Install Guide for Snow Leopard on a P6T (non deluxe)

[Searay_X]

thanks for ur guide.

have a working 10.6.1 right now

 

 

I am VERY happy to hear it

 

 

I am glad I could be helpful. Please don't forget to vote on the poll...

 

Regards,

 

Ryan

[Khodi]

I have been trying on my P7P55D i7 System, I searched every where on this forum and i just can't find any info on my board or chipset. Any suggestion?

 

The problem is i cant even boot, chameleon starts okay, during the mac booting logo, the system just restarts.

I also tried EFI "No luck same story"

 

Please help

[brue]

Searay_X:

 

Everything is working flawless now.

• Using your SL_v3 unmodified image
  
• Adding right strings to NVDAResman.kext
  
• Inserting my gfx EFI String into /Extra/com.apple.Boot.plist AND INTO /L/P/S/com.apple.Boot.plist (w/o this step NVResman gives a Kernel Panic)
  

 

Thank you very much for your tutorial and your help!

[Searay_X]

I have been trying on my P7P55D i7 System, I searched every where on this forum and i just can't find any info on my board or chipset. Any suggestion?

 

The problem is i cant even boot, chameleon starts okay, during the mac booting logo, the system just restarts.

I also tried EFI "No luck same story"

 

Please help

 

Here is what you have to do - this guide will work (as in the methods used) but you have completely different hardware - You can use some of the kxts included but you will need specific sound, a DSDT.aml and possibly others which will require you do do some homework.

 

I would search for someone that has your board functioning with SL, grab their KEXT files and DSDT, Give them tom me, and I will build you an EFI stick that will work - then you can follow the rest of this guide regarding the install process, restoring the EFI.dmg and so on.

 

Once again, this guide will work for other boards but is designed for us P6T users regarding the core system files I included on the EFI_v3.dmg and BIOS setup.

 

Do some goggling, fid the files, get them to me and I'll be happy to help you.

 

By the way - the P6T uses an LGA 1366 and yours is a LGA 1156 with a P55 ( a new mid-line, lower cost mainstream Intel platform) - - there is some differences in the way the board works in conjunction with the PCIe and SATA - It is probably going to be a challenge to find the files necessary at this moment...

 

The X58 setup, with reliance on the northbridge and separate storage controller..

 

 

 

 

The P55 setup, with the storage controller integrated onto the northbridge and PCI-E controller moved onto the CPU die.

 

 

 

 

On a personal note, I will most likely NEVER go to that format unless there are some significant overall performance improvements in the future as I build only high-end machines and I am not convinced the 1156 Processor line currently offers what I am looking for such as tri-channel memory and a host of other features (hence my personal machine boasting a GTX285 Mac Edition GFX card, I7 975 Extreme and 12GB of VIPER PC 3 16000 (2000 MHz) memory running hardware RAID 0 with an ESATA mirror.

 

 

Respectfully,

 

Ryan

[Searay_X]

NOTE About the POLL.

 

I cant help but notice that there are a few people stating the guide did NOT work for them. I have to reiterate that this giude is for the P6T! if you do not have a standard P6T and you are posting that this didn't work, please DON'T. It can mislead others.

 

If you DO have a standard P6T and are having issues, PM me or post your issues so I and other experienced users can help you...

 

Read before you post something that may not be correct. I sell Mac clones as a side business and I have built 7 machines of all different specs using this method - It is in my opinion bulletproof.

 

Thanks - Ryan

[sapper]

Getting through to install now, but, recieving a kernel panic after a couple minutes. Log says something about picture cache and missing volumes. Took a look at the SL disk my buddy lent me and it says upgrade disc on it. Not sure this is the full install disc. Now waiting for "Golden Master" to download. I will give it a go with the new image when it's finished.

 

Sapper

Hey Searay,

I tried the new guide and files. Everything went fine till the actual install. It checked the disc and started extracting packages. Shortly after the printer packages it crashes. No kernel panic, no install fail messages, it just shuts itself off like I pulled a plug or something. I have tried with multiple images all from a retail disc with the same results. Any ideas?

 

Thanks,

Sapper

[Lamneth]

Thanks to Searay_X!! Success!!

 

After countless (seriously) failed attempts during the last two weeks,

and with many twists and turns along the way, I have finally gotten

Snow Leopard loaded onto my my machine.

 

First I installed Leopard onto an external USB Drive, and then booted into it.

While running Leo, I used the retail OS X 10.6 Install DVD to install Snow to my HD.

I'm not sure why there was no kernel panic this way, but I'm damn sure I don't care.

 

Now I am able to dual-boot OS X & Windows 7 using the awesome EFI "Magic Stick".

 

I still have some issues to resolve: Disk Utility is freezing/not responding, no Audio,

the DVD Drive is not being recognized, and the Internal HD is showing up as an External drive.

I also have to get my ATI Radeon HD 3650 Video card to work, or find a Snow friendly replacement.

[Searay_X]

Thanks to Searay_X!! Success!!

 

After countless (seriously) failed attempts during the last two weeks,

and with many twists and turns along the way, I have finally gotten

Snow Leopard loaded onto my my machine.

 

First I installed Leopard onto an external USB Drive, and then booted into it.

While running Leo, I used the retail OS X 10.6 Install DVD to install Snow to my HD.

I'm not sure why there was no kernel panic this way, but I'm damn sure I don't care.

 

Now I am able to dual-boot OS X & Windows 7 using the awesome EFI "Magic Stick".

 

I still have some issues to resolve: Disk Utility is freezing/not responding, no Audio,

the DVD Drive is not being recognized, and the Internal HD is showing up as an External drive.

I also have to get my ATI Radeon HD 3650 Video card to work, or find a Snow friendly replacement.

 

 

Have you downloaded the latest update? At the bottom of the guide there is a zip file that has a new boot file and new audio drivers. You also need to enable owners on the EFI drive - see the guide and let me know if that helps.

 

 

Regards,

 

Ryan

 

Hey Searay,

I tried the new guide and files. Everything went fine till the actual install. It checked the disc and started extracting packages. Shortly after the printer packages it crashes. No kernel panic, no install fail messages, it just shuts itself off like I pulled a plug or something. I have tried with multiple images all from a retail disc with the same results. Any ideas?

 

Thanks,

Sapper

 

 

I am not sure if everyone know this but I build Mac clones as a side business - I only bring this up because I have access to a TON of top of the line hardware. With that being said, SL is picky with some things like memory and bios settings. THe biggest thing is no overclocking - this includes the XMP profile.

 

I would try option 1 and see what gives. If you are trying 1, I had problems with option 1 doing exactly the same thing!

 

Now I use my method on the EX58-UD5 (with different kexts of course) and the P6T. and my success rate at this point is 100%. Every machine I put together works great now - I guess I just have the right combo of external media/memory I use and video cards that make it easy on me.

 

Like I said. If one fails try the other and so on.

 

Let me know what method your trying - if you doing method 2 I have a way you can use 1 HDD yet still use option 1 and recover the space used to install 10.5.x on a separate partition to install SL

[neonized]

Thanks for the 64bit sound kext

[brue]

Hey Searay,

I tried the new guide and files. Everything went fine till the actual install. It checked the disc and started extracting packages. Shortly after the printer packages it crashes. No kernel panic, no install fail messages, it just shuts itself off like I pulled a plug or something. I have tried with multiple images all from a retail disc with the same results. Any ideas?

 

Thanks,

Sapper

 

It could be an IRQ conflict problem. Try the alternative DSDT. I had this problem too. I solved it (before using the new DSDT) BY installing a second time W/O erasing the previous files of the failing installation.

 

The irq conflict can be recognized by:

• Slow accesing time to non SATA0 drives
  
• The message: "SERIAL ATAPI: device reconfiguration did not complete succesfully"
  
• Random hangs & kernel panics (claiming FINDER or some AHCI/IDE kext to be the problem)
  

 

 

The credits of the DSDT patching go to The King.

[Searay_X]

It could be an IRQ conflict problem. Try the alternative DSDT. I had this problem too. I solved it (before using the new DSDT) BY installing a second time W/O erasing the previous files of the failing installation.

 

The irq conflict can be recognized by:

• Slow accesing time to non SATA0 drives
  
• The message: "SERIAL ATAPI: device reconfiguration did not complete succesfully"
  
• Random hangs & kernel panics (claiming FINDER or some AHCI/IDE kext to be the problem)
  

 

 

The credits of the DSDT patching go to The King.

 

 

Brue is correct - if you refer to my guide, I updated the EFI_v3 post to include his and mine - also, there is an update attached to the bottom of the guide with brue's DSDT

 

Thanks for the 64bit sound kext

 

 

Half the credit is owed to brue - my original 2 worked either 62 or 34 but not automatically...

[Searay_X]

UPDATE: Bonjour FIXED!!!

 

 

 

 

See the guide to download the new IONetworking - I have only tested it in 64bit but there is no reason it wouldn't work in 32 that I can think of...

[sapper]

It could be an IRQ conflict problem. Try the alternative DSDT. I had this problem too. I solved it (before using the new DSDT) BY installing a second time W/O erasing the previous files of the failing installation.

 

The irq conflict can be recognized by:

• Slow accesing time to non SATA0 drives
  
• The message: "SERIAL ATAPI: device reconfiguration did not complete succesfully"
  
• Random hangs & kernel panics (claiming FINDER or some AHCI/IDE kext to be the problem)
  

 

 

The credits of the DSDT patching go to The King.

 

SUCCESS!

 

Thanks searay,

Everything up and running. Seems to be good and stable.

 

Much Appreciated,

Sapper

[sapper]

SUCCESS!

 

Thanks searay,

Everything up and running. Seems to be good and stable.

 

Much Appreciated,

Sapper

Okay,

 

Stupid question time. How exactly do I change the name of my EFI?

 

Thanks,

Sapper

[Searay_X]

Okay,

 

Stupid question time. How exactly do I change the name of my EFI?

 

Thanks,

Sapper

 

 

 

Seriously - there are no stupid questions - If you don't know, you don't know.

 

All you have to do is in Finder, on the desktop, right click EFI, select "Get Info" and expand the section that shows the name and put a "." in front of it (no quotes of course). Also, while your in there, you should uncheck the "Ignore ownership on this volume" at the bottom. See my guide about that... This fixes some buggy behavior that can happen to some setups.

 

 

You can also do it in terminal.

 

You can;

 

(if owners are NOT enabled)

 

cd /Volumes

mv EFI .EFI

 

(if owners are enabled)

 

cd /Volumes

sudo mv EFI .EFI

 

If you log in as su in terminal - (see the guide as to how to do this and why I do things this way)

 

cd /Volumes

mv EFI .EFI

 

 

thats it - it will then disappear from the desktop unless you use the show hidden files program that is attached to my guide.

 

A note about enabling owners - you will have to use terminal as su or with sudo commands to make changes or delete and replace files you want to change in Finder on certain folders/files and it will prompt you for your password. Otherwise it will state you can't overwrite the item. If you want backups if your making changes, you simply make a directory on your EFI drive root and copy any files you want to backupto that new backup directory before replacing them with updated versions should you wish to make changes.

 

You don't have to enable ownership if your not having issues but I would (even though it makes for a bit of extra work in making changes to the EFI drive)...

 

Easy enough.

 

 

Regards,

 

Ryan (aka - Searay)

[sapper]

Seriously - there are no stupid questions - If you don't know, you don't know.

 

All you have to do is in Finder, on the desktop, right click EFI, select "Get Info" and expand the section that shows the name and put a "." in front of it (no quotes of course). Also, while your in there, you should uncheck the "Ignore ownership on this volume" at the bottom. See my guide about that... This fixes some buggy behavior that can happen to some setups.

 

 

You can also do it in terminal.

 

You can;

 

(if owners are NOT enabled)

 

cd /Volumes

mv EFI .EFI

 

(if owners are enabled)

 

cd /Volumes

sudo mv EFI .EFI

 

If you log in as su in terminal - (see the guide as to how to do this and why I do things this way)

 

cd /Volumes

mv EFI .EFI

 

 

thats it - it will then disappear from the desktop unless you use the show hidden files program that is attached to my guide.

 

A note about enabling owners - you will have to use terminal as su or with sudo commands to make changes or delete and replace files you want to change in Finder on certain folders/files and it will prompt you for your password. Otherwise it will state you can't overwrite the item. If you want backups if your making changes, you simply make a directory on your EFI drive root and copy any files you want to backupto that new backup directory before replacing them with updated versions should you wish to make changes.

 

You don't have to enable ownership if your not having issues but I would (even though it makes for a bit of extra work in making changes to the EFI drive)...

 

Easy enough.

 

 

Regards,

 

Ryan (aka - Searay)

 

Hey Searay,

 

Thanks for the terminal commands. Definitely does not work from finder, or any other utility I could find. I've got a couple other issues I'm still working on (slow second drive, slow network sharing, no temp sensors). But all in all, I've got a good stable install so far.

 

Thanks for all the help,

Sapper

[Searay_X]

Hey Searay,

 

Thanks for the terminal commands. Definitely does not work from finder, or any other utility I could find. I've got a couple other issues I'm still working on (slow second drive, slow network sharing, no temp sensors). But all in all, I've got a good stable install so far.

 

Thanks for all the help,

Sapper

 

 

pm me with an email address... I have a fix I want you to try

[bamf]

This tutorial worked very well for me. Searay is helping me with my video issue, but after that I'm golden. Now to get my dual boot into Windows 7 working...

 

I do have to say that this setup is a wee bit faster than my Hackintosh Netbook (Dell Mini 9).

 

Thanks again Searay.

 

Bamf

[bamf]

Another thing I think should be noted is that you need to have your hard drives plugged into the JMicron controlled SATA port(s) and not the ICH/10 ports. I lost a bit of time messing with that the first time through, but now that I'm using the correct SATA port it's smooth sailing.

 

Searay also pointed out that you can use the RAID functionality of the JMicron controller - so I'm reinstalling in Super Speed mode now.

[sapper]

pm me with an email address... I have a fix I want you to try

 

Thanks yet again Searay,

 

Everything is one hundred percent now! If ya ever make it north of the border gimme a shout I'll buy you a beer or three.

 

Very much appreciated,

Sapper

 

EDIT

 

I should say 99.9% No matter what I do, EFI just won't change to .EFI. Terminal, get info, countless utilities. Get info tells me the file naming is reserved for the system, Terminal and the other utilities I used go through the motions but don't actually change it. I must be missing something obvious. I'll figure it out.

 

ReEdit

 

you have to change it with your hidden app running

[Searay_X]

Another thing I think should be noted is that you need to have your hard drives plugged into the JMicron controlled SATA port(s) and not the ICH/10 ports. I lost a bit of time messing with that the first time through, but now that I'm using the correct SATA port it's smooth sailing.

 

Searay also pointed out that you can use the RAID functionality of the JMicron controller - so I'm reinstalling in Super Speed mode now.

 

 

A quick correction - WIth the updated DSDT.aml (thanks to bure) and boot file from the attachements on at the bottom of the guide, you can use any port you like.

 

You can (need to) also get rid of the Kernel flags in the com.apple.Boot.plist (except SMBIOSdefaults=no - that is the only one you keep).

 

And yes, Super Speed DOES work - I am using it now while on the machine I am posting from

 

The big thing is to make siure your BIOS setup is correct under the drives section.

 

YOu need to make sure that your Magic Stick is the only boot device but before you do that, you need to set your drive order.

 

Drive 1. Your Magic Stick

Drive 2. P0 Drive - I assume your SL install

Drive 3. Windows - If you have a windows drive.

 

Then you go back to boot order and set device 1 to your Magic Stick and device 2 to disabled.

 

Once again! Make sure your get the latest boot file and the DSDT.aml from the attachemnt "DSDT_kext_bootFor64Bit.zip" from the guide and again delete the flags after SMBIOSdefaults=no - be sure to leave the SMBIOSdefaults=no!!!

 

I am rebuilding the EFI_v3 to reflect the changes and IONETworkingFamily will be installed.

 

Another note - since we are now all 64 bit, you must build your Extensions.mkext under SL and have permissions enabled by doing vsdbutil -a /Volumes/EFI/ in terminal - You will need to be su or put sudo in fromt of that command. Then in finder you MUST right click the EFI, select Get Info and uncheck "Ignore ownership on this volume"...

[bamf]

Searay-

 

I'm having an odd issue, but it may be partly of my making...

 

First off - I have to boot into 32bit for now b/c I need to run VMWare Fusion - and they don't have the 64 bit version out yet.

 

Now the issue:

 

My networking seems to be a bit flaky. It runs for 5-10 minutes it seems (this is while I've got Fusion running), and then it craps out. I've also noticed that Bonjour works mostly, but not completely (I can't always connect to other Macs in the Shared section, can't always Screen Share, etc.).

 

Any thoughts on what I'm doing? Should I just go grab a fully supported NIC and throw it in the machine?

 

Thanks,

 

Bamf

 

Update:

 

It looks like the issue may be with "bridged" networking in VMWare Fusion. I've had a VM up now for 15 minutes or so, but I'm using NAT for the VM this time. I'll keep playing with it to see what happens.

[Searay_X]

Searay-

 

I'm having an odd issue, but it may be partly of my making...

 

First off - I have to boot into 32bit for now b/c I need to run VMWare Fusion - and they don't have the 64 bit version out yet.

 

Now the issue:

 

My networking seems to be a bit flaky. It runs for 5-10 minutes it seems (this is while I've got Fusion running), and then it craps out. I've also noticed that Bonjour works mostly, but not completely (I can't always connect to other Macs in the Shared section, can't always Screen Share, etc.).

 

Any thoughts on what I'm doing? Should I just go grab a fully supported NIC and throw it in the machine?

 

Thanks,

 

Bamf

 

Update:

 

It looks like the issue may be with "bridged" networking in VMWare Fusion. I've had a VM up now for 15 minutes or so, but I'm using NAT for the VM this time. I'll keep playing with it to see what happens.

 

There is a known issue with VM Fusion - I noticed some slight issues with bonjour as well but not to the degree your having. I do believe it's the bridge. I still have 2 nics in my personal machine - I noticed that anything with the chip I listed in my guide works OOB flawlessly (you can and should keep the IONetworkingFamily for the time being).

 

I am working on an additional DSDT patch or possibly putting the OB card in promiscuous mode via script on the EFI MagicStick (that will autoload within the kext).

 

In the meantime, If you want, get the PCI Netgear card I mentioned with the RTL8139D or the PCI Trendnet (about $9.00USD) with the RTL8169SC as they both work OOB - You do need an EFI string if you want it to show as "built-in" in the /L/P/SC/NetworkInterfaces.plist - Doesn't matter if you have the OB card still enabled though even if its not connected.

 

Regards,

 

Ryan

[bamf]

There is a known issue with VM Fusion - I noticed some slight issues with bonjour as well but not to the degree your having. I do believe it's the bridge. I still have 2 nics in my personal machine - I noticed that anything with the chip I listed in my guide works OOB flawlessly (you can and should keep the IONetworkingFamily for the time being).

 

I am working on an additional DSDT patch or possibly putting the OB card in promiscuous mode via script on the EFI MagicStick (that will autoload within the kext).

 

In the meantime, If you want, get the PCI Netgear card I mentioned with the RTL8139D or the PCI Trendnet (about $9.00USD) with the RTL8169SC as they both work OOB - You do need an EFI string if you want it to show as "built-in" in the /L/P/SC/NetworkInterfaces.plist - Doesn't matter if you have the OB card still enabled though even if its not connected.

 

Regards,

 

Ryan

I'll grab the TrendNet card at Frys either this weekend or on Monday. I figured that would be the easiest thing to do. Thanks again...

 

Also, Fusion seems to be working ok with the VM using NAT mode - not so easy to get back to my Windows VM though...

[awol]

Searay_X

i manage to restore EFI

but when i restore snow leopard, it say it need to scan. when i scan the image, it say invalid argument

so i try to restart snow leopard using leopard, success

but when i try to boot snow leopard (using EFI then the installer)

the installer stuck at the screen where i should select install language

it just grey screen with mouse cursor and the language select still didnt pop out

i wait around 20 minute, still blank.

i use the same image to install snow leopard using other method and it works, which mean the image is not corrupt.

i want to use your efi method as it did use any patch on the installation.

btw,can u include ps2 support on ur efi? im using ps2 keyboard n mouse as i use my usb port for other purpose.