Lifehacker Guide with GA-EP45-UD3P Motherboard

[Superdaedra]

does anyone know what caused this? is it a bad kext; something apple changed? <looks around innocently>

[JeWeY]

My hardware:

UD3P

E8400

eVGA 9800GTX+

Samsung 40" LCD TV w/ a DVI to HDMI cable

 

My install:

used v2 package, updated to 10.6.2, rebooted to get the black screen

rebooted with a DVI to VGA cable, works fine.

 

Hopefully we can find a fix to this HDMI snag.

 

Thanks go out to Stell, Adam Pash, and the rest of the hackintosh community.

[iOSX86_iATKOS]

Might want to follow the link at the site below regarding Bonjour:

http://www.kexts.com/view/125-bonjour64:_a...4-bit_snow.html

 

Ahh... thanks for that. Sounds like it's not 100% and like you tried some of the same things I was trying. Glad it's not just me.

 

I used this ifconfig build (with the promiscuous switch enabled) while troubleshooting mine:

 

http://www.stanford.edu/~dub/macstuff/index.html

 

I was able to afp:// to machines although it didn't seem like the multicast traffic was coming through (which really just made them show up a little differently in sharing). And, of course, smb worked fine.

 

In the end I went with the GA311 since I really wanted iTunes to share to my media center mini.

 

All the Realtek supplied driver did was overwrite the Apple supplied one. Grrr...

[karmatose]

Is there a simple way to do this? I'd like to do so when I install as well.

 

Yes. Replace the graphic called boot in the /Extra/Theme/Original directory with the one from v1 or v2. You might have to fiddle with it further in the theme.plist if stuff doesn't appear correctly. I had to change the default resolution.

 

Ahh... thanks for that. Sounds like it's not 100% and like you tried some of the same things I was trying. Glad it's not just me.

 

In the end I went with the GA311 since I really wanted iTunes to share to my media center mini.

 

All the Realtek supplied driver did was overwrite the Apple supplied one. Grrr...

 

Yeah, looks like I'm gonna end up getting a PCI NIC. Hopefully this resolves itself in a future update. Either way, not too concerned.

[Nikomc0]

Have you built this system just for OSX? Or have you had Windows or other operating system running on this hardware?

 

Maybe you should do some stability test to make sure your hardwares are working properly first.

 

Hardware diagnostic/stability test first

than you'll know it maybe a software related issue and not some faulty hardware issue.

 

Why no install a trusty?? MS WINDOWS and do some stability test non stop for about 24 hours or so and report back. If you have not done so.

 

Enjoy.

 

Problem solved, turns out it was a faulty MOBO, once I installed the new one everything worked flawless. Can't really believe that I had this issue but oh well live and learn Neweggs return policy works flawlessly for just these instances. Thanks for the Forum

[Rx4Mac]

ps, EVERYONE responding to Stell that your rig is working;

 

Respond by also telling us if you use HDMI, and what type of monitor you have!

I want to build a list of working/non-working monitors so we can find the common thread of the problem.

 

I deleted the v2 installer /Extra folder and ran the v3 installer - The new /Extra folder was installed and I also verified that the boot file had been changed from the terminal. I then rebooted, repaired permissions and then installed the Combo 10.6.2 update. Worked clean. This was all done on my backup boot disk ( 750GB Seagate ) with my primary boot disk disconnected so that I could recover easily if there were 'issues'. I have a Samsung 2494HM monitor via DVI.

 

Would it help if I found a DVI to HDMI adapter and cable to test this via HDMI ? ( to add to the data ) or do you have this monitor already listed?

 

I may also need to revise my earlier statements that a 1.5TB Seagate would work as the sole drive... When I tried this procedure on that boot drive I get a boot0: error after the verifying DMI pool data... ( I may have gotten my earlier results because I still had a second drive attached and was getting the bootloader from there even if the OS was coming from the 1.5TB drive ) I will do more testing next Mon after my work week and post the results.

 

Thanks to Stellarola and all the people on this site!

[MacTech84]

Might want to follow the link at the site below regarding Bonjour:

http://www.kexts.com/view/125-bonjour64:_a...4-bit_snow.html

 

This seems to be a very interesting read, and from the looks of it, we have a 64 bit kext for the realtek drivers. I have used a bit of software from these guys before for my nForce board, and they know their schnit! Would love to see them produce a new iPC SL distro, but I have a feeling they are waiting on drivers and such. Once I get my packages in the mail today, I will start assembly and try this driver. Woohoo!

 

One quick question for anyone that might know. In regards to using a PCI-NIC, has anyone come across that stupid error in Time Machine where it says it cannot find the original ethernet port? I got this within 10.5 and had to turn on one port just so I could use time machine and run my backups.

[themerk]

One quick question for anyone that might know. In regards to using a PCI-NIC, has anyone come across that stupid error in Time Machine where it says it cannot find the original ethernet port? I got this within 10.5 and had to turn on one port just so I could use time machine and run my backups.

 

I'm using the TrendNet PIC NIC recommended in the Lifehacker guide, and am having no problems at all backing up with Time Machine to an SMB share on my Windows Home Server.

[MacTech84]

So I got my board, and I got my graphics card in the mail. and my full setup is as follows just so everyone knows...

 

MoBo - GA-EP45-UD3P

CPU - Core 2 Extreme QX6850(revG0,3.00GHz,1333FSB,L2:2X4MB)

Memory - OCZ SLI ready 8GB DDR2 800

Graphics - EVGA GTX 275 896MB

Network - Rosewill RC400 PCI gigabit adapter (works out of the box)

HD's - 3 Seagate 1.5 TB

- 1 Seagate 1.0 TB

- 1 WD 1.0 TB

Optical - Pioneer DVR-218LBK

PS - 1,000 Watt Zalman ZM-1000HP

 

And I would like everyone to know this...

 

COMPLETE SUCCESS!!! Upon Install, updating to 10.6.2, and successful recognition of my GTX 275, even in System Profiler!

I only have 2 quick question, I am finding it confusing how gigabyte labels their BIOS versions. I know that my board shipped with version FB, but on the site when I go to find the new BIOS, they are listed as F1, F2, F3, and so on. What does FB represent in regards to F1, F2, etc...? This is going to sound soo noob! but I typically don't like screwing with the bootloader. How do I change the Obey logo on startup? I feel so stoop-id now...

[codymac]

Might want to follow the link at the site below regarding Bonjour:

http://www.kexts.com/view/125-bonjour64:_a...4-bit_snow.html

 

Thanks. Running 32-bit here but promiscuous didn't solve it for me. It got things 1/2-way there with iTunes sharing but Remote still didn't work, etc.

 

One quick question for anyone that might know. In regards to using a PCI-NIC, has anyone come across that stupid error in Time Machine where it says it cannot find the original ethernet port? I got this within 10.5 and had to turn on one port just so I could use time machine and run my backups.

 

Are you getting that now? I get no errors on my UD3P (all three NICs enabled but I'm only using the PCI card) but vaguely remember initial issues with my Ultra 20 (which I'm using 10.5.8 Time Machine and a PCI NIC with now). Networking on the U20 was a nightmare though.

 

You can definitely work around a lot of Time Machine limitations though. For a long time, I was backing up my MacBook to an NTFS share on my XP desktop.

[MacTech84]

Are you getting that now? I get no errors on my UD3P (all three NICs enabled but I'm only using the PCI card) but vaguely remember initial issues with my Ultra 20 (which I'm using 10.5.8 Time Machine and a PCI NIC with now). Networking on the U20 was a nightmare though.

 

You can definitely work around a lot of Time Machine limitations though. For a long time, I was backing up my MacBook to an NTFS share on my XP desktop.

 

Luckily NO! lol, I was just wondering about this since there was that fault in 10.5. The thing that sucks now is that my Rosewill NIC just died, so I am going to have to get that netgear card at Best Buy tomorrow. Then I can have BONJOUR! And I have got to say I absolutely love Nvidia! that GTX 275 kicks something fierce!

 

Update and before I forget...

100% worked with the LifeHacker Guide, and the Installer from stellarolla, no problems at all from a clean/fresh install, and I have strayed away from the default config, just for a bit more horse power!

[Firestorm88]

So I got my board, and I got my graphics card in the mail. and my full setup is as follows just so everyone knows...

 

MoBo - GA-EP45-UD3P

CPU - Core 2 Extreme QX6850(revG0,3.00GHz,1333FSB,L2:2X4MB)

Memory - OCZ SLI ready 8GB DDR2 800

Graphics - EVGA GTX 275 896MB

Network - Rosewill RC400 PCI gigabit adapter (works out of the box)

HD's - 3 Seagate 1.5 TB

- 1 Seagate 1.0 TB

- 1 WD 1.0 TB

Optical - Pioneer DVR-218LBK

PS - 1,000 Watt Zalman ZM-1000HP

 

And I would like everyone to know this...

 

COMPLETE SUCCESS!!! Upon Install, updating to 10.6.2, and successful recognition of my GTX 275, even in System Profiler!

I only have 2 quick question, I am finding it confusing how gigabyte labels their BIOS versions. I know that my board shipped with version FB, but on the site when I go to find the new BIOS, they are listed as F1, F2, F3, and so on. What does FB represent in regards to F1, F2, etc...? This is going to sound soo noob! but I typically don't like screwing with the bootloader. How do I change the Obey logo on startup? I feel so stoop-id now...

Good to hear it was so simple =)

 

As for your firmware question, I was confused by the same thing. I found out that around the time I got my board, they came out with a new revision of the EP45-UD3P (1.6). Unlike 1.0 and 1.1, 1.6 uses FA, FB, etc. You're on the newest BIOS.

 

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherb...=3137#anchor_os

[MacTech84]

Good to hear it was so simple =)

 

As for your firmware question, I was confused by the same thing. I found out that around the time I got my board, they came out with a new revision of the EP45-UD3P (1.6). Unlike 1.0 and 1.1, 1.6 uses FA, FB, etc. You're on the newest BIOS.

 

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherb...=3137#anchor_os

 

Thanks, makes more sense now. And quick question to throw out there... I loaded up the program "32- or 64-bit Kernel Startup Mode Selector" to see if I was running in full 64 bit mode. The curiosity question since I know that the "EP45UD3P OSx86 v3" installer did list 64 bit load, of the four options that come up, I am showing, 64 Bit processor, 64 bit EFI, 32 bit kernel boot mode, and 64 bit kernel. Why am I showing the 32 bit kernel boot mode? and can that be changed to 64 bit? I don't want to screw something over that was easy, and just took the last 6 hours getting up and fully running from scratch...

[stellarola]

I find it funny everyone hates the obey boot logo. haha.

 

 

There are tons of chameleon themes available online, choose your poison.

[CoHPhasor]

I find it funny everyone hates the obey boot logo. haha.

 

 

There are tons of chameleon themes available online, choose your poison.

 

Honestly Stell? I'm ashamed to say I had NO idea what it was.

The irony is no longer lost on me, and I'm more than proud to rock the Giant. X-D

[karmatose]

I find it funny everyone hates the obey boot logo. haha.

 

It's not that I don't like it, and truthfully i find it rather humorous, I just prefer a smooth vanilla flavor. Even if it were just the Apple logo jazzed up a bit, I'd still change it back.

[Rx4Mac]

... And quick question to throw out there... I loaded up the program "32- or 64-bit Kernel Startup Mode Selector" to see if I was running in full 64 bit mode. The curiosity question since I know that the "EP45UD3P OSx86 v3" installer did list 64 bit load, of the four options that come up, I am showing, 64 Bit processor, 64 bit EFI, 32 bit kernel boot mode, and 64 bit kernel. Why am I showing the 32 bit kernel boot mode? and can that be changed to 64 bit? I don't want to screw something over that was easy, and just took the last 6 hours getting up and fully running from scratch...

 

If you are not using the -x32 kernel flag then you are running 64 bit. The place to look to see which kernel you are truly running is in the System Profiler under Software. ( Apple Menu/About this Mac/More Info.../Software )

 

I too originally thought that the "32- or 64-bit Kernel Startup Mode Selector" was working; but it is looking where the control is happening on a Mac, not on a Hackintosh.

 

If you want to use the 32 bit kernel then you must edit the file 'com.apple.Boot.plist' file in the /Extra folder on the drive that is set as the boot device ( in case you have more than 1 Mac OS drive )

 

change it to read:

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

<plist version="1.0">

<dict>

<key>EthernetBuiltIn</key>

<string>Yes</string>

<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>

<string>Yes</string>

<key>Kernel</key>

<string>mach_kernel</string>

<key>Kernel Flags</key>

<string>-x32</string>

<key>Timeout</key>

<string>5</string>

</dict>

</plist>

 

The ONLY change done to this file was the addition of the -x32 between <string> and </string> .

 

I used PlistEdit Pro to edit the file.

 

I hope this makes the mud more clear.

[MacTech84]

I find it funny everyone hates the obey boot logo. haha.

 

 

There are tons of chameleon themes available online, choose your poison.

 

I have to agree with everyone, its not that I don't like it at all, I did get the humor from the giant too, I just like my shiny Apple logo, lol. And by the way Stell, Thank you soo much for making it soo easy to use this board and setup. I have made a few hacks before that were just a mess to get going, but now I have a vanilla based machine and I am happy as can be!

 

If you are not using the -x32 kernel flag then you are running 64 bit. The place to look to see which kernel you are truly running is in the System Profiler under Software. ( Apple Menu/About this Mac/More Info.../Software )

 

I too originally thought that the "32- or 64-bit Kernel Startup Mode Selector" was working; but it is looking where the control is happening on a Mac, not on a Hackintosh.

 

If you want to use the 32 bit kernel then you must edit the file 'com.apple.Boot.plist' file in the /Extra folder on the drive that is set as the boot device ( in case you have more than 1 Mac OS drive )

 

change it to read:

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

<plist version="1.0">

<dict>

<key>EthernetBuiltIn</key>

<string>Yes</string>

<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>

<string>Yes</string>

<key>Kernel</key>

<string>mach_kernel</string>

<key>Kernel Flags</key>

<string>-x32</string>

<key>Timeout</key>

<string>5</string>

</dict>

</plist>

 

The ONLY change done to this file was the addition of the -x32 between <string> and </string> .

 

I used PlistEdit Pro to edit the file.

 

I hope this makes the mud more clear.

 

That is what I was thinking but just wanted to be sure. I use this on my MacBookPro and found it interesting that it came back with that result, but I do see that all extensions have loaded in 64 bit. That it what I was preferring to run so thank you.

[D-an-W]

SBMac, is your Graphics card DVI/DVI? I am struggling to find the GTX+ in the UK and yours looks like a better option, also does it work ok without any modding to Stells fine work (I had to edit the DSDT file in the halloween version)?

 

Would this be a good choice?

[dougthedude]

Does anyone know if a PNY 9400GT 1GIG video card would work OK?

[codymac]

Any suggestion how to get past this?

 

cugir - did you get this figured out? If not, I can probably walk you through it since I just did it. I have to have XP for some CAD stuff and have my system running XP off a second physical drive which is also usable in VMWare.

 

Short story:

drive 1 - GUID with OSX and Chameleon on one partition

drive 2 - MBR with Chameleon on an HFS+ 1st partition and XP on an NTFS 2nd partition

 

When I hose my boot config I just go into the BIOS and change the boot order to fix it. Drive 2 is primary boot since XP squawks if it isn't and I use Chameleon to pick the OS to boot and have it set to default to booting the OSX partition on drive 1.

 

I've been running Win 7 exclusively since the RC, so it's been a while since I've had to install XP. I do remember having to slipstream my hard drive controller's drivers into the XP install disc using nlite or AHCI wouldn't work. While you're at it, you might as well slipstream SP3 on to the disk and save yourself some time post install.

 

That only worked about 50% of the time for me. I had issues installing with slipstreamed AHCI drivers but then I was also installing XP off a USB thumb drive.

 

The real fun is when it won't boot AHCI since it doesn't have the drivers and the Intel installer won't install AHCI since the board isn't set to it. Fortunately the bare drivers are on Gigabyte's site.

 

Really wanted to post to ask if anyone has given any effort to getting the Gigabyte SATA controller to work. Barring that (bit of wishful thinking) I'd take recommendations for a SATA card that works OOB (RAID not needed).

[xxgg]

The real fun is when it won't boot AHCI since it doesn't have the drivers and the Intel installer won't install AHCI since the board isn't set to it. Fortunately the bare drivers are on Gigabyte's site.

 

Really wanted to post to ask if anyone has given any effort to getting the Gigabyte SATA controller to work. Barring that (bit of wishful thinking) I'd take recommendations for a SATA card that works OOB (RAID not needed).

 

I have OSX 10.6.2 w/ATi Radeon 4890 (i have transparency & DVD player doesn't error, whatever that means) installed to my eSATA HDD plugged into Gigabyte's SATA port AHCI mode.

All works fine for me & I haven't done anything different. Also, my BIOS isn't setup like lifehackers guide but setup to how I always had it, just HDD's are AHCI.

[codymac]

I have OSX 10.6.2 w/ATi Radeon 4890 (i have transparency & DVD player doesn't error, whatever that means) installed to my eSATA HDD plugged into Gigabyte's SATA port AHCI mode.

All works fine for me & I haven't done anything different. Also, my BIOS isn't setup like lifehackers guide but setup to how I always had it, just HDD's are AHCI.

 

Thanks... I just realized I had them disabled in the BIOS. DOH!

[MacTech84]

SBMac, is your Graphics card DVI/DVI? I am struggling to find the GTX+ in the UK and yours looks like a better option, also does it work ok without any modding to Stells fine work (I had to edit the DSDT file in the halloween version)?

 

Would this be a good choice?

 

As for that particular Gainward card, read below...

 

Since Stellarola updated the installer to PC EFI v10.5 (Thank you Netkas), the bootloader now detects the Nvidia card you are using beyond the 8 & 9 series of cards with support of the GT200 based cards. This does not require any kind of modification or special installers anymore.

 

Now keep this in mind, only the cards available as of when PC EFI v10.5 was released, are going to be supported. I know that Nvidia does have some others coming out that are revisions of the current GT200 die, mostly a shrink in die, but they also support DX11 (meaning a physical change in the GPU). They are the only ones of the GT200 series that will, I do not know the card identifications but as I am aware, all GTS 250/260/275/280/285 are supported. I think the GTX295 is recognized as 2 separate cards so its not worth that purchase. I am using the GTX275 simply because its the same chip as the GTX 280/285/295, 240 SP's and 32 Rop's, with the only difference being the memory size, and bit of the memory architecture (defined by the size of memory for Nvidia) and the price. Got mine on newegg for $230ish...

 

You can definitely say I know my graphics cards as I follow Nvidia closely, I am a die hard fan! Please do not take what I am saying as absolute for every install. The card I have is by EVGA and the reason for that is they stay close to the Nvidia reference designs. This means you will have better compatibility as some Nvidia partners can take a card reference design, and change it so it suits their needs and what they want for an end product. Typically XFX, EVGA, BFG (unless its very radical) and ZOTAC use the reference designs and can swap the cooler, or make a better one for the OC versions of the card.

 

Use at your discretion but as far as the V3 of the installer is concerned, it worked flawlessly off of a clean/fresh install with successful update to 10.6.2 with both DVI ports working on my dual Cinema Displays. Also, since my original Rosewill PCI NIC died, I installed a Netgear GA311 and it worked right out of the box. I disabled the onboard ports just to play it safe, and it has full Bonjour support!

[FLST2000]

Hello all,

Sorry I came into this thread a little late and have spent the majority of the evening reviewing all the posts.

 

I too followed the Lifehacker build to the letter except for memory. But I did find the same issue as well it is the DVI - HDMI is the problem.

 

Now for me I do not plan on upgrading to 10.6.2 as their are not that many changes that require it. Plus my build out is specified for a Media Center System. So it requires that it is connected to a HDMI device. But if a fix comes I might upgrade.

 

But this was and is still one of the best build out that I have found and very easy to setup. My Dell Mini too me longer then this and the power of the processors combined with the memory is as fast or faster that my Mac Pro..

 

But thanks for all the posts and I hope this helps..