Lifehacker Guide with GA-EP45-UD3P Motherboard

[mn07]

I have a UD3P v1.6 with Cartri .8 and Stell's V3. I use the Trendnet PCI ethernet card with the 2 onboard ethernet ports turned off. I have only three kexts in my /Extra/Extensions folder they are: fakesmc.kext, LegacyHDA.kext and IOAHCIBlockStorageInjector.kext.

 

Here's my com.apple.Boot.plist:

	 <?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>Graphics Mode</key>
	  <string>1920x1200x32</string>
	  <key>Kernel</key>
	  <string>mach_kernel</string>
	  <key>Kernel Flags</key>
	  <string></string>
	  <key>Timeout</key>
	  <string>5</string>
  </dict>
  </plist>

 

I noticed from one of your earlier posts that your ethernet PCI card is the recommended Lifehacker NIC card, maybe you have some damaged stock Apple kexts in your /System/Library/Extensions folder. Note the first key and string in my comm.apple.Boot.plist file. I hope this helps.

 

Charles

 

Thank you Charles. The main difference between our systems is the BIOS configuration. How is Cartri working for you? I am debating changing over to that setup soon, hopefully that could solve my problem. Any advice on doing that? I've never Q-flashed my BIOS before. Also, I'll check my Apple kexts later tonight. Thank you!

[RocketLynx]

Thank you Charles. The main difference between our systems is the BIOS configuration. How is Cartri working for you? I am debating changing over to that setup soon, hopefully that could solve my problem. Any advice on doing that? I've never Q-flashed my BIOS before. Also, I'll check my Apple kexts later tonight. Thank you!

 

My Cartri BIOS is doing it's job well. I just followed the instructions and it went as stated, then I used the Installation package included and installed the Chameleon packaged with my v0.8 BIOS download.

[mn07]

My Cartri BIOS is doing it's job well. I just followed the instructions and it went as stated, then I used the Installation package included and installed the Chameleon packaged with my v0.8 BIOS download.

 

my plist matched yours (at least about the ethernet part). So my next task is going to be installing Cartri BIOS on my machine. Will let you know what happens.

[JTG78]

my plist matched yours (at least about the ethernet part). So my next task is going to be installing Cartri BIOS on my machine. Will let you know what happens.

 

One thing you might try is the Realtek1000.kext (I think that's the right one.) It's not supposed to be necessary with the Lifehacker setup, but if for some reason or another something's not working right, it may allow your computer to recognize the card.

[mn07]

One thing you might try is the Realtek1000.kext (I think that's the right one.) It's not supposed to be necessary with the Lifehacker setup, but if for some reason or another something's not working right, it may allow your computer to recognize the card.

 

I got it to work!! All that I had to do was reinstall the system with the card already inserted into the Motherboard. Before I had bought the card AFTER I did the install and thus it didn't work. Somehow during the setup something else must have been done once the installer recognized an ethernet card in the PCI port and installed some vanilla kext that allows it to work.

 

Now, for some reason though, when I switch resolutions to the highest possible, my screen goes blue and doesn't go back to the new resolution. I am not sure what to do, but I am too excited that I have internet to really care just now.

 

Any ideas though on this new issue? (thanks also to everyone for their help)

[RocketLynx]

I got it to work!! All that I had to do was reinstall the system with the card already inserted into the Motherboard. Before I had bought the card AFTER I did the install and thus it didn't work. Somehow during the setup something else must have been done once the installer recognized an ethernet card in the PCI port and installed some vanilla kext that allows it to work.

 

Now, for some reason though, when I switch resolutions to the highest possible, my screen goes blue and doesn't go back to the new resolution. I am not sure what to do, but I am too excited that I have internet to really care just now.

 

Any ideas though on this new issue? (thanks also to everyone for their help)

 

m07, do two things if you can. One, go into your profile and add the information about your setup, use mine or someone else's signature as an example. This will let others see what you have and be able to help more easily knowing the equipment in your machine.

 

Second, what kind of graphics card are you using? Also, are you using the HDMI, DVI-D or VGA (D-Sub 15 pin) connector to your display?

 

Charles

[RocketLynx]

Has anyone downloaded this update from Apple that came out this week?

 

"Security Update 2010-005 is recommended for all users and improves the security of Mac OS X"

 

It completely hosed my system. After the update was installed and rebooted, the system got as far as to let me log in, and then it went to a blue screen and flashed repeatedly with a flashing white block in the upper-left corner where the cursor usually appears upon displaying the Desktop.

 

That was it!

 

After rebooting again thinking I needed to reboot a second time, I tried a few things, the -v switch didn't reveal anything. Everything seemed good in verbose mode right up to the blue screen, so, I finally gave up and began to consider that I needed to restore.

 

I booted from my Lifehacker USB flash drive, went to utilities and restored the drive from my Time Machine's previous backup prior to the software update. I then rebooted off of the USB flash, selected the Snow Leopard drive and then reinstalled the Chameleon package that was included from Cartri's v0.8 download. That took care of getting my system back where it was before the Apple Update.

 

I did the same or similar update on my Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) system at the same time and it went without a hitch. I don't know if this was a problem just for me or if Apple put something in there to {censored} our Cartri/Lifehacker systems.

 

Just beware, be cautious and have a good backup ready. I run my system with "automatic updates" turned off in the System Preferences but I thought this would be OK because I haven't had any trouble prior to this.

 

Charles

[HAVEC]

Has anyone downloaded this update from Apple that came out this week?

 

"Security Update 2010-005 is recommended for all users and improves the security of Mac OS X"

 

It completely hosed my system. After the update was installed and rebooted, the system got as far as to let me log in, and then it went to a blue screen and flashed repeatedly with a flashing white block in the upper-left corner where the cursor usually appears upon displaying the Desktop.

 

That was it!

 

After rebooting again thinking I needed to reboot a second time, I tried a few things, the -v switch didn't reveal anything. Everything seemed good in verbose mode right up to the blue screen, so, I finally gave up and began to consider that I needed to restore.

 

I booted from my Lifehacker USB flash drive, went to utilities and restored the drive from my Time Machine's previous backup prior to the software update. I then rebooted off of the USB flash, selected the Snow Leopard drive and then reinstalled the Chameleon package that was included from Cartri's v0.8 download. That took care of getting my system back where it was before the Apple Update.

 

I did the same or similar update on my Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) system at the same time and it went without a hitch. I don't know if this was a problem just for me or if Apple put something in there to {censored} our Cartri/Lifehacker systems.

 

Just beware, be cautious and have a good backup ready. I run my system with "automatic updates" turned off in the System Preferences but I thought this would be OK because I haven't had any trouble prior to this.

 

Charles

 

 

After reading your post I immediately ordered another $40 500 GIG WD HDD from NewEgg to CCC my Cartri Install. I already have my Stella V.3 system cloned.

 

AFAIK, this is the first instance of a software update taking out a Cartri/Stella/Lifehacker system of this thread.

 

Thank you very much for the heads up. I probably would have gone ahead and installed the update and hosed my system as well.

 

Since this thread is now 100 pages and nearly a year old, should we start another with a poll asking who has flashed to Cartri?

[960brick]

Has anyone downloaded this update from Apple that came out this week?

 

"Security Update 2010-005 is recommended for all users and improves the security of Mac OS X"

 

It completely hosed my system. After the update was installed and rebooted, the system got as far as to let me log in, and then it went to a blue screen and flashed repeatedly with a flashing white block in the upper-left corner where the cursor usually appears upon displaying the Desktop.

 

 

Charles

 

 

No problem here, did software update today, I have the Identical Lifehacker build, gonna try 10.6.5 10h529 delta update out of curiosity

[AkronElliott]

Has anyone downloaded this update from Apple that came out this week?

 

"Security Update 2010-005 is recommended for all users and improves the security of Mac OS X"

 

Just beware, be cautious and have a good backup ready. I run my system with "automatic updates" turned off in the System Preferences but I thought this would be OK because I haven't had any trouble prior to this.

 

Charles

 

I was able to update with the security patch with no problems. I am running Cartri BIOS, with only 1 additional kext for drive icons. The platform is 32 bit for software compliance.

 

Does anyone else program obj-C on their hack? Are there any constraints to developing software for release?

 

Thanks, Eric

[RocketLynx]

No problem here, did software update today, I have the Identical Lifehacker build, gonna try 10.6.5 10h529 delta update out of curiosity

 

Wow, I wonder what happened to my update, it cost me several hours to restore. I didn't mean for this to panic anyone, I just wanted others to be aware of a possible problem. What Chameleon are you running? I'm using the one included with the Cartri download for my Giga -UD3P v1.6 MB.

 

My system is so simple, I only have 3 kexts in my /Extra/Extensions folder. In my /Extra folder I have a simple com.apple.BOOT.plist with just the necessities and a smbios.plist with one entry for serial number.

 

That's It! What is different from yours?

[RocketLynx]

After reading your post I immediately ordered another $40 500 GIG WD HDD from NewEgg to CCC my Cartri Install. I already have my Stella V.3 system cloned.

 

AFAIK, this is the first instance of a software update taking out a Cartri/Stella/Lifehacker system of this thread.

 

Thank you very much for the heads up. I probably would have gone ahead and installed the update and hosed my system as well.

 

Since this thread is now 100 pages and nearly a year old, should we start another with a poll asking who has flashed to Cartri?

 

HAVEC, I hope I didn't cause you to spend unnecessary money on my account. Two others have since done the update with no problems. Maybe it was just something strange for me when I did it.

 

Charles

[0800damo]

My Experiences so far with .8 cartri bios

 

- wake on LAN function is not available in the system preferences

 

- sleep works at first but then after a few days I have to restart the machine

 

- occasionally on restart it would seem that it is running at a 1/3 of its usual speed the spinning ball at boot spins really slowly I fix this by cutting power to the box for 10 to 20 secs and restart.

 

- I updated without a hitch with the latest security update.

 

- I cant wake up the machine by my magic mouse I have to hit a keyboard key.

 

Apart from that everything is fine and can't wait for further releases

 

Thanks cartri

[RocketLynx]

My Experiences so far with .8 cartri bios

 

- wake on LAN function is not available in the system preferences

 

- sleep works at first but then after a few days I have to restart the machine

 

- occasionally on restart it would seem that it is running at a 1/3 of its usual speed the spinning ball at boot spins really slowly I fix this by cutting power to the box for 10 to 20 secs and restart.

 

- I updated without a hitch with the latest security update.

 

- I cant wake up the machine by my magic mouse I have to hit a keyboard key.

 

Apart from that everything is fine and can't wait for further releases

 

Thanks cartri

 

0800damo, what Chameleon bootloader are you using? I'm using the one with the Cartri download.

 

Charles

[960brick]

Wow, I wonder what happened to my update, it cost me several hours to restore. I didn't mean for this to panic anyone, I just wanted others to be aware of a possible problem.

 

 

Rocketlynx, why not use the CarbonCopyClone second harddrive method of having a bootable backup?

 

What Chameleon are you running? I'm using the one included with the Cartri download for my Giga -UD3P v1.6 MB. My system is so simple, I only have 3 kexts in my /Extra/Extensions folder. In my /Extra folder I have a simple com.apple.BOOT.plist with just the necessities and a smbios.plist with one entry for serial number.

 

That's It! What is different from yours?

 

I'm using the same one too, only it resides in the EFI partition

[HAVEC]

HAVEC, I hope I didn't cause you to spend unnecessary money on my account. Two others have since done the update with no problems. Maybe it was just something strange for me when I did it.

 

Charles

 

You can't have too many hdd's lying around and it's better to be safe than sorry. I think from now on it might be a good idea to run up-dates on a cloned drive first.

[mn07]

m07, do two things if you can. One, go into your profile and add the information about your setup, use mine or someone else's signature as an example. This will let others see what you have and be able to help more easily knowing the equipment in your machine.

 

Second, what kind of graphics card are you using? Also, are you using the HDMI, DVI-D or VGA (D-Sub 15 pin) connector to your display?

 

Charles

 

Charles

 

Thanks for the recommendation. I had talked about my system earlier, and thought about the signature but just didn't get around to it. It is a good idea though.

 

I am not using my HDMI capabilities, just VGA (converted from DVI) from now.

[geiman]

Not quite the lifehacker system, but close enough... The security update went fine for me as well, not sure what happened to your install. Sorry about that man, its a pain when something like that happens.

 

And the Cartri BIOS is very nice, just update to it not long ago. So far no problems, but haven't had a chance to throughly test it. I must say its a much easier way to get a Hack up and running; I'm pretty impressed. Only snag I ran into was a KP a short while after resuming from sleep. I tried to re-open steam (which had been running before sleep), steam hung, then when I went to kill steam it KP'd. So whether it was a steam problem or not I couldn't tell. But overall, its a pretty nice BIOS, I would recommend it.

[0800damo]

0800damo, what Chameleon bootloader are you using? I'm using the one with the Cartri download.

 

Charles

 

Charles

 

I am using the one supplied with the bios I have a rev. 1 board

 

I think it was RC4

 

Although come to think of it there is a RC5 in the downloads section on cartri's site

 

Maybe I should use this one

 

Damian

[RocketLynx]

Charles

 

I am using the one supplied with the bios I have a rev. 1 board

 

I think it was RC4

 

Although come to think of it there is a RC5 in the downloads section on cartri's site

 

Maybe I should use this one

 

Damian

OK, I tried it again with the same results. After the update download, I did the requested reboot. It said installing update and then rebooted. After the reboot and the Chameleon drive selection, (only one drive), It did the spinning wheel on the grey apple screen as it should and then went to a blue screen that would show a spinning wheel, then it would stop and then flash light blue back to the original darker blue and then the spinning wheel would reappear and stop and the cycle would continue to repeat indefinitely.

 

Note: When I first posted this problem, I stated that I got to the Login Screen after reboot, that was incorrect. I never got to the Login Window, that's when it began to flash the blue screen with a spinning wheel.

 

960brick. AkronElliott and 0800damo, all of you stated that you did the update without any problems. Do any of you use the Login Option upon boot or are all of you using automatic Login?

 

After about 5 reboots, I finally got my Aurora Desktop background but no Desktop and no finder. I checked the other DVI-D output to make sure it wasn't thinking that I had a dual display setup and that the finder was on another output but that was not the case. I'm at a loss.

 

Also, tring to boot from my USB install flash drive, the Cartri BIOS doesn't seem to respect the fact that I want to boot off of my install USB flash. It ignores it. I tried setting the BIOS to prioritize the USB first but it still uses the hard drive. I disabled the HD in BIOS but it still boots from it. I hit F12 to use the BIOS to select the boot device but it still defaults to the HD and if I change to USB-Flash from F12, it still boots from the HD. I know it sees the USB because if I hit space bar during the Chameleon load both the HD and the USB are there and I can then boot to the USB flash but thats loading install and it's using the Chameleon on the HD not the USB.

 

This is the same USB flash I used to set the system up and I can boot from it if I disconnect the HD physically (SATA disconnected).

 

The booting from this USB flash worked perfectly with the Gigabyte FB or FE BIOS on my GA-EP45-UD3P v1.6 but now has changed with the Cartri v0.8 BIOS which works perfectly in all other respects.

 

This security update is the first problem I've had so that's why I'm confused.

 

Again I have an original Pash/Stella Lifehacker install, modified by now using the bootloader packaged with the Cartri v0.8 download for my MB, three kexts in the /Extra/Extensions folder, a simple com.apple.Boot.plist, a Themes folder and a one entry SMBIOS file all in the /Extra folder.

Very simple installation.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Charles

[0800damo]

OK, I tried it again with the same results. After the update download, I did the requested reboot. It said installing update and then rebooted. After the reboot and the Chameleon drive selection, (only one drive), It did the spinning wheel on the grey apple screen as it should and then went to a blue screen that would show a spinning wheel, then it would stop and then flash light blue back to the original darker blue and then the spinning wheel would reappear and stop and the cycle would continue to repeat indefinitely.

 

Note: When I first posted this problem, I stated that I got to the Login Screen after reboot, that was incorrect. I never got to the Login Window, that's when it began to flash the blue screen with a spinning wheel.

 

960brick. AkronElliott and 0800damo, all of you stated that you did the update without any problems. Do any of you use the Login Option upon boot or are all of you using automatic Login?

 

After about 5 reboots, I finally got my Aurora Desktop background but no Desktop and no finder. I checked the other DVI-D output to make sure it wasn't thinking that I had a dual display setup and that the finder was on another output but that was not the case. I'm at a loss.

 

Also, tring to boot from my USB install flash drive, the Cartri BIOS doesn't seem to respect the fact that I want to boot off of my install USB flash. It ignores it. I tried setting the BIOS to prioritize the USB first but it still uses the hard drive. I disabled the HD in BIOS but it still boots from it. I hit F12 to use the BIOS to select the boot device but it still defaults to the HD and if I change to USB-Flash from F12, it still boots from the HD. I know it sees the USB because if I hit space bar during the Chameleon load both the HD and the USB are there and I can then boot to the USB flash but thats loading install and it's using the Chameleon on the HD not the USB.

 

This is the same USB flash I used to set the system up and I can boot from it if I disconnect the HD physically (SATA disconnected).

 

The booting from this USB flash worked perfectly with the Gigabyte FB or FE BIOS on my GA-EP45-UD3P v1.6 but now has changed with the Cartri v0.8 BIOS which works perfectly in all other respects.

 

This security update is the first problem I've had so that's why I'm confused.

 

Again I have an original Pash/Stella Lifehacker install, modified by now using the bootloader packaged with the Cartri v0.8 download for my MB, three kexts in the /Extra/Extensions folder, a simple com.apple.Boot.plist, a Themes folder and a one entry SMBIOS file all in the /Extra folder.

Very simple installation.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Charles

 

Charles

 

When at the chameleon boot screen you should be able to hit any key and you see the usb Mac install.

 

This stumped me for quite some while too.

 

I have attached a screen shot of my extra folder

 

hope this helps let me know

 

Damian

Screen_shot_2010_08_29_at_11.54.17.PDF

[RocketLynx]

Charles

 

When at the chameleon boot screen you should be able to hit any key and you see the usb Mac install.

 

This stumped me for quite some while too.

 

I have attached a screen shot of my extra folder

 

hope this helps let me know

 

Damian

 

0800damo, there are 2 scenarios going on here that I'm referring to. First, after my Apple security update, I could still boot from my main HD but it would get to the point of loading the Login/Desktop and fail.

 

Second, after no longer being able to boot completely from my HD, I then need to restore from my Time Machine Backup. At this time I needed to boot to my USB Flash Drive to then completely restore my HD from the latest Time Machine Backup. No problem, since my Chameleon bootloader was still intact on my HD, when booting as you mentioned above, I could hit the space bar, select the USB Flash to the right of my Snow Leopard drive and boot to the USB install drive, select restore from the utility menu and restore. After that there is no longer a Chameleon bootloader on the HD since Time Machine doesn't back that up.. The only thing left to do is boot from the Chameleon on the USB Flash, select the newly restored HD and run the Cartri Bootloader package installer on the HD and everything is back.

 

This is where having the USB Flash drive recognized FIRST to load Chameleon from is crucial!

 

Also, lets say you are installing a new drive from scratch, you then need to have the USB Flash to be the first boot device with Chameleon on it so you can get the thing up and running. What I'm saying is, if the HD you are going to install to is new/clean and has nothing on it or the bootloader is damaged, the BIOS still picks the HD even though you have selected the USB Flash as the first boot device. When it picks the HD, obviously it fails because at that time there is nothing on it, no data and no Cameleon.

 

I completely understand about the space bar at the Chameleon bootloader prompt but the motherboard has to properly see the USB Flash drive first, use it and pull Chameleon from it.

 

From what I understand, when the Chameleon bootloader comes up and during the timeout for loading you hit any key, the drive on the left is the main bootloader drive that Chameleon loaded from. So, even if I set the BIOS for USB Flash (or USB-Zip as the Cartri/Gigabyte BIOS calls it) or, hit F12 and select the USB, it ignores it and tries to load from the HD. If the HD has Chameleon on it it loads and the HD is on the left and the USB Flash is on the right. If the HD has no Chameleon or bootable operating on it, it does not use the USB Flash, it just fails and says there is no bootable drive.

 

The only way I got around it last night no matter how many times I went into the BIOS and set or double checked that my USB Flash was first is I finally turned off and unplugged the machine after going into the BIOS and exiting. At that point when I plugged in the machine back in and pressed the power button, it picked up the USB Flash first and then booted from the USB's Chameleon. It's as if the BIOS wasn't re-reading the changes from exiting from the BIOS "Save and Exit" prompt, and only did it from a clean power up. I'm really stumped.

 

This is only a secondary problem and has nothing to do with my first problem of the Security Update failing after install and reboot and trying to then get to the desktop.

 

Ok, before anyone mentions it again, I know having a backup SATA drive and using Carbon Copy Cloaner would be a lot easier than using Time Machine. I intend to do this when I get an extra drive but I used my last one up on a recent acquisition of a Power Mac G5 that I recently purchased at the local Goodwill Computer store here in town. Even though it has nothing to do with this topic, my great find is detailed here.

 

Thanks for all of your support.

Charles

[thepretender]

RocketLynx, A properly configured bootable usb thumb drive is seen as a harddrive by the bios. You just need to go into the bios and set the harddrive boot order to boot to the usb thumb (hard) drive first.

 

The security update went without issue on my .8 bios hackintosh. You must have had a corruption in your update or something unique loaded on your system my bet is on the first.

[RocketLynx]

RocketLynx, A properly configured bootable usb thumb drive is seen as a harddrive by the bios. You just need to go into the bios and set the harddrive boot order to boot to the usb thumb (hard) drive first.

 

The security update went without issue on my .8 bios hackintosh. You must have had a corruption in your update or something unique loaded on your system my bet is on the first.

 

Thanks for the info thepretender, however, I know how to do that. I've set the usb thumb drive first. If there is an HD attached, it selects that regardless of my BIOS setting. If I even press F12 upon the Cartri BIOS post, it's still defaulted to the HD and even if I change to the USB drive upon the F12 press, it still tries to boot from the HD first.

 

It will boot from the USB if I physically disconnect the SATA cable from the drive and then re-power up. Also, I found out that I had to power down the machine (remove power) after going into BIOS and making the USB drive first and saving it because, simply exiting the CMOS setup and letting the computer restart (warm start), it did not recognize the CMOS change saves.

 

I remember my Gigabyte BIOS would actually, upon certain CMOS changes and saves, shut down completely (fans stop - all off) and then restart itself incorporating the newly saved CMOS settings. This doesn't do that, that's all I'm saying. I've found that I have to power down for a few seconds and then power up again for the USB drive to now be recognized first. Just a quirk, but usable.

[thepretender]

RocketLynx

 

Insert usb drive and boot hit del to go into bios.

Go into advanced bios features.

Press Enter to go into Hard Disk boot priority.

On my system the usb thumb drive shows up as #4 Centon DS Pro

Select your thumb drive and hit page up to move it to #1

Save changes and reboot, you should be now booting from your thumb drive.