I'm done with my GA-Z87N-WIFI. Advice needed!

[Yorxor]

I give up on my GA-Z87N-WIFI system.

The last couple of month were a giant exercise in frustration. I spend so much time (and extra money) on getting this machine to work reliably and it just doesn't seem to be doable. I can't get this thing to run Mavericks and not freeze on a regular basis. Freeze here, freeze there, freeze everywhere!

I tried everything that's mentioned on these boards and anywhere else on the net. I tried every Intel network kext. I tried every obscure Bios and memory voltage setting. I followed every "success" story here. (In my opinion they are all devious lies and I have no clue why this board was, or still is, listed in the buyer's guide. )

I cant get it stable and I'm done trying!

So, after getting the venting over with and a tiny fraction of the past months frustrations out of my system, there's two possible routes for me to take now:

a)
Be done with this Hackintosh experiment. Sell all components. Buy a real Mac again.

b)
Get another mainboard compatible to the rest of my stuff. Go back to the start. Try this Hackintosh thingy again.

So my question to the community:

Is there a mainboard that works 100% reliably with OS X Mavericks, has reliable onboard graphics, and reliable LAN? It should also be Mini-ITX form factor and my current CPU and RAM: …

- Intel Core i7 4770K 4x 3.50GHz So.1150
- 16GB (2x8GB) Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3-1600 DIMM CL9-9-9-24

…should fit in there.

Is there such a mainboard?

This machine is supposed to be my trusty work horse. It doesn't have to be fast and furious. It has to be reliable and stable! (I think I mentioned that already, did I?) It should to go to sleep at night and wake up again in the morning, days and weeks on end. I don't want to see a frozen mouse cursor again for a looooong time.

Is this even possible with a Hackintosh?

The GA-Z87N-WIFI system was my very first try on a Hackintosh. I lack the experience to tell if this whole concept is just too flawed from the get-go and there will be never a PC running OS X as (or at least nearly as) stable as a genuine Mac, or if I'm just really, really unlucky with the components I bought.

What should I do, dear fellow forum users?

 

[tonymacx86]

OK Yorxor-

I feel your frustration- it can be extremely hard sometimes to get it right. I have a Gigabyte H87N-WIFI system with i3 and 8GB RAM, but otherwise similar as a test machine. I also use a Z87X-UD7-TH + i7-4770K as my main machine day in and day out. It's always worked very well.

Here are a few things that could be the issue:

1. Power supply- Haswell can be picky with PSU choice
2. BIOS settings- update to very latest BIOS available and use Optimized Defaults
3. RAM- don't overclock RAM - don't set XMP to Profile1 in BIOS - use defaults
4. MultiBeast settings - Use the DSDT-Free defaults including MacPro3,1 smbios

Hope this helps. This has made my systems stable.

 

[Stork]

Memory & PSU are the sources of most of the Haswell system freezes. The list of Crucial memory on your motherboard's Memory Support List shows the following:

Crucial 4GB CT51264BD160B.16FMR
Crucial 4GB BLT4G3D1608DT1TX0.16FM
Crucial 8GB CT102464BD160B.M16FED
Crucial 8GB BLT8G3D1608DT1TX0.16FED​

If your memory is not listed above, then I recommend you make sure your BIOS X.M.P. parameter is set to Default.

You didn't mention the make/model of your PSU. Make sure the PSU specifications state Haswell "Ready" or "Certified."

Finally, if the memory and PSU are "certified" and you're not using a graphics card (HD4600), try an iMac14,2 system Definition (using MultiBeast).

Also, please provide your installation steps including your MultiBeast configuration. This will provide more information if your components are Haswell compliant.

 

[turkiskpeber]

I had the same problem, with the same board, and all problems as you mentioned. I never got it stable, and couldnt understand why on earth it was a recommended build. I tried different settings with memory without any success. The solution was to install correct kexts for the BOTH LAN-ports!! After this, the system has been stable for at least 4 weeks without restart. Try reinstalling Multibeast again, and install the correct LAN-kexts for BOTH LAN-ports.
Hope this will help you.

 

[Yorxor]

Thanks for the replies.

Ok, you guys are right, I need to give a little more details about my current components and setup. Here goes:

Components:

Case: "Silverstone Fortress FT03 Mini-ITX"
PSU: "be quiet! SFX Power 2 400W" (It's a compact PSU. I can't find any specific info on Haswell on the packaging, but it says: "Supports the latest processors from Intel and AMD." )
Bluetooth: Iogear Bluetooth 4.0 USB
Sound: Terratec Aureon Dual USB

I've physically removed the WLAN/Bluetooth-card from the ZN87 board.

BIOS settings:

- Version: F6
- Loaded Optimized Defaults
- Performance > Memory > Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.): Profile1
- Performance > Memory > Memory Enhancement Settings: Enhanced Stability
- Peripherals > Audio Controller: Disabled
- Peripherals > Initial Display Output: IGFX
- Peripherals > OnBoard LAN Controller: Disabled (That's the second LAN port)
- Power Management > Wake on LAN: Disabled

MultiBeast settings:

Version: MultiBeast - Mavericks 6.4.2
Quick Start > DSDT Free
Drivers > Disk > TRIM Enabler > 10.9.4 TRIM Patch
Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC v6.9.1315
Drivers > Network > Atheros > Killer ALXEthernet v1.0.2
Drivers > Network > Intel > AppleIntelE1000e v2.4.14
Drivers > System > AppleRTC Patch for CMOS Reset
Bootloaders > Chimera v3.0.1
Customize > Boot Options > Basic Boot Options
Customize > Boot Options > Generate CPU States
Customize > Boot Options > Hibernate Mode - Desktop
Customize > Boot Options > Use KernelCache
Customize > System Definitions > Mac Pro > Mac Pro 3,1
Customize > Themes > tonymacx86 Black

As I wrote before, I already tried basically every Intel network kext. At the moment I'm running v2.4.14 as listed above.

Now a little more details about the stability problems and crashes while running Mavericks:

- Very often the PC doesn't go to sleep the first time I press Alt+CMD+Eject. The power LED goes off for a second, only to turn right back on. The screen remains black untill I press a keyboard key or mouse button. Usually the second time I put it to sleep, it finally works.

- Waking up now usually works (i had a lot of problems with that in the beginning), but as soon as I enter my login credentials and get to the desktop, the system might just freeze. I'd say the chances of that happening are 1 in every 5 wake-up logins.

- Random system freezes while running. This is by far the biggest problem. I can't make heads or tails of when/why it's happening, nor can I find anything useful in the console logs that points to something specific. Sometimes the system freezes while I just move the mouse cursor to a dialog window. sometimes it freezes while I'm not in the same room and the Hackintosh is streaming a (tiny) video to my media Mac mini, etc. etc. It's hard to tell if it has anything to do with network activity. If that's the case, there definitely doesn't have to be heavy upload activity to trigger those freezes, that's for sure.

- After every system freeze and a reset/reboot, my Magic Mouse behaves erratically until I physically remove the Bluetooth USB stick for a few seconds and then plug it back in.

- My system memory seems to be ok. Memtest didn't find any problems. I didn't run the whole testing cycle yet though.

- I tried the iMac system definitions in MultiBeast once already. Didn't help as far as I can remember.

- I think, I also tried going without memory profile in the Bios already, but I'm not 100% sure. (I tried so many different things and combinations of things, it's starting to feel like a blur.)

- It's a pain in my behind and I'm mighty frustrated.

 

[turkiskpeber]

I installed the following 2 kexts through Multibeast, to get my system stable (remove old kexts):

Atheros - ALXEthernet v1.0.2

Intel - AppleIntelE1000e v2.4.14 edit: (Intel - AppleIntelE1000e v3.1.0 made my hackingtosh freeze/reboot/panic when transfering large amounts of files.)

 

[Stork]

Yorxor,

Without knowing your memory's model # (it's on the the package and the label on the memory sticks), we don't know if you've got Haswell verified memory. Did you check your memory with Gigabyte's Memory List? Also, for now set the BIOS' X.M.P. parameter to Default, not Profile 1.

Go to be quiet!'s web site and review the spec's for your PSU. I bet it's not Haswell certified or ready as the low voltage PSU typically are not Haswell compatible. If you can't find any information, email the be quiet's support team and ask about if your model is Haswell compatible.

I'm using the Atheros Ethernet port on my H97N. It works.

Finally, look at my Installation Guide for the H/Z97-WIFI systems for any clues as why you're having freezes. http://www.tonymacx86.com/mavericks...ifi-using-hd4600-no-graphics-card-needed.html

 

[Stork]

Another tip for using a non Haswell certified PSU:

So...If anybody is having trouble with getting onboard graphics to work and they are using a "non specifically certified hasswell PSU" try disabling the power saving for graphics in BIOS...

Reference post: http://www.tonymacx86.com/mavericks...00-no-graphics-card-needed-16.html#post869589