Snow Leopard on Bad Axe 2

[jackyyuen]

I did all your suggestion and still getting KP. I even try different install image from different sources. Still no luck. Is the error message I got is normal?

[diogan]

I did all your suggestion and still getting KP. I even try different install image from different sources. Still no luck. Is the error message I got is normal?

 

Were you successful in making a new .mkext? I would make your own dsdt.aml file too, if you haven't.

 

Also, I had better luck running OSInstall.mpkg from my working leopard partition.

 

Use "Go to folder..." under the Go menu in the finder to open the folder on your install disc with the packages in it. You can pick your future snow leopard partition and install it on there.

[jackyyuen]

Hi Diogan,

 

I created the new. mkext but I am not to sure if it is correct.

I use the DSDT.aml from Tader at page one of the post. what is the different if you make me one?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

I upload the Extra Folder, that will be nice if you can check anything wrong with it.

Extra.zip

[_loosh_]

The error you are getting when making the mkext can be fixed by doing this before the kextcahce command:

 

sudo chown -R 0:0 /Volumes/YOUR EFI PARTITION/Extra
sudo chmod -R 755 /Volumes/YOUR EFI PARTITION/Extra

 

This should fix this, however I found I had to do this (and the kextcache command) from Snow Leopard (booting in safe mode). It simply wouldn't build correctly otherwise. Not sure why...

 

Check the text that comes up when you boot in verbose mode (-v): look for the kexts in your 'Extra' folder not loading - if they are not loading, your mkext is likely not correct and you must fix this before proceeding.

 

_loosh_

[diogan]

New Chameleon with full Snow Leopard Support

 

Has anyone tried this with their leopard installation?

[_loosh_]

Not brave enough Only just got it working.

 

What does it add that we don't already have? When it says you don't need mkexts in the extras folder, does this mean we can forget the whole kextcache command? This could help anyone having problems...

 

_loosh_

[diogan]

Not brave enough Only just got it working.

 

What does it add that we don't already have? When it says you don't need mkexts in the extras folder, does this mean we can forget the whole kextcache command? This could help anyone having problems...

 

_loosh_

 

I'm not sure which .mkext they're referring to. My guess was the .mkext we generate on the USB Boot drive, although it would be nice to never have to create the .mkext on our snow leopard installs again (I had to do it once or twice after installing certain programs).

[jackyyuen]

Hi _loosh_

 

I follow your instruction and build the mkext in SL safe mode. Still make no different, any other suggestion?

 

Thanks

[diogan]

Hi _loosh_

 

I follow your instruction and build the mkext in SL safe mode. Still make no different, any other suggestion?

 

Thanks

 

Search through this post for a comment from timewise that includes his "Extra" folder. Download that, replace your extensions and extensions.mkext with his (on USB Boot, of course), then fix the permissions. Skip the step where you would make the .mkext on USB Boot. I did this and it worked great for me.

[jackyyuen]

hi diogan

 

are you fdisk the your USB Boot with Chameleon 2.0-RC1 and copy over boot from PC_EFI V10.1 ?

 

I just start it all over, for the first partition i did followings using Chameleon 2.0RC1

1, sudo fdisk -f boot0 -u -y /dev/rdisk2

2, sudo dd if=boot1h of=/dev/rdisk2s1

3, PC_EFI V10.1. Copy the 10.1 version "boot" to the root of the "USB Boot" partition

4, Use fdisk to set the bootflag! I have flagged the "USB Boot" partition in fdisk.

5, uncheck "Ignore ownership on this volumes" for USB Boot

6, download the extra.zip from timewise

7, unzip extra.zip and copy to USB Boot Root

8, sudo chown -R 0:0 /Volumes/USB Boot/Extra/

9, sudo chmod -R 755 /Volumes/USB Boot/Extra/

10, I didn't create the mkext base on your suggestion.

 

It seems everything I do pretty correct for the partition 1 .. is that right? any suggestion?

 

Thanks

[diogan]

hi diogan

are you fdisk the your USB Boot with Chameleon 2.0-RC1 and copy over boot from PC_EFI V10.1 ?

I just start it all over, for the first partition i did followings using Chameleon 2.0RC1

1, sudo fdisk -f boot0 -u -y /dev/rdisk2

2, sudo dd if=boot1h of=/dev/rdisk2s1

3, PC_EFI V10.1. Copy the 10.1 version "boot" to the root of the "USB Boot" partition

4, Use fdisk to set the bootflag! I have flagged the "USB Boot" partition in fdisk.

5, uncheck "Ignore ownership on this volumes" for USB Boot

6, download the extra.zip from timewise

7, unzip extra.zip and copy to USB Boot Root

8, sudo chown -R 0:0 /Volumes/USB Boot/Extra/

9, sudo chmod -R 755 /Volumes/USB Boot/Extra/

10, I didn't create the mkext base on your suggestion.

It seems everything I do pretty correct for the partition 1 .. is that right? any suggestion?

Thanks

 

After step 7 but before step 8, I would replace the com.apple.Boot.plist in the "Extra" folder with your own, and then put your own dsdt.aml in the root directory of USB Boot.

[jackyyuen]

I am not too sure how to create dsdt.aml by myself.

 

Do you mind to upload the one u created?

 

Beside. That will be nice if you can upload other files which you have been successfully install your SL.

 

Thanks

[diogan]

I am not too sure how to create dsdt.aml by myself.

 

Do you mind to upload the one u created?

 

Beside. That will be nice if you can upload other files which you have been successfully install your SL.

 

Thanks

 

You can use this handy program here to make your own dsdt.aml (which you should so it's specific to your hardware). In one of the folders once you get it on your computer is a dsdt.aml file which you should put on the root of your USB Boot partition. Then, run the DSDT patcher utility. Choose Mac OSX/Darwin on the left, select only the "Apply Patch to" check box on the right and choose the USB Boot partition, then click apply and you're all set with that.

 

For your com.apple.Boot.plist file... are you using one right now for your current leopard installation? If so, just copy it into the Extra folder. If you aren't, use this program to install and edit one with a string for your graphics card on the USB Boot partition.

[jackyyuen]

hi diogan

 

The link of the software you provide didn't work. Please give me the name of the programs and I will go find it. Otherwise, please help to upload here.

 

Thanks in Advance

[diogan]

hi diogan

 

The link of the software you provide didn't work. Please give me the name of the programs and I will go find it. Otherwise, please help to upload here.

 

Thanks in Advance

 

Hmmm, that's weird. They're called DSDT Patcher GUI and OSx86 Tools Utility. They're made by PCWiz and you should be able to find them on his website.

[jackyyuen]

Getting one step closer.

 

After Diogan suggestion " replace the com.apple.Boot.plist in the "Extra" folder with your own, and then put your own dsdt.aml (I didn't create mine, I use both uploaded by Tader) in the root directory of USB Boot."

 

Now I can complete the installation process but I can't boot with -s -f -x32.

 

Is the related to the dsdt.aml and com.apple.Boot.plist ??

 

Thanks

 

Thanks Everyone,

 

Finally, I did it. Complete the installation. Stupid me didn't remove the AppleIntelPIIXATA.kext within the 30sec. reboot.

 

So I reinstall again and before the reboot, I use Terminal to input following

 

sudo rm -rf /Volumes/XXX/System/Library/Extensions/IOATAFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleIntelPIIXATA.kext

 

XXX is the Label of you drive.

 

Thanks everyone. Everything seems working fine now.

[The Baron]

Have any of you managed to boot from Chameleon on the 200mb hidden EFI partition? I can't manage to get it to load the kexts, it stalls at waiting for DSMOS.

 

Got it working well from a USB Chameleon, but would like to tidy things up a bit.

[_loosh_]

No. I created a separate EFI partition on a second hard drive so I can tinker and change without affecting my OS install. I can also change the OS install, of course, without affecting my bootloader, replace the hard drive, reformat and more.

 

_loosh_

[Shaveblog]

Well, I've got Snow running on my Badaxe2/Q6600/8600GT, but it's been a pain in the ass and it's not 100% working like like a charm like it was on 10.5.8.

 

I gave up trying to install Snow from a bootloader/etc. after numerous attempts and methods all KP'd during boot or right after. What worked for me, and this may be sacrilege for some of you hardcore geeks, but I plugged a bare drive into a real Mac to do the install. I cannot TELL you how much easier this made things go.

 

Here's the gist:

 

Use a real Mac that's running Leopard, not Snow (this is important because Snow seems to bork Chameleon installation and some other important steps). I used a 2007 white Intel iMac running 10.5.8.

 

Take your future Snow Leopard drive and repartition it in Disk Utility to a single GUID partition, naming it "Snow" for now. Don't call it MacIntosh HD yet. It'll just confuse things and you. Trust me.

 

Install Chameleon RC1 with the following customize options: Chameleon Standard, NO options, only Standard theme selected, NO Extras.

 

Toggle invisible file visibility (Google "show hide invisible files", there's a cool little free app), then delete the "boot" file and replace it with Netkas's PC EFI 10.1 boot link.

 

Whether you have a real 10.6 upgrade DVD or a DVD-R of the GM image, doesn't matter. I used the GM image restored to a USB drive. Load the installer, plug in your Chameleon'd drive you want to put Snow on, and reboot your Mac. As soon as Leopard shuts down and the screen goes black, hold down the Option key on your keyboard until you see the boot choices come up on the screen. Choose your Snow installer and click on the icon, and the installation should begin.

 

FWIW I chose to customize my Snow install, deselecting all of the options except Quicktime 7, which has many editing and exporting options not available in the Snow's Quicktime X. Having them both installed is a good thing.

 

When the installation is complete and you get that nice green checkmark, don't reboot just yet. Make sure you choose your Mac's current startup disc first, so you don't boot into your new Snow drive. Once you've booted back into your Mac again, you should see the new Snow drive in Finder.

 

Go to System/Library/Extensions and delete IOATAFamily.kext. Don't mod it with Netkas's, just delete the @%#$ and kiss IDE drives buh-bye. To run Snow is to leave a lot of childish things behind, and one of them is PATA. I kicked my trusty Lite-On IDE DVD burner to the curb because of Snow. Casualty of war. Couldn't be helped. Fine. I'm a big boy. I'll replace it with a SATA drive shortly.

 

While you're there, go ahead and delete AppleUpstreamUserClient.kext and TinyMCEDriver.kext as well. Those guys suck, especially if you're running NVIDIA GPU like I am.

 

Don't kill any more kexts. Maybe we can later, if the big brains figure out how to fix a few things I haven't. But for now, leave the rest of the kexts alone. And for god's sake don't ADD any kexts to S/L/E unless you like immediate kernel panics.

 

Still with me? Almost done. Go to your Hackintosh where you want this Snow drive to live, and assuming you're running Leopard at the moment, cook up a fresh dsdt.aml file with the DSDT Patcher from PCWIZ's site. Put the new dsdt.aml in both the root of your Snow drive and in the /Extras folder.

 

You'll need a com.apple.Boot.plist in /Extras as well. This is what you want it to look like:

 

<key>Kernel</key>

<string>mach_kernel</string>

<key>Kernel Flags</key>

<string>-v -x32</string>

<key>Timeout</key>

<string>1</string>

<key>device-properties</key>

<string>INSERT-YOUR-VIDEO-CARD-EFI-STRING-HERE</string>

</dict>

</plist>

 

Yes, that -x32 flag means you will be booting into the 32-bit kernel, and only the 32-bit kernel. Not because the 64-bit kernel is impossible to run on the BadAxe2. It isn't. But the fact is, it's not ready for prime time on real Macs much less Hackintoshes, and further, it brings not a goddamn thing to the table today, raises your CPU temps 10 degrees, breaks a lot of things like certain apps and peripherals, and just generally makes what is at best a difficult hack -- running Snow on non-Apple hardware -- an endless loop of fail. So for now, 32-bit. All your 64-bit apps will run great, and your system will be a lot more stable. Let the geeks struggle with 64-bit for the time being. I want something that Just Works.

 

Okay, dsdt.aml and com.apple.Boot.plist in /Extras, check. A copy of dsdt.aml in Snow's root, check. Now we have to add special sauce kexts to help BadAxe2 and Snow play nice, and then we have to make an extensions.mkext file to stick in /Extras to make the medicine go down.

 

I've played with a lot of kexts, trying to make this board work. I'm sure some of you can point me to some other kexts that work well. For me, this is what I wound up with:

 

fakesmc.kext (thanks Netkas)

OpenHaltRestart.kext (thanks Psystar?)

IOAHCIBlockStorageInjector.kext (makes your drive icons grey again instead of orange)

SleepEnabler.kext

NullCPUPowerManagement.kext

 

You can hunt them down or you can get them all in one tidy package:SnowAxe.zip

 

Unzip SnowAxe.zip, put these 5 kexts into your Snow drive's /Extra/Extensions folder.

 

Now you have to make an extensions.mkext file. I don't know WTF mkext files do, but while they don't seem that critical in Leopard, they are make-or-break in Snow Leopard. Kext Utility does a nice job automating the process, even generating an mkext for the S/L/E folder as well, but I found it left a lot of iffy permissions in its wake. Once it makes your mkexts and puts them in /Extras and /S/L/E respectively, you won't be able to boot your Snow drive because of so many broken permissions. So..

 

Restart your Mac again with the DVD installer and your new Snow drive still connected, hold down the Option key, and boot into the installer DVD. When it asks if you want to install SL, click next to get to the main screen and then go right to the top of the screen and launch Disk Utility to repair your Snow drive's permissions. Run it twice just to make sure you got them all. Then quit the SL Installer and shut your Mac down.

 

Now you should be able to take your new Snow drive, attach it to a SATA cable in your BadAxe2, and boot right up into Snow Leopard's welcome screen.

 

Oh wait, a few couple of things. Make sure your BIOS is set for AHCI. Disable the 2nd SATA controller, it doesn't work with Snow just yet. Go ahead and disable onboard audio, because that's not working either, you'll have to make do with a Griffin iMic or one of those $3 Chinese USB "sound cards" on eBay that don't really suck per se but think of them more as a temp fix to get sound out of your Hack than as a permanent part of your rig, because they pretty much do suck, especially the mic-in, yeesh.

 

What did I forget? Something, probably. Be sure to remind me when you follow these steps to a T and get insta-panic. If it happens, just tell yourself for every one KP you get, I've had ten. Trust me on this. Snow hasn't been a lot of fun for me. I had 10.5.8 running so smoothly and reliably on my BadAxe2 I want to cry just thinking about it. That combo ran cleaner than most Mac Pros I've seen. A delight. I'm a moron for breaking what didn't need to be fixed and upping my rig to SL. Sound doesn't work, QE/CI isn't quite as smooth via EFI strings, OSX86Tools no longer lets me optimize the install, yada yada. I realize Snow isn't even officially a week old but I didn't expect it to break so many of the tricks and tweaks I've learned about getting Leopard to play nice on the BadAxe2.

 

That's it. That's how I got my BadAxe2 to run Snow Leopard, albeit without onboard audio, the Marvell SATA ports, PATA, and probably some other stuff I just haven't noticed yet. What does work? Time Machine works, Bonjour works, onboard ethernet works, FireWire works, USB works, my Gigaybte Bluetooth dongle works, sleep and restart work, QE/CI works with EFI strings though not quite as smoothly as on 10.5.8.

 

Looking forward to the big brains here figuring out how to fix onboard audio, improve QE/CI, enable those 4 Marvell SATA ports, hell, maybe even get PATA to work. That would be swell.

 

Make no mistake -- we will get there. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get retail vanilla Snow Leopard running 100% on the Intel D975XBX2!

 

Amen.

 

[shanusmagnus]

Make no mistake -- we will get there. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get retail vanilla Snow Leopard running 100% on the Intel D975XBX2!

 

Amen.

 

This is one of the best posts I've ever seen on this site; not only wonderfully useful, but wonderfully well-written. Thanks.

 

However, it had a counterintuitive result: I'm going to stop trying to get SL to work now. I'm going to assume that you've achieved pretty much the current pinnacle of SL usefulness on the BX2, and it sounds like more headache than it's worth right now. But you have seriously saved me god knows how long coming to that conclusion. Only wish I would have read this before investing the 20 hours or so I've put in so far.

 

Anyway, maybe you can help with one other thing: I want that 10.5.8 rocksteady install you describe. I have a Kalyway 10.5.2 install that I brought up to 10.5.5 and I cannot get the gd thing to boot 10.5.8. Do you have a pointer to something that would get me to where you were?

 

Thanks again for the post.

[diogan]

10.6.1 update is out today (that was fast). Has anyone tried installing it yet, and if so, how did you do it and how are you running now?

[Shaveblog]

FYI I let Software Update do its worst and update my BadAxe2's SL install to 10.6.1 tonight. Everything's fine. Not saying you won't have issues depending on your install, but mine (detailed in a previous post in this thread) wasn't borked at all by the update, and I didn't have to do anything special to prepare for it. As always, YMMV.

[Shaveblog]

Thanks -- I've picked up a lot of good info on this site and wouldn't have been able to boot a Hackintosh without the big brains here, so I thought I'd pay a little back after seeing so many people unable to get Snow installed on the BadAxe2.

 

As for 10.5.8, you made a wise decision. If you're not a hacker hobbyist and you just want a Mac that works perfectly, 10.5.8 is your best bet at the moment. As to how I managed to get a perfect vanilla retail install, well, that depends on what your definition of "perfect vanilla retail" is. I see threads on this site all the time like "Acer Aspire One PERFECT INSTALL!! 100% VANILLA RETAIL" and then the jagoff cheerfully admits that sound, sleep, and trackpad don't work! Sorry kids, I know a diet consisting solely of Red Bull and porn can cloud your judgement, but "perfect" and "100%" don't mean "some important things like sound and sleep don't work". Perfect is perfect. Everything works. That's how I had my BadAxe2 running 10.5.8. It all worked.

 

I couldn't begin to write a tutorial on how I got there. I chipped away at the stone for months till Igot everything working right. But I can offer you some advice: graduate from hacked distros like Kalyway and iPC etc. and do a real retail installation with a real Leopard disc or a torrent thereof. Like many people, I started with Kalyway because it was relatively easy to get up and running with 10.5.4, but the hacked distros leave you with an installation that's chock full of hacked kexts, so it's very left-of-center compared to a retail install, and every software update has a much greater chance of ankling your system. I also found that my system ran faster and consumed less power with a retail install than with the distros. So first things first, get a retail Leopard disc and do a fresh install with that. Chameleon is the bootloader I use, and I recommend it highly, works great. Haven't tried the latest RC3, but RC2 worked well with 10.5.8, and I use RC1 with Snow (albeit with the PC EFI 10.1 boot file replacing Chameleon's).

 

When you get your system running a retail install, you go through what isn't working one by one and search the site for solutions. Audio not working? Search the site. Drive icons orange? Search the site. You'll find a solution every time. Worried about using Software Update to up your 10.5.6 retail install to 10.5.8? Search the site. That's what I did. Takes time, but in the end you'll have what I have (had), a Hac Pro with everything working.

 

Do yourself a favor and try your new retail install on a new bare drive. Don't use your current Kalyway install, in case you run into issues and can't boot up your system at all. Set your Kalyway drive aside, plug in your new drive to do the retail install, and then once you have it up and running to your satisfaction, connect your Kalyway drive again and use Migration Assistant to transfer you and your apps and files over to the new drive. That's what I do every time I get the itch to try a new install. Always Have A Bootable Backup Drive With A Known Working Install In Case Things Go Badly. First rule of Hackintosh Club.

 

 

This is one of the best posts I've ever seen on this site; not only wonderfully useful, but wonderfully well-written. Thanks.

 

However, it had a counterintuitive result: I'm going to stop trying to get SL to work now. I'm going to assume that you've achieved pretty much the current pinnacle of SL usefulness on the BX2, and it sounds like more headache than it's worth right now. But you have seriously saved me god knows how long coming to that conclusion. Only wish I would have read this before investing the 20 hours or so I've put in so far.

 

Anyway, maybe you can help with one other thing: I want that 10.5.8 rocksteady install you describe. I have a Kalyway 10.5.2 install that I brought up to 10.5.5 and I cannot get the gd thing to boot 10.5.8. Do you have a pointer to something that would get me to where you were?

 

Thanks again for the post.

[Shaveblog]

I went looking for this "Ultimate Boot CD" too and couldn't find a bootable image either. There's a lot that's iffy about it -- it's a site created and singlehandedly moderated by a controversial figure who was banned from this board, for reasons I'm not privy to but good god what's a brother got to do to get BANNED from a HACKINTOSH FORUM? Say bad things about Phil Schiller's mom jeans? So I'm guessing it was some pretty bad mojo that went down. Either way, I perused that other site and got a pretty chilly feeling from it. Seems like an odd little offshoot of the Hackintosh community, such that it is. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, that's just the vibe I got.

 

I'm sure that within a week or two, the friendly community here will hash out a more streamlined and simplified way to boot up retail 10.6 and put it on anything short of a TRS-80. Just be patient and it will happen. Trust me, I'm running SL on 2 rigs right now and while it's certainly nice, it's not the shock and awe upgrade I thought it might be. When you actually, um, launch apps and get work done, I defy anyone to notice a significant difference between the experiences.

[mutombopr]

If you just untar the 4kb file and double click the file it will take you here http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QCMN9QIP and there you will find the Cd.