GA-P55A-UD6 thread

[Demerdland]

Hi all !

So here's a thread for GA-P55A-UD6 users.
Hopefully we'll have everything working and in order !

My config and experience so far :
GA-P55A-UD6
Core i7 860
RipSaw 2x2Gb PC12800 DDR3 "eco" modules
LEADTEK PX9800GT 1024Mb dualDVI
Samsung SATA DVD Burner
Intel Postville 80Gb SSD for system
8 SATA HDDs for finalcut
Fractal design Define R2 case

10.6.2 Fresh install as per Tony's awesome guide and bootCD, with his edited UD6 DSDT

What works :
-SATA (all of them - AHCI in bios)
-Graphics QE/CI enabled
-Networking 2x Ethernet (speed not tested)
-Sound via VoodooHDA only (but works ok)
-Combo USB/eSata ports
-USB
-Shutdown

What does not work and oddities :
-CPU seen as XEONquadcore in abouthismac, only 1 core activity displayed in activity monitor
-Firewire not detected
-Removing AppleHPET.kext, Firewire detected but red alert message in system info and does not work anyway
-Esata on frontpanel and rear pci bracket doesn't work
-Goes to sleep OK but can't be woken up (have to check with a real USB mouse though since mine is wireless...)
-DVD drive works... until it stops working if I let a disc in then don't access it for over a minute. Burn tests (using toast) worked sometimes and failed at other times...
-KextHelper B7 works (seems) but won't quit after being used to install a kext
(quits OK as long as it has not installed anything)

GeekBench score : can't remember but a lil over 8000.
What's odd is that the memory score seems very low (4000 or so)

I'm wondering about the UD6 DSDT Tony provided : has it been fully edited ?
Would like to experiment using the AC97 audio instead of HD/AZALIA (but wonder what about then in the DSDT)
Also since this is a finalcut rig, any fix for native firewire would be awesome.
And of course, I'll eventually try messing around with speedstep... but this
is my first ever non-apple rig, so... let's not go too fast here !-)


Please comment, share your specs and thoughts/hacks and so on !
--David

 

[Demerdland]

Re: GA-P55M-UD6 thread

I "solved" the firewire issue by buying a cheap (but Texas Instruments chipset) belkin PCI card.
Had to remove AppleHPET.kext to have it work, still gives firewire power security mode disabled error in kernel log, but I've been using the rig this whole morning with Finatcut and it worked like a charm.

As for the DVD drive, the problem seems to be related to which of the P55 SATA ports you plug it on.
After I changed the arangement of the drives, it was gone. And then I tweak the thing again (I have 8 drives in there and still need swapping a few quite often...) the problem is back up. Haven't been trying to fix it so I'm not sure but I think it has to do with slave/master position of each SATA port you connect the drive to. (which can I think also be set from the bios).
Will try to mess with it and report.


THE thing that bugs me is wireless access :
I connect to the internet at work using another company's WAN.
Couldn't find an usb stick or PCI card that would work.
Trendnet 644UB ? you gotta be kidding !
Atheros 5005? nah...
Don't wanna order one which might just ...not work either.
(although the TPlink TLWN951N PCI card is tempting)

So, I thought that I'd resort to a wireless router in bridge mode plugged to ethernet.
Alas... the router that provides connection has an old firmware that doesn't do WDS...
(and I can't ask for an update since they have it on 24/7)
Anyone with a real working on P55 mobo/10.6.2 tutorial for wifi ?

At the moment I'm stuck with my Macbookpro as an (deluxe) wifi bridge...

 

[Musicalchairs]

Re: GA-P55M-UD6 thread

Mate I have the same board and the same cpu as you can see in my sig.

Sleep works fine.
No problem with DVD drive.

What has been stuffin me around is sound.

System Profiler only gives me the correct info (including HDEF) when using VOODOO.

But still no sound.

Also using Tony's UD6 DSDT..

Would you let me know how you went about the sound part with Voodoo ?

About to buy Griffin iMic today for $40 (AUS)
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic

Not having sound for 5 days has really got to me.
So buying the above while i try work it out.

Not going to give up that easily.

 

[tonymacx86]

Re: GA-P55M-UD6 thread

Do you mean P55A-UD6? There is no P55M-UD6- if you want, I'll change the thread title.

 

[Musicalchairs]

Re: GA-P55M-UD6 thread

Good eyes Tony.
Didn't even click to that

 

[tonymacx86]

Sorted.

 

[Evildemon989]

Do not buy the TP-Link TLWN951N card yet. It currently gives KP's when connected to the internet. It only does this when using a core i# system. Works great for Core 2 quads or core 2 duos.

 

[thelostswede]

With regard to getting sound working, the P55A-UD6 uses the ALC889, not ALC889A.
Please refer to this thread for more info on how to get it working viewtopic.php?f=7&t=232&start=30
These instructions should also work viewtopic.php?f=7&t=267

 

[golgoth73]

Hi,
After a hard work, all went fine except : my computer are plugged on a gigabit ethernet swicht, but the ethernet on the p55a-ud6 is limited to a poor 100Mb ethernet.
Does anyone knows how to fix that?

On my EP45-UD3R, i had ethernet gigabit working fine with a good dsdt and the realtekR1000SL.kext in the trash. If i putted the kext in the extensions folder, the ethernet was really poor (10-100Mb).

Thanks a lot

PS : i had to edit my dsdt to have sound working as the tonymac dsdt for the board is configured for a 889a, and this board uses a 889.

 

[tonymacx86]

Hi,
After a hard work, all went fine except : my computer are plugged on a gigabit ethernet swicht, but the ethernet on the p55a-ud6 is limited to a poor 100Mb ethernet.
Does anyone knows how to fix that?

On my EP45-UD3R, i had ethernet gigabit working fine with a good dsdt and the realtekR1000SL.kext in the trash. If i putted the kext in the extensions folder, the ethernet was really poor (10-100Mb).

Thanks a lot

PS : i had to edit my dsdt to have sound working as the tonymac dsdt for the board is configured for a 889a, and this board uses a 889.

I'm curious- was this the one that you found the problem with?
Public/DSDT-GA-P55A-UD6-F7.aml

I just checked it and it should be ok- the 889 edits are in there.