780 replies to this topic

[tseug]

Snow Leopard Vanilla Retail Guide for GA-P35-DS4 and other related boards

This is a guide for Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4. It may work on related boards so if it works for you, feel free to report it in this thread. I cannot test much on other motherboards as I only have GA-P35-DS4.

Success has been reported on the following related motherboards: GA-EP35-DS3P, GA-EP35-DS4, GA-EP45-DQ6, GA-X38-DS5, GA-P35-DS3R, GA-EP35-DS3L (ALC888)*, GA-P35-DS3L (ALC888)*, GA-EP45-DS3R, GA-P35-DQ6, GA-P35-DS3P, GA-EP45-DS5, GA-P35-DS3, GA-EP35-DS3

* ALC888 not supported at the moment. Let me know if you need it. It's not a problem but since other methods are available like the DSDT editor, I'll only put it up if someone requests it.

Might also work on other GA boards with Realtek ALC889A audio codec.

I would also like to know which boards/graphic cards failed

Success has been reported with the following graphics cards: NVidia 8800GT 512MB, NVidia 8600GT 256 MB, NVidia 9600GT 1024MB, Radeon X1950 PRO, NVidia 7600GT 256MB

Failure has been reported with the following graphics cards: ATI HD3870, ATI 4850 1024MB, NVidia GeForce 7100 GS

Graphics might also work on other NVidia cards without additional kexts added.

The main goal of this guide is to take most of the manual patching out of installing by providing you with one  installer instead of having to go through several separate phases (DSDT patching etc.).

The boot loader used in the installer is based on Chameleon RC5.

Note that the installer use /var/log/install.log for logging.

This has been tested on a GA-P35-DS4 motherboard (rev 1.0) with the F14 BIOS, Q6600 Quad Core 2.4@3.2 GHz (G0 stepping), Nvidia 8800GT 512 MB, 4 GB RAM, SATA hard drive, SATA DVD drive and an Apple USB keyboard. The retail DVD version was 10.6.0 and the Chameleon Boot Loader version tested was 2.0-r700 (Kabyl branch). Install time: approximately 1 hour

For details and screenshots of the BIOS settings go here.

Remember to support OS X by purchasing a genuine retail DVD

Known issues

* Automatic sleep after a period of inactivity may not work. As a workaround you can disconnect your DVD drive but first try to uncheck "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" in Energy Saver.

Without further ado...

Prerequisites:

* A blank CD

* A SATA DVD drive

* USB mouse/keyboard

* An empty SATA GUID partition

* A retail Snow Leopard DVD

* The GA-P35-DS4 Snow Leopard Installer (Get it here)

* The Snow Leopard Boot CD (Get it here)

* USB pen drive (optional)

Before you begin:

1) Save your BIOS settings by pressing F11 in the main BIOS screen. Booting from the boot CD will reset your settings. You can load your settings by pressing F12 in the main BIOS screen.

2) Burn the boot cd iso using your favorite ISO burning software.

3) Transfer the installer. Alternatively, you can download them after installing OS X.

Install Snow Leopard:

1) Insert your newly burned CD into your drive, reboot and press F12 during POST, and choose CD-ROM as bootup device.

2) When Chameleon boots up, insert your Snow Leopard Retail DVD into your drive, then press F5. The Snow Leopard DVD should now show up. If it doesn't, open and close the drive, and press F5 again. Select the DVD, press -v and press enter.

3) Install OS X. Grab a cup of coffee...

4) Restart. You need to load your saved settings in BIOS before proceeding. You should also exchange the retail DVD with your boot CD. Save your settings (F10) and restart. Press F12 to boot from your CDROM.

5)  This time select your newly installed SL partition at the Chameleon main menu. Press -v and enter to get logging. Fill out the various forms. If you do not wish to register with Apple you can press cmd+Q when prompted for your Apple ID.

6) Install GA-P35-DS4 Snow Leopard Installer.

7) Restart. Again, load your saved BIOS settings and save them. This time, boot from the drive containing your newly installed SL partition.

That's it! You're done. You should now be booting into Snow Leopard with the correct resolution, network and sound. If you need to, you can update OS X now (just use Software Update).

If you want your internal drives on your Desktop, click the appropriate checkbox in Finder Preferences.

---

Alternative install method

For convenience, or if the Boot CD doesn't work (some ATI graphics cards or IDE DVD drive, for example), you can restore an image of the Snow Leopard DVD to a partition or a USB thumb drive using Disk Utility. Before you can restore the DVD image, you need to scan it for restore (Images -> Scan Image for Restore in Disk Utility). Once the image has been restore to the target partition, run the installer with the target partition as target.
---

Updating from a previous install

The new installer fixes some issues such as USB reconnect and wake from mouse click. In general, it seems to cause OS X to run a bit smother as well. It also implements sleep in the DSDT which should make kernel updates (OS X point updates) less painful.

1) Remove /Extra/DSDT.aml and reboot.
2) Load your BIOS settings and boot into OS X.
3) Run the new installer and reboot.

---
If something goes wrong...

As mentioned, take a look in /var/log/install.log. If the installer failed there is probably some errors around a ".rb" string. Attach the output and the dsdt.dsl file to a post in this thread and I'll look into it.

---
Details

The installer copies smbios.plist, generates DSDT.aml and adds extensions to /Extra. It also puts a modified ifconfig into /usr/local/bin and a launchd plist into /Library/LaunchDaemons. This is needed for Bonjour to work. It should work with the 64-bit kernel, but I still recommend using the 32-bit kernel.

At the moment, the installer installs these kexts to /Extra/Extensions:

LegacyHDA.kext - audio
fakesmc.kext - Simulates the SMC device on macs for decryption etc.

In addition, the Installer sets up GraphicsEnabler, SpeedStep, and removed no longer needed kexts (such as SleepEnabler).
---
FAQ

1) My PCI WiFi card isn't recognized.

Try switching the PCI card to another port. If that doesn't work, try this: http://www.insanelym...p;#entry1275952

2) The boot CD doesn't work

You either have an IDE drive or you're using an unsupported graphics card.

3) Some hard drives cannot be found in OS X

IDE hard drives are not supported. You may be able to find a kext that works for you on this site

4) My drives do not show up on the desktop

This can be changed in Finder Preferences

5) Can I upgrade to 10.6.6 with Software Update without trouble?

Yes

6) My drives are orange (OS X thinks they are external).

The DSDT sets the drives on the first SATA controller as internal but leaves the drives on the second SATA controller as external to support those of you who use E-SATA. This can be rectified in the DSDT if you want them to be internal but it's purely cosmetic as far as I can tell. On the GA-P35-DS4, the first SATA controller connectors are yellow, and the second SATA controller connectors are purple

7) My PS/2 keyboard/mouse doesn't work.

PS/2 is not supported. I believe there is a kext somewhere but USB should work. Make sure to enable USB keyboard in BIOS

8) How do I configure SMBIOS?

/Extra/smbios.plist. Details are out of scope for this guide, so you'll need to Google. Don't hesitate to report your findings, though

9) Can I migrate my applications and users from Leopard

Yes. Use Migration Assistant (included in SL). If your Leopard installation contains extra kexts in /S/L/E, you may have to delete them in order for SL to work properly.
---

Sources

Sources are no longer available as I'm unsure whether anyone is using them. If you want them up, let me know.

Changelog for DSDT Generator:

version 0.1 - initial release
version 0.2 - PEX autodetection. Support for boards where IOEthernetInterface is not attached to PEX5
version 0.3 - Script can be drag&dropped into terminal, more logging, looks for HPET and RTC EisaId, adds HPET when none is found, ALC888 DSM added (but not used or tested)
version 0.4 - moved iasl to dsdt subdirectory
version 0.5 - relaxed PEX exception handling, prepared for multiple DSM
version 0.6 - SATA patch (making drives appear internal)
version 0.7 - sleep fix, shutdown fix, usb fix, ehci fix, sbus fix, IrqNoFlags fix

Edited by tseug, 16 March 2011 - 08:02 PM.

[starobrno1]

This looks really interesting, I´ve been looking in to this dst thing for a while now but all threads so far are a bit hightech to me. I´m an old LTLs method user kind of, been happy with that type of install for my last 3 computers. I´ve even used it to get SL up running with the help of one of theese 132 boot disc around. Typing this in SL

So you say here the installer fixes the dst pacthing thing for me? Man that would be good.

I know I should dig in to it and learn but just don´t have the time so it´s not that I´m disrespectful or lazy.

My gear
GA EP45-DS3
Q6600 cpu
Sata discs
two 7300 gs 512 pcie videocards (4 displays possible using only 3) theese noname cheap guys works better than ever before in SL.
etc etc

I´m a an amateur music guy using my computer pretty much only for Logic and internet.

[tseug]

All files should be uploaded now so give it a shot.

[lediur]

Will this work for a GA-EP35C-DS3R motherboard?

[tseug]

lediur, on Sep 5 2009, 07:01 PM, said:

Will this work for a GA-EP35C-DS3R motherboard?

I don't know. I'm only able to test on my own mb.

[galtaforce]

Thanks for all the work that has gone into this...

I'm having some troubles with the GA-P35-DS4 Snow Leopard Installer though.

It fails running the "postupgrade script for snowjob". Any thoughs?

[rfuilrez]

lediur, on Sep 5 2009, 02:01 PM, said:

Will this work for a GA-EP35C-DS3R motherboard?

http://www.insanelym...p;#entry1231503

I had good success using that guide for the my EP35C-DS3R.

[tseug]

galtaforce, on Sep 6 2009, 03:14 AM, said:

Thanks for all the work that has gone into this...

I'm having some troubles with the GA-P35-DS4 Snow Leopard Installer though.

It fails running the "postupgrade script for snowjob". Any thoughs?

As mentioned, the log is in /var/log/install.log. Look for the string ".rb". It is impossible to diagnose without some idea of what went wrong.

Also try running the standalone dsdt patcher. It won't do anything bad to your system but it is interesting if it fails.

I did find a bug, however. The installer fails when installing to the same partition as we're running. This shouldn't be an issue if the guide is followed but I'm looking into it.

[tseug]

There was a bug in the installer.  

Please redownload the installer

Guide updated with new links

[freakbox69]

Thanks, Great guide

Worked great for my EP35-DS3P.

[tokra128]

Hi Guys .. I have this mb, and I cannot get under any circumstance to obtain optical sound out ... I allready have a dsdt created by a friend for snow leopard (bios reset fix, network and video included - the videocard is a 8800 GT - ) As I have say .. what is not working is the microphone .. and the optical out...can someone help-me with this stuff ? I atache my dsdt... maybe someone is kind enough and modd this dsdt for digital output too... thanks in advance !

Attached Files

•  DSDT.aml.zip   6.92K   124 downloads

[angelseban]

hi thanks for the super guide, SL is working now for me using your guide(GA-P35-DS4)

[tseug]

DSDT Generator v0.2 released. It now autodetects which PEX the IOEthernetInterface is attached to.

[mactheworld77]

If I have the 8600 gt 512 is there any other steps I must take or will the installer work as is? Installing from another HD on the system with 10.5.8

[rheneas]

I attempted to install using this method multiple times on my test HDD (see specs), but I never could get very far in the installation without a KP.

[tseug]

mactheworld77, on Sep 6 2009, 04:28 PM, said:

If I have the 8600 gt 512 is there any other steps I must take or will the installer work as is? Installing from another HD on the system with 10.5.8

The installer has no opinion about graphics. You get your EFI String from EFIStudio. 8600GT 512 MB happens to be supported.

In short, the installer will work as it is.

rheneas, on Sep 6 2009, 04:58 PM, said:

I attempted to install using this method multiple times on my test HDD (see specs), but I never could get very far in the installation without a KP.

Could you be more specific? Does it panic during installing?

Does DSDT patcher compile? Are there any "Alias" strings in dsdt_fixed.txt?

[iggy63]

Funziona grazie

this is my Extra folder
To change com.apple.Boot and SMBIOS I used "BBEdit" (force the permissions of the file without moving from
folder)

 106.jpg   65.14K   514 downloads

Disk Utility repair permissions does not work very hard ...

I reinstalled BSD.pkg but malfunctioning
What is wrong?

ciao

[tseug]

iggy63, on Sep 6 2009, 05:44 PM, said:

Funziona grazie

Prego

[build]

tseug, on Sep 5 2009, 07:16 PM, said:

10) Open /Extra/com.apple.Boot.plist in an editor. Put arch=x86_32 in kernel flags in /Extra/com.apple.Boot.plist. Keep the file open.

Does this mean you are forcing Snow Leopard to run in 32bit?

[tseug]

build, on Sep 6 2009, 05:13 PM, said:

Does this mean you are forcing Snow Leopard to run in 32bit?

I'm forcing the kernel to run 32 bit, not SL. The only reason is to enable RealtekR1000.kext which in turn enables Bonjour. If you don't care about Bonjour you can run in 64 bit kernel mode.