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Install Guide for Snow Leopard on a P6T (non deluxe)


Searay_X
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1-18-2010 UPDATE

 

SORRY THE LINKS HAVE BEEN DOWN AND FOR MY ABSENCE

 

I got called to duty (if you have read my profile you will know what that means) and have been gone since the last update. The links are all up again and I, after spending some time with my family and getting caught up on everything, will post the latest guide and files.

 

Thank you for your understanding.

 

This is currently for 10.6.1 but I have 10.6.2 files and I see people posted throughout here some instructions - In a couple days I will post a new, more coherent guide and files.

 

EVEN THOUGH SOME PEOPLE HAVE REPORTED SUCCESS, I WOULD NOT UPDATE TO 10.6.2 UNTIL I REPOST THE GUIDE AND FILES - IT COULD BREAK YOUR MACHINE WITHOUT THE PROCESSOR PATCH!!!

 

P6T (non deluxe) Snow Leopard Install Guide

Modified - Latest Version 3

with the NEW r3 EFI and base files!!!

 

UPDATE - 10-08-09

 

New MagicStick is attached to this post. You still need to scan for restore and do step 10 from this guide to insure it's bootable - new i386 folder is included. No need to copy the "boot" file either.

 

A better update to come later tonight but this is what many of you have been waiting for. There will be a video (editing now) on how to do EFI strings.

 

I left a generic EFI string in the com.apple.Boot.plist that Should basically function for most Nvidia based cards if your in the first PCIe Slot - you will want to modify it for your card's name/brand/memory size.

 

Anyone new to the guide should still download the main package but replace the EFI MagicStick disk image with the one attached below until my update later tonight.

Everything working including sleep

 

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

NOTE About the POLL - 10/28/09.

 

:)

 

I cant help but notice that there are a few people stating the guide did NOT work for them. I have to reiterate that this guide is for the P6T! If you do not have a standard P6T and you are posting that this didn't work, please DON'T. It can mislead others and is unfair to the efforts I put into this for P6T users!!!

 

If you DO have a standard P6T and are having issues, PM me or post your issues so I and other experienced users can help you...

 

Read before you post something that may not be correct. I sell Mac clones as a side business and I have built 7 machines of all different specs using this method - It is in my opinion a bulletproof method.

 

Thanks - Ryan

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

UPDATE/PERSONAL NOTE 09-27-09:

 

I am going to be BLUNT here and do not mean it to be rude but if this doesn't work for you, YOU are doing something wrong or YOU have a hardware issue. This guide's kext's are intended ONLY for the P6T - not the WS, not the Deluxe not the SE and so on. For those boards to work you will need to use different audio methods and on some boards more or different base kexts!

 

So before you POLL that it didn't work for you, PM me and I will give you my email and check your setup. I need details to help you...

 

BE SURE TO CHECK FOR UPDATES AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST!!!

 

Also, I want to brag a little. Check out THIS link. The high numbers are of my i7 975 and the one that is by itself is a real Mac Pro that cost over 3500.00 with way less features!

 

A few notes to start with:

 

For those too lazy to read, I am making a Video of the how-to and many tips, tricks and so on. It will be available in a day or so.

 

This guide will help you get a fully functional Snow Leopard install on a Asus P6T. This guide can work for other i7 boards as well but you will need to mod a few kexts.

 

Since 2005, when this all began for me, this method is IMHO the best possible way to install OS X on PC hardware and it is the closest to a real Mac experience I have com across!

 

This guide assumes (although not entirely necessary) that you have a working Leopard install on a P6T already - why? because! For real though, if your already up and running with 10.5.x you are familiar with the board and you have your graphics/EFI strings all figured out. Your going to want your graphics acceleration working so when you boot for the first time you get the cool video and sound - LOL.

 

If you do not have a working P6T install that's OK too. You will need access to a machine with either 10.5.x or 10.6.x though.

 

I use a "Magic Stick" method which means you will be using a SD, Flash Drive, CF, Micro SD or something like it to boot from - I have a multi card reader installed to my 3.5" bay that will do SD/CF/Micro SD, Sony MS, XD and others and it cost less than $20.00 at my local computer store - HERE is a link to what I am talking about. This is not necessary though, A USB Flash drive, USB to SD adapter (like this) or external multi card reader/writer will work fine. The reason for this is that this allows you to do a clean UNMODIFIED install of Snow Leopard. No "hijacking the EFI partition on your HDD and having to jump through hoops to mount it to make changes - not to mention that if your HDD crashes you loose all your hard work! - with this method you can pop in a new drive and restore from a time machine backup and you can also take the unmodified Snow Leopard install disk our of your machine and use it in another with a "Magic Stick" built for the new board (like I did when testing a Gigabyte board), use it in a real MAC and once again, changes and mods are easier. Throughout this guide I will be calling the EFI disk a "Magic Stick"

 

NOTE: See update at the bottom for some information regarding hiding the MagicStick in finder so it's not always on the desktop...

 

Fist things first - Download this NEW pack HERE and the updated EFI and i386 folder HERE (its the same one at the bottom of the guide - do NOT use the ones from the first pack - use the updated files). it uses the NEW Chameleon r3 and it is all the files you will need to build the EFI as well as other needed files to complete your install - I have also included 0603 and 0707 Bios with a cool familiar full screen gray Apple POST screen available HERE separately -it makes it more like a Mac IMHO by not having to see the BIOS POST info - you can choose to turn off the full screen logo if you wish but regardless, I do recommend updating to 0707 due to a JMicron update)

 

If you are building the EFI from another 10.6.x machine you will do things a little different on a 10.5.x there are a few additional steps needed - I will note the differences below.

 

Overclocking has not been an issue but it is ALWAYS a good idea to install clocked at stock speeds to avoid install errors!

 

This has only been tested with Nvidia based cards (although I see no reason it wouldnt work with AN ATI) - you may have to add the included ATY_Init.kext or something similar if you use an ATI or Nvidia GTX 2xx (non mac edition - I use the Mac Edition so a simple EFI string works for me) - I don't use ATI cards so I can't be too helpful there. Please note that if you do add kexts to your EFI boot loader you will need to read below on how to add kexts to your EFI and build a proper Extensions.mkext.

 

The EFI drive includes an smbios.plist and a com.apple.boot.plist with an EFI string for a 9600GT OC. If you use an Nvidia 8xxx through 9xxx and your graphics card is in the first PCIe slot, you should be able to boot with full hardware acceleration and modify the com.apple.Boot.plist file after install - I did so with an Nvidia 9800 GTX.

 

 

SECTION 1. EFI prep:

 

1. On a working Leopard/Snow Leopard Machine, restore the downloaded EFI disk image to a flash drive/SD/CF or whatever you choose. As stated earlier, I have a multi-card reader/writer installed in one of my bays so my EFI boot disk is on a micro SD -

 

You accomplish this by;

 

a. Downloading and extracting my pack above to a convenient location - we will be doing some work in terminal so extracting the SLv3 folder to the root of your working Leopard/Snow Drive will make for less typing.

Insert a blank "Magic Stick" and Format it with 1 partition GUID (not MBR) as pictured below and name it EFI.

 

 

 

1.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

2. Close Disk Utility.

 

3. Browse to your SLv3 folder you downloaded and right-click (control click) the file named EFI_v3.dmg and select "Open With" > "Disk Utility.app"

 

DO NOT MOUNT THE DMG!!!

 

 

 

2.jpg

 

 

4. In Disk Utility, select EFIv3.dmg by clicking it and at the top menu, select "Scan Image For Restore"

 

 

3.jpg

 

 

5. After the restore completes, make sure the EFIv3.dmg is still highlighted and select the restore tab. In the right pane, click "Erase destination", drag EFIv3.dmg to "Source" and your magic stick EFI to "Destination" and click "Restore"

 

4.jpg

 

 

NOTE: the IMG is about 222MB so it will fit on a small card for people with smaller media for their Magic Stick...

 

6. Select your EFI partition and right click (control click) it and select Information. Make note of the disk identifier (in my case being disk 3)

 

5.jpg

 

 

7. (optional). to login to terminal as su ( it annoys me to have to always type sudo - if you don't know how, to be able to login as su all you have to do is type "sudo passwd root" without quotes and set a root password then type "su" without quotes at your prompt and enter the new password you just chose.

 

8. cd to the SLv3/i386 folder (i.e. cd /SLv3/i386)

 

9. recall the Dis Identifier of your EFI drive (i.e. disk1)

 

10. Do the following from the SLv3/i386/ folder - you must be logged in as su or put sudo in front of the following 3 commands - I would just do the su login option as defined in the optional step 7;

 

(X is the EFI disk disk from Disk Identifier - once again, in my case I would replace the X with 3)

NOTE: REMEMBER _ IF YOUR NOT LOGGED IN AS "su", YOU MUST PUT "sudo" IN FRONT OF THE NEXT 3 COMMANDS

 

fdisk -f boot0 -u /dev/rdiskX
and then press enter

dd if=boot1h of=/dev/rdiskXs1
and then press enter

fdisk -e /dev/rdiskX
and then press enter

NOTE: You may get an error on the 3rd command above about fdisk: could not open MBR file /usr/standalone/i386/boot0: No such file or directory - IGNORE IT After the 3 above commands, type the following

 

f 1
and press enter

w
and press enter (after pressing enter you may have to type "y then enter again" if you get a message stating the change will take effect after next boot)

q
and press enter

11. cp boot /Volumes/EFI

 

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: If your doing all this from a Leopard 10.5.X install you have to do the following in terminal as su or put sudo before the following command;

vsdbutil -a /Volumes/EFI/

This has to be done so the included Kext Utility.app will build an Extensions.mkext for you.

If you are in Snow Leopard building the Magic Stick, you can skip the vsdbutil command

 

At this point, if you already have the EFI string for your specific video card than edit /Volumes/EFI/Extra/com.apple.boot.plist. I have included ATY_inint which can be added to /Volumes/EFI/Extra/10.6/Extensions which works for various ATI cards and Nvidia Cards - Some people have reported having to use it and an EFI string on cretin cards ...

 

HINT: I'm not going to get into graphics too much as the guide stated - I expect you to be familiar with your hardware but I will give a helpful hint - Instead of using gfxutil to make ins', outs' and all that, just use it to get the path of your device then you can get OSX86Tools and use it for just converting HEX to plist files for editing (being sure to NOT let it write to com.apple.Boot.plist) and use it to import edited plist files to output hex files so you copy and paste the string into the com.apple.boot.plist on your EFI Magic Stick.

 

Whether you added any kexts or not, now would be a good time to test that everything is setup right. I would move the Kext Utility.app from the SLv3 directory to the Desktop and then in finder, go to /Volumes/EFI/Extra/10.6/ and DRAG the extensions folder over the Kext Utility.app (do NOT run the app directly) -

SECTION 2. Bios Setup:

 

Click HERE for a page-by page Bios setup for the i7975 and the 920

 

Other than that, we all know to use AHCI and so on. The boot setup is VERY important!!!

 

SECTION 3. The install:

 

Option 1 (I dislike this method - Try to use 2 - This method is not a good way to go. I use 2 on Gigabyte board as well as many others)

 

A.
From within your current install, format a drive GUID Moac OS Extended Journaled, mount the SL image/insert the CD or whatever your SL install is on and browse to System/Library/Installation on the install media and run the OSInstall.mpkg, select the drive you want to install SL on and any custom options you wish and wait for it to finish . - I had a high failure rate this way (as in "Install Failed" message and trust me when I say it will NOT work if you get this message" which led me to option 2 since its been 100% reliable.

B.
Configure your bios to use the EFI media as the boot disk and make sure there are NO other disks listed under boot disks. Also, set your drive list in the bios to have the USB/SD/microdrive or whatever as the first disk and your SL as the second. I'm not going going to get into a bunch of bios settings as you should already be familiar with them - if you have a working Leopard install than I am going to assume you know what your doing although I did post my BIOS setup for reference above for the i7 920 and the i7 975 Extreme.

C.
First boot - If you built the EFI Magic Stick from 10.5.x I would run -v -f. V3 does NOT like the Extensions.mkext to be built in 10.5.x. After boot, you will have NO SOUND- Don't panic - this is because you did a -f which breaks the sound temporarily. Once your through the OS X setup I would browse to /EFI/Extra/10.6 and drag the Extensions folder over the Kext Utility.app again - you should notice a smaller mkext file. Reboot normally and you will have sound and all!

 

Option 2 <-USE ME

 

A.
Get SL retail and using Disk Utility restore it to a USB flash drive like we did when we made the EFI Magic Stick.

B.
Repeat step 2 from the above "Option 1" install but make sure you DO NOT have your SL Install Disk inserted during BIOS setup; only your EFI disk!

C.
Boot using the modified EFI drive with the SL install USB drive inserted into any available USB port and during the timeout (the countdown), use the arrow keys to select Mac OS X Install. It is not a bad idea to add the -v -f flags as well for the install (they are NOT needed to run SL as I boot normally - although I would do it on install

D.
Once your loaded the installer, Go through the install process , format your drive SL Drive as GUID Mac OS X Extended Journald, continue with the install - I would select custom so quicktime and rosetta get installed and you can remove the language translations that you don't need, let it run - if you did everything right you should have a working vanilla install and be at the countdown screen

 

NOTE:
If the install fails it is due to a BAD COPY of the SL CD - bottom line. If your not overclocked during install and you make it to the installer and it fails, you either have a flakey ESB flash or a batched copy - !

 

E.
First boot - If you built the EFI Magic Stick from 10.5.x I would run -v -f. V3 does NOT like the Extensions.mkext to be built in 10.5.x. After boot, you will have NO SOUND- Don't panic - this is because you did a -f which breaks the sound temporarily (it breaks it during every -f boot but comes back during a normal or -v boot. Once your through the OS X setup I would browse to /EFI/Extra/10.6 and drag the Extensions folder over the Kext Utility.app again - you should notice a smaller mkext file. Reboot normally and you will have sound and all!

 

Adding Kext files.

 

AGAIN - YOU HAVE TO ENABLE OWNERS IF DOING THIS FROM LEOPARD by running in terminal as su or sudo "vsdbutil -a /Volumes/EFI/" then Simply copy the needed kext files to the /Volumes/EFI/Extra/10.6/Extensions directory and drag the Extensions directory over the provided Kext Utility.app (do not run the app - drag the Extensions directory from your EFI drive on to it)

 

 

SECTION 4. Troubleshooting:

 

 

Work in progress...

This will cover detailed GFX methods/issues including SLI, Bonjour and other possible configuration issues.

Q: I am getting a blinking cursor trying to boot from the new EFI

A: You either didn't build the EFI correctly or more likely, your BIOS is setup wrong regarding disk and boot order, make sure your only your Macic Stick is plugged in during the boot setup/disk order in your BIOS (do NOT have your SL flash install plugged in until your done setting up your BIOS to use the EFI MagicStick...

Q: I can boot and get to the installer and start installing but it crashes at X%

A: You either have a bad copy of SL to your flash drive or you have a flaky flash drive. Asus is pickey with some USB flash media. What is happening is that the SL installer can't verify one (or more) of the packages it needs to install. Also,
MAKE SURE YOU ARE
NOT
OVERCLOCKED while your installing
.

I will add that I am open to PM's - if your stuck then give me a shout...

 

 

 

 

Section 5. General Info about the new V3:

 

With the new Chameleon r3

You can then have an EFI disk with the OPTIONAL following structure for dual booting 10.5.x and 10.6.x - Also it supports internal/external drives 2TB and above at boot time.

 

EFI/

boot

Your Folders/ (if any)

Extra/

com.apple.Boot.plist

smbios.plist

 

DSDT.aml

Themes/

10.5/
(if needed for dual boot to 10.5.x)

Extensions/

Extensions.mkext

10.6/

Extensions/

Extensions.mkext

Common/
(if you want but it can cause confusion so I wouldn't add it...)

OtherFiles.whatever

 

 

NOTE: You can keep your current directory structure - the above is to just let you know you can now dual boot to 10.5/6 with this method. Anything in /Extra/Extensions or Common will override Extra/10.x/Extensions so DO NOT USE THEM

 

 

ALSO - I am going to reiterate to EVERYONE - with the EXCEPTION OF THE Boot.plist and possibly the a few graphics kexts if your using simple EFI strings, the EFI_v3.dmg I provided should have you booting with no further edits!!!

 

Tho ONLY other thing you have to do is make sure owners are enabled on the EFI drive so Kext Utility.app runs without error - the above details this.

 

 

 

Section 6. The platform UUID:

 

If you want your Platform UUID to match (not necessary that I know of but why not? it's easy) you need to do the following,

 

In Disk Utility, select your SL drive, right click and select Information. Copy the UUID

 

In ternimnal;

 

cd /Volumes/EFI/Extra/10.6/Extensions/PlatformUUID.kext/Conents

 

(su or sudo) pcio Info.plist (or use a plist editor and finder - whichever)

 

in the section "Add Platform UUID" under the key "PlatformUUID", modify the string to that of the UUID of the Drive SL will be installed on - the UUID is easy to find under DiskUtility as described above. DOUBLE CHECK the UUID is correct!

 

After-which you will want to remake the Extensions.mkext on your EFI disk. This can be done by mounting the EFI drive on any mac, browse to the EFI/Extra directory and dragging the Extensions folder over the Kext Utility.app. It will correct permissions and build the Extensions.mkext.

 

 

SECTION 7. UPDATES AND OTHER INFORMATION:

 

 

ONCE AGAIN - DO NOT INSTALL ANY PATCHES TO YOUR DRIVE!!!

 

 

Here is a Proof of Concept Video - It is over 70MB - give it time to load

 

UPDATE:

 

So you like using a MagicStick but you don't want it showing up on the desktop all the time?

 

Here is an easy fix so you don't have to look at the EFI drive on the desktop all the time.

All you have to do is rename your EFI drive to .EFI - You can use the attached ShowAllFiles.app to show hidden files/folders so you can make edits to the EFI partition such as edits, adding kexts and using the Kext Utility.app to rebuild the Extensions.mkext on the EFI drive.

 

OS X uses a "." before a file or folder to denote that it is "hidden"

 

Anyway, the little app I attached just shows/hides the hidden files/folders with the click of a button. Easy enough right?

 

If you don't want to use the app, you can just use Finder from your desktop by selecting "Go" from the apple menu (at the top) then select "Go to Folder" and type /Volumes/.EFI/ and this will get you there in finder. HINT: if you see no files using the "Go", all you need to do is open terminal and as su or with sudo before the following command. chflags -R nohidden /Volumes/.EFI/*

;) BONJOUR UPDATE: IT IS FIXED!!! :)

So far, the only 100% reliable fix for Bonjour is to get a PCI Ethernet card Boasting the RTL8139D chip - It works OOB and is available on several low cost cards such as the Netgear FA311 - I m still working on the onboard as there is NO reason it shouldn't work - If you don't use Bonjour, don't worry about it since you have fully working LAN OOB without the need to do anything. I personally need bonjour because I have several computers and my printers use it...

 

Bonjour is fixed!!! I modified the stock IONetworkingFamily.kext

 

I only tested in 64bit but there is no reason it shouldnt work in 32 as well. This also works on the EX58-UD5 FYI

 

All you have to do is download the attached IONetworkingFamily.kext.zip, copy it to your EFI/Extra/10.6/Extensions directory and rebuild the Extensions.mkext with Kext Utility.app

 

 

 

 

 

MAJOR 64BIT Update:

 

Thanks for the user brue pointing something out to me - I realized that I omitted some files that I use and that I failed to build into the package to enable 64 bit. - the SLv3 Above has been corrected as of 9-28-09 at 17:00 PST so if you downloaded it after that then don't worry, you have the latest boot file which will automatically load the kernel as 64bit and the extensions as 32 (provided you edit the com.apple.Boot.plist and remove the arch=x86_32 and leave the -32) so just follow the instructions as defined above. For those of you already up and running you will want to update your boot file on your EFI drive with the one attached below in DSDT_kext_bootFor64Bit.zip and update the audio extensions even if you plan on running 32 bit.

 

Here is the Skinny - If your using a MagicStick EFI as recommended (as once again I don't believe in modding the SL install drive AT ALL including hijacking the EFI partition), download the attached below and copy the boot from it to the root of the EFI and the audio kexts from the below zip file to EFI/Extra/10.6/Extensions.

 

THE NEW MAGICSTICK BELOW IS FULLY CORRECTED FOR 64BIT OPERATION

 

 

Also, If your EFI is not visible on your desktop make it. You will want to right click (option click) it and un-check "Ignore ownership on this volume" as pictured below. Permissions HAVE TO BE ENABLED IF YOU PLAN ON RUNNING 64 BIT EXTENSIONS. They NEED be anyway since it fixes some bugs that appear when not enabled!

 

ignore.png

 

 

After you copy the files and no longer ignore owners, rebuild the Extensions.mkext by dragging EFI/Extra/10.6/Extensions over the Kext Utility.app

 

Edit your EFI/Extra/com.apple.boot.plist and remove the arch=x86_32. If you leave the -x32 you will be running the 64 bit kernel and 32 bit extensions as seen here,

 

64kern.png

 

As you can see, I am now running the 64 bit kernel and 32 bit extensions (like almost ALL Mac's released with SL are due to 64 bit extensions breaking a few programs)

 

 

To run 64 bit extensions edit the EFI/Extra/com.apple.Boot.plist so that the only kernel flag is SMBIOSdefaults=no and you will be running both kernel and extensions in 64 bit.

 

If you noticed, I also included brue's DSDT.aml - there is a bit of confusion between brue and I regarding the DSDT.aml and we are trying to figure it out - THe rule of thumb is that if you experience crashes and panics running 64 bit extensions try brue's DSDT.aml included in the attached below (also available in the newly updated EFI_v3.zip at the top of the guide) - IMPORTANT: His version will NOT work on machines without the updated boot file so those of you who installed before this update, make sure you downlowd the file below and update the Audio and boot files - they work with 32 bit and 64 bit extensions modes.

 

Also, un-checking the "Ignore ownership on this volume" on the EFI drive fixes sound temporarily breaking on -f boots!

 

A HUGE thanks to brue to pointing out my omission!

 

THE NEW MAGICSTICK BELOW IS FULLY CORRECTED

 

:PNOTE:

 

I am rebuilding the EFI_v3.dmg tonight to include the fixes - Also, with the latest EFI_v3 and the one to come, use brue's DSDT.aml - in the pack and attached below. I DID find errors in mine for 64bit operation - with the new boot file, brue's DSDT is correct - mine is not.

 

Have fun and I hope this works for everyone else - I will continue to proof read the guide for errors and omissions every chance I get!!!

 

Get the new MagicStick and i386 folder

HERE

-

ShowAllFiles.app.zip

DSDT_kext_bootFor64Bit.zip

IONetworkingFamily.kext.zip

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Searay X,

 

Thanks for the Guide and the links to all the files.

 

I'm trying this on my Asus P6T rig.

I'm having fun, but no success - 3 kernel panics is my limit.

And I'm doing this at night so I'm getting bleary, but I'll try again tomorrow.

 

EFI seems to be working fine, but after the first KP I

updated my BIOS to v707 so some of the settings may be off.

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Searay X,

 

Thanks for the Guide and the links to all the files.

 

I'm trying this on my Asus P6T rig.

I'm having fun, but no success - 3 kernel panics is my limit.

And I'm doing this at night so I'm getting bleary, but I'll try again tomorrow.

 

EFI seems to be working fine, but after the first KP I

updated my BIOS to v707 so some of the settings may be off.

 

I will take pics of my bios settings when I reboot. All of them. Try that. Also, make sure you rebuild the Extensions.mkext file on the EFI. After making a disk image of it I lost sound - rebuilt the mkext and it came back. I noticed the mkext has to be perfect - funny thing.

 

I verified this by doing a disk copy again, removing it and so on. Also, your welcome to try the DSDT.aml although I don't use it.

 

It does work - By the way, are you getting the KP,s on booting the OS or the install?

 

Regards,

 

 

Ryan

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Hi Searay X,

 

When I try to remake the Extensions.mkext on my EFI disk, I drag the extensions folder to the mkext utility app, I enter my password, and then mkext does open a window and does nothing.

I have used mkext before and I've seen it run through a whole bunch of processes, but when I try it now the window is empty.

 

The Kernel panic comes during the OS X Install.

While getting the UUID, I noticed that ownership is not enabled. Could this be the problem, or is ownership enabled during the OS X Install process?

 

Thanks,

Lamneth

 

PS

I had Snow running on this machine by installing it to a USB HD and then restoring it to my Internal HD, but it was very panic-y.

 

WOW!

You did all that in the time it took me to write my reply.

I guess I shouldn't have dropped that High School typing class back in 1977

I will check my BIOS settings and try again.

Lamneth

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Oops - I forgot a screen or two - The drives are AHCI with a timeout of 15, the Jmicron is AHCI and the front panel audio is HD

 

I would strongly recommend NOT overclocking until you have it running - Additionally, my SL drive is in port 0 and my DVD is in port 1. Not sure it makes a difference (I wouldn't think so) but I thought I would mention it.

 

And the above movie is over 70 MB so give it a minute or two to download if you want to watch it.

 

Regards,

 

 

Ryan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Searay X,

 

When I try to remake the Extensions.mkext on my EFI disk...

 

 

 

Let me look into what is causing the Kext program to fail - you can try DL'ing it from a different source.

 

Once again, run stock speeds while doing all this - it will save you trouble.

 

 

Regards,

 

Ryan

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I think my BIOS setting are OK now.

Although the Boot setting do not show [Generic: USB SD]

 

Still getting kernel panic.

 

I will try to remake the USB EFI

Perhaps I fubared it

 

Possibly - You should also try to recopy your SL disk - I noticed that it is hard to copy for some reason - Even though it shows OK, it took me 3 attempts from an original SL disk before it worked. I am not sure why. Also, Make sure when you restore your SL disk your select "Erase Destination" on your USB stick. The copy has to be perfect...

 

I have retested my method and compared it to the guide and it does not look like I forgot any steps. I booted just now to my SL install USB drive just fine.]

 

Also, your boot EFI will show up as whatever you use - I use a Generic multicard reader and that's how it shows up - if I use a USB stick for the EFI such as my Toshiba, it reads Toshiba USB Drive (or something similar)

 

Just make sure that you don NOT have your install disk in while your setting your boot selection up - so you don't accidentally choose the wrong one.

 

EDIT

NOTE: I just noticed your specs - you are running an ATI - I have not tested it with an ATI but I can give you the KEXT files you need to add for it if indeed that is what you are using. I have no way to test them other than reports that they worked for other people with some ATI cards.

END EDIT

 

 

EDIT 2

 

One other thing you can try -

 

Although it defeats the purpose of not modding the install disk, follow the instructions from step 8 in the guide on the Mac OS X Install disk and then add the boot file from the modded boot loader to the install disk root and go to the /usr/standalone/i386 and copy the files from the modded boot files I gave to that location which will replace the original ones.

 

You will still boot from the EFI disk you made and select the Mac OS X Install disk but this may fix it for you -

 

I am picky and try to make everything original as possible but if this is a fix for your setup, the end result is the same which is a totally unmodified install itself.

 

In the meantime, I am packing the ATI kexts for you as I would assume this is the root of your problem and none of the above except perhaps the actual copy of the SL install disk not being perfect.

Regards,

 

Ryan

 

END EDIT 2

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

EDIT 3

 

There appears to only be one kext to add that I can think of for the ATI card.

 

It is attached to this post. The 3600 series is listed in the Info.plist so it's worth a shot...

 

I can't stress this enough - You MUST have the Extensions.mkext file in the EFI/Extra directory rebuilt properly and the Kext program MUST give output.

 

If Extensions.mkext is not right, it WILL malfunction!!!

 

END EDIT 3

ATY_Init.kext.zip

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Possibly - You should also try to recopy your SL disk - I noticed that it is hard to copy for some reason - Even though it shows OK, it took me 3 attempts from an original SL disk before it worked. I am not sure why. Also, Make sure when you restore your SL disk your select "Erase Destination" on your USB stick. The copy has to be perfect...

 

I have retested my method and compared it to the guide and it does not look like I forgot any steps. I booted just now to my SL install USB drive just fine.]

 

Also, your boot EFI will show up as whatever you use - I use a Generic multicard reader and that's how it shows up - if I use a USB stick for the EFI such as my Toshiba, it reads Toshiba USB Drive (or something similar)

 

Just make sure that you don NOT have your install disk in while your setting your boot selection up - so you don't accidentally choose the wrong one.

 

EDIT

NOTE: I just noticed your specs - you are running an ATI - I have not tested it with an ATI but I can give you the KEXT files you need to add for it if indeed that is what you are using. I have no way to test them other than reports that they worked for other people with some ATI cards.

END EDIT

 

 

EDIT 2

 

One other thing you can try -

 

Although it defeats the purpose of not modding the install disk, follow the instructions from step 8 in the guide on the Mac OS X Install disk and then add the boot file from the modded boot loader to the install disk root and go to the /usr/standalone/i386 and copy the files from the modded boot files I gave to that location which will replace the original ones.

 

You will still boot from the EFI disk you made and select the Mac OS X Install disk but this may fix it for you -

 

I am picky and try to make everything original as possible but if this is a fix for your setup, the end result is the same which is a totally unmodified install itself.

 

In the meantime, I am packing the ATI kexts for you as I would assume this is the root of your problem and none of the above except perhaps the actual copy of the SL install disk not being perfect.

Regards,

 

Ryan

 

END EDIT 2

 

I've am definitely having a EFI mkext issue (I think)

When I drag the folder it open but nothing runs

or is it so fast that i'm not seeing it

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I've am definitely having a EFI mkext issue (I think)

When I drag the folder it open but nothing runs

or is it so fast that i'm not seeing it

 

Did you try a different machine?

 

Did you re-download the tool from elsewhere?

 

Also, where are you running the tool from - I have it on my desktop - you could try to copy it to your EFI disk for the heck of it and run it from there as it cold be a pathing issue isolated to your machine.

 

I attached just the utility to this post. Try it.

 

 

 

If yes to the above, DMG the the EFI drive and email it to me - PM me for my email - I will see if I can build it and set the permissions.

 

Make the DMG compressed

 

UPDATE: Anyone having an issue with building the Extensions.mkext should see the update at the bottom of my guide.

Kext_Utility.app.zip

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Here is a shot of my installation kernel panic

Any ideas?

 

The fact your making it to the installer itself is a good sign.

 

As advised in the e-mail, Try install option 1

 

OR

 

during the install, before installation, use the SL installer Disk Utility (found in the top menu after you click OK to the agreements)

 

IMG_1163.JPG

 

 

 

and format the drive , GUID (no MBR)

 

During the install use view log (select it from the top menu bar when the installer starts installing)-

 

 

IMG_1164.JPG

 

 

 

select view all from the drop-down (show errors only is the default) when the installer log pops up, and whatch on what exact line its hanging on.

Keep the log window on top so you can report to me what the last process was.

 

 

IMG_1165.JPG

 

 

 

Regards,

 

Ryan

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I am looking for some feedback to see how I might be able to help and improve this guide. I now have 2 systems running PDG and am working hard to improve it -

 

If you can, please take the time to answer the poll.

 

Thanks,

 

Ryan

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i try ur method but when i boot the EFI, it does nothing.just black screen with a blinking "_"

 

 

Your building the EFI wrong or you have not properly selected it as the ONLY boot device in BIOS - you have to be - the ONLY cause for this is when the BIOS tries to "rollback" to another boot device option if the EFI is not properly bootable and/or selected in the BIOS as the boot device.

 

Are you sure you selected the USB stick/Flash/SD card (some refer to this as a magic stick) your EFI is on properly in the BIOS? Did you check the EFI stick.

 

Look, I have built now 5 machines (all Nvidia based I will add) and ALL of them have worked with this method.

 

The only one I have had an issue with is the i7 975 and I managed to fix that as well.

 

1. Double check your bios settings so that your magic stick is the boot device and that it is bootable.

2. do UPDATE 3 from the above guide

 

This does work...

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it is the only boot device on BIOS... maybe i build it wrong.. will try again using UPDATE 3 trick.will inform later

 

 

Make sure when you build you you do the following.

 

1. Start Disk Utility

2. Select the EFI.dmg

4. Click the Restore tab on the right.

5. Drag the EFI.dmg as source

6. Drag your USB (Magic Stick) as source

7. Click Erase destination then click Restore.

 

See image below...

 

 

restore.jpg

 

 

 

 

This DOES work - I have now built 5 machines using this method...

 

If you continue to have issues, do UPDATE 1 - the one that is crossed out then UPDATE 3.

 

 

Regards,

 

Ryan

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Hey Searay,

Thanks for the guide. Intending on trying this soon, just waiting to get my hands on SL disk. All the gear is new except for the graphics card which is running in another hac right now, So, the bios settings are much appreciated. Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems to me your booting off the stick even after install. I was wondering if it's not possible to place the efi on a partition on the hard drive as opposed to running it off a flash.

 

Thanx,

Sapper

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Hey Searay,

Thanks for the guide. Intending on trying this soon, just waiting to get my hands on SL disk. All the gear is new except for the graphics card which is running in another hac right now, So, the bios settings are much appreciated. Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems to me your booting off the stick even after install. I was wondering if it's not possible to place the efi on a partition on the hard drive as opposed to running it off a flash.

 

Thanx,

Sapper

 

 

 

It is possible but the idea is to try to emulate a Mac as much as possible. While hijacking the EFI partition is a wonderful method (thank you Munky for the original concept) but to me is outdated. If something happens to your disk you have to start from scratch with all the mess of modding the 200MB EFI partition whereas my method allows you to simply install stock and if needed, restore from a Time Machine backup...

 

In one of my P6T's I made a USB device that mounts internal and hides the EFI disk - I have marked the EFI disk as hidden so it doesn't show up on the desktop.

 

The "Magic Stick" method is just safer, cleaner and allows a more stock install with easier modification - once again, I can take my SL or 10.5.8 disk out of my alternative mac and boot to a real mac pro.

 

Think of the magic stick as an add-on BIOS.

 

Another cool idea you can use is to buy a SATA to CF adapter that mounts in one of the expansion slots in the back. I have done this as well.

 

In other words, do what you like but I got tired of going into terminal and doing mkdir /Volumes/EFI then mount_hfs /dev/diskXs1 /Volumes/EFI.

 

Then if I had to add a kext, I either had to build a script or use cd /Volumes/EFI/Extra then kectcache -a i386 -z -m Extensions.mkext Extensions but only after verifying the permissions manually!

 

The Kext Utility.app is just plain easy to use and makes it easy to test new things and hard to use if you make the EFI on your HDD. For example - I am working on fixing the ICH10 issue with slow speeds on additional drives with this board and a few others. If I had the EFI on the HDD then this would be more difficult and time consuming.

 

Another thing - with the Magic Stick, you can have a lot more than 200MB. I know that sounds like a lot but with my i7 975, I had to copy half the extensions directory from the actual SL drive to the EFI drive (I have not quite figured out why yet - lol) - Having a 1GB micro SD for 9.00 was well worth it.

 

This is just my opinion but I feel that many would agree.

 

I hope this helps you to make a decision.

 

Regards,

 

Ryan

 

 

By the way - Get your hands on a RETAIL disk... First of all Mac deserves the sale and secondly the copy of the disk to a flash drive is critical - If it fails it has been my experience that it is due to a faulty copy (even if disk utility says its OK - I have watched the logs on a failed install and it's usually due to a package failing verification).

 

Good luck with your install.

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I have to be direct here - If you use an Nvidia card and EFI stings or the proper kexts/EFI strings for your ATI and this is failing and you followed this guide, you are doing something wrong.

 

You have wither downloaded a bad copy of SL (buy it - its cheap in comparisoon to windows), you have not built the EFI right, you are overclocked with processor/memory or both, or you have unsupported cards installed.

 

If you use an i7920 and follow this guide this will work - I just finished my 6th computer tonight. I have used both install methods above in the guide and without fail this works.

 

I have used it with a combo of DDR3 1600, 1800, PCI Ethernet cards, PCI Fire wire 800 cards, BR & BR RW drives, DVDR's, Nvidia GTX 285 Mac Edition, 9600 GT OC, 9800 GT OC and have yet to get it to fail with the exceptions noted above.

 

If your having failures there HAS to be an issue with the way in which you are doing it.

 

Good luck all and happy hacking.

 

Regards,

 

Ryan

 

P.S. Try first boot with -v -f and see what happens.

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