleSmartBatteryManager 158.10.5
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPCI 1.2.5
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons 1.2.5
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS 1.4
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC 1.2.5
com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC 1.4
com.apple.security.seatbelt 107.12
com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall 1.8.77
com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet 3
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement 76.2.0
com.apple.BootCache 30.4
com.apple.driver.DspFuncLib 1.7.1a2
com.apple.iokit.IOHDAFamily 1.7.1a2
com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family 216.1
com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily 1.6.1
com.apple.iokit.IOAudioFamily 1.6.9fc5
com.apple.kext.OSvKernDSPLib 1.1
com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginFamily 3.4.0a17
com.apple.driver.AppleSMC 2.3.1d1
com.apple.NVDAResman 5.4.8
com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport 1.7.3
com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily 1.7.3
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIBlockCommandsDevice 2.1.1
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily 2.1.1
com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily 1.5.6
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily 1.5.0
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily 3.5.2
com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime 1.2.0
com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily 1.1
com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily 1.5.5
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform 1.2.5
com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily 1.2.0
com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily 2.6
Model: MacBookAir3,1, BootROM MBA31.0061.B01, 2 processors, Intel Core
2 Duo, 1.4 GHz, 2 GB, SMC 1.67f4
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 320M, NVIDIA GeForce 320M, PCI, 256 MB
Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 1 GB, DDR3, 1067 MHz, 0x02FE,
0x45424A3130554538454655302D41452D4620
Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM0, 1 GB, DDR3, 1067 MHz, 0x02FE,
0x45424A3130554538454655302D41452D4620
AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0xD1),
Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.100.98.75.6)
Bluetooth: Version 2.5.0f17, 2 service, 19 devices, 1 incoming serial
ports
Network Service: AirPort, AirPort, en0
Serial ATA Device: APPLE SSD TS064C, 60,67 GB
USB Device: FaceTime Camera (Built-in), apple_vendor_id, 0x850a,
0x24600000 / 2
USB Device: BRCM2070 Hub, 0x0a5c (Broadcom Corp.), 0x4500,
0x04500000 / 3
USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller, apple_vendor_id, 0x821b,
0x04530000 / 6
USB Device: Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad, apple_vendor_id,
0x0243, 0x04300000 / 2

Am 12.08.2011 um 03:39 schrieb Mike Bombich:

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11 Posted by Mike Bombich on Aug 13, 2011 @ 9:32 pm
No wI could boout from Lacie but I believe it was fake. Everything was as usual, I could use all my programms etc. But in the finder I found myself on the internal drive and I could also eject the external drive without any changes.

Yeah, you definitely should not be able to eject the startup disk. To verify what disk you're booted from, choose "About this Mac" from the Apple menu.

Is the problem that I use different operating systems on the two computers?

Yeah, you can't boot the MBA from the older OS.

I thought with a back up from an external hard drive I'm basically using only the screen of the computer...

No, you're using the computer's CPU and everything -- everything except for its hard drive.

Can you tell me more about this Lacie enclosure? I'm starting to doubt its ability to boot any Macintosh...

Does this enclosure offer both Firewire and USB? If so, can you try attaching the enclosure with the other interface?

Mike

12 Posted by anna-luise on Aug 13, 2011 @ 9:54 pm

Hi!
Well, I have a Lacie minimus - with USB 3.0 only.
Anna

Am 14.08.2011 um 03:31 schrieb Mike Bombich:

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13 Posted by anna-luise on Aug 14, 2011 @ 4:53 am

...and yes, my iMac chose Macintosh HD. It kind of started twice -
after the first apple (that appeared when starting it) then there was
something similar to a stop sign and then the apple appeared again...
Can you tell me if the drive might boot when using another software?
Also, what would happen if the back up works? I can boot and then? I
suppose I can also see all my files. Can I also readily use my
programms, have my account, preferences etc?
Sorry to ask such stupid questions.
Anna

Am 14.08.2011 um 03:31 schrieb Mike Bombich:

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14 Posted by Mike Bombich on Aug 15, 2011 @ 1:54 pm

Hi Anna:

Can you tell me if the drive might boot when using another software?

The "Golden Litmus Test" is to try installation Mac OS X directly to the Lacie drive from the installation DVD. If that fresh installation is bootable, then the Lacie enclosure supports booting your Mac. If not, it isn't going to work.

Also, what would happen if the back up works?

Then it would appear exactly as if you had booted from your internal disk -- everything would be in the same place, all of your preferences would be intact and and all of your applications would behave the same (except for the applications that use some identifying feature of the hard drive as part of the serialization process, those apps would ask for a serial number).

Mike

15 Posted by anna-luise on Aug 15, 2011 @ 9:12 pm

Hello again!
Sorry to bother you again - hopefully it'll be the last time.
I partitioned and reformated the external disk (again) and installed
Mac OS X from the CDs. Everything went well - in the end I was asked
to create a user account and I could have also imported all my data.
But then I tried to boot and the screen went black again - this time
with a notification - see pictures.

So is it now clear that I can't make a bootable mack up with this hard
drive? Is there another problem? Is there any chance that the
situation might change if I'd exchange this drive with a new one in
the store? Is there anything I can do?

I appreciate your patience!
Anna

Am 15.08.2011 um 19:52 schrieb Mike Bombich:

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16 Posted by Mike Bombich on Aug 16, 2011 @ 11:54 pm

Hi Anna:

I would probably stop trying with this enclosure at this point. I think we've "Given it the 'ol College Try" and it's not going to work out. My last thought on the matter is in regards to Lacie's proprietary drivers for this device -- they're required for USB 3.0 connectivity, which you aren't using, but I'm wondering if their drivers would help. Or, if they are installed already, whether uninstalling them would improve the outcome.

If you're going to exchange the enclosure, I would get a different brand of hard drive enclosure. I would avoid Western Digital enclosures as well, they are all over the place as far as bootability is concerned.

Mike