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Snow Leopard nForce 750i Install log


agent999
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First I wanted to say a HUGE thank you to this forum and community in general. Without it I would have never been able to get 10.4, and each subsequent update running on my machine. You guys rule.

 

So for a holiday break project I have decided to attempt an install of Snow Leopard (10.6) on my hackintosh

 

I currently am running iDeneb 10.5.8 on an IDE drive (I could never successfully install to SATA) and an earlier version of Chameleon (1.0 i believe, will update when I reboot). 10.5.8 is running nice and stable with one exception, audio software crashes my on machine with a BAD_EXEC (both Logic Audio Pro and Ableton Live do this consistently after playing audio for approximately 5 seconds). I also dabble in Objective C for iOS, and the current SDK requires SL, so having the dual monitors on my desktop would be a world of relief compared to my Mac Book Pro.

 

Here are my full specs, and their status in 10.5.8:

 

MOBO:

EVGA 123-YW-E175-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI FTW ATX Intel Motherboard

- it took a long time to get this all right, but everything I need is working well. Firewire has never worked, but I did not pursue this too much, since I do not really need it. I also never got onboard LAN and Sound working, but I am using an external audio interface, and a wifi card (detailed later). I am not super pleased with the bios options, I recall not having some options that were recommended that i turn off.

 

Processor:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Yorkfield 2.5GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80580Q9300

- works well, some kernels have provided problems so I settled on Voodoo; Release 1.0

 

RAM:

OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel

- I took a couple of these out in hopes that the BAD_EXEC issue from audio software was due to some bad ram. No luck, but I never got around to putting the other 4 gigs in....in fact I totally forgot it was out until I got ready to do this update.

 

Video Card:

2 x XFX PVT71PUDP3 GeForce 7900GS 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Support EXTREME

- Working just fine. I removed one to make space for my RAID card (detailed later). Photoshop and After Effects (both CS5) have issues if I turn on Open GL acceleration. I am running two monitors off of one single card.

 

Hard Drive:

7200 RPM WD IDE 300GB drive.

(update: I was close enough but here are the deets: WDC WD3200JB-00KFA0)

 

DVD/RW:

Generic IDE (i believe, will update when i look)

(update: This is in fact and IDE HP DVD 1040r, on the same chain as the main HD as the slave)

 

WiFi Card:

I *think its a linksys, 2.4/5Ghz, but I will have to double check next time I shut down the machine (will update). Works like a charm with Ralink Wireless Utility (Cardbus PCI v 1.7.1.0)

(update this is the Linksys WMP600N IEEE 802.11a/b/g, IEEE 802.11n Draft 2.0 - 2.4HGz / 5GHz)

 

RAID:

3ware 9650SE-4LPML KIT PCI Express Lanes: 4 SATA II (3.0Gb/s) Controller Card

- I purchased this before I went hackintosh. I have 3 160gb 7200 SATA WD drives in a RAID 1 array. I use it for video / etc in motion graphics work. Honestly I barely ever use it, but it works great in OS X. There is a driver out for it, and have rarely had any issues with it. I could not install OS X directly on it, but that would be a bit of a waste anyways.

 

Audio Interface:

Native Instruments Audio Kontral 1

- This was not my first choice, but since it did the job ok over USB 2 I went with it. Works without a problem. Ideally I would like to get Firewire running so I could upgrade to something with a bit more I/O

 

So that is my current setup, which is working pretty damn well for the most part.

 

I will be following this guide:

nForce RETAIL INSTALL GUIDE for Snow Leopard (10.6) on a Series 6 or 7 nForce chipset / Intel CPU MOBO, 10.6.x Retail Install using USB installer

 

In preparation for my 10.6 experiment I purchased a new drive to install on, so I have my current 10.5.8 installation to fall back on if needed. I got a great looking 1TB WD Caviar Black SATA. I look forward to having more space and performance. Fingers crossed that the SATA will work, if not I am going to install Windows 7 on there, and pick up another IDE drive for SL.

 

I also got a a little 8GB thumb drive, Snow Leopard 10.6 Retail DVD, and a Cisco Linksys e3000 because my RT-n16 was pissing me off (after setting it up I think I had a problem with my Modem -> Router ethernet cable....will investigate more, but the e3000 seems to be out-performing the hell out of the RT-n16).

 

So thats where I am at right now. I will keep updating as I progress through the process. Comments and suggestions are welcome, and encouraged.

 

Thanks

-a9

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Ok, so its now 3am. I worked through the guide and got my USB install disk and SATA drive all set up with Chameleon (RC4 with the unofficial installer, and default boot file). When I rebooted my machine I must have missed the "Press enter to select boot device" because it booted into Chameleon boot menu, but luckily my USB install disk showed up there, so i selected it. The machine successfully booted the install drive, I selected my language and when it came time to select my disk to install to only my USB drives are appearing....what went wrong?

 

I placed the various kext files into /Extra/Extensions. I am assuming they did not load for some reason...any ideas when i screwed up on? Any help is always welcome, I am going to dig through the thread and see if anyone else had the same problem. Thanks in advance.

 

(update)

So I have verified the kexts are loading, and have tried all the different AppleNForceATA kexts to no avail. I am going to jump on the guilde thread and see if i can get any help there.

 

(update 2)

After some reading around, I have discovered that apparently you need to have RAID enabled, which I do not know if I fully understand, since my SATA drive appears in my 10.5.8 install just fine, and none of my internal drives (SATA or IDE) appear in my SL install options...So far I have had no luck with turning RAID on and off but I am going to try a few more times with different AppleNForceATA kexts on the USB install disk to see if i get any more love.

 

(update 3)

MADE SOME PROGRESS (YES!). First I enabled RAID,and turned it on for my A0 SATA (which is where my drive is installed). Then I switched back to the AnV 64bit AppleNforceATA.kext, and used the arch=i386 boot flag, i also removed all my usb drives except the thumb drive. I noticed in the verbose listing that it found the SATA drive (woop) and its now seeing my IDE drive as well. This is all great. going to try to install now and see where I get....wish me luck.

 

 

(update 4)

Successfully installed to my SATA drive, took forever to copy files from the USB Install disk. Now upon reboot I do not see the newly installed SATA drive in my Chameleon boot screen. Any ideas?

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Ok, so its now 3am. I worked through the guide and got my USB install disk and SATA drive all set up with Chameleon (RC4 with the unofficial installer, and default boot file). When I rebooted my machine I must have missed the "Press enter to select boot device" because it booted into Chameleon boot menu, but luckily my USB install disk showed up there, so i selected it. The machine successfully booted the install drive, I selected my language and when it came time to select my disk to install to only my USB drives are appearing....what went wrong?

 

I placed the various kext files into /Extra/Extensions. I am assuming they did not load for some reason...any ideas when i screwed up on? Any help is always welcome, I am going to dig through the thread and see if anyone else had the same problem. Thanks in advance.

 

(update)

So I have verified the kexts are loading, and have tried all the different AppleNForceATA kexts to no avail. I am going to jump on the guilde thread and see if i can get any help there.

 

(update 2)

After some reading around, I have discovered that apparently you need to have RAID enabled, which I do not know if I fully understand, since my SATA drive appears in my 10.5.8 install just fine, and none of my internal drives (SATA or IDE) appear in my SL install options...So far I have had no luck with turning RAID on and off but I am going to try a few more times with different AppleNForceATA kexts on the USB install disk to see if i get any more love.

 

(update 2)

MADE SOME PROGRESS (YES!). First I enabled RAID,and turned it on for my A0 SATA (which is where my drive is installed). Then I switched back to the AnV 64bit AppleNforceATA.kext, and used the arch=i386 boot flag, i also removed all my usb drives except the thumb drive. I noticed in the verbose listing that it found the SATA drive (woop) and its now seeing my IDE drive as well. This is all great. going to try to install now and see where I get....wish me luck.

 

Did you start by setting your BIOS template for the 750i and post #1 instructs.....? This is the starting point....... :)

 

If you have any nForce with SL specific questions, post them in my nForce RETAIL INSTALL GUIDE for Snow Leopard (10.6) on a Series 6 or 7 nForce chipset / Intel CPU MOBO, 10.6.x Retail Install using USB installer...... :)

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Did you start by setting your BIOS template for the 750i and post #1 instructs.....? This is the starting point....... :)

 

If you have any nForce with SL specific questions, post them in my nForce RETAIL INSTALL GUIDE for Snow Leopard (10.6) on a Series 6 or 7 nForce chipset / Intel CPU MOBO, 10.6.x Retail Install using USB installer...... :)

 

I did, I followed the guide as closely as possible. Of corse my bios options varied a bit, but I think the RAID [enabled] was the big hitch. I guess I just missed that in the initial setup. I will post screen shots of all my bios setting once i get this beast up and running.

 

Thanks again for all the info you have posted on here, obviously this would be impossible for me otherwise.

 

10 minutes to go, minimal errors. The only one I have spotted so far is the "Looking for system packages, no system packages found <more lines concluding with> Failed to enumerate /Volumes/(MyDrive)/Libraries/Caches, cannot prune ("com.apple.user.*pictureCache*")

 

PS: DAMN its slow copying the files off that thumb drive.

 

Ok, So it successfully installed, no major errors, got the to click to restarts screen. Rebooted, after my reboot Chameleon launched as usual but did not give me an option for my SATA drive I just installed to. Any ideas whats wrong?

 

Going to post this in the nForce RETAIL INSTALL GUIDE thread too.

 

(Update)

In preparation to post this to the RETAIL INSTALL GUIDE I went through my BIOS and screen captured each screen. I noticed my SATA drive was absent from everything (Basic and Boot Device) So I turned off RAID for that drive, rebooted, and checked the BIOS again, and there it was.

 

I set it to my primary boot device, and there it popped up in Chameleon (yay). Booted with "-f -v" and it hung on "waiting for root device".

 

I have just rebooted with "arch=i386 -f -v" and it succeeded....so i guess no 64bit boot for me?

 

I am going to move on to getting my video in NIC card setup.

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I did, I followed the guide as closely as possible. Of corse my bios options varied a bit, but I think the RAID [enabled] was the big hitch. I guess I just missed that in the initial setup. I will post screen shots of all my bios setting once i get this beast up and running.

 

Thanks again for all the info you have posted on here, obviously this would be impossible for me otherwise.

 

10 minutes to go, minimal errors. The only one I have spotted so far is the "Looking for system packages, no system packages found <more lines concluding with> Failed to enumerate /Volumes/(MyDrive)/Libraries/Caches, cannot prune ("com.apple.user.*pictureCache*")

 

PS: DAMN its slow copying the files off that thumb drive.

 

Ok, So it successfully installed, no major errors, got the to click to restarts screen. Rebooted, after my reboot Chameleon launched as usual but did not give me an option for my SATA drive I just installed to. Any ideas whats wrong?

 

Going to post this in the nForce RETAIL INSTALL GUIDE thread too.

 

(Update)

In preparation to post this to the RETAIL INSTALL GUIDE I went through my BIOS and screen captured each screen. I noticed my SATA drive was absent from everything (Basic and Boot Device) So I turned off RAID for that drive, rebooted, and checked the BIOS again, and there it was.

 

I set it to my primary boot device, and there it popped up in Chameleon (yay). Booted with "-f -v" and it hung on "waiting for root device".

 

I have just rebooted with "arch=i386 -f -v" and it succeeded....so i guess no 64bit boot for me?

 

I am going to move on to getting my video in NIC card setup.

 

Get everything working in 32bit mode first before trying to boot in 64bit mode...........only imk's AppleNForceATA.kext loads into the 64bit kernel properly and allows successful booting........

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Get everything working in 32bit mode first before trying to boot in 64bit mode...........only imk's AppleNForceATA.kext loads into the 64bit kernel properly and allows successful booting........

 

Good tip. I may have to stick with 32b for a little while, since it appears the Ralink PCI driver for OSX is only available for up to 10.5 right now (strangely the USB version is up to 10.6). I assume this means it will be unhappy if SL is running at 64b?

 

Wifi is up and running (yippie!).

 

now on to my GeForce 7900 GS...Is there a method you suggest for getting this card happy (It appears to be fully compatible, and works great in 10.5.8). I believe I used the NVjected kexts in 10.5.8, should I do the same?

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Good tip. I may have to stick with 32b for a little while, since it appears the Ralink PCI driver for OSX is only available for up to 10.5 right now (strangely the USB version is up to 10.6). I assume this means it will be unhappy if SL is running at 64b?

 

Wifi is up and running (yippie!).

 

now on to my GeForce 7900 GS...Is there a method you suggest for getting this card happy (It appears to be fully compatible, and works great in 10.5.8). I believe I used the NVjected kexts in 10.5.8, should I do the same?

 

Also on 32bit versus 64bit mode, I believe there is no 64bit kext support for the Geforce 7xxx series graphics cards after 10.6.2........

 

See post #1 for your options..........if the Chameleon method of putting:

<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>

<string>Yes</string>

in com.apple.Boot.plist does not work, then try a graphics string..........

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Success. I think it is safe to say that this install has been perfect so far once I got it to detect my SATA drive.

 

Network was not a problem, installed the same PKG i used for 10.5 (since there is no 10.6 available) and that was right up and running.

 

Video I simply put NVEnabler in S/L/E and did a repair / touch, did not have to touch anything else, just did a reboot and it picked up both monitors with full acceleration.

 

My USB drives are not showing up at times, I will investigate more later (I have 4 of the things).

 

I still have to install my audio interface, which should be easy, and fix some small things, but over all I am VERY pleased with the outcome. I even ran the software update and it updated itself to 10.6.5 for me, no problemo.

 

I would like to get it booting 64bit, but this may not be possible with my 32bit wifi driver....we will see.

 

I will keep posting as I continue to fix things.

 

Thanks again for all the help and resources.

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Success. I think it is safe to say that this install has been perfect so far once I got it to detect my SATA drive.

 

Network was not a problem, installed the same PKG i used for 10.5 (since there is no 10.6 available) and that was right up and running.

 

Video I simply put NVEnabler in S/L/E and did a repair / touch, did not have to touch anything else, just did a reboot and it picked up both monitors with full acceleration.

 

My USB drives are not showing up at times, I will investigate more later (I have 4 of the things).

 

I still have to install my audio interface, which should be easy, and fix some small things, but over all I am VERY pleased with the outcome. I even ran the software update and it updated itself to 10.6.5 for me, no problemo.

 

I would like to get it booting 64bit, but this may not be possible with my 32bit wifi driver....we will see.

 

I will keep posting as I continue to fix things.

 

Thanks again for all the help and resources.

 

Great progress and a good success story.......glad to help...... :)

 

PS If you have to use 10.5.x kexts, then you will have to stay in 32bit mode unless they are fully 32bit/64bit kexts.........

 

However, the 64bit kernel is only used by default in the 2008 and later Xserve rack mounted servers capable of using up to 48 GiB of memory, and also 2008 and later Mac Pros and the mid 2010 Mac Mini when running 10.6.x Server.

 

All other Macs (apart from the mid 2010 Mac Pros) use the 32/64bit hybrid kernel by default because their hardware does not support more than 32 GiB of memory, and since Snow Leopard is completely backwards-compatible with 32bit applications and runs 64bit applications regardless of whether it boots into a 64bit or a 32bit kernel, running the purely 64bit kernel has little significant advantage........

 

I am not saying that there are no advantages, just that they are not as yet critically significant to the majority of OS X users...........the advantages being that the 64bit OS X kernel has the ability to [1] set up a memory address space for itself greater than 32bits (4GB) and [2] access the full x64 register set of 64bit CPUs..........hence, Apple is gradually increasing the number of Mac models that boot by default into the 64bit kernel.........

 

This Mac uses the 64bit kernel by default in Mac OS X v10.6.

  • Mac Pro (Mid 2010)

These Macs use the 64bit kernel by default in Mac OS X Server 10.6.

  • Xserve (Early 2008) and later
  • Mac Pro (Early 2008) and later
  • Mac mini (Mid 2010)

These Macs support the 64bit kernel, but do not use it by default.

  • iMac (Early 2008) and later
  • MacBook Pro (Early 2008) and later

And, as for the Mac Pros (Mid 2010) using the 64bit kernel by default in Mac OS X v10.6:

 

4 x 2.8 GHz cores with 4 RAM slots supporting up to 32GB RAM Price: US$2499

6 x 3.33 GHz cores with 4 RAM slots supporting up to 32GB RAM Price: US$3699

8 x 2.4 GHz cores with 8 RAM slots supporting up to 64GB RAM Price: US$3499

12 x 2.66 GHz cores with 8 RAM slots supporting up to 64GB RAM Price: U$4999

 

would you call the "buyers" of these Mac Pro computers, "regular users", or "power users".....? ;)

 

Furthermore, regarding Windows 7:

 

Pros and Cons of a 64 bit system:

  • You can address much more than 4GB of memory, which is ideal for avid gamers, CAD, video editors and heavy multi-taskers. However, any 32 bit software you use will still be restricted to 4GB memory – you need a 64 bit CPU, OS and applications to take full advantage of the extra RAM.
  • 16 bit applications will no longer run. Although this is unlikely to be a problem, if you use very old software (from the Windows 3.1 days!) then it will not work under a 64 bit OS.
  • Existing 32 bit drivers no longer work.If you have older or poorly supported hardware you may find that it can no longer be used. Got a 7 year old scanner that just about works in Vista? You may not be able to get it working in 64 bit Windows 7.
  • Unsigned kernel-mode drivers no longer work. Along with the issue above, the inability to run unsigned kernel mode drivers will cause problems for old hardware. (There is reportedly a way to bypass this check).
  • Running some 32 bit applications on a 64 bit OS could actually be slower. The additional overheads in running 32 bit software in 64 bit mode could cause a slight degradation in performance. It will take some time for 64 bit software to become the norm.

The Windows system needs a full 64bit kernel to work at its best because the 32bit kernel Windows system is very limited, whereas Mac OS X is different because the 32bit kernel is capable of launching and running 64bit processes, i.e. applications.......... :(

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Great progress and a good success story.......glad to help...... :)

 

PS If you have to use 10.5.x kexts, then you will have to stay in 32bit mode unless they are fully 32bit/64bit kexts.........

 

However, the 64bit kernel is only used by default in the 2008 and later Xserve rack mounted servers capable of using up to 48 GiB of memory, and also 2008 and later Mac Pros and the mid 2010 Mac Mini when running 10.6.x Server.

 

All other Macs (apart from the mid 2010 Mac Pros) use the 32/64bit hybrid kernel by default because their hardware does not support more than 32 GiB of memory, and since Snow Leopard is completely backwards-compatible with 32bit applications and runs 64bit applications regardless of whether it boots into a 64bit or a 32bit kernel, running the purely 64bit kernel has little significant advantage........

 

I am not saying that there are no advantages, just that they are not as yet critically significant to the majority of OS X users...........the advantages being that the 64bit OS X kernel has the ability to [1] set up a memory address space for itself greater than 32bits (4GB) and [2] access the full x64 register set of 64bit CPUs..........hence, Apple is gradually increasing the number of Mac models that boot by default into the 64bit kernel.........

 

This Mac uses the 64bit kernel by default in Mac OS X v10.6.

  • Mac Pro (Mid 2010)

These Macs use the 64bit kernel by default in Mac OS X Server 10.6.

  • Xserve (Early 2008) and later
  • Mac Pro (Early 2008) and later
  • Mac mini (Mid 2010)

These Macs support the 64bit kernel, but do not use it by default.

  • iMac (Early 2008) and later
  • MacBook Pro (Early 2008) and later

And, as for the Mac Pros (Mid 2010) using the 64bit kernel by default in Mac OS X v10.6:

 

4 x 2.8 GHz cores with 4 RAM slots supporting up to 32GB RAM Price: US$2499

6 x 3.33 GHz cores with 4 RAM slots supporting up to 32GB RAM Price: US$3699

8 x 2.4 GHz cores with 8 RAM slots supporting up to 64GB RAM Price: US$3499

12 x 2.66 GHz cores with 8 RAM slots supporting up to 64GB RAM Price: U$4999

 

would you call the "buyers" of these Mac Pro computers, "regular users", or "power users".....? ;)

 

Furthermore, regarding Windows 7:

 

Pros and Cons of a 64 bit system:

  • You can address much more than 4GB of memory, which is ideal for avid gamers, CAD, video editors and heavy multi-taskers. However, any 32 bit software you use will still be restricted to 4GB memory – you need a 64 bit CPU, OS and applications to take full advantage of the extra RAM.
  • 16 bit applications will no longer run. Although this is unlikely to be a problem, if you use very old software (from the Windows 3.1 days!) then it will not work under a 64 bit OS.
  • Existing 32 bit drivers no longer work.If you have older or poorly supported hardware you may find that it can no longer be used. Got a 7 year old scanner that just about works in Vista? You may not be able to get it working in 64 bit Windows 7.
  • Unsigned kernel-mode drivers no longer work. Along with the issue above, the inability to run unsigned kernel mode drivers will cause problems for old hardware. (There is reportedly a way to bypass this check).
  • Running some 32 bit applications on a 64 bit OS could actually be slower. The additional overheads in running 32 bit software in 64 bit mode could cause a slight degradation in performance. It will take some time for 64 bit software to become the norm.

The Windows system needs a full 64bit kernel to work at its best because the 32bit kernel Windows system is very limited, whereas Mac OS X is different because the 32bit kernel is capable of launching and running 64bit processes, i.e. applications.......... :(

 

all great info. I have 8 gigs of ram in my machine now, will booting into the 32bit kernel restrict 64 bit programs from using the full amount (Mainly Photoshop cs5 and After Effects CS5...both of which i believe are 64bit now, but PS may still be 32)

 

I am having a new issue with USB, where none of my drives are appearing....i know the system is capable of finding them since I installed from the USB thumb drive...and the system is finding my keyboard. I vaguely recall having an issue with some of the USB ports when I installed 10.5, have no idea how i resolved the issue. Any ideas?

 

I also just discovered that it is not awaking from sleep mode either, I am hoping this is related to the USB issues.

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all great info. I have 8 gigs of ram in my machine now, will booting into the 32bit kernel restrict 64 bit programs from using the full amount (Mainly Photoshop cs5 and After Effects CS5...both of which i believe are 64bit now, but PS may still be 32)

 

I am having a new issue with USB, where none of my drives are appearing....i know the system is capable of finding them since I installed from the USB thumb drive...and the system is finding my keyboard. I vaguely recall having an issue with some of the USB ports when I installed 10.5, have no idea how i resolved the issue. Any ideas?

 

I also just discovered that it is not awaking from sleep mode either, I am hoping this is related to the USB issues.

 

In reverse order:

 

Sleep does work on nForce chipset MOBOs as far as I am currently aware

 

Re USB what does System Profiler show under USB?

 

I am not aware of any particular memory restrictions but another reader using CS5 in both 32bit and 64bit modes on the same PC and the same amount of RAM may have a definitive answer for you.....

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In reverse order:

 

Sleep does work on nForce chipset MOBOs as far as I am currently aware

 

Re USB what does System Profiler show under USB?

 

I am not aware of any particular memory restrictions but another reader using CS5 in both 32bit and 64bit modes on the same PC and the same amount of RAM may have a definitive answer for you.....

 

I did some searching and found some other people having a similar issue. Looks like its probably related to Legacy USB in the BIOS. Have a short list of experiments to do once I get home. Will update.

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I did some searching and found some other people having a similar issue. Looks like its probably related to Legacy USB in the BIOS. Have a short list of experiments to do once I get home. Will update.

 

OK, USB issue resolved. It was a real doozie....(in my defense, I have about 100 USB cables snaking around under my desk going to my mouse/keyboard/4 external drives/audio interface/two music controllers/serato/and my iphone/ipad). turns out the cable i though was plugged into the tower (the cable from the usb hub) was actually just plugged into the usb hub. brilliant eh?

 

So i tried a bunch of stuff to fix it, including installing Chameleon RC5, which ended up for the best since I was able to get a good working SMBIOS.plist (silverlight works like a champ). At one point i jacked up my extensions, but managed to fix it somehow (nothing in Extra/Extensions was loading).

 

Audio is now working perfect, all my USB is happy, time machine is setup, etc.

 

I have run into one problem, and i have never experienced this before. Seemingly at random my machine is lockin up, but its not throwing a kernel panic, its not a hard lock, and its not a full on soft lock. I get the SBBOD and i can click on different windows and select them, but nothing responds. command+tab does nothing, the dock does not respond, I can not force quit anything. Has anyone experienced something like this before? Its annoying, and I can not seem to figure out what is causing it exactly.

 

Oh yeah, here is my victory Pic:

screenshot20101228at931.png

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OK, USB issue resolved. It was a real doozie....(in my defense, I have about 100 USB cables snaking around under my desk going to my mouse/keyboard/4 external drives/audio interface/two music controllers/serato/and my iphone/ipad). turns out the cable i though was plugged into the tower (the cable from the usb hub) was actually just plugged into the usb hub. brilliant eh?

 

So i tried a bunch of stuff to fix it, including installing Chameleon RC5, which ended up for the best since I was able to get a good working SMBIOS.plist (silverlight works like a champ). At one point i jacked up my extensions, but managed to fix it somehow (nothing in Extra/Extensions was loading).

 

Audio is now working perfect, all my USB is happy, time machine is setup, etc.

 

I have run into one problem, and i have never experienced this before. Seemingly at random my machine is lockin up, but its not throwing a kernel panic, its not a hard lock, and its not a full on soft lock. I get the SBBOD and i can click on different windows and select them, but nothing responds. command+tab does nothing, the dock does not respond, I can not force quit anything. Has anyone experienced something like this before? Its annoying, and I can not seem to figure out what is causing it exactly.

 

Oh yeah, here is my victory Pic:

screenshot20101228at931.png

 

You could try the various AppleNForceATA.kexts to check for stability.........also boot with -v debug=0x144 to see if a debug screen pops up when you have a 'soft' freeze......also check your kernel and system logs for any error messages........

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I was originally using AppleNForceATA.64AnV.kext. I switched to AppleNForceATA.slash.kext in hopes of avoiding them in the future....no luck, happened again. I am now using AppleNForceATA.AnV.kext, just rebooted (fingers crossed). The issue does seem to maybe be drive related. It seems like it happens during heavier file access. Once with a DMG mounted off a USB 2 drive, and a number of times copying from usb to SATA and just loading larger files from SATA. I hope this fixes it.

 

I am having a couple other little issues.

 

WiFi is being wonky, it will work fine most of the time, then, without reason (no heavy transfers or anything) it will drop out and I will be unable to connect to anything. I can sometimes refresh my site survey, but when i click connect nothing happens (this is all from within the Ralink wireless utility). I am using the 10.5 version of the driver / util since there is not currently a 10.6 available for the PCI version. I have uninstalled and reinstalled, will let you know how that works out.

 

Second issue is some minor graphics glitches, very subtle. Things like an extra line or two of pixels on window tabs, or the border of a window being off by a pixel or two. next time I notice it i will grab a screen capture. I was investigating and realized I had NVEnabler 64.kext in both E/E and S/L/E. I recall reading that NVEnabler has some issues when installed into E/E so I removed that copy.

 

I added the debug boot paramater to Extra/com.apple.boot.plist, I have not received any messages ont he soft lock.

 

In the console, which logs should I be looking at, and what should I be looking for (any specific keywords?). I checked out:

 

/Library/Logs/CrashReporter (which I have one report "mds_2010-12-29-021401_localhost")

/private/var/log/kernel.log which is huge. I think the ATA notices are all normal, but let me post them just in case....this is all since my last boot

Dec 29 15:55:07 localhost kernel[0]: AppleNForceATA: found 1 units.
Dec 29 15:55:07 localhost kernel[0]: com.apple.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib kmod start
Dec 29 15:55:07 localhost kernel[0]: com.apple.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib load succeeded
Dec 29 15:55:07 localhost kernel[0]: AppleNForceATA: NVIDIA nForce MCP 51 by MeDevil (CMD 0x1f0, CTR 0x3f4, IRQ 14, BM 0xfd00)
Dec 29 15:55:07 localhost kernel[0]: Got boot device = IOService:/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0@0/AppleACPIPCI/SAT1@E/AppleNForceATARoot/PRI0@0/AppleNForceATA/ATADeviceNub@0/AppleATADiskDriver/IOATABlockStorageDevice/IOBlockStorageDriver/WDC WD1001FALS-41Y6A0 WDC WD1001FALS-41Y6A0/IOGUIDPartitionScheme/Untitled@2
Dec 29 15:55:07 localhost kernel[0]: BSD root: disk0s2, major 14, minor 2
Dec 29 15:55:07 localhost kernel[0]: AppleNForceATA: warning: phy connection failed. status=A0xp0p0l0e0N0F0o0r0c
Dec 29 15:55:07 localhost kernel[0]: eATA: warning: phy connection failed. status=0x00000000
Dec 29 15:55:07 localhost kernel[0]: AppleNForceATA: warning: phy connection failed. status=0x00000000
Dec 29 15:55:07 localhost kernel[0]: AppleNForceATA: found 0 units.
Dec 29 15:55:07: --- last message repeated 2 times ---

then a bunch of NVEnabler stuff, which in the middle this pops up:

Dec 29 15:55:21 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin::start - waitForService(resourceMatching(AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement) timed out

then a bunch more NVEnabler (hundreds of lines), followed by this....

Dec 29 15:55:36 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: AppleNForceATA: found 0 units.
Dec 29 15:56:07 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: AppleNForceATA: found 0 units.
Dec 29 15:56:22 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: keSMC: key info not found PNTR, length - 6
Dec 29 15:56:22 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: FakeSMC: key info not found PH5Z, length - 6
Dec 29 15:56:22 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: FakeSMC: key info not found PMBS, length - 6

that FakeSMC line is repeated maybe 3d times with different "PMBS" like strings

 

and thats about it in kernel. I am going to clear kernel.log and system.log and wait and see if i have a crash, so its less to parse through. Will post more when i have it.

 

Thanks again.

 

update

So it has happened again. This time I was installing my 3ware RAID drivers, and listening to some music in iTunes. iTunes stopped playing music, when i clicked over to itunes i got the SBBOD. This is pretty typical for how this crash happens. One app stopps functioning, everything else seems to continue fine for a moment. The 3ware installer continued to progress for a good 15 seconds, getting to about 98% complete before locking. I clicked on spotlight, which surprisingly responded, to try to launch console. i got "c" typed in before the whole system hard locked. The mouse still functioned but nothing else.

 

looking at my kernel.log I am seeing a lot of this message relating to my USB audio interface

 

Dec 29 16:25:22 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: de_caiaq_driver_NIUSBAudioEngine(0x6c76c000): unable to submit irp for writing (0xe00002ee (UNDEFINED))
Dec 29 16:25:52: --- last message repeated 2 times ---
Dec 29 16:27:18 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: de_caiaq_driver_NIUSBAudioEngine(0x6c76c000): unable to submit irp for writing (0xe00002ee (UNDEFINED))
Dec 29 16:27:48: --- last message repeated 4 times ---
Dec 29 16:27:59 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: de_caiaq_driver_NIUSBAudioEngine(0x6c76c000): unable to submit irp for writing (0xe00002ee (UNDEFINED))

it is popping up about every minute or so while the music was playing.

 

here are the messages immediately following the audio interface messages, all relating to the 3ware installer:

Dec 29 16:36:54 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: hfs_erase_unused_nodes: updating volume 3wareCD.
Dec 29 16:36:54 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: hfs_erase_unused_nodes: done updating volume 3wareCD.
Dec 29 16:37:00 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[391] Unable to clear quarantine `StartInstall.app': 93
Dec 29 16:37:00 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[391] Unable to clear quarantine `Contents': 93
Dec 29 16:37:00 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[391] Unable to clear quarantine `Info.plist': 93
Dec 29 16:37:00 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[391] Unable to clear quarantine `MacOS': 93
Dec 29 16:37:00 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[391] Unable to clear quarantine `StartInstall': 93
Dec 29 16:37:00 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[391] Unable to clear quarantine `PkgInfo': 93
Dec 29 16:37:00 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[391] Unable to clear quarantine `Resources': 93
Dec 29 16:37:00 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[391] Unable to clear quarantine `3ware.icns': 93
Dec 29 16:37:00 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[391] Unable to clear quarantine `English.lproj': 93
Dec 29 16:37:00 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[391] Unable to clear quarantine `InfoPlist.strings': 93
Dec 29 16:37:00 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[391] Unable to clear quarantine `MainMenu.nib': 93
Dec 29 16:37:00 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[391] Unable to clear quarantine `classes.nib': 93
Dec 29 16:37:00 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[391] Unable to clear quarantine `info.nib': 93
Dec 29 16:37:00 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[391] Unable to clear quarantine `keyedobjects.nib': 93

and that was it for the kernel.log, next message was 5 minutes later during my restart.

 

in my system.log i am getting a lot of

Dec 29 16:23:30 No-Ones-Mac-Pro [0x0-0x14014].com.google.Chrome[216]: objc[340]: Class WorkerPoolObjC is implemented in both /Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/Versions/8.0.552.231/Google Chrome Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/../../../Google Chrome Framework.framework/Google Chrome Framework and /Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/Versions/8.0.552.231/Google Chrome Framework.framework/Internet Plug-Ins/PDF.plugin/Contents/MacOS/PDF. One of the two will be used. Which one is undefined.

but I do not think that is causing the crash. here is the chunk of log right before the the crash sans the Chrome errors:

Dec 29 16:27:18 No-Ones-Mac-Pro iChat[230]: Periodic CFURLCache Insert stats (iters: 365) - Tx time:0.003049, # of Inserts: 2, # of bytes written: 14292, Did shrink: NO, Size of cache-file: 235520, Num of Failures: 0
Dec 29 16:27:49 No-Ones-Mac-Pro WindowServer[95]: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.
Dec 29 16:27:49 No-Ones-Mac-Pro com.apple.WindowServer[95]: Wed Dec 29 16:27:49 No-Ones-Mac-Pro.local WindowServer[95] <Error>: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.
...<chrome errors>....
Dec 29 16:36:53 No-Ones-Mac-Pro fseventsd[57]: could not open <</Volumes/3wareCD/.fseventsd/fseventsd-uuid>> (No such file or directory)
Dec 29 16:36:53 No-Ones-Mac-Pro fseventsd[57]: log dir: /Volumes/3wareCD/.fseventsd getting new uuid: EE4F6692-712F-4F40-8068-12DF828829C0
Dec 29 16:36:59 No-Ones-Mac-Pro SecurityAgent[394]: system.privilege.admin|2010-12-29 16:36:59 -0800
Dec 29 16:37:03 No-Ones-Mac-Pro authexec[400]: executing /Volumes/3wareCD/StartInstall.app/../packages/installers/tools/macos/setupMac.command
Dec 29 16:37:05 No-Ones-Mac-Pro CoreServicesUIAgent[401]: Application failed to launch (id = setupMac.command, version = Unknown reason = kLSNoRosettaEnvironmentErr)
Dec 29 16:37:05 No-Ones-Mac-Pro com.apple.coreservices.uiagent[401]: Wed Dec 29 16:37:05 No-Ones-Mac-Pro.local CoreServicesUIAgent[401] <Notice>: Application failed to launch (id = setupMac.command, version = Unknown reason = kLSNoRosettaEnvironmentErr)

 

hope this sheds some light on why this super annoying crash keeps happening. Thanks again.

 

(update 2)

 

Digging around the internets and searching for some of the strings from my console log, I have found a number of true macs having a similar problem in SL. It seems their issues are stemming from browser plugin issues. They are having their network connection die, SBBOD, and unresponsive system. I am going to attempt some of their fixes and see if it gets me anywhere. Unfortunately it seems like many of their issues result from the DiVX plugin being used in safari, neither of which I use, but I am going to investigate anyways. It seems like its a possibility since I am getting all of those Chrome errors. Stay tuned.

 

(update 3)

it really seems like this is a browser plugin issue, I have been reading this post

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?m...012162#11012162

seems like lots of people are having the same issue, going to try to implement their solutions and see if i get any love. Switching from Chrome to Safari proved pointless, as Safari crashed in like 2 minutes, and upon restarting it locked my system. Will continue to update, but at this point it seems to me like this is not an install issue, just the same problem many peeps are having with newer updates to Snow Leopard.

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Well I have just about hit a dead end. I cleaned everything, removed all browser plugins from ~/Lib and /Lib, tried multiple appleNforseSATA.kets, still persistently getting the SBBOD lock up. last time I had nothing running, no browsers, no iChat, maybe my WIFI utility, and copying a bunch of large files to test from and external usb to my RAID. got about 60 of 80 gigs transfered and it happened again. So now I am pretty lost, so close to having a really nice install of SL but this makes it unusable. =\ . I am going to try removing my audio interface kext, and search around for an alternate wifi driver and see if that gets me anywhere. maybe remove both and try the file copy again and see if that has any more success. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated at this point. thanks again....following are the last few logs from system.log and kernel.log:

 

 

system.log:

Dec 29 20:36:46 No-Ones-Mac-Pro configd[13]: network configuration changed.
Dec 29 20:37:08 No-Ones-Mac-Pro com.apple.coreservicesd[51]: ThrottleProcessIO: throttling disk i/o
Dec 29 20:37:10 No-Ones-Mac-Pro ntpd[23]: bind() fd 25, family 30, port 123, scope 4, addr fe80::225:9cff:feb4:4ab4, in6_is_addr_multicast=0 flags=0x11 fails: Can't assign requested address
Dec 29 20:37:10 No-Ones-Mac-Pro ntpd[23]: unable to create socket on en0 (7) for fe80::225:9cff:feb4:4ab4#123
Dec 29 20:37:12 No-Ones-Mac-Pro mDNSResponder[33]: RegisterInterface: Frequent transitions for interface en0 (FE80:0000:0000:0000:0225:9CFF:FEB4:4AB4)
Dec 29 20:37:16 No-Ones-Mac-Pro configd[13]: network configuration changed.
Dec 29 20:37:46: --- last message repeated 2 times ---
Dec 29 20:37:59 No-Ones-Mac-Pro hdiejectd[274]: running
Dec 29 20:39:36 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kextd[10]: updated kernel boot caches
Dec 29 20:42:08 No-Ones-Mac-Pro configd[13]: network configuration changed.
Dec 29 20:42:58: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Dec 29 20:46:13 No-Ones-Mac-Pro com.apple.kextcache[267]: NovationUSBAudio.kext is not valid.
Dec 29 20:46:22 No-Ones-Mac-Pro com.apple.kextcache[267]: Created prelinked kernel /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/kernelcache_i386.8602B51D.
Dec 29 20:46:39 No-Ones-Mac-Pro /System/Library/CoreServices/CCacheServer.app/Contents/MacOS/CCacheServer[226]: No valid tickets, timing out

 

and kernel.log

Dec 29 18:38:08 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: FakeSMC: key info not found PG1C, length - 6
Dec 29 18:38:08 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: FakeSMC: key info not found Ps1S, length - 6
Dec 29 18:38:08 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: FakeSMC: key info not found PG0R, length - 6
Dec 29 18:38:08 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: FakeSMC: key info not found PH1Z, length - 6
Dec 29 18:38:41 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: utun_ctl_connect: creating interface utun0
Dec 29 18:39:21 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: jnl: disk5s2: replay_journal: from: 3188224 to: 3723776 (joffset 0x53000)
Dec 29 18:39:21 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: jnl: disk5s2: journal replay done.
Dec 29 18:42:24 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: utun_ctl_connect: creating interface utun0
Dec 29 18:53:02 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: de_caiaq_driver_NIUSBAudioEngine(0x6c7dc000): unable to submit irp for writing (0xe00002ee (UNDEFINED))
Dec 29 18:54:26: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Dec 29 19:02:13 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: de_caiaq_driver_NIUSBAudioEngine(0x6c7dc000): unable to submit irp for writing (0xe00002ee (UNDEFINED))
Dec 29 19:04:39 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: de_caiaq_driver_NIUSBAudioEngine(0x6c7dc000): unable to submit irp for writing (0xe00002ee (UNDEFINED))
Dec 29 19:18:52 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: de_caiaq_driver_NIUSBAudioEngine(0x6c7dc000): unable to submit irp for writing (0xe00002ee (UNDEFINED))
Dec 29 19:19:26: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Dec 29 19:20:06 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: de_caiaq_driver_NIUSBAudioEngine(0x6c7dc000): unable to submit irp for writing (0xe00002ee (UNDEFINED))
Dec 29 19:20:42 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: de_caiaq_driver_NIUSBAudioEngine(0x6c7dc000): unable to submit irp for writing (0xe00002ee (UNDEFINED))
Dec 29 19:31:49 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: de_caiaq_driver_NIUSBAudioEngine(0x6c7dc000): unable to submit irp for writing (0xe00002ee (UNDEFINED))
Dec 29 19:32:19: --- last message repeated 2 times ---
Dec 29 19:35:12 No-Ones-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: de_caiaq_driver_NIUSBAudioEngine(0x6c7dc000): unable to submit irp for writing (0xe00002ee (UNDEFINED))

 

thanks in advance.

 

another update

 

Well I dont know what changed, but i have been up and running for a couple hours now with no freeze (i am sure i am jinxing myself). I did update to the newest community version of FakeSMC, which got rid of all my FakeSMC errors. Chrome is still throwing the same errors, but they seem to have no effect, and this is a general mac / chrome problem, i think its just polluting my console more then anything else. I am currently running the AppleNForceATA.slash and Chameleon RC4. Hopefully the whole issue was just caused by the older version of FakeSMC? will update later.

 

 

yet another update

I did indeed jinx myself. and I am about 90% certain its a nForceATA kext issue. I did some massive file transfers between USB and RAID without a hitch. downloaded a couple multi gig files to the RAID array, no problem. mounted the Adobe CS5 DMG off the RAID, no problem....every time i go to install it freezes at around 12%.

 

Are there any additional AppleNForceATA.kext's i can try. I have attempted wtih slash, AnV and 64AnV all with seemingly the same result.

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thanks in advance.

 

another update

 

Well I dont know what changed, but i have been up and running for a couple hours now with no freeze (i am sure i am jinxing myself). I did update to the newest community version of FakeSMC, which got rid of all my FakeSMC errors. Chrome is still throwing the same errors, but they seem to have no effect, and this is a general mac / chrome problem, i think its just polluting my console more then anything else. I am currently running the AppleNForceATA.slash and Chameleon RC4. Hopefully the whole issue was just caused by the older version of FakeSMC? will update later.

 

 

yet another update

I did indeed jinx myself. and I am about 90% certain its a nForceATA kext issue. I did some massive file transfers between USB and RAID without a hitch. downloaded a couple multi gig files to the RAID array, no problem. mounted the Adobe CS5 DMG off the RAID, no problem....every time i go to install it freezes at around 12%.

 

Are there any additional AppleNForceATA.kext's i can try. I have attempted wtih slash, AnV and 64AnV all with seemingly the same result.

 

A number of options:

 

1. Boot in Safe Mode (-v -x) and then run the installer (I always also use -v to see the boot process)

 

2. Boot with -v arch=i386 cpus=1 maxmem=2048 and then run the installer

 

Combine 1. and 2. by booting with

 

-v -x arch=i386 cpus=1 maxmem=2048 and then run the installer

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I think I have isolated my problem to the wifi kext or app. I removed the Ralink wifi kext, the NI_Audi kext, and the LaunchPad kext (usb midi controller), and managed to install CS5, then I reinstalled the NI audi kext and the Launchpad kext, and installed the 80gig NI Komplete package without a hitch. put the wifi kext back in there and the lockups started happening again...

 

So it could all be a fluke, or it could be, as I assume, the wifi causing issues. Although it does seem a bit strange that wifi would cause problems with what seems like the disk controller.

 

I am going to try to reinstall the wifi in safemode and see if this improves anything. If not I would be very interested in knowing if anyone has a suggestion for a Dual Channel (2.4ghz / 5ghz) wifi pci card that works native.

 

Thanks again.

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I think I have isolated my problem to the wifi kext or app. I removed the Ralink wifi kext, the NI_Audi kext, and the LaunchPad kext (usb midi controller), and managed to install CS5, then I reinstalled the NI audi kext and the Launchpad kext, and installed the 80gig NI Komplete package without a hitch. put the wifi kext back in there and the lockups started happening again...

 

So it could all be a fluke, or it could be, as I assume, the wifi causing issues. Although it does seem a bit strange that wifi would cause problems with what seems like the disk controller.

 

I am going to try to reinstall the wifi in safemode and see if this improves anything. If not I would be very interested in knowing if anyone has a suggestion for a Dual Channel (2.4ghz / 5ghz) wifi pci card that works native.

 

Thanks again.

 

This schematic diagram probably explains the reason for your lockups......

post-200327-1293747222_thumb.png

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This schematic diagram probably explains the reason for your lockups......

post-200327-1293747222_thumb.png

 

so the PCI and and SATA use a common bus? weather or not that is it, the diagram does make it seem possible. now, how to fix it...I just wish linksys or ralink woudl just release a 10.6 driver already.

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so the PCI and and SATA use a common bus? weather or not that is it, the diagram does make it seem possible. now, how to fix it...I just wish linksys or ralink woudl just release a 10.6 driver already.

 

Yea, they seem to focus on USB rather than PCI drivers at present for 10.6.....

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Is there a PCI wifi card you would suggest that supports 5ghz? preferably native support.

 

I am not sure about 5GHz but see here and here.......

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I am not sure about 5GHz but see here and here.......

 

Hmm, both are 2.4ghz only, but if they are native and will make my system happy I deal without the 5ghz (I live in a loft building with PILES of wifi networks, so 5ghz is really a huge benefit....but not enough to outweigh a working stable wifi).

 

Looks like the Sonnet Aria is around $100 while the Edimax can be found for $25....any big differences between the two?

 

Thanks.

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Hmm, both are 2.4ghz only, but if they are native and will make my system happy I deal without the 5ghz (I live in a loft building with PILES of wifi networks, so 5ghz is really a huge benefit....but not enough to outweigh a working stable wifi).

 

Looks like the Sonnet Aria is around $100 while the Edimax can be found for $25....any big differences between the two?

 

Thanks.

 

I am more familiar with Sonnet products through having PowerMacs and PowerBooks.....but they are a premium product.....however, OWC are well-known sellers of products that work for real Macs, so you should be OK with the Edimax.....but given your location in a loft building, this one from OWC might be a better option for you......

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