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  1. 1. How stable is your Snow Leopard installation?

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    • Not quite there yet...
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Welcome to my GA EP45-UD3R Guide!

(v1.25)

:)

100k+ VIEWS! Every person's input is one step closer to SL perfection for everyone : )

 

• Northbridge Intel P45

• Southbridge Intel ICH10R (Raid)

• Audio ALC889a (889)

• LAN Realtek 8111C

 

Changelog:

v1.0

Original

v1.1

Added BIOS Setup section

Added Troubleshooting section

Tweaked overall appearance

v1.2

Updated problem solutions

Further tweaks to some steps

Figured out one must UNPLUG WINDOWS DRIVES PRIOR TO EVERYTHING

v1.21

Updated SL Pack to v2

v1.22

Updated SL Pack to v3

v1.25

Updated SL Pack to v4

Added preliminary "USB Installation Instructions", credits to nullspot

Added Bonjour Fix, credits to Eliade

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So, you want to install the new Snow Leopard 10.6 onto your GA EP45-UD3L/R/P? You've come to the right place!

 

SL PACK v4 DOWNLOAD LINK

http://uppit.com/v/0JKOP6PN

 

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You will need the following:

 

 A Snow Leopard DVD

 A blank hard drive (it can be done on a partition, however)

 An existing OS X install (I used my Leopard 10.5.8)

 My SL Pack

 Patience

 

0. BIOS Setup Mini Guide:

 

bios.jpg

 

Essentially, you're going to really need to focus on 3 sections in the EP45-UD3R (and similar) BIOSes. The 1st is optional (Motherboard Intelligent Tweaker or MIT) is only if you intend to overclock your computer at all. This requires a whole different set of knowledge and needs to be understood CAREFULLY before attempted as to not damage the components. If you aren't changing the clocks, then move on to the "Advanced BIOS Features" section. Here, you need to make sure simply that the following features are DISABLED:

 

-CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E)

-C2/C2E State Support

-CPU EIST Function

-C4/C4E State Support

-Virtualization Technology

 

The rest of the settings in "Advanced BIOS Features" can just be left at stock settings. Next, go back to the main menu and go into the "Integrated Peripherals" menu. Here, all that's important is you make sure the following options are set to AHCI mode:

 

-SATA RAID/AHCI Mode

-Onboard SATA/IDE Ctrl Mode

 

And of course, make sure that "Onboard SATA/IDE Device" is "Enabled". You can change the boot order of the hard drives if you want SL to be the default drive, but that's not necessary as you can enable that later once everything is working. For now, just hit F12 (or whatever the key is for you) at the spash screen to open the device boot menu when you want to boot into SL.

**BEFORE STEP 1, UNPLUG ALL WINDOWS DRIVES, AND RECONNECT AT THE END OF ALL STEPS**

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STEP 1 (ALTERNATIVELY, FOLLOW nullspot's USB INSTALLATION GUIDE FOUND AT END OF THIS POST TO INSTALL SL TO THE HDD- I WILL INTEGRATE IT INTO THE MAIN GUIDE SOON.)

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Start by booting into your existing OS X installation and firing up Disk Utility. Select the disk you intend to install SL to, and click on the "Partition" tab. Change the "Volume Scheme" drop down menu to "1 Partition", and then click "Options...". Select GUID, and click ok. Before you Apply the changes, give your drive a name, preferably something easy to remember, I named mine Snow.*

 

*If you want to install to an MBR partiton/drive, then you can try this, but I haven't tested it personally:

I mounted the SL dmg file (I didn't use the DVD, I used an image) and opened disk utility to convert the image to "read and write". Click on Convert at the top of disk utility with the dmg selected. It will prompt you to save the converted .dmg somewhere on your drive. Do so....unmount the readonly dmg of SL and mount the newly created one. Then navigate to "/Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Installation/Packages", delete "OSInstall.mpkg", add the one on this page http://limiter.fre3.com/blog/?p=19 and follow the rest of d00m's awesome tutorial ;P.

 

This one will allow you to install on mbr ;P. Hope this helps ...

 

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STEP 2

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Next, insert your Snow Leopard DVD and navigate to the root of the DVD. Under the menu, click Go, then select Go to Folder. Paste this: "/Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Installation/Packages" without quotes into the box, and hit enter. You should see a number of packages. Find OSInstall.mpkg and run it. Select the drive you intend to install SL to, I'll call it Snow.*

 

*Note: My first issue occurred here, where I got an "Install Failed" message after the installation completed. If this happens to you, try deselecting the Printer Drivers and Languages under the "Customize" menu during the install. It should succeed then.

 

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STEP 3

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Do NOT reboot yet, first we have to install a bootloader, as well as a few important kexts and other files. Start by running the PC EFI 10.1 package, and selecting the Snow drive. (This version of PC EFI 10.1 is already fixed for SL, no need to replace any boot files) Next, open the Extra folder in my pack, and copy its contents into the folder on your Snow drive also labeled "Extra". We will have to edit a bunch of these files, do don't use them as they are, as they are configured for MY machine which is most likely different from yours. Keep in mind I have a GA EP45-UD3R, so if you have an L or a P, then you might need to adjust your kexts and files slightly after some research.*

 

*Remember, if you do NOT use any IDE devices, then delete JMicronATA.kext, it is not needed. If you DO on the other hand, then keep it as you will face various issues/KPs without it. Also remember this:

 

A JMicron controller driver may also be needed, if intending to use the 2 purple SATA ports. The IDE port & the 2 purple SATA ports both run off the same JMicron chip. Commonly used for providing eSATA functionality.

*Also one thing to bring up, if you have an EP45-UD3L, then you have a different audio chipset:

Anyway one thing: according to this site: http://www.incomplete-news.com/?p=2512

the EP45-UD3 L uses the ALC888 chipset. Yours the UD3R has ALC889a chipset.

 

So if you have an L, then you will need to use a different LegacyHDA if you want System Profiler to show the correct information. Otherwise, functionality will be the same if you patch your DSDT for the alc888 and use SL's default AppleHDA.kext. There is a guide on the forum I will look for the URL of, which details sound on these boards much more in depth.

 

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STEP 4

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First thing we have to take care of is manually editing the UUID of the Snow drive into two different locations. First, open the "smbios.plist" (from your Extra folder) in TextEdit. Fill in the information in the <string> tags, although it's not necessary to have a serial number. The plist is currently configured for a Mac Pro 3,1, but you can use whatever you want, look up a guide on smbios.plist. The SMexternalclock is your FSB speed, the SMmaximalclock is your processor speed in MHz, the SMmemtype is your memory (18 is DDR, 19 is DDR2, and I think 20 is DDR3), and finally SMmemspeed is your memory clock in MHz. Now, without closing smbios.plist yet, open Disk Utility. Click on your Snow drive, and then on Info at the top. Copy the Universal Unique Identifier string, and paste it into a new text file, because you will use this later on as well. Close Disk Utility, and proceed to paste the string you just copied into smbios.plist under SMUUID on top of the "PASTE YOUR UUID HERE". Once you have completed this, save the smbios.plist, make sure the changes were applied, and navigate back to your Extra folder.

 

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STEP 5

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This time, go into Extensions, and right click on PlatformUUID.kext, picking the "Show Package Contents" option. Open the Contents folder, and finally open Info.plist with TextEdit. Copy your UUID again, and paste it over where it says "PASTE YOUR UUID HERE". Save the changes, and close the window.

 

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STEP 6

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Next, open up EFIStudio, located in the root of my Pack folder. Select your Graphics card, and hit "Add Device". Copy the long hex string in the second (lower) box of the new window that pops up. Open up com.apple.Boot.plist in your Snow drive's Extra folder (with TextEdit), and paste that long hex string you copied over the long hex string already there (mine). Save the file, and close the window.

 

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STEP 7

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Finally, you have to compile your own edited DSDT.aml to get working ethernet/sound. You will see there is already a DSDT.aml in your Snow Extra folder (the one you copied from my pack). You can try using this, but it will most likely not work as a DSDT depends on quite a few things specific to your machine. your best bet is to delete it, and open the DSDT Stuff folder in my pack, following the instructions in the "How to Patch DSDT" folder, labeled "How to patch DSDT with LAN and HDEF functions.pdf". This is NOT my guide, so I take zero credit for writing it. I am only providing it here for you conveniently so you do not have to go out and search for it. When I make a later edit to this guide probably by next weekend, I will give credit to the author/poster of the guide, although the original information on editing DSDT was posted by Taruga and THe KiNG. Make sure you apply the CMOS reset fix to your DSDT, as Snow Leopard has a nasty bug that will reset your CMOS every time you boot it up otherwise.

 

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STEP 8

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Once you have your compiled/edited DSDT.aml, drop it into the "Extra" folder on your Snow drive (where you deleted the original one from).

 

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STEP 9

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REBOOT! Make sure you are booting from your Snow drive, and it is IMPORTANT to boot with the -v -x32 flags on first boot. At this point, you should pay attention to the verbose output, and if you run into any kernel panics or endless loops, post the output here for troubleshooting. (Also keep in mind this guide was designed for specific motherboard(s), so there may be some unexpected results for a different mobo)

 

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STEP 10

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If all goes well, you should see the whole "Welcome" flying through space intro for SL. It SHOULD have sound, graphics, and ethernet working at this point, but if you don't hear anything don't be alarmed. After running through setup (when you arrive at the desktop), quickly open System Preferences, click on Spotlight, and click on the "Privacy" tab. At the bottom, click on the + sign, and add every drive/storage device to this list (this is only temporary, to avert a kernel panic caused by a Spotlight indexing service, mdworker).*

 

Alternatively, you can just make the drives "Private" using Leopard as Elaide figured out:

 

instead of rushing to "hide" the drives from spotlight after the first Snow Leo boot before it KP, you can do it differently....

After you finish installing Snow Leo from within Leopard you can hide all your drives from spotlight in Leopard, the setting is set in the drive itself and Snow leopard will read that same setting

So after the first boot the drives hidden by leopard will also be hidden from spotlight in Snow leopard without any intervention from the user, you'll see all the drive are already listed in the settings,

all that needs to be done then is rebuit kext cache

 

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STEP 11

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Rebuild your kextcache using the included Kext Utility (if this doesn't work you could always use terminal and do it manually, but it almost always works fine), and restart. When you boot, boot with -v -x32 again, and make sure there are no issues. When you get to the desktop this time, go back to Spotlight preferences, and remove all of the drives from the Privacy list with the - sign. Click on the menu bar Spotlight icon in the top right corner, and type something into the box. It should start to index your drives. If you rebuilt the kextcache correctly, it should have zero problems. Let it complete the index process.

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STEP 12

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Finally, in the meantime, you can open System Profiler from the Utilities folder and check to see if your graphics card is fully supported (you should have all of the resolutions native to your monitor if it is anyway), and also check on the sound/ethernet. If your sound is working you will obviously know, as the little clicks sound when you change the volume, and under System Profiler you will see details about the audio device- an alc889a. Finally, go to System Preferences>Network, and check the status of your ethernet connection. If it's "Connected" without a Self-Assigned IP (and you USE wired ethernet), it should be working, just open a Safari window to test this.

 

Enjoy your SL installation, and be sure to test if sleep works after you have everything else working, as it should work fine.

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Troubleshooting

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1. If you get a KP related to mds or mdworker, it has to do with the Spotlight indexing problem. Solution - rebuild your kextcache in Single User Mode, or boot into SL and quickly disable Spotlight's indexing by adding all of your storage devices to the "Private" list in System Preferences>Spotlight.

 

2. If your sound/ethernet doesn't work, it's probably the DSDT. Solution - "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." DSDT is a pain in the ass, and the only way you're going to get it working right is with a few mistakes along the way. You can try mine, but you NEED an Intel C2D processor and a GA EP45-UD3R mobo to have it work at all.

 

3. If your graphics don't work, it's probably the EFI string you put into com.apple.Boot.plist. Solution - make sure you used the right string, and always do a little searching to make sure your card is supported well with a string. I know more about Nvidia cards than ATI ones, so the ATI folks will have to probably do more searching before they come to me with an issue because I might not be able to answer it well.

 

4. KP due to Software Update. Solution - I have no idea yet! I'm looking into this, but I do not have this problem yet, so if anyone does have this as well, post your configuration in detail including hardware/kexts so I can try to isolate the issue. ***UPDATE*** Possible solution includes making sure you rebuild your kextcache after everything, BE 100% SURE IT WORKED!

 

5. Bonjour doesn't work (this will always happen). You can either ONLY boot in 32-bit mode and use Realtek1000.kext, or use this simple fix posted by Eliade which works in 32 and 64 bit! (All of the files mentioned in this guide are in the /Extra/Bonjour folder)

 

WHO WANTS BONJOUR AT BOOT automatically (32bit and 64bt) using the fix I found earlier (for those that don't have bonjour working by default like me, I'm sure it's most of you)

 

so there goes

 

download ifconfig:http://www.stanford.edu/~dub/macstuff/

or direct link: http://www.stanford.edu/~dub/macstuff/ifconfig.tgz

 

if you don't want to run the command line manually, having it at boot without any prompt

 

place ifconfig anywhere you want

(I created a bonjour directory in the Extra folder for organization sake)

then add this script where every you want ifconfig.command.zip

(have mine again in that same bonjour directory)

 

modify it with textedit or whatever to point to your ifconfig

mine is set to be in /Extra/Bonjour/ifconfig

 

then open the terminal and paste this, well change the path to the script wherever you want it to be

sudo defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook /Extra/bonjour/ifconfig.command

type your password at prompt

 

now reboot, bonjour works at boot without further intervention

 

ENJOY

 

edit:

if for some reason you want to remove it from boot go to terminal and paste this:

sudo defaults delete com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook

 

6. This is a huge find, and I thank BillaBongo for pointing this out, because even though I did this unintentionally, it could be the cause of many problems. UNPLUG YOUR WINDOWS DRIVE(S) PRIOR TO FOLLOWING THIS GUIDE!

 

@d00m42

 

 

Found a BIG issue for those running a drive or partition with windows 7 installed and formated with NTFS!

 

Remove or disconnect your Windows 7 drive, or you will be getting OSX crashes, *ntfs corruption*, possible KP's!

 

I have plowed through my logs looking for possible reasons for random crashing, kp's (prior to Realtek1000.ktext removal)

 

One of the symptoms I was seeing was sata devices became delayed, even paused for up to 10secs before a sata device would respond.. this would repeat about 3 times then.. crashed to the GSOD screen. The other symptom was slow overall disk reads / writes

 

Looking back through my logs I found the following in regards to WINDOWS 7 NTFS ONLY

 

Below was the findings:

 

Aug 29 14:07:49 Brians-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: NTFS-fs error (device /dev/disk1s2, pid 25): ntfs_inode_data_sync(): ubc_msync() of data for mft_no 0x69 failed (error 30).

Aug 29 14:07:49 Brians-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: NTFS-fs error (device /dev/disk1s2, pid 25): ntfs_vnop_pageout(): Failed (error 30).

Aug 29 14:07:55 Brians-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: NTFS-fs error (device /dev/disk1s2, pid 13078): ntfs_mft_record_sync(): Failed to write mft record 0xe5e8 (error 13).

Aug 29 14:07:55 Brians-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: NTFS-fs error (device /dev/disk1s2, pid 13078): ntfs_inode_sync(): Failed to sync mft_no 0xe5e8 (error 13). Run chkdsk.

Aug 29 14:07:55 Brians-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: NTFS-fs error (device /dev/disk1s2, pid 13078): ntfs_vnop_inactive(): Failed to sync mft_no 0xe5e8, type 0x80, name_len 0xc (error 13).

Aug 29 14:20:49 Brians-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: NTFS-fs error (device /dev/disk1s2, pid 90): ntfs_mft_record_sync(): Failed to write mft record 0xe5e8 (error 13).

Aug 29 14:20:49 Brians-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: NTFS-fs error (device /dev/disk1s2, pid 90): ntfs_inode_sync(): Failed to sync mft_no 0xe5e8 (error 13). Run chkdsk.

Aug 29 14:20:49 Brians-Mac-Pro kernel[0]: NTFS-fs error (device /dev/disk1s2, pid 90): ntfs_vnop_inactive(): Failed to sync mft_no 0xe5e8, type 0x80, name_len 0x0 (error 13).

 

 

So, without haste I booted into my windows 7... BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH 3 times @ boot

Had to repair the disk and found TONS of errors!

 

Head the warning, remove the drive or disable OSX from mounting that drive/partition...

 

Since I have removed the drive completely I have noticed night and day speed difference on the sata performance.

I have had ZERO system errors / GSOD or KP's since..

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MORE ISSUES TO COME AS THEY ARRIVE.

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P.S. Feel free to post any issues/KPs here, but make sure you have a log to post or a picture of the KP so you aren't just saying, "OMGZORZ MAH COMP FROZE WIT BLACK N WITEE TEXT!!!", because frankly, that doesn't do me much in understanding what caused it lol >.< Also, if I'm missing anything that you think should be added or edited in, tell me :)

 

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nullspot's USB Installation Guide (to be integrated soon):

 

USB (SECONDARY) DRIVE INSTALL METHOD

 

The primary reason for installing this way is to avoid the permissions issues that can easily occur when installing 10.6 while booted in 10.5. They are the cause of many of the kernel panics people have experienced, and are difficult to get right. In this method we are simply using one drive to install onto another (no previous 10.5 installation required), fooling the OSX Installer into thinking it's working just the same as if booted off the DVD, with no extensions cache or permissions to screw up. Very similar to past methods for vanilla installs using retail OSX DVD and boot-132 CD's, but even easier and faster.

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: These steps assume you already have -

 

• two drives: one to be the Installer and one to be Installed upon

• downloaded d00m42's pack of files

• created and patched your own DSDT.aml file (for the CMOS reset, audio, etc.)

• modified the smios.plist and the PlatformUUID.kext's info.plist [show package contents] with the UUID of the disk you will use as the installer [use get info in disk utility to retrieve]

• modified the com.apple.boot.plist with EFI strings for video, "-x32" boot flags, etc.

 

 

 

1- Prepare your "Install" drive (can be usb or internal, flash or harddisk - just needs to be at least 8GB), format it with one partition, HFS journaled, GUID

 

2- install chameleon (via the PC EFI 10.1 app) on that "Install" drive

 

3- put your OSX DVD in your DVD drive (or get your SL disk image ready...)

 

4- in the disk utility restore the DVD (or from the .dmg) onto that "Install" drive (be sure the erase drive first is unchecked so it will leave Chameleon intact). this will take a few minutes...

 

5- copy contents of d00m42's SL Pack /Extra folder to the /Extra folder on the "Install" drive, but replace the pack's files (if necessary) with your own custom smbios.plist, DSDT.aml, com.apple.boot.plist, and PlatformUUID.kext ALSO - don't copy the pack's Extensions.mkext (you'll create your own later)

 

6- Reboot

 

7- hit [delete] to enter BIOS setup, in "Advanced BIOS Features" change hard drive boot priority order to put your "Install" drive first, save and exit

 

8- (auto reboot)

 

9- chameleon bootloader should appear, giving you the chance to select the "Install" drive - OSX should proceed as if you're booting from the actual install DVD. Before you begin the install process go to Disk Utility and format your destination SnowLeo drive

 

10- Go back to the install screen and proceed as normal (customize as desired) - wait until: "Install Successful" screen

 

11- Reboot

 

12- When chameleon bootloader appears, before it times out, press any key, and select the fresh new SnowLeo drive (instead of your Install drive) you should complete the OSX setup assistant, and arrive at your desktop with no KP! NOTE: if you're going to be using the migration assistant to pull all your 10.5 stuff in from another drive or mac, don't create your initial account with the same name as the user account on 10.5...

 

13- install chameleon (again via the PC EFI 10.1 app) on the new SnowLeo drive you just successfully booted into

 

14- Copy all the contents of the Extra folder on the "Install" drive into the Extra folder on your SnowLeo drive

 

15- run kext utility (in the pack) to create the mkext in the Extra folder

 

16- Reboot

 

17- hit [delete] to enter BIOS setup, change boot disk priority order to put "SnowLeo" drive first, save and exit

 

18- you now have a fully-working SnowLeo install! you're done with the "Install" drive (save it for other installs - very handy!)

 

19- follow Eliade's guide for using the special ifconfig to enable bonjour

 

NOTE - if after all this you still don't have sound, don't worry - there's a special combination of just the right LegacyHDA.kext and DSDT modifications, which you can experiment on without messing up or having to re-install SnowLeo.

 

So this is my mobo:

 

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R

  • Northbridge Intel P45
  • Southbridge Intel ICH10R (Raid)
  • Audio ALC889a
  • LAN Realtec 8111C
  • Firewire IEEE 1394 Controller

Basically, I got SL to boot fine, but after a few minutes of running I get one of two KPs. One relates to "mdworker" and the other to "mds"; they both occur while the computer is already booted to the desktop 3-5 mins after boot. Here are the pictures:

 

http://img29.imageshack.us/i/img0355l.jpg/

 

http://img14.imageshack.us/i/img0356rgj.jpg/

 

(sorry for not using IMG tags, the images were way too big to post here, wasn't thinking when I saved them haha)

 

So besides those KPs which are important to fix, in terms of hardware I was wondering how to handle GFX/Ethernet/Sound. I don't think I can just use my Leopard kexts because they're x86, right? I used an EFI string for my Nvidia 9800 GTX, but I don't think QE/CI are working properly (but all resolutions are available). It recognized some kind of Ethernet card but I can't connect to anything, and I am not sure what to do about sound.

 

Can someone help me? (At least with the KPs, I am going to do more research after my install is stable at least...)

 

Sorry I don't have a copy of SL yet (waiting for delivery) but I have the same board so I'll begin testing as soon as I can! Hopefully we can get a few more UD3R users to add their input as well. Maybe ask Eliade or some of the users on this thread as well: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=174385 They have been a huge help to me and others with this board for Leopard.

Thanks for the input, I sent Eliade a PM and we'll see what happens. In the meantime I'm still looking for a solution, and if anyone reading this has anything that I could even just mess around with to test I'd appreciate it!

 

If I DO end up fixing this issue, I'll try to make this thread into a general thread for owners of the GA EP45-UD3L/R/P

Thanks for the input, I sent Eliade a PM and we'll see what happens. In the meantime I'm still looking for a solution, and if anyone reading this has anything that I could even just mess around with to test I'd appreciate it!

 

If I DO end up fixing this issue, I'll try to make this thread into a general thread for owners of the GA EP45-UD3L/R/P

 

Please do. And in the meantime, maybe could you let us know how you went about the install? Did you use Chameleon? I don't really know where to start with SL, so if you could point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it (and it will help me get to the point where I can help you quicker :police: ) Thanks!

I will post the exact files I used soon, but this is basically what I did:

 

1. Partition a blank SATA HD with the GUID partition scheme and create a volume (I named mine Snow).

 

2. Turn on hidden files and folders, and open your Leopard DVD/DMG and navigate to "/System/Installation/Packages/OSInstall.mpkg". Run this package, and make sure you change the target volume to your blank formatted volume (Snow in my case). Also if you get an "Install Failed" message, deselect the printer drivers and extra languages if they're not needed under "Customize" and try again (after re-formatting your drive).

 

3. Don't restart after you install, instead install the PC EFI 10.1/Chameleon 2.0 RC1 package to the drive you installed SL to.

 

4. Navigate to /YOUR SNOW DRIVE/Extra and put the contents of my "Extra" folder into this folder.

 

5. Patch your DSDT and create a dsdt.aml (you can do this with the DSDT Patcher GUI), and put the dsdt.aml in this Extra folder in place of mine, this is IMPORTANT! Next,

 

6. Next open the com.apple.Boot.plist in TextEdit and replace the long hex string under the "device-properties" with the EFI hex string for your GFX card (use EFIStudio to get this). Save, make sure the changes took place, and close.

 

7. Next, open the smbios.plist and customize it for your FSB, RAM, and other clocks as well as memory manufacturer and UUID etc... not every field is needed, look up a guide on using smbios.plist with Chameleon 2.0 RC1 if you don't understand how it works. Save the edited smbios.plist into this Extra folder on the root of your Snow drive

 

8. In the Extensions folder, you need to simply edit your Snow drive UUID into the Info.plist inside the PlatformUUID.kext

 

9. At this point you can reboot (I think I'm not missing anything), and when you get to the Chameleon screen boot with the flags -v -x32

 

10. You SHOULD boot and get the whole flying through space "Welcome" thing, and then the setup wizard/registration which you can just cmd + q out of.

 

I got through all of that and to the desktop, but as I said, I don't have fully working GFX (sys profiler doesn't say anything about QE/CI), no sound, and no ethernet. I also have those two KPs which occur randomly a few minutes after using the computer.

I'm attempting to patch the DSDT with graphics, audio, and ethernet built in, but i'm having trouble finding the locations (ex. PCI 0, 1, 2, 3 etc) for the devices.. How do you use ioreg to figure this out?

I'm attempting to patch the DSDT with graphics, audio, and ethernet built in, but i'm having trouble finding the locations (ex. PCI 0, 1, 2, 3 etc) for the devices.. How do you use ioreg to figure this out?

hey mate, i have the exact same MB as you, could you please post all your files, please this would be a major help to me if you do :)

Hey there !

 

I've read that one beta was going to be the Golden Master, then another beta came out, and so on, so I don't trust anything about that matter...

 

So I'm waiting for SL to come out in stores, I don't want to waste time on a beta version, we have enough issues like that :) , I'll go buy SL at the next door apple store on the 28th... (my mom bought a macbook pro, few weeks ago, under my name to get the student rebate but I have the receipt, so I guess I can get myself the retail box for $10 :) )

 

just be patient ... most of us are just waiting for the true Final retail version...

 

meanwhile, you ,may boot with the flag:

debug=0x100

when it KP you'll get some info about what caused it...

Hmm thanks for that, I'll try it out after I see if my new GFX/Ethernet/Audio DSDT works. And yeah well I'm using 10a432 which I am pretty sure is the GM.

 

Anyone out there know how I can use ioreg correctly to figure out where my Ethernet card is on PCI POP or PEX or w/e?

 

I really need to figure this out so I can make my DSDT...

 

EDIT: I used the "Find" function with the whole log... I think it's at PCI0, but my GFX is also at PCI0? I'll try it anyway, but probably won't work.

 

Found this on another forum while searching with Google:

 

Note: if you don't rebuild caches and reboot immediately, you will experience various KPs. Depending on the version of SL you are running, you may need to completely disable Spotlight by moving all drives to the Privacy window. (If you get a "mdworker" KP, that's spotlight and that's a sign you need to disable it.)

 

So I was right, it has to do with the indexing process. I am going to try to boot up and disable spotlight, but first I figured I'd try to manually rebuild the kextcache in Single User mode.

Just a quick question; do I need a whole blank physical drive to install Snow on? Isn't it just possible to install it onto an empty partition?

 

If so, an explanation would be welcome too.

 

Thanks! :thumbsup_anim:

You can use a partition but just to simplify things I used a drive I happened to not be using for anything important at the moment.

 

To everyone though, the DSDT compiler (extensive windows one) didn't work... I had errors compiling and when I tried to force it it didn't work (for sound, ethernet, or gfx...) I might try manually sometime but at the moment I don't have time. If I posted my current dsdt could someone add the CMOS fix and strings for a nVidia Geforce 9800 GTX 512 mb, alc889a audio, and realtek 8111c lan?

Well I'm about to call this thread an epic fail, and end up waiting another month probably when people care about Snow, but if anyone has any other ideas as to what I can do...

 

My current state is:

 

[✓] I can boot

[✓] There are no kernel panics after a few minutes of usage, Spotlight indexing service was the culprit, and I believe spotlight works as long as you rebuild the kext cache when you first reboot (only have to do that once)

[✓] My monitors have all of the native resolutions supported, but System Profiler doesn't say anything about QE/CI, so not sure if it's working or not

[ ] No ethernet=no internet, whether I use Realtek1000 or not (even if it's in the DSDT)

[ ] No audio, even though it's in the DSDT and I have LegacyHDA.kext

[ ] No GFX hardware acceleration (I don't know how to check it if it's not shown in sys profiler, so not sure on this)

[ ] No extensive testing to see how stable it is, how high it benchmarks etc.

 

Well I have around 3-4 pages of calc homework to do and I'd like to get to bed before 12AM lol, so I'm going to go. If anyone has any ideas for what I can do to get ethernet/sound working, please post here or PM me (but preferably post so everyone can see and get help if they need). It would be awesome if we could sort this out by Friday's release, that way I could write a comprehensive guide for the GA EP45-UD3L/R/P series mobos with a handy little package containing all the files and kexts I used specifically for this motherboard ®.

 

I'm going to make 1 more futile attempt, I just manually compiled my own DSDT editing everything in TextEdit. If it works I'll let you all know tomorrow. Night

 

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!

 

I couldn't resist posting from SNOW LEOPARD because my ethernet now works : ) It is, however, very depressing that there's absolutely no sound : ( On the other hand, my menu bar is translucent, and you know what that usuallly means! (I hope so at least... I'll do some GFX benchmarking to figure it out...) I just have to make sure spotlight doesn't cause any KPs and get audio working and this might work out.

 

Hehe lol wanted to let you know that Spotlight has been indexing for a few minutes and it seems to be solid..

 

Only really weird thing is that System Profiler shows all the information about my audio device, including all the inputs/outputs etc, but under Preferences there's no input or output devices and I have no sound... K I'm going to sleep for real haha I'm dead tired.

To everyone though, the DSDT compiler (extensive windows one) didn't work... I had errors compiling and when I tried to force it it didn't work (for sound, ethernet, or gfx...) I might try manually sometime but at the moment I don't have time. If I posted my current dsdt could someone add the CMOS fix and strings for a nVidia Geforce 9800 GTX 512 mb, alc889a audio, and realtek 8111c lan?

 

 

@d00m42

You may go to ALC889A, Gigabyte.

There is a guide of how to patch DSDT. I collected from DSDT threads.

 

I also uploaded my EP45-UD3R dsdt.dsl as an example. Don't use my dsdt.dsl for your system, you need to build for your system.

EP45_UD3R_LAN_HDEF885.zip

 

Hope this will help you.

Thanks for the replies, but as I clearly mentioned, I DID patch the DSDT using one of the guides you just referenced in that link... In fact, my system profiler screen:

 

screenshot20090827at234.png

 

shows that my alc899a (885) is detected perfectly... I must just be using the wrong kext. @tmongkol, the thread you directed me to seems to have oodles of kexts for the alc889a, I just need to figure out which one to use. Do I use just LegacyHDA? Or AppleHDA + HDAEnabler? If you could let me know which kext combination to use I'd really appreciate it. Otherwise, I have perfectly working ethernet and sound card detection through the DSDT I mentioned that I manually compiled.

 

By the way, to everyone else who wants to know, sleep works 100% perfectly for me whether it's 20 minutes or 20 hours : ) My Logitech G15 is also working, even with the LCD screen and macro keys : D

 

I've been trying various LegacyHDA.kexts along with HDAEnabler, and so far all they do is remove all of those device details in system profiler making it look like this:

 

Intel High Definition Audio

 

Device ID: 0x1458A002

Audio ID: 885

Available Devices:

Thanks for the replies, but as I clearly mentioned, I DID patch the DSDT using one of the guides you just referenced in that link... In fact, my system profiler screen:

 

screenshot20090827at234.png

 

shows that my alc899a (885) is detected perfectly... I must just be using the wrong kext. @tmongkol, the thread you directed me to seems to have oodles of kexts for the alc889a, I just need to figure out which one to use. Do I use just LegacyHDA? Or AppleHDA + HDAEnabler? If you could let me know which kext combination to use I'd really appreciate it. Otherwise, I have perfectly working ethernet and sound card detection through the DSDT I mentioned that I manually compiled.

 

By the way, to everyone else who wants to know, sleep works 100% perfectly for me whether it's 20 minutes or 20 hours : ) My Logitech G15 is also working, even with the LCD screen and macro keys : D

 

I've been trying various LegacyHDA.kexts along with HDAEnabler, and so far all they do is remove all of those device details in system profiler making it look like this:

 

 

AC889a is a {censored} :(

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...t&p=1229762

 

follow that post, just remove the short HDEF device part, and add 889a.kext to E/E

(remove any other custom hda kexts, create a dsdt without sound fix, use it with vanilla applehda)

 

my SL success post

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=181863

UPDATE: Got it! Flawless graphics, ethernet, sound, and even sleep :( This {censored} is even more stable than Leopard so far... I'll have to load up some apps and run some benches. I assembled all the files I used, and will probably write a guide in the coming weeks when I have time.

UPDATE: Got it! Flawless graphics, ethernet, sound, and even sleep :( This {censored} is even more stable than Leopard so far... I'll have to load up some apps and run some benches. I assembled all the files I used, and will probably write a guide in the coming weeks when I have time.

 

I also had problems with random KP when using time machine, relating to mdworker, I tried to make the mkext again, so we'll see how it goes.

UPDATE: Got it! Flawless graphics, ethernet, sound, and even sleep :D This {censored} is even more stable than Leopard so far... I'll have to load up some apps and run some benches. I assembled all the files I used, and will probably write a guide in the coming weeks when I have time.

 

Congrats! Thanks for the pain and suffering for the benefit of the world! :-) My copy is coming tomorrow per FedEx (figured it'd be faster than even getting a torrent & finding a DL disk somewhere... :-))

 

-Dan

@Dan, I happen to be Dan too haha : )

 

Besides that, I enjoy conquering the challenge of early adopting! If anyone has any questions related to this board then post here and I'll try my best to help. I will write a guide soon, I just have so much homework right now I can't do much. I would order the disk but I don't think the $29 version can be used standalone on a blank drive, considering it's an UPGRADE disk. If it works for others I guess I will follow suit however.

 

@elitee, yeah just boot into SL, quickly add all your drives to the "Private" list under System Preferences > Spotlight then proceed to remake your kextcache. After it's done boot up with -v -x32 and make sure everything loads properly, then you can remove all your drives (that you want to be indexed) from the "Private" list in Spotlight. Check to see if it's indexing by clicking on the Spotlight icon in the top right corner of your screen (it will have a little dot inside the magnifying glass if it's indexing properly) and see if it KPs. If it runs without a KP for a good 2 minutes you should be a go.

That is a better solution (now knowing that a kextcache rebuild was the solution), but I just described what I did personally, because at first I wasn't sure what was causing the KP so I had to be booted into the system to explore exactly how to fix the issue without permanently disabling Spotlight.

 

But yes, single user mode kicks ass, it's saved me a bunch of times haha : )

Thanks for posting as you went along, I've been able to get my UD3R system ALMOST perfect after getting sound to work with the info in this thread.

 

I have culled kext's from the various Gigabyte threads in the forum, and have ended up with 6 kexts in my E/E folder: ALC889a, Disabler, fakesmc, OpenHaltRestart, PlatformUUID and SleepEnabler. After rebuilding the boot caches, my system boots up normally, sound, ethernet and video are all working great. My problem is that I need to use VMWare Fusion, and as is well known, it doesn't work when running with the 64bit kernel. What I'm seeing is that when I boot with -x32 at the Chameleon prompt, my system KPs immediately when booting, giving the Mac OS version not yet set version error.

 

After poking at this for a while now, I think I've managed to become more confused! Does anyone have any thoughts? Perhaps if I switch my kexts out to the ones that d00m42 is using will allow me to boot in 32bit?

You're my hero! :rolleyes:

 

I'm picking up SL tomorrow and was going to install on my Macbook. Now I know I can get my Hackintosh going as well!

 

I don't want to bother, but I hope you post a guide, files, etc. soon.

 

I can't wait to get this going & hope they release SL enhanced apps soon. Even my meager (these days)8GB, quad core @3.2ghz and 9800GT has gotta shred on apps that support GrandCentral & OpenCL.

Is the UD3R bios set up for AHCI, Raid or Disabled?

Some online OSX install guides state that AHCI is a necessity.

But some less expensive boards (such as the Biostar P35D2-A7: ICH9 non-Raid chipset) don't include the AHCI option.

Please include all non-default bios settings, when writing your "how to" guide.

Other posters even go so far as to flash a custom modified bios onto their motherboard.

But (evidently) you didn't go that route.

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