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The Dolan Easy G5 Mod


dolan
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Modding of the G5 for the first time

For ATX Motherboard

macg5.png

 

Aim

-To create a G5 mod with little hassle and cuts as possible, and make it 'authentic'. Hassle came , was forced to make contingency plans along the way.

-Dual Boot OS X and Windows

-ATX Mod

-To feed something back to the community

 

Step 1: Purchasing the case

I found a nice one for only £20 on gumtree, but it has a massive scratch down the side lol

Heres an image:

post-288205-1311468139_thumb.jpg

 

Step 2: Purchasing the parts

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R rev 2.0 £142.14

Processor: Intel Core i7 950 £180

Graphics Card: XFX HD 6870 £139

RAM: Corsair 4GB £37.18

PSU: Arctic Power 700W PSU £43.98

 

EXTRA RANDOM STUFF:

Zammykoo's Rear I/O: £49.87

SATA Cables: £11.50

Front I/O Wiring (Gus.Carrie): £15.50

Motherboard Tray: £32.69

DVI Extension Cable: £5.99

 

In total the Hackintosh costed £677.89.

 

Step 3: Sawing the Motherboard Tray

I bought a motherboard tray so that the heavy graphics card and other PCI things is secure.

I didn't want to create custom shelves or drill into my cards or anything lol

Here's a pic:

post-288205-1311468203_thumb.jpg

 

Step 4: Case Fan

I wanted to keep the original location of the case fan. By using a spare fan I found in an old Dell Inspiron, I decided to drill into the original Mac case fan support and added my own.

Here's a pic:

post-288205-1311468355_thumb.jpg

(I had to extend the wires too because it was too short)

 

Step 5: ZAMMYKOOOO!

I used Zammykoo's rear I/O to not cut the original back of the G5

I mounted it to the original standoffs and glued it down in place with expoy

I had some trouble at first because it kept on coming off, and it wasn't aligned but after removing the grey plastic lining, it was fine.

Here's a pic:

post-288205-1311468637_thumb.jpg

 

Step 6: The Graphics port

I made a cut as shown in the picture and placed a DVI-VGA converter as my monitor is VGA

post-288205-1311468971_thumb.jpgpost-288205-1311469020_thumb.jpg

 

Step 7: POWER

I made an odd connector for the power using scrap metal, power cable and an old PSU (took the plug out)

post-288205-1311469130_thumb.jpg

 

Step 8: Cables and Tidying

I removed the default black wires from the case (shown in the first picture), and replaced them with 2 SATA cables as I intend to use the default drive bays to store the HDDs

I also plugged in the Front I/O wires and CD drive.

Oh yes, I had to remove the front plate of the CD drive or else it won't come through the slot.

post-288205-1311469269_thumb.jpg

 

Step 9: Final Assembled Result

 

This is how it looks like so far. I've used Epoxy resin to hold the Mobo tray in place and screwed the motherboard into place, inserted the graphics cards etc. As you can see the PSU is in an awkward position, but I couldn't think of an alternative position to place it.

 

post-288205-1312134795_thumb.jpg post-288205-1312134834_thumb.jpg

Problems

I "THINK" the two hard drives over heat in the top shelf, because after a while I get stuck at bios... It works fine when I take the hard drives out and run it outside of the case. I tried connecting the HDD fan/blower to the MOBO, but I can't seem to get it to work... Any ideas guys?

 

FIXED: I added two fans. One blower (original case fan), and one fan from an old PC (it has blue lights :D I wanted it to not emit anything, oh wells).

 

Step X: Installing the X

This is truly a d*ck in the ass. If anyone can help it would save me.

Bios settings: ACHI for drives

Used a DSDT found somewhere in the Forums, I'll provide a link if requested.

Methods I have tried:

Kakewalk 4.0 (Lion) FAILED

Reason: Memory stick fails to complete, haven't got a spare memory stick.

 

iDeneb 10.5.7 (Leopard) FAILED

Reason: Waiting for root device error? Doesn't get past the DVD

 

iAtkos s3 v2 (Leopard) FAILED

Reason: Waiting for root device error? Doesn't get past the DVD. Restarts randomly.

 

[url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url]/[url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] (Snow Leopard) SEMI-WORK

Reason: [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] works with

-x -v GraphicsEnabler=no PCIRootUID=1

This installs. 1024x768 resolution with OOB internet. Great.

Note: Graphics Card fan spins very loud and scary unless GraphicsEnabler=no is used at every restart.

Did Combo Update to 10.6.8.

Upon using [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url], it fails.

Using GraphicsEnabler=no causes the GFX Card to run normally, but however I get a grey screen :)

 

Any other options guys?

 

UPDATE: Oh my god. It works! I don't fully understand it, but I'll give it a shot at my understanding, ok here goes:

 

I installed Windows just after assembling my computer, so at least I have an OS to work on, and do every day tasks etc. I used EasyBCD and created a Dual Boot of Windows and OS X (I couldn't specify the location of OS X because it didn't exist).

Then after installing Snow Leopard with [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url]/[url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url], with no hope left...I plugged both HDDs in to boot into windows. I then took my chances once again and selected OS X from the windows Boot loader, and BAMM, it worked :S

God knows why Chameleon RC5 or the [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] boot loader didn't work

 

Special Thanks:

This Forum for advice and tips

Zammykoo for the rear I/O, or else I would've done a cut mod :)

Dad, for his amazing metal work skills

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