Hello All,

I am building my first Hackintosh system.

I have ordered GA-EP35-DS4 (Rev 2.1) motherboard. From the forum, I got the information that GA-EP35-DS4 Bios F3 is working fine.

I want to buy E8400 processor. Intel has recently released E8400 with E0 stepping.

GA-EP35-DS4 supports E8400 (E0 Stepping) in BIOS version F5.

I would like to get information from GA-EP35-DS4 (Rev 2.1) owners about F5 Bios. Is F5 BIOS working fine with Hackintosh OR are there any issues with this BIOS version?

Shall I go for E8400 (C0 stepping) or E8400 (E0 stepping)?

Thanks in advance

Sandy

Thats an amazing proc. paired with the right board, go E0

Hi JaE-V,

Thanks a lot for immediate reply.

I just want to confirm that Bios Version F5 has no issues with Hackintosh.

Sandy

I can´t help you with the EP35-DS4, but when I upgraded my P35 from an Intel Q6600 to a Q9300 I had to update my bios too.
Since then I lost Tempmonitor, VLC-Player had problems with audio sync, the clock ran really slow on the machine... I had to drop Vanilla Kernel. I installed modbin kernel, but tempmonitor still isn´t working.

Maybee its just the processor, but I doubt it.

Using the EP35-DS4 and F5 BIOS here. No problems what-so-ever with Hackintosh.

PoloBear- the clock and audio issues you experienced are common with Hackintoshes and 45nm CPUs. I had the same problem with an E7200/Gigabyte GA-G31M-S2L build. As far as I can tell, it doesn't happen with some mobos vs. others, and when it does, the fixes are either use the modbin kernel, or use Chameleon EFI.

Hi All,

Thanks a lot for replies.

Zaap, Thanks for BIOS related information.

One more question, I am complete newbie in Graphics Card & I need a basic graphics card (Not for gaming etc).

Can I buy a compatible graphics card made by any company? (Eg 8600GT based card made by Abit, MSI or Gigabyte.)

OR

Do I need to buy graphics card made by a specific company? (Eg. NVIDIA Only).

Sandy

Is it urgent that you build the PC?

Would it be worth waiting for i7?
After all, if you build a PC now, there will be no more possible CPU upgrades for it, just a thought

http://www.bresink.com/osx/0TemperatureMonitor/issues.html

Scroll down until you get to the section that tells you how to re-enable the support for 45nm chips for the clock/audio problem I believe that I read here somewhere using the Chameleon boot loader can help with that.

lol, fsb issues

You can get a graphics card made by any company, so long as the basic type is compatible. Check the 10.5.2 HCL for the exact card you want to be 100% sure.

Hi Zaap,

Thanks a lot for reply.

I bought 8400GS for around 40$.

I have one more question regarding installation.

I have read different threads for installation related to GA-EP35-DS4.

They have suggested different methods. One of the install guide suggests to use a retail DVD (which I don't have).

Some people have also used ~pcwiz's install guide. OSx86 HCL gives link to 3 install guides (But two are related to GA-P35-* & Not GA-EP35-*)

I am little bit confused about which method I should follow.

Could you please point me to a specific thread (which you have used/using) for installation on GA-EP35-DS4 board?

Thanks
Sandy

There are many ways to install OSx86. One of the easiest: get a prepatched DVD, eg iAtkos, Jas, Kalyway etc.

The EP35-DS4 is so compatible that, like Synaesthesia said, many different install methods will work on it. You can install based on whichever OS package you have (retail disk, or prepatched .iso) and whichever set of instructions you're comfortable with.


I personally prefer this guide posted by sWORDs. It's easy, takes very little time, and I end up with everything working: sleep, shutdown, etc. My system has been running over a month virtually non-stop from an install using this guide. I'm sure there are other great methods and guides, but this is what works for me.

I wouldn't recommend any install guide that doesn't get you to a perfect 10.5.3 install (which can then be Software Updated to 10.5.4) with restart/sleep and shutdown working.


By the way, I highly recommend the F5 BIOS update if that's what you're using. I had some difficulties with multi-booting before the BIOS update- odd and annoying little quirks like my Windows installs failing, with errors about missing system files. Since the F5 update, no such problems with anything.

Hi All,

Thanks a lot for all your help.

Yesterday night I successfully build my first hackintosh.

Everything is working as expected.

My configuration is

GA-EP35-DS4 (Rev 2.1)
Core2Duo E8400 (E0 Stepping)
4GB 800MHz RAM,
Gigabyte GeForce 8400GS Graphics Card (Both QE/CI),
500GB SATA HDD,
Lite-On SATA DVD Burner,
USB Keyboard & Mouse (Logicool)
Running 10.5.4

I followed sWORDs Install Guide. It is very easy & straight forward.

I used EFIStudio for first time. Installing Graphics card was a breeze with EFI Studio.

I have found only one issue...UTF-8 rendering is not working correctly in SAFARI. May be a software issue.

Thanks a lot to this forum & all forum members.

Hi All,

This is just an update with a problem. :-(

The sound device is recognized properly in the system profiler, but I have an issue with Sound. (Vanilla Kernel 10.5.4).

When I connected speakers, I am getting continuous hissing noise. (Alc889a)

I tried searching on the forum...but got different solutions. (Using Modbin kernel instead of vanilla, using Chameleon EFI).

Any suggestions?

Thanks a lot.