GA-H67N-USB3-B3 Mini-ITX - or Mini-ITX alternative for 10.7

[Catbert6]

Hi - on my quest to put a hackintosh into a Lian Li PC Q11. Some guys on the best PC Q11 thread in the internet pointed out this requires a Mini-ITX board and a mATX will not do the business - so I am looking at the GA-H67N-USB3-B3.

While the predecessor to this board was part of one of Tony's recommended builds, the experience with the current version is hard to gauge from the forum - as such, I would really like to hear from anyone who has this board working well. Alternatively, I would love to hear from anyone who has a well running Mini-ITX board running 10.7.

 

[Oblivion]

Hi - on my quest to put a hackintosh into a Lian Li PC Q11. Some guys on the best PC Q11 thread in the internet pointed out this requires a Mini-ITX board and a mATX will not do the business - so I am looking at the GA-H67N-USB3-B3.

While the predecessor to this board was part of one of Tony's recommended builds, the experience with the current version is hard to gauge from the forum - as such, I would really like to hear from anyone who has this board working well. Alternatively, I would love to hear from anyone who has a well running Mini-ITX board running 10.7.

Have both a GA-H67N-USB3-B3 and a Zotac H67ITX-C-E running with Intel integrated HD3000 graphics.
You must use either a i3 2105 or a i5 2405S CPU to get the graphics working properly and still have low power losses from the CPU.
On both systems the first HDMI connector works perfect.

The Zotac H67ITX-C-E did not work at all with 10.6.x, but Lion installed directly..
I made a bootable Lion installer USB flash stick after the http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index. ... pic=256729
guidelines and added a folder with the DSDT editor, kexts, Chameleon, utilities / apps I needed to finish the setup.
The USB flash stick boots 10.6.x, Lion and Windows 7.
Also vanilla Lion boots without any kexts as the USB stick bootloader loads what is needed.

The GigaByte works with both 10.6.x and Lion.

The Zotac H67ITX-C-E are unstable with Lion and cannot be recommended,
but if someone that are familiar with DSDT editing made a proper DSDT....

 

[digigrss]

Have both a GA-H67N-USB3-B3 and a Zotac H67ITX-C-E running with Intel integrated HD3000 graphics.
You must use either a i3 2105 or a i5 2405S CPU to get the graphics working properly and still have low power losses from the CPU.
On both systems the first HDMI connector works perfect.

The Zotac did not work at all with 10.6.x, but Lion installed directly..
I made a bootable Lion installer USB flash stick after the http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index. ... pic=256729
guidelines and added a folder with the DSDT editor, kexts, Chameleon, utilities / apps I needed to finish the setup.
The USB flash stick boots 10.6.x, Lion and Windows 7.
Also vanilla Lion boots without any kexts as the USB stick bootloader loads what is needed.

The GigaByte works with both 10.6.x and Lion.

Is the USB 3 port of the Zotac H67ITX-C-E working with the NEC driver ?

Thanks!

 

[Oblivion]

Is the USB 3 port of the Zotac H67ITX-C-E working with the NEC driver ?

Thanks!

The PXHCD kext are loaded but the USB 3.0 does not work.
I have not found any kext yet that work with this hardware for Lion...

USB3.tiff

 

[neilhart]

Oblivion what BIOS version(s) are you running on your Zotac H67ITX-C-E?

With the 03-17-11 BIOS my board is stable on LION 10.7 and 10.7.1 without a DSDT.aml with either a i3 2100 or an i7 2600k. However the 06-10-11 BIOS would boot SL 10.6.8 and run but would not even boot into Lion or the Lion Installer. So I regressed the BIOS and will avoid any updates until someone has a good experience.

neil

 

[Oblivion]

Oblivion what BIOS version(s) are you running on your Zotac H67ITX-C-E?

With the 03-17-11 BIOS my board is stable on LION 10.7 and 10.7.1 without a DSDT.aml with either a i3 2100 or an i7 2600k. However the 06-10-11 BIOS would boot SL 10.6.8 and run but would not even boot into Lion or the Lion Installer. So I regressed the BIOS and will avoid any updates until someone has a good experience.

neil

I have the opposite experience as the upgrade to Version 2K110610 (from Version 2K110228) killed a running SL 10.6.8 setup, but I could later install Lion directly from a USB stick.
I tested the Version 2K110317, but as it would not run SL 10.6.x either I "ditched" the motherboard and was running Windows 7 on it until Lion was released..

I think the "fact" is that the Zotac H67ITX-C-E simply are allergic to iBoot and Multibeast.
I have been able to install both SL and Lion and as long as I have used something else than iBoot and Multibeast.
Now I uses Chameleon Wizard v3.2.2 / Darwin/x86 boot v5.0.132 - Chameleon v2.1svn r1457 and patched 10.7 kext for audio, network - both integrated and AirPort eXpress (org Apple) works vanilla.
USB 3.0 are the only thing that does not work.

Earlier today I tested the Chimera 1.5.0 and of course it failed with KP.
After disabling audio in BIOS I was able to boot without KP and reinstall the Chameleon bootloader and could enable audio again.
With Chimera 1.5.0 both the integrated network and the AirPort eXtreme was dead.

The Zotac H67ITX-C-E works great when it does, but cannot be recommended for the unexperienced..

PS! Chimera 1.5.0 work on the GA-H67N-USB3-B3 motherboard, and also USB 3.0 works with over 100MB/s with USB 3.0 connected SATA disks..

 

[wonkywonky]

My experience with the Zotac H67-C-E has been a little different, although I'm not sure which BIOS I'm on - will have to check this out later.

Hardware: Zotac H67-C-E + i3-2100 (i5-2500 on another build scheduled for next week) + super old Geforce 9300 GE low profile (to be replaced by a Radeon 5450 if HD2000 support doesn't get hacked in soon).

Using iBoot + UpdateHelper + Multibeast 3.8.0, I was able to get the following install stages working (I went through SL first just to make sure I had a working base platform):
1. Base install using 10.6 DVD image + iBoot
2. 10.6.8 via combo update + iBoot + UpdateHelper
3. 10.6.8 + Chimera via Multibeast 3.8.0 (EasyDSDT)
4. Lion (installed on separate partition)
5. 10.7.1 via software update + Chimera via Multibeast 3.8.0 (EasyDSDT)
6. Ethernet via Lynx2mac's 81xx driver
7. Working on audio when I next have some free time, but I already have a USB audio controller

I'd previously spent 3 weeks fighting an ECS H67H2-I that I picked up at a good price. I gave up and sprung for the Zotac because of tetsu81vn's thread here:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=29696

Key considerations for me:
1) USB3.0 (GA) vs mini PCI-E (Zotac). Zotacs typically use VLI chipsets for USB3.0, which don't have OS X drivers available. I was seriously considering the GA because of Renesas driver support. That said, my primary machine now uses a GA H55N-USB3, and I'm in that small group of users who can't get their USB3.0 drives to stay mounted, so I figured I would go with the Zotac this time. The i3 build (for my wife) gets the Azurewave mini PCI-E wifi card swapped out for a $15 Broadcom 4321 native-Airport card off eBay, and my i5 build might do the same with a mini PCI-E -> USB3.0 card.

2) K vs non-K processors. Yeah I know this isn't a board level issue. My i5-2500 build will include a Radeon 5770, but the i3 currently uses an old GF9300 because it's hard to get the i3-2105 (in fact, any xx05 processors) where I live. I might give in soon and replace the 2100 with a 2105 just to get HD3000 and do away with the discrete gfx card.

 

[wonkywonky]

r1457 and patched 10.7 kext for audio, network - both integrated and AirPort eXpress (org Apple) works vanilla.
USB 3.0 are the only thing that does not work.

Oblivion, could you confirm that the included Azurewave wifi works vanilla for you? If so, could you please run me through the process?

Also, how did you get HD2000 support?

 

[Oblivion]

r1457 and patched 10.7 kext for audio, network - both integrated and AirPort eXpress (org Apple) works vanilla.
USB 3.0 are the only thing that does not work.

Oblivion, could you confirm that the included Azurewave wifi works vanilla for you? If so, could you please run me through the process?

Also, how did you get HD2000 support?

Azurewave does not work, but the original Apple Airport card works.

No working HD2000 for me yet - in the Zotac.
Have also a i5 2405 with HD3000, and have ordered a i3 2105...

The Chimera 1.5.0 enabled the HD2000 (i3 2100T) and it was recognized as HD2000 graphics, but I did not check it out as Chimera killed both network cards and I had to disable audio in BIOS to be able to boot without KP.

I only tested what happened when ID 0102 of the graphic was removed from the kexts:
The HD2000 graphics was still recognized as a HD2000 graphics with 64MB RAM so I think there is hope for working HD2000 graphics.

With the Zotac I had two options yesterday when I tested the Chimera 1.5.0:
1. Use several days to figure out by myself how to get network and audio working and avoid KP.
2. Wait some days to Chameleon also have included the HD2000 / HD3000 enabler.

I went for option 2 as I with Chameleon use a patched 10.7 kext for 892 audio and 10.7.1 kexts for HDA and USB. The Chimera / Multibeast route with rollbacks to 10.6.x kexts to get a "working" system are a last resort for me with a motherboard without DSDT edits to support the Chimera / Multibeast route...

PS! The Zotac will only be used with 1024x768 resolution as a iTunes / BitPerfect app player without keyboard / mouse / display. 1024x768 are perfect when I use an iPad with VNC and normally only uses the Remote app from the iPad to control iTunes.
The i3 2100T in the fanless cabinet runs below 40 degree C - the xx05 CPUs runs at 45 -50 C and gives no benefits for this setup...

 

[NielsR]

I'm really sorry to disturb this thread with this question, but what is "KP"?

Niels