[SOLVED] SR-2 help... various issues

[DJenkins]

Hi guys, I've had someone working to put together a system for me over the last several weeks.

I've now got the machine but as I've been putting it through it's paces we are discovering a few problems.

 

Just throwing some questions out there as we are both getting to the point of being quite frustrated and any help will be greatly appreciated!

Now just to clarify, I didn't build this machine myself but have been helping to sort out quirks as they arise. I'm probably capable of trying out most fixes but anything a bit over my head I'll pass on to the builder to carry out. Just trying to save a bit of time if I can do some things my self seeing as the machine is at my place. We've also been at it pretty much full time for nearly 8 weeks.

 

These are the specs (any other info you need just ask & I will find out):

EVGA SR-2 motherboard

2 x 6 core Xeon 5679 3.2GHz (12 core/24 thread)

32GB ECC RAM (4 x 8GB)

GTX570 MSI twin frozr II

OCZ Agitlity 3 240GB OSX system drive (6Gb/s data connection)

OCZ Agitlity 3 120GB Windows system drive (6Gb/s data connection)

Noctua DH14 coolers

Ethernet adapter (PCI-E Slot 5)

Areca 1213-4i RAID card (4x2TB WD black RAID 5) (PCI-E Slot 6)

FireWire 800 adapter (PCI-E Slot 7)

 

Sleep and related performance issues

I get pretty low geek bench scores of around 18,000 before sleep, which then go up to around 24,500 if the machine is put to sleep then woken up again. Cinebench CPU and GPU benchmarks also increase quite a lot post-sleep, OpenGL scores can be as low as 11fps pre-sleep and 30fps or more post-sleep. The scores are also not very consistent pre-sleep.

 

I am not able to wake the machine from sleep at all if any overclock settings are applied. I planned to run the machine permanently at a mild 3.6GHz but it enters a cycle of attempting to power on. Fans spin up for a few seconds, then it dies and repeats the process every 5 seconds or so.

 

It has also happened a few times with no over clock settings applied, when sometimes the fans spin permanently but nothing else happens.

 

Firewire is not detected/functioning before sleep but works after sleep.

 

BIOS Resetting

Every time the machine fails to wake from sleep, or I need to restart the machine for any reason, the BIOS settings randomly reset. I need to go in and adjust the AHCI, power management settings etc. almost every time. Sometimes it will takes several attempts for the settings to stick before it will boot successfully.

 

So thanks for reading if you got this far, I believe this machine has great potential and really want to get it going!

 

I look forward to any responses!

 

Best regards,

Danny

[r b]

Hi DJenkins,

I'm new to Hackintosh but in the past few days of researching various issues of my own, I think i can offer some help with your BIOS reset issue.

 

Do some searches regarding the AppleRTC.kext extension. Some places have a sudo script to modify your own, and other sites have some previously patched ones you can download.

My system was experiencing the same issue where my bios settings were reset all the time after I would sleep my computer and it would never wake up, forcing me to hold down the power button, and then setup my BIOS again on next boot.

 

Patching this file also my sleeping issues.... (ie, it wakes up now), however, an unwanted side-effect is that after i have slept the computer (one or more times), using the apple/restart menu won't restart the computer. It'll go to a black screen and just hang.. forcing me to push the power button again, but NOT resetting the bios settings.

 

Here are two links from this forum that discuss AppleRTC and related issues.

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=276066

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=280949

[braindeadmac]

Hi guys, I've had someone working to put together a system for me over the last several weeks.

I've now got the machine but as I've been putting it through it's paces we are discovering a few problems.

 

Just throwing some questions out there as we are both getting to the point of being quite frustrated and any help will be greatly appreciated!

Now just to clarify, I didn't build this machine myself but have been helping to sort out quirks as they arise. I'm probably capable of trying out most fixes but anything a bit over my head I'll pass on to the builder to carry out. Just trying to save a bit of time if I can do some things my self seeing as the machine is at my place. We've also been at it pretty much full time for nearly 8 weeks.

 

These are the specs (any other info you need just ask & I will find out):

EVGA SR-2 motherboard

2 x 6 core Xeon 5679 3.2GHz (12 core/24 thread)

32GB ECC RAM (4 x 8GB)

GTX570 MSI twin frozr II

OCZ Agitlity 3 240GB OSX system drive (6Gb/s data connection)

OCZ Agitlity 3 120GB Windows system drive (6Gb/s data connection)

Noctua DH14 coolers

Ethernet adapter (PCI-E Slot 5)

Areca 1213-4i RAID card (4x2TB WD black RAID 5) (PCI-E Slot 6)

FireWire 800 adapter (PCI-E Slot 7)

 

Sleep and related performance issues

I get pretty low geek bench scores of around 18,000 before sleep, which then go up to around 24,500 if the machine is put to sleep then woken up again. Cinebench CPU and GPU benchmarks also increase quite a lot post-sleep, OpenGL scores can be as low as 11fps pre-sleep and 30fps or more post-sleep. The scores are also not very consistent pre-sleep.

 

I am not able to wake the machine from sleep at all if any overclock settings are applied. I planned to run the machine permanently at a mild 3.6GHz but it enters a cycle of attempting to power on. Fans spin up for a few seconds, then it dies and repeats the process every 5 seconds or so.

 

It has also happened a few times with no over clock settings applied, when sometimes the fans spin permanently but nothing else happens.

 

Firewire is not detected/functioning before sleep but works after sleep.

 

BIOS Resetting

Every time the machine fails to wake from sleep, or I need to restart the machine for any reason, the BIOS settings randomly reset. I need to go in and adjust the AHCI, power management settings etc. almost every time. Sometimes it will takes several attempts for the settings to stick before it will boot successfully.

 

So thanks for reading if you got this far, I believe this machine has great potential and really want to get it going!

 

I look forward to any responses!

 

Best regards,

Danny

 

The machine does have great potential, because of the ability to overclock the 55/5600 Xeons, it still can beat out the current Xeon dual processor builds.

 

The epic cutting-edge thread for this motherboard was here on insanelymac...http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=233891

 

I outlined getting the SR-2 up and running with Lion at another site...

http://www.tonymacx86.com/user-builds/50792-deep-thought-water-cooled-evga-sr-2-dual-xeon-5690-gtx-580-a.html

 

You need to apply the CMOS reset fix to AppleRTC.kext...

For Mountain Lion 10.8.0 it's

sudo perl -pi -e 's|\x75\x30\x89\xd8|\xeb\x30\x89\xd8|' /System/Library/Extensions/AppleRTC.kext/Contents/MacOS/AppleRTC

[DJenkins]

The machine does have great potential, because of the ability to overclock the 55/5600 Xeons, it still can beat out the current Xeon dual processor builds.

 

The epic cutting-edge thread for this motherboard was here on insanelymac...http://www.insanelym...howtopic=233891

 

I outlined getting the SR-2 up and running with Lion at another site...

http://www.tonymacx8...-gtx-580-a.html

 

You need to apply the CMOS reset fix to AppleRTC.kext...

For Mountain Lion 10.8.0 it's

sudo perl -pi -e 's|\x75\x30\x89\xd8|\xeb\x30\x89\xd8|' /System/Library/Extensions/AppleRTC.kext/Contents/MacOS/AppleRTC

 

Thanks braindeadmac, I was hoping you would jump in. Your machine is one of the few great SR-2 rigs going, very impressed!

[Rampage Dev]

Can you post your DSDT, Entire Extra Folder, and IOreg (From IOreg app).

 

Also how much ram you have for your GPU. I will then fully edit your DSDT for you because I want to see this system fly.

[DJenkins]

Can you post your DSDT, Entire Extra Folder, and IOreg (From IOreg app).

 

Also how much ram you have for your GPU. I will then fully edit your DSDT for you because I want to see this system fly.

 

Hi RampageDev, thanks for your reply I've spent quite a while troubleshooting, some things are fixed, some still are not. If you are still willing to take a look that would be great, I'll reply via PM.

 

Thanks!

[mainHybrid]

Hi guys, first of, i've been following the osx86 community long ago and all i can say is that this community rocks, everybody helping everybody, that's how everything should be.

 

Ok, now to the point, i've been strugguling with my hack, here are the specs.

 

iAtkos L2

EVGA SR 2

2 x EVGA GTX 480 1534mb vram

24GB RAM tri channel

2 x XEON 5620 @ 2.4ghz (stock speed)

1x OCZ 120gb SSD

1 x 2TB Seagate

1x250gb seagate

1x mini pcie wifi broadcom a/b/g/n

 

The installation of Lion goes smoothly, even with the second vid card and cpu plugged in. In the setup i had to select the ATY_init kext, otherwise when booting the computer will freeze at "DSMOS has arrived", even with the needed IOPCI patch.

 

The question is, when using the ATY_init kext start the pc, the dvi cable is connected to the primary vga card in the first dvi connector but when i get to lion i have to switch the cable to the second card and when i go into sysinfo both cards show up in slot 1 and the one that is being used as the primary card in the os (secondardy vid card physically) shows 512mb vram instead of 1534mb and both cards shows rom netkast.org

 

This is what i've tried so far in the setup

1. Install first just with GraphicsEnabler, boots up with one card, shut down, plug in second card boot hangs at DSMOS arrived.

2. Boot with PCIRoot=1, PCIRootUID=1, but with this my resolution is stock at 1280x1024.

3. Install ATY_init, both are recognized but then the above problem arises.

 

I really appreciate if somebody can help me out, at this point i'm in an endless loop.

 

By the way, lion was able to recognize my all 8 cores with their corresponding threads and the 24gb of ram, im just struggling with the video and audio.

 

EDIT: I got pass the DSMOS has arrived... get your VID card string and inject it into the chameleon boot... boom!

[DJenkins]

Hey guys, I'm back again with a bit of an update. These have been the longest and at times most frustrating moths of my life. I have learned so much but it's still not working 100%. There have been improvements but thought it would be worth asking around again for some help!

 

To summarize, does anyone have ideas on the following?

- Enable raid to show on boot without needing sleep/wake? Either BIOS settings or DSDT?

- Overclock/underclock BIOS settings to get me to 30,000 GB that work with sleep/wake

- Getting my OCZ revodrive to work

 

If so please continue reading below!

 

Changes and improvements since first post

- I have successfully flashed back to A49 BIOS to make the machine as close to Braindeadmac, Punknugget and other builds which all seem to be working. This didn't really change anything as far as I can tell.

- RAM was changed to 48GB (6 x 8GB) G.Skill Ripjaws Z

- In BIOS settings I changed CPU turboboost & speedstep settings etc. to enabled. Now console shows turboboost as working. However this didn't seem to change performance at all.

- The OS was changed from 10.8.1 back to 10.7.4, but now I want to go back to 10.7.2 as Punknugget is using so I can eventually underclock.

 

BIOS RESETS FIXED!

I tried Braindeadmac's AppleRTC fix above, but still had the problem. Embarrassingly enough I replaced the battery which helped instantly. I still get a reset occasionally but only if I have changed the hardware like adding a PCI card. Once I punch in the settings again it usually sticks first try. Such an easy fix for what was a frequent and frustrating problem

 

Now the main issue with this machine has been the PCI devices not functioning and restricting the entire performance of the machine before sleep (see first post). When you sleep and wake the machine, everything goes back to normal.

 

FIREWIRE FIXED!

Firewire never worked until after sleep. I tried a few cards, but ended up buying the exact Starcom PEX1394B3 card that Braindeadmac has.

Now Firewire is working immediately on boot and there are no more slow performance issues before sleep!

 

Remaining Problems

The Areca 1213-4i raid still doesn't show up until after sleep. Looking back I think it was showing up straight away on boot in 10.8 so I'm sure it's possible. I will contact rampagedev again to see if it can be fixed in DSDT.

Open to other ideas though, could it possibly be fixed in BIOS settings?

 

MY GOAL

For the time and money put into this machine I would like to see it pass a 30,000 geekbench score (with all PCIe devices working).This would be a 20-25% increase over stock performance and would make it feel like all this was worth it. Otherwise I may as well have not wasted my sanity and just maxed out a real mac pro!

 

I would like to go back to 10.7.2 and get the raid showing while eventually getting some nice overclock or underclock settings. Is this possible without doing another complete fresh install of Lion? I don't have the installation package so would need to contact the person who first built this machine to help.

 

I still either need the machine to wake with overclock settings enabled, or have the raid show on boot. This would get me acceptable functionality, but having both working would be best!

 

I also bought an OCZ Revodrive x2 http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/320976848137?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

I'm pretty sure it uses a Sil3124 chip and can be made functional through other drivers but I'm still trying this out without much success. If anyone can help that would be great!

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Going to tag BDM so hopefully he sees this

[PunkNugget]

Here's what I say D, it can make it harder when you have certain parts (i.e.; GPU and RAM) that doesn't match another persons build. I'm not saying it can't work, what I'm saying is that you'll be facing different issues that maybe BDM, Rampage Dev and myself may not be able to help you with. Tutor has mainly been my mentor when it came to boot and kext issues like this, and then BDM stepped in and helped me with my BIOS issues that I was facing when it came to OC'ing (so i could UC) my beast. You mentioned that you want to go back to using 10.7.2 (which is what I'm currently using right now) and I'm very happy with it, BUT I'm also using 6870 and 48GB Mushkin RAM (#993991). Now when it comes to you OC'ing the CPUs I won't be able to help you there, because you have more limits as you have 5679s and I have 5690s. So I don't know the max of what those CPUs can or can't handle. I would PM Tutor at MacRumors and see if you can link him over hear to give you some insight.

 

In the mean time PLEASE GO OVER HERE AND READ THROUGH THIS VERY IMPORTANT THREAD TWICE OVER, then PM Tutor for some help...

 

Believe me, I went through 9 months of hades (like being pregnant and finally giving birth), but thankfully I FINALLY humbled out and listened and then all of a sudden... it worked !!!

 

Lastly, I'm a moderator here (mainly overseeing MacMod of the Month) and want to encourage you to enter your machine here for our monthly contest once you get things at 100%.

 

http://www.insanelym...d-of-the-month/

 

Hope all this info helps... Later... :-)

[DJenkins]

You mentioned that you want to go back to using 10.7.2 (which is what I'm currently using right now) and I'm very happy with it, BUT I'm also using 6870 and 48GB Mushkin RAM

 

Hey thanks punknugget! I mentioned going back to 10.7.2 only because it was mentioned to be the best version where you can implement certain over/underclock settings.

 

So is this a hard and fast rule? I know that BDM has his machine working OC on 10.8.

Is it possible I'd be better off finding the OSX version which works best with my hardware, then seeing what OC/UC is possible from there?

I hate the notifications in 10.8 so given the chance I would like to stick with lion. But no big deal if everything WORKS in Mountain Lion

 

I would place the priority on having my raid fully functional, with OC/UC coming in second.

So if I get the raid working in a certain OSX version, I'd be ok with having slightly less OC settings. But hopefully still getting me somewhere near a 30,000 GB score. In my tests just using dummy OC at 3.6GHz I was up in the 28,000 range already so I think it's achievable. Temps are really good even on air with these DH14 coolers.

 

Also I'm not going to place a priority on that OCZ PCIe SSD. I got it cheap so I might just sell it on again. Will be more of a headache than it's worth trying to get it going I think. Once everything else is solid with my machine I'll contact you about the OWC accelsior drives, but at this stage I don't wan to throw more money at this machine before I have everything else working properly!

 

So on my list of things to figure out:

Why sleep breaks when OC, what BIOS settings I need to adjust to fix this.

Why my raid doesn't show until after sleep/wake... is it OSX, DSDT or BIOS related

And more and more reading about C states, P states, turbo, speed step, memory timings etc. etc. and what they all do!

 

Once I have a bit more of an understanding I will see if Tutor is willing to jump on board. Some of his words have stuck in my head "to make a great hackintosh you first need to make a great PC" so I think I will prepare for testing the OC settings in Windows first.

 

I will definitely enter in your mod of the month... although not until I'm happy with everything! I still haven't officially entered anything on geekbench as I feel there's not much to show yet!

Unfortunately not many pretty things to look at with my case it's tidy enough but the colours are a bit of a vomit rainbow

[PunkNugget]

Hey thanks punknugget! I mentioned going back to 10.7.2 only because it was mentioned to be the best version where you can implement certain over/underclock settings.

 

So is this a hard and fast rule? I know that BDM has his machine working OC on 10.8.

 

That's because he's OC'ing and has a GPU that can't be used on 10.7.2 that works fine with 10.8.X. I think he has a GTX 680 and that was an expensive machine. So he didn't feel the need to change what he has. He's happy with it.

 

Is it possible I'd be better off finding the OSX version which works best with my hardware, then seeing what OC/UC is possible from there?

I hate the notifications in 10.8 so given the chance I would like to stick with lion. But no big deal if everything WORKS in Mountain Lion In my tests just using dummy OC at 3.6GHz I was up in the 28,000 range already so I think it's achievable. Temps are really good even on air with these DH14 coolers.

 

I would stick with what you have as it works great with 10.8. If you want to boost your machine a bit, google: overclocking x5679 and see what pops up and go from there. I think your DH14's could handle keeping your CPUs cool enough with a slight boost in your CPUs by OC'ing it a bit further...

 

Once everything else is solid with my machine I'll contact you about the OWC accelsior drives...

 

Hit me up when you're ready. Email me though as that's the fastest way to get through to me...

 

So on my list of things to figure out:

Why sleep breaks when OC, what BIOS settings I need to adjust to fix this.

Why my raid doesn't show until after sleep/wake... is it OSX, DSDT or BIOS related

And more and more reading about C states, P states, turbo, speed step, memory timings etc. etc. and what they all do!

 

With this issue I don't even bother with sleep. When I'm done using the unit I just shut it down and then come back and turn it back on.

 

Once I have a bit more of an understanding I will see if Tutor is willing to jump on board. Some of his words have stuck in my head "to make a great hackintosh you first need to make a great PC" so I think I will prepare for testing the OC settings in Windows first.

 

Very wise move. ALWAYS OC in Windows FIRST using OCCT for your Tourture Testing and use the link that BDF used to help me here (from page 12):

 

http://forums.macrum...1333421&page=12

 

I will definitely enter in your mod of the month... although not until I'm happy with everything! I still haven't officially entered anything on geekbench as I feel there's not much to show yet! Unfortunately not many pretty things to look at with my case it's tidy enough but the colours are a bit of a vomit rainbow

 

I wouldn't worry about that, I would just take some clean pics in a well lit room without using a flash and you'll be good to go. Just make sure there's no dust and no fingerprints...

[DJenkins]

Finally some success!

 

I have installed 10.8.0 and the Areca Raid is showing up immediately on boot.

 

Everything now is working perfectly on stock settings, Raid, Firewire, NIC, Audio (usb adapter).

 

Standard 3.2GHz gives a geek bench of 24700.

 

Have not tried OC settings yet but I'm going to try and learn the BIOS inside and out before I get started.

 

I think my biggest problem was this: I was trying to make my hardware fit with a particular OSX version others were using for maximum overclock potential. Where really I should have first found the OSX version that worked best with my hardware at stock settings, then worried about over clock later.

 

So my lesson learned is don't run before you can walk!

 

Trial and error still plays a big part though. Especially if you're using parts other people haven't tried. Areca even have raid drivers specifically for Lion, but I still could'nt get the card working 100%. Whereas in ML it works out of the box without any additional drivers at all. I also went through a few firewire cards before going with the exact model braindeadmac was using. That solved a lot of problems.

 

So from here I'm going to investigate what over clocking is possible in 10.8. Or even if I can under clock, but I think from reading PunkNugget's posts this only works best in earlier versions of 10.7.

 

Plus I have a few minor case mods I want to try, then the final product will be unveiled!

 

Thanks again to PunkNugget for giving me a push in the right direction, and braindeadmac for getting me on the right track with the firewire card and audio. I also read his build log many times to get the installtion going.

[PunkNugget]

Good for you and thanks. I only pass on what others have passed on to me (and a little of my own experiences). Good fortune on your OC with using 10.8.X Keep us posted and...

 

POST YOUR BUILD ON MACMOD OF THE MONTH - DO IT MAN, DO IT NOW !!!!!!!

[DJenkins]

I was going to submit for the mod of the month once I reaaallly felt something had been acheived... cranking overclock geekbench score & some PCI jumper switches in the 5.25" front panel. Guess I had better get a move on and take some photos when it's done!

[sgunes]

Hello:

I have also the SR-2 with dual X5650 OC'd to 3.6GHz. I have 10.7.3 running with a GTX480.

 

I bought now the EVGA 680GTX 4GB Classified.

 

For Windows 7 I have the 680 as the main card and the 480 for Physx.

 

When I put in only the 680 10.7.3 booted up with XGA video (I did not bother to make special Kepler kexts work with it).

 

I have now 480 in slot 1 and 680 in slot 5. OSX runs fine but I want to upgrade to 10.8 with the built-in Kepler drivers so I can use the 680 as my primary graphics card.

 

Can someone tell me how to upgrade from 10.7.3 to 10.8.2?

I can either upgrade from the current OS or do a fresh install on a new 512 GB Vertex 4 I just bought.

I have a 10.8.2 install disc.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[PunkNugget]

Hello:

I have also the SR-2 with dual X5650 OC'd to 3.6GHz. I have 10.7.3 running with a GTX480.

 

I bought now the EVGA 680GTX 4GB Classified.

 

For Windows 7 I have the 680 as the main card and the 480 for Physx.

 

When I put in only the 680 10.7.3 booted up with XGA video (I did not bother to make special Kepler kexts work with it).

 

I have now 480 in slot 1 and 680 in slot 5. OSX runs fine but I want to upgrade to 10.8 with the built-in Kepler drivers so I can use the 680 as my primary graphics card.

 

Can someone tell me how to upgrade from 10.7.3 to 10.8.2?

I can either upgrade from the current OS or do a fresh install on a new 512 GB Vertex 4 I just bought.

I have a 10.8.2 install disc.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

I have the PERFECT idea Sgu, why don't you go here and reach out to guy. I did and he truly is the best of the best and will help your every need. Also, make sure (if he is able to help) that you toss him some $$$ ($20 - $30). It's always good to take care of those that take care of you. Plus, you don't have to wait for DAYS ON END for an answer.

 

http://rampagedev.wo...hnical-support/

 

He's quick and easy, later...

[sgunes]

I have the PERFECT idea Sgu, why don't you go here and reach out to guy. I did and he truly is the best of the best and will help your every need. Also, make sure (if he is able to help) that you toss him some $$$ ($20 - $30). It's always good to take care of those that take care of you. Plus, you don't have to wait for DAYS ON END for an answer.

 

http://rampagedev.wo...hnical-support/

 

He's quick and easy, later...

 

Thanks for the tip.

I just emailed him and paypal'd him some money.

[PunkNugget]

Thanks for the tip.

I just emailed him and paypal'd him some money.

 

Were you able to get through to him first before you contributed the funds? I can say this for a fact he truly is the end all (so far) when it comes to direct and immediate help for anyone wanting to install Mac OS X and streamlining your Extra folder down to just 2 to 3 files. He's fast (RIGHT THERE LIVE !!!), and will get your system up and running in no time. It was worth it for me, plus I have a friend now; he's great, and an excellent teacher; if you have the desire to learn. He even provided me with a DSDT guide on how to do it yourself... :-)

[Kilopopo]

hi good to see your system is working.

 

I am just wondering if your system is able to sleep and wakeup.

 

thanks

[DJenkins]

hi good to see your system is working.

 

I am just wondering if your system is able to sleep and wakeup.

 

thanks

Hi Kilopopo, yep it's been running great! A while back I followed braindeadmac, Tutor and Punknugget's guides on overclocking and got some decent results. I think it's still within the top 10 of highest OSX scores on geekbench - link.

 

At the moment I am only running on stock settings because my workload has dropped quite a lot and I'm not pushing through massive renders anymore.

Yes sleep and wake works well when on stock settings. But about once every 3-4 weeks I get an FF or similar error when waking from sleep and I have to reset the BIOS and apply my saved settings again but it's not too bad, only takes a few minutes.

 

Also the machine won't wake from sleep when overclocked at all, I'm not sure anyone has been able to achieve this. As far as I know they just shut down their machines instead of sleeping.