Hackintosh 10.5.5 Retail Rig - Starting at $305

[Zaap]

Just tested sleep. Put it to sleep, jiggled the mouse to wake it back up. This on my main [DQ6] board. The funny thing is, I don't even know what makes sleep work anymore- I've never messed with any enablers on this system. My Extra folder has not changed since June, 2010.

Go figure.

 

[Stiganator]

..

 

[mosslack]

Just got my newest system board in. A GA-H55N-USB3 mini-ITX. I'm looking for a cool case to put it in now, thinking about a clear plastic one that NE has for about $50 on sale. I love those clear plastic cases! That is what my DS3L is housed in.

 

[Sophie424]

This is my Intel BoxDG31PR. Chameleon 2.x. Safe boots fine. Regular boot and it comes to the desktop, then responds to most mouse input (e.g. open an app) with rainbow beachball. I did upgrade to 10.5.8 some weeks ago, upgrade seemed to go OK (except I still could not see that mac consistently on my home LAN, an old issue). I did some other update after that (Java & something else). Not sure what changed.

Memory tests out OK. Disk permissions repair etc. did not fix it.

Is a kext a likely culprit? Any suggestion on how to narrow it down ... e.g. move kexts out of /Extra/Extensions one by one and try re-boot?

Or, should I bite the bullet and switch to some other mini-ITX board (which one? seem to have seen a something....D2SL mentioned?), and upgrade to Snow Leopard? Is there any board whose built-in DVI video will work easily with Snow?

 

[Zaap]

Ah, I remember that board- hacked a few of those back in the day.

Sophie, is there an Extensions.mkext file? If so, have you tried trashing it? If you have it, that file can get corrupt- it's the file that the system actually reads the kext extensions from. It should be rebuilt on restart.

If it doesn't suffer the problem in safe mode, then it is likely related to an extension problem. An old .mkext file would be my prime culprit.

I would also have guessed permissions/disk repair. Also make sure the disk isn't almost out of space.

Also, you might want to try the ol' Maintenance automater script:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/automator/maintenance.html


If all else fails, before you delve into a new motherboard, why not just clean re-install the system? Sometimes, that's just the easiest/only way to go. (Yes, EVEN the supposedly infalible OSX!)

I need to borrow back a system I built for someone still running 10.5.8 on a DG31PR and see how it goes installing Snow on it. It's definitely possible- there are a few guides floating around the net, and the board is listed on the osxProject HCL wiki up to 10.6.3.

If it did come down to replacing the board, the Micro-ATX/775-based board I'd most recommend is the GIGABYTE GA-G41M-ES2L:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128388

Runs Snow Leo very well, and there's all manner of methods of setting it up: IE: kakewalk, Tonymac, etc.

Note: I don't know about the GA-G41M-Combo version of this board- it has DDR2 or DDR3 RAM, but I have no idea if it's still Hackintoshable. Comparing the two boards on newegg reveals some major changes in the chipset, LAN and Audio hardware, so if it does work using the same procedures as the non-combo, it'll probably require some kext-hunting.

I don't know of a 775 board with compatible onboard video without regressing backwards to some horribly outdated Intel GMA9XX based board; there's just no advantage to it vs. even the most entry-level compatible video card.

 

[mosslack]

Well, the ProjSys2 is now history, thank goodness. Not sure I'm gonna do that next year. A lot of work with few benefits to HQ-A. Besides the GA-H55N-USB3 mentioned a few posts earlier, I have now hacked a Zotac NF610i-L-E. I was attempting to provide an economy Hackintosh for HQ-A, but it was more difficult than I expected. I was successful, proof here: http://bit.ly/hlNO3P and now that system is available at cost, details here: http://bit.ly/e7A6CI

I'm not looking to be a Hackintosh seller, but thought it might be nice to provide someone who is unable to build one, for whatever the reason, the opportunity to own one on the cheap.

Kaido has PMed me that he has the necessary tools to do the Mini ITX and I have the board already with the rest of the system just purchased from NE which should be here the first of next week. Stay tuned for that!

 

[mosslack]

The mini ITX system is on hold at the moment. The case I ordered for it is too big and has a hinged door on the optical drive bay which I didn't want. I have ordered another one which should be here the first to mid part of the week.

I also found this http://amzn.to/hVnBNE thanks to an HQ-A member. This will come in handy for putting systems together and testing. I've been looking for something like this for a long time.

 

[Emulex]

how's the zotac working with lion?

 

[mosslack]

how's the zotac working with lion?

No Lion, just SL 10.6.7, but it works great with that!

 

[mosslack]

Wow, talk about something to cause premature hair loss, and I don't have a lot to spare, but getting my latest Hackintosh running was quite a feat. Even with the complete set of files, etc. from Kaido, it took me some time to figure this thing out.

I'm talking about the GA-H55N-USB3 mini ITX system that I recently purchased from NewEgg. It's now up on 10.6.7, but I still don't have proper video as the 1 Gb 8400GS I was trying to use is limited to 1024x768 so far. I may just opt for the GT240 and be done with it, but I still have not decided. Quite a speedy little demon too with it's i3-550 CPU and 4 Gb of RAM.

I plan to post the complete story of what I had to go through to get this one running on HQ-A if anyone is interested.

 

[MaDDinGO]

Trying to build my first hackintosh - everything works well if I boot with iBoot. Trying to get Multibeast working, but everytime it reboots, I get a boot0:error. I looked online and it said that I need to make my OSx partition active. I tried that and it still doesn't boot off the HD. Has anyone else had this problem?

 

[Zaap]

^ I think that used to be a problem with Chameleon and boot volumes bigger than 1TB. Not sure if it's been corrected or not. (I always create partitions smaller than 1TB when installing OSX) What's the drive/partition size? For that matter, what hardware? Using GUID drive format? AHCI(if applicable)? It might also be a DSDT issue.

 

[MaDDinGO]

^ I think that used to be a problem with Chameleon and boot volumes bigger than 1TB. Not sure if it's been corrected or not. (I always create partitions smaller than 1TB when installing OSX) What's the drive/partition size? For that matter, what hardware? Using GUID drive format? AHCI(if applicable)? It might also be a DSDT issue.

I have a 2TB drive so I split them into two 1 TB drives. It didn't work so I thought that might be a issue so I re-installed and created 3 partitions. Two 500gb, and one 1TB. Installed OSx to one of the 500gb partitions and its still not working.

Out of ideas...

I'm doing a Sandy Bridge Build
GB P67A-UD3-B3
i3 2100
8800 GTS
8 Gigs of Ram
OSx 10.6.7

 

[mosslack]

New monitors came in yesterday, plus the mounting brackets. Now all I need to do is mount them and add a couple of new circuits to power everything. I guess if 3 monitors were neat, then 6 will be twice as neat! I will make a video when this project is finished, but it may take awhile. A lot to do...

 

[Kaido]

A little OT, but I got vanilla 10.6.7 Snow under VMware Fusion working:

http://i.imgur.com/QYpRz.jpg

Apple allows virtualization of Snow Leopard Server on Mac hardware only - so no virtualization of Snow Leopard 'Client' and no virtualization on regular PC's. The only file that VMware seems to look for is ServerVersion.plist, so all you do is mod the Snow Client OS DMG with it to install, then pop the DMG into the virtual drive before booting up. You also have to remove it when running updates so it grabs the Snow Leopard client files for download, then put it back before rebooting so that VMware will boot it up. Pretty easy once you understand the process, I'll see about writing a little app to automate it somewhere down the line.

Major downside is no QE/CI, so you can't run stuff like iMovie. But it's nice because you can test apps without mucking up your main install. I just set a shared VM folder to my downloads folder so I can download from Chrome on my Hackintosh and then open apps to test in my Snow VM. Easy peasy. The VM doesn't work to Windows/Linux VMware without some additional hacks (I've read you can get it working with EmpireEFI and stuff), but on OS X itself (including Hackintosh) you can run vanilla pretty easily. Just a little side project to show off

 

[Kaido]

Got my 1GB Zotac 8400GS VGA/DVI/HDMI working under Snow Leopard 10.6.7:

1. Added Device-ID to NVDANV50Hal.kext in SLE
2. Added GraphicsEnabler=y to Boot.plist in Extra
3. Boot via VGA or HDMI (DVI is usable if you boot VGA then swap)

Not as vanilla as I'd like, but hey - it works! So happy! Just had to get the order right I'm using an HDMI to DVI cable to an LCD monitor and it works great! DVI is the bum of the group though - you can't boot to it (screen goes black at the desktop), you can't swap to it from HDMI (it ruins both connections for the session), and in order to use it at ALL, you have to boot up on VGA, plug it DVI, then unplug the DVI - and then that goes away when you reboot and you have to do it all over again. So, you can have a nice HDMI/VGA card and use DVI via an HDMI adapter if you'd like. Not bad for $50 & 64-bit compatible!

 

[Kaido]

Just some quick updates -

1. UD3P: Everything works
2. DS3L: Everything works, but sleep
3. ES2L: Next on the bench

Also got that stereo adapter in for the AppleTV that I need to try. Tried Plex beta on the Roku as well - nice idea, super buggy right now but pretty neat. Plex Media Server is the bomb! Also haven't played with the MSI i7 for awhile, but sleep is still a no-go on that beast as well from what I've heard.

 

[mosslack]

Got my 1GB Zotac 8400GS VGA/DVI/HDMI working under Snow Leopard 10.6.7:

1. Added Device-ID to NVDANV50Hal.kext in SLE
2. Added GraphicsEnabler=y to Boot.plist in Extra
3. Boot via VGA or HDMI (DVI is usable if you boot VGA then swap)

Not as vanilla as I'd like, but hey - it works! So happy! Just had to get the order right I'm using an HDMI to DVI cable to an LCD monitor and it works great! DVI is the bum of the group though - you can't boot to it (screen goes black at the desktop), you can't swap to it from HDMI (it ruins both connections for the session), and in order to use it at ALL, you have to boot up on VGA, plug it DVI, then unplug the DVI - and then that goes away when you reboot and you have to do it all over again. So, you can have a nice HDMI/VGA card and use DVI via an HDMI adapter if you'd like. Not bad for $50 & 64-bit compatible!

Interesting, I got far as the black screen at desktop with my 8400 GS (512 Mb) card on the GA-H55N-USB3, but when ethernet wasn't working I ended up sending it back to Gigabyte for replacement or repair. May have to try your solution when it returns. I would have used the 8400 GS (1 Gb) card, but the heat sink is too large and the top cover of the case won't fit.

I basically used the same procedure, but figured it didn't work when I got the black screen. I was using a DVI-VGA adapter out as there is no room in the ITX case for another slot to house the VGA connector, but I can hook it up temp to get it working. I just hope Gigabyte sends me back a working board.

 

[Kaido]

Another card for the "working" list - 512MB Quadro FX 580. Tested DVI and DisplayPort (using a DisplayPort to DVI adapter). Third DisplayPort did not work when hot-swapped; might work on extension, dunno, but DVI & the middle DisplayPort worked for sure. These go for around $150 online. No PSU power jacks needed either, runs off bus power! Wikipedia says the card is GeForce 9500-based fwiw.

And related, I have also tested a 1.5GB Quadro FX 4800 (PC version, although there is an official Mac version out) and a 4.0GB Quadro FX 5800 successfully. That 4.0GB card made me drool

 

[Emulex]

lol that is because the geforce 120 that comes with the mac pro is essentially a 9500. Why not use a better video card? it seems silly to build such a powerful rig to cripple it with a dinosaur of a card? 5770 or 5870 pretty cheap these days and they have support in lion still.

 

[Kaido]

lol that is because the geforce 120 that comes with the mac pro is essentially a 9500. Why not use a better video card? it seems silly to build such a powerful rig to cripple it with a dinosaur of a card? 5770 or 5870 pretty cheap these days and they have support in lion still.

Because it was free to test

Also, I am not a big fan of ATI on Mac.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

Aint hackintosh illegal?

 

[Kaido]

Aint hackintosh illegal?

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/1132/philosoraptorg.jpg

 

[K_Panic]

Because it was free to test

Also, I am not a big fan of ATI on Mac.

Hmmm...I wonder why Apple uses them?

 

[Kaido]

Hmmm...I wonder why Apple uses them?

They like Steve Job's opinion more than mine