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Anyone get an Asus model K55A to work


icarl
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Installation with USB stick no problem, booting into desktop through USB no problem. Adding bootloader to disk...problem. Only get logo and no spinning wheel. I think is cause the bios doesn’t see the hard disk to boot from. I don’t see as a boot option.

 

I’m thinking has to do with partition scheme?.. Is bios only interested in MBR scheme? Laptop has this aptio ami bios UEFI. Is this my main issue?

 

Core spec is ivy bridge i5 3210m with 4000HD graphics.

 

Questions:

Does anyone know how to make this bios see the new disk.. see pic it may allow me to add a boot file?? Don’t know how to make it see location of the bootloader.

 

If no can do , I’m fine booting from usb then to desktop. Is there a way I can install kext to get things to work and possibly enable the HD4000 graphics? Doesn’t recognize it now.

 

Can I install a working ML on the USB and have a dual boot with Win8 by putting back the hard disk? Im guessing not if bios is only interested in MBR scheme...

 

thanks for any help or suggestions, and sorry if questions are dumb. Im not an expert in this but exciting to learn.

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I configured that model ASUS. The bios does not recognize a GUID HD, must be MBR. You have two solutions: use GUID for Mac and boot from a MBR USB drive or install Mac OS on an MBR drive. I chose to install Mac OS to an MBR drive by cloning an existing 10.8 install to the HD. I then connected the target HD to the Mac via an external USB case to get the Chameleon bootloader to install properly (Boot 0 error otherwise).

 

There is an EFI string (found in the Intel graphic forum on this site) which can be added to the org.chameleon.boot.plist to give proper functioning HD4000 graphics. In the Ethernet section is a kext that will get the builtin ethernet to work and you need to add PID and VID to the Atheros40 kext to get WiFi working.

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Thanks for the response Everdone. I will try the MBR install this week, cause it looks like the best choice. Do you loose anything by that type of install? On the WiFi what is PID and VID exactly..can you elaborate?

 

thanks. again

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Other than the Mac OS installer will not install to MBR without modifications, functionally the OS works the same one installed. Hence the need to modify the installer package or clone from a HD with a working OS install.

 

PID and VID are Product and Vendor ID numbers. The 'stock' Wifi card, Atheros 9485 will not work as there is no Mac kext for that card. I substituted an Atheros 9285 (7-10 dollars on line), once the bottom cover is removed it's about a 2 minute job to replace the card. The Atheros40 kext will work for this card with the appropriate PID and VID added.

 

You also need a VooDooHDA kext for audio (can be found on this site).

 

Dual boot with Win7 is not a problem, cannot vouch for Win8.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a k55a-bi5093b, and I'm unable to get the internal display working. If I connect an HDMI TV it's fine, but this doesn't help the laptop function. I have tried to inject a different device code EFI in the chameleon plist, but it still didn't work. I couldn't find the listing on this website, could you provide a link? I would greatly appreciate it. Also, is there any other known way of getting the bios to read a GUID? Has anyone tweaked the bios or tried a different one. I know there are desktop boards where people have altered the bios for their hackintosh. Finally, to get the appropriate PID and VID added for WiFi, how do you do that? Do you have to edit the kext?

 

Thanks in advance for the help!

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Here is a link http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/280372-hd4000-full-acceleration-for-108-1075/ Look for the posts from iHackintosh as he provides a link to the device properties for the video (plus he explains some options)

 

Once you change the WiFi card edit the Atheros40 kext found in Plugins in the IO8211Familykext. Or you can purchase a BCM94322 (get the mini card) and it will work with no modification to any kext.

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  • 4 months later...

I don't mean to revive an old thread, but there is some information here that is incorrect. I intend to correct it as this thread is the no 1 Google result for "k55a clover method" and I don't want future readers misled.

 

The ASUS K55A does not have a BIOS. It is a pure UEFI implementation with a Compatibility Support Module (CSM).

It can read GPT disks just fine, and in fact, the stock Windows 8 image is installed in EFI mode and the drive formatted to GPT.

 

The limitation here (and I don't know if this is true for every UEFI machine [someone feel free to confirm]) is that the UEFI on this machine can only read FAT32 partitions. It will not read anything else, including NTFS (Windows Filesystem) and HFS+ (Mac Filesystem). Windows boots just fine because there is a small 100MB-350MB helper partition that is formatted to FAT32. This partition contains the NT bootloader which is capable of reading other filesystems including NTFS.

 

The reason you can't boot from USB Mac installer is the same. The partition is formatted to HFS+ which is unreadable by the UEFI. All you have to do to work around this is create a separate fat32 partition and install your bootloader of choice. I'm currently experimenting with Clover EFI as I hope to install all my OS in EFI mode.

 

I hope this demystifies things for someone. Thanks.

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