Trying to update from OS X 10.6.8 operating with zero problems to 10.9.2. Install over current OS results in inability to cold boot to mavericks. Must use option key to select 10.9.2 volume to boot to.

Question

Will boot from cold start sometimes but eventually will not boot at all. Just white screen. Have tried safe boot and cleaning out folders suggested by Apple care advisor. This helps temporarily. But white screen issue returns. Have removed all periferals problem persists. Have tried reseting Pram. This results in the Mac booting up into 10.6.8. ( I keep a backup clone on a different internal physical drive.) I've tried a clean install using migration assistant to bring over all my stuff. This results in a permissions mess that disk utility cannot fix.) I've tried migrating my data from snow leopard during the install process. Same permissions mess. Snow leopard works great but I'm concerned about lack of support with security updates going forward. I have three macs in the family. Have been a mac user since 2002. Paid the premium because Macs just WORK and I've not had to mess with them to stay alive. Mavericks has changed all that. I want to get past this and go back to just using my Mac. Open to help please. Two other things. In all instances of trying to use Mavericks I cannot get finder to retain my preference settings. They always return to default when I reboot. Microsoft Entourage always opens with a new email draft now instead of just opening to the inbox like under Snow Leopard when started from the dock. When started from applications Entourage opens to the inbox normally. Thanks

Answer 1

Here is how I solved this issue on my early 2008 Mac Pro- Formatted and  zeroed my boot drive. Disconnected all periferals except monitor (Dell  DVI), wired mac keyboard, Logitech wireless usb 2 mouse. Removed my ATI  5770 upgrade Video card and replaced with original Nvidia card. Did  clean 10.9 install. Immediately updated to 10.9.2. Checked finder  preference retention issues- Gone. Checked reboot and boot after PRAM  reset issue. Still boots back to 10.6.8. Hmmmm though about how the  order of my physical drives in the bays was now different than before  10.9. Previously 10.6 startup was in bay 3 and my 10.6 clones were in  bay 4. Never had a clone boot on startup. Now 10.6 is in bay 2 and 10.9  is in bay 3. Does the mac start looking for a boot volume in bay 1 then  2,3,4. Answer- Yes! When I moved the 10.9 drive to bay 1 kept 10.6 in  bay 2 the crazy start up switch no longer occurs. So, I used the system  like that for a couple of days rebuilding my files and reinstalling  applications. Then I pulled the nVidia card and put the ATi 5770 back  in. All is well. The system works perfectly no more issues. This has  been a lot of work and I can't tell what the specifict conflict was, but  I'm up and running Mavericks with no problems. All my hardware is back  as it was before. All periferals working fine. Glad I am still able to  make use of my ATi video card because it is superior.  Hope this helps  others use mavericks on their older Macs.