My Holy Hackintosh Build!

[smeared]

Still trying to boot from ssd.

 

I am getting AppleAHCIDiskQeueManager::setPowerState(0x10eec800, 2-> 1) timed out after 100103 ms

 

I'm getting this with every version of empire. safe, single, and regular. Not sure where to go from here. Researching.

[smeared]

Success! I am writing this on my new Hack Pro. Granted, it's not even completely put together yet because my PSU has a coil whine that I am hoping gets taken care of fast. But still.. I am writing this from 10.6.2, at full res on my gtx 260, and onboard ethernet working.

 

This is going to be a long post, sorry, but I want to be accurate. And I'm sure it'll be apparent that I'm novice at this, so please do correct me if I'm wrong.

 

SO, boy where do I begin? I could not get it to boot using Empire EFI. After too many times trying, I ended up going to myHack, and reading about that. Seemed like the same kind of thing.

 

1. I didn't have an 8gb usb drive. So I pulled out my trustee 30gig 6 year old ipod, and went to work.

 

2. Erased ipod, restored snow leopard disk image to it. you can find directions for that here: http://lifehacker.com/338574/install-leopard-with-your-ipod

 

3. Ran myHack installer on ipod snow leopard install disk. I used graphics enabler, and unchecked graphics disabler. Also I checked the new ioata family or whatever it's called. http://osx86.sojugarden.com/installer/

just follow his instructions, don't do it to your actual apple drive!

 

4. Plugged iPod in, went into bios, set Apple iPod as boot drive. restarted.

 

5. This is all pretty simple, just let the installer boot, if it doesn't, try the common flags. but I find with this method, and my hardware, it worked flawlessly.

 

EDIT: I left out one very important piece of information. When I had the snow leopard disk in my dvd-rom, and I tried to boot to Mac OS X Installer (ipod) from the myhack bootloader, it always loaded from the disk and not my ipod. So I just disconnected the sata to the dvd and then it read properly directly from the ipod.

 

6. After it installed, reboot, make sure to select your HD instead of the install disk to boot from. Of course, if you have the gtx 260, your screen goes black. You have to follow the beginning part of this guide to even be able to boot with display again: http://www.infinitemac.com/f19/guide-gefor...-leopard-t4057/

 

But I stopped after moving the troublesome kexts.. I didn't have to use his hex strings or anything like that. Don't know how it worked but I'll tell you how it happened.

 

7. So once I got in, first thing I did was install a kext for onboard networking that mchen15 was kind enough to send me thanks a ton!

 

Now, he also sent me a VoodooHDA kext for the onboard audio, but after running pfix, and rebooting, I kept getting kernel panics. So I had to boot back into the snow leopard installer on my ipod and use terminal to remove it, and clear the kext cache.

 

8. After I removed that one, it rebooted fine from the ssd again, albeit still without audio. I'll fix it soon, just not tonight, this has been like day 3 straight of monkeying with everything and learning the ins and outs of hackintosh. So once I was back in, mind you, still at 1024 x 768 on a 30 inch display.. haha.. I first downloaded netkas' nvidia injector, from this blogpost: http://netkas.org/?p=106

 

But, after installing that, and downloading the nvidia drivers he discusses on that page, when I went to install the nvidia 285 drivers, it told me that they weren't needed as I had them already. So I went to software update, and began a 600mb system update to 10.6.2. I was certainly nervous as I'd installed it twice already, and thought for sure it would kernel panic. But after the update was done downloading, it installed without a hitch, AND when it booted back up, I had full Res, and Quartz extreme/Core image!

 

Also I installed istat menu which in turn installed the intel cpu monitoring file it needs, and everything in istat is working, except the network monitor. The temps show a steady 34˚C, which I have no reason to question considering they are exactly as my bios reports.

 

So.. in summation, it's a lot of work. It's a lot of learning, and reading. but there are a lot of nice people in the scene willing to help. I'll be one of them as time progresses and I learn more I'm sure.

 

I'm no where near complete yet. But just crossed a large hurdle. Still have to set up my 3tb raid, install a new PSU when it comes, and a few other minor case things. AND OVERCLOCK! Then I'll post all kinds of shots of it finished. Right now there's parts everywhere.

 

ssd FLIES! get one for your boot drive.

[JBLanteigne]

Looking good.. I answered some questions a while back I think when you started this project, it's great to see that it's progressing..

 

What's you overclock goal? 4ghz?

[smeared]

hey, thanks for keeping an eye on me. I think my goal IS right around 4ghz, although it is a smallish case, and I'll have to reevaluate airflow once EVERYTHING is in there. But as of right now.. I'm at 3.2Ghz and at full load with mprime I'm steady at 49˚C. Seems like I've got some headroom.

[JBLanteigne]

49degree seems hot for a small overclock... maybe you should add more fans or think of something... I doubt the mac pro case is the best for overclocking, unfortunately... What about water cooling the cpu while keeping the fans for gpu, psu, etc.

[smeared]

I though 49˚ wasn't bad after an hour running mprime. But also, this was only with one fan behind the TRUE, and no case fans. It was basically wide open. We'll see again once it's all together.

 

But also, I was a fool to buy that ram, thinking I would be able to bump up the volts and get good performance out of it. It's absolutely awful ram. At least one stick failed completely, and I don't even feel like testing to find out if two did.

 

 

Again, held up by the quality of parts. As well as the PSU, I'm waiting for a guy at seasonic to email me back. i called and he's out for the week! The only guy that works there for tech support/RMA won't be back for a week, come on!

 

I'm trying to decide what ram to buy now, any help would be appreciated. I'm leaning towards kingston.

[tonhe98]

awesome news man! I can't wait to get my parts this week. I'm using the same proc, and I'm planning on OC'ing it to around 3.6-3.8ghz.. can't wait to see how well it works!

 

Is there an overclocking guide you're following? These new procs seem much more complicated than overclocking back in my day!

[smeared]

awesome news man! I can't wait to get my parts this week. I'm using the same proc, and I'm planning on OC'ing it to around 3.6-3.8ghz.. can't wait to see how well it works!

 

Is there an overclocking guide you're following? These new procs seem much more complicated than overclocking back in my day!

 

 

I haven't been following one. I read a bunch of beginner articles on it, and yeah it's definitely more complex then I remember as well.. But mainly I find asus' bios hard to understand exactly what's happening. To get it to 3.2 I only changed like three things, upped the core voltage, and 160 clock. and maybe a couple other things.. disabled speed step.. I'm already over 10,000 in geekbench. Just wish the hardware quality was there.

[vlad1966]

Great new smeared, since I plan on getting this same mobo @ some point.

Is the kext your using for the Ethernet chipset widely available?

Also, curious to see if you will have issues getting the sound to work, especially the SPDIF port.

 

As far as RAM, I'm parcial to Corsair or OCZ myself.

[smeared]

Great new smeared, since I plan on getting this same mobo @ some point.

Is the kext your using for the Ethernet chipset widely available?

Also, curious to see if you will have issues getting the sound to work, especially the SPDIF port.

 

As far as RAM, I'm parcial to Corsair or OCZ myself.

 

 

I put 2 − 2gbx3 Corsair dominators in my basket at new egg last night and was greeted with another 20$ MIR when i went to buy them.. so I went ahead and ordered.. also seasonic finally got back to me about rmaing my PSU. So I filled out the form and am waiting to hear back from them.

 

I'll be posting reviews on all of these companies support when I'm done as well. G. Skill was a nightmare, never called me back, no advice, no offers to replace just the two bad modules. Seasonic has a chance to redeem itself if it cross ships me a new PSU very soon. Newegg kind of redeemed itself by paying for the shipping for sending the ram back, so that's nice.

 

I've attached the kext for the ethernet chipset, courtesy of mchen15. I haven't looked into the audio yet actually.. Supposedly voodooHDA is working on p6t and p6x58d premiums, I don't personally think it's going to be a huge problem to get the onboard audio working but I am unsure of the spdif, as it seems to be a known issue http://code.google.com/p/voodoohda/issues/detail?id=28, but I'll update this if I come across a solution.

 

As soon as I get the PSU and ram I'll be putting together the final build. I'm going to use a little less as5 as it seems the lapping has done a good job and most of it was around the edge. Hopefully that will help with temps a little bit, also I realized that in my haste I didn't even use my best fan, the noctua, I was just using a crappy enermax on the hs. So that and a second might help temps as well..

IONetworkingFamily.kext.zip

[smeared]

So, while waiting I decided to take a peak at the gtx 260's HS, and found that as I expected the low quality thermal grease they used on it was slathered on much too thick. So I cleaned it off and applied a very thin layer of Arctic silver 5 which should drop temps there a few degrees.

 

Before, after and before photos. Bad quality again, sorry, iphone is so much more convenient.

[smeared]

Ok. so I'm just finishing up some loose ends. I said eff it and went and bought a corsair hx750 PSU (cuz we all know i'm only pulling like 400w, and 40-60% is best efficiency, so I didn't need 850). Overall I'm bummed by the seasonic. They let me down over and over again, so now they don't get my business. While I've heard amazing things about their power supplies, and the quality looked like it was there, ultimately I can't suggest them until they get quality control in order.

 

The corsair fits a little bit tighter, and the cables don't seem as nice, but at least it's working well, and not whining.

 

I'm currently at 3.8Ghz, at 60˚C at full load on prime95. Lots to do still.. will post pictures very soon. In the mean time, take a look at this geek bench and let me know if things strike you as odd.. maybe memory speed? I don't know.. I've been so busy, and putting this thing together... there are just too many things to go through right now.

 

http://browse.geekbench.ca/geekbench2/view/212495

[smeared]

well.. I spoke too soon on that overclock. Turned out it wasn't stable, so I had to boost the voltage. But then my temps at full load were peaking around 78˚. So I toned it back down, and then dropped it to 3.6.

 

I'm currently running 35˚ idle, and 68˚ at full load @ 3.6. Does this sound normal for a nice lapped TRUE? What are you running? I'd like to be able to hit 4ghz, but don't want my temps over 70˚ at full load. I've tried reseating it about 4 times now, and this is probably the best results I've had yet. Advice?

 

Overall. I couldn't be happier. I am currently dual booting 64 bit windows 7, and 64 bit snow leopard. Everything is working. Audio, video, all 5 drives, raid, restart, shutdown, sleep even works!

 

Even without being able to hit 4Ghz yet, this thing cooks. Photoshop opens in about 3 seconds. Indesign with a bunch of extra plugins, 6 seconds!

[smeared]

So,here she is, as of right now.

 

She's not the prettiest modded mac, but I'm certainly fond of her.

 

Took me about a day to properly set it up with all the setting from my macbook pro. But, I've been using it for work for about a week now, and the difference is amazing.

 

My least favorite part is the whole I cut for the power cord, but what are you gonna do? I wasn't about to take apart the PSU.

 

I still have to find something for the old power cord hole, maybe a tiny fan or something funny.

 

Still have to hook up the front power button and i/o, but I don't see that being a huge problem with the pin outs I've found on here.

 

I am going to lose the lous scythe fans I put on the TRUE, as they're only pushing somewhere around 80cfm, and I'll go with two nexus pwm instead for quieter operation.

 

I'm currently stable and cool at 3.8. Running like a dream.

 

So this will be my last post. Since this project is pretty much complete. Even thought there's always going to be changes and optimizations. Thanks for checking it out.

 

oh yeah, and windows 7 is pretty good. I'll still probably only use it like a tenth of the time, but it's not bad.

 

Oh yeah, and with the gtx 260, on my 30 inch, I get around 23fps at 2560 x 1600 with 2x AA. Which is totally fine if I get bored and want to kill some chickens.

 

K, peace.

[Validatorian]

That's crazy, you have an almost identical build to mine.

 

SSD (mine is the Intel 80GB G2)

i7 920,

P6X58D Mobo,

GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked

16 GB Corsair Dominator (is yours the CAS7 or CAS8?)

 

I'm very happy to hear you were able to get mac osx running on this system -- I'm a windows guy myself, but need a mac for developing iPhone apps.

 

Thanks for your detailed posts on how you got it working!

[smeared]

That's crazy, you have an almost identical build to mine.

 

SSD (mine is the Intel 80GB G2)

i7 920,

P6X58D Mobo,

GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked

16 GB Corsair Dominator (is yours the CAS7 or CAS8?)

 

I'm very happy to hear you were able to get mac osx running on this system -- I'm a windows guy myself, but need a mac for developing iPhone apps.

 

Thanks for your detailed posts on how you got it working!

 

 

Nice! What is you running yours at? 16gb ram.. sick.. did you have 3 - 4gb sticks or something? I got the cas 8... still learning about ram and timings really. I read somewhere that I could tighten them up if I'm running it slower than 1600MHz.. but yeah, I just used the xmp profile for now.

 

I think it's hilarious and awesome at the same time, that we have like the exact same computer, but run totally different oses on em. I could definitely use some pointers on windows.. I've barely done anything in it besides install the normal over clocking suspects (realtemp, everest, etc).

 

take care!

[Validatorian]

Whoops, I meant 12gigs, sorry

 

I'm running my cpu at 3.7 -- I need to install some more case fans though, as at full load, I get up to 74c. Memory is running at 2.7.

 

I could certainly help you with any Windows questions you may have. Turns out, I can't hackintosh until I get my hands on a mac (I have a 12gb usb stick, but no ipod, and no mac) -- figures

[Metallica_Band]

Hello. I am wanting to build a Mac too. I WAS going to go with a Gigabyte mobo, but after seeing this Asus one working flawlessly, I will go with it. My build will be almost identical to yours too.

 

I was wondering, I got confused about you needing another Mac. I think I read that right. Did you have to get files from another Mac? I don't know ANYONE that has a Mac and the college Macs are pretty tightly locked, so I prolly wouldn't be able to access the files I needed from those. The teachers ones are the same too.

 

(Referencing this post)

So I won't be using Empire EFI, correct? I'll be using myHack? So basically, when I assemble the Mac, I'll put Snow Leopard on a thumbdrive, usemyHack on the thumbdrive (which I assume mods the Snow Leopard install? I can do this on my PC sof far, right? Or is this why I need a Mac?), plug thumbdrive in Mac build, let the installer install and boot. Is that correct?

 

Will any of the higher GeForce models over 260 work without the black screen problem?

 

Also, in one of the screen shots, it shows the memory reading at DDR2 instead of DDR3. Should I spend money on quality DDR3 memory or get DDR2 memory?

 

And I was wondering about drivers. Normally, you'd install the latest mobo and video card drivers. How does that work with Macs? What if I decided to play WoW or something? Would all the graphics cards features work?

[smeared]

Hello. I am wanting to build a Mac too. I WAS going to go with a Gigabyte mobo, but after seeing this Asus one working flawlessly, I will go with it. My build will be almost identical to yours too.

 

I was wondering, I got confused about you needing another Mac. I think I read that right. Did you have to get files from another Mac? I don't know ANYONE that has a Mac and the college Macs are pretty tightly locked, so I prolly wouldn't be able to access the files I needed from those. The teachers ones are the same too.

 

(Referencing this post)

So I won't be using Empire EFI, correct? I'll be using myHack? So basically, when I assemble the Mac, I'll put Snow Leopard on a thumbdrive, usemyHack on the thumbdrive (which I assume mods the Snow Leopard install? I can do this on my PC sof far, right? Or is this why I need a Mac?), plug thumbdrive in Mac build, let the installer install and boot. Is that correct?

 

Will any of the higher GeForce models over 260 work without the black screen problem?

 

Also, in one of the screen shots, it shows the memory reading at DDR2 instead of DDR3. Should I spend money on quality DDR3 memory or get DDR2 memory?

 

And I was wondering about drivers. Normally, you'd install the latest mobo and video card drivers. How does that work with Macs? What if I decided to play WoW or something? Would all the graphics cards features work?

 

 

You should spend the money on quality ddr3 ram, because, that is just cosmetic. My ram is not running slower. In fact if I cared, which maybe I will someday, I'll use this to change it so it says ddr3:

http://prasys.co.cc/2009/09/guidecreating-...n-smbios-plist/

 

I've read that higher gtx models will work, and am considering upgrading myself.

 

About needing another mac, you would need it to run the myHack app on the usb install. It's mac only, I can say that I was able to boot to the snow leopard disk using empire efi, and got it to install. but after install I couldn't get it to boot to it.. so.. you could try, and maybe it'll work for you. Otherwise, I suggest trying to find a mac somewhere for the half an hour it would take to make a bootable usb drive.

 

as far as drivers.. for hackintosh you use kexts.. read about them. i only needed 2-3 additional ones besides the ones included in myhack. then you rebuild the kext cache so it knows they're there, and they'll work.

 

I installed the drivers in windows 7, so I could overclock my gtx 260 for playing games, and what not. I haven't played any games in snow leopard yet, but the video card is working perfectly.. so besides not being able to overclock, I don't think I'm missing anything. Besides.. gaming is for windows..

 

Overall just research a bunch, and you'll understand what exactly you're doing and how.

 

 

 

 

see.. i changed my smbios.plist, and now it reflects properly. It really doesn't matter though.

[Metallica_Band]

Ah, I see. It just wasn't recognizing the correct memory specs correctly. I am getting the same main components as yours so I was going to use your experience as a near identical guide. Is the myHack app something I can download on my USB and put Snow Leopard on another USB and run the myHack from the USB on the college mac if it won't let me install it to the desktop? myHack doesn't need to read or copy anything from the Mac you are modifying the Snow Leopard USB, right? If that's the case, I might be able to use the college Macs.

 

I guess another way I could ask that would be, is myHack a stand-alone program or one that requires an installer that installs files in, speaking in PC terms, registry and/or System folder in order to work correctly?

 

Could you tell me where you went to get the 2-3 additional files you needed? I think I remember you needed something for your onboard LAN and sound. I forget what was mentioned in your previous posts. Since my build will be using the same mobo and CPU, I think I'll have the same problems requiring the same solutions as you have encountered except for the video card.

 

Also, Windows should be installed first if dual boot is wanted, correct? I don't think I'll need it because this computer and my, now delayed, Monster PC will have Windows and all computers will be connected to a single, again now delayed, Super Server that is still in its early stages of planning.

 

*sigh* I need a better job. I wish I still worked at Disney making $700-800+/wk.

[Validatorian]

You said you weren't able to overclock in OSX? So do you have to change bios setting each time you want to switch OSes? I ask because I'm not able to boot into windows when my SATA are not in IDE mode (I forgot what they have to be for OSX, AHCP I think?)

[smeared]

Ah, I see. It just wasn't recognizing the correct memory specs correctly. I am getting the same main components as yours so I was going to use your experience as a near identical guide. Is the myHack app something I can download on my USB and put Snow Leopard on another USB and run the myHack from the USB on the college mac if it won't let me install it to the desktop? myHack doesn't need to read or copy anything from the Mac you are modifying the Snow Leopard USB, right? If that's the case, I might be able to use the college Macs.

 

I guess another way I could ask that would be, is myHack a stand-alone program or one that requires an installer that installs files in, speaking in PC terms, registry and/or System folder in order to work correctly?

 

Could you tell me where you went to get the 2-3 additional files you needed? I think I remember you needed something for your onboard LAN and sound. I forget what was mentioned in your previous posts. Since my build will be using the same mobo and CPU, I think I'll have the same problems requiring the same solutions as you have encountered except for the video card.

 

Also, Windows should be installed first if dual boot is wanted, correct? I don't think I'll need it because this computer and my, now delayed, Monster PC will have Windows and all computers will be connected to a single, again now delayed, Super Server that is still in its early stages of planning.

 

*sigh* I need a better job. I wish I still worked at Disney making $700-800+/wk.

 

 

 

 

If you have administrator access to your school computers it will run... but it does need the password.. if you can get that, or anyone with a mac, yes you can just download myhack and run it, just be sure not to select the hard drive of the actual mac, or it'll screw it up completely. Select your usb drive containing the snow leopard install, run it, and it'll work it's magic.

 

It is an installer. Conti is seriously the man. I plan on making a donation very shortly.

 

you can find the kexts just by searching this website.

 

I installed mac os x first.. it doesn't matter if they're going to be on separate drives, which I highly suggest. I saw the method to have them both on the same drive, and it was complicated and seemed messy.. so I just partitioned one of my drives in half and used that to install windows 7 once I had mac running perfectly.

 

 

 

@Validatorian:

 

I sure do run mac os x overclocked. I'm at 4ghz right now, but I'm usually at 3.6 with speed step enabled. Not sure why you can't boot windows unless your drives are ide.. Mine are all ahci and I boot windows 7 fine. you have to use advanced controller host interface to boot mac os x. But there is a work around somewhere on here I think by modifying one of the kexts.. search around for ahci raid and you'll find it.

[hapticdata]

Hello, I am very interested in this configuration.

 

I am looking to build a Hackintosh and was hoping to keep it a little cheaper than this. I was planning on following the popular LifeHacker tutorial: http://lifehacker.com/5351485/how-to-build...start-to-finish

 

My only issue with this list of parts is that I need multiple PCIe slots, preferably 3. I would like to be able to power 6 monitors with this computer. It appeared that this ASUS mobo had 3 PCIe slots. Would the LifeHacker configuration with this motherboard create any issues? Is there another motherboard I should consider?

Ultimately I just want a good quad-core Snow Leopard machine, with 3 video cards, and would like to keep it in the $1,500 range. Maybe thats not possible?

 

Any help would be very appreciated. Thanks.

[ProUnbeatable]

@smeared

 

Thanks for putting your time and posting all your hard work. I love all the set up that you did. I was thinking about getting Mac Pro but they are insanely expensive. I'm really glad I found this post before making any deciding.

 

I have a few question. I will be doing heavy video editing and photo editing like Final Cut Pro 7 and Photoshop CS4. So, I'm thinking of getting same exact CPU, mobo and graphic card. I really like your combo. Does everything working for you like usb, sounds and video? I'll be building one in a week or so. I hope you can help me out when I run into problem

[smeared]

Hello, I am very interested in this configuration.

 

I am looking to build a Hackintosh and was hoping to keep it a little cheaper than this. I was planning on following the popular LifeHacker tutorial: http://lifehacker.com/5351485/how-to-build...start-to-finish

 

My only issue with this list of parts is that I need multiple PCIe slots, preferably 3. I would like to be able to power 6 monitors with this computer. It appeared that this ASUS mobo had 3 PCIe slots. Would the LifeHacker configuration with this motherboard create any issues? Is there another motherboard I should consider?

Ultimately I just want a good quad-core Snow Leopard machine, with 3 video cards, and would like to keep it in the $1,500 range. Maybe thats not possible?

 

Any help would be very appreciated. Thanks.

 

 

I don't see why it wouldn't work with this motherboard. it has 3 PCIe slots. I think they're 16x 16x 1x. Therefore *think you could run three video cards, with 2 displays each.

 

Lifehackers method is slightly different then the one I used. But shouldn't make any difference.. I mean the basic idea is that you need a bootloader (chameleon), to boot to the install usb drive, and then you need supporting kexts, and what not.. I didn't have to use terminal.. chameleon has an installer. Actually, I used myhack because it gets me up and running really fast. Then once I'm in and booting to my actual hd, then I start going through all my extensions and stuff, and actually replaced myhacks version of chameleon.

 

There is a p6x58d premium thread on here with dsdt, and extras that make this board fully functional, and amazing.

 

About the price, not sure.. I mean I guess it depends on the video cards mainly. Happy hacking.

 

@smeared

 

Thanks for putting your time and posting all your hard work. I love all the set up that you did. I was thinking about getting Mac Pro but they are insanely expensive. I'm really glad I found this post before making any deciding.

 

I have a few question. I will be doing heavy video editing and photo editing like Final Cut Pro 7 and Photoshop CS4. So, I'm thinking of getting same exact CPU, mobo and graphic card. I really like your combo. Does everything working for you like usb, sounds and video? I'll be building one in a week or so. I hope you can help me out when I run into problem

 

 

no problem, I was going to do it anyway, so I figured it would make a good read for some. Everything that I use is working perfectly.. I haven't tested spdif because I don't use it. But I mean I have full audio, ethernet, restart, shutdown, updates, sleep, and video with core image and quartz. Currently running my 30 inch, and 23 inch apple displays. It's insanely fast coming from my macbook pro 2.4ghz. I'll give you a hand if you need it.