OSx on a custom desktop rig

[darkoo69]

I have looked around in the installation forum for a standard installation guide which can be applied to any desktop as long as the hardware is compatible ofc. But can't seem to find anything. All I find is about specific notebooks..

 

Could someone help me out here.. thx!

[zolty]

The simple installation guide is to load the bootloader disk then swap it for the mac install disk and hit f5. This loads the installation disk. If you have osx already running you can load the whole process onto a usb drive and make installation 2-3x faster.

 

There are demonstrations of this on youtube and on the osx86 wiki.

 

Installing isn't that difficult it's solving the random driver issues that crop up. I can attest that even though a device is supported doesn't mean it will work. Make sure you do your research if you are buying equipment.

[verdant]

I have looked around in the installation forum for a standard installation guide which can be applied to any desktop as long as the hardware is compatible ofc. But can't seem to find anything. All I find is about specific notebooks..

 

Could someone help me out here.. thx!

 

 

my desktop:

Mainboard xfx nForce 780i 3-way sli

CPU Intel core 2 quad q6600

Memory 4gb -

Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX by xfx

Network Integrated 10/100/1000 nvidia nforce Ethernet

 

I know there is a lot of reading to do but my blog nForce chipset MOBO + Intel CPU install guides for distros (Snow Leopard and Leopard), and my nForce chipset MOBO + Intel CPU Snow Leopard Install Guide here and my Leopard nForce Series 7 thread here do offer much helpful advice..........

[darkoo69]

thank you so much verdant!!

 

I'm trying out "[url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] + Multibeaset" installation method by tonymacx86, will see how that gouse and post an update on it. If it seems to be a waste of time I'll try out your methods.

 

 

If I was going to buy a cheap laptop that gets me through news reading surfing minor design work in say zbrush, photoshop or maya, what kind of laptop would be suggested...

 

thx for any respond before hand!

 

 

ps. btw, I did try out his method a few times before. first time my desktop screen went black and did not boot at all, that got me really frustrated and angry.. . but with lots of reading figured out the problem thx to my mainboard which displays a code with a led display which explains the problem. so i removed everything exept 1 memory in slot 1, graphic card and cpu ofc. then olso removed the power cable from the blug waited 30 sec and then removed the battery 30 more secs of standby and finally inserted the battery and powered on the computer.. waaaaaa cheer cheer waaaaa.... it works .. that should have scared me enough to not do any osx testing anymore, but nope I will not give up.

[darkoo69]

yeay got osXed.. will come with some updates as soon as I get the ethernet working on it... don't know how to at the moment, but we will see..

 

anyone who has a good guide that teaches how to learn osx.. since I have primarly used win os lines...

[darkoo69]

hey there!! seems that a few thing work out of box, but some major stuff still needs to be taken care of..

 

audio works

printer works

mouse and keyboard works

graphic card is being detected but some horizontal one pixel looking strippes is popping up randomly in random places of screen..

cpu brand model detected as quad core intel Xeon hehe... wierd

sleep seems to be and no no since I can't get out of it without a restart...

 

most importantly I can't get the ethernet working.. I have two Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports, I tryied out 3rdpartydriver- nVidia nForce3/4 since my main board is a nvidia brand and the ethernet is integrated, but douse not seem to work.

 

any suggestions pls!!

[verdant]

hey there!! seems that a few thing work out of box, but some major stuff still needs to be taken care of..

 

audio works

printer works

mouse and keyboard works

graphic card is being detected but some horizontal one pixel looking strippes is popping up randomly in random places of screen..

cpu brand model detected as quad core intel Xeon hehe... wierd

sleep seems to be and no no since I can't get out of it without a restart...

 

most importantly I can't get the ethernet working.. I have two Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports, I tryied out 3rdpartydriver- nVidia nForce3/4 since my main board is a nvidia brand and the ethernet is integrated, but douse not seem to work.

 

any suggestions pls!!

 

Use eno's nForceLan.kext installer..........

[darkoo69]

OMG.. I'm online yeeeeesssss.... thank you verdant!! it didn't take me this long to fix it, I had to go for a drive. just came back and made the reply.

[verdant]

OMG.. I'm online yeeeeesssss.... thank you verdant!! it didn't take me this long to fix it, I had to go for a drive. just came back and made the reply.

 

Enjoy.........

[darkoo69]

Verdant, you really do deserve that avatar of yours!! it's awesome!

[verdant]

Verdant, you really do deserve that avatar of yours!! it's awesome!

 

Glad you like it...........BTW I recommend you clone your working SL volume so you can play around but keep a master version to clone from.........

[darkoo69]

Yeah that seems like a smart thing to do.. ill be trying to fix all the small problems thats left first, then make a clone backup on a double layer dvd. And later on I'll be pushing every SL button ever created and see what happens..

[verdant]

Yeah that seems like a smart thing to do.. ill be trying to fix all the small problems thats left first, then make a clone backup on a double layer dvd. And later on I'll be pushing every SL button ever created and see what happens..

 

That is useful too.........but I meant a backup volume (kept at one OS version below the other volume until latest system version is working 100% on your main volume) on your HDD that you can boot into at any time to fix the other volume after pushing every SL button ever created......

[darkoo69]

aaaahaa got that now..

 

btw do you know a way to eject disk or unmounting a drive through terminal? I have a problem with my cd/dvd drive which douse not eject manually or through osx after a sleep session.. and when it douse so Finder gets laggy and freezes out so I killed it through activity monitor and now I can't restart it without rebooting.

 

this is what I tryied to unmount..

disktool list

: which gave me

***Disk Appeared ('disk1',Mountpoint = '', fsType = '', volName = '')
***Disk Appeared ('disk1s1',Mountpoint = '', fsType = '', volName = '')
***Disk Appeared ('disk1s2',Mountpoint = '/Volumes/[url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url]-Supported', fsType = 'hfs', volName = '[url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url]-Supported')
***Disk Appeared ('disk0',Mountpoint = '', fsType = '', volName = '')
***Disk Appeared ('disk0s1',Mountpoint = '', fsType = '', volName = '')
***Disk Appeared ('disk0s2',Mountpoint = '/', fsType = 'hfs', volName = 'osXed')
/code]

then I tryied 
[code]sudo umount -fv disk1s2

 

and got:

umount: realpath(/Users/adminomega/disk1s2): No such file or directory
umount: stat(disk1s2): No such file or directory
umount: disk1s2: not currently mounted

[verdant]

aaaahaa got that now..

 

btw do you know a way to eject disk or unmounting a drive through terminal? I have a problem with my cd/dvd drive which douse not eject manually or through osx after a sleep session.. and when it douse so Finder gets laggy and freezes out so I killed it through activity monitor and now I can't restart it without rebooting.

 

this is what I tryied to unmount..

disktool list

: which gave me

***Disk Appeared ('disk1',Mountpoint = '', fsType = '', volName = '')
***Disk Appeared ('disk1s1',Mountpoint = '', fsType = '', volName = '')
***Disk Appeared ('disk1s2',Mountpoint = '/Volumes/[url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url]-Supported', fsType = 'hfs', volName = '[url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url]-Supported')
***Disk Appeared ('disk0',Mountpoint = '', fsType = '', volName = '')
***Disk Appeared ('disk0s1',Mountpoint = '', fsType = '', volName = '')
***Disk Appeared ('disk0s2',Mountpoint = '/', fsType = 'hfs', volName = 'osXed')
/code]

then I tryied 
[code]sudo umount -fv disk1s2

 

and got:

umount: realpath(/Users/adminomega/disk1s2): No such file or directory
umount: stat(disk1s2): No such file or directory
umount: disk1s2: not currently mounted

 

Sleep does not appear to work properly with SL on nForce chipset MOBOs.........even with Leopard it can be a problem e.g. when the CPU and/or RAM are OC'd.........

 

In Terminal:

drutil list
drutil tray eject 1

In the above command, number 1 should be replaced with the drive number obtained using drutil list

 

Otherwise, hold down the mouse button at startup.......

[darkoo69]

so I tried out

drutil list

but nothing happens in terminal

so i figured checking to see if the drive is even recognized.

Going to "About This Mac --> More Info"

clicking on the "Disc burning" button freezes the window, forcing it shut and then looking into "Serial-ATA" section, finding the following:

_NEC DVD_RW ND-3500AG:

 Capacity:	4.7 GB (4,700,372,992 bytes)
 Model:	_NEC DVD_RW ND-3500AG				   
 Revision:	2.1A	
 Serial Number:						
 Removable Media:	Yes
 Detachable Drive:	No
 BSD Name:	disk1
 Protocol:	atapi
 Unit Number:	0
 Socket Type:	Serial-ATA
 Power Off:	No
 Async Notification:	No
 Media Name:	20100814_1936
 Partition Map Type:	Unknown
 S.M.A.R.T. status:	Not Supported

 

shouldn't this show up in "Disc burning" section?

[verdant]

so I tried out

drutil list

but nothing happens in terminal

so i figured checking to see if the drive is even recognized.

Going to "About This Mac --> More Info"

clicking on the "Disc burning" button freezes the window, forcing it shut and then looking into "Serial-ATA" section, finding the following:

_NEC DVD_RW ND-3500AG:

  Capacity:	4.7 GB (4,700,372,992 bytes)
  Model:	_NEC DVD_RW ND-3500AG				   
  Revision:	2.1A	
  Serial Number:						
  Removable Media:	Yes
  Detachable Drive:	No
  BSD Name:	disk1
  Protocol:	atapi
  Unit Number:	0
  Socket Type:	Serial-ATA
  Power Off:	No
  Async Notification:	No
  Media Name:	20100814_1936
  Partition Map Type:	Unknown
  S.M.A.R.T. status:	Not Supported

 

shouldn't this show up in "Disc burning" section?

 

When using a SATA DVDRW then you will have problems reading/writing CDs and DVDs as AppleNForceATA.kexts by slashack and AnV and variants of these do not work properly with SATADVDRWs.......

 

If you use MeDevil's AppleNforceATA.kext, then you will be able to read CDs and DVDs but probably not burn them......the only problem is that with this kext you have to use maxmem=3072 in com.apple.Boot.plist, i.e. you cannot access more than 3GB RAM.......

 

If you want to read/write CDs and DVDs without problem, then you will need to use a PATA (IDE) DVDRW jumper-set and connected to your MOBO as Master........

 

For more nForce chipset MOBO information in terms of what works and what does not, see my SL and Leopard topics...........

[darkoo69]

ok m8, I'll give those a read..

 

just wanna clarify that I have understood your suggestion..

 

I have the one on left in my MOBO and the jumper is set to master.. in Bios it also displays as master..

 

 

 

I'm guessing that osx douse not read the device connection correctly.. right? since it should be displayed as PATA(IDE)

[verdant]

ok m8, I'll give those a read..

 

just wanna clarify that I have understood your suggestion..

 

I have the one on left in my MOBO and the jumper is set to master.. in Bios it also displays as master..

 

 

 

I'm guessing that osx douse not read the device connection correctly.. right? since it should be displayed as PATA(IDE)

 

From my nForce Leopard guides:

IF YOU ARE USING PATA (IDE) DEVICES e.g. IDE HDD(s) and IDE DVDRW or DVDROM (and/or CDROM/CDRW) THEN PLEASE READ:

 

CORRECT IDE (PATA) DEVICE JUMPER SETTING AND CABLE CONNECTING

 

1. The modern 40-pin Ultra DMA 80-wire cable can be made connector-specific by jumpering CS (Cable Select) on HDD and jumpering CSEL (Cable Select) on the DVDROM, because the cable connectors are usually color-coded as follows:

 

Blue connector to the host i.e. MOBO,

Black connector to the chosen primary device, i.e. device cable-selected as Master (usually i.e.should be the END connector of the cable)

Grey connector to the chosen secondary device, i.e. device cable-selected as Slave (usually i.e. should the MIDDLE connector of the cable)

 

BUT not always.........

 

With such a cable, if you jumper the DVDROM as Master and the HDD as Slave, or vice versa, then the Slave device is usually connected to the middle connector and the Master device to the end connector (with the Blue connector as always connected to the MOBO IDE connector)

 

2. If you have the older 40-pin 40-wire Cable Select cable, then the Master Connector is the MIDDLE connector of the cable, and the Slave connector is the END connector of the cable (with the Blue connector as always connected to the MOBO IDE connector).

 

3. If you have the older 40-pin 40-wire Regular (non-Cable Select) then the function of the MIDDLE and END connectors on the cable 40-pin 40-wire (with the Blue connector as always connected to the MOBO IDE connector) are determined by the jumper settings on the devices connected to each (i.e. Master or Slave). With such a cable, if you set both devices as Cable Select, each will configure itself as Master, causing a signal conflict.

 

4. If you have the very rare situation of one device having to be jumpered on Cable Select and the other jumpered as Master or as Slave (i.e. no CS or CSEL option), then Cable Select mode is invoked, configuring the MIDDLE connector of the cable as Master on older 40-pin 40-wire Cable Select cable, and on modern 40-pin Ultra DMA 80-wire cable, configuring the END connector of the cable as Master (with in either case, the Blue connector connected to the MOBO IDE connector).

 

Confusing or what.........

 

If your MOBO has two separate IDE channels, i.e. two IDE connectos on the MOBO.......typically the blue MOBO connector is IDE Channel 0 and the black MOBO connector is IDE Channel 1.......then I recommend that you get two 80 wire IDE cables and try connecting your IDE DVDROM to the blue MOBO connector as Master and your IDE HDD to the black MOBO connector as Master if other IDE arrangements do not work.......

[darkoo69]

OMG hehe I had too read that a few times until I got it... so confusing, ofc probably not for others than nuubies..

 

I simply will have to test out the jumper on different places bot on the end connector and the middle.. in my case atm, I have the HDD in the middle with no jumper set and the dvdrw at the en with jumper set at master.. will have to try each method and recreate the bug and see what works and what douse not.. I'll post a solution on what worked on my hardware..

 

 

thx again Verdant!! I'll definitely will have to make a donation, this would not have been possible without your help.. GREATLY APRICIATED!!

[verdant]

OMG hehe I had too read that a few times until I got it... so confusing, ofc probably not for others than nuubies..

 

I simply will have to test out the jumper on different places bot on the end connector and the middle.. in my case atm, I have the HDD in the middle with no jumper set and the dvdrw at the en with jumper set at master.. will have to try each method and recreate the bug and see what works and what douse not.. I'll post a solution on what worked on my hardware..

 

 

thx again Verdant!! I'll definitely will have to make a donation, this would not have been possible without your help.. GREATLY APRICIATED!!

 

If you did not download the image of the 80-wire versus 40-wire IDE cable..........

 

 

I will check back tomorrow sometime..........

[darkoo69]

OMG,, going crazy here... have tried out more than maybe 20 injectors and still can't get the graphic card to work properly...

 

Anyone who feels that they could give a try? my true savior Verdant seems to not be online.. ..

[verdant]

OMG,, going crazy here... have tried out more than maybe 20 injectors and still can't get the graphic card to work properly...

 

Anyone who feels that they could give a try? my true savior Verdant seems to not be online.. ..

 

From my Snow Leopard nForce Retail Install Guide.........

 

*************************************************************

 

Getting an nVidia graphics card working in Snow Leopard

 

*************************************************************

 

The 3 easiest methods for getting an nVidia graphics card working in Snow Leopard are as follows (easiest first).

 

1. Chameleon 2.0 GraphicsEnabler option via com.apple.Boot.plist:

 

<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>

<string>Yes</string>

 

2. Hexadecimal graphics string option via com.apple.Boot.plist:

 

<key>device-properties</key>

<string>"for example, 6c0200000100000001000000600200000d00000002010c.." </string>

 

where the graphics string is generated by EFIStudio v1.1 or OSx86Tools.....

 

3. NVEnabler injector kext, Injector kext, which enables TV-OUT and injects 2nd display operation very well......

 

The NVEnabler.kext (32bit/64bit) is not just another injector kext because it does on-the-fly ROM patching to give a more stable output configuration.......but you still need to insert your graphics card(s) Device ID into the Info.plist files of the NVDAResman.kext and the NVDANV40hal.kext or NVDANV50hal.kext (to see which of these kexts you need to modify to suit your graphics card(s), look at the list of Snow Leopard supported nVidia cards in post 1.......the older NVDANV30Hal, NVDANV20Hal and NVDANV10Hal kexts are not present in Snow Leopard.....).

 

Finally, if you are familiar with DSDT modding, you can choose to modify your DSDT.aml file with information on your NVCap values obtained via IORegistry Editor, which is the newest method but also the cleanest, most "vanilla" method because it is DSDT-based, rather than involving com.apple.Boot.plist changes, or using a non-vanilla kext.......

 

NOTE: The methods above are mutually exclusive......use only one.

 

The situation is a bit more complicated with the nVidia GeForce GTX 2xx series graphics cards ...... it may be necessary to insert the graphics card(s) Device ID directly into the appropriate vanilla kexts, as well as using an enabler.....

 

Here is a graphics string for a GeForce 9800GTX 512MB graphics card you can try if your card has 512MB VRAM:

Verdant_Fixed_9800GTX_String.zip

[darkoo69]

ill have to make an yet another restore,, did not work probably because I had tried something else beforehand..

have made more than 4 restores and probably 3 reinstallation of osx, going nuts...

[darkoo69]

Verdant, I don't know why I didn't fully pay attention to your first reply in this thread, I most have been blind at the moment or really tired..

 

Gonna check out your "nForce chipset MOBO + Intel CPU Snow Leopard Install Guide" in a few days time. Working night time now for a few days 11 hours+ a night so I don't think I will have the energi to follow any guides.

 

But now that I have partially scanned through your guide I have a few questions about it.

 

1. You say partition the hdd into two equaly sized partitions, minimum 80gb:

douse it have to be like that or is this a suggestion? if yes than why?

 

2.I see lots of 32bit statements(booting into 32bit, etc), is this guide functional 64bit installation or 32bit or is it something in between.. confused.

 

3. "needing/having a working Leopard OS X" should/must I install a working Leo first? if yes, can this be done on a usb drive?

 

 

as you can see this post was made very late, I hope the questions are not lame..

 

 

Regards

//noredin