Hackintosh 10.5.5 Retail Rig - Starting at $305

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: swilso
http://forums.overclockers.com...744111&highlight=osx86

A modded 360 case to run this guys osx86 project. Looks good.

ROFL, when worlds collide :laugh:

 

[Zaap]

Originally posted by: Kaido
Nope works fine. Turns out you need JmicronATA v.1 + LegacyJmicronATA. It's in my DS3L thread, final package and all. I just haven't had time to write up instructions. That's the killer - documentation.

I didn't install either. Turns out for me it was the LegacyAppleAHCIPort kexts in the Extra/Extensions folder (fixes the orange external drive icons) that make the Jmicron controller work.

 

[Braeburn]

Got my Hackintosh (10.5.6) online last night. Went smooth once I got better at directions. HAd to use nvinstaller to get the right resolutions on my card (to be expected, and had to remember that darwin does not like spaces in drive names . I was wondering if someone has used the Leopard Soup guide to do the GA-945GCMX-S2 board? I have one laying around and would like to make it a mini HTPC. Any / all guidance appreciated. I searched this thread but did not see anything.

 

[mosslack]

Originally posted by: Braeburn
Got my Hackintosh (10.5.6) online last night. Went smooth once I got better at directions. HAd to use nvinstaller to get the right resolutions on my card (to be expected, and had to remember that darwin does not like spaces in drive names . I was wondering if someone has used the Leopard Soup guide to do the GA-945GCMX-S2 board? I have one laying around and would like to make it a mini HTPC. Any / all guidance appreciated. I searched this thread but did not see anything.

Actually the GA-945GCMX-S2 is one of the best boards out there for a Hack. I first did mine with a Kalyway install, but later converted to the boot 132 method. IIRC I used the latest DS3L kit but didn't apply the kext package. If you use the on board video, be sure to specify the GMA950 video for the choice there. You also must use a core based CPU, it won't work with anything less without much more hacking. Mine has an E4500 which works great. HTH

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Zaap

Originally posted by: Kaido
Nope works fine. Turns out you need JmicronATA v.1 + LegacyJmicronATA. It's in my DS3L thread, final package and all. I just haven't had time to write up instructions. That's the killer - documentation.

I didn't install either. Turns out for me it was the LegacyAppleAHCIPort kexts in the Extra/Extensions folder (fixes the orange external drive icons) that make the Jmicron controller work.

Weird! I spent a day testing things and mine wouldn't work without either, and the JmicronATA had to be the v1.0.0 version, otherwise I'd get a kernel panic. Odd...

 

[Zaap]

Kaido, I used these files from netkas's site: http://netkas.org/?p=80)

Followed his command line hacks to activate.

If you have time, maybe you could confirm the method works on your setup too, and if one is a better fix than the other? I'll have another couple of UD3P-based machines this coming week or so to mess with. (Funny since Apple didn't come out with any updates this go around at Macworld, so many people I know that were saving to get something from Apple are building Hacks instead.)

 

[mosslack]

Anyone else having issues with reboots? Mine concerns going from Vista to Leopard, or vice-versa. If I just choose restart and then go to the other OS, something always goes wrong. It's like the RAM isn't clearing itself between boots. If I choose shutdown instead then everything works just fine. I've done a lot of work with multi-OS machines before, but this is the first one I've encountered like this. I also don't get a post beep from the speaker when going from Vista to Leopard. Very weird.

 

[swilso]

Originally posted by: mosslack
Anyone else having issues with reboots? Mine concerns going from Vista to Leopard, or vice-versa. If I just choose restart and then go to the other OS, something always goes wrong. It's like the RAM isn't clearing itself between boots. If I choose shutdown instead then everything works just fine. I've done a lot of work with multi-OS machines before, but this is the first one I've encountered like this. I also don't get a post beep from the speaker when going from Vista to Leopard. Very weird.

I dual boot x64 vista and leopard and have no issues. I usually hit restart in vista when I want to load leopard (as osx is the default boot). And if i want vista i hold the f12 button and do it through the bios boot selector. But i haven't had any issues at all .. ?

 

[mosslack]

Originally posted by: swilso

Originally posted by: mosslack
Anyone else having issues with reboots? Mine concerns going from Vista to Leopard, or vice-versa. If I just choose restart and then go to the other OS, something always goes wrong. It's like the RAM isn't clearing itself between boots. If I choose shutdown instead then everything works just fine. I've done a lot of work with multi-OS machines before, but this is the first one I've encountered like this. I also don't get a post beep from the speaker when going from Vista to Leopard. Very weird.

I dual boot x64 vista and leopard and have no issues. I usually hit restart in vista when I want to load leopard (as osx is the default boot). And if i want vista i hold the f12 button and do it through the bios boot selector. But i haven't had any issues at all .. ?

So yours is on separate drives then, mine is on the same drive. That shouldn't really matter but something is causing this problem. When I go from Vista to Leopard, I don't even hear a post beep from the speaker and then I get to booting Leoo and I get no clock and then usually just a blue screen or if it does go on into my desktop, the mouse is frozen or I get the YOU NEED TO RESTART YOUR COMPUTER message. When going from Leopard to Vista it boots okay, but then after using it awhile the computer starts randomly rebooting itself. I'm thinking it may be RAM related, I may take out all but one stick and see if that clears up the problem. Then put them back until the problem shows up again. That's the only thing I can think of.

Took all the RAM out except one stick and the problem still exists. Only thing I can think of now is that it is just a quirk of this mobo. Guess I'll just have to shutdown between reboots.

 

[leglez]

Anyone have any recommendations for a wireless network card besides the dell one on ebay?

 

[Braeburn]

Thanks Mosslack (Rolling Stones fan?) Looks like we will have very similar Hack by the time I am done. (I am typing this on a GA-EP35 and have a Wind Hackintosh too.) Has anyone else had the Time Machine (built in network interface could not be found error?) I reapplied the time machine fix to no avail (this is under 10.5.6) Actually on my real imac I had time machine issues and may just use superduper anyway I have the registered copy. But based on the rave reviews wanted to try it out.

More info: Looks like Super duper has issues erasing the new drive too, ACHI is enabled(EP board) and I did apply the time machine fix in Uinstaller. Is this the symptoms of a UUID issue?

Update:
After applying the Time Machine fix from Uinstaller about the 4th time, it worked. So using time machine ATM. Its gonna take it a while after syncopation synced 16K + songs from iTunes

 

[mosslack]

Originally posted by: Braeburn
Thanks Mosslack (Rolling Stones fan?) Looks like we will have very similar Hack by the time I am done. (I am typing this on a GA-EP35 and have a Wind Hackintosh too.) Has anyone else had the Time Machine (built in network interface could not be found error?) I reapplied the time machine fix to no avail (this is under 10.5.6) Actually on my real imac I had time machine issues and may just use superduper anyway I have the registered copy. But based on the rave reviews wanted to try it out.

More info: Looks like Super duper has issues erasing the new drive too, ACHI is enabled(EP board) and I did apply the time machine fix in Uinstaller. Is this the symptoms of a UUID issue?

I had the UUID issue until I installed the new bootloader on the GA-945GCMX-S2. Once I did that then I could use SD with no problems. Before that I was booting with the USB stick method. Now it used the HD and everything works as it should. I never messed with Time Machine as I use SD for bootable HD backups and Chronosync on my DA file server.

 

[Zaap]

Originally posted by: mosslack
Anyone else having issues with reboots? Mine concerns going from Vista to Leopard, or vice-versa. If I just choose restart and then go to the other OS, something always goes wrong. It's like the RAM isn't clearing itself between boots. If I choose shutdown instead then everything works just fine. I've done a lot of work with multi-OS machines before, but this is the first one I've encountered like this. I also don't get a post beep from the speaker when going from Vista to Leopard. Very weird.

Mosslack, I had a similar problem on a system using an EP35-DS4 motherboard (before switching it to a later BIOS version), and going from one OS to the other. Almost always, at least the system clock would be wrong in either OS after a restart from the other. Sometimes, I'd see erratic behavior, hardware errors like the USB ports not working as though they were still in use by the other OS, etc.

It seemed to me like something from the OS's was being held in memory, like you say. Even weirder than what you describe though: sometimes only cutting power to the machine at the PSU would 'clear' things out and allow the machine to boot the other OS properly, otherwise, not even a full shutdown would do it.

It must be BIOS related, because a BIOS update on that board cured the problem. I suspect that Gigabyte canceled the EP35-DS4 after the two seconds it was available because of some of it's BIOS quirks, although the update solved all my issues with it.

 

[mosslack]

Originally posted by: Zaap

Originally posted by: mosslack
Anyone else having issues with reboots? Mine concerns going from Vista to Leopard, or vice-versa. If I just choose restart and then go to the other OS, something always goes wrong. It's like the RAM isn't clearing itself between boots. If I choose shutdown instead then everything works just fine. I've done a lot of work with multi-OS machines before, but this is the first one I've encountered like this. I also don't get a post beep from the speaker when going from Vista to Leopard. Very weird.

Mosslack, I had a similar problem on a system using an EP35-DS4 motherboard (before switching it to a later BIOS version), and going from one OS to the other. Almost always, at least the system clock would be wrong in either OS after a restart from the other. Sometimes, I'd see erratic behavior, hardware errors like the USB ports not working as though they were still in use by the other OS, etc.

It seemed to me like something from the OS's was being held in memory, like you say. Even weirder than what you describe though: sometimes only cutting power to the machine at the PSU would 'clear' things out and allow the machine to boot the other OS properly, otherwise, not even a full shutdown would do it.

It must be BIOS related, because a BIOS update on that board cured the problem. I suspect that Gigabyte canceled the EP35-DS4 after the two seconds it was available because of some of it's BIOS quirks, although the update solved all my issues with it.

Yeah I've had some quirky stuff happen before also, but nothing like this. I'm running the latest bios so I don't think that is it. The time thing has always been a problem for those of us who run Windows and Macs. The Mac OS will generally right itself after just a short time, but Windows will wait for it's next scheduled time check before fixing the time. I usually just use a short program which does this for me each time I boot.

At least the shutdown between reboots fixes the problem for me, so it is not something which cannot be overcome. I just wondered if anyone else had experienced this on the DS3L.

 

[swilso]

Originally posted by: leglez
Anyone have any recommendations for a wireless network card besides the dell one on ebay?

Yeh, I use an Asus WL-138G V2 PCI wireless card. In 10.5.0 it wont work but once i update the system from an install to 10.5.4 + (I am on 10.5.6 now) it works 100%.

Its a great card and cost me $20 AUD so about ~$15 USD new. There are different versions of the card so make sure it is a WL-138G V2. No hacking or anything required after the 10.5.4 + update it just works. I find the antenna has to be aimed at wherever your access point is to get best signal. My access point and hackintosh are 10~15m away (or 32~49 feet apart if you are imperial) and it passes through a microwave, fridge, bathroom, and 1 bedroom to get here and I still get a full signal

Hope that helps.

 

[volcs0]

Originally posted by: swilso

Originally posted by: mosslack
Anyone else having issues with reboots? Mine concerns going from Vista to Leopard, or vice-versa. If I just choose restart and then go to the other OS, something always goes wrong. It's like the RAM isn't clearing itself between boots. If I choose shutdown instead then everything works just fine. I've done a lot of work with multi-OS machines before, but this is the first one I've encountered like this. I also don't get a post beep from the speaker when going from Vista to Leopard. Very weird.

I dual boot x64 vista and leopard and have no issues. I usually hit restart in vista when I want to load leopard (as osx is the default boot). And if i want vista i hold the f12 button and do it through the bios boot selector. But i haven't had any issues at all .. ?

How did you get Vista installed on a separate drive? When I boot from the Vista disc, I cannot find a drive in my hackintosh suitable for vista installation. Once I load the SATA drivers from my gigabyte disc (GA-EP45-UD3P), I can see all the drives, but no manner of partitioning and formatting seems to work. I keep getting a "Vista cannot find a suitable drive for installation" or something like that.

I ended up just installing a VM, but I wanted a separate bootable drive for Vista.

Thanks.

 

[swilso]

@ volcs0 - Are all your drives formatted as Mac journaled ? If so then vista wont see them. Format one of the drives as either NTFS or FAT so vista can detect it. I didnt need to load no drivers just selected the sata HDD and clicked format then install... ? I am using x64 vista.

 

[mosslack]

Originally posted by: swilso
@ volcs0 - Are all your drives formatted as Mac journaled ? If so then vista wont see them. Format one of the drives as either NTFS or FAT so vista can detect it. I didnt need to load no drivers just selected the sata HDD and clicked format then install... ? I am using x64 vista.

Actually, Vista should still SEE the drive, it won't recognize the format and will consider the partition to be blank. IIRC, Vista is just like OS X, it must be installed on either SATA drive 0 or 1, but after it is installed it can then see all the drives.

 

[volcs0]

Originally posted by: mosslack

Originally posted by: swilso
@ volcs0 - Are all your drives formatted as Mac journaled ? If so then vista wont see them. Format one of the drives as either NTFS or FAT so vista can detect it. I didnt need to load no drivers just selected the sata HDD and clicked format then install... ? I am using x64 vista.

Actually, Vista should still SEE the drive, it won't recognize the format and will consider the partition to be blank. IIRC, Vista is just like OS X, it must be installed on either SATA drive 0 or 1, but after it is installed it can then see all the drives.

Yes - I formatted the drive as NTFS - tried FAT also.

Vista can see the drive - even format it. I can delete the partition and format it - but when I go to install vista, it won't - saying that there are no suitable drive.

I'm wondering if it is some combination of my motherboard, SATA, drivers, BIOS, etc.

One thing I have not tried (painful) is to just have one drive hooked up on the main (jmicron) sata channel and see if I can get vista installed that way- but I was hoping for an easier solution...

But at least now I know that I'm supposed to be able to install vista on a separate drive.

 

[mosslack]

swilso I think I may load up Vista on a separate drive and try that. It seems like when I first had Vista installed it was on another drive and I didn't have those restart issues then. It's only been a month or so ago, but dang if I can remember now!

No difference, still get the same results using the F12 key to switch between the drives. I think I will try the verbose option when I boot back into Leopard and see if I can find out anything that way.

I saw a lot of failures, USB was one of the failures which would explain why I have no mouse or keyboard control. This truly bums me out as I was hoping to make this my main computer. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

 

[swilso]

Um ... opps I dont know what happened but my system is freezing and running sooo slow something chronic now. To load osx takes about 3~5mins and even then I can't select anything or open nothing for ages and the system is extremely laggy and I get a wheel spin for everything. :-|

I was in the middle of an assignment had vmware opened in xp, about 10 tabs in firefox and couple ms word windows opened, msn etc as I was in the middle of doing a university assignment and my system started running shit. I went to shut down it came up updating boot cache please wait for some reason (I didnt install any kernals or anything) and it frooze so manually restarted the computer and now everything is running crap...

UPDATE: Ok now when I can boot into osx it comes up with a circle and a line through it on the apple symbol on load. that is only about 2/5 times the other 3/5 times my bios tells me there is no device connected on that sata port. I have tried switching sata ports thinking it wasnt connected properly and nothing just doesnt work any more. (Yep it is on port 0 and 1) my backup works although is beginning to do what my hdd was doing and operates extremely slowwww... :S puzzled.

 

[swilso]

Ok now my install does work, very weird. Although on load it comes up and says:
DISK REPAIR
The disk "Mac Storage" (which is a partition on my main hard drive running osx, for what the name suggests = storage) can not be repaired and is being made avaliable with limited functionality. please backup data and reformat the drive.

Would this suggest my ~2month old seagate HDD may be about to fail ? it is a 500gb/32mb cache drive - its still under warranty so if it does I will RMA it. Has anyone else had this error before? is it simply a corrupted partition and needs to be reformatted or is it a sign my hard drive is going to die .... Luckily I was able to recover my uni assignment I am currently in the middle of!

EDIT: Ok I figured it out. It seemed to be an unstable overclock - i took all settings back to stock and it is working fine

EDIT EDIT: It just happened again, and after the system completely locks up the HDD is completely un-accessible and the BIOS wont even detect a HDD there .. :S ?

 

[Zaap]

Originally posted by: volcs0
One thing I have not tried (painful) is to just have one drive hooked up on the main (jmicron) sata channel and see if I can get vista installed that way- but I was hoping for an easier solution...

This is the way you should do it. It shouldn't be painful; just temporarily unplug the other harddrive's SATA power or data cable from the drive.

If you have your OSX drive formatted with GUID and set as the default boot drive, then of course Vista won't install on the system. It's because it can't write the bootloader to your default drive. Windows will always attempt to install its bootloader on the current default boot drive- even when that's not the same drive you're installing Vista on. If this is the case, it's actually a GOOD thing Vista will refuse to install- if it did, and your OSX drive is default, Vista would overwrite the OSX bootloader and screw up OSX.

Just think of it as if you built the PC to run Vista in the first place, with one hard drive installed. Kind of ironic, because actually the PC is designed for this, not running OSX.

I'd always recommend unplugging the OSX drive when installing Windows, just to remove all possibility of Windows screwing with it. For whatever reason, I've seen Windows screw up other drive's bootloaders, even when the drive it's being installed to is set to default in the BIOS. To be safe with a mult-boot system: remove other non-Windows bootable drives.

Once Vista is set up, and the bootloader is installed on the same drive as Vista (guaranteed, since it'll be the only option) then you can reattach the other drives and use F12 to select which to boot from.

 

[mshan]

Is it ok to just unplug the SATA data plug only (leave power connector connected) while working with one hard drive in an eventual two hard drive , two OS system? (for me, it would just be easiest to temporarily pull out the SATA data connector from mobo)

 

[mosslack]

Originally posted by: mshan
Is it ok to just unplug the SATA data plug only (leave power connector connected) while working with one hard drive in an eventual two hard drive , two OS system? (for me, it would just be easiest to temporarily pull out the SATA data connector from mobo)

Six of one, half dozen of the other, it makes no difference. If it is easier to unplug the data cable then so be it. Either way the drive will not be seen by the system. Do it with the power off just to be on the safe side, most SATA drives these days are hot plug compatible, but just in case, turn off the power first.