E7440: no longer boots; displays "Your computer restarted because of a problem" error message

[Chevron]

I installed El Capitan 10.11.3 on my Latitude E7440 in January this year and it has been operating with out any problems until the other day when it wouldn't boot up. On start up I get the Dell Logo followed by the Clover screen, I then click 'Boot Mac Os X from Macintosh SSD' press return and get the following error message (in several languages) :- 'Your computer restarted because of a problem. Press a key or wait for a few seconds to continue.' 

 

After a few seconds the Apple logo appears followed by the start up bar which then immediately disappears and the screen goes blank for a few seconds after which the Dell logo appears and the whole process repeats over and over again. I have tried in Clover booting to the recovery HDD option but nothing works.

 

I have then plugged in my original Installation USB Drive and then in Clover got it to boot to my USB after a while i get the Mac installation screen with the option to reinstall El Capitan or use the HDD tools. I have tried the repair option on my Macintosh SSD but it comes back with no errors and verifies the drive is OK. 

 

So far I have not tried reinstalling El Capitan again as I am concerned it might overwrite my personnel files - or is it safe to do it and only the system files will be overwritten?

 

Not sure if anybody on the Forum has had the same problem but would appreciate if anybody could help as to what I should do next.

[Hervé]

Did you install any 10.11 update such as 10.11.4 or 10.11.5? Boot in verbose mode and post what you obtain.

[Chevron]

Hi Herve, thank you for responding. I am a complete novice and have got as far as successfully installing El Capitan on my Dell laptop due to the great support from the forum and religiously following your guides etc.  

 

Please can you explain where and how I Boot in verbose mode, let alone save it in a format to then post it to you. 

 

I looked at the various options in the Clover boot up screen but seen nothing about booting in verbose mode. Whilst trying everything I booted to my Install El Capitan USB drive and then under the Apple logo on the task bar selected Startup Disk and was then given the option to select my USB drive or Macintosh SSD OS X 10.11.5!

 

So clearly unbeknownst to me an update has been installed more than likely when my daughter was using it last and discovered the boot up issue. What do I need to do next. Thank you. 

[Jake Lo]

When you boot to the Clover GUI, hit the spacebar. Then select boot without cache mode from the drop down. If it still reboots then, you'll need to boot with the cpus=1. You could add that under Options. Then replace the voodoops2Controller with this version.

[Chevron]

Hi Jake, I rebooted after selecting 'boot without cached mode' and got a message '​This system was automatically rebooted after panic' followed by screens of I guess diagnostic text which disappear before I can read them and then reboots back to clover.

 

I have looked in the option menu and clicked on 'CPU tuning menu' which then gives me list of further options from 'Cores enabled:02' to 'PatchPIC:[ ] & Return' but can't find anywhere to set CPUS=1. So where and how do I add it under options?

 

I also assume that I can only replace the voodoops2Controller once I have successfully got into EL Capitan??

[Jake Lo]

in Options, under Boot Args: add to the end cpus=1

 

You could try taking the drive out and mount it in another OS X and then replace it, but you'll need a converter to USB.

[Chevron]

Hi Jake,

 

Have added cpus=1 and rebooted to my Macintosh SSD in Clover. I get the Apple Logo appearing and then the startup bar showing for less than a second then disappears and a black screen but this time rather than recycling to the Dell Logo and back to Clover I get a black screen and a flashing SSD light for several minutes and then no activity other than the power on light!  What is supposed to happen after adding this option - being able to booting up via my SSD?

 

I have an external USB to SATA/IDE Adapter that I have tried already connecting my Macintosh SSD to my iMac with but can't get my iMac to recognise the drive as I was going to save my personal files and then do a complete reinstall. Is the issue the voodoops2Controller not being compatible with OSX 10.11.4/5 or something else??

[Jake Lo]

Try adding that and boot without cache mode. Yes VoodooPS2controller seems to cause KP on 10.11.4/5

[Chevron]

Hi Jake, I get the same result - black screen several minutes of HDD activity and then nothing not even a recycle back to Dell Logo/Clover which I was getting without cpus=1. The last thing I wanted to do but I guess my only option is to go for a total reinstall!

 

How can I run in verbose mode and save the screen output to a log file etc - is there a facility in Clover to do this?

[Jake Lo]

Replace the VoodooPS2Controller in your USB installer. Boot with the USB installer, when you get to the Clover GUI. Select your Mac drive to boot.

Hopefully then you could mount your EFI and replace it then.

 

There's a debug file found in /EFI/Clover/Misc