Reformatted disk but restore didn't work properly, had to reinstall system and now having major kext errors

Question

Reformatted disk but restore didn't work properly, had to reinstall system and now having major kext errors

Basically I had to reformat my hard drive, and in order to do that I copied all the files from it to a disk image which I then used to restore through disk utility.

Now this worked as far as individual files go, but the OS for some reason didn't copy properly. After restoring from the image, the machine started up with an infinite pinwheel and apple logo, not going anywhere, so I eventually just reinstalled snow leopard from the original installer. This is fine as far as the system itself goes, but I'm having some very annoying issues - for one, some things which I had registered have reverted to trial versions (probably just a question of moving some preference files from the backup which got overwritten, shouldn't be too hard) but far more seriously, a bunch of kext extensions aren't loading, including one which is needed to run my external wifi antenna (the internal one is banjaxed, won't connect to any network unless you're sitting beside the router at all times).

Here's the console log. Why are these kexts not working, when they worked perfectly before the reformat? Still struggling to understand why copying the entire root dir to a disk image and then restoring from that image did not, as expected, yield an identical system, and why I even had to reinstall after doing this. But more urgently, how do I get these extensions working again? Using airport isn't sustainable, I can't sit on the stairs every time I want to use the internet 😀

12/06/2013 11:16:57	com.apple.kextd[12]	Failed to load /System/Library/Extensions/RT2870USBWirelessDriver.kext - (libkern/kext) authentication failure (file ownership/permissions).
12/06/2013 11:16:57	com.apple.kextd[12]	Load com.Ralink.driver.RT2870USBWirelessDriver failed; removing personalities.
12/06/2013 11:16:58	kernel	Previous Shutdown Cause: 5
12/06/2013 11:16:58	kernel	Warning - kext com.apple.driver.AppleIntelIntegratedFramebuffer has immediate dependencies on both com.apple.kernel* and com.apple.kpi.* components; use only one style.
12/06/2013 11:16:58	kernel	Warning - kext com.apple.driver.AppleIntelGMA950 has immediate dependencies on both com.apple.kernel* and com.apple.kpi.* components; use only one style.
12/06/2013 11:16:58	kernel	Atheros: mac 12.2 phy 8.1 radio 12.0
12/06/2013 11:16:58	bootlog[40]	BOOT_TIME: 1371032202 0
12/06/2013 11:17:03	blued[41]	Apple Bluetooth daemon started
12/06/2013 11:17:03	com.apple.SecurityServer[27]	Session 0x5fbff962 created
12/06/2013 11:17:04	com.apple.kextd[12]	Failed to load /System/Library/Extensions/BoomDevice.kext - (libkern/kext) authentication failure (file ownership/permissions).
12/06/2013 11:17:04	com.apple.kextd[12]	Load com.globaldelight.driver.BoomDevice failed; removing personalities.
12/06/2013 11:17:04	mDNSResponder[30]	mDNSResponder mDNSResponder-212.1 (Jul 24 2009 22:34:12) starting
12/06/2013 11:17:04	com.apple.usbmuxd[23]	usbmuxd-296.3 on Jul 25 2012 at 00:28:37, running 64 bit
12/06/2013 11:17:04	/System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/MacOS/loginwindow[31]	Login Window Application Started
12/06/2013 11:17:04	com.apple.kextd[12]	Failed to load /System/Library/Extensions/RT2870USBWirelessDriver.kext - (libkern/kext) authentication failure (file ownership/permissions).
12/06/2013 11:17:04	com.apple.kextd[12]	Load com.Ralink.driver.RT2870USBWirelessDriver failed; removing personalities.
12/06/2013 11:17:04	com.apple.kextd[12]	Failed to load /System/Library/Extensions/BoomDevice.kext - (libkern/kext) authentication failure (file ownership/permissions).
12/06/2013 11:17:04	com.apple.kextd[12]	Load com.globaldelight.driver.BoomDevice failed; removing personalities.

As you can guess, Ralink USB Wireless Driver is the one I'm having trouble with, although the other error you see, BoomDevice, is one of the apps which had been registered but has reverted to trial. The errors in console made me think it was a permissions issue, but repairing permissions, despite taking half an hour and modifying tons of files, did not resolve this issue.

How do I fix this, and also out of interest, why did it happen in the first place? I imagined formatting and restoring would be far, far less complicated than this O_o

EDIT: Should point out that obviously going from 10.6.8, the reinstall reverted to 10.6, and I haven't been able to upgrade since I can't get this internet kext working. Shouldn't be a problem though since the wireless driver was for 10.6.x...

Posted on Jun 12, 2013 6:35 AM

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Answer 1

ds store

Level 7

30,725 points

Jun 12, 2013 6:55 AM in response to hatrickpatrick

Still struggling to understand why copying the entire root dir to a disk image and then restoring from that image did not, as expected, yield an identical system, and why I even had to reinstall after doing this.

Because there is a lot more going on under the hood than merely copying files.

The only way to do what you want is to use cloning software like Carbon Copy Cloner.

My advice is to rescue your personal files to a regular non-TimeMachine external drive, Zero erase the ENTIRE drive and install OS X fresh and update, then your programs from original sources and files from backup.

Then, make a bootable clone and you can copy that as many times as you want and each one is bootable.

Most commonly used backup methods

How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6

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Answer 2

Jun 12, 2013 7:06 AM in response to ds store

This is exactly what I did. Have the OS backed up multiple times on two different 1TB external drives, zeroed the entire disk, then used disk utility to restore from one of the backup images I had copied the drive into. But now I have this incredibly annoying kext problem.

Any idea why it didn't work? What could cause this? Can you think of any way of tricking the machine into accepting the Ralink kext? I can't upgrade to 10.6.8 without it realistically...

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Answer 3

Jun 12, 2013 7:32 AM in response to hatrickpatrick

Should also mention that the backup was made using carbon copy cloner. The reason I didn't use it to amke the restore disk image was because I've heard that CCC makes block by block copies instead of file copies, and since I had some block problems that felt like a bad idea. But I could still go back and make the image with CCC if it that would fix this?

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Answer 4

ds store

Level 7

30,725 points

Jun 12, 2013 6:48 PM in response to hatrickpatrick

You apparently have data corruption and your just restored that same corruption.

Copying corruption is still corruption, it can't magically fix itself.

I never use Disk Utility to image, it copies the whole thing and doesn't do checks like CCC will.

Sorry, all I can advise is what I already have done, your beating yourself with a dead horse IMO 🙂

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Answer 5

Jun 12, 2013 11:22 PM in response to ds store

Right, but so just to clarify, you're saying that I SHOULD in fact format and then use CCC to restore my backup?

And also to clarify, does CCC in fact use file copying or block copying? I ask because the whole point here was that I had some unmapped bad blocks and massive free space fragmentation, so if CCC copies files block by block, thereby maintaining fragmentation etc, then I'm going to need a different tool.

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