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OSX on Asus G60VX


jakebb
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Good that you go it working, all the problems you has were probably caused by the version of empire efi you used. http://www.mediafire.com/?olzzmy0m0kc using this version, my guide works perfectly, but I guess it is good you got it working anyways.

 

If you don't want to type in cpus=1 arch=i386, then download osx86tools, change boot flags, it will fail with a weird error. Then get the com.apple.boot.plist from the empire efi disc, put it in the right place, then change the boot flags on the plist file manually. Repair permissions with osx86tools, and you are good to go. It is very important that you try and fail to change the plist file before you put it in the directory, for some reason it doesn't work if you don't do this.

 

As far as updating, I was able to update although it required a reinstall of the kexts. Using osx86tools and backup up the extensions would work.

 

For me personally, I just did a fresh install of Snow Leopard retail, updated to 10.6.2 through ethernet, then installed the kexts, etc. after that. Everything is working perfectly, although yes I will buy a dell 1390 through ebay, I might buy one today, although first I would like to search if there is possibly a more powerful wifi card compatible with osx.

 

For getting both cores to work, I don't know. The computer does go fast enough with one core, but of course we want the best speed possible, so we want two. I don't know why it lags when trying to use both cores, it should work since macbook pros have the same processor as our computers. I will search the internet.

 

I am really happy this turned out so well, I never expected to have osx running on this model this well, especially since we have retail working, its awsome.

 

awww, your lucky you got the 2.53 ghz, mine is only 2.13

 

Oh yes, after reading around a little bit, I can confirm your video woes were caused by not using the gtx2xx version of empire efi, you are highly recommended to use that if you have a gt200 video card. But I guess if you got it working without it, thats fine too. The gtx2xx contains drivers for the gt200 already, that is why you needed that extra driver.

I found this thread:

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...88786&st=20

 

Apparently the "Execute Disable Function" is the main culprit that people have run into. I believe that's on my Asus P5Q Pro motherboard on my desktop, but in typical laptop BIOS form they have stripped out almost every option including that one. I signed onto Asus's website and registered my laptop (I think you need to do that to get the 1 year accidental damage warranty anyway) and sent a message to their tech staff telling them that I would like to see an Execute Disable Function on the next BIOS revision. That isn't something that turning it on or off will cause the laptop not to restart again - unlike overclocking tools. When I get a reply back I'll post their response.

 

I opted for the G60vx-RBB09 mostly because of the 9-cell battery, but the slightly faster processor was a bonus as well. I'm not sure if all G60vx models have it, but this one also has twin 320GB hard drives. I wish it had the same display as the G51, but overall I'm happy with the purchase.

 

I'm not sure of what other cards work with OSX. It appears that the Apple MacBook Pro wifi cards are on e-bay for about $26. It should since it's a standard form factor card. If you get one and it works well I may purchase one as well.

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lol, I was just coming on here to tell you about that thread. I looked for it too, didn't see it. But, another possible beam of light: cpus=2. I can't try it right now because I broke my install by updating to 10.6.2 and now I can't boot into it to reinstall kexts and I don't feel like reinstalling right now... Try cpus=2 and see how it works.

 

From what I have heard, regular apple airport cards do not work, since your pc does not recognise them. I read about the dell 1390, it looks good enough for surfing/flash, but it might be a little bit slow in terms of gaming and downloading files, and like you said the range might not be too great.

 

Hmmm I can get my hands on an Atheros AR5007EG for free if I want to... apparently this wifi card can work with airport, although not perfectly and many things need to be done at startup, although there are scripts that do this. I might try this, this wifi card is faster than the 1390 from what I have heard.

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I installed snow leopard using the 30 dollar upgrade disc and got everything working, except wireless of course. Here is a quick mini-guide

 

1. Download and burn empire efi to a cd. Use the gt200 version, not the normal version.

2. prepare a flash drive with the the files from the link at the bottom of this post. Also put kext helper on the flash drive.

3. Boot from empire efi, take out the disc, put in snow leopard install. Make sure you are on guid partition scheme, mbr comes default on the g60vx

4. When you get to customize, only choose the things you need. Click install and wait until it is finished and restarts.

5. When it restarts, re-insert the empire efi cd, and click on your main partition with osx on it.

6. The welcome video will play, although it will be glitchy and slow. Enter information and continue. When it is all ready, click on the mounted empire efi disc, go to extra and go to chameleon bootload v2rc3. Install it.

7. Take out the disc and put in the flash drive. open up kext helper and install all the kexts included in the g51vx_working.zip file. there are two directories of kexts, one is in the system folder and the other is in the extra folder. Look through until you find both sets of kexts, and install them all at once with kext helper. Wait a few seconds after installing and you should get kernel panic. Turn off, reboot.

8. When you get to chameleon bootloader, type in "iarch=i386 cpus=1" (without quotes)

9. When you boot into it now, everything should be working. The next step would be to add com.apple.boot.plist, and add "iarch=i386 cpus=1" to it so you don't have to type it in everytime.

 

There you go, for the g51vx_working.zip file I am talking about. There are two kext directories on it, merge all the kexts together and install with kext helper. Everthing should work just fine except wireless

 

Why did you pay 50 bucks for the disc? I paid 30 at the apple store. Keep in mind that you can use the upgrade disc for this process.

 

Ask me if you need anything clarified.

 

Oh ya, and it also is a good idea to make a custom dsdt, use dsdt patcher gui to do it, it can create one and apply it to the partition very easily.

 

here is a direct link to g51vx_working.zip, incase you don't want to search for it. http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...st&id=60209

 

Oh hey, and tell me if the dell wifi card works well, the usb wifi card I am using is not compatible with snow leopard. It would be great to have something that I didn't need to plug in everytime.

 

Hello jakebb,

 

Everything goes perfect until after i restart and reinsert the EFI disk. After, i press the main partition with OSX on it, letters and numbers scroll down as if it were loading and then it stops. and thats it. It never goes to the Welcome Screen. Should i be waiting longer? My Asus G60vx quiets down as if not doing any work and then just sits there without going to welcome screen. Please help! Thanks so much

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Ryan1211,

 

There could be a few different problems here. Make sure you are either using the g60vx, or the g51vx. No other model of computer will work.

 

Make sure that the disc you are using is snow leopard retail, if it is illegally downloaded make sure it is burnt to a disc at the slowest possible speed, and that it is on a dual layer dvd. If you bought it from the store, the disc isn't the problem

 

Make sure the empire efi disc is the right one. This may be caused by you not using the correct version of empire efi. You cannot use the regular one, you must use this modified version for download here: http://www.mediafire.com/?olzzmy0m0kc Burn that version to a disc using the slowest possible speed.

 

Make sure your partition scheme is set to guid, not mbr. It comes as mbr as the default. Go to disc utility, click on the hard drive, click on partition, click 1 partition, then click options and you can change it to guid. click apply after and it is set to guid.

 

Another thing that might be the problem, is do not check anything in the customize screen. Check absolutely nothing, the Mac os will still install.

 

I might make a youtube video If I get the chance, then all people can see everything exactly.

 

I would say the most likely cause of your problems is from an incorrect version of empire efi, your problem seems to be caused by it not loading the drivers, burn another empire efi using the link I provided.

 

Oh and another thing, in that empire efi zip file there are two versions. One is legacy and the other is regular. Use the regular one, not the legacy, that might be your problem.

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I have a fix that might work:

 

1. Disable Speedstep

 

2. Boot with arch=i386 cpus=2 idlehalt=0

 

3. Maybe it works!

 

I am going to try it when I get home from school...

I tried this and I still get stuttering problems. I disabled the following in the BIOS:

 

- Intel Virtualization Tech

- Intel VT-d

 

I have no specific option for SpeedStep in the BIOS. I'm running BIOS v2.05 which is the most current version.

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Ya, I hope they will listen to your suggestion about the Excecute Disable Function. I think that will be our only hope as of now. Maybe overclocking the one core we can use might help.

 

I got an e-mail back that I should call their tech support line. I will try to do this tomorrow and see if I can get a hold of someone who isn't reading off of a prompted screen and actually knows something. The chances of this is unlikely, but it's worth a shot.

 

I would also suggest, if you like, to do the same and send an e-mail to their support staff in regards to having this option added into the newest BIOS revision. Having more than one person inquire about this would be favorable for the next BIOS update. I would assume that once they have a stable BIOS version the chances of an update will be less by the day as it isn't really worth their time to go through the hoops of creating an update for something so specific as this when it really doesn't affect the functionality of the laptop for all but a small minority of their customer base.

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I sent them an email, although I don't suspect it will make a difference, we probably should try though. We need a massive horde of people who want this. I just don't think there are many users of this computer. Do you know if the g51vx uses the same bios? There are a lot of users of that pc, maybe we could ask them all to email asus, then maybe we would have a shot.

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I sent them an email, although I don't suspect it will make a difference, we probably should try though. We need a massive horde of people who want this. I just don't think there are many users of this computer. Do you know if the g51vx uses the same bios? There are a lot of users of that pc, maybe we could ask them all to email asus, then maybe we would have a shot.

 

I'm not sure, but from what I can tell they're almost the same hardware wise. You can bet that all of the other Asus laptops also lack this option. I would think that K-series and N-series laptop owners running OSX are also running into this as well. This would obviously be a different motherboard and thus a different BIOS, but Asus would probably pay more attention if masses of people requested this feature be added. I'll look to see if the G51 shares the same motherboard as the G60. It's worth a shot...

 

I just looked and just as you suspected they have the exact same BIOS versions and update from BIOS 203 to 205 as the newest - identical to the G60vx.

 

The G51J has BIOS 203 and 204 as the latest. The G61J has 203, 204, and 205 as the latest. It would seem that the motherboards in the G51J and the G60J would be identical to the G60vx since they use the same BIOS, but it's odd that some G51 and the G60vx skip revision 204.

 

That at least gives us a slightly larger user base that we could get behind us.

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Well, how do we rally the people? Are we sure this would even for sure fix the cpu problem? Maybe it would be best if we started a petition.

 

Would it be possible to make our own bios revision? If we could just copy everything from v205, and just add the EDF feature somehow?

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Well, how do we rally the people? Are we sure this would even for sure fix the cpu problem? Maybe it would be best if we started a petition.

 

Would it be possible to make our own bios revision? If we could just copy everything from v205, and just add the EDF feature somehow?

Unfortunately we don't know that this is 100% the problem, but it appears to be and it's extremely common on Asus motherboards for this to be the problem. I would say this would lead us to the most sensible solution to the problem.

 

Unfortunately I (a) don't know assembly language and (:wacko: don't want to test an untested BIOS revision that I hacked my myself on my laptop and most likely leave it dead as a doornail, specially since it's probably an unsocketed BIOS that is soldered directly to the motherboard. I don't want to know what a replacement motherboard would cost.

 

If we could even do it the easiest way would just be to change the BIOS so Execute Bit Disable was just set to disable. You really wouldn't even need to spend the time to create a menu option - you would have it set to off without an option to turn it on or off (just in the opposite state that it is now). If you wanted it on just load revision 205 and it would be back on again. It's a good idea, but I don't want to throw away a $1200 laptop if it doesn't work.

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If we changed one value, could it really break the bios? How difficult would it be, like opening it in notepad and changing it? I imagine it is not that easy.

 

Have you got your dell 1390 wifi card yet? I ordered one 2 days ago, it was only 12.95 with free first class shipping, pretty good price, although I think it might take a while since it is in New Jersey and I am in California.

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If we changed one value, could it really break the bios? How difficult would it be, like opening it in notepad and changing it? I imagine it is not that easy.

 

Have you got your dell 1390 wifi card yet? I ordered one 2 days ago, it was only 12.95 with free first class shipping, pretty good price, although I think it might take a while since it is in New Jersey and I am in California.

No I'm pretty upset that I don't have mine yet. It's supposed to show up as an Airport card with the drivers built into OSX so we should be good to go on that front. That's what I paid for mine. It seems to be the going rate for these cards which is very reasonable!

 

I'm honestly not sure what would be needed to modify the BIOS, but I know you can't do it with notepad.

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You probably already figured this out, but in case you didn't, you can get the battery meter to work by using the voodoobattery.kext on the empire efi disc, I didn't really notice it until now, but the battery meter doesn't display without that kexts.

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Alright, got the dell 1390 installed in my computer. As soon as it started up, it recognized it instantly and it worked great. It works very well, almost as fast as the old card. Even the built in wireless switch works, everything is perfect, I am very satisfied.

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Alright, got the dell 1390 installed in my computer. As soon as it started up, it recognized it instantly and it worked great. It works very well, almost as fast as the old card. Even the built in wireless switch works, everything is perfect, I am very satisfied.

 

Awesome! Mine STILL is not here. It's been well over a week and I'm getting pretty irritated at this point. Tracking says it is in LA right now so I will probably have it by late this week.

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lol mine came before yours and I ordered it later. Ya, it is much faster than I expected, i'm happy with it.

 

And about the cpus=1, could it be possible that its dsdt that is causing the problem? I was using a program called DSDTSE and it had a part in it called cpus=1 fix, it removed every line beginning with "alias" from the dsdt.dsl. I would have tried it but i didn't know how to recompile it.

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lol mine came before yours and I ordered it later. Ya, it is much faster than I expected, i'm happy with it.

 

And about the cpus=1, could it be possible that its dsdt that is causing the problem? I was using a program called DSDTSE and it had a part in it called cpus=1 fix, it removed every line beginning with "alias" from the dsdt.dsl. I would have tried it but i didn't know how to recompile it.

I hate you, I still don't have it yet!!! I'm hoping either tomorrow or Friday I will get it.

 

I was reading about that. It's very possible that is the issue. It would be worth a shot to try it. I quickly skimmed over the thread about it, but didn't really figure out exactly what to do. It's worth a shot. I may have some time this weekend to look into it. If you find anything more about it or try it please let me know!

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Ya, wifi was weird for me with windows 7 at first, i removed the 5100 drivers and the asus wireless console and it worked great, feels just as fast as the intel 5100.

 

I tried removing all the lines beginning with "alias" from the dsdt, but then it wouldn't compile for some reason.

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Ya, wifi was weird for me with windows 7 at first, i removed the 5100 drivers and the asus wireless console and it worked great, feels just as fast as the intel 5100.

 

I tried removing all the lines beginning with "alias" from the dsdt, but then it wouldn't compile for some reason.

I tried the 10.6.2 update and I got a Kernel Panic. It was the sleep fix kext that caused the problem. I had nothing on here so I just wiped the drive with OSX and reinstalled, did the update, and installed all other kexts beyond the sleep fix kext. Again I just used the standard Empire EFI and standard 10.6 OSX install disc without any issues.

 

Everything seems to be working fine and the wifi seems to be reasonably quick compared to the 5100. The built-in antenna seems to be pretty good - I get great signal strength with this adapter as well. I'm not sure about the range comparison when you get to the limits of the adapter. The newer 5100 might have a slightly better range with a newer chipset, but so far the 1390 meets my needs.

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