Mac OS X Start Up Keys
November 28, 2007 | 97 Comments
I often search around trying to find the various ways to boot OSX in a special sort of way. I’ve especially needed these sort of things lately, as I had a brand new hard drive die on me.
You can hold any of the following to access any of these special boot modes:
C - Boot from the internal optical drive (CD or DVD)
D - Boot the diagnostic volume of the install DVD
N - Start from the Network (NetBoot)
R - Force PowerBook screen reset
T - Boot into Firewire target disk mode
X - Reset startup disk selection and boot into Mac OS X Server
Shift - Boot into “Safe Boot” mode, which runs Disk First Aid. A reboot will be required afterward.
Option - Boot into “Startup Manager”
Mouse Button - Eject (internal) removable media
Command-S - Boot into Single User Mode (command line)
Command-V - Boot using “Verbose” mode (shows all kernel and startup console messages)
Command-Option-Shift-Delete - Bypass internal hard drive on boot and seek a different startup volume (such as a CD or external disk)
Command-Option-P-R - Reset Parameter RAM (PRAM) and non-volatile RAM (NVRAM)
Command-Option-O-F - Boot into “Open Firmware”
Rumor has it, firmware password protection can be removed by intalling or removing a stick of RAM, then zapping the PRAM three times in a row.
These bootup options were compiled from Apple and this blog.
Tags: apple, boot, boot cd, bootup, command, diagnostic, firmware, mac, macos, net boot, open firmware, option, os x, osx, parameter ram, pram, ram, single user, startup, target disk, verbose
XBox 360 Hack
May 23, 2006 | 2 Comments
From an Engadget article it appears that making copies of 360 games is now a real possibility. The hack involves taking a part your DVD burner so you can switch disks without ejecting. Considering dual layer DVDs are now under $2.00, making backups of your games might be worthwhile.
Of course you also need to do a fairly complicated firmware hack so your backups will boot.
In some ways this actually makes me want to have an Xbox 360. There is something very satisfying about modifying hardware to do things it wasn’t intended for. However, the only new system I’ll be buying this year is the Nintendo Wii.
Tags: firmware, firmware hack, hack, microsoft, Nintendo, nintendo wii, xbox, xbox 360, xbox 360 hack