Kernel Panic when booting recovery partition

[prvt.donut]

As the title says.

I get a kernel panic whenever I boot the recovery partition (on El Capitan).

Below is the log from the crash:

Anonymous UUID: F86565BC-F225-C371-0FCC-48E9D9B8BD46

Mon Aug 29 17:47:35 2016

*** Panic Report ***
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xffffff800e5d155a): Kernel trap at 0xffffff7f93c5faad, type 14=page fault, registers:
CR0: 0x0000000080010033, CR2: 0x0000000000000020, CR3: 0x0000001000ac802d, CR4: 0x00000000000226e0
RAX: 0x0000000000000000, RBX: 0x0000000000000000, RCX: 0x0000000000000000, RDX: 0x0000000000000000
RSP: 0xffffff87465fbc10, RBP: 0xffffff87465fbc20, RSI: 0x000000000000000e, RDI: 0x0000000000000000
R8: 0xffffff809dd39c00, R9: 0x0000000000000001, R10: 0xffffff809dd33340, R11: 0x0000000000000018
R12: 0xffffff809c769400, R13: 0xce2e2116eb7a00ac, R14: 0xffffff809dd57f00, R15: 0xffffff809c76cb00
RFL: 0x0000000000010246, RIP: 0xffffff7f93c5faad, CS: 0x0000000000000008, SS: 0x0000000000000010
Fault CR2: 0x0000000000000020, Error code: 0x0000000000000000, Fault CPU: 0x0, PL: 0

Backtrace (CPU 0), Frame : Return Address
0xffffff87465fb8a0 : 0xffffff800e4de792
0xffffff87465fb920 : 0xffffff800e5d155a
0xffffff87465fbb00 : 0xffffff800e5ef233
0xffffff87465fbb20 : 0xffffff7f93c5faad
0xffffff87465fbc20 : 0xffffff7f93c0a700
0xffffff87465fbc60 : 0xffffff7f93445535
0xffffff87465fbcf0 : 0xffffff7f9343d14b
0xffffff87465fbd20 : 0xffffff800ea95f91
0xffffff87465fbd70 : 0xffffff800eadfb19
0xffffff87465fbde0 : 0xffffff800e59a8f1
0xffffff87465fbe30 : 0xffffff800e4e2ef3
0xffffff87465fbe60 : 0xffffff800e4c68a8
0xffffff87465fbea0 : 0xffffff800e4d62e5
0xffffff87465fbf10 : 0xffffff800e5bbd2a
0xffffff87465fbfb0 : 0xffffff800e5efa56
Kernel Extensions in backtrace:
com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.4.1)[48AC8EA9-BD3C-3FDC-908D-09850215AA32]@0xffffff7f93433000->0xffffff7f9346cfff
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[6ADFE830-2986-35D2-8C2F-6ABEDBC94F6A]@0xffffff7f8ecf2000
com.apple.nvidia.driver.NVDAResman(10.0.8)[57B619C4-A94E-341E-A276-5C4F83341C49]@0xffffff7f93c07000->0xffffff7f93e7ffff
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[6ADFE830-2986-35D2-8C2F-6ABEDBC94F6A]@0xffffff7f8ecf2000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(2.4.1)[814A7F4B-03EF-384A-B205-9840F0594421]@0xffffff7f934bf000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.4.1)[48AC8EA9-BD3C-3FDC-908D-09850215AA32]@0xffffff7f93433000
dependency: com.apple.AppleGraphicsDeviceControl(3.12.6)[F211EB28-182A-34BB-A610-87667618F925]@0xffffff7f93c01000

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: WindowServer
Boot args: nvda_drv=1 rp=file:///com.apple.recovery.boot/BaseSystem.dmg

Mac OS version:
15C50

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 15.2.0: Fri Nov 13 19:56:56 PST 2015; root:xnu-3248.20.55~2/RELEASE_X86_64
Kernel UUID: 17EA3101-D2E4-31BF-BDA9-931F51049F93
Kernel slide: 0x000000000e200000
Kernel text base: 0xffffff800e400000
__HIB text base: 0xffffff800e300000
System model name: MacPro5,1 (Mac-F221BEC8)

System uptime in nanoseconds: 40468364367
last loaded kext at 39191994491: com.apple.driver.pmtelemetry 1 (addr 0xffffff7f93f02000, size 49152)
loaded kexts:
com.apple.driver.pmtelemetry 1
com.apple.iokit.IOUserEthernet 1.0.1
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothSerialManager 4.4.3f4
com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyHIDDriver 124
com.apple.Dont_Steal_Mac_OS_X 7.0.0
com.apple.driver.AppleMCCSControl 1.2.13
com.apple.driver.AppleHDAHardwareConfigDriver 272.51.3
com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyDriver 272.51.3
com.apple.driver.AppleTyMCEDriver 1.0.2d2
com.apple.driver.AGPM 110.20.21
com.apple.driver.AppleHDA 272.51.3
com.apple.driver.AppleOSXWatchdog 1
com.apple.driver.AppleHV 1
com.apple.iokit.CSRBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport 4.4.3f4
com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport 4.4.3f4
com.apple.driver.AppleLPC 3.1
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelSlowAdaptiveClocking 4.0.0
com.apple.driver.AppleFIVRDriver 4.1.0
com.apple.nvidia.NVDAStartup 10.0.8
com.apple.driver.ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin 1.0.0
com.apple.nke.webcontentfilter 5
com.apple.filesystems.ntfs 3.13
com.apple.iokit.SCSITaskUserClient 3.7.7
com.apple.driver.PioneerSuperDrive 3.7.1
com.apple.driver.AppleRAID 5.0.0
com.apple.driver.DiskImages.SparseDiskImage 417.1
com.apple.driver.DiskImages.ReadWriteDiskImage 417.1
com.apple.driver.DiskImages.UDIFDiskImage 417.1
com.apple.driver.DiskImages.HTTPBackingStore 417.1
com.apple.driver.DiskImages.FileBackingStore 417.1
com.apple.driver.DiskImages.RAMBackingStore 417.1
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage 2.8.5
com.apple.driver.AppleFWOHCI 5.5.2
com.apple.driver.AirPort.Brcm4331 800.20.24
com.apple.driver.Intel82574L 2.7.0b1
com.apple.BootCache 38
com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib 1.0.0
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBEHCIPCI 1.0.1
com.apple.driver.AppleAHCIPort 3.1.8
com.apple.driver.AppleFileSystemDriver 3.0.1
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBUHCIPCI 1.0.1
com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeDataless 1.0.0d1
com.apple.driver.AppleRTC 2.0
com.apple.driver.AppleHPET 1.8
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons 4.0
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS 2.1
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC 4.0
com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC 1.7
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient 218.0.0
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementDriver 218.0.0
com.apple.security.quarantine 3
com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet 8
com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall 163
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement 218.0.0
com.apple.kext.MojoKDP 2.0.1
com.apple.iokit.IOSurface 108.0.1
com.apple.iokit.IOSerialFamily 11
com.apple.driver.CoreCaptureResponder 1
com.apple.nvidia.driver.NVDAResman 10.0.8
com.apple.AppleGraphicsDeviceControl 3.12.6
com.apple.nvidia.classic.NVDANV50HalTesla 10.0.0
com.apple.nvidia.classic.NVDAResmanTesla 10.0.0
com.apple.driver.DspFuncLib 272.51.3
com.apple.kext.OSvKernDSPLib 525
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusController 1.0.14d1
com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport 2.4.1
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport 4.4.3f4
com.apple.driver.AppleHDAController 272.51.3
com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily 2.4.1
com.apple.iokit.IOHDAFamily 272.51.3
com.apple.iokit.IOAudioFamily 204.3
com.apple.vecLib.kext 1.2.0
com.apple.kec.Libm 1
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusPCI 1.0.14d1
com.apple.iokit.IOSlowAdaptiveClockingFamily 1.0.0
com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireIP 2.2.6
com.apple.driver.AppleSMC 3.1.9
com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginLegacy 1.0.0
com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginFamily 6.0.0d7
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIMultimediaCommandsDevice 3.7.7
com.apple.iokit.IOBDStorageFamily 1.8
com.apple.iokit.IODVDStorageFamily 1.8
com.apple.iokit.IOCDStorageFamily 1.8
com.apple.driver.DiskImages.KernelBacked 417.1
com.apple.driver.AppleXsanScheme 3
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCISerialATAPI 2.6.2
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily 3.7.7
com.apple.driver.usb.IOUSBHostHIDDevice 1.0.1
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBHostCompositeDevice 1.0.1
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBHub 1.0.1
com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireFamily 4.5.8
com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family 1110.26
com.apple.driver.corecapture 1.0.4
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBMergeNub 900.4.1
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily 2.8.1
com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily 3.2
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBUHCI 1.0.1
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBEHCI 1.0.1
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily 900.4.1
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHostFamily 1.0.1
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHostMergeProperties 1.0.1
com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM 2.0
com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime 2.0
com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily 2.0.0
com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily 1.1
com.apple.security.sandbox 300.0
com.apple.kext.AppleMatch 1.0.0d1
com.apple.driver.AppleKeyStore 2
com.apple.driver.AppleMobileFileIntegrity 1.0.5
com.apple.driver.DiskImages 417.1
com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily 2.1
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothFamily 4.4.3f4
com.apple.driver.AppleFDEKeyStore 28.30
com.apple.iokit.IOReportFamily 31
com.apple.driver.AppleCredentialManager 1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform 4.0
com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily 2.9
com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily 1.4
com.apple.kec.pthread 1
com.apple.kec.corecrypto 1.0
Model: MacPro5,1, BootROM MP51.007F.B03, 8 processors, Quad-Core Intel Xeon, 3.46 GHz, 64 GB, SMC 1.39f5
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970, PCIe, 4095 MB
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 120, NVIDIA GeForce GT 120, PCIe, 512 MB
Memory Module: DIMM 1, 8 GB, DDR3 ECC, 1333 MHz, 0x857F, 0x463732314752363546393333334700000000
Memory Module: DIMM 2, 8 GB, DDR3 ECC, 1333 MHz, 0x857F, 0x463732314752363546393333334700000000
Memory Module: DIMM 3, 8 GB, DDR3 ECC, 1333 MHz, 0x857F, 0x463732314752363546393333334700000000
Memory Module: DIMM 4, 8 GB, DDR3 ECC, 1333 MHz, 0x857F, 0x463732314752363546393333334700000000
Memory Module: DIMM 5, 8 GB, DDR3 ECC, 1333 MHz, 0x857F, 0x463732314752363546393333334700000000
Memory Module: DIMM 6, 8 GB, DDR3 ECC, 1333 MHz, 0x857F, 0x463732314752363546393333334700000000
Memory Module: DIMM 7, 8 GB, DDR3 ECC, 1333 MHz, 0x857F, 0x463732314752363546393333334700000000
Memory Module: DIMM 8, 8 GB, DDR3 ECC, 1333 MHz, 0x857F, 0x463732314752363546393333334700000000
AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0x8E), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.106.98.100.24)
Bluetooth: Version 4.4.6f1 17910, 3 services, 27 devices, 1 incoming serial ports
Network Service: Wi-Fi, AirPort, en2
Serial ATA Device: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-218L
Serial ATA Device: OWC Mercury Electra 3G SSD, 480.1 GB
Serial ATA Device: WDC WD6400AAKS-41H2B0, 640.14 GB
Serial ATA Device: ST31500341AS, 1.5 TB
Serial ATA Device: ST31500541AS, 1.5 TB
USB Device: USB 2.0 Bus
USB Device: USB 2.0 Bus
USB Device: USB2.0 Hub
USB Device: USB2.0 Hub
USB Device: CSR8510 Nanosira M2272
USB Device: USB Bus
USB Device: USB Bus
USB Device: USB Bus
USB Device: BRCM2046 Hub
USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller
USB Device: USB Bus
USB Device: USB Bus
USB Device: USB Bus
FireWire Device: built-in_hub, Up to 800 Mb/sec
Thunderbolt Bus:

 

[paronga]

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970, PCIe, 4095 MB
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 120, NVIDIA GeForce GT 120, PCIe, 512 MB

Do you need the web drivers for the GTX970?
I know with my GTX750Ti, the recovery partition will kernel panic. It will panic even if I have both my original graphics card and the GTX750Ti, it panics.
It seems, for the recovery partition (and time machine backup!), you can only have cards that will function with the Os X (or macOS soon) built in drivers!

Good luck!

 

[netkas]

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970, PCIe, 4095 MB
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 120, NVIDIA GeForce GT 120, PCIe, 512 MB

Do you need the web drivers for the GTX970?
I know with my GTX750Ti, the recovery partition will kernel panic. It will panic even if I have both my original graphics card and the GTX750Ti, it panics.
It seems, for the recovery partition (and time machine backup!), you can only have cards that will function with the Os X (or macOS soon) built in drivers!

Good luck!

YOu need to add nv_disable=1 to boot-args to get recovery booted. case closed.

 

[pastrychef]

You can search the recovery partition for a file named "com.apple.Boot.plist" and add "nv_disable=1" to Kernel Flags.

 

[prvt.donut]

Thanks NetKas and Pastrychef. I will try when I get home tonight.

 

[ActionableMango]

Presumably you'd use the recovery partition when the main boot partition isn't working. So how do you change the boot args if you can't boot up to either the main boot partition or the recovery partition?

Am I missing something? Perhaps you can boot into the recovery partition in safe mode somehow, in order to change the boot args?

 

[pastrychef]

It can be done:

1. Before something goes wrong and you are forced to boot in to recovery partition.
2. It can be done by pulling the GTX 970.
3. Drive can be pulled and done from another Mac.

 

[ActionableMango]

It can be done:

1. Before something goes wrong and you are forced to boot in to recovery partition.
2. It can be done by pulling the GTX 970.
3. Drive can be pulled and done from another Mac.

I think I'll do #1 this week, as the preventive measure seems the easiest. Thanks for the tip.

 

[prvt.donut]

Ok, so a um, little question from the case closed...

Where are the recovery partition files? give me Windows and I can do anything, but OS X and even navigating finder files is a pain in the ass.

This is what I have pieced together so far:

#Open terminal
diskutil list
# Find the Apple_Boot Recovery HD. It is probably something like disk1s3
mkdir /volumes/efi
sudo mount -t hfs /dev/disk1s3 /volumes/efi

#Find the file "com.apple.Boot.plist" in the newly mounted drive. Make a copy and edit it being sure to save as filetype .plist and then duplicate the original file somewhere safe and then copy the new file i created into the recovery partition to overwrite the original file.

#Content of the newly modified file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Kernel Cache</key>
<string>\com.apple.recovery.boot\prelinkedkernel</string>
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>nv_disable=1</string>
<string>rp=file:///com.apple.recovery.boot/BaseSystem.dmg</string>
</dict>
</plist>


I pulled out my gtx970 and booted into the recovery partition and it kernel panics again.

Where did I go wrong?

 

[pastrychef]

The EFI partition is not the recovery partition.

Here, you see that the EFI and the Recover partitions are two separate things. In this example, the Recovery partition is /dev/disk0s3. Therefore, we have to:

sudo diskutil mount /dev/disk0s3

 

[netkas]

Ok, so a um, little question from the case closed...

Where are the recovery partition files? give me Windows and I can do anything, but OS X and even navigating finder files is a pain in the ass.

This is what I have pieced together so far:

#Open terminal
diskutil list
# Find the Apple_Boot Recovery HD. It is probably something like disk1s3
mkdir /volumes/efi
sudo mount -t hfs /dev/disk1s3 /volumes/efi

#Find the file "com.apple.Boot.plist" in the newly mounted drive. Make a copy and edit it being sure to save as filetype .plist and then duplicate the original file somewhere safe and then copy the new file i created into the recovery partition to overwrite the original file.

#Content of the newly modified file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Kernel Cache</key>
<string>\com.apple.recovery.boot\prelinkedkernel</string>
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>nv_disable=1</string>
<string>rp=file:///com.apple.recovery.boot/BaseSystem.dmg</string>
</dict>
</plist>


I pulled out my gtx970 and booted into the recovery partition and it kernel panics again.

Where did I go wrong?

not

<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>nv_disable=1</string>
<string>rp=file:///com.apple.recovery.boot/BaseSystem.dmg</string>

but

<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>nv_disable=1 rp=file:///com.apple.recovery.boot/BaseSystem.dmg</string>

 

[prvt.donut]

Ok, all good now.

It was just the change I made to the plist file was not correct!