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[Success] Yosemite 10.10 on Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD4 / MSI GTX 970

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Jun 5, 2010
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Motherboard
Gigabyte Z490 AORUS Elite
CPU
i9-10850K
Graphics
RX 6900 XT
Mobile Phone
  1. iOS
This guide is based on one I previously created for Mavericks on this board but a different video card. This board is one that I originally installed OS 10.6.3 Snow Leopard on (eventually updated to 10.6.8) and has remained very stable and usable with the prior OS installs. The video card is a MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G which I recently purchased and installed.

The things that I have tested and are working are:
  • Dual monitors using the DVI ports
  • Wired USB Keyboard and Mouse
  • Bluetooth Magic Mouse (post installation)
  • Sleep / Wake (see notes at end)
  • Network
  • Audio through the Analog front and rear panel
This install was done with the (at the time) latest versions of the software. These were:
Mac OS X 10.10.2
Unibeast 5.1.0
MultiBeast 7.2.0
Nvidia WebDriver-343.02.02f04 for Mac OS X 10.10.2 with Security Update 2015-003
Due to the video card, this was more complicated install than the typical Yosemite OS install.

There is an edit required to have the graphics drivers and sleep work correctly. Instructions are in this guide.

Even though I had Mavericks installed, I performed a clean install to a spare Hard Drive to test disaster recovery with only the GTX 970 installed. The actual install of the video drivers onto a working and updated Mavericks OS was straight forward and instructions are at the end of this.

During POST and the install process only the DVI-I connector worked for me. I have 2 DVI monitors and did not test the Display Port nor HDMI connectors during the install.

Lets get started.

  1. Use the tonymac guide to create your bootable USB drive and perform the install. A couple of notes:
    • Reboot your computer and make note of your Firmware version before using or downloading a DSDT file. At one point, I had an old note with the wrong version written down.
    • In Step 0 (Before You Begin) in addition to MultiBeast and UniBeast download from the DSDT database the DSDT file appropriate to your motherboard (if you don’t have a copy from a prior install.) I used the one I had previously downloaded for the Mavericks install.
    • I suggest downloading the current Nvidia WebDriver before you begin as well. I have found a maintained list of the versions drivers. You will have sketchy video output (at least I did) until you have the Nvidia drivers installed and working, so accessing the Internet to download things will be problematic.
    • Note for other motherboards: If you need to install anything else in order to boot your Hackintosh with working networking, download it before you start and place it on the USB drive. This is for the same reason as the Nvidia drivers, sketchy video will make finding things on the Internet difficult.
    • In Step 2 (Create a Bootable USB Drive) item 18, select “Legacy USB Support”.
    • The last item in Step 2 is to drag MultiBeast to your completed USB drive. Also drag your DSDT file and the Nvidia WebDriver installer to your USB drive as well.
    • In Step 3 (Recommended BIOS Settings) Use the Gigabyte AWARD BIOS instructions to check your BIOS settings before starting the install.
    • Once I had everything prepped, I installed the video card prior to starting the OS install.
    • In Step 4 (Install OS X Yosemite) item 4, I used boot options of:
      Code:
      IGPEnabler=No nv_disable=1
      The IGPEnabler is required until MultiBeast is run and the nv_disable until the Nvidia drivers are installed.
    • I used a wired USB mouse during the install.
    • Only the DVI-I video port was functional during the install. I did not test the Display Port nor HDMI connectors during the install.
  2. After the install completes, the installer will reboot your computer. Again use an F key (F12) to select USB-HDD as your boot device. At the Chimera boot screen select Yosemite (or whatever you named the install disk) and enter the same “IGPEnabler=No nv_disable=1” boot flags, then select your installed OS.
  3. Run MultiBeast. The report for the install I used is:
    • Quick Start > UserDSDT - /Volumes/USB/Tools/DSDT-GA-P55M-UD4-F9.aml
    • Drivers > Audio > Realtek ALCxxx > ALC885/889a
    • Drivers > Disk > 3rd Party SATA
    • Drivers > Disk > TRIM Enabler > 10.10.x TRIM Patch

    • Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC v6.14.1364
    • Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC v6.14.1364 Plugins
    • Drivers > Network > Realtek > RealtekRTL81xx v0.0.90
    • Drivers > System > AppleRTC Patch for CMOS Reset
    • Bootloaders > Chimera v4.0.1
    • Customize > Boot Options > Basic Boot Options
    • Customize > Boot Options > Generate CPU States
    • Customize > Boot Options > Hibernate Mode - Desktop
    • Customize > Boot Options > IGPEnabler=No
    • Customize > Boot Options > Kext Dev Mode
    • Customize > System Definitions > Mac Pro > Mac Pro 3,1
    • Customize > Themes > tonymacx86 Black
    I have assorted reasons for each choice. The user DSDT is the one I used with Mavericks and works with 10.10 Yosemite. The Audio selection is driven by the fact my board has an ALC889a audio codec. The Disk selection is a personal preference (normal disk icons and I’m not using the GSATA connectors.) Using Lnx2’s driver for networking may or may not be necessary, but it seems to be working fine. The ‘Real’ apple drivers may be an option, but I haven’t tested them. The Chimera version is the most current one available and I boot from the drive with Mac OS installed on it. The IGPEnabler=No option is the correct one for the graphics card.
  4. After MultiBeast completes, reboot (to enable networking.) You can now boot off of your install drive (if necessary use an F key to configure your BIOS to boot off the disk you just installed the Chimera bootloader on.) However at the Chimera Boot screen, press space during the countdown and enter just the “nv_disable=1” boot flag. Select your installed OS if necessary.
  5. Access the App Store and select “Updates”. Install the Security Update 2015-003.
  6. The Security Update 2015-003 will reboot your computer. At the Chimera Boot screen, press space during the countdown and enter the “nv_disable=1” boot flag.
  7. Run the Nvidia WebDriver installer. When it completes, do not press the Restart button. An edit of the boot .plist file is required to activate the Nvidia drivers and fix sleep.
    • In the Finder open preferences and in the General tab ‘Show these items on the desktop’ area check the ‘Hard Disks’ box. This was the quickest way I have found to navigate the Finder to the root of the boot disk.
    • On your Yosemite (or whatever you named it) OS drive, open the ‘Extra’ folder. Edit the file org.chameleon.Boot.plist by double clicking it, which should open TextEdit. (Note: I had permissions issues with the Extra folder and its contents and had to enter the terminal and run a “sudo chown -R <user>:staff /Extra” command on it. Replace <user> with the username shown on the command line.)
    • Locate the line “<key>Kernel Flags</key>” and edit the line that follows it to be:
      Code:
      <string>kext-dev-mode=1 darkwake=8 nvda_drv=1</string>
      The line should originally have been <string>kext-dev-mode=1</string>. There is one space between each item in the edited line. The darkwake=8 makes sleep functional on this motherboard and the nvda_drv=1 activates the Nvidia drivers.
    • Save the file.
    • Close all open Finder windows (not required, just visual.)
  8. Now click the Restart button on the Nvidia install. No boot options need to be entered and your Hackintosh should be functional. If you installed Chimera on a different disk than the OS, you will have to select the disk to boot from.
  9. After the install, verify that QE/CI Graphics Acceleration is properly functioning (Determine Utilization section - which is somewhat out of date as the ripple effect is no longer present in Mac OS X.)
  10. Once booted, in ‘System Preferences’ in the ‘Energy Saver’ area, make sure ‘Start up automatically after a power failure’ is checked. This is required so on wake from sleep the OS is running instead of a reboot being started. Memory says this is from an old guide somewhere.
  11. To enable audio output I had to change the selected output device to 'Internal Speakers' in the 'System Preferences' in the 'Sound' settings.
I based the darkwake setting to fix sleep on posted research by NeXTguy. In my testing on OS 10.8.5 there was no noticeable difference between using a value of 8, 9, 10, or 11. I chose 8 for initial testing on both OS 10.9 Mavericks 10.10 Yosemite and as it is working correctly have not tried other values.

Sleep is working as well as it did for me in 10.8. In my testing I was able to put the computer to sleep using the Apple menu item or selecting sleep using the power key menu. Wake always brought the system up fully functional in 1 or 2 seconds with either a single wired mouse click, a Bluetooth Mighty Mouse click, or a keyboard key press. Multiple sleep and wake cycles produced no problems.

On a system with a working Yosemite install, installing the Nvidia Webdriver is relatively trivial.
  • Download the Nvidia WebDriver to your computer.
  • Backup your computer, which you should always do before making any hardware change.
  • Shutdown
  • Install the new video card
  • On boot at the Chimera Boot screen, press space during the countdown and enter the “nv_disable=1” boot flag.
  • Run the Nvidia WebDriver installer. When it completes, do not press the Restart button yet. An edit of the boot .plist file is required to activate the Nvidia drivers.
    • On your Yosemite (or whatever you named it) OS drive, open the ‘Extra’ folder. Edit the file org.chameleon.Boot.plist by double clicking it, which should open TextEdit. (Note: I had permissions issues with the Extra folder and its contents and had to enter the terminal and run a “sudo chown -R <user>:staff /Extra” command on it. Replace <user> with your username.)
    • Locate the line “<key>Kernel Flags</key>” and edit the line that follows it adding “nvda_drv=1”, which on my computer resulted in the line being:
      Code:
      <string>kext-dev-mode=1 darkwake=8 nvda_drv=1</string>
      There is one space between each item in the edited line.
    • Save the file.
    • Close all open Finder windows (not required, just visual.)
  • Now click the Restart button on the Nvidia install. No boot options need to be entered and your Hackintosh should be functional.
  • After the install, verify that QE/CI Graphics Acceleration is properly functioning (Determine Utilization section - which is somewhat out of date as the ripple effect is no longer present in Mac OS X.)
 
This is a very good guide. :thumbup: I, too, have a GA-P55M-UD4 (with a i7-875K) system, called Batman because of the Gigabyte 5770 graphic card's fan shroud (looks like a Batmobile). I've got a test partition for Yosemite, but I've decided to await Yosemite .3 or .4 update to get the bugs out, and, quite frankly, I don't like the Yo GUI, yet. However, your guide is one I'll come back to check the procedure.

BTW, Batman is running strong, and I sometime use it for recording my lousy guitar practice sessions. For a Back To The Future moment, check out this 2010 tonymacx86 Buyer's Guide.

For those of you reading MrPopman's guide and already have Mavericks installed, check out tonymacx86's http://www.tonymacx86.com/yosemite-...-os-x-yosemite-using-unibeast-multibeast.html which is a sticky in this Yosemite Guides forum section.
 
I've got a test partition for Yosemite, but I've decided to await Yosemite .3 or .4 update to get the bugs out, and, quite frankly, I don't like the Yo GUI.

There are a few good tools out there that bring back the old dock (i loath the Yosemite dock) which work really well and do a good job of replicating it, i'm using one called cDock which works flawlessly and has support for the darkened theme. Just an FYI :)
 
Thanks for the Guide. I have tested Yose, but my intern Bluetooth not work (iMac-Modul). With a GMYLE (TM) Micro USB Bluetooth 4.0 Mouse and other work. One USB-Modul not go: Eye-TV-Stick Terratec H5 seen in About this Mac, but not in Eye-TV. Everything other work.
 
Hi all,

thanks for this great guide, managed to get my GTS 250 working thanks to this guide, but I'm unable to boot directly off my hdd, keep getting a boot error, I need to use the pen drive if I want to boot. Any idea what I may have done wrong?

Cheers
 
Great tip with cDock!. I dislike the Yosemite dock
 
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