Lifehacker Guide with GA-EP45-UD3P Motherboard

[huntington]

Buy a new board. Unfortunately, Newegg doesn't carry them anymore but I got mine from Amazon after mine somehow shorted. Actually, before you do that. Have you used a different SATA cable?

 

thanks, yeah, i think i knew that but i just needed to hear that from someone else. pretty annoying about gigabyte - i RMA'ed the mobo and i think they just sent the same one back to me and apparently did nothing. i really think that because the RAM & cpu passed all the tests i ran on them & the psu was brand new and because the build ran fine when it was running off the flash drive that it had something to do with the SATA ports/the mobo in general. ugh.

 

it just seems like if it works for a few hours and then KPs randomly then something is off on the mobo. i haven't been able to figure out how to get to the console log from terminal on the flash drive OS installer to see if i can get the KPs (not that i'm any good at dissecting them anyhow). but the 2 pics i posted of KPs didn't seem to offer much of an explanation (and they seemed to be different every time.

 

guess i'm starting from scratch again... too bad i didn't see stella's msg about not recommending GB mobo's until after i'd started having problems.... grr. 

[rallymatt]

That is high from the BIOS!

 

Mine idles at around 40degC when overclocked to 4.33GHz

 

Well, I have cleaned the old paste and reapplied with new paste and re-seated the cooler. I am now showing 43-44c in the Bios. My bios alarm of 60c goes off once or twice when running geekbench but it seems like it is running much cooler. I am somewhat afraid to let it run an 8 hour After Effects render though. I think I will buy a big cooler.

[bean5]

Well, I have cleaned the old paste and reapplied with new paste and re-seated the cooler. I am now showing 43-44c in the Bios. My bios alarm of 60c goes off once or twice when running geekbench but it seems like it is running much cooler. I am somewhat afraid to let it run an 8 hour After Effects render though. I think I will buy a big cooler.

 

that's a huge improvement though. Have you had any unexpected shutdowns or KP's since?

[rallymatt]

that's a huge improvement though. Have you had any unexpected shutdowns or KP's since?

 

No not yet. I have been taking it easy though. I am hitting the 60 degree alarm pretty frequently while moving around in Final Cut and Premiere, and constant on during renders.

 

I can only imagine the temps before while rendering since I was idling at 60+ in the bios. I am surprised my processor is still with us.

[CoHPhasor]

No not yet. I have been taking it easy though. I am hitting the 60 degree alarm pretty frequently while moving around in Final Cut and Premiere, and constant on during renders.

 

I can only imagine the temps before while rendering since I was idling at 60+ in the bios. I am surprised my processor is still with us.

 

Not to worry, you likely only shortened its lifespan. ;-)

 

Why not set your alarm for 70-75?

That's not too hot, hell it'd be like the case of a Macbook Pro. ;-p

[backinmac]

No not yet. I have been taking it easy though. I am hitting the 60 degree alarm pretty frequently while moving around in Final Cut and Premiere, and constant on during renders.

 

I can only imagine the temps before while rendering since I was idling at 60+ in the bios. I am surprised my processor is still with us.

Is it just your CPU that's hot? What's your system and HD temps? What's the room temperature? 40's is still hot for idling.

[bean5]

mine is idling in the 50's right now but my room is hot...might be time to turn the AC on. Any word on sleep charging? I would like to put my computer to sleep but still have it charge my iphone...anyone know if I can?

[thepretender]

Faster boot less kext, get your bios on

 

EP45-UD3P users you modded bios is here!

 

=========================================================================

BIGGEST STATUS UPDATE UNTIL TODAY!

11 NEW BIOS LAUNCHED AT ONCE!!!!

I WONT LIST THE BOARDS CAUSE ARE MANY, BUT NOW G1, G2, G4 & G5 ARE 0.7m FINAL

EXPECT FOR FURTHER UPDATES ON THESE BOARDS AND MORE BOARDS ADDED SOON!

NOW THIS PROJECT HANDLES 19 MOTHERBOARDS! THANKS ALL DEVS AND ALPHAS!!

NEW UNIFIED PDF FOR ALL BOARDS UPDATED TOO! G3 IS ON THE WAY!

=========================================================================

 

As always, all info and downloads can be found in http://cartri.net

 

Enjoy!

[rallymatt]

Is it just your CPU that's hot? What's your system and HD temps? What's the room temperature? 40's is still hot for idling.

 

System temp in the bios was in the high 30's.

 

Either way, I just installed a Coolermax 212 Hyper and it is now idling at 38C, which seems very nice.

 

Turned my alarm up to 70 and ran a 4 stream h.264 playback in Premiere which taxed the cores all to 100% according to istat without hitting my alarm. Much quieter too.

[fortune3k]

[bean5]

Faster boot less kext, get your bios on

 

EP45-UD3P users you modded bios is here!

 

=========================================================================

BIGGEST STATUS UPDATE UNTIL TODAY!

11 NEW BIOS LAUNCHED AT ONCE!!!!

I WONT LIST THE BOARDS CAUSE ARE MANY, BUT NOW G1, G2, G4 & G5 ARE 0.7m FINAL

EXPECT FOR FURTHER UPDATES ON THESE BOARDS AND MORE BOARDS ADDED SOON!

NOW THIS PROJECT HANDLES 19 MOTHERBOARDS! THANKS ALL DEVS AND ALPHAS!!

NEW UNIFIED PDF FOR ALL BOARDS UPDATED TOO! G3 IS ON THE WAY!

=========================================================================

 

As always, all info and downloads can be found in http://cartri.net

 

Enjoy!

I would definitely jump in...BUT, will I have to reinstall everything or will it be a simple bios update and I won't have to change {censored} on the SL drive?

[Georgiles]

I did update my system with Cartri's bios, I have UD3P 1.6 (see my signature)

 

Workes great and you can watch the video with my upgrade process below, in HD

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAEflPKkKc8

 

I had my system up with Lifehacker's Guide, V3 update. It was a straight forward Bios update. As long as you follow the steps exactly and print and read the PDF twice before you start, you are going to be fine. One thing, if you don't have time to watch the video, when booting without the DSDT file I lost my videocard and i had to reactivate it using OSX86TOOLS.

Faster boot less kext, get your bios on

 

EP45-UD3P users you modded bios is here!

 

=========================================================================

BIGGEST STATUS UPDATE UNTIL TODAY!

11 NEW BIOS LAUNCHED AT ONCE!!!!

I WONT LIST THE BOARDS CAUSE ARE MANY, BUT NOW G1, G2, G4 & G5 ARE 0.7m FINAL

EXPECT FOR FURTHER UPDATES ON THESE BOARDS AND MORE BOARDS ADDED SOON!

NOW THIS PROJECT HANDLES 19 MOTHERBOARDS! THANKS ALL DEVS AND ALPHAS!!

NEW UNIFIED PDF FOR ALL BOARDS UPDATED TOO! G3 IS ON THE WAY!

=========================================================================

 

As always, all info and downloads can be found in http://cartri.net

 

Enjoy!

 

 

right

 

I fixed it. Thank you. I don't understand how I posted a different link all together.

[bean5]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAEflPKkKc8

 

I assume that's your video. Other link doesn't work.

[thepretender]

Great video. It's that easy, next version of his bios will be able to use graphics enabler in Chameleon 2 RC4 so you won't have to put string in plist. The video leaves out the fact that you can remove some kext that aren't needed any longer.

 

1. Flash bios

2. put video string in com.apple.boot.plist

3. Trash DSDT.aml and extensions.mkext in Extra

4. Put the 2 needed kext in E/E , fakesmc.kext and LegacyHDA.kext

5. It,s recommended you upgrade Chameleon 2 RC3 to Chameleon 2 RC4

6. Your done.

 

You may have need for other kext leave them in or put them back, one to make the drive icons not orange and one to enable speed step are examples.

 

I have the two mentioned above and only 2 others Realtek1000SL.kext for onboard nic and JMicronATA.kext for IDE support in S/L/E. thats it.

[CW-Xzal]

I'm running the exact configuration aside from a different network card (connects fine) and I'm running a Sparkle 9800 GTX+ 512MB graphics card.

 

The installation with the guide went off without a hitch. I currently have 1 thumb drive with the original installation and 1 thumb drive with the 10.6.2 update install on it.

 

10.6 works great. My card was identified as generic so I installed NVEnabler.kext and it picks my card up now. Also, I had some issues with my mouse overs with my logitech wireless but simply unplugging and plugging it back in fixes the issue. Now that I know it's the mouse I'll just go buy a new one.

 

My issue is this: UPDATING!

 

I have only tried doing the "Software Upgrade" option from SL, by the way. My display is a 25" HDMI and VGA compatible display. When I tried updating to 10.6.2 and now 10.6.3 I can hear my software starting up like normal and it seems to boot fine. As soon as I see the blue screen when SL is starting up it then goes black and my monitor says "No Video Input. Please Check Video Cable." I've tried HDMI to HDMI on my monitor. Same thing. DVI to HDMI on my display. Same thing. I read on a comment that somebody else was having this issue on another site and I hear that it's because of the lack of HDMI support in the updates. Is this true? Is there a way around this? I'm also running in 64 bit mode, by the way. I don't even know how to boot in 32 at this point or if it would even help.

 

Please, if anybody has any ideas or has had the same issues, let me know. Other than that, the guide worked perfectly for me. The start to finish guide and the no hacking guide. Both worked for me.

 

cwiley@speculardesign.net is the best way to contact me. I need the update for work. I really must get this figured out. Thank you!

[Georgiles]

Dude, I mean CW-Xzal,

 

Seems like at fault is that NVEnabler. Either boot from DVD/USB and invoke terminal from installation setup and repair permissions from disk utility.

If not then instead of NVEnabler.kext use osx86tools and inject your graphic card. Watch the video above and you will see how I did it.

And by the way, my card was recognized automatically by the version 3 Streolla update (see my signature). I needed no kext for graphic card.

But I have 9800GTX+.

 

Let me know.

[Georgiles]

@CW-Xzal First this is a Hackintosh, so in a sense there will be always worries and problems, does not matter how stable you might think your system is, so be prepared to Google a lot and read from others experiences.

As a disclaimer, I'm not an expert/coder/programmer, none. Just a simple user trying to help you.

I used some kind of graphic kext as well with my 9800GTX+ when I had the v1 Stereolla but with the new v3 the card is just recognized. Before I build a system or buy a part I always Google HCL 10.6 and choose usually a board or a card that was tested by smarter people and reported as working. Most of the time the guide is posted along and I read that too and I make sure that is simple to follow and I understand at least the concept before buying that exact hardware.

 

My update to 10.6.3 just worked. Now you can either clone your working partition on another HDD using Carbon Copy Cloner or just update and if something goes wrong you install again over, without formatting so you won't loose any information.

My card is XFX 9800GTX+, just works. One of my buddies has eVGA 9800GTX+, same deal. Both 512. Buy the evGA, here is reported working.

 

I'm using 2 x DVI dual screen monitors and just worked.

OSX86Tools is the best to use if it works for you.

SHIFT + Command + 4 i use to grab screenshots and it works. Check in System Preferences to see if it looks like this:

'

Otherwise I have no clue.

After the update it should just work. I did not do anything extra.

 

It is your decision to update the Bios. Mine was for as I like as vanilla as possibile. The cartri Bios does a lot if you ask me. read the PDF atached from page 9 forward:

Congratulations!

  You now have a system that does not depends of DSDT patching!

 

Remember, this is for my ver. 1.6 board: GA-EP45-UD3P v1.6

Make sure you get the right one for your board.

I just hope you get a brake.

[CW-Xzal]

Thank you for the reply. I've been running on 10.6 for a couple months without the NVEnabler.kext. Just a couple days ago I went in to look at my graphics card in the system profiler and noticed it wasn't showing up right so I downloaded the NVEnabler and it got it right. All update attempts have been prior to the enabler kext.

 

I just got done installing Stella's V3 update to my secondary thumb drive and just booted into it. Seems to be working fine. Haven't tried updating on it yet. I watched the YouTube video on the whole cantri bios update. Would this be necessary for the 6.3 update? Or fix my video problem?

 

I've noticed that all reports with the 9800 GTX+ have been good and out of the box situations mostly. It's hard to find compatibility lists for 6.3 and especially for Sparkle brand 9800 GTX+ cards that are 512 and not 1GB.

 

Everything goes great, I just can't get video to show. I don't have a DVI to DVI cord or I'd try my smaller DVI monitor and see if that would really fix the issue like others have suggested, but even then, I want to get it to run on my larger HDMI monitor. How is yours set up?

 

I'm running Kext Utility right now to repair permissions. I'm going to try deleting the NVEnabler.kext from s/l/e. I have osx86 tools. What do you suggest I inject with? I'm responding from email, I need to watch your video still.

 

Thank you for the reply. Greatly appreciated.

 

Update:I used osx86tools and did what you did in the video. I booted and everything seems fine. My profiler is just saying

NVIDIA Graphics Engine and the ROM Revision is NVIDIA Graphics Engine DSDT. On thing that's different all of a sudden is that I can't use grab or take screenshots. It either won't save or with grab it just shows up as white and no image, otherwise I'd send a shot of my stuff.

 

So, with this string applied and having my usb installed with stella's updated installer should I be good to go on the 10.6.3 update? After I download the combo update (done) do I install, then before reboot do I need to do anything? Re-apply the string with osx86tools? Or just reboot and it should work? Do you run DVI to DVI? Does DVI to HDMI work for you?

 

What does the cantri flash do for me? Is it worth it? I don't have a spare external at the moment...

 

Sorry for all the questions. I love this machine, but the issues really need to be worked out quickly. I don't have money for much more of this {censored}, you know? And I must get back to work. This update is important.

 

[Georgiles]

Deleting Extensions.mkext got me to a non-booting system. Took me half an hour to remember booting with -s flag and mount the drives writable. was lucky that I archived as extensions.mkext.zip in the same folder and all I had to do was to use unzip command.

However, I did not install fakesmc.kext nor LegacyHDA.kext and that was probably the cause of my problem.

I stated in the video to delete the unnecessary kexts specified in Cartri's PDF. I wasn't so clear though.

Anyway, my question is:

Do I need fakesmc.kext when I already have the AppleDecrypt.kext in the Extensions folder on the EFI partition?

See the contents of the Extensions folder on the EFI partition below:

 

Cartri states in the PDF that I don't, once I have AppleDecrypt.kext.

To be honest with you I have no idea if even the AppleDecrypt is accesed by this Lifehacker instalation.

How did Lifehacker did it, or how Stereolla script works is unknown.

And, LegacyHDA? Why do I need this when my sound is already working? Is working using Extensions.mkext?

Then would make sense.

 

I will be waiting for an answer before installing these 2 kexts and delete again the Extensions.mkext because I will use osx86tools to install the two kexts and I want to make sure I will have no conflicts with some other kexts on the EFI partition.

 

 

 

 

For some weird reason I can't mount the EFI partition in OSX anymore, I get error 13 LOL so I used ubuntu to screen capture:

 

My Extra folder on main drive:

Great video. It's that easy, next version of his bios will be able to use graphics enabler in Chameleon 2 RC4 so you won't have to put string in plist. The video leaves out the fact that you can remove some kext that aren't needed any longer.

 

1. Flash bios

2. put video string in com.apple.boot.plist

3. Trash DSDT.aml and extensions.mkext in Extra

4. Put the 2 needed kext in E/E , fakesmc.kext and LegacyHDA.kext

5. It,s recommended you upgrade Chameleon 2 RC3 to Chameleon 2 RC4

6. Your done.

 

You may have need for other kext leave them in or put them back, one to make the drive icons not orange and one to enable speed step are examples.

 

I have the two mentioned above and only 2 others Realtek1000SL.kext for onboard nic and JMicronATA.kext for IDE support in S/L/E. thats it.

[CW-Xzal]

I'm running v1.6, like yourself. Everything is perfectly fine. And I know this is a hackintosh and research would be required with each update and so on. But I'm still stuck in 10.6 when it seems the updates are working but with no picture. I've been researching this issue every night for 2 months. I've contemplated buying a new card, but if it's the display, like many have suggested then I'm wasting my money, which I don't really have. I've been reading forums and researching from other people's experiences for years and have never felt compelled to post anywhere... until now. This is how dire the situation is for me. And it seems like it should be a simple solution. And I'm faced with the reality that I may need to buy a new piece of hardware. The question is: which one? Video card or Display?

 

Now, Georgiles, when I install the V3 installer to a thumb drive and then boot off of it, is that all I must do? Do I have to reinstall SL off of it or something? I assumed booting was enough and have never tried to reinstall.

 

Also, to go from V1 to V3, to make sure I did this right, can I just open the thumb drive and delete the Extra folder then run the package on it and we're good? I see the theme change when I boot off of it, but that doesn't necessarily mean everything is kosher...

 

Also, when you updated you BIOS were you booting off of your HDD? I've never successfully gotten SL to boot off of my HDD. I just put the thumb drive in the back of my computer and forget about it even being there. Should I be able to run the V3 package on my SL drive, restart and it boots off of it?

[thepretender]

Georgiles,

 

fakesmc.kext and AppleDecrypt.kext are both doing same job use the one that works best for you. The fakesmc.kext that Cartri supplies is known and tested to work with the bios.

 

Yes with Stel's V.3 package LegacyHDA.kext and fakesmc.kext are both in extentions.mkext along with Disabler.kext, IOAHCIBlockStorageInjector.kext, LegacyATI4800Controller.kext,LegacyJMB36xSATA.kext and OpenHaltRestart.kext. In /Extra

 

If fakesmc.kext and LegacyHDA.kext are both in /Extra/Extentions you shouldn't need extentions.mkext with Cartri's bios these are the only kexts you need the other 5 in Stel's extentions.mkext are no longer needed.

 

If you followed Stel's guide and used his package you wound up with partition with chameleon and your OS on it containing /Extra. Extra containing com.apple.Boot.plist, DSDT.aml, Extnsions.mkext and smbios.plist and a Thems folder with the Chameleon theme. You installing the OS (Snow Leopard) and the V3 package installing Chameleon and creating the Extra folder and its contents and setting the proper permissions. Stel's package dose not create a /Extra/Extensions folder as he put all the kext files in Extensions.mkext

 

Looks to me if you created a Extensions foler inside Extra on you main drive and put fakesmc.kext and LegacyHDA.kext from Carti's site then deleted DSDT.aml and Extensions.mkext from /Extra you would be fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CW-Xal,

Moving to V3 on thumb, yes just delete /Extra and V3 installer on the thumb drive and continue booting off that if you like the only noticeable difference is as you see the boot theme has changed.

What you don't see is the changes inside extensions.mkext that Stel made.

 

If you want to boot off the main drive instead of the usb thumb drive just point the V3 installer at that drive and install then set the bios to boot from that drive and that's all you have to do. Except remove the thumb drive

 

There is a problem with HDMI and updating to 10.6.2 and 10.6.3 using the Lifehacker install. About 40 pages back there is a discussion of these problems and maybe the solution you are looking for. That is if you don't fall asleep or go blind while reading all those pages looking

[Georgiles]

fakesmc.kext and AppleDecrypt.kext are both doing same job use the one that works best for you. The fakesmc.kext that Cartri supplies is known and tested to work with the bios.

I definitely want to use fakesmc.kext as is synced with cartri's bios. Would not make any sense the other file.

 

Yes with Stel's V.3 package LegacyHDA.kext and fakesmc.kext are both in extentions.mkext along with Disabler.kext, IOAHCIBlockStorageInjector.kext, LegacyATI4800Controller.kext,LegacyJMB36xSATA.kext and OpenHaltRestart.kext. In /Extra

If fakesmc.kext and LegacyHDA.kext are both in /Extra/Extentions you shouldn't need extentions.mkext with Cartri's bios these are the only kexts you need, the other 5 in Stel's extentions.mkext are no longer needed.

This is an awesome information. Now it makes sense. I was looking at extensions.mkext as a simple file when is more like a content folder. Nice.

 

If you followed Stel's guide and used his package you wound up with partition with chameleon and your OS on it containing /Extra. Extra containing com.apple.Boot.plist, DSDT.aml, Extnsions.mkext and smbios.plist and a Thems folder with the Chameleon theme. You installing the OS (Snow Leopard) and the V3 package installing Chameleon and creating the Extra folder and its contents and setting the proper permissions. Stel's package dose not create a /Extra/Extensions folder as he put all the kext files in Extensions.mkext

Right. Well, I upgraded with this board from a BadAxe2 just recently. If Sella nor Lifehacker created that hidden EFI partition, it means is a left over from my old BuildSmart's BadAxe2 installation. Because to be honest with you, I was looking on that EFI partition and I found a file talking about my old board and I was wandering: "What the hel is this doing here?" Now that EFI partition could be even on a different drive than my current Lifehacker/Stella drive.

Are you 100% sure Lifehacker/Stela install does not access at all a separate hidden EFI partition? 1000%?

 

Looks to me if you created a Extensions foler inside Extra on your main drive, and put fakesmc.kext and LegacyHDA.kext from Carti's site in it. Then delete DSDT.aml and Extensions.mkext from /Extra and you would be fine.

WORKED! SUPERB! If you would be here and a female I would give you a kiss. THANK YOU!

This is how my Extra folder on the main drive looks like now:

---

There are 2 questions I would like to ask in addition, as you are so knowledgeable.

Here you can see screencaptures BEFORE and AFTER Cartri's MacBios:

 

1. Where the 2 x JMicron SATA ports dissapeared? Cartri eat them?

 

2. Why is my processor is showing now 2.2Ghz when is supose to show 2.4Ghz? Some bios setting?

[CoHPhasor]

mine is idling in the 50's right now but my room is hot...might be time to turn the AC on. Any word on sleep charging? I would like to put my computer to sleep but still have it charge my iphone...anyone know if I can?

 

Not even my 15" MBP does that.

Don't expect it to. Use the wall wart, or a powered USB hub.

It's not a charging station.

[Georgiles]

I'm running v1.6, like yourself. Everything is perfectly fine. And I kn......?

 

First of all with the booting from the USB problem. You did exactly what my friend did. Because you have a 1.5 Tb drive you either installed Snow on it as a single partition and you have an old Chameleon bootloader that won't boot on partitions bigger that 1Tb. Or you split your drive in two pieces, exactly what my friend did, and he was still in need of the USB boot dongle even with the V3 update.

While he was skype sharing his screen with me and I was trying to change that ugly face that appears at the boot (located in main drive/Extra/Themes) with a nice Apple icon, BEFORE and AFTER:

I observed that his entire Extra folder from his MAIN DRIVE was missing. So I told him to copy the Extra folder from the USB to his Main Drive, unplug the USB, set up his main drive as FIRST to boot in Bios and voila, it worked for him. I used a 750Gb HDD and I did not had that problem.

Note that he already had V3 installed.

 

Before he had V1 and I told him to install V3 over. Well, that f.... up his entire system and he had to create again a USB install disk using V3, reinstall the Snow Leopard, Migrate all his stuff .... took me two days to get him back in business.

So installing the V3 over V1 just like that, is not a good idea. Here you should ask guys like "The Pretender" who actually know what they are talking about. I'm just a GUIDE user. Hope this helps. Cheers!

[CoHPhasor]

Why doesn't HDMI work?

 

Sorry for the paraphrase, your post was long.

The answer:

I don't know.

 

Starting with 10.6.2 The window server fails on startup when connected from DVI > HDMI.

No clue why, but Stell and I tested it remotely pretty long one night.

Basically the comp is running, I can ssh to it or do screen sharing, but the window server doesn't allow me to interact with the machine. It literally goes haywire and tachs up the CPU.

 

Some have suggested this is monitor specific, as others here use HDMI no problem.

Hell, Stella didn't believe til I let him login. (because his works)

 

Need it to work, RIGHT NOW? Hook it up to DVI or VGA.

Wish it weren't this way, hell, I'm still stuck on VGA. (Can't even use my HDTV)

I have the build GPU btw.

 

ps, Graphics support was greatly improved with v3, run it.