ASUS Z97-Pro - Help Mavericks Install Freezes

[prh99]

This is my first attempt at a Hackintosh Build

Have made a bootable USB with Mavericks 10.9.2 as per guide

Boots from USB after numerous attempts with following :
- boot switches - "-x -v PCIRootUID=0 darkwake=0 cpus=1
may need to boot with "boot ignore caches"
- BIOS Settings are crucial will post settings soon
- Hardware stripped back to minimum single 8Gb RAM Module, only 1 SATA device connected 840EVO SSD in SATA 1 port, kb+mouse in USB2 ports on back (under PS2 port), bootable USB stick in USB2 port

I have following initial setup
ASUS Z97-Pro (Wi-fi ac), i7-4770k with latest updated BIOS (902)
1x8Gb 1600Mhz RAM
Samsung 840EVO 250Gb SSD

 

[prh99]

ASUS Z97-Pro - Help Mavericks Install Freezes [some SUCCESS]

Some progress
Initial Boot from USB Boot drive made with UniBeast Mavericks as per guide
Had to disable Ethernet in BIOS before it would boot from USB to Install Screen
Boot switches -x -v PCIRootUID=0 darkwake=0 cpus=1

Booted and installed Mavericks

Used MultiBeast
Ethernet driver caused Freeze and wouldnt work until I used patched/updated driver AppleIntelEthernet E1000e v3.0.4.1a now included in later MultiBeast 6.3.0
Couldnt boot except in safe mode until added patch/edited Azul KEXT for Intel HD4600 integrated graphics (now included in MultiBeast 6.3.1

Now I can load and run FCP X which is one of the main goals for my build

Now everything going except sound, USB3, onboard Wifi, Power Management and bootloader without USB installed,
Mavericks sees my NTFS SATA disks including a pair of s/w mirrored HDDs and offers to ignore/initialise/eject them everytime I boot which is a bit irritating

My MultiBeast Settings as follows
Quick Start > DSDT Free
Drivers > Audio > Realtek ALCxxx > ALC1150
Drivers > Audio > Realtek ALCxxx > Intel 9 Series Motherboard Support
Drivers > Disk > 3rd Party SATA
Drivers > Disk > TRIM Enabler > 10.9.x TRIM Patch
Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC v6.8.1307
Drivers > Misc > USB3.0 - Universal
Drivers > Network > Intel > AppleIjntelE1000e v3.0.4.1a
Drivers > System > AppleRTC Patch for CMOS Reset
Bootloaders > Chimera 3.0.1
Customise > Boot Options > Basic Boot Options
Customise > Boot Options > Generate CPU States
Customise > Boot Options > Hibernate Mode > Desktop
Customise > Boot Options > Use KernelCache
Customise > Boot Options > Verbose Mode
Customise > System Definitions > iMac > iMac 14,2 (allows multicore/multithread to work by specifying correct CPU and allows booting without cpus=1 boot switch)
Customise > Themes > Chameleon 2,2 Default

Dual Boot
- Have tried to dual boot Win8.1 64-bit + Mavericks 10.9.3 off single Samsung EVO840 250Gb SSD
but with no success
- reverted to recommended separate disk for each OS and this works better - now have Win 8.1 on Barracuda 500Gb SATA and Mavericks on 840 EVO SSD
- still booting off USB stick

Has been a Big learning curve thus far for a newbie from mainly PC/Windows background
Not there yet but making some progress

Many thanks to all for help so far

 

[jacksparrow.greg]

Hi guys,

is this the Z97pro wifi ac board?

Im looking at buying this for my build. Im so confused about the boards to go for, all i read about gigabyte z87 boards are how USB ports die out and peeps have so many issues. Not sure about z97 gigabyte, so people say ASUS is better.

Have u had any luck to get this working?

Kind Regards

 

[bubbahubba]

I also have the Asus Z97 motherboard but -A instead of -PRO.

I am having the exact same problems as you are having.

No boot from SSD, just with USB-bootloader
No Audio


And also when I check system report I do not have TRIM-Yes.



Any progress with this board?

 

[Stiwi]

I have a Asus motherboard Z 97 pro but ssd drive I had with my mac pro 3.1 disk using the starts normally. sometimes does not see this drive ssd.

 

[muchmore]

I also have the Asus Z97 motherboard but -A instead of -PRO.

I am having the exact same problems as you are having.

No boot from SSD, just with USB-bootloader
No Audio


And also when I check system report I do not have TRIM-Yes.



Any progress with this board?

Asus Z97 motherboards cannot boot from a GUID formatted partition (at least I think I remember that being the reason ). That is why you still need to use the USB boot loader. The only way around this is installing the boot loader to the EFI partition. Just search on "Bootloader EFI partition" and you should find the thread with the instructions on how to do this.

As for audio, there is a known issue with audio on Z97 chipsets that Tony and team are working on. Until they can fix it, you can do what I did and use a USB audio dongle for audio out. Not the highest quality sound, but at least it works.

As for Trim, it was working using Multibeast and 10.9.3, but 10.9.4 seems to have broken it - Tony and team are working on a fix.

 

[rdjg22]

Asus Z97 motherboards cannot boot from a GUID formatted partition (at least I think I remember that being the reason ). That is why you still need to use the USB boot loader. The only way around this is installing the boot loader to the EFI partition. Just search on "Bootloader EFI partition" and you should find the thread with the instructions on how to do this.

As for audio, there is a known issue with audio on Z97 chipsets that Tony and team are working on. Until they can fix it, you can do what I did and use a USB audio dongle for audio out. Not the highest quality sound, but at least it works.

As for Trim, it was working using Multibeast and 10.9.3, but 10.9.4 seems to have broken it - Tony and team are working on a fix.

You can enable TRIM on 10.9.4 here: https://gist.github.com/return1/4058659

Open terminal and copy the string for your specific version, hit enter and reboot.

 

[zmedicx86]

Many thanks for your post
I have a similar setup Asus Z97 Pro, 4770k and ASUS GTX 780
I managed to boot up Mavericks 10.9.4 with Multibeast EasyBeast settings
3rd party SATA
ElliotforceLegacyRTC
EvOreboot
FakeSMC v6.9.13.15
NullCPUPowermanagement
Apple RTC Patch for CMOS Reset
Chimera v3.0.1
Boot option:Basic Boot Options
Boot option: Use Kernel Cache
System Definition : Mac Pro 3,1
Themes: tonymacx86 Black

I am running it on a separate HDD, SSD is running windows 8.1, while regular HDD for Mavericks
I am able to boot from the HDD though after some changes in the bios

I also added AppleIntelE1000 v3.1.0 ethernet works
I added the Audio kext as ALC 1150 Audio works
I installed web drivers from Nvidia and Cuda all working and verified by CudaZ app
When I installed USB 3.0 support I got a kernel panic "a freed zone element has been modified: expected "
I added boot flag -f to ignore cache and all is working, but without -f crashes
I added it to automatically boot to -f in .plist in Extras
any idea why this is happening thanks in advance