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[Guide] HP 6200 Pro / 8200 Elite SFF Desktop - macOS Sierra / High Sierra Install Guide

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trs96

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The HP 6200 Pro/8200 Elite SFF Desktop

HP-6300 Corrected.jpeg

HP 6200 Pro SFF

HP 6200 Pro
w/ i5-2400 at Newegg
4GB of Ram and 500GB HDD

HP 8200 Elite SFF

HP 8200 Elite
w/ I5-2400 at Newegg
HP 8200 Elite SFF with i5-2400
41kAd7evPSL.jpg _____ GT710.jpg

Asus EN210 Amazon _______________________ MSI GT 710 Amazon
Go with the GT 710 if you don't need to install Snow Leopard first. It's a much newer card and will have support longer than the EN210. Both the GT 710 and EN210 are supported in High Sierra. You have the option of using the Asus EN 210 as a Snow Leopard compatible card. Then you can keep using it later for Sierra / High Sierra. Only the GT 710 works with Mojave and Catalina. Support for the older EN210 was dropped when Mojave was released.

Best Gaming Graphics Card Low Profile MSI GTX 1050 Ti 4GB at Amazon.com (Sierra or High Sierra Only)

Optional: Crucial MX500 SSD - Install Sierra/High Sierra on this SSD and set up a 2 drive dual boot system.

Alternate CPU Option: Core i3-2125 at Ebay

You can replace any other Intel Sandy Bridge CPU with one of these and then have supported onboard HD3000 graphics. Use a DP to HDMI or DP to DVI cable to use the onboard Intel Graphics. Make sure to inject Intel in your Clover config.plist. Note that HD3000 graphics are not supported in Mojave/Catalina.

Ram Upgrade Kit (2 x 4GB DDR3) Hynix 1333 MHz ram kit for $26

Do not purchase 3rd party 1333 MHz ram kits for your 8200. HP branded Samsung or Hynix are best. You can also use Nanya or Elpida ram. Make sure the timings match existing ram that comes with your HP desktop. It's always best to run your ram in dual channel mode. Watch the following video by Phil's Computer Lab to learn how to completely upgrade your HP 8200 SFF Desktop.



Comments

About 3.5 years ago there was an immensely popular thread on this site called "Building a Budget Haswell Build: How Low Can You Go?" tonymacx86 himself started this thread and christened it The CheapoMac build for those who wanted to own a hackintosh for a small amount of money. It demonstrated that you could build a Core i3 Haswell H81 system for about 350 USD. That build is no longer practical. A new Haswell I3-4330 costs 200 USD or more if you can find one. The used ones on Ebay start at $82. The Gigabyte H81M-HD3 or other suitable Haswell motherboards are also scarce and expensive, even for the used versions.

This HP 6200 Pro system performs as well or better than that build and is actually easier to set up and configure. It only costs about 130 USD currently and the prices should continue to go down over the next few years. Note: Prices have come down to about $80 in December of 2019. It's already built for you. Just install the low profile graphics card in about 2-3 minutes and you're ready to go.

This is a general use CustoMac for doing all that you do online like surfing, checking email, creating documents and viewing media content. This is the perfect low cost alternative to buying a used Mac Mini. If you have a daily driver that has a Core i7 and a power hungry graphics card, this HP 6200 can be used instead for these basic everyday tasks. It will help you to save a lot on your electric bill. A great idea if you spend many hours a day on the tonymacx86 forums or just surfing youtube and social media sites. Make sure to use an SSDT for CPU power management. Find the i3-2100 and i5-2400 versions attached below.

If you want to either game or edit video, spend $20 more and get the I5 version of the 6200/8200 or HP 6300/8300 I have owned both the HP 6200 with an I5 and the 6300 too. The 6300 is a very good choice as it has onboard USB 3.0 and UEFI. If you just want the lowest cost hackintosh possible then get the 6200/8200 with a Core i3-2100 and the GT 710 graphics card. The 710 still has support in Mojave/Catalina if you want to upgrade to either of those later on.

Get at least a low profile GTX 1050 for gaming use. The GTX 1050 Ti 4GB is the best GPU you can use with this HP desktop. With an I5 and the 1050 Ti you can play most AAA titles at 1080p and high settings. Note: the 1050 Ti cannot be used with Mojave or Catalina. Nvidia never released drivers for either of those.

This is a Sandy Bridge based SFF desktop that is a year older than the 6300. It has Intel EFI but not UEFI. You will need to create a Unibeast legacy installer with Sierra. That is the main difference between the two install procedures. Refer to the HP 6300/8300 guide for a much more detailed description of the complete 10 step process. This guide by itself will give you the most important points necessary to install macOS Sierra/High Sierra on the HP 6200 or 8200 to be up and running quickly and easily. Note: The 8200 model uses the exact same processors and BIOS but the motherboard has some minor differences from the 6200.

There is a High Sierra video based guide you can also view to see the whole process. High Sierra converts SSDs to APFS.

If you don't have access to a Mac or CustoMac to make the Unibeast installer, follow the Snow Leopard guide in Post Number Four

1. Prepare your HP PC for the Sierra Installation

a.
Disconnect the VGA output from your graphics card and remove the nuts and bracket. Connect the Low Profile bracket.

VGA .jpg

b. Install your MSI or other low profile card into the PCI-e x16 slot. Connect to your monitor's DVI or HDMI input.
Do not plan on long term use of the VGA output at the back of your HP desktop.
If you do have an HD3000 CPU you could use the DP output on the back panel.
Adapt it to HDMI if you need to use the onboard HD3000 graphics of your system.
HD2000 graphics are not supported. Use a macOS compatible graphics card instead.


VGA is an unsupported analog video option that will yield poor results with macOS Sierra/High Sierra.
Use it only short term, if you have no graphics card or can't access the BIOS when using a 4K monitor.
upload_2018-4-1_18-8-55.png


c. Check your BIOS to see what version you've got. Mine had v02.06. Any BIOS dated 2013 or older should be updated. If you will also run Windows on your PC it's best to update to the most current v02.29 for numerous security patches that have been added since 2011. You can find the J01_0229.BIN file attached below. Unzip the file. Drag the .BIN file to a clean, FAT32 formatted flash drive. Insert it into a front USB port on your HP PC.

1) Power on and tap on the esc key to reach the Startup Menu and then select Utilities, then Flash System ROM.
0827171936.jpg


2) You should then see the 02.29 BIOS version you are flashing. Hit enter and follow the directions shown there.

3) Let your system reboot on it's own and then check to make sure your are on ver. 02.29.

Read the official HP guidelines for using the Startup or F10 Flash System ROM feature.


d. After you complete the update make sure to restore factory defaults as described in Step 3 of the HP 6300/8300 guide.

e. In the BIOS change the Storage OptionsSata Emulation Mode to AHCI from IDE.

f. Disable the Serial Port if that is enabled under the Advanced tab.
_
_
2. Create your Sierra Legacy USB Installer on another Mac or CustoMac

a. You'll need access to a computer running Lion 10.7.5 or later to download macOS Sierra. 10.8.5 for High Sierra​
b. Use only genuine OS X /macOS from the Mac App Store or the Snow Leopard retail DVD from Apple.​
c. Link to the macOS Sierra download from Apple or High Sierra
d. Once the download completes, right click on the installer in the dock and quit the application.​
e. You should then find the macOS Sierra 10.12.6 installer is in your Applications folder.​
Screen Shot 4.jpg

f. Follow the standard tonymacx86 Installation Guide. In Step 2. #13 make sure to select Legacy Boot Mode and not UEFI Note: if you will use the GT210 (Asus EN210) then you should also select Inject Nvidia when making your installer.
Screen Shot.png

g. Insert your USB drive into one of the back panel USB 2.0 ports. (just under the ethernet connection in the back)​


3. Power on your HP 6200 and install macOS Sierra

a. Tap on the F9 key after the POST and select your USB installer under the Legacy Boot Sources entry.​

0821171335.jpg

b. Once you reach the Clover Splash screen select the External drive with the Sierra icon. Not the Clover one.​

0821171337.jpg

c. You shouldn't need any boot flags. The initial boot from USB may take up to 4 minutes to reach the installer so be patient.​

For a new installation of macOS, you MUST erase and format the destination drive according to the following steps before continuing.​

In the top menu bar choose Utilities, and open Disk Utility
Highlight your target drive for the Sierra installation in left column.​
Click Erase button​
For Name: type Sierra (You can rename it later)​
For Format: choose OS X Extended (Journaled)
For Scheme: choose GUID Partition Map
Click Erase
Close Disk Utility

When the installer asks you where to install, choose Sierra. Wait about 20-30 minutes for the install to complete.​

d. Reboot and select the HFS drive icon at the Clover bootloader screen. Finish the setup of macOS Sierra.​


4. Run Multibeast Post Install
If you are installing Sierra make the following selections in Multibeast and install.​

Screen Shot 2017-08-22 at 6.48.40 AM.png

Choose iMac 14,2 System Def. if you want to upgrade to Mojave or Catalina
Note: If you have an HP 6200/8200 with the i5-2400 you will need to use an ssdt.aml file to enable CPU power management.
Find one attached below. Place the .aml file into /EFI/CLOVER/ACPI/patched/ For the i5-2500 or i7-2600 CPU you should generate your own with Piker Alpha's script. See the guide: Generate an SSDT. This will help enable speed stepping and CPU power management. Without it you won't get turbo boost or more than about three of the lower p-states, up to only about 2.2 GHz. If iMac 12,2 doesn't work for your system you can try iMac 14,2. If so, do not use the SSDT for CPU power management.

Screen Shot 2018-01-29 at 6.21.16 AM.png
i3-2100 CPU draws only 5W of power at idle
When using the Asus EN210 graphics card, you also must select Inject Nvidia in Multibeast. It's located under the Customize tab. No need to Inject Nvidia with a newer GT 710 as it works OOB with Sierra. The GT 610 will not work with Sierra installed on this system so avoid that graphics card. If you want to use DisplayPort output to connect to a 4K monitor and produce a resolution of 4K at 60 Hz, the MSI GT 1030 Low Profile card is your best choice. For gaming at 1080p get the GTX 1050 Ti.

The Nvidia GT 1030 and GTX 1050 (Ti) models will all need the Nvidia web drivers installed.

To find out your build number and then get the right driver.
First, open up About This Mac:
  1. Click where it says 10.12.6 or whichever version of macOS you have installed
  2. This will display your build number
  3. Download the right driver for your build number
Download the Nvidia Drivers here.

After you've successfully run Multibeast, eject your Unibeast USB drive and then reboot.​

5. Download and run Clover Configurator

a. You can get it here: Clover Configurator Website
b. Uncheck the box next to Inject Intel if you are using dedicated graphics.​
c. See step #8 of the HP 6300 / 8300 guide for all the details.​

6. Enable your analog and HDMI Audio

a. Use Kextbeast to install AppleALC 1.4.4 and Lilu kext 1.4.0 to /Library/Extensions. Use Kextbeast to do this. Find them attached below. Installing these will enable all your onboard audio options. Final step to enable audio is to mount your EFI partition (use Clover Configurator) then edit your clover config.plist and inject audio layout-id 17 in Devices -> Audio. See image below. credit: aloha_cn​
Screen_Shot_7.png
If you still want to use VooodHDA + AppleHDA disabler kext (not recommended) they are still attached below as well.​
Note: If you have the older GT 210 graphics card and want to use HDMI audio you will need to use an edited VoodooHDA kext that is to be installed to /Library/Extensions with Kextbeast. Find it attached below.​
b. If you want enable features such as CPU power management and iMessage and Facetime, see the HP 6300/8300 Desktop Guide and read through steps 8a and 10.​
Enjoy using Sierra on your HP CustoMac !

Sierra Launchpad.png
 

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macOS High Sierra Video Guide


Watch this guide for the complete start to finish process for High Sierra

The High Sierra installation part starts at the 9:38 timestamp

Note: If you are installing High Sierra to an SSD your file system will convert to APFS


Current HP 6200 and 8200 Hardware Options


New Asus EN210 1GB Silent LP graphics card Asus EN210 This is a card that will work with Snow Leopard, El Capitan and High Sierra. A good choice to use if you don't have a Mac to make your Unibeast installer. Use this with your 6200/8200 and you can easily update all the way to macOS High Sierra without having to switch graphics cards. The EN210 provides just basic entry level graphics. Don't expect to do any graphic intensive gaming or video editing with it.

If you would like to add two USB 3.0 ports to your 8200 Elite you can do that easily with an Inateck card:

Inateck PCI-e to USB 3.0 Card at Amazon.com

Learn how to remove and replace your HP Motherboard
This can be done in about 7 minutes thanks to the great design of the HP SFF case. It's about 90% tool less. All you need is your two hands and a flat head screw driver for the process. So if your motherboard does fail or you just want to move it to a new HP case, this shows you just how easy it is. Note that you can put an 8300 SFF motherboard into an HP 8200 SFF case.

 

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Easiest way to flash your HP BIOS
The HP BIOS on 6200/8200 models can be easily flashed by the following method which uses a .BIN file and a FAT32 flash drive

Startup Menu / F10 Setup BIOS Flashing

The HP Business Desktop systems provide a BIOS upgrade option through both the Startup Menu and the F10 Setup utility using the "Flash System ROM" feature. Reboot the PC and press the Escape key to display the Startup Menu. Use the arrow keys to select Utilities, and then select the Flash System ROM option. Alternatively, reboot the PC and press F10 to access the BIOS Setup utility. In the File menu, select Flash System ROM. Either method requires that removable media be present (USB storage or data CD) that contains the BIOS binary image file in the root directory. The binary image file can be found in the DOS Flash folder and is named J01_0229.BIN for the HP 6200/8200 desktops. If you want to download the complete package from HP go to this address:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-compaq-8200-elite-small-form-factor-pc/5037931

The 0229.BIN file is also attached below for your convenience.

Screen Shot 7.png


If you have downloaded this .BIN file on a Windows or Linux based PC, be sure to unzip the .BIN file before you drag and drop it to your flash drive. The zipped up file will not be seen by the HP BIOS update utility.
 

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How To Install Snow Leopard on the HP 6200/8200
If you don't have access to a 2010 or newer Mac or a CustoMac running at least Lion 10.7.5 you can easily install Snow Leopard from the retail DVD from Apple onto your HP 6200. The reason for doing this is to get you to the Mac App store. Then you can sign in with your Apple ID and download El Capitan for free. Find the HP 6300/8300 Snow Leopard specific instructions after step 20.

Here are the minimum hardware requirements for installing Snow Leopard:

The basic Snow Leopard hackintosh system requirements are:
  • Computer with an Intel x86-64 architecture processor such as a Core i3, Core i5 and i7 CPU
  • Nvidia graphics card - Use an Asus EN210 or other Snow Leopard compatible graphics card
    (You can also use the Nvidia 8400GS with the HP 6200/8200.)
  • 2 GB of DDR3 Ram
  • 10 GB of free disk space
  • CD / DVD drive for loading the iBoot and Snow Leopard disks
The HP 6200 or 8200 SFF easily meets all of these requirements. Make sure to buy one with a Core i3 CPU or better. Avoid buying one with an Intel Pentium or an AMD processor. They won't work well with Snow Leopard. i3 versions of the 6200/8200 cost about the same as those. You can also buy a used I3-2100 on Ebay for 30 dollars or less. If you have an older version of the BIOS like 2.06 or 2.15 you should update/flash it to the newest 2.29 version.

Preliminary steps for installing Snow Leopard on your HP desktop:

1. Disconnect the Sata data cable from your Windows HDD if your HP came with one of those.​
2. Connect a clean SSD or HDD to the Sata0 connection on the HP motherboard.​
3. Connect a DVI or HDMI cable to your 8400GS or Asus EN210, don't use VGA.​
4. Plug your USB mouse and keyboard into the two USB ports directly under the Ethernet jack.​
(At one point of the install, the front USB ports will stop working.)​
5. In the BIOS change the Storage OptionsSata Emulation Mode to AHCI from IDE.​
One last note, you will not need to run Multibeast at any point of this install. The old guide used Multibeast.​
Here's the step by step guide for how to go about the Snow Leopard DVD install with iBoot:
  1. Download iBoot 3.3.0 Click Here or use iBoot Ivy Bridge for an HP 6300/8300. (See guide at the end of this post)
  2. Burn the image to CD
  3. Place iBoot in CD/DVD drive
  4. Restart computer - Select your CD/DVD drive from the boot options.
  5. At boot prompt, eject iBoot
  6. Insert your Mac OS X Snow Leopard Retail DVD and press F5
  7. When you see the Snow Leopard DVD icon press enter to boot from that. Highlight "Use English" Click the right arrow.
Choose English.jpg

8. When you get to the installation screen, open Utilities/Disk Utility.

Disk Utility.jpg
a. Partition your hard drive to GUID Partition Table
b. Format your hard drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
NOTE:
The bootloader can only boot from a disk or partition of 1 TB or less. Partition larger drives.
c. For the purposes of this guide, name it Snow Leopard. You can rename it later.
d. Close Disk Utility


9. When the installer asks you where to install, choose Snow Leopard
10. Choose Customize‚ and uncheck additional options. This will hasten the install process.
11. Once you've installed Snow Leopard, the system will automatically reboot.
12. Eject the Snow Leopard DVD. Place iBoot back in the DVD drive. Restart computer.
13. When you get to the boot selection screen, choose your new Snow Leopard installation.
upload_2017-9-5_19-2-51.png
14. Complete the setup of Snow Leopard and identify your keyboard.
15. Plug in your Ethernet cable and run Update Helper Click Here Do not skip this step, very important
16. Reboot. Have the iBoot disk in the CD/DVD drive ( you can't boot from the HDD )

17. Run the 10.6.8 Combo update (you'll need to download Chrome 49.0.2623 to be able to download the combo update from the link I've provided. Safari 4.0.4 did not work on the Apple download page for 10.6.8) You can also download the 10.6.8 combo update via the built in Software Update feature in Snow Leopard.

10.6.8 Upd.png

18. Boot from the iBoot CD again and then select Snow Leopard. At the desktop click on the Apple menu and open up software update. Click on the "Show Details" button. Uncheck the boxes for everything exept the Safari, Mac App Store update and the Apple Software installer update. Install those. Reboot again. Once you get back to the desktop open the App Store. It should now work normally.

AppStrupd.png ApplSoftupd.png
19. Do not run Multibeast at this point. There is no need for that. Simply sign in to the MAS with your Apple ID. What is amazing is that the audio and Intel LAN chip is OOB compatible with Snow Leopard. No kexts, other than those included within Snow Leopard are needed for them to work.


Snow Leopard Prowl.jpg
Snow Leopard is a temporary OS installation

20. Now get the newer El Capitan and macOS High Sierra versions of the OS that were your original goal. You'll have to download El Capitan first and install it before your system is eligible for Sierra or newer versions of macOS.​
  • Make your Unibeast 6.2.0 El Capitan installer and install that over your Snow Leopard installation.
  • Here's the El Capitan install guide: Install macOS El Capitan
  • It should be a clean install rather than an upgrade. Install for legacy booting.
  • Download High Sierra from the MAS, Create the High Sierra USB for legacy booting and follow the installation guide.
  • The other alternative is to directly update to High Sierra from your El Capitan install.
  • Update Directly to macOS High Sierra
Install Snow Leopard on the HP 6300/8300

The instructions are primarily the same as above except for a few differences. You need to make an iBoot Ivy Bridge CD with ver. 1.1.0 instead of the 3.3.0 version of iBoot. Get it from the tonymacx86 downloads section.

You can use either the integrated HD2500 or HD4000 graphics instead of a discrete graphics card like the 8400GS. You will get only 64mb of Vram with the HD2500 so don't expect great performance. Connect up a VGA cable to your monitor from the onboard VGA output when using HD2500, this is the one situation when VGA actually works, albeit rather poorly. If you already have access to an 8400GS you should use that instead.

upload_2017-10-3_13-50-37.png

  1. Key Point : leave the ethernet cable unplugged until you reach the desktop or the Ethernet won't work. I don't understand why this is but others with an HP 6300/8300 have also verified that this happens.
  2. You do not need to run the Update Helper mentioned above. That is only for Sandy Bridge systems, not Ivy Bridge.​
  3. Once you have updated to 10.6.8 make sure to run Software Update from beneath the  and then select only the two App Store related updates. Install those and reboot. (These updates don't show up in the App Store otherwise.)​
  4. Download macOS El Capitan from this link: https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1147835434?mt=12
  5. Create your El Capitan Unibeast installer and install that to be eligible to download Sierra on your HP 6300/8300.​
  6. Here's the El Capitan install guide: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...-capitan-any-supported-intel-based-pc.172672/ It should be a clean install rather than upgrade. Install for legacy booting.​
If you have any problems with the Snow Leopard install post in: Snow Leopard Desktop Support
 

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UPDATE: Tested out the new High Sierra 10.13 today. Installed it on a mechanical HDD. Did not test APFS. There are no problems running HS on this hardware with a GT210 graphics card. It still has support. Inject Nvidia is required. Audio also works with the two kexts installed. I'm assuming that the GT 710 will also work with no problems. Make sure to update Clover to version 4220 or newer if you will try an in place update via the Mac App Store. Report back how it goes.

Screen Shot 2017-09-25 at 4.43.28 PM.png


Hold off on updating if you are using an Nvidia card that requires the Web drivers i.e. the GT 1030 or GT 1050 (Ti)
Wait until Nvidia releases the HS compatible web drivers. Edit: These are now released.
 
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Glad to hear the guide was helpful. I still use Mavericks on my Z68 Gigabyte system. Runs flawlessly on that. I'm using the HD3000 graphics but may upgrade to better graphics. I think that your GT710 is much newer than Mavericks, it didn't exist yet back in 2014, hence the lack of model recognition.
 
Yes, I think that you'd need the web drivers for the 750 Ti as well.
 
Hello trs96. Can the HP 6200 and 8200 models play iTunes DRM protected content out of the box?
The hp 6300 and 8300 models won't correct? I want to get the right model that will play and stream Itunes DRM video I purchased from the Itunes store. I have an HP 8000 core 2 quad that plays Itunes DRM content. Thank you.
 
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