Some Notes About EX58-UD3R and HD4850

smc13 · October 17, 2009

I've got my ex58-ud3r and his hd4850 with a HDMI/DVI/DSUB connector working properly and I figured I would write down some notes for anyone who might be looking for some help.

I did the basic install using Digital Dreamer's X58 Guide (http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=185097). Using a Macbook, I installed to an external hard drive, plugged the drive into my ud3r machine, booted off of the external drive, and got graphics corruption due to my 4850, a white/gray screen with occasional black scribbles. I powered off the machine, plugged the drive back into the macbook, and did some more research.

I found a few things that might be of use:

1) Safe Mode is your friend. You can interrupt your boot, add a -x, and it will boot without graphics corruption. It isn't a fix, but it will allow you to boot up and use carbon copy cloner (http://www.bombich.com/) to clone your external hard drive to your internal sata drive and boot off of the internal drive.

2) The cloned drive doesn't boot properly, at first. I had to install chameleon and a boot file manually in order to make it bootable.

3) One of the most important files is the com.apple.boot.plist in /Extra. It is where you decide to use a gui boot or a text one:

You can set a screen resolution:

<key>Graphics Mode</key>

You can insert kernel flags so you don't have to type them at the boot prompt:

<key>Kernel Flags</key>

You can change the timeout before the system boots up to give you more time to interrupt the boot and enter additional flags:

<key>Timeout</key>

4) To get my HD4850 to work without booting up in safe mode, I found this guide (http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=186249&st=20)

Essentially, you need to perform the following steps:

a - edit /System/Library/Extensions/ATI4800Controller.kext/Contents/Info.plist to add your device id. Look for the following two lines in the Info.plist

<key>IOPCIMatch</key>

and change the second line so the lines look like this:

<key>IOPCIMatch</key>

b - Install Evoenabler.kext into /System/Library/Extensions (It doesn't seem to work in /Extra)

c - Not sure it's needed, but I added the proper resolution for my monitor to com.apple.boot.plist

Note: You might be able to use ATY_init or install Netkas' pc efi boot file (http://netkas.org/) and add the line GraphicsEnabler=y to the com.apple.boot.plist instead of evoenabler, but I tried GraphicsEnabler=y and it didn't work for me.

5) I had originally added the RealtekR1000.kext but it didn't load. My ALC888 internal nic just worked. It gets recognized as AppleRTL8169Ethernet.

6) When I updated to 10.6.1, I got graphics corruption again. The reason was that apple reinstalled the ATI4800Controller.kext so I had to edit the Info.plist again.

Note: Netkas mentions that you can add a legacyAti4800Controller.kext so you don't have a problem when upgrade (http://netkas.org/?p=245).

7) Getting the built in audio working took some doing. I tried voodooHDA.kext and that got the front headphone jack working. The 7.1 connectors on the back weren't even recognized. I found this guide (http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=181509&pid=1261338&mode=threaded&start=40#entry1261338) that tells you to modify the DSDT and download some legacy hda kexts to be installed to /System/Library/Extensions. Following that guide, I was able to get the connectors on the back recognized:

Intel High Definition Audio:

Device ID: 0x1458A002

Audio ID: 888

Available Devices:

Line Out:

Connection: 1/8-Inch Jack

Speaker:

Connection: Internal

Line Out:

Connection: 1/8-Inch Jack

Line Out:

Connection: 1/8-Inch Jack

External Microphone:

Connection: 1/8-Inch Jack

External Microphone:

Connection: 1/8-Inch Jack

Line In:

Connection: 1/8-Inch Jack

S/P-DIF Out:

Connection: Combo

I only have a 2.1 speaker system with one cable so I haven't read or configured surround sound.

8) To get rid of the cputype unknown when you click "About this Mac" I found guide (http://digitaldj.net/2009/10/page/2/). You install a modified boot file and add the following lines to your smbios.plist:

<key>SMcputype</key>

Note: Netkas' latest PC EFI allows you to use the SMcputype as well.

9) I tried netflix watch instantly on my hackintosh. It installed silverlight 3.0 which promptly gave me the following error:

Unable to playback unprotected (DRM) content. Error Code: 8152

Looking around the internet, I found 3 possible causes for the error: Having cputype unknown (which I didn't), having your gigabit nic recognized as en1 or en2 instead of en0 (mine is en0), or not having your nic's efi string in com.apple.boot.plist. I found instructions for adding ethernet efi strings (http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t114349.html) and I was able to use netflix watch instantly

Some Notes About EX58-UD3R and HD4850

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