os x will not boot after installing some software

[tsmith]

I just got the game Mafia for mac and wanted to configure my xbox 360 controller to use so I installed a preference option called 360controller. I've done this before on Lion DP3 and all was well.

I am now using the GM version and when it was time to restart to finish installing the 360 preference pane option, i restarted but i got the "no smoking" sign type error instead of the usual apple logo..

I know it is not my hard drive since I am using it now. (i backed up the corrupt OS on an external and copied a new OS onto this hard drive to make sure) I do not know why this happened but does anyone know how to fix this so I can go back to using the OS i started with?

I was guessing it did something to boot files somehow that may have gone wrong when the install restarted my computer.. I do not know much about this stuff and don't want to do more harm.

all info is much appreciated

also, i did use disk utility to verify and repair disk but to no avail.

 

[Hansr]

You copied a new OS or you installed via install disk?

 

[tsmith]

1st - I copied the corrupt OS X Lion GM from the internal HDD onto an external drive and tried to boot from the external, but it gave me the same error so I know it had to do with system files most likely

2nd - I copied another Lion GM (not a clean install) i had from before onto my internal hard drive and was able to boot from my internal hdd with the newly copied OS, so the HDD is not the problem,

the corrupt OS wont boot from either internal or external drives, just gives me the no smoking sign or whatever it is technically called

I'm basically just wondering what files I can look at/delete/modify that might allow me to boot into the corrupt OS again, seeing as disk utility repair didn't help

 

[Cougarcat]

You need to find out exactky what the XBox Controller utility installed. I'd try to contact the devrloper. At the very least you need to delete its preferencepane.

 

[Hansr]

Copying an OS folder is pointless. Do an install over the current one, the archive and install option will move the old folder, install a new one and subsystem and then bless it so you can boot.

 

[Hansr]

You need to find out exactky what the XBox Controller utility installed. I'd try to contact the devrloper. At the very least you need to delete its preferencepane.

Restarting with SHIFT held would disable it so he could run the uninstaller but that's pointless since by copying the folders back and forth there is no longer a guarantee that the system folders are okay.

 

[tsmith]

just to clarify, i didn't do like a copy and paste of the folders, i used disk utility and used Restore to copy the whole disk image. I did it that way.

now, if i do an install of the Lion GM over what I had, will it erase all my stuff or just kind of act like an upgrade where it copies over some system files and what not but leaves all my files and stuff the way it was..

if that's the case then I'd definitely try that now.

I did go in and remove the 360controller preference pane kext but thats it

thanks for the help so far!

 

[Hansr]

An install will place your old system in a folder in a folder called previous system and place a new system folder in there. User files are keept so are all normal paths from /. The subsystem is checksummed to verify integrity and if nothing has been modified nothing is done if something has it will be overwritten (e.g. you've replaced something in /usr/bin). Google archive & install if you want to read more about the process.