GED's Prodigy: i7-3770K - Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe - 16GB 2400MHz RAM - GA Radeon HD6870

[Going Bald]

I'm EXTREMELY hesitant to flash my BIOS! There were over 60 pages on that particular thread and none seemed to be geared specifically for the P8Z77-i board.

I perused the thread, but honestly I'm more confused than ever. Will I additionally need a DSDT? (Is there one?) Are the BIOs settings prior to install different for ML? Can I support a GTX580 and a 30" Dell U3011 display? I'm going to keep reading, but the more I read the more I get spun around and become unsure on what to do next.

Great build and pics Ged, thanks for kicking things off!

Flashing the BIOS with the modded one that unlocks the MSR is easy. Download it, unzip it, copy the P8Z77ID.CAP file (rename it if needed) on a blank USB flash drive and shut down. Plug the USB drive into the lower USB port next to the eSATA ports and use something to push the small button inside thru the hole below the USB port (I used a toothpick with the sharp end cut off). You need to be able to see the board to see the light flashing - when it stops it is done.

The advantage is you no longer need NullCPUPM kext. No other difference - DSDT is not needed unless you want audio over HDMI in which case you need DSDT.

 

[digiboy]

Thanks Going Bald, I think I flashed my BIOs, though I'm unsure -- my machine won't go to sleep, which leads me to believe that I've done something wrong. It doesn't matter anyways as I'm still stuck at 1024x768 resolution and no HD4000 graphics.

Honestly, I can't take it anymore. Ive officially hit my limit. I'm going to decompress then give it one more shot when Multibeast 5.0 comes out. This forsaken P8z77-I board has kicked my ass and laughed AT me every SINGLE step of the way. It's been a frustrating experience and a month and a half of lost time and productivity. If it wasn't for the patient and intrepid people here at tonymac I would have bought an iMac long ago. Thanks again Going Bald, you're a peach!

 

[ajlowndes]

Honestly, I can't take it anymore. Ive officially hit my limit. I'm going to decompress then give it one more shot when Multibeast 5.0 comes out. This forsaken P8z77-I board has kicked my ass and laughed AT me every SINGLE step of the way. It's been a frustrating experience and a month and a half of lost time and productivity. If it wasn't for the patient and intrepid people here at tonymac I would have bought an iMac long ago. Thanks again Going Bald, you're a peach!

Don't give up yet - your hardware list shows you have all the same components as me (except the graphics card - not sure if your one works OOB, it's not on the customac list so that might be the source of your 1024x768 problem).
I have been playing for a couple days now. I have reinstalled 10.8 around 6 or 7 times and I flashed my BIOS twice to make sure. This latest attempt will be my last one reinstalling 10.8 - I'm going to create a backup on a seperate drive before playing with kexts this time around . I'm pretty happy with this latest setup in that I know there are only two things I don't have working - USB3 ports and sleep. Other than that it is fine* - and I haven't even run MultiBeast! I am booting with my Unibeast flash drive plugged in each time instead... until MB 5.0.0 comes out anyway.
For you to get to the same point, just make sure your BIOS settings are correct as they're a little finicky and try installing a clean 10.8 with your graphics card plugged in and the monitor connected through that rather than the HD4000 port -worked for me, but then again my GTX670 is natively supported. And keep reading! I do believe this board will make a dream hackintosh once these last two little issues are sorted out.

*Definition of "fine" prior to running Multibeast: Ethernet works natively. The wifi/bt card of course does not so I turned both off in the BIOS. I have the AR9280 half card on order to replace it with. Sound works through my USB speakers which are awesome anyway, so I don't need/want to kext the onboard ALC898. BT works OOB through the IOGEAR GBU521 dongle. The GTX670 ran my monitor perfectly, even during the OS install. All the USB2.0 ports work. Shut-down works. Restart works.

 

[ajlowndes]

Note: the NVIDIA FakeSMC plugin from Multibeast 4.6.1 caused my system to kernel panic the first few times, so don't install that with a GTX670 or similar. Took me a few 10.8 reinstalls to figure that one out.

 

[ajlowndes]

Hey Ged, I have a noob question that you might be able to help with - when you plugged in your bitfenix prodigy USB3.0 cable to the P8Z77-i motherboard did you also plug the little USB2.0 cable to the nearby USB2.0 header? I did when I originally put all this together, then unplugged it yesterday as it seemed to cause the OS some confusion as to which controller should be running my mouse from that port...

I only ask because it would be nice to have those two ports working, even if they are USB2.0 for now. In that case I would need to unplug the USB3.0 header and plug in only the USB2.0 cable right?

 

[Digikid]

Very nice build GED.

I am getting parts for a very similar build.

Prodigy White
Intel 3570K ( Already got )
Video card ( still researching....has to be a Radeon 7xxx series as I had nothing but problems with Nvidia cards )
Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe
Corsair AX850 or AX650 PSU
LG Bluray Burner ( must have no question about it )
Corsair H100 or H80
One Vertex 4 256GB SSD ( was a gift.....otherwise I would not touch a OCZ Product with a 10 mile pole )
One Intel 520 120GB SSD
1 x Western Digital 2TB Advanced Format HDD

This will be with Mountain Lion though.

Have you tried your build with a CLEAN install of ML?

 

[aiden120000]

Hey Ged, I have a noob question that you might be able to help with - when you plugged in your bitfenix prodigy USB3.0 cable to the P8Z77-i motherboard did you also plug the little USB2.0 cable to the nearby USB2.0 header? I did when I originally put all this together, then unplugged it yesterday as it seemed to cause the OS some confusion as to which controller should be running my mouse from that port...

I only ask because it would be nice to have those two ports working, even if they are USB2.0 for now. In that case I would need to unplug the USB3.0 header and plug in only the USB2.0 cable right?

you need to unplug the usb 2 header. I think it's there for old motherboard which don't support usb 3. usb 2 devices will still work without the little on plugged in

 

[ged]

Awesome build, have you tried Mountain Lion?

Just upgraded to it today. I delayed the install because I do software development, and not everything - www.valgrind.org - worked on Mountain Lion. Looks like it's the same to Lion, with I hope a more stable USB. So far (one hour), looks better.

Picasa is back, iTunes is back.
No more X11 in Mountain Lion, Apple now relies on the external Xquartz project. works for me.
Java (JBidwatcher) works for me too.

 

[ged]

Hey Ged, I have a noob question that you might be able to help with - when you plugged in your bitfenix prodigy USB3.0 cable to the P8Z77-i motherboard did you also plug the little USB2.0 cable to the nearby USB2.0 header? I did when I originally put all this together, then unplugged it yesterday as it seemed to cause the OS some confusion as to which controller should be running my mouse from that port...

I only ask because it would be nice to have those two ports working, even if they are USB2.0 for now. In that case I would need to unplug the USB3.0 header and plug in only the USB2.0 cable right?

No, I did not. I just plugged the big USB3.0 header. I understood the little plug as being an XOR: either USB 3.0 (big plug) or USB 2.0 (small plug). A bit like the audio thingy which comes with an "AC97" connector or an "HD Audio".

 

[ajlowndes]

And are your USB3 ports all working?


Mine work only "kind of", like so (with my research about why the differing behavior):

4 x USB2.0 ports work with everything - they use the Intel Z77 Controller. The 2xUSB2.0 motherboard headers control another 4 ports (2 each) also with the Intel Z77 controller, but I haven't tested those - I assume they will work no problems if I change the big cable for the little one.

2 x USB3.0 ports above the Esata ports work with USB3.0 devices only, but a drive won't auto-mount at startup under 10.8 (I haven't checked if it is recognised but unmounted yet - but unplugging and replugging gets it to mount). These, along with the two side-of-case USB3.0 ports available via the big blue motherboard header you mentioned, are also controlled by the Intel Z77 Controller.

2 x USB 3.0 ports below the Ethernet port don't work at all on my system, these are apparently controlled by the ASMedia 1042 controller.

Beats me why ASUS decided to have two different USB3.0 controllers on their board. I could handle that if only I can find a way to auto-mount those volumes at startup. Do you know of any way?