[How to] Fix Still Waiting for Root Device in Hackintosh

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

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  Parallel ATA  Port
• If you are using a Gigabyte Motherboard.
• If you’re Booting from a USB-Hard disk/ USB DvD Rom/ PenDrive 

This problem occurs before/after the installation but it depends on the Boot Media also.
In This Article I will explain them by dividing the problem types in to three cases

Case:- 1

Installing 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

 Installing 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
BootDiskUtility
Kext Wizard

Follow this Video Guide

Credits here