[abirkill]

Hey guys,

I tried doing a SL install onto my new Dell Mini 9 using the two-USB method outlined on Mechdrew's excellent site, but I've hit a bit of a problem.

My first issue was a kernel panic almost as soon as the installer started, but I fixed that with a different USB drive (SanDisk Cruzer, as recommended in the guide).

However, when I tried to install with that, everything was going very well - I partitioned the SSD as described, deselected the language options, and started the install. However, after about 90 seconds I got an error of 'The installer could not copy the necessary support files.'

However, I'm now unable to re-attempt installation using my USB sticks. When I boot from the USB stick with the NBI image on it, I now get a grey screen with 'Can't find mach_kernel' on it which flickers every two seconds or so. There is no option to reattempt installation from my second USB stick with the SL image on it.

Can anyone advise how I can proceed from this situation?

Many thanks!

[Jake.c]

Had exactly the same problem. It said install could not complete or something (but only after about a minute or so), then I had no choice but to reboot. Then whenever I tried to boot into NBI from the smaller USB is came up with the same message about the mach kernel. I've tried re-mounting the NBI img to 2 different USB sticks and now it just puts me through to some console which says something about realtek, and "OS not found". So I'm assuming it is now failing to boot from USB and going straight through to hard drive but unable to do anything because the OS never managed to install.

Haven't a clue what to do really

UPDATE:

Decided to video the problem so mechdrew can see what is happening. I was getting the "cannot find mach_kernel" error on a grey screen up until I decided to try and redo the smaller USB stick (format + write the NBI img to it again). Now it won't even boot into it and I've tried it on 2 different USB sticks and it skips straight though to this. I might try installing Ubuntu to get an OS on there, then start again.

UPDATE 2:

Just tried putting a ubuntu 8.10 image (same process as SL img on a USB drive) and when I try to boot from USB with that, I'm getting the same screen as in my video. I'm now getting quite worried as this seems to point to the idea that I might not be able to put any OS on it now if I'm unable to boot from a USB drive...

UPDATE 3:

Just tried booting with ONLY the smaller USB drive plugged in and I am now getting the flickering grey screen saying "can't find mach_kernel" again.

YouTube- nbi prob2

YouTube- nbi prob2

[abirkill]

Originally Posted by Jake.c

UPDATE 2:

Just tried putting a ubuntu 8.10 image (same process as SL img on a USB drive) and when I try to boot from USB with that, I'm getting the same screen as in my video. I'm now getting quite worried as this seems to point to the idea that I might not be able to put any OS on it now if I'm unable to boot from a USB drive...

Interesting. I've had no problem in 'recovering' from my earlier situation with a Ubuntu 9.10 USB live image generated using the instructions found here, and the Ubunto 9.10 ISO, so I don't think this is permanent.

Install Ubuntu 9.10 to a Flash Drive from Windows | USB Pen Drive Linux

Equally I don't know enough about the ImageWriter application to know whether it's valid to use it to put a Ubuntu image onto the USB stick and expect it to boot -- I'd try using the official Ubuntu USB image generation procedures to be safe.

As for the original problem, I suspect that the issue may have something to do with the smaller USB stick (which, as I understand it, is the bootable stick) interrogating the hard disk. If it doesn't see any MacOS partitions then it gives the option to install from the second USB, but if it does see a MacOS partition it attempts to use it (despite the fact that, in our case, the MacOS partition is lacking necessary files).

If this is correct (and I'm sure Mechdrew will be able to confirm, or tell me I'm being stupid) then I'd expect we can get back to the original situation by nuking the MacOS partition on the SSD, at which point the USB sticks will offer us the install route again.

Of course, none of this resolves the initial issue of why the install failed in the first place...

Edit: And I've confirmed my hypothesis (although the reasoning may still be incorrect) -- wiping the partition table on my SSD with GPartEd from my Ubuntu Live USB image allows me to get back to the SL installation procedure with my two USB sticks.

Edit 2: However, the SL installation fails again at the same point with the same error about support files... Grr...

[Jake.c]

Originally Posted by abirkill

Interesting. I've had no problem in 'recovering' from my earlier situation with a Ubuntu 9.10 USB live image generated using the instructions found here, and the Ubunto 9.10 ISO, so I don't think this is permanent.

Install Ubuntu 9.10 to a Flash Drive from Windows | USB Pen Drive Linux

Equally I don't know enough about the ImageWriter application to know whether it's valid to use it to put a Ubuntu image onto the USB stick and expect it to boot -- I'd try using the official Ubuntu USB image generation procedures to be safe.

As for the original problem, I suspect that the issue may have something to do with the smaller USB stick (which, as I understand it, is the bootable stick) interrogating the hard disk. If it doesn't see any MacOS partitions then it gives the option to install from the second USB, but if it does see a MacOS partition it attempts to use it (despite the fact that, in our case, the MacOS partition is lacking necessary files).

If this is correct (and I'm sure Mechdrew will be able to confirm, or tell me I'm being stupid) then I'd expect we can get back to the original situation by nuking the MacOS partition on the SSD, at which point the USB sticks will offer us the install route again.

Of course, none of this resolves the initial issue of why the install failed in the first place...

Ok, I'll give that a go. Like you said, I'm sure mechdrew will be able to locate the problem. I can't remember exactly what the install said when it failed, but it only took about a minute to get to the point where it did, which isn't what the guide explained at all.

[Jake.c]

abirkill, have you had any progress with this issue at all? I'm still completely stuck (still looking into wiping the HD and installing XP or Ubuntu so I can start from scratch) and mechdrew hasn't got back to me yet (though he said he was moving house this weekend so it may take a while), so I'm not sure whether it's an unknown issue or not.

[05GT]

I ran into this during my first install. I had to create a XP bootable USB in order to format the partition. Once the partition is reformatted you'll be able to try your install again. However, you have a bad copy/image of SL. This is what's causing the the unable to copy error.

[phom]

Originally Posted by 05GT

I ran into this during my first install. I had to create a XP bootable USB in order to format the partition. Once the partition is reformatted you'll be able to try your install again. However, you have a bad copy/image of SL. This is what's causing the the unable to copy error.

I had the same problem. Ran thru this cycle about 5 times. XP Install -> SL -> Unable to Copy Support files, then XP Install -> SL -> Unable to Copy ... As a short cut, I interrupt the XP install during the "Expanding File" part. If I don't partition with XP, I'll get the "can't find mach_kernel" error on USB boot.

My ultimate problem turned out to be a bad dmg of SL borrowed from a friend, causing the "Unable to Copy Support Files" error. I went out and bought the Retail SL and the install was a success with mechdrew's NBI 2 with windows.

[Jake.c]

What's the case with bad imgs of SL? Because I have a genuine retail copy of SL from amazon, and my img was ripped directly from the disk using imgburn.

Are there other things that can cause a bad img?

---------- Post added at 02:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:08 PM ----------

Could it be that my SL usb drive is formatted with NTFS?

---------- Post added at 02:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:32 PM ----------

Ok so I just installed Ubuntu and erased over the HDD. This let me try again, but I've had the same error again (Could not copy the nescessary support files).

I don't understand why it won't work - I'm using a genuine copy of SL.

[sevi]

Jake - are you using a 16gb flashdisk or a 8gb one?

If you're using an 8gb one, try use a 16gb one - Mechdrew updated the guide to include this as a requirement.

I'm been having the exact same problem as you and have ordered a 16gb flashdisk to see if that makes the difference. I'll update once I get it and have a go, but let me know if you manage to do so in the meantime...

[Jake.c]

I'll see if I can find a cheap one somewhere. Strange as it does fit on the 8gb drive...