Hackintosh 10.5.5 Retail Rig - Starting at $305

[vailr]

@Kaido:
So: is anyone working on providing a method of installing Snow Leopard that doesn't require having access to a functioning OSX machine? For example: maybe someone that has a Windows or Linux PC and wants to dual-boot SL on that machine?
Ideally: a boot132 CD that you could download and burn in Windows/Linux. Then use it along with a blank 8 Gb USB flash drive + the retail SL install disc. All strictly within the guidelines of Apple's EULA, except for the portion about "restricted to Apple branded hardware".

 

[mosslack]

Originally posted by: Kaido
For those of you with a UD3P, there's a pre-beta kit for Snow Leopard available here:

<SNIP>

Planning for a Halloween launch for the Snow Leopard betas for the UD3P, DS3L, and ES2L, as well as updated 10.5.8 kits for all three boards (with the new DSDT fixes), plus an updated Wiki launch. And yes, Scooter, a new thread Cheers!

Did not work for me, of course I have 2 video cards in mine. Furthest I got was setting BIOS to PEG2, it would at least boot then. But the installer goes a short time before it errors out and locks everything up.

Edit: Tried once more and this time it worked. I cannot get it to boot while the display is set to PEG in BIOS, but it does boot okay with it set to PEG2. Of course this means only the center monitor works. Both my video cards in the UD3P are 8400 GS with 256 Mb RAM. But they show up in System profiler as a 7300SE and 8400GS. Both are said to be using Slot 1, which is not true, and my display is shown under the 7300SE pane. Both are listed as having x8 lane width, but only the 7300SE has the correct VRAM listed. The 8400GS is listed as having 4294967295 MB of VRAM. I'm sure these problems are related to the DSDT, but I'm not sure how to fix it.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: vailr
@Kaido:
So: is anyone working on providing a method of installing Snow Leopard that doesn't require having access to a functioning OSX machine? For example: maybe someone that has a Windows or Linux PC and wants to dual-boot SL on that machine?
Ideally: a boot132 CD that you could download and burn in Windows/Linux. Then use it along with a blank 8 Gb USB flash drive + the retail SL install disc. All strictly within the guidelines of Apple's EULA, except for the portion about "restricted to Apple branded hardware".

Well, that's the whole idea...DSDT support on the BootCD. It would negate using a USB drive if that worked. You can install it with the current BootCD, but it wipes out your BIOS the first few times, until you install the drivers to the hard drive. Kind of annoying

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: mosslack

Originally posted by: Kaido
For those of you with a UD3P, there's a pre-beta kit for Snow Leopard available here:

<SNIP>

Planning for a Halloween launch for the Snow Leopard betas for the UD3P, DS3L, and ES2L, as well as updated 10.5.8 kits for all three boards (with the new DSDT fixes), plus an updated Wiki launch. And yes, Scooter, a new thread Cheers!

Did not work for me, of course I have 2 video cards in mine. Furthest I got was setting BIOS to PEG2, it would at least boot then. But the installer goes a short time before it errors out and locks everything up.

Edit: Tried once more and this time it worked. I cannot get it to boot while the display is set to PEG in BIOS, but it does boot okay with it set to PEG2. Of course this means only the center monitor works. Both my video cards in the UD3P are 8400 GS with 256 Mb RAM. But they show up in System profiler as a 7300SE and 8400GS. Both are said to be using Slot 1, which is not true, and my display is shown under the 7300SE pane. Both are listed as having x8 lane width, but only the 7300SE has the correct VRAM listed. The 8400GS is listed as having 4294967295 MB of VRAM. I'm sure these problems are related to the DSDT, but I'm not sure how to fix it.

I'm gonna go with "10.5.8 ftw"

 

[mosslack]

I'm not having the problems you are, Safari has been rock solid for me and I do like the speed and features of SL much more than Leopard. Right now I'm following a thread on Hackin' an HP Mini 311. I think I may buy one if NewEgg ever gets them in stock. Also you may remember I had a heck of a time getting both my video cards working in 10.5, so this is nothing new. I believe this new Stellarola installer is very close to what I need for my dual video, just need to either use EFI strings or mod the DSDT so it recognizes both cards.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: mosslack
I'm not having the problems you are, Safari has been rock solid for me and I do like the speed and features of SL much more than Leopard. Right now I'm following a thread on Hackin' an HP Mini 311. I think I may buy one if NewEgg ever gets them in stock. Also you may remember I had a heck of a time getting both my video cards working in 10.5, so this is nothing new. I believe this new Stellarola installer is very close to what I need for my dual video, just need to either use EFI strings or mod the DSDT so it recognizes both cards.

Well that's good! I suspect that Safari is crashing due to Flash. Ack FYI, Stella's kit doesn't use EFI Strings or DSDT for video; it's actually generated on-the-fly from the bootloader. So if you have a working setup on Leopard in either DSDT or your Boot Plist via EFI Strings, try copying that over to your Snow Leopard drive and see if that works for ya.

 

[Ninjakat]

Got my hack up and running for a few weeks on 10.6.1 based on the Lifehacker install. Hack is a UD3P, Q9550, 9800GTX+ and everything seems to be running fine....except that I can't install Little Snitch ver 2.2 without it breaking my boot up. I keep getting the "computer must be restarted" message whenever I try to boot. Anybody else run across this problem?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[smokozuna]

Kaido, your the Freakin Greatest!

Thank You for all your hard work and dedication.

 

[muzo178]

Originally posted by: Ninjakat
Got my hack up and running for a few weeks on 10.6.1 based on the Lifehacker install. Hack is a UD3P, Q9550, 9800GTX+ and everything seems to be running fine....except that I can't install Little Snitch ver 2.2 without it breaking my boot up. I keep getting the "computer must be restarted" message whenever I try to boot. Anybody else run across this problem?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

I'm running 2.2 beta 1 and all is well. I'd appreciate a heads up if you sort out the issue so that I can upgrade comfortably.

 

[muzo178]

Originally posted by: Kaido
For those of you with a UD3P, there's a pre-beta kit for Snow Leopard available here:

http://j.mp/2Rkcpg

Preparation Instructions:

1. Format an 8GB USB stick using GUID/Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
2. Restore the Snow Leopard image to the USB stick
3. Install the package above to the USB stick

Installation Instructions:

1. Boot the USB stick & install Snow Leopard to your hard drive
2. Boot up to the hard drive and install the package to it (like you did to the USB stick)
3. Eject the USB stick & download all updates

Note: You can use a USB hard drive or a SATA hard drive for the 8GB partition as well, whatever you have handy.

Additional Notes:

This kit features:

* PC-EFI 10.4
* Auto-CPU detection (Silverlight now installs correctly)
* Auto-GPU detection (no EFI Strings or other drivers needed unless you have an oddball video card)
* Ethernet Fix built into bootloader
* DSDT file
* Legacy/DSDT Audio system (doesn't wipe out with updates! plus auto-sense headphones [beta])
* HPET Fix in DSDT (used in conjunction with Disabler.kext)
* CMOS Reset Fix (RTC bug) in DSDT
* USB Fix in DSDT (your USB drives won't eject on wake from sleep anymore)

The only bug is the onboard Ethernet - it doesn't have AFP/Bonjour support. I'll try to have a script to fix that available when the beta is released later this month. I'm also working on a BootCD with DSDT support. Much thanks to Stella for putting all of this together & doing massive work & testing! You can edit the Themes Plist for native boot resolution support; I'll cover this in the guide later on if you don't know how to do that.

Planning for a Halloween launch for the Snow Leopard betas for the UD3P, DS3L, and ES2L, as well as updated 10.5.8 kits for all three boards (with the new DSDT fixes), plus an updated Wiki launch. And yes, Scooter, a new thread Cheers!

Been running this for a while now and it is rock solid. I believe this is for NVIDIA cards though. So if you have an ATI card, don't.

Don't ATI with a Hack anyways. Always PITA.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: muzo178
Been running this for a while now and it is rock solid. I believe this is for NVIDIA cards though. So if you have an ATI card, don't.

Don't ATI with a Hack anyways. Always PITA.

Yup, ATI support:

http://netkas.org/?p=245

And basic 4800-series support (no QE/CI).

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Ninjakat
Got my hack up and running for a few weeks on 10.6.1 based on the Lifehacker install. Hack is a UD3P, Q9550, 9800GTX+ and everything seems to be running fine....except that I can't install Little Snitch ver 2.2 without it breaking my boot up. I keep getting the "computer must be restarted" message whenever I try to boot. Anybody else run across this problem?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

I just installed Little Snitch 2.2 to test and I don't have any boot problems. 2 questions out of curiousity:

1. Are you using onboard Ethernet? If so, are both ports enabled?
2. Does your RAM pass 6 memory tests using Memtest? (Bootable CD)

To more or less keep track of the development timeline:

Alpha release: Lifehacker's Magic Installer
Pre-beta release: Stella's Pumpkin Installer
Beta release: Coming for Halloween (mainly adds AFP/Bonjour support for onboard Ethernet via a script)
Final release: ETA unknown (waiting on a better Ethernet fix & a BootCD w/ DSDT support)

So you're on the Alpha release (via Lifehacker), you may want to try installing the Pumpkin installer from Stella:

http://stellarola.tumblr.com/p...r-v2-halloween-edition

 

[Ninjakat]

Ehternet is a TRENDnet TEG-PCITXR 10/ 100/ 1000/ 2000Mbps PCI Copper Gigabit Network Adapter

RAM passed the memory test when I built this back in April, but haven't run the test lately.

Will try the pumpkin installer and see what happens.

Thanks for the help!

Originally posted by: Kaido

I just installed Little Snitch 2.2 to test and I don't have any boot problems. 2 questions out of curiousity:

1. Are you using onboard Ethernet? If so, are both ports enabled?
2. Does your RAM pass 6 memory tests using Memtest? (Bootable CD)

To more or less keep track of the development timeline:

Alpha release: Lifehacker's Magic Installer
Pre-beta release: Stella's Pumpkin Installer
Beta release: Coming for Halloween (mainly adds AFP/Bonjour support for onboard Ethernet via a script)
Final release: ETA unknown (waiting on a better Ethernet fix & a BootCD w/ DSDT support)

So you're on the Alpha release (via Lifehacker), you may want to try installing the Pumpkin installer from Stella:

http://stellarola.tumblr.com/p...r-v2-halloween-edition

 

[mosslack]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Well that's good! I suspect that Safari is crashing due to Flash. Ack FYI, Stella's kit doesn't use EFI Strings or DSDT for video; it's actually generated on-the-fly from the bootloader. So if you have a working setup on Leopard in either DSDT or your Boot Plist via EFI Strings, try copying that over to your Snow Leopard drive and see if that works for ya.

I thought that method might detect both cards, which is does, but there seem to be too many conflicts as System profiler says they both occupy slot 1. That and the RAM on one card is way out of line. I did use the same Boot.plist and smbios.plist and DSDT which made some difference as now I have video on my 2 large monitors, but not the middle one. This is when I set the BIOS to PEG. No sound as I am using the DSDT from my DS3L which is how I got it to work the last time. Now for some strange reason I can longer get it to work as it did before.

I feel stel's installer having detected both cards is a step in the right direction, but there needs to be some means by which they are sorted better. If I ever figure out how to add a second video card to the DSDT this may prove to be the answer I'm looking for.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: mosslack

Originally posted by: Kaido

Well that's good! I suspect that Safari is crashing due to Flash. Ack FYI, Stella's kit doesn't use EFI Strings or DSDT for video; it's actually generated on-the-fly from the bootloader. So if you have a working setup on Leopard in either DSDT or your Boot Plist via EFI Strings, try copying that over to your Snow Leopard drive and see if that works for ya.

I thought that method might detect both cards, which is does, but there seem to be too many conflicts as System profiler says they both occupy slot 1. That and the RAM on one card is way out of line. I did use the same Boot.plist and smbios.plist and DSDT which made some difference as now I have video on my 2 large monitors, but not the middle one. This is when I set the BIOS to PEG. No sound as I am using the DSDT from my DS3L which is how I got it to work the last time. Now for some strange reason I can longer get it to work as it did before.

I feel stel's installer having detected both cards is a step in the right direction, but there needs to be some means by which they are sorted better. If I ever figure out how to add a second video card to the DSDT this may prove to be the answer I'm looking for.

You forgot to wait for the unicorns to come out of the rainbow. When that happens, reboot your computer and wait for the DSDT to align with the stars on the night of the full moon. You should be fine after that!

 

[Ninjakat]

Kaido, thanks for the help! Ran the Pumpkin installer and then loaded Little Snitch 2.2. Rebooted right up!

Thanks!

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: Ninjakat
Got my hack up and running for a few weeks on 10.6.1 based on the Lifehacker install. Hack is a UD3P, Q9550, 9800GTX+ and everything seems to be running fine....except that I can't install Little Snitch ver 2.2 without it breaking my boot up. I keep getting the "computer must be restarted" message whenever I try to boot. Anybody else run across this problem?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

I just installed Little Snitch 2.2 to test and I don't have any boot problems. 2 questions out of curiousity:

1. Are you using onboard Ethernet? If so, are both ports enabled?
2. Does your RAM pass 6 memory tests using Memtest? (Bootable CD)

To more or less keep track of the development timeline:

Alpha release: Lifehacker's Magic Installer
Pre-beta release: Stella's Pumpkin Installer
Beta release: Coming for Halloween (mainly adds AFP/Bonjour support for onboard Ethernet via a script)
Final release: ETA unknown (waiting on a better Ethernet fix & a BootCD w/ DSDT support)

So you're on the Alpha release (via Lifehacker), you may want to try installing the Pumpkin installer from Stella:

http://stellarola.tumblr.com/p...r-v2-halloween-edition

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Ninjakat
Kaido, thanks for the help! Ran the Pumpkin installer and then loaded Little Snitch 2.2. Rebooted right up!

Thanks!

np, glad it worked for ya The official beta will just add a script to enable AFP/Bonjour on the onboard NICs, so we're getting pretty close to a final release. I may also include a BootCD without DSDT support - it requires resetting your BIOS a couple times, but at least that way non-Mac users can install too. Minor pain, but you only have to do it during installation!

 

[mosslack]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: mosslack

Originally posted by: Kaido

Well that's good! I suspect that Safari is crashing due to Flash. Ack FYI, Stella's kit doesn't use EFI Strings or DSDT for video; it's actually generated on-the-fly from the bootloader. So if you have a working setup on Leopard in either DSDT or your Boot Plist via EFI Strings, try copying that over to your Snow Leopard drive and see if that works for ya.

I thought that method might detect both cards, which is does, but there seem to be too many conflicts as System profiler says they both occupy slot 1. That and the RAM on one card is way out of line. I did use the same Boot.plist and smbios.plist and DSDT which made some difference as now I have video on my 2 large monitors, but not the middle one. This is when I set the BIOS to PEG. No sound as I am using the DSDT from my DS3L which is how I got it to work the last time. Now for some strange reason I can longer get it to work as it did before.

I feel stel's installer having detected both cards is a step in the right direction, but there needs to be some means by which they are sorted better. If I ever figure out how to add a second video card to the DSDT this may prove to be the answer I'm looking for.

You forgot to wait for the unicorns to come out of the rainbow. When that happens, reboot your computer and wait for the DSDT to align with the stars on the night of the full moon. You should be fine after that!

Hmmm, methinks Kaido has a sense of humor. :shocked: Actually I'm thinking about starting over from scratch, Stel's installer works fine for a normal UD3P, but mine just isn't normal. I have a long weekend coming up so that will give me some time to get it right.

 

[muzo178]

Psystar released a new software called Rebel EFI.

http://www.psystar.com/rebel_efi

After downloading, users simply insert a retail copy of the Snow Leopard DVD, follow the installation procedures and then install the application. The application automatically detects connected devices and downloads the appropriate drivers.

 

[mosslack]

Must be good, already destroyed the website!

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: muzo178
Psystar released a new software called Rebel EFI.

http://www.psystar.com/rebel_efi

After downloading, users simply insert a retail copy of the Snow Leopard DVD, follow the installation procedures and then install the application. The application automatically detects connected devices and downloads the appropriate drivers.

Site is dead.

 

[suklee]

Originally posted by: Muadib

Originally posted by: muzo178
Psystar released a new software called Rebel EFI.

http://www.psystar.com/rebel_efi

After downloading, users simply insert a retail copy of the Snow Leopard DVD, follow the installation procedures and then install the application. The application automatically detects connected devices and downloads the appropriate drivers.

Site is dead.

It's back up.

 

[mosslack]

I have it downloaded but I have not tried it yet. Price is $49.95 for full activation, trial version only lasts for 2 hours. If it works I would think it would be worth the price. More after testing.

 

[suklee]

I downloaded and burned it to a CDRW as well, gonna give it a whirl later.

 

[mosslack]

I may not get the chance to try it until tomorrow so please let us know if it really works or not.