HDD install failing

ATV1 that was running CB2 on an internal 8GB Compact Flash card with a CF/IDE adaptor

I used the OSMC installer on Windows (Win 10 x64) to create a HDD installer using OSMC_TGT_appletv_20160306-HDD.img.gz on a Kingston 16GB USB3 UFD

Booting with the UFD connected, it boots (atv logo with penguin), then after several ACPI messages, the screen shows “Please remove the USB stick and unplug the Apple TV. Wait 10 seconds and plug the Apple TV back in” identical to the first image Hard Drive Install ATV1

I removed the UFD and power, waited 10 seconds and reconnected power (UFD not connected), the ATV booted to a blue OSMC screen with the error message “Install failed: could not mount bootfs”.

I have presumed that this “proves” that it can see and write to the CF/IDE internal HDD

If I reboot with the UFD connected, I get the same initial message, but then after powering on without the UFD connected, I get the atv logo (no penguin) and a slow flashing questionmark.

If I mount the UFD on a linux box (/dev/sdb1) and follow the instructions on simply-cannot-start-the-hdd-installation/13123/15

I see udhcpc start, lease obtained adding dns, and the connection is seen in netcat on my linux box. I can now start the installer, but the installer installs to the UFD OSMC netcat - Pastebin.com

Is there a different installer command that will install to the CF/IDE internal HDD ?

I created an installer and installed to USB using a 4GB UFD, then used dd to copy to the CF/IDE disk

dd -if/dev/sdb of=/dev/sda

then I mounted sda1 rw

sudo mount -t hfsplus -o force,rw /dev/sda1/media

edited com.apple.Boot.plist changing /dev/sdb2 to /dev/sda2

sudo umount /media

mounted sda2 and edited /etc/fstab to use sda instead of sdb

installed parted to clean up the GPT partitions, halted the system, removed power and the UFD, then powered on and it booted from the CF/IDE

if there is a better way, I’d be very happy to learn it, as the above is not a quick process…

Cheers

I just put a mSATA drive with a mSATA to ide adapter in my ATV with my CrystalHD card and didnt run into any problems running the HDD install. Used an 8GB sandisk drive. It is possible that it was the USB drive. I have 2 drives, and one just wont install to the HDD, while the other one wont install to the USB. So I use one specifically for running from USB and the other for installing to the HDD.

Not sure if any of this information is useful, but it is just something that I have come across while installing OSMC.

As the install starts without any issues, and gets as far as the “Install failed: could not mount bootfs”, I am completely sure it is NOT the media.

For the record, I tested using two different 16 GB UFD from Lexar (both used for OS X Installs, one for Yosemite, one for El Capitan), three different 16 GB Data Traveller from Kingston, used for Win7 BIOS, Win7 UEFI, and Win10 UEFI installs, two ADATA 8GB UFD used for Linux & Win7 and two 4GB Sandisk UFD that had been used for CB2, Win7 and Linux installs, I tested several of them back as their original use afterwards and saw no issues with them.

As the install works when using the “netcat console” to install of a UFD, I am also sure that it is NOT the media.

I think it might well be to do with the capacity of the destination being only an 8GB CF, or alternatively that the image although labelled as HDD, is actually a USB install.

I thought it could also be related to the original CB2 installer only having a ~50MB hfsplus partition and the created UFD hfsplus partition being ~250MB, but I “cleaned” the CF by creating a new GPT empty partition map, which ruled that out.

If the install “switches” were documented, it would be useful. It would also be useful if the changes to the USB install were documented.