Successful: Leopard 10.5.6 Vanilla (or Almost) On Asus P5K

[ForestGuardian]

On behalf all those following these forums (including those who, like myself, rarely ever post - if at all), a huge THANK YOU to everyone working on getting us this far (far too many to name in one sitting)!

 

Many things have been typed out of order, so I may add more details in later. Feel free to post your own installation notes and experience with the P5K and P5K-series boards, or other hardware components used with it.

 

This is based on the installation method outlined by Karaakeha. Many thanks!

see http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=76404.

 

Hardware:

• Asus P5K Motherboard
  
• Realtek NIC Ethernet PCI card **1
  
• Assantic Gigabit Ethernet (onboard)
  
• BYTTEC SATA RAID card with 2x500GB HD as RAID0 **2
  
• 500GB HD on each of SATA1 and SATA2
  
• 250GB HD on SATA4 via SATA-to-eSATA bracket
  
• LG DVD-RW R-DL on SATA2
  
• LG DVD-RW R-DL on SATA4 **4
  
• Intel Core2-Quad Q6600 2.4GHz OC to 3.2GHz **9a
  
• Geil 4GB RAM Clocking state at 854MHz **5
  
• BFG nVidia 8800GT OC 512MB
  • Zalman VF1000 fan with speed control
    
  • Zalman ZM-RHS88 RAM Heatsinks
    
    

BIOS SETTINGS:

• CPU Configuration default **10
  
• JMicron Controller: AHCI
  
• SATA Controller: Enhanced - IDE
  
• Manual Overclock:
  • CPU Ratio 9
    
  • FSB 355Mhz
    
  • DRAM Frequency 854Mhz **9b
    
  • PCIe Frequency Auto
    
  • Voltages Auto
    
  • RAM Timing Default
    

  [*]Plug-and-Play OS On

  [*]USB EHCI Handoff Disabled

INSTALLATION STEPS:

• Startup from utility drive or partition **3
  
• Install Leopard retail (10.5.1 in my case) onto target drive using image from ISO.
  
• Apply 10.5.6 Combo Update
  
• Use OSx86 Universal Installer to add final kexts, EFIv9, and EFI string for nVidia 8800GT512
  

• Repair Permissions on target drive with Disk Utility
  
• Restart onto target drive. Press F8 at boot prompt and type -f -v
  • These last 2 steps are IMPORTANT! The system might not load all bundles and kexts correctly without a permission repair and a cache rebuild, especially since the updates are applied prior to an initial startup.
    

WORKING COMPONENTS:

- Onboard ethernet

- PCI ethernet

- Display (1280x1024 resolution at 75Hz, and other settings available)

- Core Image supported

- Quartz Extreme hardware accelerated

- QuartzGL

- Front panel stereo audio

- Rear panel 4-port 3D audio line-out

- USB audio input with Logitech mic

- All USB 2.0 ports

- Restart

- Shutdown

 

UNTESTED:

- Digital audio-out

- Line-In and Mic

- FireWire

- Multiple displays

- Canon LIDE scanner

- Hanvon drawing tablet

 

NOT WORKING:

- sleep **6

- eSATA **8

**1 This Realtek card was installed last year, as I was not able to get on-board LAN working, and it works with retail Leopard. There are kexts for the built-in Attansic ethernet card (as I found out recently), and on-board LAN does work with those drivers but not with a vanilla installation.

 

**2 The RAID card is unrecognized by System Profiler, but the two drives used in the stripe are visible under Disk Utility (though, not as an actual RAID). I just added this to the list to verify that raid cards can work, and that they don't cause any incompatibilities except for an "Unrecognized disk - Format / Eject / Ignore" dialog on startup. An experimental installation onto the RAID0 setup completed successfully, but I couldn't boot from it. I currently do not plan to investigate this further, since I now use the RAID stripe specifically for Vista.

 

**3 Any version of Leopard will suffice, be it vanilla or modified build. This is not a requirement, but it ensures smoother installation onto the new drive or partition, and removes further need for the boot-132 cd.

 

**4 The JMicron IDE controller built into the P5K causes frequent kernel panics in many cases, especially with the use of IDE optical drives. I've removed the original IDE DVD drive and added a second SATA DVD-DL writer.

 

**5a My build previously had 2x2GB 1066MHz RAM. I had problems installing some applications though, including Photoshop. In this case, it wouldn't complete the install. It kept giving me errors as though I had not cleaned out all older files, even though it was a new system. The machine would also freeze constantly during heavy tasks, and especially during World of Warcraft (no other games were tested). I did not bother to investigate what the true cause was, be it the brand (I think it was OCZ), or the RAM chip size itself.

 

**5b Geil 2x1GB 1000MHz RAM and 2x1GB 800MHz. First pair is underclocked, while the second is overclocked.

 

**6 Searched for ways to make sleep work in 10.5.6 to no avail. I think wake-from-sleep with P5K and vanilla Leopard is a lost cause.

 

**7 I have found no drivers that work with the onboard audio of my P5K other than those for the ALC883 included with the Kalyway ISO build. I've tried different utilities, such as OSx86 Tools and the driver database, EFI Tools to edit the boot.plist, and other kexts and and injectors, and again different versions of those kexts.

 

**8 The drive shows up in BIOS and during boot. However, the controllers in either the 10.5.6 update or the kext packs no longer recognizes SATA0 (located inside, near the back edge of the motherboard, but functionally external) and eSATA1 (rear panel).

 

**9a CPU frequency, number of cores, and cache size are read correctly by System Profiler, even without AppleSMBIOS hardcoding. AI Overclock on Manual. CPU Ratio 9. FSB 355Mhz. CPU Voltage Auto. Vantec Cooling. Core Temperatures: Idle 43-44°C | Heavy Load (Fractal and Prime Generator Tests, 30-minute session) 57-58°C

 

**9b System Profiler reads 800Mhz without BIOS hardcoding.

 

**10 SpeedStep is automatically turned off during overclock states.

[Lanceomni]

**5 My build previously had 2x2GB 1066MHz RAM. I had problems installing some applications though, including Photoshop. In this case, it wouldn't complete and kept giving me errors as though I had not cleaned out all older files, even thoug it was a new system. The machine would also freeze constantly during heavy tasks, and especially during World of Warcraft (no other games were tested). I did not bother to investigate what the true cause was, be it the brand (it was not Geil, and I forget what it was), or the RAM chip size itself.

 

This problem, in most cases, can be fixed by installing a 64bit modified kext. The link below has links to a few versions. Just find one that matches up with your system. If you do not want to do this or can't find an appropriate replacement kext, you can use the boot flag maxmem which limits the amount of memory OSX uses. The problem usually happens when memory usages goes over 3.2-3.5gb. With a little experimenting I was able to set me memory to 3.5GB using maxmem=3584 Your not utilizing all 4gb but it is better than nothing. Once you find what works for your system you can add the maxmem to your com.apple.boot.plist so that it applies each time you startup.

 

64bit modified kexts: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=127611

[ForestGuardian]

That's the weird part about it. I'm already running, and have been, 4GB of RAM with no problem. As well, I had already successfully installed, reinstalled - and since then run with no problems - many applications, including Creative Suite 3, World of WarCraft, and Unreal Tournament 2003.

 

I temporarily switched up to 1066MHz to see if there would be a considerable performance increase. I didn't even get that chance because the machine was always locking up and/or getting kernel panics shortly after startup. My guess is either the motherboard didn't like the brand of RAM, or my installation of Leopard at that time was incompatible with the 2GB RAM chip size. It was version 10.5.5 of iDeneb's build, installed on top of Kalyway 10.5.3 plus 10.5.4 delta update.

 

In hindsight, I should have booted into Vista to see if it would also lock up =/

[Lanceomni]

Yeah, the memory issue usually causes a freeze. If you open Activity Monitor: memory tab and then photoshop, do some heavy editing and see if you can try to get memory usage up to 100% I set photoshop to to some heavy task and then opened like 15 apps pegged it out real quick.

 

But that is strange though.

[pir8erxxl]

INSTALLATION STEPS:

 

...

• Use OSx86 Universal Installer to add final kexts, EFIv9, and EFI string for nVidia 8800GT512
  

 

Would you please details those "final kexts" you mentioned? I've got exactly the same boot as you.

 

Regards!

[ForestGuardian]

Would you please details those "final kexts" you mentioned? I've got exactly the same boot as you.

 

Regards!

 

Check out the links on Karaakeha's post (the link to his thread is up top). The 10.5.6 kext pack, and the fixes for shutdown and restart are there as well. You can download the Attansic ethernet kext from the Hardware and Drivers section of the forums, or directly from the OSx86Tools database.

 

The only other thing you'll need is the ALC883 package for the P5K's onboard audio. Get it from within the Kalyway build or on its own (again, check the Drivers section).

 

** NOTICE ** Do not use the ALC883 package that's labelled 6-Port HD Out (or something to that effect). It's listed with an AC97 and an Azalia package within the very same post. I don't recall where it is in these forums, perhaps another P5[X] thread (definitely not the Drivers section) or who posted it. Just stay away from it. The script in the pgk is broken, and the kexts themselves are NOT for the P5K board.

 

Good luck!

[pir8erxxl]

Check out the links on Karaakeha's post (the link to his thread is up top). The 10.5.6 kext pack, and the fixes for shutdown and restart are there as well. You can download the Attansic ethernet kext from the Hardware and Drivers section of the forums, or directly from the OSx86Tools database.

 

The only other thing you'll need is the ALC883 package for the P5K's onboard audio. Get it from within the Kalyway build or on its own (again, check the Drivers section).

 

** NOTICE ** Do not use the ALC883 package that's labelled 6-Port HD Out (or something to that effect). It's listed with an AC97 and an Azalia package within the very same post. I don't recall where it is in these forums, perhaps another P5[X] thread (definitely not the Drivers section) or who posted it. Just stay away from it. The script in the pgk is broken, and the kexts themselves are NOT for the P5K board.

 

Good luck!

 

 

Great! thx for ur reply, will give it a try!

[Master Chief]

NOT WORKING:

**6 Searched for ways to make sleep work in 10.5.6 to no avail. I think wake-from-sleep with P5K and vanilla Leopard is a lost cause.

I have two links for you:

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=141584

http://www.mediafire.com/?mkigynnkyjy

 

That did the trick for me.

[ForestGuardian]

I have two links for you:

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=141584

http://www.mediafire.com/?mkigynnkyjy

 

That did the trick for me.

 

 

I've tried that before. It doesn't work for me. It even made things worse by disabling USB pnp, including my mouse and keyboard.

 

Sleep is not a necessity for me. Still, I don't like having unresolved issues. I'll just have to keep an eye out for fixes.

 

Thanks.

[Master Chief]

I've tried that before. It doesn't work for me. It even made things worse by disabling USB pnp, including my mouse and keyboard.

 

Sleep is not a necessity for me. Still, I don't like having unresolved issues. I'll just have to keep an eye out for fixes.

 

Thanks.

 

I remember having similar problems, at least the first warm reboot. I was about to remove the kext but decited to give it another go with -f and from then on things work here.

[ForestGuardian]

Yeppers. Did that. Tried the patched kexts again recently. The only thing is that I had to rebuild at every single startup for my mouse and keyboard to work. Unplugging and plugging them back in didn't fix anymore (as it does when they sometimes boot up disabled). And still no wake-from-sleep. The system does seem to sleep, but it does not go into a low power mode. The fans remain at at full speed, and the screen goes black (that's the only part functioning normally); but after that, there is no response whatsoever, be it from mouse, keyboard, or power button. I have to force a hard restart.

 

I did have sleep in 10.5.5, but it was half-baked, as I had to press the power button to wake up the system, rather than a key or mouse button.

 

I'm not gonna fuss over it anymore. I'm very happy with the performance of this system. As for sleep, I'd rather get some than lose more. My computer doesn't need sleep. I do!

 

Thank you for your input!