P5B-DE, GTX285; enabling graphics shuts down monitor

[Vahtera]

I had enough with my ThinkCentre M55, so I "killed" my photo-editing computer (hadn't used it for that in ages) and figured that would work better. Well it did, but not much...

 

Machine details:

Asrock P5B-DE board

Core2Duo E6850 @2,00GHz (I don't know why. it should be 3.00GHz, but it isn't.)

7Gb (2+2+2+1) DDR2 RAM

GeForce GTX285

 

 

Downloading 10.9.4 from here [warez link removed] and making an USB bootable stick with that does not work AT ALL. As in, the computer won't even acknowledge that there is a stick inserted. Using that same stick with a 10.8 installer (made with.. other means). works ok (or so-so, read further).

 

So, I scrapped my plans for 10.9 (sad, I really would've liked to have that one) and went with 10.8. First, it wouldn't even boot, but I managed to make that happen (in some way, I don't even know how. I've been awake and very, very angry for so long I forgot what I did). I know that it froze up and restarted at multiple points and the last thing I did, after which it worked best, was to boot into single-user mode and remove all NVDA* kexts from the install USB stick. (which struck me as weird, as the GTX285 is said to work OOB?)

 

But the damn thing wouldn't recognize the computer's disks. (BIOS does not have an option for AHCI SATA mode.) I found a IOATAFamily kext and copied that to the stick and it recognized the disk. Install went fine, but the instant I reboot it I'm greeted with a "Still waiting for root device" (or what have you) error. No amount of tinkering can boot from the installed disk.

 

So I scrapped that one and tried with an external USB disk. Success, Finally, I had a booting Mac OS X installation.. for about 20 seconds, after which it would freeze after first reboot. EVERY. EFFING. BOOT. Just freeze. No panics, no errors, nothing. just freeze. It does NOT freeze on the first boot after installation (which is weird).  I found a DSDT online but that changed nothing. However, using GraphicsEnabler=No allows the system to work without freezing! But it is really, really, REALLY bad. Can't use most webpages and everything is so slow it hurts. Again, weird, because I was under the impression that GTX285 should just work?

 

I updated to 10.8.5, but yet again no change. I downloaded (painfully) the nVidia 10.8.5 drivers and installed them. That changed nothing, and I ran the nvidia auto-update from the settings panel. It updated OK, but changed nothing. In the selection screen it just displays "use OSX drivers", even though I selected to "use nVidia web drivers". I figured that was because I was running with GraphicsEnabler=No (to allow it to even work), but didn't want to enable that. So I found out about NVEnabler64... WRONG CHOICE.

 

After I installed that, every time I boot, right before it should really "start" (after the apple screen), it turns of my monitor and freezes the computer. (at least I think so, since nothing works and hitting numlock doesn't toggle the light.)

 

I booted into single-user mode and removed NVEnabler kext and rebooted, but still - monitor turns off and computer doesn't respond anymore. Unfortunately it does the same thing even if I try to enter single-user mode again, so I can't even try to remove all the NVDA* kexts again. 

 

I'm really, really, REALLY frustrated and angry because nothing really works AT ALL and each step something goes horribly wrong that I have no control over. I'm too tired to re-install AGAIN and try something else (what? I've tried everything I can think of? I can't run with GraphicsEnabler=Yes, because it'll freeze. I can't run it with =No, because it is unusably slow. NVEnabler just makes the whole thing freeze and turns of my monitor...)

 

I've run out of patience and ideas.

 

Anybody? What can I do?

 

ps. The stuff I have now, suggest something I can do with it (or I might be able to squeeze a small amount of money, what would be the best thing to try and find? New motherboard? which one?):

CPUs: E6850, 2x E6600

ThinkCentre M55 motherboard (dunno really what that is, haven't checked.)

Asrock P5B-DE motherboard

DDR2 RAM, bunch of different 522,667,800 sticks, mostly 1Gb, a couple of 2Gb sizes.

GT240, GTX285, 8400GS and NVS290 nVidia boards

X1600Pro, 3600Pro, HD4250 Radeon boards

bunch of IDE & SATA HDDs, one USB HDD and a handful of USB flash drives.

 

 

EDIT: Why was that link marked as "warez" and edited off, even though other users could post it (in this post it was shown to me: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/300262-os-x-in-a-thinkcentre-m55-hackintosh-noob/ )? Sorry, anyways. I thought it was an okay link since I got it from another member's post...

Edited August 17, 2014 by Vahtera

[Vahtera]

Finally, I have a working "Hackintosh". I took considerably more effort than I figured at first and there's still a couple of spots that I have no idea how or why they worked. To make a long story short, 10.8.x would not work, no matter what I did. 10.9 does, however. But there are a couple of funny things one should do in my situation...

 

Okay, machine specs are as follows: P5B-DE motherboard, absolutely *no* HDDs connected, but SATA and IDE/FireWire still enabled in BIOS.

7Gb 667MHz DDR2 RAM (2+2+2+1).

nVidia GeForce GTX285 (and GT240, read further)

External USB drive.. LaCie, I think? Forgot. a black box with blue light

 

- Booted into 10.8.5 safe mode (only thing that worked at all)

- Made a 10.9.4 installer from the file downloaded from App Store

- At first boot, need to boot into safe & single-user mode (-x -v -s) and move NVDA* kexts to another directory.

- Have GraphicsEnabler=No at all times

- Install as normal

- post-install, network drivers, needed kexts, etc. (used no DSDT)

- reboot as many times as needed/wanted, just remember to keep GE off, otherwise it will hang.

- download and install nVidia 10.9 GeForce drivers, shut down! (DON'T reboot!)

- take GTX285 out and replace with GT240

- boot into safe mode with GE disabled

- use Kext Utility to re-install the removed NVDA* Kexts back.

- reboot, NOW enabling GE.

- Once you're sure it works (reboot a couple of times), shutdown and swap GTX285 back.

 

No, I have absolutely no idea why that works as it does. but try as I might, if I install ANYTHING related to nVidia while the GTX285 is in the machine, the next boot WILL hang the machine and shut down my monitor. But AFTER everything is installed, it appears safe to swap the GTX back...