$500 Complete Mac Clone Possible?

[fathead]

Okay, I have every part but the case (had to wait for a check to come in!)

 

Can I ask - is this the same spec as the case you recommended in your list ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811144162 )

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811144160

 

Want to make sure the motherboard will fit in it and work okay... reason I like this? It's silver.. I am that fickle!

 

Lastly - do I need a SATA cable with any of these cases for the OEM hard drive I ordered or do they have all the cables inside the case?

[Zaap]

Yup, same case. I used the silver case in the tutorial. Incidentally you can get the same case in a batch of different colors/styles/pricerange. Internally they're all the same, except for some have a 500w PSU vs. 420.

 

The motherboard should come with two SATA cables, so you should be covered.

 

You'll need one of these however. The PSU only comes with one SATA power connector, so you'll need an adapter for the other one. Sorry, I forgot to add it to the original list- I have bins full of adapters of every type myself but forget that others will need to order them. Occasionally a mobo or drive itself will ship with the adapter, but I wouldn't count on it.

[fathead]

Great! Thanks.. I thought it was different as the silver case said Motherboard Compatibility MicroATX while the black one has - Motherboard Compatibility Standard Micro ATX / Baby AT

 

Just wanted to make sure everything would fit in there!

 

 

Thanks for the cable note... that's great... basically I am building from scratch so wanted to make sure I have everything before I try to construct it... I have no extra parts or cables so will be scratching my head if anything else is required =]

 

Thanks again for answering questions on this.. It is so appreciated.

[rongenre]

I just ordered the parts (well, similar: bigger drive and different Samsung SATA dvd writer). Looking forward to bringing this to life.

 

I intend to use http://leopardsoup.pbworks.com/es2l_welcome as a guide on installing Leopard.

 

I would, though, like this to be dual boot with WinXP (for games -- I suppose I could look at Windows 7 though). Any tips on getting this to work?

 

Thanks!

[Zaap]

Dual-booting is bone-simple with more than one hard drive- one drive for OSX, the other for Windows- both set up completely separately from each other, then using the F12 boot menu, GRUB, or Chameleon 2.0 as a system-wide bootloader.

 

Booting Windows and OSX off a single GUID-partitioned hard drive (highly recommended for OSX) is a much bigger PITA. It's beyond the scope of a quick reply to tell you how to do it. If you're planning on using a single hard drive, I'd scour through the Multi Booting and Virtualisation thread for others dual-booting XP and OSX and how they set it up.

 

My recommendation is don't attempt a dual-boot from a single drive with any OS you've already started using heavily with a lot of settings and files you'd hate to lose- it's very easy to render an OS non-bootable during trial and error. Attempt your dual boot method during initial setup when you have nothing to lose.

[fathead]

So I started tonight fitting it all in the new case (I ended up buying the one on your list, as the silver one was $20 with shipping..I am so cheap!) - got the motherboard screwed in, the processor and fan in and connected to motherboard...plus the graphics card and firewire card fit in fine.... but there a bazillion wires in this thing...! Hard to know exactly where everything should go...

 

For instance - cannot find any cable in the case that fits into the SYS_FAN slot on the motherboard - although the big white fan at the back plus directly into one of the cables coming out of the power supply...

 

Do you have the link to the tutorial you mentioned with the pictures on the previous page showing the internals of this motherboard with this type of case?

[Zaap]

So I started tonight fitting it all in the new case (I ended up buying the one on your list, as the silver one was $20 with shipping..I am so cheap!) - got the motherboard screwed in, the processor and fan in and connected to motherboard...plus the graphics card and firewire card fit in fine.... but there a bazillion wires in this thing...! Hard to know exactly where everything should go...

 

For instance - cannot find any cable in the case that fits into the SYS_FAN slot on the motherboard - although the big white fan at the back plus directly into one of the cables coming out of the power supply...

 

Do you have the link to the tutorial you mentioned with the pictures on the previous page showing the internals of this motherboard with this type of case?

The tutorial is HERE.

 

I'm sure you made sure to plug the CPU fan into it's correctly-labled port. it's critical, because the CPU fan must be system monitored and controlled.

 

You don't need to worry about the SYS_FAN port unless you ever add a case fan, or change the rear case-fan to the type that has a 3-pin motherboard control connector. Otherwise, the installed fan uses molex power. The main advantage of the motherboard connector type is that it can be system-controlled (variable speed depending on temps), whereas the molex type fan will spin full speed always.

 

Pay close attention to step 16- the front panel audio connector is a bit difficult to reach inside this case. Do youself a favor and plut it in before you install your graphic card, or you may need to remove a PCI slot cover to reach where it needs to connect between the graphic card and sound port.

 

Most of the wiring you'll find is pretty obvious- plug your USB headers into the USB ports (step 20).

 

Consult the mobo manual (Page 10 in the ES2L manual for the schematic) to hook up the front panel connectors (step 18). Keep in mind the most important are PW and RES (pretty self-explanitory) and the two LED connectors. [MSG is the overall system LED, and HD is the light that blinks when there's HD activity.] The panel connectors are labeled and color-coded on the board, but it can be trickly to see, so consult the manual.

 

With SATA, use the L-connector if a PCI card overhangs a SATA port 0. Plug the OSX hard drive into Port 0, and the DVD drive into Port 1. Hopefully you have the Molex-to-SATA adapter for SATA power of the 2nd device. (step 23).

 

Power connectors are pretty obvious- and then there are two front panel temp-sensor cables- (steps 24-25 for their placement).

 

That's pretty much it for the wiring. It seems daunting at first, but you'll quickly find it's not difficult. Use cable ties to tie off your connected and loose wiring, and where possible, take up excess slack by wrapping wires around the case support beams. The main thing is don't allow wiring to be able to snag in either of the fans, block airflow, or block allowing the case cover to fit back on.

 

 

Leave the case cover OFF when you first install- so you can easily see if there are any problem wires and if the fans are all spinning properly- never run the comp without the CPU fan working properly.

[fathead]

Wow.. thank you.. that tutorial is great - going to run through it today and connect it all up.. so much help! I am pleased I got so far with my small computer building skills but when I didn't see a cable for the SYS_FAN I started to panic =]

 

I plugged in the CPU fan straight away.... installing the CPU was far easier than I thought it would be - the last computer I built (badly) was in 1998 so things have changed!

[fathead]

Okay - it's done! Managed to do it all thanks to your excellent instructions! Appreciate it.

 

Only odd thing I notice is it's saying my CPU is 2.4ghz and not 2.8ghz... huh?

 

So now.... Do I need to update the BIOS? Then format the drive? Use a retail DVD and Boot-132 disk?

 

I take it that's the way to go....

 

Update:

 

But...when I try to boot from the BOOT132 disk..or even the Leopard disk I am getting DISK BOOT FAILURE, PLEASE INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER - strange...when I go into the BIOS settings I am seeing under Advanced BIOS Features - Hard Disk Boot Priority - Bootable Add-in Cards!

 

I wonder why Hard Drive isn't showing under Hard Disk Boot priority?

[noNix]

But...when I try to boot from the BOOT132 disk..or even the Leopard disk I am getting DISK BOOT FAILURE, PLEASE INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER - strange...when I go into the BIOS settings I am seeing under Advanced BIOS Features - Hard Disk Boot Priority - Bootable Add-in Cards!

 

I wonder why Hard Drive isn't showing under Hard Disk Boot priority?

 

 

I have had my ES2L up and running for 4 months using the default settings (never touched the bios when I first installed OS X), just updated to the F8 bios and tried to use the Leopardsoup bios settings. Everything works except for the Iintegrated Peripherals settings. If I set the On-Chip Primary PCI IDE and On-Chip Secondary PCI IDE to disabled then I get the message that you get, if I leave these enabled then everything works fine. Try making the changes and see if that works for you.

[fathead]

If I set the On-Chip Primary PCI IDE and On-Chip Secondary PCI IDE to disabled then I get the message that you get, if I leave these enabled then everything works fine.

 

Ahh yes... I resetted the BIOS and it pops up - even the CPU speed is correct now!

 

I wonder why in the instructions it says to Disable the On-Chip Primary PCI IDE and On-Chip Secondary PCI IDE for this motherboard?

 

Thanks...

 

Just starting the install now... fingers crossed!

[fathead]

Everything was working great.....updated to 10.5.7 fine no problem

 

But now I get the "you need to restart your computer" error message after installing the Leopardsoup Universal OSx86 Installer (Uinstaller)

 

I picked -

 

1- Full plugin for my motherboard

 

2- Left boot timeout to 5 secs

 

3- Native resolution to the standard for the monitor

 

4- Installed PC_EFI

 

5- Installed EFI String

 

6- Installed EFI String for the video card

 

 

Will update....

 

Boots no problem when using -v - could it be because I set a native resolution on startup? Can I remove this ?

 

How annoying - every time I change resolution the screen goes blue, have to restart to see anything but it is set at the new resolution...is there a way around this?

[Zaap]

Fathead,

Are you running BIOS version F8? Kaido's guide specifies: "Regarding the BIOS, you will need to have at least the minimum BIOS installed, which is F8. During POST (initial system bootup), you will be shown the BIOS version that is currently installed. Make sure it meets the minimum requirement (version F8)."

 

If you're running earlier than BIOS F8, I'd assume this is the problem, since Kaido is very specific in his guide about the BIOS version. If you need to update it, it's very easy to do using the built in board BIOS flash tool, and the BIOS update file on a USB stick.

 

Usually a K.P. at boot is a bootloader issue. See if you can boot from the Boot-132 disk- (then select the hard drive, 80 or 81). If it boots like this, then something is wrong with the installed bootloader- it could be BIOS related. Also, make absolutely sure you selected the exact video card to install EFI strings- exact model number (IE: 8xxxGTx) and exact amount of RAM. A wrong EFI string for a card can also cause a K.P.

 

 

Remember also, there's always a MACH REBOOT stage directly after updating to 10.5.7- I'm assuming you installed the 10.5.7 update, rebooted (twice, once in verbose mode -v -f so you see when it gets to MACH REBOOT) and then installed the drivers? I believe that installing 10.5.7 without a reboot before installing the drivers will screw things up since 10.5.7 needs an extra setup boot of it's own.

 

 

Keep us posted- I've never had a problem installing on this board, so I'm sure it has to be just some small glitch somewhere.

 

If you keep running into the same problem even with the correct BIOS, then you can try my mini-guide posted here. This method worked perfectly for me.

 

Boots no problem when using -v - could it be because I set a native resolution on startup? Can I remove this ?

Try this:

 

Navigate to: /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist

 

Copy the com.apple.Boot.plist file to your desktop. Also copy it elsewhere as a backup.

 

Open it with TextEdit. Find this part [should say your native resolution]:

<key>Graphics Mode</key>

<string>1680×1050×32</string>

 

and just remove the resolution setting so it's just this:

<key>Graphics Mode</key>

<string></string>

 

Copy the file back to the original location- overwrite the old (you should have a backup just in case). You'll need to enter the admin password to overwrite the file.

 

How annoying - every time I change resolution the screen goes blue, have to restart to see anything but it is set at the new resolution...is there a way around this?

I've seen this happen too- I'm not really sure what causes it or how to fix it. Hopefully you don't need to switch your resolution all the time.

[fathead]

Cool... fixing the plist thingy seemed to do the trick! Boots no problem now... every time! Yes, I checked it's at F8 so that must of been it.

 

Wow... so far so good (apart from the screen res thing!) - even got a wireless USB working no problem...

 

Will check the sound and everything else out now... but so far - so great! Thanks!

 

 

 

Restart work.....fine from sleep as well... but when Shutting Down it doesn't fully shut down the system... I can still see the power is on and some fans are on....?

[Zaap]

Looking at your checklist, two things are missing. Did you check "Apply kext package" and "Apply Extensions.mkext ?

 

Failure to have done so would explain the shutdown issue, and the comp failing to boot at native res. since you'd be missing vital kext files.

[rongenre]

I put mine together yesterday -- followed the recipes, and it works great. Only hard part is getting the front panel wiring right, although the Mobo was forgiving that the leads were put in backwards.

 

XBench is showing 192. Wow... not bad at all for $500.

[Zaap]

Nice!

[fathead]

Failure to have done so would explain the shutdown issue, and the comp failing to boot at native res. since you'd be missing vital kext files.

 

For sure did both....and have run the UInstaller script again - still doesn't shut down the fan etc on the machine. Is it something in the BIOS options? When I followed all the instructions, such as disabling ON-Chip Primary PCI-IDE and Secondry PCI-IDE the machine wouldn't even boot.....

 

Everything else is great...works fine...sleep/screensaver is fine.... just not the full Shut Down...

 

Is there a Kext that I can load in to fix the shutdown issue?

 

(apart from the hard drive light which I notice is not flickering...apart from that....)

[rongenre]

One question.. any suggestions on a PCI Wifi card? I'm using a WG113v3 USB which works in a pinch, but it's really slow.

[Zaap]

For sure did both....and have run the UInstaller script again - still doesn't shut down the fan etc on the machine. Is it something in the BIOS options? When I followed all the instructions, such as disabling ON-Chip Primary PCI-IDE and Secondry PCI-IDE the machine wouldn't even boot.....

 

Everything else is great...works fine...sleep/screensaver is fine.... just not the full Shut Down...

 

Is there a Kext that I can load in to fix the shutdown issue?

 

(apart from the hard drive light which I notice is not flickering...apart from that....)

That's a stumper. To my knowledge, this board has no shutdown issues, and the kexts that you installed should already ensure sleep/shutdown/restart. In fact, usually with Hackintoshes it's sleep that's the most problematic, yet yours works.

 

I'd suggest asking Kaido over in this thread in the Anandtech forums- it's his guide, so maybe he's seen the shutdown issue crop up before and can shed some light.

 

One question.. any suggestions on a PCI Wifi card? I'm using a WG113v3 USB which works in a pinch, but it's really slow.

Check out the Encore card on the various hardware lists in this thread.

[fathead]

This was solved on the other forum... Zaap mentioned my USB Wireless dongle could be the issue - and it was... once removed the computer shut down correctly. Thanks again Zaap!

[noNix]

Kind of off topic, but . . .

 

Has anybody got Netflix streaming to work on this board using UIInstaller and the LeopardSoup standard plugins (I'm using a 8400 GS 256 vid). I have got Silverlight installed using one of the many hacked installers, but keep getting the dreaded 8152 error, and have tried all the suggested extra kexts from this thread including SMBIOSEnabler.kext.

[Zaap]

Hmm... no problem with silverlight here- netflix movies stream fine, no errors.

 

I recently replaced my GA-G31-ES2L in favor of a GA-G41-ES2L, so I don't have the G31 board any longer to test it specifically. However, the G41 board is virtually the same (the chipset die is smaller, runs cooler, uses less power, supports more RAM, but is otherwise the same) and I set it up using the same Kaido/Weaksauce12 guide posted in this thread for the G31 (with the exception of network kext, and onboard audio.)

 

Not really sure what the problem is with silverlight. I'm assuming you're talking about a Retail install? If it's a distro install, then that's probably a whole different can of worms. Or could be whatever 'hacked' install method.