Jump to content

Resources for Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS4


mcsmart
 Share

5 posts in this topic

Recommended Posts

Hello everyone!

 

After spending hours of reading, patching and asking around I thought it is time to share my experience. First of all:

 

This is not an installation guide!

 

There are plenty of EP45 guides out there and I only want to cover the following DS4-related things:

 

  • DSDT
  • Sound
  • Native speedstepping
  • Sleep and maybe other issues

 

1. Prerequisites:

  • a vanilla installation of 10.5.8 (10.6 should also work, but untested)
  • Chameleon 2.0-rc3 + PC EFI 10.5 installed
  • some understanding of the basic system layout of OS X (or at least another UNIX-like system)
  • some commandline experience

If you do not have any of the above - stop right here!

 

2. BIOS Settings

 

Important settings are:

  • Limit CPUID Max. to 3: Disabled
  • No-Execute Memory Protect: Enabled
  • CPU EIST Function: Enabled
  • CPU Enhanced Halt: Enabled
  • C2/C2E: Enabled
  • C4/C4E: Enabled
  • SATA RAID/AHCI Mode: AHCI
  • SATA Port 0-3 Native Mode: Enabled
  • Azalia Codec: Auto
  • LAN1: Enabled
  • LAN2: Disabled
  • Green LAN: Disabled
  • HPET Support: Enabled
  • HPET Mode: 64-bit

 

3. Kexts and files I am using

 

And before somebody asks: YES, these kexts are everything I need. They all go in /Extra/Extensions, so the original /S/L/E can stay untouched. To get my graphics card to work I simply needed to set GraphicsEnabler=y in Chameleon!

 

4. DSDT Patching

 

Why? Because by patching the DSDT we can use all vanilla kexts that come with the operating system - no need to add device ids. You do not even need any PowerManagementDisabler any more!

 

Before you start hacking your DSDT I suggest you check the following threads about it:

 

 

BTW: This is how I started getting into DSDT pathcing: How_to_patch_DSDT_with_LAN_and_HDEF_functions_including_LegacyHDA.zip

 

I have created a custom DSDT for this board, using the latest BIOS (F10b) and a QuadCore CPU. It has everything you need, including:

  • HPET fix
  • RTC fix
  • TM + Network fix
  • CMOS reset fix for Snow Leopard
  • Complete sound pinconfig (ALC889A) specific to this board + HDEF fix
  • AppleLPC loading using native kext

 

How did I do it? I used fassl's DSDT patcher and made my own additions to the DSDT (Sound, Net, LPC, CMOS).

 

 

 

5. Sound

 

Sound is an easy one after DSDT patching. Unfortunately you have to use an extra kext for it. Simply put the LegacyHDA.kext in your /Extra/Extensions folder.

 

Working:

  • Line out (Back)
  • Line out/Headphone (Front)
  • SPDIF out (Back)
  • Microphone in (Back)
  • Line in (Back)
  • SPDIF in (Back)
  • Headphone plug-in autodetection (if you are using an HD I/O frontpanel)

 

 

6. Native speedstepping

With the patched DSDT native speedstepping works almost out of the box. You simply need to add the P-states of your CPU. To get those I'd recommend temporarily loading VodooPower.kext. If speedstep is working for you with VodooPower then you can use the P-States Calculator to display the current P-State configuration that VodooPower uses. Just replace the values at the end of this DSDT with the values from P-State Calculator:

 

 

You really don't need to add any C-States to your DSDT on this board, because the EP45-DS4 natively supports them (with the BIOS settings from 2)!

 

For reference I also recommend reading this thread.

 

7. Sleep

 

Sleep is working pretty well on my DS4 with a Radeon HD 3870. In order to get sleep to work you need to open System Preferences -> Energy saver -> Options and check "Restart automatically after a power failure" (AppleLPC needs to be loaded to get this option, which should be the case if you are using my DSDT.)

 

 

 

Appendix A: Sound Pinconfig

 

Sound Pinconfig for this board. Note that in Windows I got a "0" instead of a "2" as the first character of each word. But in in the linux codec dump it says "2".

21471c10 21471d44 21471e01 21471f01

21571c12 21571d14 21571e01 21571f01

21671c11 21671d64 21671e01 21671f01

21771c14 21771d24 21771e01 21771f01

21871c40 21871d9c 21871ea1 21871f01

21971c50 21971d9c 21971ea1 21971f02

21a71c4f 21a71d34 21a71e81 21a71f01

21b71c20 21b71d4c 21b71e21 21b71f02

21c71cf0 21c71d01 21c71e33 21c71f59

21d71c01 21d71de6 21d71e05 21d71f40

21e71c30 21e71d61 21e71e4b 21e71f01

21f71c60 21f71d71 21f71ecb 21f71f01

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 9 months later...
Hello everyone!

 

 

6. Native speedstepping

With the patched DSDT native speedstepping works almost out of the box. You simply need to add the P-states of your CPU. To get those I'd recommend temporarily loading VodooPower.kext. If speedstep is working for you with VodooPower then you can use the P-States Calculator to display the current P-State configuration that VodooPower uses. Just replace the values at the end of this DSDT with the values from P-State Calculator:

 

 

You really don't need to add any C-States to your DSDT on this board, because the EP45-DS4 natively supports them (with the BIOS settings from 2)!

 

Thanks for this will try out tonight on my EP45-DS4 Board with F10b Bios. I got a Q9550 do I need to update the P-States or can I leave ypur Q9650 ones in?

 

Thanks!

 

.....

 

Ahh and one more thing, I used the Kakewalk install which went fine but my Geekbench score is around 5800 (cpu-x tells me my CPU is running at 3.8 GHz!) where it should be around 8000+! I am sure it has to do with the DSDt not beeing perfect for my board and maybe some other things the Kakewalk installer puts in. Will try your files from here and reinstall everything from scratch to test it.

 

So what is your Geekbench score for your Q9650? Is it at stock speed or overclocked?

 

THX.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for this will try out tonight on my EP45-DS4 Board with F10b Bios. I got a Q9550 do I need to update the P-States or can I leave ypur Q9650 ones in?

 

Thanks!

 

.....

 

Ahh and one more thing, I used the Kakewalk install which went fine but my Geekbench score is around 5800 (cpu-x tells me my CPU is running at 3.8 GHz!) where it should be around 8000+! I am sure it has to do with the DSDt not beeing perfect for my board and maybe some other things the Kakewalk installer puts in. Will try your files from here and reinstall everything from scratch to test it.

 

So what is your Geekbench score for your Q9650? Is it at stock speed or overclocked?

 

THX.

 

I am also on the lookout for a working DSDT, as im a dimwit with patching DSDT myself. My GB score is around 6500 on a OC'ed 9550@4.0Ghz... its 9200 when I do the same test, in Windoze.

 

My board is the EP45 DS4 with f10b bios, and I can see yours is EP35 ? Might need a different DSDT.

 

OP could you test Geekbench (64bit) ? and please add what clock speed :-)

 

Also thanks for sharing your DSDT guide/upload. <3

 

Greets from Denmark

 

UPDATE: I swapped out a DSDT from another source (basic EP45 DS4 DSDT), and now I have full speed, but no Sound. The only sound Kext installed in S/L/E is AppleHDA.kext. I tried to swap it out for fixed ones and also tried Legacy and VoodooHDA but none worked. Any clues ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Great work!

 

Had installed 10.6 using the Kakewalk method (EP-45 DS4 F9, Q9650, HD4870), while it worked flawlessly, my Geekbench score was only 5000.

 

I've had a bit of a hastle with the dsdt process but thanks to your suggestions and the DSDT with the steppings, I've modified the dsdt and now have a score of 7552, working sound. Thanks!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 years later...

What happened to the link to:

How_to_patch_DSDT_with_LAN_and_HDEF_functions_including_LegacyHDA.zip

This is nearly the most important part of this article. But clicking on the link redirects to the insanelymac front page. Grrr. :(

I performed a search. But same results to the link in those pages found too! :(

 

Any help finding this would be GREATLY appreciated. :)

 

Thanks!

 

--Chris

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...