Ironing out a few OSx86 nags

[EllisCEC]

Hi all,

Just completed my first Hackintosh build! (well, second if you count my false-start attempt which resulted in kernel panic). I'm incredibly impressed and grateful for the obvious effort that has gone into making the operation such a smooth and easy one, I had no idea it was even possible until a week ago!

 

Anyway, almost inevitably there are a few little quirks left to be sorted. I have tried to read as much on the subject as possible but I still have a lot to learn. So, on with the problems:

1. EBIOS Read Error

When booting, after POST, I get a blank screen that repeats the same error message four times. Sometimes it flashes up and is gone in an instant, sometimes it can take 30 seconds before display each:

EBIOS read error: Device Timeout

Block 0x0 Sector 0

Now I have five internal discs with the fifth being the system drive, the fact the error displays four times leads me to believe that it's incorrectly looking at my other drives before seeing the right disc to boot from. I've made sure in BIOS that the boot order places my system disc first and it is the only boot option so I'm out of ideas as to why it's doing this or who to stop it from doing so.

 

2. Apple Wire Silver Keyboard

I've 'borrowed' this keyboard from my Dad, and while I love the ergonomics, it really has a tendancy to cause strange behaviour before OSX has booted. To begin with, the computer would flat out refuse to POST until I unplugged the keyboard. It would just sit in and endless cycle of mem tests and restarting. I got around this by simply unplugging the keyboard during boot and it hasn't done that since though it still seems to slow boot down. I've tried turning off legacy support in BIOS which seems to have no effect.

 

3. USB Devices under constant power

I can't fully guarantee that this problem is a result of the hackintosh, but I've noticed recently that my USB external drives and audio interface will often stay on and whirring away when the computer is powered down. The discs will just sit there spinning. Flicking the power switch on the computer PSU cures this.

 

4. M-Audio Delta 1010LT

This isn't really a problem of the Hackintosh, but I used to a Delta 1010LT audio interface in the computer's Windows days as I do a lot of audio recording and production. There are no official Mac OSX drivers for the card and I'm wondering if anyone has had any success with any unofficial versions?

There's a lot there so I'm not expecting anyone to be able to provide the remedy for all of those things but if anyone could help me along the way that'd be great! Thanks in advance.

 

Best regards

Ellis

 

Tech Specs

• [Operating System] Snow Leopard 10.6.8
  
• [Motherboard] Gigabyte EP45-UD3P
  
• [Processor] Core 2 Quad Q6600
  
• [Memory] 2x2GB Gskills FD-8500-CL5D
  
• [Performance] 3.4 Ghz (425x8), RAM @ 1020Mhz
  
• [Graphics Card] Sapphire Radeon HD 5770
  
• [Audio] Realtek HD (running with Voodoo kext), Tascam US-144 (running with official Mac drivers)
  
• [system Disc] 120GB OCZ Vertex II SSD
  
• [Data Discs] 2x500GB WD HDDs, 2x2TB WD HDDs, 2x2TB and 1x1TB external discs
  

[3.14r2]

2. I use the above keyboard. No such issue is present. If the keyboard works perfectly on any other PC/Mac, then it is either your USB ports/controller or BIOS settings. Check settings such like:

Use USB keyboard

Use USB mouse

 

Some MBs have such settings set to "Disabled" by default. Also try using different USB port(s).

 

3. Are you sure that your PC is shutting down completely? There is a chance that you have problem with shutdown. A PC may not shutdown completely/at all. It is not rare problem for Hackintoshs and it is easily fixable with DSDT.

 

2&3 might in fact be related (read one is the reason for another)

[EllisCEC]

Thanks for the quick response. I'll test the keyboard on a few different machines and report back. Obviously it's never had any trouble when plugged into Macs. When I first encountered the problem I did a bit of google hunting and discovered a couple of other people with the exact same problem (Hackintosh refusing to get past first BIOS screen with keyboard plugged in) but no solution was ever found.

 

As for the PC power, I can't be certain that it is fully powering off, and I am aware that shutdown issues can be a common Hackintosh bug. However, all of the case and component fans stop, the lights go out and the machine itself becomes completely silent and unresponsive, i.e. powered off. I have not used a DSDT so wouldn't know how to go about changing the power settings with one.

 

Regards,

Ellis