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Gigabyte GA EP43 DS3L Vanilla Installation Guide- Written for Noobs by a Noob.

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in OSx86 10.5 (Leopard)

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Automatic_Mac
Automatic_Mac
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Gigabyte GA EP43 DS3L Vanilla Installation Guide- Written for Noobs by a Noob.

 

 

Preface: I am a total noob, but I have been able to get OS X up and running reasonably well on my rig. Since there are no other guides for this particular motherboard, I feel it is my duty to share what has worked for me. People reading this guide will no doubt see some flaws and things that could be improved- unnecessary kexts for example. For this reason I would like anyone who sees a problem or solution to please contribute, and make this very basic guide a little bit better.

 

At the outset I am pitching this at people with very little prior knowledge about OSx86, I will try to take things step by step as simply as possible, where relevant I will point you in the direction of other guides and useful resources. Again, please please contribute! I hope this thread becomes more of a discussion than a bland reference document.

 

Despite all my hours reading on these forums, don't have a clue about editing EFI strings or terminal surgery, so I stay clear of these where possible. Thanks to all the people who have written the tools and kexts, making OSx86 possible.

 

 

Outline of this Guide

 

 

A. Download relevant tools & files for installation and burn relative discs!

 

B. Installation of OS X using the Boot 132 Disc methodology

 

C. Installation of Chameleon Bootloader & relevant kexts.

 

D. Getting Audio to at least partly work.

 

E. Videocards

 

 

At the end of this guide I hope you have a working OS X system with only a few provisos:

 

 

- 2.1 sound and Mic inputs work BUT I have not tested 5.1 output.

 

- Front audio ports do not work (USB does though)

 

- Sleep mode shuts down the computer

 

- Haven't tested firewire

 

What you will need:

 

 

 

 

A. Before you Install

 

 

In order to install Leopard on your PC you must convince the computer to boot from a DVD rather than from the Hard Drive as it normally does. To do this you must enter the BIOS - the super basic operating system of your motherboard- and change a few things.

 

To enter the BIOS press the 'del' key when your computer is turning on. You will see something that looks like this:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AwardBIO...tup_Utility.png

 

With the GA EP43 DS3L you need to do 3 things in the BIOS:

 

(1) Change the 'First Boot Device' to the CD drive (or DVD, it doesn't matter). This can be accessed in the 'Advanced BIOS features' sub-section. Set your HDD to second.

 

(2) Enable 'SATA AHCI Mode', this is done in the intergrated peripherals sub-section.

(You will notice some extra text when your computer boots up in future)

 

(3) Enable 'USB keyboard support', this also done in the in the intergrated peripherals sub-section.

 

 

The issue of the keyboard is an interested one, because as far as I know Mac OS X doesn't recognize anything other than USB, so you absolutely need a USB keyboard to install! However, by default the BIOS doesn't recognize USB keyboards, meaning you need a keyboard with the standard PS/2 input in order to access the BIOS and make changes to begin with!

 

 

Press F10 to save these changes and exit.

 

 

 

B. The Installation.

 

It might seem lazy, but this video explains it better than I can:

 

 

 

There are only 2 things I would change with this method

 

(1) I noticed that when I had swapped in the OS X DVD typing 'ef' as per the video didn't work, instead the correct command for me was '9F', but this changes from time to time. The trick is to simply look at whatever the screen says the 2 character hexidecimal boot device is, i.e. the 2 characters in square brackets e.g. [ef] or [fe] or [9f] (this should make sense once you reach this step.)

 

(2) When it comes to partitioning and formatting the hard drive using disk utility, make a small 1GB partition and name it Chameleon. (You will use this later)

 

I would caution against entering all your details when prompted- I just made addresses etc up.

 

Once the installation has completed it will reboot, or try to reboot- if hasn't restarted after 5 mins, force reset the system yourself. You will need to use the Boot 132 disc again in order to access your new leopard installation, this time instead of switching the Boot 132 disc for the OS X DVD, press enter and when prompted type in 80. (This is all in the video)

 

 

For more Boot 132 info see also: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...8&st=0&

 

 

C. Post Installation: Updating OSX, installing the Chameleon bootloader and adding some essential kexts

 

 

 

(1) Now that you have a shiny OSX desktop install the 10.5.7 combo update you should have already downloaded and placed on a disc. Don't worry too much if you haven't done this, OSX's Software Update seems to do the job without any bother automatically. (Wired networking worked out of the box on this board.) Afterwards you might have to reboot, meaning you will need the boot 132 CD one last time.

 

(2) Installing Chameleon

 

Chameleon replaces the Boot 132 disc: when your computer switches on you will be confronted with graphical interface where you can select which hard drive (and Operating system) you want to boot.

 

Download the Chameleon Package from: [google it] (if you haven't already done so) Run and set the package to install on to the chameleon partition.

 

 

(3) However in order for Chameleon to work, you must to add a few extra kext files to the extensions folder found in Chameleon/Extra/Extensions.

 

Add the kext files 'AppleDecrypt' , 'Disabler' and OpenHaltRestart to this folder.

 

AppleDecrypt.kext: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...t&p=1111974

 

Disabler.kext : http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...t&p=1075673

 

OpenHaltRestart:http://www.psystar.com/static/OpenHaltRestart_1.0.3.kext.zip

 

 

4) You'll also notice a file called 'Extensions.mtext' this is file that loads all the other kexts quickly when your machine boots. Since we've just changed the kexts, we need to update this file. This is accomplished using an app called 'MKext Tool'

 

MKext Tool: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/deve.../mkexttool.html

 

Open the program, highlight all the kexts in the Chameleon Extensions folder and drag them to the window. Change the saved file path to Chameleon/Extra and click 'Build'. This will replace the current .mkext file (and prompt you to backup the old one- make sure you do).

 

(5) Having followed the above steps... Remove the Boot 132 disc and reboot!

 

Hopefully Chameleon boot loader will work and you'll be able to select your OSX installation using the keyboard and enter. IF it doesn't work or the OS doesn't load, there is probably a kext problem, and you will need to use the Boot 132 CD again to load OS X and fix it.

 

 

D. Audio

 

 

 

The GA EP43 DS3L like many other motherboards uses Realtek ALC888 on board sound, this particular chip has been a nightmare for many users who have been unable to get sound on their hackintosh machines. The problem seems to be compounded by the fact that this motherboard is also contains the ICH10 intel south bridge making most ALC888 kexts uselss (as far as this noob can tell). A google search reveals an awful lot of people with problems and very few solutions.

 

I spent hours reading through large threads searching for a solution myself, and I confess that when I found it I'm not sure exactly how or why it worked, nevertheless here is a solution that should provide at least 2.1 audio output and mic input from the jacks at the back of the mobo.

 

(1) Download Kext Helper: http://cheetha.net/

 

And the 1.6.2a37 Kexts found at this link: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mndcdymtguy

 

Edit: This link is dead for some reason. Here is my own: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?dn2vnuz5qhi

 

Or You can try the 1.5.7a24 ones here: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?midnjn2to5u instead

 

Credit to Taruga. Taken from this thread: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/lofiversi...hp/t157269.html

 

 

(2) Open kext helper and drag the AppleHDA.kext and HDAEnabler.kext to the application window, enter password (you must have one in order for this to work!) and the application will do the work. Reboot and you will have audio. As far as I can tell the program installed these files to the extensions folder found in Macintosh HD/ System/ Library/ (sort of defeating the point of the chameleon partition as far as i can tell, but what the hey, it works)

 

Again this solution gives me 2.1 sound and mic input.

 

I don't have a 5.1 system so I can't verify that it works.

 

Front input/output do not to work with this solution either.

 

But I can live with both of these things in the hope someone else sorts this mess out in future. If you have the solution for this board please post!

 

 

E) Video

 

I cannot help you here, because everyone is going to have a different Video card. I myself have a 4890, and got it working by:

 

1) Run QE_CI_Exotic_Cards.pkg - http://rapidshare.de/files/47140484/QE_CI_..._cards.pkg.html

 

This installs a load of kexts to the system/library/extensions folder.

 

2) Run Enabler_for_Nvidia_and_multiple_ATI_Cards.pkg: http://rapidshare.de/files/47335568/Enable..._cards.pkg.html

 

This particular solution came from this thread: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/lofiversi...hp/t171915.html

 

But every card is different and there is no one size fits all solution yet!

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showforum=151 contains many superb threads that should sort out 95% of users.

 

 

 

 

Problems and Weirdness I've noticed:

 

 

Sleep mode completely shuts down the computer, until there is a fix I recommend you access 'Energy Saver' in System Preferences and set your computer so that it never goes to sleep!

 

When I boot the computer with an external harddrive connected, Chameleon goes insane, I get strange graphical glitches and sometimes cannot boot.

 

 

Epilogue

 

I'm very new to the world of OSx86, the project made some outstanding achievements, but explaining things at the level of the lay person is not one! The internet is brimming with installation guides but very few are aimed at a level an average joe might understand. A large part of this is simply because OSx86 has been a tremendous technical challenge for all those dedicated people at the forefront- the project is still in an early, highly technical stage (GUI boot loading is a relatively recent development!). Nevertheless I hope in future the wealth of information out there becomes better consolidated and more accessible to the noob.

 

Sadly I think this will only happen if those super-geniuses developing at the top make a conscious effort to publish super basic general guides and take steps to document problems and solutions with more clarity. I'm not bitching at all, there are some great threads out there and we owe the pros everything! It's just some friendly advice. :P

 

 

/2 cents

 

 

PLEASE CORRET MY MISTAKES AND ADD EVERYTHING YOU KNOW!

 

Edit: WTF is up with the linking restrictions? Chameleon is not allowed???

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  • 3 weeks later...
raggedjagged
raggedjagged
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Hey are you still using this board with Leopard? I have the same board of a friend and I followed your guide and I get stuck during boot up :whistle: It gets stuck at the part where it trying to update the time, and it says something like:

 

"no servers can be used, exiting"

 

I didnt connect a LAN cable yet, could that be the issue? But I don't want a system that won't boot up if I'm not connected to the Internet! :D

 

Please help, thanks!

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