Lifehacker Guide with GA-EP45-UD3P Motherboard

[MacWannaBe]

that's the thing...I couldn't even get to the point where I could install xp. I went into the bios first, set it to boot from disc first, nothing happened/ stopped at verifying dmi pool. Restarted and pressed f12 so I could select the dvd drive myself, nothing happened/stopped at verifying dmi pool. My sata setup is this: dvd drive and SL hard drive on the purple connectors, time machine and two extra hard drives on the yellow connectors.

 

Guys we've discussed this before. Windows XP doesn't have drivers for AHCI. I think maybe SP3 added it. So, you will not be able to easily install this. Just install windows 7.

 

-Ed

[scrambler_455]

Please help me with this FAQ. I don't know the answer to some of the questions, but I see them come up a lot.

If there have been other common questions that have been resolved, please post or pm me the question and answer and I will update the list. I am going to add it to the first post as a reference so that this massive thread can be easily summarized.

 

Pretty soon anyone who's read the entire thread will have a phd in lifehackintoshology. I for one would rather use my computer instead of read this insanely long thread.

 

FAQ:

 

Q I can boot off my thumb-drive, but not my hard-drive.

A You ran the installer on your thumb-drive, thats why it boots. After you install snow leopard on your hard drive, you need to run the installer on it too. That should make it bootable.

 

Q How do I make the on-board Ethernet work (bonjour)?

A

 

Q What bluetooth model will work flawlessy?

A

 

Question: How to install windows xp or win7 on a seperate drive?

Answer:

1. disconnect your sl drive

2. Set your new drive as boot priority.

3. Install windows xp sp3 (sp2 or below doesn't have AHCI support) or win7

4. Shut down and reconnect SL drive.

5. Set SL as boot priority.

6. Select your operating system via the chameleon loader.

 

 

 

Things to be aware of:

 

1. Some reports of fried motherboards/power supplies when connecting mac towers in target mode. Doesn't seem to happen with 4-pin firewire cables. Inconclusive evidence, so beware.

[Jason C Allen]

Hey guys! This is my first post on here, but I'd like to thank you all for the wealth of information that's on this site regarding getting OSX 10.6.2 to run smoothly on 3rd party hardware!

 

Since I'm a n00b, and this is the most documented/tested/simple Hackintosh build, I'm sticking to the Lifehacker Guide (1st revision, with manual Terminal work) for my build. I just ordered the parts from newegg...

 

I picked up:

# GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

# Intel Core 2 Quad 3.0GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor

# GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16

# Pioneer CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model

# 10/ 100/ 1000/ 2000Mbps PCI Copper Gigabit Network Adapter

### EA500PSU - 500W Power Supply (same as the one in the LifeHack build, but without that lame case)

### Coolermaster ATX tower that I've had for ~5 years

### two orders of G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) totalling 8GB

### Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" HDD

### SIIG 3 Ports FireWire 800 PCIe Card Model NN-FW0012-S1

 

# denotes same parts as in the Lifehacker Guide

### denotes deviation from the Lifehacker Hackintosh Guide (Motherboard, Processor, and GPU are the same though)

 

I'm prepping the USB boot device some time this week, and hopefully I will have the hardware in time for this weekend so that I can get Snowleopard, Final Cut Pro, and Aperture 3 loaded, up, and running!

 

If this system works out, I'll be building an i7 or i9 build later this year on my own. Wish me luck!!

[scrambler_455]

Wish me luck!!

 

good luck.

[MacWannaBe]

Hey guys! This is my first post on here, but I'd like to thank you all for the wealth of information that's on this site regarding getting OSX 10.6.2 to run smoothly on 3rd party hardware!

 

Since I'm a n00b, and this is the most documented/tested/simple Hackintosh build, I'm sticking to the Lifehacker Guide (1st revision, with manual Terminal work) for my build. I just ordered the parts from newegg...

 

I picked up:

# GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

# Intel Core 2 Quad 3.0GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor

# GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16

# Pioneer CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model

# 10/ 100/ 1000/ 2000Mbps PCI Copper Gigabit Network Adapter

### EA500PSU - 500W Power Supply (same as the one in the LifeHack build, but without that lame case)

### Coolermaster ATX tower that I've had for ~5 years

### two orders of G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) totalling 8GB

### Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" HDD

### SIIG 3 Ports FireWire 800 PCIe Card Model NN-FW0012-S1

 

# denotes same parts as in the Lifehacker Guide

### denotes deviation from the Lifehacker Hackintosh Guide (Motherboard, Processor, and GPU are the same though)

 

I'm prepping the USB boot device some time this week, and hopefully I will have the hardware in time for this weekend so that I can get Snowleopard, Final Cut Pro, and Aperture 3 loaded, up, and running!

 

If this system works out, I'll be building an i7 or i9 build later this year on my own. Wish me luck!!

 

You should have no issues. I run all the SW you mentioned every day. I'm curious to see how the firewire card works out for you.

 

-Ed

[thepretender]

Q How do I make the on-board Ethernet work (bonjour)?

A

 

To get the onboard nic working with bonjour there are two options. A Realtek1000SL kext by Bit Shoveler from this forum or the Promiscuous mode fix "Bonjour64" both described and linked to in this

blog post by weaksauce12.

 

board won't let me link outside so google weaksauce12 bonjour fix first response will take you there.

 

 

 

[CoHPhasor]

Since I'm a n00b, and this is the most documented/tested/simple Hackintosh build, I'm sticking to the Lifehacker Guide (1st revision, with manual Terminal work) for my build.

 

Although the terminal method "works" it is not suggested.

It is not only easier to use the "no hack" method, the v3 installer allows CPU

identification, which silverlight needs if you wish to use Netflix, and allows for better Video card support.

[CoHPhasor]

Please help me with this FAQ. I don't know the answer to some of the questions, but I see them come up a lot.

If there have been other common questions that have been resolved, please post or pm me the question and answer and I will update the list. I am going to add it to the first post as a reference so that this massive thread can be easily summarized.

 

That is a fantastic idea whose time came long ago.

Unfortunately I've never taken the time to articulate it in a useful manner.

 

You mention recommended bluetooth hardware.

That's hard because outside of the LH build list, and the list of compat hardware Stella

points to on his blog that info has to come from the OSx86 community forum at large.

 

The command-line method is fine, as is the v1 pointed to on LH but v3 should be the recommendation.

v3 allows for CPU and GPU identification, allowing Silverlight (Netflix) installation,

as well as support for a much wider array of graphics cards.

(Pointing out that the outdated v2 installer will trash installs of 10.6.2)

 

SBMac is the one I believe can give the best idea on compatible video cards for those stepping away from the 9800 GTX+.

 

Multi-boot should be a foot-note, basically outlining the build's inherent problem of

XP's lack of AHCI support (Semi-supported only by SP3) and pointing out the install one-hd-at-a-time method and that the OSx86 community has a wealth of info on other details.

 

Point out that some monitors have trouble connecting via HDMI in 10.6.2, even with the build parts.

(Black screen at boot, the machine runs but cannot launch the window manager session and has to be manually shutdown. Covered in detail in the thread)

Only solution is to switch to VGA, DVI, or get a different monitor.

 

You already mentioned the Firewire issue, and the theoretical fix is to use a 4-pin firewire cable as it does not carry power, but I don't know of anyone who's attempted it.

 

Oh, and point out that if all else fails, and they have an error message? GOOGLE it! lol

[bean5]

this happened to me today: I tried to install windows 7 with the hardware outlined by LH. When the system was starting up, I hit f12 to choose the dvd drive. It would start to continue the boot, and then after verifying dmi pool, this came up: cdboot: couldn't find bootmngr ...or some {censored}. So I googled it and supposedly it's something to do with the dvd drive not being compatible or being faulty...so fortunately for me, I have an external dvd drive. Put the disc in there and tried again and what do you know, the windows started to boot up. So, my question is this: is the dvd drive just a crappy drive that couldn't read it (don't see why not...) or do I have a defective drive that I need to return?

[CoHPhasor]

this happened to me today: I tried to install windows 7 with the hardware outlined by LH. When the system was starting up, I hit f12 to choose the dvd drive. It would start to continue the boot, and then after verifying dmi pool, this came up: cdboot: couldn't find bootmngr ...or some {censored}. So I googled it and supposedly it's something to do with the dvd drive not being compatible or being faulty...so fortunately for me, I have an external dvd drive. Put the disc in there and tried again and what do you know, the windows started to boot up. So, my question is this: is the dvd drive just a crappy drive that couldn't read it (don't see why not...) or do I have a defective drive that I need to return?

 

As long as you have the drive from the LH build, the other options are:

Do I have a bad cable?

and

Do I have a bad port?

[bean5]

We'll, I'm returning it tomorrow. If I have the same problem with the new drive, I'll try a different cable. If I still have the problem, I'll try a different port. Hope it's not the port...don't want to get another sata cable either so I hope it's not the cable.

[Jason C Allen]

You should have no issues. I run all the SW you mentioned every day. I'm curious to see how the firewire card works out for you.

 

-Ed

 

SWEET! That's what I like to hear! (Especially considering I spent about $1k on this project! lol)

 

Although the terminal method "works" it is not suggested.

It is not only easier to use the "no hack" method, the v3 installer allows CPU

identification, which silverlight needs if you wish to use Netflix, and allows for better Video card support.

 

Good call on the Silverlight issue. I love me some Netflix! Looks like I'll go with the v3 installer.

 

Side note: I love Newegg. I placed my order at 4 PM yesterday, and I got box #1 of 3 this morning... with standard 3-day shipping! <3 Newegg.

[tastic]

I have a LH "vanilla" build running 10.6.2, the only deviation being that I am running it with three internal hard drives, one for the system, one for data, and one to backup the data. I recently found an on external USB/SATA drive that I have re-purposed for Time Machine.

 

In so doing, I noticed that my system would not correctly wake after overnight hours (it seemed to come out of normal "sleep" ok, but I assume when it's off for a longer period something more is occurring) with the external USB/SATA drive plugged in. I would get the login screen, put in my password, and it would hang - not even a spinning beach ball of death. I would then reboot by holding the power key and it would hang during boot. By turning off the external USB/SATA drive before rebooting, it boots normally, and also comes out of overnight sleep with no issues. Disk utility says all my hard drives are fine, so I assume it is some issue with having an external drive plugged in (TM or not, I am unsure, but I have not run into this with any other external flash drives that I have left in overnight).

 

TL;DR - External USB Time Machine drives cause problems in overnight sleep and boot. Power them off, or put them inside the case (which is what I am planning to do).

[scrambler_455]

To get the onboard nic working with bonjour there are two options. A Realtek1000SL kext by Bit Shoveler from this forum or the Promiscuous mode fix "Bonjour64" both described and linked to in this

blog post by weaksauce12.

 

board won't let me link outside so google weaksauce12 bonjour fix first response will take you there.

 

Ok I updated the FAQ. Guys, please help with more info.... I'm going to post this to the first message once all the questions are answered.

 

FAQ:

 

Q I can boot off my thumb-drive, but not my hard-drive.

A You ran the installer on your thumb-drive, thats why it boots. After you install snow leopard on your hard drive, you need to run the installer on it too. That should make it bootable.

 

Q How do I make the on-board Ethernet work (bonjour)?

A Install the patch made by weaksauce. To find it, google this: finally-64-bit-r1000-kext-for-snow-released

 

This should make the onboard nic's work!

 

 

Q What bluetooth model will work flawlessy?

A

 

Question: How to install windows xp or win7 on a seperate drive?

Answer:

1. disconnect your sl drive

2. Set your new drive as boot priority.

3. Install windows xp sp3 (sp2 or below doesn't have AHCI support) or win7

4. Shut down and reconnect SL drive.

5. Set SL as boot priority.

6. Select your operating system via the chameleon loader.

 

Question: I'm having trouble waking from sleep. Are there any known issues about sleep mode?

Answer: Waking from sleep is problematic. It is best to disable sleep mode.

 

Things to be aware of:

 

1. Some reports of fried motherboards/power supplies when connecting mac towers in target mode. Doesn't seem to happen with 4-pin firewire cables. Inconclusive evidence, so beware.

[bean5]

just fyi, I installed the patch by weaksauce and while it did fix the bonjour problem, istats doesn't seem to work correctly with it. When I'm downloading something, the upload/download on istat reports nothing close to what the real speed is or nothing when my download speed is way above 100kb/s.

 

edit:

switched the dvd drive to a different port and it seemed to be working...so, I'm down a port. Kind of a bummer.

[leppy700m]

Ok I updated the FAQ. Guys, please help with more info.... I'm going to post this to the first message once all the questions are answered.

 

Are most people finding it necessary to be on bios version FB?

[Rx4Mac]

Ok I updated the FAQ. Guys, please help with more info.... I'm going to post this to the first message once all the questions are answered.

 

FAQ:

 

Q How do I make the on-board Ethernet work (bonjour)?

A Install the patch made by weaksauce. To find it, google this: finally-64-bit-r1000-kext-for-snow-released

 

This should make the onboard nic's work!

 

I think that keeping the option of the $10 Gigabit Network Adapter is worthwhile. That way the system builder can choose between adding a hardware solution or a software soln. The question should be (IMHO) "How do I get Ethernet with bonjour working"

 

The hardware method decreases the software complexities; which was the whole purpose of using very specific hardware in this build project ( fewer variables ).

 

Thanks for working on the FAQ!

[bean5]

if I installed the weaksauce ethernet solution thing, how would I go about removing it?

[thepretender]

if I installed the weaksauce ethernet solution thing, how would I go about removing it?

 

Do the opposite of the install delete the bonjour64 folder in applications and remove bonjou64 from the login items preference.

[bean5]

yeah, the thing is what I used didn't install anything in the applications folder... I googled "finally-64-bit-r1000-kext-for-snow-released" and the first link sent me to a kext installer. So, I guess I need to know how to remove this kext and go back to what I got from the stella blog.

 

edit: nevermind, I think I figured it out. Let me know if I did something wrong: I had time machine running, so I basically went back to before I installed the r1000sl whatever kext that I got from the weaksauce12 guy, and restored the extension folder to that time. Rebooted and PCI network card seems to be working fine again.

[thepretender]

yeah, the thing is what I used didn't install anything in the applications folder... I googled "finally-64-bit-r1000-kext-for-snow-released" and the first link sent me to a kext installer. So, I guess I need to know how to remove this kext and go back to what I got from the stella blog.

 

edit: nevermind, I think I figured it out. Let me know if I did something wrong: I had time machine running, so I basically went back to before I installed the r1000sl whatever kext that I got from the weaksauce12 guy, and restored the extension folder to that time. Rebooted and PCI network card seems to be working fine again.

 

Others have said the fix to the card not connecting at full speed if this happens is to go into preferences and set the speed to manually to 1000baseT instead of auto-detect. Might want to give it a try with the kext. Or just use the PCI card recommended in the guide and leave your worries behind.

[CoHPhasor]

Are most people finding it necessary to be on bios version FB?

 

Good point leppy.

It should indeed be pointed out in the original post that the newest BIOS rev is bad for our purposes.

Leave the board on "FB" version, and if it is newer than that to downgrade.

There have been several cases of it causing problems.

 

scrambler, your bluetooth question, I believe, is going unanswered.

The compatible hardware list Stella pushed out on his blog lacked that:

 

Webcams

 

• Dynex DX-WEB1C 1.3MP (Fixed Focus Cam and mic built-in)
  
• Xbox 360 Live Camera (Manually adjustable Cam only)
  
• Logitech Quickcam Vision Pro for Mac (Autofocus cam and mic built-in)
  
• HP KQ246AA (Autofocus cam and mic built-in)
  

Wired Ethernet Cards

 

• Netgear GA-311 (PCI)
  
• Trendnet Gigabit TEG-PCITXR (PCI)
  
• Rosewill RC-400 (PCI)
  
• Encore ENLGA-1320 (PCI)
  
• SMC9452TX-1 (PCI)
  
• Sonnet Presto Gigabit GE1000-E (PCI-e)
  

Wireless “Airport” Cards

 

• Asus WL-138G V2 (PCI)
  
• Dynex DX-BGDTC (PCI)
  
• Dell Wireless 1505 (PCI-e)
  

USB Audio

 

• SYBA SD-CM-UAUD
  
• SYBA SD-CM-UAUD71
  
• M-Audio Jamlab
  
• Griffin iMic
  

 

That being said, the OSx86 community has plenty of action on the vanilla SL hardware scene.

Equipment that has native SL support should work fine.

[naluvs01]

Hey guys I'm still having problems with my pci slots. I have the 1.6 rev MoBo and everything works great. Both of my LAN ports work and pci-e cards as well (whether or not it supports bonjour or not I don't know, but that is not important to me right now). However, I have installed two audio dsp card by universal audio (UAD-1) and they don't show up in the system profiler. The two LAN ports show as pci slot 2 and 3

 

Do I need to downgrade the bios? Any help would be greatly appreciated and then I can say my system is %100 vs %99.9. Also, this was my first computer I ever built and it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Thank God for OSx86, insanely Mac, Adam @lifeHacker, Stell and all you guys for sharing your invaluable knowledge.

[leppy700m]

Hey guys I'm still having problems with my pci slots. I have the 1.6 rev MoBo and everything works great. Both of my LAN ports work and pci-e cards as well (whether or not it supports bonjour or not I don't know, but that is not important to me right now). However, I have installed two audio dsp card by universal audio (UAD-1) and they don't show up in the system profiler. The two LAN ports show as pci slot 2 and 3

 

Do I need to downgrade the bios? Any help would be greatly appreciated and then I can say my system is %100 vs %99.9. Also, this was my first computer I ever built and it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Thank God for OSx86, insanely Mac, Adam @lifeHacker, Stell and all you guys for sharing your invaluable knowledge.

You didn't say - have you installed the appropriate software to support these devices on OS X 10.6.x with the kernel type you are running? Even with a Mac, stuff doesn't just auto-magically appear in profiler if there is no soft support - and with third party devices it is often up to the user to add that soft support by installing software. I doubt this is a bios issue - rather an issue of a device not natively supported - native meaning without additional software other than what is included with a base OS X install. Since these are third party devices, it's highly unlikely you've got native support.

 

 

Proposed FAQ Item:

 

Q: I installed my hardware widget, but it doesn't work and doesn't show up in profiler. (Substitute word widget for ANY hardware being added - including alternate video cards, sound devices, mousetraps and thingamajigs)

 

A: Only devices natively supported in OS X will work without additional software. It is up to the user to make sure that each hardware device added to any machine on any OS is supported in the target environment and understand that 3rd party vendor support does not mean automatic support in that environment. Often, software has to be installed to support third party devices (for OS X not 100% compatible with apple- supplied devices) or custom solutions developed. While it's possible that someone else has installed this widget successfully, instead of asking such a question in a forum not specifically supporting your widget, it's usually best form to Google up some info about your widget and OS X - something like "widget 1000 snow leopard" or heading off to a forum specifically about your widget, if available.

[CoHPhasor]

Q: I installed my hardware widget, but it doesn't work and doesn't show up in profiler. (Substitute word widget for ANY hardware being added - including alternate video cards, sound devices, mousetraps and thingamajigs)

 

A: Only devices natively supported in OS X will work without additional software. It is up to the user to make sure that each hardware device added to any machine on any OS is supported in the target environment and understand that 3rd party vendor support does not mean automatic support in that environment. Often, software has to be installed to support third party devices (for OS X not 100% compatible with apple- supplied devices) or custom solutions developed. While it's possible that someone else has installed this widget successfully, instead of asking such a question in a forum not specifically supporting your widget, it's usually best form to Google up some info about your widget and OS X - something like "widget 1000 snow leopard" or heading off to a forum specifically about your widget, if available.

 

Leppy,... I ever tell you I love you?