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Retail Snow Leopard on P5Q - Closest to the real Mac Pro yet!


Panther1
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Great news, I have SL up and running, sound, Lan et al. I updated to 10.6.1 so the install is sound. I tried the RC2 install but for some odd reason, when I go through the RC2 install, it gives me the message "installation failed". When I use the boot loader method to boot into OSX I get a kernal panic. When I use the boot CD - no problems. ( i did replace the boot file with the RC3 version)

 

I have a p5Q

4 Gigs Ram

500GIG Western

250 Seagate

Nvidia 7600

3.16 core due

 

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance

Kooby

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Great news, I have SL up and running, sound, Lan et al. I updated to 10.6.1 so the install is sound. I tried the RC2 install but for some odd reason, when I go through the RC2 install, it gives me the message "installation failed". When I use the boot loader method to boot into OSX I get a kernal panic. When I use the boot CD - no problems. ( i did replace the boot file with the RC3 version)

 

I have a p5Q

4 Gigs Ram

500GIG Western

250 Seagate

Nvidia 7600

3.16 core due

 

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance

Kooby

 

UPDATE 5:52 AM PDT

 

I've managed to write a script that'll do what's written below, but I have yet to test it -- So stay tuned.

 

This script will be a part of my ASUS P5Q Mars Support Package that will be simultaneously released with my guide.

 

 

 

Kooby,

 

I'm pretty sure that the Chameleon RC2 r640.pkg wasn't made for Snow Leopard, and will ultimately fail if you try to install it from within SL. A ton of guides say to install Chameleon RC2 r640.pkg from Leopard onto the SL installation.

 

The following is a pull from my unreleased guide for the ASUS P5Q.

 

This will be a bit involved, so please be patient...

 

Download Chameleon RC3 r658 binaries from the Chameleon Team's website. Extract the contents of that archive to your desktop and rename it to something simple; e.g., RC3.

 

It is assumed that your hard drive has been properly formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with a GUID partition table.

 

The following steps are performed in Terminal...

 

Change your working directory to i386 which is in RC3

cd /Users/YOURUSERNAME/Desktop/RC3/i386

 

Let's say that your installation (root) is at /dev/disk0s2 (Tip: Open up Disk Utility and then click on your volume name, and then click Information, it will be listed under "Disk Identifier")

 

Install boot0 to the MBR

sudo ./fdisk -f boot0 -u -y /dev/rdisk0

 

Install boot1h to the partition's bootsector

sudo dd if=boot1h of=/dev/rdisk0s2

 

Now create a folder in root called "Extra"

sudo mkdir /Extra

 

Change the ownership of Extra

sudo chown -R root:wheel /Extra

 

Copy the folder Themes into /Extra from the Optional Extras folder in RC3

sudo cp -R /Users/YOURUSERNAME/Desktop/RC3/Optional\ Extras/Themes /Extra

 

Create a folder in /Extra named Extensions

sudo mkdir /Extra/Extensions

 

Now, pop in the bootcd you have, and copy com.apple.Boot.plist from Preboot.dmg (mount Preboot.dmg) and copy it to /Extra

sudo cp -R /Volumes/Preboot/com.apple.Boot.plist /Extra

 

Tip: Do not copy com.apple.Boot.plist from the BootCD's Extra folder; it has options that you do not need.

 

Optional: Copy smbios.plist from Optional Extras into /Extra or copy over your custom smbios.plist file into /Extra

sudo cp -R /Users/YOURUSERNAME/Desktop/RC3/Optional\ Extras/smbios.plist /Extra

sudo chown -R root:wheel /Extra/smbios.plist

 

Change the ownership of com.apple.Boot.plist

sudo chown -R root:wheel com.apple.Boot.plist

 

Copy the kexts from the bootcd

sudo cp -R /Volumes/Preboot/Extensions/* /Extra/Extensions

 

Change the ownership of the kexts

sudo chown -R root:wheel /Extra/Extensions/*

 

Copy dsdt.aml to /Extra (if you have one)

sudo cp -R /Volumes/Preboot/dsdt.aml /Extra -or- sudo cp -R /Users/YOURUSERNAME/Desktop/dsdt.aml /Extra

 

Change the ownership of dsdt.aml

sudo chown -R root:wheel /Extra/dsdt.aml

 

Go to Netkas' website @ netkas.org, and download his updated PC EFI v10.3 (10.1 booter) based on Chameleon RC3 r658, save that in RC3.

 

Copy the boot file you just downloaded to root /

sudo cp -R /Users/YOURUSERNAME/Desktop/RC3/boot /

 

Change the ownership of boot

sudo chown -R root:wheel /boot

 

Now, to use the graphics enabler built into the boot file, you need to determine which PCI-E slot your graphics card is in...

sudo ioreg -l | grep -15 "AppleACPIPCI\ " | grep UID

 

It should spit back 0 as opposed to 1 = e.g., PCI 0 vs PCI 1, it should be pci0. Apparently RC3 defaults to pci1, so you need to override that by adding it as a boot flag.

 

Edit com.apple.Boot.plist - add pci-e slot override, graphics enabler, and graphics mode

sudo nano /Extra/com.apple.Boot.plist

 

Before:

<key>Kernel</key>

<string>mach_kernel</string>

<key>Kernel Flags</key>

<string></string>

<key>Timeout</key>

<string>25</string>

 

After:

<key>Kernel</key>

<string>mach_kernel</string>

<key>Kernel Flags</key>

<string>-pci0</string> you can add -arch=i386 -x32 or -arch=x86_64 -x64 if you want e.g., <string>-pci0 -arch=x86_x64 -x64</string>

<key>Timeout</key>

<string>25</string>

<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>

<string>Yes</string>

<key>Graphics Mode</key>

<string>1920x1200x32</string>

 

Note: You must remove device-properties from com.apple.Boot.plist in order to use GraphicsEnabler. GraphicsEnabler is far better than gfx-strings/efi-strings.

 

Press CONTROL+O and then hit ENTER, then press CONTROL+X to exit nano.

 

Following the steps above should get you to boot your SL install without a cd, and shouldn't produce a kernel panic.

 

So, in closing, I really hope the steps above work for you!!!!

 

 

If you need more help, feel free to ask!

 

 

Peace,

IanT

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UPDATE 5:52 AM PDT

 

 

Following the steps above should get you to boot your SL install without a cd, and shouldn't produce a kernel panic.

 

So, in closing, I really hope the steps above work for you!!!!

 

 

If you need more help, feel free to ask!

 

 

Peace,

IanT

 

 

Ian,

 

Thank you!!!!!!!!

 

I will give this a shot this weekend. I really appreciate you spending the time to write out step by step instructions for a noob like me!!

 

Thanks again.

Kooby

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Hey guys!

Well I have a P5Q too!

I have 10.5.8 working perfectly, as well as Windows 7!

So there is my question, because I am not such a pro in thoswe things!

 

Is there a way to get Windows 7 plus Snow Leopard working in dual boot?

Once I installed Chameleon ( een tho I didn't know what it really is ) everything screwed up!

I had to format windows and MAC!

 

I dont want to have this again!

I hope someone can help me!

What is the best way for me to install Snow Leopard!

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Yes! This finally worked today after a week of failing! It always installed with no problems, but I could never get the damn bootloader to work, and graphics didn't work without the proper bootloader!

 

And today I finally got it to work. Then I immediately made a backup with SuperDuper!

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Yes! This finally worked today after a week of failing! It always installed with no problems, but I could never get the damn bootloader to work, and graphics didn't work without the proper bootloader!

 

And today I finally got it to work. Then I immediately made a backup with SuperDuper!

 

tofagerl,

 

Congratulations!

 

What did you do to get it to work?

 

Peace,

IanT

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Ian,

 

Thank you!!!!!!!!

 

I will give this a shot this weekend. I really appreciate you spending the time to write out step by step instructions for a noob like me!!

 

Thanks again.

Kooby

 

Kooby,

 

Hey there! No problem!

 

Hit me up if you run into any issues.

 

 

Peace,

IanT

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Hey,

 

I followed the instructions (even modified the BIOS) and after loading the bootloader and inserting the Mac OS X DVD a grey circle as the stop signs one appears on top of the chamaleon image eye and just keeps loading eternally.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks!

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Hey,

 

I followed the instructions (even modified the BIOS) and after loading the bootloader and inserting the Mac OS X DVD a grey circle as the stop signs one appears on top of the chamaleon image eye and just keeps loading eternally.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks!

 

Well I had the same problem, the way I fixed it was at first I had a PATA Hard Drive, and a PATA DVD Drive.

I replaced the hard drive with a SATA that I had in my old windows pc. I also went to frys today and bought a SATA DVD drive and all is well I'm installing now and haven't ran into any issues except that Snow OSX doesn't support PS/2 but o well took off the adapter updated the bios and now my USB keyboard works like a champ.

 

Hope that helps

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Kooby,

 

Hey there! No problem!

 

Hit me up if you run into any issues.

 

 

Peace,

IanT

 

Ian,

 

I followed your instructions and the bootloader is working perfectly. You guys are awesome - Many grateful thanks!! I'm going to play with this install for a few days to ensure that it is stable, then I'm going to swap out the GPU for a 280GTX. I had the 280 in the box originally but changed it for the 7600 b/c I knew that if I had any issues it would be with the SL install & not the card.

 

I will search the forum for instructions on swapping to a 280GTX as I know that several people have done the upgrade. If you Learned Gentlemen have any insights it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Have a great weekend and once again - Many thanks!!

 

Kooby

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Well I had the same problem, the way I fixed it was at first I had a PATA Hard Drive, and a PATA DVD Drive.

I replaced the hard drive with a SATA that I had in my old windows pc. I also went to frys today and bought a SATA DVD drive and all is well I'm installing now and haven't ran into any issues except that Snow OSX doesn't support PS/2 but o well took off the adapter updated the bios and now my USB keyboard works like a champ.

 

Hope that helps

 

Strange, I have two SATA hard drives and two SATA CDROM readers. Any other suggestions?

 

This are my PC specs:

 

Asus P5Q-E

Intel C2D E8400

G.Skill 4GB DDR2 1066

GeForce GTX 260

2x SATA 500GB HD

2x SATA CDROM/DVD/Blue-Ray

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Strange, I have two SATA hard drives and two SATA CDROM readers. Any other suggestions?

 

This are my PC specs:

 

Asus P5Q-E

Intel C2D E8400

G.Skill 4GB DDR2 1066

GeForce GTX 260

2x SATA 500GB HD

2x SATA CDROM/DVD/Blue-Ray

well I have a p5q-em but that shouldn't be the problem for you. Make sure you have the latest bios, and make sure AHCI is set and ACPI 2.0 is enabled. If all that is done and your still having trouble let me know and I'll help you out as much as I can

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well I have a p5q-em but that shouldn't be the problem for you. Make sure you have the latest bios, and make sure AHCI is set and ACPI 2.0 is enabled. If all that is done and your still having trouble let me know and I'll help you out as much as I can

 

Haha! I just found out by reading another post about the AHCI, tested it out and it's seems it's now loading what's needed, just now after refreshing read your post talking about this. It's loading now. I'll try the setup and keep you guys updated with questions and progress!

 

Thanks!

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Hey guys,

 

I managed to successfully install OS X 10.6.1 with networking and sound, but still having a couple of issues.

 

1. When I restart, the PC gets to the part where the screen goes black in order to start back up, it never does, it's like it stays there just stuck in the restart

2. Another issue is that my mouse (A Logitech G9) is kind of skipping and the movement speed is strange.

3.Can't get OSX to recognize 5.1 speakers, just 2.1.

4. OSX feels kind of sluggish in general. I have a C2D E8400, 4GB DDR2, GeForce GTX 260 and 2x500GB SATA HD 3Gb/s transfer.

 

Any suggestions/fixes? Thanks!

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Ian,

 

I followed your instructions and the bootloader is working perfectly. You guys are awesome - Many grateful thanks!! I'm going to play with this install for a few days to ensure that it is stable, then I'm going to swap out the GPU for a 280GTX. I had the 280 in the box originally but changed it for the 7600 b/c I knew that if I had any issues it would be with the SL install & not the card.

 

I will search the forum for instructions on swapping to a 280GTX as I know that several people have done the upgrade. If you Learned Gentlemen have any insights it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Have a great weekend and once again - Many thanks!!

 

Kooby

 

Kooby,

 

That's awesome!!! I'm happy that you got a working SL install with Chameleon 2.0 RC3 r658!!!

 

Let me know how the stability testing goes!

 

 

Peace,

 

IanT

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BootCD gave me this error!

 

reading ramdisk image: bt(0,0) /Extra/Preboot.dmg/

no ramdisk config....

 

Any support?

Tks in adv!

 

 

Hi,

 

I get the same error as well, tried numerous boot cds, but still get this error and EBIOS errors - tried burning the disc on 3 different machines, with different brands - really struggling! trying to boot from SATA dvd drive

 

 

 

IanT - would it be possible to upload an image of the boot cd you created please?

 

If anyone has any other tips, it would be much appreciated.

 

Many thanks

 

sackof{censored}

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Hi,

 

I get the same error as well, tried numerous boot cds, but still get this error and EBIOS errors - tried burning the disc on 3 different machines, with different brands - really struggling! trying to boot from SATA dvd drive

 

 

 

IanT - would it be possible to upload an image of the boot cd you created please?

 

If anyone has any other tips, it would be much appreciated.

 

Many thanks

 

sackof{censored}

 

sos,

 

I am running through the final testing of my support package as well as tidying up my guide.

 

So, I won't be posting my new boot-132-mars disc until my guide is finished. The good news is that the guide will go over creating a customized boot-132-mars disc.

 

I should have the guide finished tomorrow, and I will post a new topic. The guide will be in PDF and the support package will contain everything (e.g., boot-132-mars, marsbooter, original sources, etc.)

 

Oh yeah, marsbooter is the script I created that will install Chameleon 2.0 RC3-r658 and Netkas' PC EFI v10.3. So, that means you won't need to use a bootcd to start SL; except for the very first time so you can boot SL and install the bootloader. :)

 

peace,

IanT

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tofagerl,

 

Congratulations!

 

What did you do to get it to work?

 

Peace,

IanT

 

I followed the instructions to the letter. The BIOS was already flashed from my earlier 10.5.5 installation.

 

Oh, I can't sleep, but who cares about that in a desktop machine.

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Hey guys,

 

I managed to successfully install OS X 10.6.1 with networking and sound, but still having a couple of issues.

 

1. When I restart, the PC gets to the part where the screen goes black in order to start back up, it never does, it's like it stays there just stuck in the restart

2. Another issue is that my mouse (A Logitech G9) is kind of skipping and the movement speed is strange.

3.Can't get OSX to recognize 5.1 speakers, just 2.1.

4. OSX feels kind of sluggish in general. I have a C2D E8400, 4GB DDR2, GeForce GTX 260 and 2x500GB SATA HD 3Gb/s transfer.

 

Any suggestions/fixes? Thanks!

 

well I have a similar setup C2D E8400, 7 GB DDR2, Nvidia 7300GT, 500GB SATA, 250GB SATA, 200GB SATA all 3GB/s transfer and it runs perfectly maybe you could try putting more ram or your HD might be defected try using a different HD that's SATA and see how that works out for you.

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Hey Ian T

 

Sorry so late getting back to you. I have looked at the Buffalo wireless card that I am using in my Mac Pro. It is generic 54g card with a Broadcom 4311 chipset. The Broadcom chipset is used in the "real Macs as well for the Airport Extreme adapters. Hope this helps at least.

 

Panther1

 

 

 

 

 

*UPDATED*

 

Panther1,

 

Some great news!

 

First, I've managed to create a working boot-132 disc based on dfe, BOOT-KABYL-BUMBY, f41qu3, Superhai, and noob766.

 

I was able to boot the Retail Snow Leopard Installation DVD with Netkas' 10.1 boot file (PC EFI v10.3).

 

Installation took about 20 minutes, and it restarted on its own. It did not display "Installation failed." It actually restarted after however many seconds; like 15/25?.

 

Second, I've managed to isolate and identify the reason why the Netgear WG311T Super-G Wireless PCI Adapter was not working. It turns out that /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AirportAtheros.kext is not 64-bit, therefore it wouldn't load while in 64-bit mode. I've been researching it up online, and I found that AirportAtheros.kext is 32-bit only; that's just great!

 

Third, I was able to manually install boot0 and boot1h, and copied Netkas' 10.1 boot file (PC EFI v10.3) to the root, as well as all the necessary files that go into /Extra:

 

 

  • com.apple.Boot.plist
  • dsdt.aml
  • Extensions
  • Themes

Fourth, 64-bit is functional. However, it greatly depends on the kexts being 64-bit for the device in question, otherwise as stated above, it won't work (AirportAtheros.kext|Netgear WG311T Super-G Wireless PCI Adapter).

 

Fifth, when I used the method as described in your guide, I ultimately recreated the same disc, and added the kexts that I know work for my setup. When I went to install SL, it presented me with the "Installation Failed" message, and it left a folder named "Mac OS X Install Data" in root. Not exactly sure what that folder is about and/or if it's even needed. However, the point I'm getting at is that with my new boot-132 disc for the ASUS P5Q (aptly named MARS P5Q x86/x64), it does not produce either the "Installation Failed" message or that "Mac OS X Install Data" folder in root.

 

So, right now, I've got a fully functional system, either in 32-bit or 64-bit (sans working Airport). I just probably need a WIFI card that has a known working 64-bit kext! Btw, which WIFI card do you have? Some Buffalo Wireless PCI Adapter, based on Broadcom?? If so, what's the model and firmware version that is known to work?

 

I think I'll be creating either a script or an application that can customize the boot-132 disc to your machine. But, obviously that'll take me some time, unless any of you know how to script in bash or create a simple prompting application???

 

Now my guide will focus primarily on the boot-132 method as opposed to the OSInstall.mpkg method. However, I may just keep the OSInstall.mpkg guide just as a foundation of where I started. Who knows!

 

Send me a message or hit me up on ICQ.

 

Peace,

 

IanT

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Hey guys,

 

I managed to successfully install OS X 10.6.1 with networking and sound, but still having a couple of issues.

 

1. When I restart, the PC gets to the part where the screen goes black in order to start back up, it never does, it's like it stays there just stuck in the restart

2. Another issue is that my mouse (A Logitech G9) is kind of skipping and the movement speed is strange.

3.Can't get OSX to recognize 5.1 speakers, just 2.1.

4. OSX feels kind of sluggish in general. I have a C2D E8400, 4GB DDR2, GeForce GTX 260 and 2x500GB SATA HD 3Gb/s transfer.

 

Any suggestions/fixes? Thanks!

 

Apple doesnt support 5.1 , meaning, at best you will ever have is the 2.1 . Its unknown on why no apple computer comes with 5.1 support, even know movies are made with these things, they wont play back 5.1.

 

Also, there are no apple audio cards that support 5.1.

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RE: Boot without the boot cd

 

 

This worked for me

 

1. install Chameleon RC2 - install may fail but it is fine

2. install MainMenu - used to show hidden files

3. drag boot file into root drive

4. copy all files from extra into root/extra

5. use Kext Helper b7 to install kext from the extensions folder - DO NOT REBOOT YET

6. copy com.apple.boot.plist to root/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration

7. reboot without boot CD

 

note: root is the hard drive where SL is installed on

 

good luck

 

 

..google MainMenu and Kext Helper b7

Boot.zip

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RE: Boot without the boot cd

 

Files I used: Snow Boot.zip

 

This worked for me

 

1. install Chameleon RC2 - install may fail but it is fine

2. install MainMenu - used to show hidden files

3. drag boot file into root drive

4. copy all files from extra into root/extra

5. use Kext Helper b7 to install kext from the extensions folder - DO NOT REBOOT YET

6. copy com.apple.boot.plist to root/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration

7. reboot without boot CD

 

note: root is the hard drive where SL is installed on

 

Hi konig7,

 

Very good stuff indeed. Thanks for contributing this info. I'm amazed at the amount of attention my tutorial has received. Simply awesome!

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Panther1

 

good luck

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