GUIDE: GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 UEFI BIOS - ALL WORKING, DSDT not required!

[memmerson]

GUIDE: GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 UEFI BIOS - WORKING, DSDT not required!

PLEASE CAN I ASK THAT ANY QUESTIONS ARE POSTED IN THIS THREAD RATHER THAN BY PM TO ME. THIS IS TO ENSURE THAT OTHERS MAY BENEFIT FROM ANY DISCOURSE THAT MAY FOLLOW. THANKS!​

Using this method of installation I have a hackintosh that boots in about 15 seconds (including UEFI POST!) and provides full hardware support with, so far, no issues.


Status
[WORKING]

+ UEFI BIOS: Speedier boot times. Native power management. No DSDT required.
+ Graphics: Intel HD3000 (perfect, no glitches/artefacts)
+ Networking: Realtek RTL8111E Gigabit Ethernet
+ Audio: Realtek ALC899
+ SATA3
+ USB3 (tentative)
+ Trim support for SSDs
+ Dual-monitor support (DVI & HDMI)
+ Power Management (Sleep, restart and shutdown)
+ P-States
+ Single-click wake from sleep
+ No BIOS reset from sleep
+ Motherboard sensors (FakeSMC)
+ AirPlay (including Display Mirroring)
+ App Store + iCloud
+ SATA Optical drives
+ Bluetooth
+ Hot-swapping of SATA disks (thanks to quandd)
+ Overclocking​

[WORKING WITH FURTHER MODS]

+ HDMI audio (method here, thanks to savestheday)​

My Hardware

+ Gigabyte Z68MA-D2H-B3 Motherboard - UEFI BIOS version U1b
+ Intel Core i7 2600k CPU
+ 16GB RAM
+ Corsair Force 3 120GB SSD
+ Corsair H60 Cooler (push/pull config)
+ Fractal Design Core 1000 chassis
+ Nexus Value 430 PSU
+ 2x 22" Monitors (dual-screen) attached via DVI and HDMI
+ Apple Keyboard (wired aluminium)
+ Apple Trackpad and Mouse
+ Broadcom Bluetooth USB​

Preparation

1.) Upgrade your BIOS to UEFI BIOS version U1b, instructions on how to do this in Windows here (thanks to ttb1263) and also on OSX here
2.) Remove any add-in graphics cards for the install process, this significantly reduces the risk of installation problems. The card can be re-added post-install. Most supported cards (check the various HCL's about the web) work with just GraphicsEnabler set to Yes or No (in /Extra/org.chameleon.Boot.plist), although some require additional changes.
3.) For the install attach your display to the on-board (HD3000) DVI connector. You can use HDMI when installation is complete, this is because HDMI doesn't get a desktop until after the MacMini system definition is installed during the MultiBeast install phase.
4.) BIOS Settings - As default except:
​

- Set "Internal Graphics Memory Size" to 512MB.
- Set SATA mode to AHCI.​

​

- In System\ATA Port Information you can enable Hot-Swap for each for each disk it is required (not necessary for system disks, see note below).​

​

5.) On another machine running OSX and with the Mountain Lion installer downloaded, create a UniBeast Mountain Lion USB install key (USB key capacity 8GB minimum).
6.) Download the latest MultiBeast 5.x and place on the UniBeast USB key.​

Installation

1.) Insert UniBeast USB key.
2.) Turn on the PC, at the UEFI/BIOS screen press F12 to enter the boot menu. Specify the UniBeast USB key as boot device, you will see it listed twice, select the one that doesn't start with UEFI.
3.) Install OSX Mountain Lion (note: install partition should be <= 1TB otherwise you may have boot loader problems).
4.) After installation completes, for the first boot or until the Chimera boot loader is installed (i.e.: by MultiBeast) you need to boot to the UniBeast USB key again. This time, at the Chimera boot menu select the Mountain Lion installation disk and NOT the UniBeast installer.
5.) OSX Mountain Lion should now boot successfully.​

Multibeast Configuration
After the installation of Mountain Lion completes and while at the desktop for the first boot:

1.) Copy MultiBeast from the USB key to the desktop
2.) Install Multibeast 5.x with the options specified below:​

​

Important Notes

+ In the screenshot above I have specified the Core i7 SSDT, you may instead want to select the Core i5 or the Core i5/i7 Overclocked SSDT depending on your requirements. I have written a simple guide for enabling overclocking in this post, also for increased overclocks (>4.2ghz) check my post here.
+ Enabling Hot-Swap for your internal disks will make them appear with the external disk icon in OSX. It's not a problem, but if you want your system disk to appear with the correct icon you can just disable Hot-Swap for that disk, it's not as if you're going to be hot-swapping the system disk anyway...!​

 

[sonicseamus]

Great to hear! Is there an option in the UEFI BIOS for 512mb framebuffer on HD3000? Does your DVD player work? Are drives detected as internal? If so, with or w/out MultiBeast kext?

 

[memmerson]

Great to hear! Is there an option in the UEFI BIOS for 512mb framebuffer on HD3000? Does your DVD player work? Are drives detected as internal? If so, with or w/out MultiBeast kext?

Hi,
Yes you can now set 512MB (and also 1024MB!) as the Framebuffer size, this setting has been renamed to "Internal Graphics Memory Size" in the UEFI. Setting 1024MB does not seem to work in OSX though, still shows as 512MB.

I don't have a DVD ROM connected to my PC as I tend to connect a USB DVD when required, but when I get 5 minutes I'll give it a go as I have a few old drives knocking about.

Internal drives ARE now displayed as internal, so no longer need to use the IOAHCIBlockStorageInjector kext!

 

[sonicseamus]

Drives ARE detected as local, no longer need to use the IOAHCIBlockStorageInjector kext!

Thanks for the info. Are drives hot-swappable?

 

[rawbear]

Does Airplay fully work?

I'm having problems with Airplay Mirroring. The option is there, but the console gives me CoreAudio errors.

 

[emaf]

what about stability? any console errors?

 

[qb84]

I have to say I'm very pleased with this board. Everything works great!

 

[memmerson]

Emaf: no stability issues witnessed so far, everything I've tried has worked well so far. I've used this install for about 20 hours so far, it is my main workstation. I use Safari, Chrome, OpenVPN, Zoiper, Sparrow, Cord, Spotify and VLC amongst others and so far everything has worked as well as they do on my genuine Macs.

Sonicseamus: Not sure about your hot-plugging question, are you referring to hot-plugging USB or SATA disks? USB hot-plugging works fine, I have not tried SATA hot-plugging as I've no requirement for it personally, but I might try later if I remember.

Rawbear: Airplay Mirroring works fine for me. Just tested it with my Apple TV3 and video and audio work perfectly.

 

[dojrude]

Are you sure USB3 is working as USB3 and not USB2?

I have an Etron USB chip in the GZ-Z68MX and although the USB ports show up in system info, they are next to useless. Any large transfers (camera RAW files etc) result in file corruption or multiple instances of the camera appearing in Aperture when attempting an import before crashing Aperture.

I've tried about 4 different PXHCD drivers now and the older IOUSB kexts from DP3 and none of them make the USB3 ports show as USB3 or function correctly even when USB2 devices are used.

 

[memmerson]

Update:

So it looks like USB3 doesn't work properly as dojrude mentioned, the USB Super-Speed Bus appears in System Info and my USB3 flash disk (my only USB3 device) appears beneath, but it does not mount nor can I access it from Disk Utility.

Also, DVD-ROMs and hot-swapping SATA hard disks do not work (as sonicseamus enquired). This is an interesting one because before I upgraded to the RTM build of ML hot-swapping was working at some point in the DP builds. Possibly related to the UEFI upgrade...

These issues do not affect me personally as I don't require the affected functionality, however some people will. I can see the issues are not uncommon so hopefully a fix will be found very soon.