Help needed installing Lion onto GA-Z77N-WIFI i7-3770k 16GB RAM HD4000

[valiant66]

Hi. I'm doing my first Hackintosh build. I basically followed the CustoMac Mini Deluxe build, without an extra video card so it's just using the onboard Intel video. Other than that it's pretty much item for item with a 128 GB SSD and a 1 TB HD.

I'm installing Lion because my Mac is too old to run Mountain Lion, so the App Store won't let me buy it. The idea is I can upgrade the Lion Hackintosh to Mountain Lion later.

But...

I can't get it to boot from the USB stick. The TonyMac logo comes up, with the USB highlighted, but when I hit Enter, it just cycles back through the Gigabyte welcome to the stick again.

The motherboard has rev F2 of the BIOS, so afaik I don't need to update the UEFI as suggested here: http://legacy.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=67736

And I tried tweaking the motherboard settings as per v310's thread (although he has discrete graphics) but that didn't make a difference:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/user-buil...i7-3770k-ga-z77n-wifi-16gb-ram-gtx-660ti.html

I've tried recreating the USB installer using UniBeast a couple of times, and I've tried the -x and -v startup options. The verbose mode goes by too fast for it to do me any good.

So I don't know what to try next. I have the ability to install Mac OS Lion onto a hard drive using my existing Mac, then install the hard drive into the Hackintosh. Will that do any good without the customizing that UniBeast provides?

TIA

 

[Going Bald]

I have the ability to install Mac OS Lion onto a hard drive using my existing Mac, then install the hard drive into the Hackintosh. Will that do any good without the customizing that UniBeast provides?

TIA

Yes, you can install that way. Since you already have a bootable UniBeast USB, start with putting your drive in an external drive case, connect it to your Moc and install OS X. At the end of the install when it wants you to reboot, reboot to the Mac instead. Eject the external drive, put it in your PC-Mac. Boot with UniBeast USB and select the OS X icon. It should go through the normal post install startup to desktop. Run MultiBeast to do post install -UserDSDT/DSDT free, audio and networking drivers, repair permissions eject USB and remove it, reboot.
Enjoy.

 

[totenkopf4]

Yes, you can install that way. Since you already have a bootable UniBeast USB, start with putting your drive in an external drive case, connect it to your Moc and install OS X. At the end of the install when it wants you to reboot, reboot to the Mac instead. Eject the external drive, put it in your PC-Mac. Boot with UniBeast USB and select the OS X icon. It should go through the normal post install startup to desktop. Run MultiBeast to do post install -UserDSDT/DSDT free, audio and networking drivers, repair permissions eject USB and remove it, reboot.
Enjoy.

valiant66

As GB states this should work - but as you do not have a GFX and your using the CPUs GFX

Need to check some items in the BIOS -

That is - the internal Video is selected in the BIOS - should give you options for internal external or both - we want internal (IGPU)
We also want to limit the ram used for the video - that would be 64 Megs.

Also make sure you have USB- legacy support enabled ( may need to check the Motherboard manual for this setting.)

Also you should use the following startup command switch sequence when you boot from the USB as GB states.

enter the commands "-v PCIRootUID=0 GraphicsEnabler=Yes"
what this does is ...
-v is the verbose option to log all output to the screen ( you will see 5 to 6 screens of text log bye)
PCIRootUID=0 is the setting to tell the kernel that your video is an internal source. (1) is for external source - dedicated GFX card.
GraphicsEnabler=Yes - sets the kernel to use optimal display settings whereas the 0 tells it to use default fixed graphics settings like 1024x768x32

Doing so should get you to the desktop as you have a pre-installed OSX on that Hard Drive.

 

[valiant66]

Need to check some items in the BIOS -

That is - the internal Video is selected in the BIOS - should give you options for internal external or both - we want internal (IGPU)
We also want to limit the ram used for the video - that would be 64 Megs.

Also make sure you have USB- legacy support enabled ( may need to check the Motherboard manual for this setting.)

Also you should use the following startup command switch sequence when you boot from the USB as GB states.

enter the commands "-v PCIRootUID=0 GraphicsEnabler=Yes"

On the Gigabyte motherboard those settings are under Peripherals. Internal video defaults to Auto, so I put it to Enabled, and Legacy USB Support was already enabled.

But perhaps I'm doing something wrong.

Installing Mac OS onto the external hard drive took about 4 minutes. I then let it go through the reboot cycle on my MacBook, and the followup install took about 25 minutes. Once it was up and running, I created an Admin account, shut down, disconnected the HD from the MacBook and put it back into the Hackintosh.

Now when I boot, after the Gigabyte splash screen, it goes to the Unibeast splash screen, and I have two choices: the USB or the hard drive. It doesn't matter which one I pick, even with the above commands typed in, the system goes through the same cycle when I hit enter:

Scrolling text for pages and pages
Brief blank screen
Back to Unibeast screen

If I do it without the -v flag set, I get

Brief blank screen
Extremely brief flash of Apple logo screen (I think - it's grey and very quick)
Brief blank screen
Back to Unibeast screen

Am I doing something wrong? Should I have disconnected the HD after the 4 min install, and before the 25 minute one, then put that into the Hackintosh?

 

[Going Bald]

On the Gigabyte motherboard those settings are under Peripherals. Internal video defaults to Auto, so I put it to Enabled, and Legacy USB Support was already enabled.

But perhaps I'm doing something wrong.

Installing Mac OS onto the external hard drive took about 4 minutes. I then let it go through the reboot cycle on my MacBook, and the followup install took about 25 minutes. Once it was up and running, I created an Admin account, shut down, disconnected the HD from the MacBook and put it back into the Hackintosh.
?

Yep, you are. Do not let it boot to the Desktop after install and create user files on the Mac. After you have installed and it wants to reboot to finish the install, let the Mac boot instead. Put it in your Hack and boot with USB, then select the OS X icon. It should boot on up after 6 or 7 screens of installing kexts.
Something you might try instead of re-installing - boot with -v -f -x npci=0x3000

 

[valiant66]

Yep, you are. Do not let it boot to the Desktop after install and create user files on the Mac. After you have installed and it wants to reboot to finish the install, let the Mac boot instead. Put it in your Hack and boot with USB, then select the OS X icon. It should boot on up after 6 or 7 screens of installing kexts.
Something you might try instead of re-installing - boot with -v -f -x npci=0x3000

Sorry about the slow turnaround - I'm doing this in my off time.

I'm clearly still doing something wrong.

I reformatted the 1 TB HD drive to make sure it was blank (Mac OS Journaled) in the external case.
I launched Install Mac OS (Lion) and did the short initial install.
When it wanted to reboot, I waited until everything went black, then unplugged the USB. (I did not let it go to the long part of the install that takes 20+ minutes.)
I took the HD and put it into the Hackintosh.
I rebooted with only it and the USB stick.
Only the USB stick showed up in the Unibeast splash screen as a boot option - the HD no longer shows up.

There is no sign of the other drive in Unibeast. It showes up in the Gigabyte F12 interface, but not in Unibeast. And if I try to boot from the Gigabyte interface, it just cycles back to the Unibeast screen showing only the USB as a boot option.

So what am I doing wrong this time?

Thanks.

 

[Altobanor]

I'm pretty much having the same problem. I followed the Deluxe Mac Mini build to the T! I have assembled it and created the USB ALL-in-One Boot drive with OSX Lion. I have multiple Mac's at home and the last OS I purchased was Lion. I plug in the USB and start the boot cycle. Press F12, and select the USB drive to boot from. Get the Chimera boot screen and select the USB drive to install from. In verbose mode, it runs for about 10 pages of loading info until it gets to the last line.... and then reboots. I have tried all the switches suggested as well. I originally had my EVGA Geforce 660 installed but, removed it following the advise to get the system going with the internal graphics installed. Both ways ended up with the same results.

Don't mean to hijack the thread but, we created identical systems and have identical challenges. Kill 2 birds with one stone....

I appreciate any help.

AltoBanor

 

[Altobanor]

After looking through more of the posts that have to deal with failing to install (Especially on GA boards), I found a few forum members having problems with OSX Lion and the Install. Another forum member suggested using OSX Mountain Lion instead. Could this be a potential issue? Should I consider M. Lion instead? Opinions?


Altobanor

 

[valiant66]

After looking through more of the posts that have to deal with failing to install (Especially on GA boards), I found a few forum members having problems with OSX Lion and the Install. Another forum member suggested using OSX Mountain Lion instead. Could this be a potential issue? Should I consider M. Lion instead? Opinions?

If you have the option of starting with Mountain Lion, I personally would appreciate it if you tried it out to see if that solves your problem. Unfortunately I don't have that option. My Apple hardware is too old to run Mountain Lion so the Apple App Store won't let me buy it, and since I'm trying to do this on a budget I don't want to buy the USB stick with ML on it if I can avoid it.

If it turns out ML works for you, I'll have to try something else.

Thanks!

 

[valiant66]

Lion cannot be installed on GA-Z77N-WIFI i7-3770k 16GB RAM HD4000

Well, it looks like Mac OS X Lion (10.7.5) cannot be installed on the Gigabyte GA-Z77n-WIFI Rev 1.0 motherboard* with the Intel i7-3770k Ivy Bridge. Unibeast Lion 1.7.0 just keeps looping back to itself. I tried a USB stick install, and a 1 TB HD install, and an SSD install.

*with Atheros AR9280 AR5BHB92 WiFi card - but I also tested it with the stock WiFi/Bluetooth card

I don't know if other combinations function since I don't have other processors to play with, but this combo just doesn't seem to work.

After Unibeast proved a failure, I tried rolling my own using Chameleon 2.2, which also failed by looping back to the terminal; and using a script, which also built an install that just looped, although in this case with pretty graphics and very quickly.

I know my hardware is good, because I installed Ubuntu 12.04 as a test, and the hardware all passed with flying colours.

So unless someone can point me somewhere to the contrary, the Powers That Be should note that Lion and the GA-Z77n-WIFI Rev 1.0 mobo do not work together. This should probably be posted somewhere on the buyer's guide list.

This, of course, says nothing about Mountain Lion. I have not been able to test that.

So much for my pretty Prodigy build...