Asus P5b Deluxe & iAtkos 10.6.3 Guide and Remaining Issue.

[d4vinder]

After many attempts and many guides to getting a 10.6.3 install correct, I have finally settled wit the iAtkos S3 V2 10.6.3. Although other methods got me close, this is best so far with 98% working. except the 2 points listed below. I tried the retail method with boot disks and stuff but its much simpler with iAtkos, I also used myHack to install some kexts and stuff too.

I have 2 major issues that require resolution.

1. My front USB ports will not pick my usb storage devices but the back ones do. Is there anything I can do to fix this?

2. In "About this Mac" some information is incorrect. The CPU is showing as "Core2Solo" & "Total Number of Cores" is currently displaying 1, however when i do "Activity Monitor" I can see 2 active CPUs. Is there anyway to fix my Macs details so that it displays the correct information.

My System Spec:
 

Asus P5b Deluxe
E6850 Core2Duo 3Ghz
4GB Ram 667 Kingston HyperX
GeForce 7300 GS x 2 (256MB & 128 MB)
1TB Samsung, 2x 500GB Seagate, 160GB Maxtor, 40GB Generic HDD
Pioneer DVD RW

The guide I roughly followed was this one:

It is impossible to update the Mac OS X 10.6.0 Retail version system to 10.6.4 due to some kernel incompatibility problems. (What’s worse, Aperture 3.0, Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Logic Audio 9 require 10.6.2 or higher)

So, after several times of unsuccessful update, I finally decide to change my installation. iATKOS is an alternative:

It is a custom release with OSx86 patches and several drivers;

STEP 1: Download the iATKOS s3 v2 ISO an burn to a blank DVD;

STEP 2: Read the change log and release note carefully;

STEP 3: Confirm that your BIOS options are right, IDE configuration: AHCI, JMicron SATA: AHCI;

STEP 4: Boot your system from the iATKOS disk; At Boot prompt type -v for Verbose mode

STEP 5: Partition your hard disk with "GUID Partition Table". You can call it Snow Leopard

STEP 6: CUSTOMIZE your installation, my selection of extra drivers etc. is listed;
 

My Selection List:

Default selection as it is and additionally:
Boot Loader: Chameleon v2 RC 5
SATA: Intel SATA/IDE, Jmicron (basically top 3) from this menu
Sound: Voodoo HDA (Having some issues in Logic Audio though with this one - Otherwise it is generally OK);
Graphics: nVidia - None at this stage I installed myHack for GFX and a few other things after wards
Ethernet: Marvell Yukon 8056

STEP 7: Let the installer run. Restart and Boot in for the first time after the Splash Video Screen!

STEP 8: Download myHack v1.1 from http://www.kexts.com/view/419-myhack_1.1.html and install the following: (Whilst on Snow Leopard Desktop)

com.apple.Boot.plist
GraphicsEnabler
DESELECT Graphpics Disabler
FakeSMC.kext
NullCPUPowerManagement.kext
OpenHaltRestart.kext
Sleepenabler.kext

STEP 9: Restart and everything should be working! Enjoy!

If anyone can help with 2 remaining issues it would I would be grateful.

[d4vinder]

Hey, Its been a while and I am still stuck on the above problem.

 

After a vast amount of reading, I understand I may need to patch my DSDT in order to get Multiple GFX cards working with SL. Is this true? If anyone can verify this it would be great and even better if intructions were provided.

 

Front two USBs are not working and "about this mac" issue is still outstanding.

 

Can anyone help?

 

Thanks

[d4vinder]

I have managed to perform various install methods, and the one outline above is the best.

 

I have also patched the DSDT using DSDT Auto Patcher, however the USB issues still remain. The weird thing is that sometimes they are operational and others they are not recognised at all. Very random.

 

My main issue is the multiple graphics cards - I still get a blank screen when I plug 2 graphics cards in the machine, if I remove one then its ok.

 

Any advice?