- Joined
- Apr 1, 2014
- Messages
- 13
- Motherboard
- Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H-BK
- CPU
- i7-4790K
- Graphics
- EVGA GeForce GTX 970 SC
- Mac
- Classic Mac
- Mobile Phone
Hi everyone,
I know this board is old, but I recently acquired one and immediately started trying to install Mavericks 10.9.5. Almost a week after starting this endeavor, Yosemite was released so I switched to that OS instead. Here are the specs for this build.
CPU: intel Xeon E5450 3.0GHz / 12MB cache / 1333MHz fsb
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-G41M Combo rev 1.3 (I'm using the rev 1.4 F4 BIOS)
(The rev 1.3 and 1.4 boards were identical, just some beefed up electrical components were added to the 1.4 version...from what I read.)
RAM: 4GB (2x2GB) Patriot 1066MHz
Video: Nvidia GeForce 8400GS 256MB (Integrated intel X4500)
PSU: Corsair CX430
You will no doubt notice I have a Xeon CPU listed above in my specs. This cpu is a socket 771 modded to fit into the socket 775 motherboard. If you feel like going with a Xeon the best sites to check out are...
http://www.delidded.com/lga-771-to-775-adapter/ and
http://www.overclock.net/t/1431723/mod-lga775-support-for-lga771-xeon-cpus
**The intel socket 771 CPU microcodes had to be added to this motherboards BIOS for the Xeon to work properly. The sites above will give the necessary instructions to do this.**
I personally paid $32 for my Xeon on ebay. A comparable Core 2 Quad proc is the intel Q9650. It's going for around $100, but when I bought my Xeon, the core2 chip was around $150
Anyway, to install Mavericks and/or Yosemite with this motherboard/CPU combo I had some issues to overcome that didn't occur when I had a Core 2 Duo installed. I could not install using the ANY nvidia card. I had to install initially using just the integrated graphics. So here are the steps...
1) Make your Yosemite boot USB (There are many tutorials out there, so I won't go into how to do this)
2) If you are using a Xeon, boot from the IGP
3) Boot flags are -v -x cpus=1
4) Once you are at the installer, go into disk utility and prepare your hard drive for installation
5) Install Yosemite and reboot with the same flags as above
6) Use Multibeast 7 to install drivers (I made a DSDT from the F4 BIOS with a patch file I found on the net. It will be posted below. I will also include screenshots of what I chose to install.)
7) To fix the cpus=1 issue with a Xeon CPU, I have included a modified VoodooTSCSync kext below. If you are using a Core 2 Duo, you won't need this. I'm not sure if a Core 2 Quad CPU requires a TSCSync file though, as I don't have one to test with. Install the kext, repair permissions/rebuild cache and reboot.
8) For Xeon users, this is the time to disable the IGP and boot from the nvidia card. Using the boot flags -v -f npci=0x2000 GraphicsEnabler=Yes should get you proper screen resolution and acceleration from the video card.
9) To get sound working on this board (VIA VT1708S) I have included a kext that worked right after I installed and rebooted. (Took awhile to find one that actually worked!!!)
Note: The reason I had to install using the IGP was that with the Xeon CPU, the video from the nvidia card was so messed up, you could not see anything but a full screen of colourful atifacts.
Links:
gigabyte ga-g41m combo patched dsdt
VIA VT1708S Kext
Modified VoodooTSCSync Kext to fix cpus=1
I hope this tutorial is able to help someone out there achieve their dream of running OS X! If it appears incomplete in any way, please let me know so I can make the needed changes!
Thanks!
I know this board is old, but I recently acquired one and immediately started trying to install Mavericks 10.9.5. Almost a week after starting this endeavor, Yosemite was released so I switched to that OS instead. Here are the specs for this build.
CPU: intel Xeon E5450 3.0GHz / 12MB cache / 1333MHz fsb
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-G41M Combo rev 1.3 (I'm using the rev 1.4 F4 BIOS)
(The rev 1.3 and 1.4 boards were identical, just some beefed up electrical components were added to the 1.4 version...from what I read.)
RAM: 4GB (2x2GB) Patriot 1066MHz
Video: Nvidia GeForce 8400GS 256MB (Integrated intel X4500)
PSU: Corsair CX430
You will no doubt notice I have a Xeon CPU listed above in my specs. This cpu is a socket 771 modded to fit into the socket 775 motherboard. If you feel like going with a Xeon the best sites to check out are...
http://www.delidded.com/lga-771-to-775-adapter/ and
http://www.overclock.net/t/1431723/mod-lga775-support-for-lga771-xeon-cpus
**The intel socket 771 CPU microcodes had to be added to this motherboards BIOS for the Xeon to work properly. The sites above will give the necessary instructions to do this.**
I personally paid $32 for my Xeon on ebay. A comparable Core 2 Quad proc is the intel Q9650. It's going for around $100, but when I bought my Xeon, the core2 chip was around $150
Anyway, to install Mavericks and/or Yosemite with this motherboard/CPU combo I had some issues to overcome that didn't occur when I had a Core 2 Duo installed. I could not install using the ANY nvidia card. I had to install initially using just the integrated graphics. So here are the steps...
1) Make your Yosemite boot USB (There are many tutorials out there, so I won't go into how to do this)
2) If you are using a Xeon, boot from the IGP
3) Boot flags are -v -x cpus=1
4) Once you are at the installer, go into disk utility and prepare your hard drive for installation
5) Install Yosemite and reboot with the same flags as above
6) Use Multibeast 7 to install drivers (I made a DSDT from the F4 BIOS with a patch file I found on the net. It will be posted below. I will also include screenshots of what I chose to install.)
7) To fix the cpus=1 issue with a Xeon CPU, I have included a modified VoodooTSCSync kext below. If you are using a Core 2 Duo, you won't need this. I'm not sure if a Core 2 Quad CPU requires a TSCSync file though, as I don't have one to test with. Install the kext, repair permissions/rebuild cache and reboot.
8) For Xeon users, this is the time to disable the IGP and boot from the nvidia card. Using the boot flags -v -f npci=0x2000 GraphicsEnabler=Yes should get you proper screen resolution and acceleration from the video card.
9) To get sound working on this board (VIA VT1708S) I have included a kext that worked right after I installed and rebooted. (Took awhile to find one that actually worked!!!)
Note: The reason I had to install using the IGP was that with the Xeon CPU, the video from the nvidia card was so messed up, you could not see anything but a full screen of colourful atifacts.
Links:
gigabyte ga-g41m combo patched dsdt
VIA VT1708S Kext
Modified VoodooTSCSync Kext to fix cpus=1
I hope this tutorial is able to help someone out there achieve their dream of running OS X! If it appears incomplete in any way, please let me know so I can make the needed changes!
Thanks!