GA-P35-DS4 Snow Leopard issues

[Dewdman42]

Today I installed snow leopard onto GA-P35-DS4 using iBoot and Multibeast. It was pretty painless process, but its not working as good as the old 10.5 install I have on the same machine. I was hoping anyone with experience on this mobo can help me sort out a few kext issues to get it working. I used the DSDT auto patcher to create a DSDT.aml file for this mobo, I did not otherwise tweak that file in any way yet.

1 - My internal HD's are appearing as yellow icons. Which is the best IO driver to use for this mobo? one of my drives is not even accessible from the desktop, I get an error about broken alias when I try to open it. But it is accessible via terminal window. Strange.

2 - Which is the best net driver to use for this mobo. I used the one in Multibeast called official realtek. Seems to be ok so far.

3 - I'm gonna need to eventually do dual DVI. I heard there are special tweaks needed for that. Anyone know? I used whatever default graphics driver came with multibeast and it basically works, but font smoothing seemed ugly compared to my other 10.5 install.

4 - Which is best audio driver to use for this mobo? From multibeast I tried the universal one. Havnen't plugged in headphones yet to see if it works.

5 - Everyone talks about sleep problems with this mobo. Has that ever been solved?

6 - Do I need to worry about speed stepping? The machine is overclocked.

Any and all suggestions about how to better configure the DSDT or make everything look as vanilla as possible will be appreciated, but number one priority is getting optimal performance from I/O, CPU, net, etc..which I'm not entirely confident I have yet, particularly I/O.

 

[totenkopf4]

Today I installed snow leopard onto GA-P35-DS4 using iBoot and Multibeast. It was pretty painless process, but its not working as good as the old 10.5 install I have on the same machine. I was hoping anyone with experience on this mobo can help me sort out a few kext issues to get it working. I used the DSDT auto patcher to create a DSDT.aml file for this mobo, I did not otherwise tweak that file in any way yet.

1 - My internal HD's are appearing as yellow icons. Which is the best IO driver to use for this mobo? one of my drives is not even accessible from the desktop, I get an error about broken alias when I try to open it. But it is accessible via terminal window. Strange.

2 - Which is the best net driver to use for this mobo. I used the one in Multibeast called official realtek. Seems to be ok so far.

3 - I'm gonna need to eventually do dual DVI. I heard there are special tweaks needed for that. Anyone know? I used whatever default graphics driver came with multibeast and it basically works, but font smoothing seemed ugly compared to my other 10.5 install.

4 - Which is best audio driver to use for this mobo? From multibeast I tried the universal one. Havnen't plugged in headphones yet to see if it works.

5 - Everyone talks about sleep problems with this mobo. Has that ever been solved?

6 - Do I need to worry about speed stepping? The machine is overclocked.

Any and all suggestions about how to better configure the DSDT or make everything look as vanilla as possible will be appreciated, but number one priority is getting optimal performance from I/O, CPU, net, etc..which I'm not entirely confident I have yet, particularly I/O.

dewdman

for the audio you should have this as the codec on the motherboard -Realtek ALC889A which we have in Multibeast I believe so using the universal codec or VHOODOO kexts are wrong.

as to the yellow icons you may want to read this and use step two -
http://lnx2mac.blogspot.com/2010/08/fixing-orange-harddisk-icons.html

 

[Dewdman42]

totenkopf, thanks for this info! Couple more questions related to those:

dewdman

for the audio you should have this as the codec on the motherboard -Realtek ALC889A which we have in Multibeast I believe so using the universal codec or VHOODOO kexts are wrong.

ok got it. Question, it says in Multibeast that this depends on having a modified DSDT. The only DSDT I have is one that I generated using auto DSDT patcher. Is that sufficient for this?

as to the yellow icons you may want to read this and use step two -
http://lnx2mac.blogspot.com/2010/08/fixing-orange-harddisk-icons.html

So in Multibeast I found a couple, I wasn't sure which to load so I loaded several:

AHCI_3rdParty_SATA.kext "3rd party SATA"
JMicron36xATA.kext "JMicron36x ATA"

The article you quoted mentioned something called JMicron36xSATA (note the S in SATA compared to ATA in multibeast )

I will say that installing the two things from Multibeast seemed to fix the icons, but I'm still not confident I have the most ideal I/O drivers for my mobo. Do I need both of those, or one of those? Just the JMicron? Is there a JMicron SATA driver floating around somewhere?

All that being said, it seems to be working ok. However, one problem, I have a second drive plugged into SATA. the desktop icon for it when I double click on it says the alias is broken. I'm unable to delete it because its in use. I'm unable to fix it because it asks me to point it to the correct place for the alias, but I don't know where to point it. I can access the volume via terminal, disk access is fine, there is something wrong with the desktop icon or alias or whatever it is. Does anyone have any idea about that?

 

[totenkopf4]

totenkopf, thanks for this info! Couple more questions related to those:


ok got it. Question, it says in Multibeast that this depends on having a modified DSDT. The only DSDT I have is one that I generated using auto DSDT patcher. Is that sufficient for this?



So in Multibeast I found a couple, I wasn't sure which to load so I loaded several:

AHCI_3rdParty_SATA.kext "3rd party SATA"
JMicron36xATA.kext "JMicron36x ATA"

The article you quoted mentioned something called JMicron36xSATA (note the S in SATA compared to ATA in multibeast )

I will say that installing the two things from Multibeast seemed to fix the icons, but I'm still not confident I have the most ideal I/O drivers for my mobo. Do I need both of those, or one of those? Just the JMicron? Is there a JMicron SATA driver floating around somewhere?

All that being said, it seems to be working ok. However, one problem, I have a second drive plugged into SATA. the desktop icon for it when I double click on it says the alias is broken. I'm unable to delete it because its in use. I'm unable to fix it because it asks me to point it to the correct place for the alias, but I don't know where to point it. I can access the volume via terminal, disk access is fine, there is something wrong with the desktop icon or alias or whatever it is. Does anyone have any idea about that?

Dewdman42

As to the DSDT file - which we don't have for this MB - making you own is the best solution -
http://legacy.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?t=35559

Also look at this thread as it discuss you MB.
http://www.tonymacx86.com/mountain-...3-gigabyte-ga-p35-ds4-succes-ml-10-8-2-a.html

As to the yellow icons the ATA version is for the IDE interface and you do not use that and should have IDE disabled in the BIOS so use the SATA one in Multibeast.

Here is another link you should research - http://www.osx86.net/view/503-gigabyte_p35-ds4_ver2.1.html
also
http://www.osx86.net/motherboard-cpu/4387-gigabyte-ga-p35-ds4.html
which has a link to kexts.com

 

[Dewdman42]

Thanks again totenkofp!!

Dewdman42

As to the DSDT file - which we don't have for this MB - making you own is the best solution -
http://legacy.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?t=35559

thanks for that read, I learned something. I used Maldon's auto patcher before, which appears to more or less automate that procedure if I am understanding correctly along with a few patches, including the 889A patch, I guess my DSDT should already be good to go. learning about these patches makes me wonder what else I could potentially patch in my DSDT to make for a super clean vanilla install, but I'll save that quest for later. Thanks for the read.

As to the yellow icons the ATA version is for the IDE interface and you do not use that and should have IDE disabled in the BIOS so use the SATA one in Multibeast.

It is disabled. However, I still can't find JMicron36xSATA.kext, it doesn't appear to be in the SL version of Multibeast. How am I missing it?

 

[totenkopf4]

Thanks again totenkofp!!


thanks for that read, I learned something. I used Maldon's auto patcher before, which appears to more or less automate that procedure if I am understanding correctly along with a few patches, including the 889A patch, I guess my DSDT should already be good to go. learning about these patches makes me wonder what else I could potentially patch in my DSDT to make for a super clean vanilla install, but I'll save that quest for later. Thanks for the read.



It is disabled. However, I still can't find JMicron36xSATA.kext, it doesn't appear to be in the SL version of Multibeast. How am I missing it?

Dewdman42

Dont know right now - but do you still have the yellow icons or are they normal for now.

If you don't have 3rd party SATA External connections don't worry about it.

As to that SATA drive that has a busted link - did its hard drive address change this could be why it not working. Dsk0,pat1 etc
You would need to edit that if it did ...


update
We are informed that their is no more JMicron36xSATA.kext anymore.... so its been eliminated or combined into other kexts - isn't technology wonderful.... actually it was replaced or renamed into 3rd party sata or 3rd party esata ....
this from the voice of god... macman...

 

[Dewdman42]

Dewdman42

Dont know right now - but do you still have the yellow icons or are they normal for now.

update
We are informed that their is no more JMicron36xSATA.kext anymore.... so its been eliminated or combined into other kexts - isn't technology wonderful.... actually it was replaced or renamed into 3rd party sata or 3rd party esata ....
this from the voice of god... macman...

interesting. So I actually extracted JMicron36xSATA.kext from Multibeast 2.x using pacifist, and it kind of works, it changes the icons, but system profiler still shows them as "unknown" controllers. not that big of a deal.

But it sounds like I should get rid of that kext and use the 3rd Party SATA instead. Will do

As to that SATA drive that has a busted link - did its hard drive address change this could be why it not working. Dsk0,pat1 etc
You would need to edit that if it did ...

I don't know why it would have changed. I just installed SL from scratch with that drive attached as a secondary drive, and upon booting up into SL the first time its already broken link. In any case, where do I go to edit/fix that?

On another note... I'm trying to make sure my smbios.plist is setup right. I'll be registering some software which I know looks at either serial or UUID or both. I have figured out how to edit the serial number, though its not clear to me the serial will be unique. I have seen some guides that show how to build a valid serial that will match checks from Apple or others, but then I'm not sure how to ensure it would be unique really. The UUID is confusing, a lot of people complaining that its not grabbing the actual unique hardware UUID after all. I'm not sure how to verify or ensure that I will always have the same repeatable UUID and unique. Any suggestions about any of that or reccomendations about stuff I should configure in smbios.plist to avoid any problems when I try to use Apple store or reg some software?

 

[totenkopf4]

interesting. So I actually extracted JMicron36xSATA.kext from Multibeast 2.x using pacifist, and it kind of works, it changes the icons, but system profiler still shows them as "unknown" controllers. not that big of a deal.

But it sounds like I should get rid of that kext and use the 3rd Party SATA instead. Will do


I don't know why it would have changed. I just installed SL from scratch with that drive attached as a secondary drive, and upon booting up into SL the first time its already broken link. In any case, where do I go to edit/fix that?

On another note... I'm trying to make sure my smbios.plist is setup right. I'll be registering some software which I know looks at either serial or UUID or both. I have figured out how to edit the serial number, though its not clear to me the serial will be unique. I have seen some guides that show how to build a valid serial that will match checks from Apple or others, but then I'm not sure how to ensure it would be unique really. The UUID is confusing, a lot of people complaining that its not grabbing the actual unique hardware UUID after all. I'm not sure how to verify or ensure that I will always have the same repeatable UUID and unique. Any suggestions about any of that or recommendations about stuff I should configure in smbios.plist to avoid any problems when I try to use Apple store or reg some software?

Dudeman42

Yes I believe that using the newer 3rd party kexts clears the issue unknow controllers and stops the yellow icons.

One item to use - software - is the Chameleon Wizard program - can do a lot of customization and serial number fixes - in Downloads Community Software. Solved my App store login issues for one thing.

One thing - make another disk partition and use Super Duper or Carbon Copy Cloner to dupe that drive - use multibeast to install a boot loader
It does not have to be a bit partition.

 

[Dewdman42]

Dudeman42

Yes I believe that using the newer 3rd party kexts clears the issue unknow controllers and stops the yellow icons.

It clears up the icons, it does not fix system profiler. But that is not a large issue I guess.

One item to use - software - is the Chameleon Wizard program - can do a lot of customization and serial number fixes - in Downloads Community Software. Solved my App store login issues for one thing.

I will look into that.

One thing - make another disk partition and use Super Duper or Carbon Copy Cloner to dupe that drive - use multibeast to install a boot loader
It does not have to be a bit partition.

I'm not sure what you're suggesting this for?

 

[totenkopf4]

It clears up the icons, it does not fix system profiler. But that is not a large issue I guess.


I will look into that.



I'm not sure what you're suggesting this for?

Dewdman42

I have a 2 partitions on my HD I have one is a boot partition the other is a backup or exact clone of the boot vol - and if an update new software etc creates a problem on the primary boot vol I can boot from 2nd partition and clean it up. Otherwise is a lot of terminal action.