P6T Deluxe/i7 920/GTX 285 - I just wasted £1100 (maybe!)

[imacken]

Until yesterday, I was the happy user of stable installs of both Leo and retail Snow on both my laptop and desktop. I was so happy, that I made 2 fatal mistakes. 1) I started using OSX86 as my main OS with critical files, and 2) I decided to treat myself and buy a new rig.

 

OK, my desktop setup was Q6600, P35C-DS3R, 4Gb DDR2 and 8800GTS 640Mg. Everything was fine.

 

Now, I have i7 920, Asus P6T Deluxe v2, 6Gb DDR3 and GTX 285, which sounds OK, but no matter what I do - I CANNOT GET EITHER LEO OR SNOW TO GET ANYWHERE NEAR INSTALLING!!! AAARRGGHH!

 

As they both installed before without any real hiccups, I tried to get both iDeneb and iATKOS working on the new rig. Neither will go in. Can't even get to the install setup screens. System just reboots, and the whole cycle just repeats, and even with a verbose boot it's impossible to see what the problem is as the messages go past too quickly.

 

With retail Snow, I followed Blackosx's trusty guide, used the BootCD, inserted the retail disc, refreshed, selected the Mac Install DVD and watched the reboot cycle happen again! With Snow, at least -v gives me the usual 'waiting on root device' screen. (See attached).

 

Now, I have spent about 20 hours all in trying everything I know and all the suggestions I could find, i.e. boot flags, BIOS changes, etc. etc. I have tried disabling every device in BIOS.

 

Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be? Has anyone done a successful distro install of Leo on the P6T Deluxe v2?

 

Help!!!

[clipper99]

Until yesterday, I was the happy user of stable installs of both Leo and retail Snow on both my laptop and desktop. I was so happy, that I made 2 fatal mistakes. 1) I started using OSX86 as my main OS with critical files, and 2) I decided to treat myself and buy a new rig.

 

OK, my desktop setup was Q6600, P35C-DS3R, 4Gb DDR2 and 8800GTS 640Mg. Everything was fine.

 

Now, I have i7 920, Asus P6T Deluxe v2, 6Gb DDR3 and GTX 285, which sounds OK, but no matter what I do - I CANNOT GET EITHER LEO OR SNOW TO GET ANYWHERE NEAR INSTALLING!!! AAARRGGHH!

 

As they both installed before without any real hiccups, I tried to get both iDeneb and iATKOS working on the new rig. Neither will go in. Can't even get to the install setup screens. System just reboots, and the whole cycle just repeats, and even with a verbose boot it's impossible to see what the problem is as the messages go past too quickly.

 

With retail Snow, I followed Blackosx's trusty guide, used the BootCD, inserted the retail disc, refreshed, selected the Mac Install DVD and watched the reboot cycle happen again! With Snow, at least -v gives me the usual 'waiting on root device' screen. (See attached).

 

Now, I have spent about 20 hours all in trying everything I know and all the suggestions I could find, i.e. boot flags, BIOS changes, etc. etc. I have tried disabling every device in BIOS.

 

Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be? Has anyone done a successful distro install of Leo on the P6T Deluxe v2?

 

Help!!!

 

I haven't read this but have you tried this guys method?

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=182978

[bertmannaustria]

still need help? because i have the p6t deluxe, p6t deluxe v2 and p6t se end snow leopard is running fine on these boards

[imacken]

still need help? because i have the p6t deluxe, p6t deluxe v2 and p6t se end snow leopard is running fine on these boards

 

I am still desparate for help!

 

Yes, I have looked at the thread suggested by clipper99, but not in detail because it - like all other guides - is based on the fact that you already have a (10.5) install up and running.

 

I can't get to that stage!

 

So, please tell me your setup (BIOS, etc.) for your install.

 

I should have said I have 4 x SATA 500Gb HDD and 2 x SATA optical drives.

[bertmannaustria]

I am still desparate for help!

 

Yes, I have looked at the thread suggested by clipper99, but not in detail because it - like all other guides - is based on the fact that you already have a (10.5) install up and running.

 

I can't get to that stage!

 

So, please tell me your setup (BIOS, etc.) for your install.

 

I should have said I have 4 x SATA 500Gb HDD and 2 x SATA optical drives.

 

okay, because of messed up bios/dsdt etc, i never even tried to install snow leopard with the retail dvd,

post 10.5.4 leopard retail DVD's installation didn't work as well with boot 132 method.

so if you need to install leopard first, read this thread, for me and my 3 p6t boards it worked fine.

 

but that's a a long way round snow leopard, easiest thing, install snow leopard on a working leopard/snow leopard installation onto an external harddisk, apply chameleon and kexts.

 

here is my dsdtDSDT.aml_p6t.zip, maybe it helps you

 

don't give it up, it's worth the trouble.

[imacken]

okay, because of messed up bios/dsdt etc, i never even tried to install snow leopard with the retail dvd,

post 10.5.4 leopard retail DVD's installation didn't work as well with boot 132 method.

so if you need to install leopard first, read this thread, for me and my 3 p6t boards it worked fine.

 

but that's a a long way round snow leopard, easiest thing, install snow leopard on a working leopard/snow leopard installation onto an external harddisk, apply chameleon and kexts.

 

here is my dsdtDSDT.aml_p6t.zip, maybe it helps you

 

don't give it up, it's worth the trouble.

 

Thanks for the dsdt, if only I could get to a Leo desktop to use I would be happy!

 

I know about installing Leo and Snow - I've had several successful ones. My problem is - as explained in post #1. is that with my new rig, I just can't get anywhere near the desktop.

 

Another 8 hours wasted today, and I'm still not near getting my critical files back from my previous rig.

 

I need to get Leo working and I actaully managed to get to the setup menus today on IDeneb 10.5.6 and 10.5.7, and also iATKOS 10.5.7.

 

iDeneb 10.5.6 - get to setup using Busratio=20 -v -f -x, installs, get the green tick, but won't load up, just reboots with the message to quick to read in verbose mode.

 

iDeneb 10.5.7 - again, I can get to setup using busratio=20 -v -f -x, sticks near the end of install with 'less than a minute to go' and that is it. No boot, of course.

 

iATKOS 10.5.7 - same as above. Sticks near the end and no boot.

 

I've tried disabling everything, removing all but 1 HDD, removing 1 optical drive, a zillion different BIOS combinations, etc. and now I am drained!

 

Can someone who has installed Leo from a distro (above) onto a P6T Deluxe v2 please post their method and BIOS settings - especially CPU config?

 

Thanks.

[bertmannaustria]

Thanks for the dsdt, if only I could get to a Leo desktop to use I would be happy!

 

I know about installing Leo and Snow - I've had several successful ones. My problem is - as explained in post #1. is that with my new rig, I just can't get anywhere near the desktop.

 

Another 8 hours wasted today, and I'm still not near getting my critical files back from my previous rig.

 

I need to get Leo working and I actaully managed to get to the setup menus today on IDeneb 10.5.6 and 10.5.7, and also iATKOS 10.5.7.

 

iDeneb 10.5.6 - get to setup using Busratio=20 -v -f -x, installs, get the green tick, but won't load up, just reboots with the message to quick to read in verbose mode.

 

iDeneb 10.5.7 - again, I can get to setup using busratio=20 -v -f -x, sticks near the end of install with 'less than a minute to go' and that is it. No boot, of course.

 

iATKOS 10.5.7 - same as above. Sticks near the end and no boot.

 

I've tried disabling everything, removing all but 1 HDD, removing 1 optical drive, a zillion different BIOS combinations, etc. and now I am drained!

 

Can someone who has installed Leo from a distro (above) onto a P6T Deluxe v2 please post their method and BIOS settings - especially CPU config?

 

Thanks.

 

Bios config

 

- Main
- Storage Configuration
 + Configure SATA as [AHCI]
- Advanced
- CPU configuration
 + Intel  HT Technology [Disabled]
 + Active Processor Cores [1]
 + A20M [Disabled]
 + everything else [Enabled]
- Onboard Devices Configuration
 + High Definition Audio [Enabled]
 + Front Panel Audio [HD Audio]
- Power
 + Suspend Mode [Auto]
 + Repost Video on S3 Resume [Yes]
 + ACPI 2.0 Support [Enabled]
 + ACPI APIC Support [Enabled]
- APM Configuration
 + Restore on AC Power Loss [Last State]
- Boot
- Boot Device Priority
 + 1st Boot Device [ATAPI CD-ROM]
 + 2nd Boot Device [Hard Drive]

 

BUT leo will ony install with a retail DVD below 10.5.6

my installation went fine with the 10.5.4 DVD, 10.5.6 endet up somewhere.

and again, just follow this post STEP-BY-STEP and you will see, it works

 

oops GTX 285?! don't use it for installation with a retail dvd, leo got no drivers for that card and i don't know if the retail dvd loads into installation even in install mode when graphic cards are not really beeing loaded

[imacken]

BUT leo will ony install with a retail DVD below 10.5.6

my installation went fine with the 10.5.4 DVD, 10.5.6 endet up somewhere.

and again, just follow this post STEP-BY-STEP and you will see, it works

 

oops GTX 285?! don't use it for installation with a retail dvd, leo got no drivers for that card and i don't know if the retail dvd loads into installation even in install mode when graphic cards are not really beeing loaded

 

My BIOS settings are the same.

 

I don't have a RETAIL Leo. Are you saying that distros won't work on this board? I'm so frustrated by trying install a distro Leo. I've done this several times before without any serious problems. This is driving me mad!

 

I ask again, has anyone got a DISTRO Leo to work on the P6T Deluxe? If so, how?

[bertmannaustria]

My BIOS settings are the same.

 

I don't have a RETAIL Leo. Are you saying that distros won't work on this board? I'm so frustrated by trying install a distro Leo. I've done this several times before without any serious problems. This is driving me mad!

 

I ask again, has anyone got a DISTRO Leo to work on the P6T Deluxe? If so, how?

 

i tried ideneb and iatkos but both wouldn't gave me a running leo installation, you have to imagine, you're core i7 cpu and intel ich10 chipset works like an mac pro 4,1. on a real mac pro you have to use at least 10.5.7, below that you can't install leo even on a real mac pro (it only installs with retail 10.5.8 and the shipped 10.5.7 restore dvd for mac pro).

 

on the asus p6t deluxe you need a RETAIL leo below 10.5.6 (it's 10.5.4) for installation (and for this time, it can only work with 1 core enabled because of core i7 chipset/cpu troubles ) then, with the patched dsdt you can update to the most recent version with all cores (4 + 4 htt) enabled.

[imacken]

i tried ideneb and iatkos but both wouldn't gave me a running leo installation, you have to imagine, you're core i7 cpu and intel ich10 chipset works like an mac pro 4,1. on a real mac pro you have to use at least 10.5.7, below that you can't install leo even on a real mac pro (it only installs with retail 10.5.8 and the shipped 10.5.7 restore dvd for mac pro).

 

on the asus p6t deluxe you need a RETAIL leo below 10.5.6 (it's 10.5.4) for installation (and for this time, it can only work with 1 core enabled because of core i7 chipset/cpu troubles ) then, with the patched dsdt you can update to the most recent version with all cores (4 + 4 htt) enabled.

 

I don't understand what you are saying here. The distros have kexts for ICH10, and hyperthreading is switched off with only one core running. This isn't about that.

 

You can get 10.5.5 to install and run. Look at http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=167420 as one example. This doesn't work for me.

 

I don't understand when you say the i7 needs at least 10.5.7 and then say I need a retail below 10.5.6.

 

My problem is that all attempts to install Leo (which went like a dream on my previous Gigabyte board and my laptops) have failed miserably, and now all versions (.5 .6 and .7) all halt at the same point in the boot process.

 

I'm really beginning to regret this purchase after several days now of getting nowhere. If I can't resolve this over the weekend, I'm going to dump the P6T Deluxe and go back to a Gigabyte board.

 

I'll post a screenshot of the halt point in a little while.

 

Thanks.

[bertmannaustria]

I don't understand what you are saying here. The distros have kexts for ICH10, and hyperthreading is switched off with only one core running. This isn't about that.

do you know that kernel this distros are using?

You can get 10.5.5 to install and run. Look at http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=167420 as one example. This doesn't work for me.

me neither

I don't understand when you say the i7 needs at least 10.5.7 and then say I need a retail below 10.5.6.

for installation (one core/no htt) -> below 10.5.6

for full working 4 cores + 4 htt -> above 10.5.7

for me, installation went fine with 10.5, 10.5.2, 10.5.4

My problem is that all attempts to install Leo (which went like a dream on my previous Gigabyte board and my laptops) have failed miserably, and now all versions (.5 .6 and .7) all halt at the same point in the boot process.

I'm really beginning to regret this purchase after several days now of getting nowhere. If I can't resolve this over the weekend, I'm going to dump the P6T Deluxe and go back to a Gigabyte board.

I'll post a screenshot of the halt point in a little while.

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

ya please post, i think we will get it working

[imacken]

I appreciate your help.

 

Screen below. This happens with all distros iDeneb 10.5.5 10.5.6 and 10.5.7, also iATKOS 10.5.7, so it must be a hardware issue!

 

I just need to get to a OSX86 desktop to retrieve my critical files!

[bertmannaustria]

I appreciate your help.

 

Screen below. This happens with all distros iDeneb 10.5.5 10.5.6 and 10.5.7, also iATKOS 10.5.7, so it must be a hardware issue!

 

I just need to get to a OSX86 desktop to retrieve my critical files!

 

okay, after my RETAIL installation, it remains at the same point ... for about 10 minutes but then it booted into leo. if you don't get to your leo desktop, i think it's because of your 295 nvidia. is see, it's recognized by the ATY kext, but if your pc "freezes" after "timed out waiting for IOKit to quiesce" for longer than 15 mintues, i think it's because auf your nvidia card. you have to imagine that sure the card is recognized by ATI inject, but there are no hardware ID's in NVDANV50HAL, neither in snow leopard, i have to use an efi string AND patch the NVDANV50HAL kext too to get into the desktop with an gtx 295.

 

just try using an older card, boot and wait at least 10 minutes before giving up

[imacken]

okay, after my RETAIL installation, it remains at the same point ... for about 10 minutes but then it booted into leo. if you don't get to your leo desktop, i think it's because of your 295 nvidia. is see, it's recognized by the ATY kext, but if your pc "freezes" after "timed out waiting for IOKit to quiesce" for longer than 15 mintues, i think it's because auf your nvidia card. you have to imagine that sure the card is recognized by ATI inject, but there are no hardware ID's in NVDANV50HAL, neither in snow leopard, i have to use an efi string AND patch the NVDANV50HAL kext too to get into the desktop with an gtx 295.

 

just try using an older card, boot and wait at least 10 minutes before giving up

 

OK thanks again. As changing the card over is quite a major thing, what do I do if the other card works, in terms of the GTX 285? Boot into desktop and find a kext/EFI string for the 285?

[bertmannaustria]

OK thanks again. As changing the card over is quite a major thing, what do I do if the other card works, in terms of the GTX 285? Boot into desktop and find a kext/EFI string for the 285?

 

before you can change to a gtx card, patch all other things needed for your computer to run leo well, update to 10.5.8 (because of the graphics drivers) and then you should use chameleon rc3 with graphicsenabler set to YES. that should work but i can't prove it because i first startet using gtx cards in snow leopard. maybe you have to generate an efi string but i think at the moment it is an more importent factor to get your system running

[imacken]

OK, major progress!

 

The good news is you were right! Well done.

 

I put in the 8800GTS, waited for 4 minutes at the point we've talked about, screen went black, waited another 4 minutes and hey .... the opening video started up complete with sound, full 1900x1200 res and acceleration enabled! I was excited, but ....

 

The bad news is I am stuck in an endless loop of video, identify keyboard, language etc, 'Don't transfer my info now', wait 1 minute, then the video just starts up again, and then repeat ad nauseum!

 

What now!?!

[bertmannaustria]

OK, major progress!

 

The good news is you were right! Well done.

 

I put in the 8800GTS, waited for 4 minutes at the point we've talked about, screen went black, waited another 4 minutes and hey .... the opening video started up complete with sound, full 1900x1200 res and acceleration enabled! I was excited, but ....

 

The bad news is I am stuck in an endless loop of video, identify keyboard, language etc, 'Don't transfer my info now', wait 1 minute, then the video just starts up again, and then repeat ad nauseum!

 

What now!?!

 

boot single user mode ( -s at darwin)

 

/sbin/mount -uw /

 

passwd root

 

type a password you choose here

 

touch /var/db/.AppleSetupDone

 

reboot

 

After reboot enter with the root account and setup your user account. Don't use the root account!

[imacken]

boot single user mode ( -s at darwin)

 

/sbin/mount -uw /

 

passwd root

 

type a password you choose here

 

touch /var/db/.AppleSetupDone

 

reboot

 

After reboot enter with the root account and setup your user account. Don't use the root account!

Yea! We're back! A day without insanelymac seems like a lifetime.

 

OK, I found that workaround yesterday, but didn't like the way that was working out, so I gave up on iATKOS. Retried iDeneb which has always worked for me in the past. 10.5.5 still didn't work and neither did 10.5.6. Both installed OK, but just went into the immediate reboot thing. I'm pretty sure that is down to the lack of support for ICH10. Anyway, 10.5.7 went in perfectly and the whole keyboard, 'identify yourslef'/login thing was fine and the desktop appeared! Internet, graphics, audio, Time Machine, USB, both optical drives recognised - all good. Also, it now works with my GTX 285 - not sure how well, but it works. QI/CE OK @ 1900x1200.

 

Having said all that, I have some major issues.

 

1) I need to get hyperthreading working on all cores. I tried patching my DSDT.aml to get rid of the 'Alias' lines as per a guide I saw yesterday. I put it in the root folder of the boot drive, but that made no difference. Is that the correct thing to do?

 

2) the boot time as totally crazy. I used to boot Leo (and Snow) in 20-25 secs, but now I still have to wait around 4 minutes after the screen goes black before the desktop appears! Any advice on that?

 

3) when I am at the desktop, there is something seriously wrong with accessing files, etc. In Finder, if I click on a DVD it takes ages - minutes - to show the files on the disc. Same with HDD that are not the boot drive. Copying files from one HDD to another is painful, taking minutes for even the smallest of files.

 

4) Spotlight seems to be almost permanently 'Indexing' and in 'Activity Monitor', there is a UserEventAgent which is constantly running and using all spare CPU %age. So, for example on idle it uses 95-97% of CPU, so that it is always running @ 100%. Surely that is not normal.

 

5) How would you have got the GTX 285 working? I'm not sure I've done the right thing.

 

So, major progress. Can you help with the above? Thanks again.

[blackosx]

I put in the 8800GTS, waited for 4 minutes at the point we've talked about, screen went black, waited another 4 minutes and hey .... the opening video started up complete with sound, full 1900x1200 res and acceleration enabled!

So it was your video card causing you all your hassles..... Well done for sorting it

[imacken]

So it was your video card causing you all your hassles..... Well done for sorting it

 

Well actually I'm not sure it was that as the GTX 285 is working fine. It might have been that as I did use the 8800GTS for a while, I don't know. The main clue came from bertmannaustria about the long boot time. He said not to worry, that it will boot, and sure enough, after about 4 minutes at the screen I posted you, the screen went black and then another 4 minutes later the desktop booted!

 

I've got the 3 or 4 problems I mentioned above though, and now I've got a new one. I tried the DSDT.aml from bertmannaustria to get multithreading and all cores working, but now I just get an almost immediate stop. Something about processors failure. I guess it's to do with using a distro and not retail kernel.

 

If I can't solve that I'll post a screen later.

 

Now, I've jsut got to figure out how to remove the DSDT file! I guess I could boot into the distro setup, use terminal and remove it?

[bertmannaustria]

Yea! We're back! A day without insanelymac seems like a lifetime.

 

OK, I found that workaround yesterday, but didn't like the way that was working out, so I gave up on iATKOS. Retried iDeneb which has always worked for me in the past. 10.5.5 still didn't work and neither did 10.5.6. Both installed OK, but just went into the immediate reboot thing. I'm pretty sure that is down to the lack of support for ICH10. Anyway, 10.5.7 went in perfectly and the whole keyboard, 'identify yourslef'/login thing was fine and the desktop appeared! Internet, graphics, audio, Time Machine, USB, both optical drives recognised - all good. Also, it now works with my GTX 285 - not sure how well, but it works. QI/CE OK @ 1900x1200.

 

Having said all that, I have some major issues.

 

1) I need to get hyperthreading working on all cores. I tried patching my DSDT.aml to get rid of the 'Alias' lines as per a guide I saw yesterday. I put it in the root folder of the boot drive, but that made no difference. Is that the correct thing to do?

how do you know that there is no difference? above 4 cores, activity moniter shows up the average cpu load, you have to double click on that to see all 8 cores, in system profiler, you should see cpus=1, cores=4, that's cosmetic. you can install istat menus and enable the cpu load screen, there you can see all 8 cores. if you can' run 8 cores, be sure to set your computer to MacPro4,1 in smbios.plist. MacPro4,1 is the latest 8 core Mac Pro.

2) the boot time as totally crazy. I used to boot Leo (and Snow) in 20-25 secs, but now I still have to wait around 4 minutes after the screen goes black before the desktop appears! Any advice on that?

Intel ICH10R IRQ problems

3) when I am at the desktop, there is something seriously wrong with accessing files, etc. In Finder, if I click on a DVD it takes ages - minutes - to show the files on the disc. Same with HDD that are not the boot drive. Copying files from one HDD to another is painful, taking minutes for even the smallest of files.

Intel ICH10R IRQ problems

4) Spotlight seems to be almost permanently 'Indexing' and in 'Activity Monitor', there is a UserEventAgent which is constantly running and using all spare CPU %age. So, for example on idle it uses 95-97% of CPU, so that it is always running @ 100%. Surely that is not normal.

i may last for 5-10 hours

5) How would you have got the GTX 285 working? I'm not sure I've done the right thing.

maybe there's a already patched kext in your non-retail distro

So, major progress. Can you help with the above? Thanks again.

sure and now let's go to the ICH10R problem

follow THIS thread, you have to patch your DSDT because of IRQ problems with ICH10R chipset

[imacken]

how do you know that there is no difference?

Because it's won't boot when I set CPUS to All and Multithreading on in BIOS.

 

sure and now let's go to the ICH10R problem

follow THIS thread, you have to patch your DSDT because of IRQ problems with ICH10R chipset

OK, you are an absolute genius! Boot time solved - now back to the old 20-25 secs - file access problems solved, graphics card now shows up in System Profiler after I put in the EFI string from OSX86Tools.

 

Multi-threading problem also gone away with the latest patched DTST! Fantastic.

 

System shows up as MacPro 3.1. Do you know of a 4.1 SMBIOS?

[imacken]

Guys, even better news!

I thought I would try and repeat the install on another partition just to make sure I could repeat it. Well, all I can say is this all went really well.

On this new install, I had no IRQ hassles, GTX 285 straight in, and ... boot time is literally 10 -12 seconds!

This is what I did

1) set Intel HT and A20M to disabled, and Active Processes to 1 in BIOS.

2) loaded the iDeneb 1.5.1 10.5.7 DVD using BUSRATIO=20 -v.

3) I selected ONLY the following: Chameleon 2, VoodooHDA and ICHx fix. That is all, no video injector, nothing. Everything worked perfectly with the GTX 285 booting up into 1280x1024. (Didn't work when I tried an injector at the install stage.) Audio, internet, optical drives, etc. all working perfectly with none of the slow file issues previously.

4) Then I copied the patched DSDT file from previous install. (I think only the HT patch would be necessary as I didn't have the IRQ conflict situation this time round.)

5) Changed the BIOS settings back to HT enabled and Active Processes to All. Everything booted perfectly and Activity Monitor confirmed that all cores were working.

6) So, only the graphics to worry about. I installed the nvidia injector by netkas, and then installed the retail nvidia GTX 285 drivers.

7) rebooted (in 10secs) and perfect 1900x1200 accelerated graphics with much clearer sharper picture than I've seen before on OSX86.

What a success!

Now on to a retail Snow install..........

[bertmannaustria]

Guys, even better news!

I thought I would try and repeat the install on another partition just to make sure I could repeat it. Well, all I can say is this all went really well.

On this new install, I had no IRQ hassles, GTX 285 straight in, and ... boot time is literally 10 -12 seconds!

This is what I did

1) set Intel HT and A20M to disabled, and Active Processes to 1 in BIOS.

2) loaded the iDeneb 1.5.1 10.5.7 DVD using BUSRATIO=20 -v.

3) I selected ONLY the following: Chameleon 2, VoodooHDA and ICHx fix. That is all, no video injector, nothing. Everything worked perfectly with the GTX 285 booting up into 1280x1024. (Didn't work when I tried an injector at the install stage.) Audio, internet, optical drives, etc. all working perfectly with none of the slow file issues previously.

4) Then I copied the patched DSDT file from previous install. (I think only the HT patch would be necessary as I didn't have the IRQ conflict situation this time round.)

5) Changed the BIOS settings back to HT enabled and Active Processes to All. Everything booted perfectly and Activity Monitor confirmed that all cores were working.

6) So, only the graphics to worry about. I installed the nvidia injector by netkas, and then installed the retail nvidia GTX 285 drivers.

7) rebooted (in 10secs) and perfect 1900x1200 accelerated graphics with much clearer sharper picture than I've seen before on OSX86.

What a success!

Now on to a retail Snow install..........

 

congratulations

[imacken]

congratulations

 

OK, today I'm going to start the Snow install.

I thought I would try my old (previously-working) retail install with my new DSDT file in the Chameleon boot partition, and of course it didn't work.

However, it did get to the 'screen going blank/video kicking in' bit, so I guess it's the video card again.

I remember a few posts back that you said 'i have to use an efi string AND patch the NVDANV50HAL kext too to get into the desktop with an gtx 295'.

Can you give some details on that as it would seem that I need to do the same.

Thanks.