3D Artist Hackintosh Noob Build Check

[jimx86]

Hey Switchblade! First of all I want to say great job! You did pretty well, and that last little hard drive thing and MultiBeast malfunctioning was weird.. maybe for MultiBeast you selected the wrong patches? :?

1. Since everything is working at this point do I need to run Multinbeast at all? If NOT, then how can I make it HDD bootable?

Technically you don't have to run MultBeast - especially since it gave you so much trouble - just grab yourself a copy of Chameleon and see if it'll successfully recognize your OS X drive.

2. I want to scrub the drive that was crashing to make it my back up but both are named "Snow Leopard" so how do I know which one to aim for since they're bothy plugged in?

Both are named Snow Leopard? Haha nice.. I would maybe put a certain file on the one that you know works, get a live CD of any sort (I prefer Ubuntu) and scour through the two disks until you find the disk that has your "original" file in it. Wipe the other disk.

3. I put the computer to sleep but it's not responding to anything, even unplugging and replugging USB and tapping the power button. So how do I get it to wake up without hard booting it. And does Multibeast enable USB wake up? (How would I achieve this if it turns out I don't have to use Multibeast)?

This is a generic sleep problem people get - here's a link to (possibly) fix it:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1165

4. How can I get the "About This Mac" to display the correct information if it turns out I should avoid using Multibeast?

I think you just mess around with the DSDT for that.. but Tony had a guide - so let me find it..

5. My BIOS is set at F3. Should I change that? If so, how?

*You technically should have done this before installing OS X, so this might mess it up*
I'm still basing off the information that you have the P55M-UD4..
- You get a flash drive (with fat32 format).
- Then you put the p55mud4.f9 (in attachments) on your flash drive.
- Open BIOS and you should find the Q-flash option (I think you press end in the POST, but something else in BIOS).
- Once in Q-Flash find that option that says something like "Load BIOS file from drive" or something similar.
- Look through for your flash drive partition.
- Get the file I sent you (should be the only one that Q-Flash can see).
- Wait for BIOS flash to end.
REALLY IMPORTANT
- On next boot, go into BIOS and load optimize settings, reboot.
- Then on next boot, reset all your options that you put into BIOS (shouldn't be too many).
- Done!

 

[jimx86]

Answer to question 4!

Still says Intel Quad-Core Xeon for i5/i7 by default. However, you can inject i5/i7 info into About this Mac by inserting SMcputype into smbios.plist. This functionality is included in the latest MultiBeast.
For i5, use 1537. For i7, use 1793 . Thanks to Lightspeed and zoleg!

 

[MacMan]

OK, SO NOW FOR THE QUESTIONS:
1. Since everything is working at this point do I need to run Multinbeast at all? If NOT, then how can I make it HDD bootable?
2. I want to scrub the drive that was crashing to make it my back up but both are named "Snow Leopard" so how do I know which one to aim for since they're bothy plugged in?
3. I put the computer to sleep but it's not responding to anything, even unplugging and replugging USB and tapping the power button. So how do I get it to wake up without hard booting it. And does Multibeast enable USB wake up? (How would I achieve this if it turns out I don't have to use Multibeast)?
4. How can I get the "About This Mac" to display the correct information if it turns out I should avoid using Multibeast?
5. My BIOS is set at F3. Should I change that? If so, how?


Sorry for the unreasonably long post and the overly-obvious noob questions but I want to be as thorough as possible in case anyone decides to use these specs for their own build.

And thanks in advance because I already know that great answers are on the way!

Please put the system specs in your profile and also in signature. It makes figuring out what you are running easier.

I would definitely upgrade the BIOS as I think you are using the P55M-UD4 and the latest is F9. That would be the first thing to start with. Then you can use the DSDT from the Database.

 

[Switchblade_Comb]

Sorry about not posting my specs, guys. They should now show both in my profile and in my signature.

So today's results so far...

1. I managed to successfully update my BIOS to F9 using the attached file (thanks for directing me to this jimx86) and using this great step by step 3 part tutorial series for updating a Gigabyte BIOS...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCCId1Mcrw4&annotation_id=annotation_219675&feature=iv

2. I managed to erase the back up drive successfully. As a matter of fact I've gotten really good at erasing hard drives and reinstalling the OS using iBoot because I've probably done it at least 5 times tonight alone.

Which leads me to my next point. I couldn't let Mutlibeast go. It's just such a great tool and it's helped so many people that I figured I had to give it at least a couple more fair shakes. However...

Attempting to use Multibeast has yielded the following results with my hardware:

Using Easybeast- Everything seems to install wonderfully but upon restart my audio and graphics have gone from flawlessly working OOB to inexplicably broken.

Using Multibeast solely to install Chameleon and utilities- After, again, what appears to be a successful install from Multibeast upon restart and reaching the grey apple boot screen I notice that the logo has changed to a fancy one with a shiny effect (unlike the flat grey one I see booting from CD) and then just before the OS boots up I get the grey screen of death.

I took a look at getting sleep to work, adjusting the "about this mac", and installing Chameleon but haven't really been able to devote a lot of time to these since I haven't been able to get the system bootable without CD. But a huge thanks to jimx86 for pointing me in all the right directions!

@Lnx2Mac- My specs are almost identical to yours. Have you successfully gotten any of the things I'm struggling with to work?

 

[MacMan]

Attempting to use Multibeast has yielded the following results with my hardware:

Using Easybeast- Everything seems to install wonderfully but upon restart my audio and graphics have gone from flawlessly working OOB to inexplicably broken.

Did you install audio drivers?

How is graphics broken?

You should have used UserDSDT with the DSDT for your board from the Database.

 

[Switchblade_Comb]

MacMan, sorry to be so vague before. Below are the answers to your questions. Thanks!

Did you install audio drivers?

When I've installed using Multibeast and the sound cut out I then installed the drivers for it in the kext submenu and utilities within Multibeast. I was also very careful to select the correct Realtek ALC889A kext knowing that choosing the wrong one would be bad.

How is graphics broken?

What happens is that the graphics that work OOB (meaning it auto detects my best resolution but I can also choose from a list of them in System Preferences) changes to 1028 x 768 and all other options are removed from the System Preferences choices.


Given the problems I've encountered (no doubt because I'm a noob which is why I'm asking the following...) would using a UserDSDT be a benefit when everything seems to work already with the exceptions being sleep and USB waking (which I WILL eventually need to use DSDT to fix)? Or would it be better to just try and install Chameleon RC3 (because I suspect RC4 is crashing my system) by itself and address the sleep, waking, and "about this mac" with DSDT once I can boot from the HDD?

Sorry I've turned into such a problem child, guys. But I really do appreciate all of your help. If was wasn't for this forum and all of you guys willing to contribute there's no way I'd be anywhere close to where I am with this now.

 

[MacMan]

MacMan, sorry to be so vague before. Below are the answers to your questions. Thanks!

Did you install audio drivers?

When I've installed using Multibeast and the sound cut out I then installed the drivers for it in the kext submenu and utilities within Multibeast. I was also very careful to select the correct Realtek ALC889A kext knowing that choosing the wrong one would be bad.

[quote:1kggtjix]How is graphics broken?

What happens is that the graphics that work OOB (meaning it auto detects my best resolution but I can also choose from a list of them in System Preferences) changes to 1028 x 768 and all other options are removed from the System Preferences choices.


Given the problems I've encountered (no doubt because I'm a noob which is why I'm asking the following...) would using a UserDSDT be a benefit when everything seems to work already with the exceptions being sleep and USB waking (which I WILL eventually need to use DSDT to fix)? Or would it be better to just try and install Chameleon RC3 (because I suspect RC4 is crashing my system) by itself and address the sleep, waking, and "about this mac" with DSDT once I can boot from the HDD?

Sorry I've turned into such a problem child, guys. But I really do appreciate all of your help. If was wasn't for this forum and all of you guys willing to contribute there's no way I'd be anywhere close to where I am with this now. [/quote:1kggtjix]
Your configuration is identical to Lnx2Mac's and he uses a DSDT with no issues.

So I would do the following:

• 1) Download the DSDT for you motherboard from the DSDT database and save it to your desktop as DSDT.aml.
  2) Delete /Extra
  3) Delete /System/Library/Extensions.mkext if it exists.
  4) Delete /System/Library/Extensions/VoodooHDA.kext if it exists.
  5) Run MultiBeast 2.0.3 with these options:
  [list:1kggtjix]UserDSDT
  System Utilities
  Advanced Options -> Kexts -> Audio -> LegacyHDA -> ALC885/889a
  Advanced Options -> Kexts -> Network -> RealtekR1000SL

6) Reboot.[/list:u:1kggtjix]

 

[tinkerC]

IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!
...ok, well, only sort of.

Ok, so the short version is that thank God I had two hard drives because even as much trouble as I had that saved me HOURS of frustration. The long version is the following play by play of my current status.

I got the basic hardware (MOBO, CD/DVD, 1 HDD, Graphics, Heatsink, and 4 GB RAM. no wifi or bluetooth at this point) installed fine, adjusted my BIOS, ran iBoot & OS X disc, put iBoot disc back in, got to "Loading Operating System" and then it would just hang. (Note: I had to use a PC keyboard for the drive to recognize my commands) So here I figured something weird was going on. I disconnect this HDD and after resetting my BIOS to the required settings (somehow they changed back to factory settings) replaced it with my second HDD and repeated the process as a fresh start.

That managed to get everything working this time and it booted up from CD great and I even heard the audio during the welcome screen! (Note: I don't think I've ever danced so much in a chair before in my entire life. )

So at this point I have one CD bootable drive with working graphics and audio and I could even adjust the volume with my Mac keyboard...totally OOB and another that I'm presuming at the time just needs to be erased so I can make it my back up drive.

I then install my wifi card and usb bluetooth dongle and restart. Everything looks the same except that it recognizes my bluetooth OOB but does not recognize the wifi.

Here's where things go sideways. I run Multibeast for utilities, audio, network and graphics. Doing this gets the wifi going and makes my HDD bootable without the CD (success! ) but breaks the audio and the graphics (epic fail : ). This is when I start to panic and get hot all over. I keep running Multibeast with the correct settings hoping that it will finally take but it keeps giving me an error that some of the kexts can't be installed. In my terror I try to clean out some of the kexts (they're just sitting in the trash, I haven't even emptied it yet) and rerun Multibeast and that's when I get the dreaded Mac "grey screen of death". At this point, 2 words...SHEER HORROR. What actually came out of my mouth was a string of expletives I won't repeat here as I time and time again try to get back into the OS while it gives me the same request to restart the computer every time.

When I finally regain consciousness, I swap BACK to the original drive I tried to install on (I haven't erased it yet so this is right where the process would be from the previous attempt) and then boot from the iBoot CD except that this time in addition to the original hardware all 8 GBs of RAM, bluetooth, wifi card, AND the crashing drive are all in. This time it works and I'm in again! NOTE: DO NOT START OUT WITH ALL OF THIS HARDWARE RIGHT FROM THE GET GO!

OK, SO NOW FOR THE QUESTIONS:
1. Since everything is working at this point do I need to run Multinbeast at all? If NOT, then how can I make it HDD bootable?
2. I want to scrub the drive that was crashing to make it my back up but both are named "Snow Leopard" so how do I know which one to aim for since they're bothy plugged in?
3. I put the computer to sleep but it's not responding to anything, even unplugging and replugging USB and tapping the power button. So how do I get it to wake up without hard booting it. And does Multibeast enable USB wake up? (How would I achieve this if it turns out I don't have to use Multibeast)?
4. How can I get the "About This Mac" to display the correct information if it turns out I should avoid using Multibeast?
5. My BIOS is set at F3. Should I change that? If so, how?


Sorry for the unreasonably long post and the overly-obvious noob questions but I want to be as thorough as possible in case anyone decides to use these specs for their own build.

And thanks in advance because I already know that great answers are on the way!

The boot up drive (current) is the only one in the far top right of your screen.

Tom

 

[Switchblade_Comb]

Your configuration is identical to Lnx2Mac's and he uses a DSDT with no issues.

So I would do the following:

1) Download the DSDT for you motherboard from the DSDT database and save it to your desktop as DSDT.aml.
2) Delete /Extra
3) Delete /System/Library/Extensions.mkext if it exists.
4) Delete /System/Library/Extensions/VoodooHDA.kext if it exists.
5) Run MultiBeast 2.0.3 with these options:
UserDSDT
System Utilities
Advanced Options -> Kexts -> Audio -> LegacyHDA -> ALC885/889a
Advanced Options -> Kexts -> Network -> RealtekR1000SL
6) Reboot.

Thanks for the step by step, MacMan that's exactly what I needed!
One question I do have about doing this though is I was wondering if the DSDT is mobo slot specific. I had to use the bottom slot for my graphics because of my wifi card while Lnx2Mac shows it in the upper slot... http://www.tonymacx86.com/download/file.php?id=653&mode=view

Will that effect anything while using the DSDT?

 

[tinkerC]

OK, SO NOW FOR THE QUESTIONS:
1. Since everything is working at this point do I need to run Multinbeast at all? If NOT, then how can I make it HDD bootable?
2. I want to scrub the drive that was crashing to make it my back up but both are named "Snow Leopard" so how do I know which one to aim for since they're bothy plugged in?
3. I put the computer to sleep but it's not responding to anything, even unplugging and replugging USB and tapping the power button. So how do I get it to wake up without hard booting it. And does Multibeast enable USB wake up? (How would I achieve this if it turns out I don't have to use Multibeast)?
4. How can I get the "About This Mac" to display the correct information if it turns out I should avoid using Multibeast?
5. My BIOS is set at F3. Should I change that? If so, how?


Sorry for the unreasonably long post and the overly-obvious noob questions but I want to be as thorough as possible in case anyone decides to use these specs for their own build.

And thanks in advance because I already know that great answers are on the way!

Try tapping the power button, quickly. It might be in deep sleep/hibernate/safe sleep.

Tom