You may have faced this error while Installing Mac OS X or After a Successful Installation may be in Hackintosh (OSX86) or real Macs
In this post I’m going to explain this problem and suggest a solution with using my personal experience.
What does “Still waiting for root device” means ?
Its very simple, it means that the source from which you’re booting is not detected properly in other way
it can be explained as the operating system was not able to locate a driver/kext for your Hard disk/DvD Drive/USB
The OS X Comes with the latest drivers that supports SATA out of the box
but you may face this issue
- If you’re using an old motherboard
- if you have a PATA ( Parallel ATA ) Port
- If you have a Gigabyte Motherboard.
- If you’re using a USB-Hard disk/ USB DvD Rom/ PenDrive to Boot
This problem occurs before/after the installation but it depends on the Boot Media
In This Article i will explain them by dividing the problem types in to three cases
Case:- 1
You May be trying to Install Mac OS X Using a Bootable USB .
This occurs when Your USB Port is not recognized by Mac OS X & In some LGA 1156 motherboards they need to use some additional kexts to Make USB Work Properly.
How Can You Fix It? (Solutions)
- Try to boot with the kernel flag USBBusFix=Yes this usually triggers All The USB Ports & Fix all usb related issues
- LGA 1156 motherboard Users Install Zenith432’s GenericUSBXHCI.kext into the Bootable USB ( /Extra/Extensions ) Using Kext Wizard / Transmac (If you’re using windows)
- Try to Enable/Disable Legacy USB in Bios
Case:- 2
You May be trying to Install Mac OS X Using a DvD
This occurs when Your DvD Drive is not recognized by Mac OS X ( Unless if you’re using a USB DvD Drive Check The Solutions of Case 1 )
How Can You Fix It? (Solutions)
This is a problematic case as you can’t modify the DvD All you can try are the Bios Settings
- Try to Set SATA as AHCI on Bios
- Try to Change SATA Ports
- Connect DvD to Primary SATA/PATA Port
If these doesn’t help stop trying its unworthy to try in this case
Case:- 3
You May be Trying to Boot/Install Mac OS X Using a Hard-disk (SATA/PATA) (Unless if you’re using a USB Hard Disk Check The Solutions of Case 1 )
How Can You Fix It?
- Try to Boot with USBBusFix=Yes
- Try to Boot with ahcidisk=8 debug=8 (Works on some devices)
- Check Your Bios Settings Set AHCI as SATA
- Connect Hard disk to Primary SATA /PATA Port
- Installing These Chipset Kexts to /System/Library/Extensions Most of The Systems Including Gigabyte MotherBoard with Jmicron Chipset.
Download the following
Kernel Extensions to Fix Error
Follow this Video Guide
Then Boot From The USB Drive
Install The Same Kexts to /System/Library/Extensions using Kext Wizard
That’s All Enough to Fix