hannele2 Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 Hi - I'm brand new to this and haven't used a Mac since the 1990s (but I loved it then....) Now I want to have Mac on my desktop PC - along with Windows and Linux. The machine has the following spec: Asus Z97 Motherboard Intel i5 processor 24 GB DDR3 NVIDIA graphics card and built in Intel Graphics Lots of hard drives High end PC keyboard and Mouse from Logitech. Is this suitable for Hackintosh and if so which distro should I go for? I want it done properly, as legit, mainstream and community supportable as possible. Going to need something with clear installation instructions and minimal improvisation. There are some current Mac applications and old Mac arcade games that I'd like to put on it to begin with. Hope somebody can advise! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 Hi and welcome to InsanelyMac! Your Hack is very compatible with OS X, but about your graphics, which are the cards? Post the complete specs. And keep in mind that switchable graphics in OS X doesn't work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hannele2 Posted July 8, 2016 Author Share Posted July 8, 2016 Thanks for the advise Allan. I'm writing from my laptop right now, not at home. But to my memory, the graphics card is NVIDIA GT 740. I also have an NVIDA GT 430. Where would I find the download and some instructions? Needless to say, I don't want to buy it from Apple Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 GT 740 works OOB in Hackintosh, for get QE/CI you'll only need set this: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/299362-gt-740-on-mac-os-x/?p=2217028 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hannele2 Posted July 11, 2016 Author Share Posted July 11, 2016 Thanks a lot for confirming that. Actually the card is GT 720 but I assume it's the same. Which Mac version do you recommend for my setup, i.e. which one to download and read up on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 IMHO the most stable OS X, is Yosemite. OS X El Capitan it's still being modified by Apple.... If you have another Mac (e.g Macbook, etc...) you can download OS X through App Store, and create a pen boot. But if you only have an PC (with Windows), you can go to Olarila Forum, and download the .raw image, and burn it in your Pendrive. G.Luck 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WaseemAlkurdi Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 IMHO the most stable OS X, is Yosemite. OS X El Capitan it's still being modified by Apple.... If you have another Mac (e.g Macbook, etc...) you can download OS X through App Store, and create a pen boot. But if you only have an PC (with Windows), you can go to Olarila Forum, and download the .raw image, and burn it in your Pendrive. G.Luck Do you recommend Yosemite over Mavericks in terms of Hackintosh long-term stability?I'm doing a build for a friend; he asked for the most stability. I do know my stuff with kexts and DSDT, but I'm asking about overall OS stability ... Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Do you recommend Yosemite over Mavericks in terms of Hackintosh long-term stability? In this case, IMHO Yosemite is more stable. OS X Mavericks is good (I'm using it right now), but for you get more compatibility with some apps, OS X Mavericks is old now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hannele2 Posted July 17, 2016 Author Share Posted July 17, 2016 Hi Allan! I joined the Olarila forum but everyone there is speaking Portuguese! I just want to figure out where I can download Yosemite since you recommend that, and how to install it on a spare partition on my Intel desktop and laptop. I'm going to look at that link you posted earlier.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Posted July 17, 2016 Share Posted July 17, 2016 Oops sorry, I forgot to mention that. But just go to English section bellow, and you'll see the topic with the links that you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hannele2 Posted July 21, 2016 Author Share Posted July 21, 2016 Hi again! I created a bootable USB from the file OS X Yosemite 10.10 bootable USB for Intel PCs off bittorrent. It's a dmg file. However, I can't even start the installation. I get the message This version of Mac os x is not supported on this platform! Reason: X550CA or This version of Mac os x is not supported on this platform! Reason: Z97 Pro The reasons are the model numbers for the Asus motherboards on my desktop and laptop. What am I doing wrong? I didn't understand the instructions in this thread http://olarila.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=5009. I'm not familiar with the .raw format and I don't know how to make a USB bootable from that and they are not explaining - just linking to some Linux software. So I followed some other instructions instead and got a dmg image instead, and made the USB stick with TransMac. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 You'll need use this app for create your Penboot. After that, start the Penboot using this guide: UEFI multi boot with Clover 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WaseemAlkurdi Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 Hi again! I created a bootable USB from the file OS X Yosemite 10.10 bootable USB for Intel PCs off bittorrent. It's a dmg file. However, I can't even start the installation. I get the message This version of Mac os x is not supported on this platform! Reason: X550CAor This version of Mac os x is not supported on this platform! Reason: Z97 ProThe reasons are the model numbers for the Asus motherboards on my desktop and laptop.What am I doing wrong? I didn't understand the instructions in this thread http://olarila.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=5009. I'm not familiar with the .raw format and I don't know how to make a USB bootable from that and they are not explaining - just linking to some Linux software. So I followed some other instructions instead and got a dmg image instead, and made the USB stick with TransMac. Use TransMac or Win32DiskImager to "burn" the RAW file onto your stick - the .dmg file you have is MOST PROBABLY a distro bearing the file name Yosemite-Zone.dmg. I made the guess because their instructions use TransMac. Should that be true, please delete the file. If you decide to use that file, you're on your own and nobody will help you, in addition to the face that you alone are responsible for the risk of hidden malware, like keyloggers found in other distros. I'm posting this to warn you of possible danger. Please do not take it personally, and sorry if I falsely accused you and it turned out to be a vanilla DMG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hannele2 Posted July 21, 2016 Author Share Posted July 21, 2016 Use TransMac or Win32DiskImager to "burn" the RAW file onto your stick - the .dmg file you have is MOST PROBABLY a distro bearing the file name Yosemite-Zone.dmg. I made the guess because their instructions use TransMac. Should that be true, please delete the file. If you decide to use that file, you're on your own and nobody will help you, in addition to the face that you alone are responsible for the risk of hidden malware, like keyloggers found in other distros. I'm posting this to warn you of possible danger. Please do not take it personally, and sorry if I falsely accused you and it turned out to be a vanilla DMG. Wow - you were right, it was version you said. I had no idea there was anything wrong with it. I was just looking for very clear instructions that don't require any previous familiarity with Mac. I've come across dmg files before but never raw so I simply feel more comfortable with that. Wanting to get set up in Windows without using command line etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hannele2 Posted July 21, 2016 Author Share Posted July 21, 2016 You'll need use this app for create your Penboot. After that, start the Penboot using this guide: UEFI multi boot with Clover I downloaded the .raw image that was recommended on Olarila, but the app you are linking to doesn't seem to be able to handle RAW files. I'm at a loss because I'm totally unfamiliar with this format. I need a GUI tool that can burn the .raw image to the pen drive, from Windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 I've used this app, and I did not have problem to burn my .RAW images. That is really strange... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hannele2 Posted July 22, 2016 Author Share Posted July 22, 2016 Hi again all - I tried creating the Pen Drive with the tool that Allan suggested and that worked. (It just doesn't give RAW as a format it supports, but if you try it anyway, it works.) After a bit of messing around in the UEFI bios I got as far as getting through the Clover boot menu and launching the installation. But it hangs quite quickly, on [PCI configuration begin] Please would anyone be able to advise me how to get past this....? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hannele2 Posted July 22, 2016 Author Share Posted July 22, 2016 Following on from the previous post PC: I can't get beyond [PCI configuration begin] on the PC. I managed to find the file where boot flags can be set. I opened it and found that the fix had already been applied. Boot flag "npci=0x2000". I changed it to "npci=0x3000" but that made no difference. Since the word PCI was mentioned in the error message I tried unplugging two SATA extension PCI Express cards I had plugged in to main board, but that made no difference. Laptop: When I tried launching on the laptop however, it went beyond the point mentioned above, but after going through the whole verbose boot, the screen just went dark. No idea what's happening! The laptop is ASUS X550. Any help appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwarfy Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 Hi Hannele2, Do you think you could upload your EFI, so we can see what you got in there and debug your problem? Regards, Dwarfy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WaseemAlkurdi Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 Following on from the previous post PC: I can't get beyond [PCI configuration begin] on the PC. I managed to find the file where boot flags can be set. I opened it and found that the fix had already been applied. Boot flag "npci=0x2000". I changed it to "npci=0x3000" but that made no difference. Since the word PCI was mentioned in the error message I tried unplugging two SATA extension PCI Express cards I had plugged in to main board, but that made no difference. Laptop: When I tried launching on the laptop however, it went beyond the point mentioned above, but after going through the whole verbose boot, the screen just went dark. No idea what's happening! The laptop is ASUS X550. Any help appreciated What graphics card(s) do you have on your laptop? To start with, when it comes to laptops, many have a combo of Intel HD Graphics and a dedicated NVIDIA/AMD card. Use nv_disable=1 should you have Intel+NVIDIA, or find an option in the BIOS to disable the dedicated card. Hi again all - I tried creating the Pen Drive with the tool that Allan suggested and that worked. (It just doesn't give RAW as a format it supports, but if you try it anyway, it works.) After a bit of messing around in the UEFI bios I got as far as getting through the Clover boot menu and launching the installation. But it hangs quite quickly, on [PCI configuration begin]Please would anyone be able to advise me how to get past this....?RAW images and likewise DMG files are "true" block-by-block copies of storage devices. This means that ANY block copy program can transfer them - be it TransMac, Win32DiskImager, or even the plain old "dd" command from Linux.On the other hand, programs like Norton Ghost (.GHO files) are "untrue" copies, in the sense that they use compression and add their own proprietary information to the file, breaking its "storage device clone" status. Therefore, only the proprietary program used to create the file can open it (except when a third party reverse-engineers the proprietary file format). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hannele2 Posted July 22, 2016 Author Share Posted July 22, 2016 Hi Hannele2, Do you think you could upload your EFI, so we can see what you got in there and debug your problem? Regards, Dwarfy Hi Dwarfy thanks for responding.. I was just going to ask you to clarify a few hours ago, then I think the forum ran into problems for a while. Good that it's back. Responding from another device now, but do you mean the config file or a screendump of what files I have on the pen drive? Will do it when I'm back home if you could help to clarify, please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwarfy Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 Hi Dwarfy thanks for responding.. I was just going to ask you to clarify a few hours ago, then I think the forum ran into problems for a while. Good that it's back. Responding from another device now, but do you mean the config file or a screendump of what files I have on the pen drive? Will do it when I'm back home if you could help to clarify, please Hi, every time you get clover on the USB, it makes an EFI partition on the USB. If you could upload that, then it would be easier to help out. Example: Like we did here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hannele2 Posted July 24, 2016 Author Share Posted July 24, 2016 Thanks Dwarfy.... I still don't understand fully what you mean but I can say as much as that the install files are OSX Yosemite 10.10 from Olaria. I'm doing this from Windows. I only see one partition on the USB stick - if there is a UEFI drive, I can't see it. On the stick there tis a folder for EFI from Clover. That contains the .plist file which has this info: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"? <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>Boot</key> <dict> <key>Arguments</key> <string>-v npci=0x2000 kext-dev-mode=1</string> </dict> <key>GUI</key> <dict> <key>Theme</key> <string>BGM</string> <key>Custom</key> <dict> <key>Entries</key> <array> <dict> <key>Path</key> <string>\EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.efi</string> <key>Hidden</key> <true/> </dict> </array> </dict> </dict> <key>SystemParameters</key> <dict> <key>InjectKexts</key> <true/> </dict> </dict> </plist> The file hierarchy looks like this. Is it something from here that I should post? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwarfy Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 Hi, Yes, the entire EFI folder. Copy it to desktop and then put in another folder then zip it and then post it. Regards, Dwarfy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hannele2 Posted July 25, 2016 Author Share Posted July 25, 2016 Thanks Dwarfy... Ok I think this is it....? https://mega.nz/#fm/Q841zAxK (sorry - couldn't upload here / file too large I thunk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.