The Asus P5LD2-VM How-To Guide

[DiaboliK]

I received an error when trying to install from the JaS.10.4.8.AMD.Intel.SSE2.SSE3.iso DVD that said:

 

"local root halt. halted by root syncing disks . . ."

 

and the system shuts off.

 

 

This happened just prior to the disk utility step. This is my first build and I've been trying to follow this guide closely.

 

Initially I partitioned the drive and put XP on there to ensure all the hardware worked, and it did. I installed Acronis Boot Selector on a partition as well, and attempted to get a dual boot system going and had problems. I decided I would forego a dual boot system and after formatting I've been getting the same errors listed above every time. Now I'm using Boot and Nuke to ensure my drive is securely wiped in case there is something weird going on w/ the Acronis partition.

 

Any ideas?

 

first time i heard of that error.

 

get a new install disk and make sure to burn it on one of the slower speeds in your drive to ensure a good burn.

 

if you want to dual boot in windows just install windows and then install osx, once osx is done installing it will automatically use darwin as the bootloader, meaning that you dont need acronis

 

-DiaboliK

[Gimboid]

Just an additional piece of info regarding installing a video card after installing using the on board GMA 950 of the P5LD2-VM.

 

I installed a Gigabyte 7600GT 256MB Silient Pipe (id 0x0391) and used various versions of Natit and Titan and couldn't get anything to work (black screen, blue screen, jumbled mess). After many experiments and web searches, I spotted a comment on one of the threads in the foum (cannot find the reference at the moment) that said the OpenGL for GMA 950 is different than for NVidia. There was a method of extracting the OpenGL for nVidia from the install DVD, but I decide to go for a fresh install as the other method seemed like too much work!

 

I re-installed without GMA 950, added Natit 02 dual screen, and everything is running great with ci and quartz (dual 19" CRT 1400x1050).

 

Cheers,

 

Gimboid

[consolation]

Just an additional piece of info regarding installing a video card after installing using the on board GMA 950 of the P5LD2-VM.

 

I installed a Gigabyte 7600GT 256MB Silient Pipe (id 0x0391) and used various versions of Natit and Titan and couldn't get anything to work (black screen, blue screen, jumbled mess). After many experiments and web searches, I spotted a comment on one of the threads in the foum (cannot find the reference at the moment) that said the OpenGL for GMA 950 is different than for NVidia. There was a method of extracting the OpenGL for nVidia from the install DVD, but I decide to go for a fresh install as the other method seemed like too much work!

 

I re-installed without GMA 950, added Natit 02 dual screen, and everything is running great with ci and quartz (dual 19" CRT 1400x1050).

 

 

 

Cheers,

 

Gimboid

 

Good to hear, I just scored the same card for about the equivalent of us $80, can't wait for it to arrive in my mailbox....

 

 

3 days later.....

 

Sweet, works great, still no sleep, shame; I was hoping to hit the magic sleep combo for our boards- tried natit 1.0 uni, dual 0.1 and 0.2... OpenMark went from ~10000 for the GS to ~17000 for the GT (w/ PCIe bus OCd to 111) - lol, much better then the "less then 1000" for 950.

 

The only problem is that on the -VM SE board, the heat pipes dump hot air straight into the CPU HS, so while the GPU noise is gone the CPU noise has gone up. Oh well, it less annoying then the video card fan whine.

[tterminal]

Alright this is MY (DiaboliK) Guide to Getting everything working in OS X on the Asus P5LD2-VM Mobo.

(P5LD2-VM SE also, thanks consolation)

 

Heres some Quick specs on this mobo : Core2Duo Compatible, Intel 945G Chipset, GMA950, ALC882 HD Audio, Intel GbE LAN.

Newegg link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813131044

 

Just be aware that your RED E-IDE port will not work in Mac at the moment

 

Enough of that, now on to the fun stuff...

But first here is what your going to need:

1. JaS.10.4.8.SSe3.Intel.only.iso (Any other 8.8.1/8.9.1 kernel install dvd works also )

2. Taruga's ALC882 Sound Fix v0.4b

3. Paulicat's SMBios Fix (look in the Instructions for a link)

4. an 8.8.1/8.9.1 kernel of your choice (My Current Favorite is Semthex ND21)

 

Once you have all that you are set to start.

Begin with setting up the BIOS here are my settings-

 

BIOS Settings:

Main Page:
			   - Legacy Diskette A - DISABLED

		   Advanced Page:
			   - JumperFree Configuration - AUTO (unless you want to overclock)
				- USB Configuration - USB Function - ENABLED
													- Legacy USB Support -AUTO
														 - USB 2.0 Controller - 
														 - USB 2.0 Controller Mode -
													 - BIOS EHCI Hand-off - ENABLED
				- CPU Configuration - Microcode Updation -ENABLED
													 - Max CPUID Value Limit -  DISABLED
										   - Execute Disable Function - DISABLED (ENABLED if your going to use a kernel other than Semthexs')
										   - Enhanced Cl Control - AUTO 
													 - Virtualization Technology - ENABLED
													 - Intel SpeedStep Tech - AUTOMATIC
				- Chipset - Configure DRAM Timing by SPD - ENABLED (Disable to set your own ram timings)
								 - Graphic Adapter Priority - PCI Express/Int VGA (I have a pci-e card installed)
								 - Internal Graphics Mode Select -DISABLED (Same reason as line above)
				- Onboard Devices Configuration - HD Audio Controller - ENABLED
																		   - Front Panel Support Type - HD Audio
																		   - Onboard PCIEX GbE LAN - ENABLED
																		   - Lan option ROM - DISABLED
																			- ITE8211F Controller - ENABLED
																			- Detecting Device Time - Quick Mode
																			- Serial Port1 Address - DISABLED
																			- Parallel Port Adress - DISABLED
				- PCIPnP - Plug and Play O/S - NO
						   - PCI Latency Timer - 64
						   - Allocate IRQ to PCI VGA - NO
						   - Palette Snooping - DISABLED
						   - IRQ-3 to IRQ-15 Assigned to - PCI Device

		   Power Page:
			   - Suspend Mode - AUTO
			   - Repost Video on S3 Resume - DISABLED
			   - ACPI 2.0 Support - YES
			   - ACPI APIC Support - ENABLED

		   Boot Page: 
			   - Your Preference

 

Once you have your BIOS Setup and saved. Pop in the JaS.10.4.8.SSe3.Intel.only.iso (or any other 8.8.1/8.9.1 kernel install) that you carefully burnt very slowly in your favorite burning app. restart your comp.

 

At the Asus splash screen pess the F8 key and your will be sent to the boot selector menu.

Select your dvd drive hit enter then when promted at the darwin install screen press F8 once again.

now type in -v and hit enter and sit back for a bit and watch those .kexts fly.

 

After you select you language and click the arrow to proceed, let it all load up.

Now in the menubar select Utilities>Disk Utility

Select your HD in which you want to Install on then Format/Partition, whichever you have to do.

after Disk Utility is done doing its thing exit it and go on to installing OS X.

 

*Tip* (When done formatting click on the other partitions you arent going to install on and unmount them)

 

Select your Partiton you just made. click install, now on the next page click Customize.

Now select these following packages:

Jas 10.4.8 Update, 10.4.8 Semthex Kernal, 10.4.4 Login Window, and GMA950 if you are using onboard Video

 

Now click install and sit back and take a break for a while.

if all goes right it will install without a hitch and then restart.

Pop out your install dvd and boot to your hd. (OS X sets itself as active)

Quickly tap F8 after POST to get to the Darwin boot prompt.

at the darwin Boot promt enter -v and hit enter and now watch for errors and such.

Go through the Welcome Setup and Registration.

Once your at the desktop customise to what you want, and now apply taruga's 882 package, drag and drop Paulicat's smbios into /System/Library/Extensions/ (Authenticate it).

 

Now open up Terminal and enter the following:

sudo -s
	   your password
	   sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/AppleSMBIOS.kext/
	   sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/ApleSMBIOS.kext/
	   cd /System/Library/
	   rm -rf Extensions.mkext Extensions.kextcache
	   diskutil repairPermissions /

 

now reboot and enjoy bliss.

 

*there may be more that i need to add or edit but hey its 6am right now ive been writing this for you for the past hour, feedback would be appreciated*

I can post my working kexts as soon as i get around to it. but hey its a tut to get your stuff working, ill let you figure it out.

 

**just for some information on this build i have used the following parts:

Asus P5LD2-VM, Intel C2D 2.13ghz, 2Gb (2x 1gb) ddr2-667 Ram, 2x 320gb seagate 7200.1 sata hd's, pioneer dvr-111d, XFX 7300GS pci-e Card (dual display with Natit_Dualv.02)

 

***EDITED on March 19th to add a few things to be more up to date, and a couple tips

 

Hi,

 

First of all thanks for your effort and your suggestion of the MOBO and the tutorial. As per your suggestions, I have got the Asus P5LD2-VM, with a Pentium - D (2.8) and a Sata 250 GB with 1 GB RAM (As of now). I am still in the process of getting my hands on the required setups . I had some queries and thought of asking you some questions.

1. I have the 533 RAM vis-a-vis the 667 RAM. What difference will it make during / post installation?
   
2. As i have never tried this before, is there any initial documentation i have to read.
   
3. I also have an IDE which i've read will not work during the install, but does this have to be disconnected? What should be done so that it works?
   
4. Will "JaS.10.4.8.AMD.Intel.SSE2.SSE3" work for sure ??
   
5. The tutorial also mentions that some updation is still left... has it been already updated??
   

I've upgraded all components based on this tutorial... so all experts please help

[kle500]

[*]I have the 533 RAM vis-a-vis the 667 RAM. What difference will it make during / post installation?

[*]As i have never tried this before, is there any initial documentation i have to read.

[*]I also have an IDE which i've read will not work during the install, but does this have to be disconnected? What should be done so that it works?

[*]Will "JaS.10.4.8.AMD.Intel.SSE2.SSE3" work for sure ??

[*]The tutorial also mentions that some updation is still left... has it been already updated??

I've upgraded all components based on this tutorial... so all experts please help

1) According to our beloved friend "Diabolik", in our board the 533 modules will work faster than the 667, cause of the lower latency of the 533 modules.

I have installed 2 X 1g Kingston 667 modules in my board and is working great, although i would like to test 533 modules to see difference.

2) i don't think you have to read something special, if you follow the instructions you will be ok.

3) I have not used IDE drives in my setup, but i always disconnect my other drives, cause i don't want to mess with other OS's

4)I have tried most of the images 10.4.8 all all work fine. You won't have any problem with the mentioned image.

 

Depending on what you want to work with, you may consider an extra Graphics card.

I was using the onboard GMA950, but working with ProApps and Photoshop, wasn't up to the task, so i upgrated to a Gainward 7600GS Silent, and i saw a big difference in smoothness.

 

But as i mentioned before, if you want the best from your setup, get a Raptor for the System disk, then you will get really really snappy behavior.

Maybe, i am used to that speed, in my other machines (XP's), and now, whenever i install OS (Osx, XP) on 7200 drives, it seems to me that the machine is slow!

That's the problem when you use to work with fast parts (especially HDD).

I am used to work with 10.000 HDD's either SCSI or RAPTOR'S.

[DiaboliK]

1) According to our beloved friend "Diabolik", in out board the 533 modules will work faster than the 667, cause of the lower latency of the 533 modules.

I have installed 2 X 1g Kingston 667 modules in my board and is working great, although i would like to test 533 modules to see difference.

2) i don't think you have to read something special, if you follow the instructions you will be ok.

3) I have not used IDE drives in my setup, but i always disconnect my other drives, cause i don't want to mess with other OS's

4)I have tried most of the images 10.4.8 all all work fine. You won't have any problem with the mentioned image.

 

Depending on what you want to work with, you may consider an extra Graphics card.

I was using the onboard GMA950, but working with ProApps and Photoshop, wasn't up to the task, so i upgrated to a Gainward 7600GS Silent, and i saw a big difference in smoothness.

 

But as i mentioned before, if you want the best from your setup, get a Raptor for the System disk, then you will get really really snappy behavior.

Maybe, i am used to that speed, in my other machines (XP's), and now, whenever i install OS (Osx, XP) on 7200 drives, it seems to me that the machine is slow!

That's the problem when you use to work with fast parts (especially HDD).

I am used to work with 10.000 HDD's either SCSI or RAPTOR'S.

 

 

couldnt of said it better myself!

 

thanks kle500!

-DiaboliK

[consolation]

1) According to our beloved friend "Diabolik", in our board the 533 modules will work faster than the 667, cause of the lower latency of the 533 modules.

I have installed 2 X 1g Kingston 667 modules in my board and is working great, although i would like to test 533 modules to see difference.

 

 

Most 667 modules will work as lower latency 533, So a 5-5-5 667 (like my GEILs) will work as a 4-4-4 533 (mine handle 3-3-4 533). If you want to try a slower, lower latency module just disable spd checking in BIOS and set the speed/latency manually. I find a slight performance boost ~2% running higher latency/faster speed.

 

Faster modules also tend to over-clock better, my 667 are stable at 4-5-5 767MHz - so any benefit you get from lower latency is outweighed by the much higher clock speeds attainable when over-clocking.

 

I guess the ideal would be to take an 800 rated module and downclock it to my 767 at under 4 latency.

 

[YoMuS]

Hello,

 

But in the specifications says that this motherboard only accepts DDR2 modules at 533 or 667.

 

So what?

 

[tterminal]

couldnt of said it better myself!

 

thanks kle500!

-DiaboliK

 

Thanks a ton for all your help on reconfiming my current specifications and downloads. I have couple of questions before i start the process.

 

1. I have kept unpartitioned space of 50 GB. How much space should i ideally use for the installation, considering that i will be installing more mac programs over it.

2. I've been reading about PPFs. Should i go ahead with the pac i already have or should i recreate it adding PPF's. If yes... How should i do it and which version is appropriate?

3. What do i do about the IDE drives.. should that be connected while i try to install OSX or disconnect the drives.

4. I already have XP installed in one of the drives. Should i delete the partition before i start it or not ??

 

Please help me on these front if possible.

 

Update: I have the JaS.10.4.8.AMD.Intel.SSE2.SSE3 ISO now... what speed should i burn this ??

[DiaboliK]

1. I have kept unpartitioned space of 50 GB. How much space should i ideally use for the installation, considering that i will be installing more mac programs over it.

2. I've been reading about PPFs. Should i go ahead with the pac i already have or should i recreate it adding PPF's. If yes... How should i do it and which version is appropriate?

3. What do i do about the IDE drives.. should that be connected while i try to install OSX or disconnect the drives.

4. I already have XP installed in one of the drives. Should i delete the partition before i start it or not ??

 

Please help me on these front if possible.

 

Update: I have the JaS.10.4.8.AMD.Intel.SSE2.SSE3 ISO now... what speed should i burn this ??

 

50gb is fine.

 

with the JaS.10.4.8.AMD.Intel.SSE2.SSE3 ISO you shouldnt need any ppf patching (burn at like 4x it should be fine)

 

you can leave the windows partition in there. if you install osx onto the same hd you will be able to still select it from darwin's boot menu.

 

-DiaboliK

[tterminal]

50gb is fine.

 

with the JaS.10.4.8.AMD.Intel.SSE2.SSE3 ISO you shouldnt need any ppf patching (burn at like 4x it should be fine)

 

you can leave the windows partition in there. if you install osx onto the same hd you will be able to still select it from darwin's boot menu.

 

-DiaboliK

 

 

 

Thanks for a quick response... You Rock DiaboliK

 

I'll try it today !!

[consolation]

Hello,

 

But in the specifications says that this motherboard only accepts DDR2 modules at 533 or 667.

 

So what?

 

 

As per DiaboliK's guide:

 

In BIOS...

 

Advanced Page:

- JumperFree Configuration - AUTO (unless you want to overclock)

 

- Chipset - Configure DRAM Timing by SPD - ENABLED (Disable to set your own ram timings)

 

 

P.S. -VM SE Works great with Jas' 10.4.9 update - sound disappeared initially but a re-patch with Taruga's AppleHDAPatcher_v1.15 fixed it.

[kle500]

P.S. -VM SE Works great with Jas' 10.4.9 update - sound disappeared initially but a re-patch with Taruga's AppleHDAPatcher_v1.15 fixed it.

I had the same problem with sound after update to 10.4.9, but decided to go back to 10.4.8 with semthex nd.21, cause of another problem in DVDSP (DVD Studio Pro).

In some other forum, i've read on some problems after the update (on real MAC'S), so i will stay with 10.4.8 at the moment.

 

P.S. Although the following is not a problem with this board, i want to mention that the behavior of my Osx86 machine in Photoshop (either PS2 and PS3), is not quite same as in XP on the same machine.

And what i mean:

If i grab a picture (small resolution or high doesn't matter) with the hand tool (after zooming a lot so i can move all the picture) and start to move it, slow or fast, i get some tearing of the picture. Not much, but it's there.

On the other hand on XP on the same machine with the same specs, and with the same type of HDD, this effect doesn't exist.

On XP the panning of the pic using Hand tool, is smooth all across the screen (the picture remain as it is and moves without any tearing or anything else).

It's like you move a picture in front of your eyes, the picture moves naturally, that's how it supposed to be on Fast machines too.

 

I must say that i haven't seen a real G5 or MacPro to test this.

 

Also i upgrated to a 7600GS.

 

P.S.2 Do i expect too much from a Hack ?????

 

Regards

and sorry for the Off Topic

 

EDIT: After further testing, it seems that this issue is Resolution dependent. So if i use 800X600 it works pretty good, but as soon as i climb up, things getting worst.

1024X768, 1280x1024, 1600x1200.

So it seems as Drivers are not work as they suppose to!

[consolation]

I think I can get the "tear" on CS2 if I move it real fast, the picture kind of jumps a little - is that what you mean? I have to try pretty hard however. Smooth as butter on CS3.

[kle500]

I think I can get the "tear" on CS2 if I move it real fast, the picture kind of jumps a little - is that what you mean? I have to try pretty hard however. Smooth as butter on CS3.

On higher resolutions, except that the picture is not following the hand tool (my movement of my hand is faster than the movement on the screen), i get a blurry picture.

 

The PC i am writing now, is an Athlon64 3200, with an MX400 (very old card).

I tested the PS3 demo 10 minutes ago with the same picture, and i was shocked. The movement is smooth even here (using 1280X1024).

Damn, i don't know...... I have recorded a sample of my screen with my camera, i will try and see if i can upload somewhere.

 

I am a graphics designer for many years, and i started using Photoshop on MAC.

I was using my G3 with Photoshop 5.5 and i also had a PC using the same version.

I always felt that the MAC was smoother than the PC on PS.

 

So, is this a problem with Drivers?

 

I use 10.4.8 with semthex nd.21

 

EDIT: Should i post this kind of question on "Web and Graphical Design" so i will not get OffTopic ???

[borisbadenov]

I have a Asus P5LD2 mobo, MSI X1600 pro 256mb card, 1 gig ram, E6400 and I have updated my system to 10.4.9 with the 8.9.1 kernel and it runs sooth as silk for me. MY screen res is at 1600x1200. When I installed, all I had to do was patch my sound card ALC882 and after the 10.4.9 patch was add the correct fsb to my plist for boot. Sweet

[kle500]

I have updated my system to 10.4.9 with the 8.9.1 kernel and it runs sooth as silk for me. MY screen res is at 1600x1200.

Are you referring to Photoshop or in general?

[kle500]

Because i don't want to spoil the topic with my OffTopic Photoshop behavior, i continue here:

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=46961

 

Regards

[Krokus]

What is the difference between P5LD2-VM and P5LD2- SE. According to the specs the vm has one extra FSB speed. I can't find any other difference. Is one older than the other? Newegg has been out of stock for a while and i'm trying to which to get. Seems that newegg has the best prices.

 

Thanks

 

Krokus

[consolation]

What is the difference between P5LD2-VM and P5LD2- SE. According to the specs the vm has one extra FSB speed. I can't find any other difference. Is one older than the other? Newegg has been out of stock for a while and i'm trying to which to get. Seems that newegg has the best prices.

 

Thanks

 

Krokus

 

Google, the answer to so many questions....

http://www.asus.com/products3.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=194

see the little "specifications" buttons next to the pretty pictures... good.

[Krokus]

Google, the answer to so many questions....

http://www.asus.com/products3.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=194

see the little "specifications" buttons next to the pretty pictures... good.

 

Like I said, if you read my comments, I see the specs- the only difference I can see is the FBS has an extra speed. They dont give you any extra info.

[tterminal]

50gb is fine.

 

with the JaS.10.4.8.AMD.Intel.SSE2.SSE3 ISO you shouldnt need any ppf patching (burn at like 4x it should be fine)

 

you can leave the windows partition in there. if you install osx onto the same hd you will be able to still select it from darwin's boot menu.

 

-DiaboliK

 

 

 

My installation doesnt seem to work. It does go till the final stages and mentions that there is something wrong with the DVD and it seems that its got scratches . I also noticed that the version does not contain the 10.4.8 Semthex Kernel . Please do let me know what I should be doing??

 

Is the Semthex a part of the 104.8 kexts of Intel. Also let me know if i need to select the AMD Kexts along with the installation.

 

Thanks

 

Me

 

1) According to our beloved friend "Diabolik", in our board the 533 modules will work faster than the 667, cause of the lower latency of the 533 modules.

I have installed 2 X 1g Kingston 667 modules in my board and is working great, although i would like to test 533 modules to see difference.

2) i don't think you have to read something special, if you follow the instructions you will be ok.

3) I have not used IDE drives in my setup, but i always disconnect my other drives, cause i don't want to mess with other OS's

4)I have tried most of the images 10.4.8 all all work fine. You won't have any problem with the mentioned image.

 

Depending on what you want to work with, you may consider an extra Graphics card.

I was using the onboard GMA950, but working with ProApps and Photoshop, wasn't up to the task, so i upgrated to a Gainward 7600GS Silent, and i saw a big difference in smoothness.

 

But as i mentioned before, if you want the best from your setup, get a Raptor for the System disk, then you will get really really snappy behavior.

Maybe, i am used to that speed, in my other machines (XP's), and now, whenever i install OS (Osx, XP) on 7200 drives, it seems to me that the machine is slow!

That's the problem when you use to work with fast parts (especially HDD).

I am used to work with 10.000 HDD's either SCSI or RAPTOR'S.

 

It does not seem to work... can you please help me. The DVD doesnt seem to have Semthex!!

 

Me

[DiaboliK]

My installation doesnt seem to work. It does go till the final stages and mentions that there is something wrong with the DVD and it seems that its got scratches . I also noticed that the version does not contain the 10.4.8 Semthex Kernel . Please do let me know what I should be doing??

 

Is the Semthex a part of the 104.8 kexts of Intel. Also let me know if i need to select the AMD Kexts along with the installation.

 

Thanks

 

Me

 

 

 

It does not seem to work... can you please help me. The DVD doesnt seem to have Semthex!!

 

Me

 

i dont know what disk your looking at, because mine have the same name and it does include semthex. (Beta 9)

 

redownload a new image, thats all i can say.

 

-DiaboliK

[consolation]

Like I said, if you read my comments, I see the specs- the only difference I can see is the FBS has an extra speed. They dont give you any extra info.

 

if you read the specs (you did click the "specifications" buttons - right?) you will see that; the available fsb speeds are the same for both boards, SE has 2 (vs 4 for the full edition) ram slots and it lacks onboard raid. The lack of raid is immaterial as we can't get it to run at the moment, so the only pita with SE are the 2 ram slots.

 

i dont know what disk your looking at, because mine have the same name and it does include semthex. (Beta 9)

 

redownload a new image, thats all i can say.

 

-DiaboliK

 

-or at least try to burn the dvd again....

[tterminal]

if you read the specs (you did click the "specifications" buttons - right?) you will see that; the available fsb speeds are the same for both boards, SE has 2 (vs 4 for the full edition) ram slots and it lacks onboard raid. The lack of raid is immaterial as we can't get it to run at the moment, so the only pita with SE are the 2 ram slots.

-or at least try to burn the dvd again....

 

Eureka !!! It worked !!

 

I am Glad that it worked !! Thanks for the great tutorial and the dumb previous post. Atleast i got it in figured out !!

 

I am facing a small "AppleIntel915.kext" error... is this OK or do i have to do something to it !! If yes, What ??

 

Me