[HowTo] Building my first OSx86 box...

[icyderguru]

I just want to say (again) that based on my experience here and the fact that Raptors are about 4x more expensive per GB that I consider them to be a huge waste of money.

 

Furthermore, the Hitachi T7K250 beats the Raptor in some benchmarks: http://www.cluboverclocker.com/reviews/har...7K250/index.htm

 

I bought a Hitachi T7K250 last week and unless Raptors come down significantly in price while adding an SATA II (3.0 Gbps) interface, I really doubt I would ever buy Raptors again (in fact, I have contemplated selling the ones I have).

 

Raptor Drives only make sense when you are using mostly very small files - like hosting a huge database. Otherwise it is better to get a large Sata2 Drive. The Raptor drives are not bad if you use it for what they were build.

 

Greetings

[bofors]

I have been unable to use Hitachi's "Feature Tool" to enable SATA II (3.0 Gbps). I just got of the phone with Hitachi and they are suggesting that the problem is the RAID functionality of my board's chipset (ICH7R). So, either I have to find someother machine to enable SATA II my T7K250 on or try to use a PCI SATA card (without RAID).

 

I went to CompUSA and picked up a PCI SATA card without RAID hoping that I would be able to use it to enable SATA II (3.0 Gbps) on Hitachi T7K250. But no such luck, and moreover the card did not appear to work with OSx86 either. This is card I tried, a CompUSA branded board with a Silicon Image SATA controller chip:

 

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_in...ype=ts#moreinfo

[looper]

Furthermore, the Hitachi T7K250 beats the Raptor in some benchmarks: http://www.cluboverclocker.com/reviews/har...7K250/index.htm

 

Wow! I had not seen this comparison- I did not realize the SATA II's were this close in performance to the Raptors. Glad I asked when I did! Thanks Bofors

[jackt283]

I've got two WD200JS drives (Western Digital, 200GB, 8mb cache, 7200rpm, SataII), and the same motherboard as Bofors', are these drives operating at there full speed, in relation to their bandwidth (3.0) ?

[stelriah]

bofors are you planning on upgrading to 10.4.6 anytime soon?

[bofors]

No, I am not planing to upgrade to 10.4.6. I have had absolutely no kernel panics, spontaneous rebotos, or any other problems on 10.4.5. As far as I am concerned, 10.4.5 is perfect, I have no reason to upgrade.

[buttcheeks]

Bofors,

Thanks for the most excellent thread. I put together a frankenmac from an old Sotec box laying in my attic. After checking some stuff out, I picked up a used 945GNT board and put a lowly celeron in it. Trying to get it going led me to this thread and I got it up, running, and connected online (10.4.5). I'm now playing with a 4.6 installation, on a separate disk, so I give parallels a go. I'm not a PC guy, but I just wanted to see how parallels would run xp through osX on a pc. Keep ya posted.

Thanks again.

 

'cheeks

 

ps- you ever get a start up disk solution?

[bofors]

Regarding my startup disk, I am now booting of my Hitachi T7K250 (250 GB). I spent quite a bit of time jacking around with Hitachi's "Feature Tool" to try to enable SATA II (3.0 Gbps) but failed. My last attempt was to stick the SATA PCI board I picked up from CompUSA (detailed above) into my Dad's five year old Dell Dimension but no go.

 

I was close to sending my Hitachi T7K250 back to NewEgg and getting someother SATA II drive, but I was kind of tired of messing with this issue and I was not really excited about the other choices either. Furthermore, I suspect that the difference between 1.5 and 3.0 Gbps here is not so great and that sooner or later I will get T7K250 in SATA II mode.

 

I will update will signature with the new configuration soon.

[bofors]

I want to report that a defect has emerged on one of my Dell 2005FPW panels.

 

It basically looks like a light streak of crud that runs from near the middle of my panel the bottom close to the center of the screen. I appears so like something produced by wiping a greasy finger, that I assumed it was for while and when I could not clean it, I determined my panel had a problem.

 

The defect is likely to have arisen from some misapplication of a thin flim on back side of the panel. It is minor enough for hold off sending it back to Dell until it is convenient for me, but I will definitely be returning it before my three year warranty expires.

 

I want to report that I am now noticing this problem on my other Dell 2005FPW. It has developed two streak-like defects, one in almost exactly the same location as described above (left of middle) and the other running down right side. These are even lighter than the first at the moment, so it still is really not worth sending back to Dell yet, but now both of my panel will be going back at some (convient) point in time.

 

I am planning to contact Dell and ask them about this problem which could be caused in part by the fact that I leave my panels on constantly (with screen saver). While I am still relatively satisfied with my Dell panels, I can hardly reccomend what clearly is a defective product. I have had two Samsung 912n panels run under the same conditions for about 18 months (verus about 6 for the Dell's) and they are still perfect.

[looper]

I've finally got my machine up and running, I wasted alot of time trying to get 10.4.6 running smoothly but I went back to 10.4.5 and It's been smooth sailing (relatively).

 

The major issue for me right now is this: I've got a firewire based audio interface (metric halo MIO 2882) that I have connected to the built in firewire port on the 945GNTLKR, and the front end software "console" recognizes the box and I am able to send commands to the box through the console. The problem is that the device isn't showing up in the "audio midi setup" app. It needs to be there so the other 3rd party audio applications can address the box. I have searched the forums for info on core audio and it seems that it is possible for firewire boxes to be addressed in audio midi setup app, but I'm not sure if this is something that can be fixed by tinkering with existing kexts, etc. or if it is dependent on the manufacturer writing the driver. the current driver is a universal binary which apparently works great on macintels.

 

I'm a newbie but I've gotten this far and I don't want to give up on getting this thing going as an audio rig.

 

Thanks for your time and all your efforts Bofors

[looper]

sorry to be answering my own posts, just wanted to report that I have been successful in getting coreaudio to recognize the firewire interface correctly- I did a clean install using a different iso of 10.4.5 (patched 10.4.4 myzar) which I installed to my second SATAII drive. I will be doing some testing in the next couple days to determine if it totally functional with other 3rd party applications. Not sure why the other iso of 10.4.5 (universal install intel/amd/sse3/sse2) didn't work.

 

maybe this should move to the pro audio forum?

 

 

 

PS Bofors on another topic my local retailer couldn't get the hitachi TK7250 so I opted for a WD2500KS SATAII which is recognized as SATAII under disk utility (if set to AHCI in BIOS). It's a bit noiser than I'd like but oh well the 300mb/sec functionality is there right out of the box

[martin1976]

Hey guys! I've been looking for the recommended hardware to build the Hackingtosh but I cannot find them. Since this is a very visited thread, does anyone know where can I find it. THANKS in advance!

Basically I don't know which mobo go for without having to spend a lot...

 

ME

[Alessandro17]

Hey guys! I've been looking for the recommended hardware to build the Hackingtosh but I cannot find them. Since this is a very visited thread, does anyone know where can I find it. THANKS in advance!

Basically I don't know which mobo go for without having to spend a lot...

 

Basically what matters most is the motherboard.

I bought the Intel D945GNTLKR as suggested by bofors.

It should be easy to find one online.

I used the 10.4.6 Jas DVD + PPPF1 and everything is working just fine.

Also buy the recommended DVD drive if you want to be sure that burning is supported (I have a Pioneer DVR-111D)

[martin1976]

Thanks a lot. I was wondering about the ISO you used too, since bofors used Myzar's and I just cannot find it anywhere. But since you say 10.4.6 Jas DVD + PPPF1 work fine, I think I am pretty much good to go. Quick question, though: Is your RAM 667 or 533? I know that mobo is compatible with 533MHz, but the suggested by them is 667. Thing is I already bought 2GB of DDR2 @ 533MHz...let me know...Anyone... I also bougth an Asus EAX1600PRO 512MB PCIe, is it better to use it than the onboard one or am I perfectly fine with it? I know the on board one is not as good of a card as the Asus, but if it works better than a PCIe, be it, you know?

[Alessandro17]

Thanks a lot. I was wondering about the ISO you used too, since bofors used Myzar's and I just cannot find it anywhere. But since you say 10.4.6 Jas DVD + PPPF1 work fine, I think I am pretty much good to go. Quick question, though: Is your RAM 667 or 533? I know that mobo is compatible with 533MHz, but the suggested by them is 667. Thing is I already bought 2GB of DDR2 @ 533MHz...let me know...Anyone... I also bougth an Asus EAX1600PRO 512MB PCIe, is it better to use it than the onboard one or am I perfectly fine with it? I know the on board one is not as good of a card as the Asus, but if it works better than a PCIe, be it, you know?

 

My RAM is one of these kits:

 

http://www.crucial.com/ballistix/store/MPa...L2KIT12864AA663

 

I am using the onboard GMA950, but if you want to use your 1600PRO, have a look at this thread:

 

http://forum.osx86project.org/index.php?sh...=19806&st=0

[bofors]

I know that mobo is compatible with 533MHz, but the suggested by them is 667. Thing is I already bought 2GB of DDR2 @ 533MHz...

 

DDR2-533 RAM should work just fine.

 

I also bougth an Asus EAX1600PRO 512MB PCIe, is it better to use it than the onboard one or am I perfectly fine with it? I know the on board one is not as good of a card as the Asus, but if it works better than a PCIe, be it, you know?

 

Your Asus x1600 card should work fine with one monitor. Just follow the "BorisBadenov" Method...

[martin1976]

One question just before I get started. I will receive my board tomorrow (same as bofors)...which is easier, SATA or regular EIDE? I have both. And, do I need to have Windows preinstalled to do this or can I just boot form the JaS CD? Please, let me know...

[bofors]

...which is easier, SATA or regular EIDE?

 

It makes no difference.

 

And, do I need to have Windows preinstalled to do this or can I just boot form the JaS CD?

 

You certainly can boot off JaS' OSx86 installation DVD, but you want to dual boot, you should follow some guide as when and how to install Windows.

 

Don't forget to update your board's BIOS upon receipt.

[martin1976]

Hey I boot from the JaS DVD and this is all I get. I didn't format the HDD, it is just an unpartioned HDD. What's wrong?

 

Can I use any DVD drive for the installation or it has to be one of the supported ones?

 

 

Nevermind, I change the DVD drive and now I got this

 

 

It's going! (Hope so)

 

 

OK, got stuck there...do I need to change anything in BIOS if I'm using a SATA?

 

Now after this screen it shuts down! Help PLEASE..

Edited July 8, 2006 by locuras

[bofors]

OK, to start with I would suggest that you just use the on-board GMA 950. Take you ATI x1600 and all other cards out.

 

There should be no problem using SATA with the default BIOS setting. In a worst case scenario, OS X will simply not "see" your SATA hard drive. It certainly should not cause the installer to shut down.

 

Now, can you tell us exactly want kind of DVD drive you are working with?

 

How long does the installer run for until it shuts down?

[martin1976]

OK, to start with I would suggest that you just use the on-board GMA 950. Take you ATI x1600 and all other cards out.

 

Ok I will do that

 

There should be no problem using SATA with the default BIOS setting. In a worst case scenario, OS X will simply not "see" your SATA hard drive. It certainly should not cause the installer to shut down.

 

Yes, there is no problem with the HDD being a SATA. The installation DVD "sees" it...

 

Now, can you tell us exactly want kind of DVD drive you are working with?

 

It is a Dynex, ever heard of it? I took it out of one of my PCs just to install OSX

Do you think it would be better if I buy a Pioneer?

 

 

How long does the installer run for until it shuts down?

 

For about 10 minutes, more or less gets stuck on "Preparing Installation" screen and it suddenly shuts down, no messages, no errors...

[bofors]

For about 10 minutes, more or less gets stuck on "Preparing Installation" screen and it suddenly shuts down, no messages, no errors...

 

It is a Dynex, ever heard of it? I took it out of one of my PCs just to install OSX

 

Do you think it would be better if I buy a Pioneer?

 

OSx86 is known to have "issues" with some DVD drives, like Plextor's.

 

This sounds like such a drive problem, getting a Pioneer is a good idea.

[martin1976]

Ok, I'm gonna start all over with this one. Wish me luck... bofors, thanks for being there bro.

 

 

DVR-710

 

OK, after a while, this is what I get: Can it be a bad ISO?

 

Here's the log

 

 

Ok, it went thru, now is doing this:

 

It said that there was errors checking the DVD and that I should restart. I clicked "Ignore and Continue", Did I do wrong?

 

Yes I did. It told me to start all over. I cleaned the DVD, let's see if it works... or do you suggest burning a brand new image?

 

OK, now this:

 

I'm burning a new image and also downloading another one just in case...

 

Ok, I burned a new image, it finished installing, it told me to restart, and now it doesn't boot into OSX, what am I misiing?

Edited July 8, 2006 by locuras

[bofors]

Well, I am sorry that you are having to go through all this {censored}, but at least you are making progress.

 

Now, I am being to suspect that there is a problem with the way you are burning your OSx86 disks. So please tell us exactly how you are doing it.

 

By the way, I always skip the installation disk check in OSx86. You might just want to try old disk again, click "skip" and see what happens.

[martin1976]

Well, I am sorry that you are having to go through all this {censored}, but at least you are making progress.

 

Now, I am being to suspect that there is a problem with the way you are burning your OSx86 disks. So please tell us exactly how you are doing it.

 

By the way, I always skip the installation disk check in OSx86. You might just want to try old disk again, click "skip" and see what happens.

 

Ok, what I had to do for it to boot into OSX is boot with Live CD, "flag" the partition to "boot" (acording to the Live CD help), and ....

 

YEAH!!! SUCCESS. THANK YOU BOFORS! and also the Borisbadenov Method worked on my ASUS! Yeah!!!

Now should I install the 10.4.7 update or should I use the patch?

 

 

BTW, and forgive my ignorance, but I am totally new to Macs and all of this, what is the "Darwing" thing that shows on a DOS kind of windows when the PC starts?