Issues with GA-Z77X-UP5-TH (F11) and 10.8.4

[kmhacker]

In addition to the updated boxes in my previous thread, I am building an entirely new box for video editing based on the GA-Z77X-UP5-TH. I am having some trouble getting the correct configuration. Here is the box so far:

* GA-Z77X-UP5-TH (BIOS F11)
* Intel Core i7-3770K Quad-Core Processor 3.5 GHz
* 16GB Corsair Vengance RAM
* Crucial 128GB MSATA drive as boot disk.
* 10.8.4 successfully installed via latest Unibeast 2.0.1
* Configs done with MultiBeast ML 5.3.1

All other connections (USB, SATA, etc.) are pulled. No video card is currently running (see below) and I am working with the onboard video. It is stripped down.

Weird issues include:

1) UEFI Boot does not work.
******************************
Can only get the drive to come up with "Legacy Only" enabled. The new bios on this board is a little off-putting, but I've gotten to know my way around it. Still, it seems like I should be able to use UEFI boot. I tried every possible combo I could think imagine and followed some golden builds as well ( see below). No love. Ideas?

2) Only boots with -x flag
******************************
I cannot get the install to boot without giving it the -x (Safe Mode) flag. I've redone the install three times now, thinking I messed something up in the MultiBeast config. It tries to boot, but just churns away on the white apple screen without throwing an error.

3) Only boots with on-board video
******************************
Every time I put in any video card, I get mixed results, but never a boot. Most often, I get to a white screen (no Apple) with a mouse cursor. All of cards tried are high-end (e.g. Radeon 6870) cards pulled from other, functional ML 10.8.4 installs.

All of this leads me to believe I have jacked up the BIOS, MultiBeast or both. I am way from the box at the moment, but will post BIOS and/or MultiBeast screencaps tomorrow.

I have been very conservative with both, using the following guides as reference/resource:

thelostswede: http://www.tonymacx86.com/99-quick-guide-configuring-uefi-gigabyte-s-7-series-lga-1155-boards.html
Alfa147x: http://www.tonymacx86.com/mountain-...nderbolt-updated-10-8-2-multibeast-5-2-a.html
Stork: http://www.tonymacx86.com/golden-bu...-ga-z77x-up5-th-gtx-650-ti-mountain-lion.html

I know I am close. What am I missing?

Thanks,

KM

 

[BoomR]

Issues with GA-Z77X-UP5-TH (F11) and 10.8.4vere

In addition to the updated boxes in my previous thread, I am building an entirely new box for video editing based on the GA-Z77X-UP5-TH. I am having some trouble getting the correct configuration. Here is the box so far:

* GA-Z77X-UP5-TH (BIOS F11)
* Intel Core i7-3770K Quad-Core Processor 3.5 GHz
* 16GB Corsair Vengance RAM
* Crucial 128GB MSATA drive as boot disk.
* 10.8.4 successfully installed via latest Unibeast 2.0.1
* Configs done with MultiBeast ML 5.3.1

All other connections (USB, SATA, etc.) are pulled. No video card is currently running (see below) and I am working with the onboard video. It is stripped down.

Weird issues include:

1) UEFI Boot does not work.
******************************
Can only get the drive to come up with "Legacy Only" enabled. The new bios on this board is a little off-putting, but I've gotten to know my way around it. Still, it seems like I should be able to use UEFI boot. I tried every possible combo I could think imagine and followed some golden builds as well ( see below). No love. Ideas?

2) Only boots with -x flag
******************************
I cannot get the install to boot without giving it the -x (Safe Mode) flag. I've redone the install three times now, thinking I messed something up in the MultiBeast config. It tries to boot, but just churns away on the white apple screen without throwing an error.

3) Only boots with on-board video
******************************
Every time I put in any video card, I get mixed results, but never a boot. Most often, I get to a white screen (no Apple) with a mouse cursor. All of cards tried are high-end (e.g. Radeon 6870) cards pulled from other, functional ML 10.8.4 installs.

All of this leads me to believe I have jacked up the BIOS, MultiBeast or both. I am way from the box at the moment, but will post BIOS and/or MultiBeast screencaps tomorrow.

I have been very conservative with both, using the following guides as reference/resource:

thelostswede: http://www.tonymacx86.com/99-quick-guide-configuring-uefi-gigabyte-s-7-series-lga-1155-boards.html
Alfa147x: http://www.tonymacx86.com/mountain-...nderbolt-updated-10-8-2-multibeast-5-2-a.html
Stork: http://www.tonymacx86.com/golden-bu...-ga-z77x-up5-th-gtx-650-ti-mountain-lion.html

I know I am close. What am I missing?

Thanks,

KM

I'm pretty sure that mSATA is not supported. Have you tried your build with a standard SATA drive (<1T) or SSD in one of the SATA2 ports? Here's a link to an article on why mSATA is not recommended for boot disk on desktop machine: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-review-benchmark,3139-3.html Having said that, there is actually an mSATA drive now on the June Buyer's Guide - and your mSATA drive is not that model. Please check this post as to why this particular brand/model is now approved for use in CustoMac.

Also , Legacy (not UEFI) is the proper setting choice in the UEFI/BIOS for your drives. Thelostswede's guide for UEFI settings is an excellent post - I think you may have simply overlooked it.

i just built this same machine yesterday afternoon for a friend - except boot disk is SanDisk Extreme 480GB SSD as boot drive. Build went without a hitch & he reports everything working fine now that he has it back home. Built with install key using UB 2.0.1 and configured with MB 5.3.1. Also ran Chimera stand-alone 2.2.1 at the very end.

I think if you remove the mSATA drive from the equation and use standard SSD or SATA drive that is <1TB for your boot, that should resolve your problems. You **may** need to also boot "-x" flag after initial ML install prior to running ML setup wizard, then run MultiBeast. Once you do that, your build should not require -x flag going forward. Once you add in video, you'll need to re-run MB & set "GraphicsEnabler=No" as that forces to look for your add-in GPU. Also, after installing GPU but before booting, change UEFI/BIOS setting for "Init Graphics" to "PEG".

 

[kmhacker]

Boomr - Thanks for the sanity check. Will give it try!

 

[kmhacker]

Boomr - I have a working system now using your notes. I am going to clone the SSD to the MSATA and see if it will boot. If not, I will replace with the approved MSATA.

I am also working on a step-by-step install guide. I've included a preview below.

Thanks for the sanity check. It helped a lot.

KM


*************************************************************
INITIAL HARDWARE
*************************************************************

* GA-Z77X-UP5 TH (BIOS F11)
* 16GB Corsair Vengance RAM
* SanDisk Extreme 120GB SSD
* Crucial 128 MSATA Drive
* Corsair HX750 Power Supply


*************************************************************
INSTALLATION WALKTHROUGH
*************************************************************
01) Create 10.8.4 UniBeast 2.0.1
02) Set EUFI BIOS (see below)
03) Run Unibeast - Install to SanDisk 120GB SSD.
03) MultiBeast Pass #1
04) Reboot - All Good.
05) MultiBeast Pass #2
06) Install Chimera 2.1.1 Standalone
07) Reboot - All Good.
08) Perform Apple System Update.
09) Reboot - All Good.
10) Shutdown
11) Install Gigabyte GV-R6870C-1GD Rev 1.0 Video Card
12) Reboot - All Good.
13) Perform Apple System Update. - No Updates.
14) Perform Apple System Profile - All Hardware Present.
15) Reboot - All Good.

Unless noted below, there were no issues with any part of the process.


*************************************************************
SETTINGS: UEFI BIOS
*************************************************************
Will add these later. It is late.


*************************************************************
SETTINGS: MULTIBEAST 5.3.1
*************************************************************

MULTIBEAST: PASS #1
*************************************************************

* DSDT-Free Installation
* Miscellaneous >> FakeSMC v5.1.61
* Miscellaneous >> FakeSMC v5.1.61 Plugins
* Customization >> Boot Options >> GraphicsEnabler=No


MULTIBEAST: PASS #2
*************************************************************

* DSDT-Free Installation
* Audio >> Realtek ALC8xx >> Without DSDT >> ALC898
* Disk >> 3rd Party SATA
* Disk >> 3rd Party eSATA
* Network >> INtel - hank's AppleIntelE1000e v2.1.7


MULTIBEAST: No Install, Worked Natively
*************************************************************

* Disk >> TRIM Enabler
* Miscellaneous >> USB 3.0 - Universal


*************************************************************
NEXT STEPS
*************************************************************

* Clone SanDisk SSD to MSATA drive to see if I can use it as boot drive.
* If MSATA clone fails, replace with TonyMac recommended MSATA and test.
* If that fails, use SSD as boot and MSATA as storage/render disk.
* Once I have a known good build, use back up SSD to repeat build and test if I can combine all of the Multi-beast Steps into one without issue.


*************************************************************
HOW TO CREATE A DSDT?
*************************************************************
Happy to do one from my build if that helps the community. Would someone point me to a "how-to"?

 

[BoomR]

Sounds good - thanks for the updates. A clarification, then a couple things to ponder:

• Clarification: The reason I mentioned trying this with an SSD connected to SATA2 port as your boot drive during the build is because, in certain systems in the past, there was better luck doing the install using SATA2, then once everything was stable, moving the boot drive to SATA3. When I built my Studio 2.0 machine, as well as my buddy Robert's machine over the weekend, I only had the SSD connected during the initial install - and in SATA3_0 port (white port closest to the mobo). Worked like a champ.
• Disk > 3rd party SATA & 3rd party ESATA simultaneously. Did you see the note from one of the users in my build log on how you should be using one of these settings or the other? You should not be using both. Initially I made this same mistake, but went back & corrected my errors & updated the MB screen shots. If you start having some "wonky" issues with drive performance, or not being able to eject eSATA drives, it may be due to this.
• Re: mSATA - don't forget that the mSATA shares connection with the SATA2_5 port on the mobo (the black SATA connection furthest away from the CPU and the one furthest away from the mobo). There should have been a red sticker on the mobo alerting you to this. You get 1 or the other...not both. Also consider: mSATA is only SATA2/3Gbps, vs. using your SATA3 SSD drive in the SATA3_0 or SATA3_1 (the white) connections. WAY better performance that way (basically twice as much data throughput as what you'd get with mSATA). Since mSATA drives are not all that large (maybe 60GB max), using it as a storage disk is probably not going to buy you a lot of real estate. Likewise, as a scratch disk/render disk, same thing...but to make things worse, again, only SATA2. For best performance, I'd suggest putting a SATA3 scratch/render disk on either the other white SATA3 connection, or on the gray SATA3 connect that's controlled by the Marvell chip. THAT will get you much faster renders vs. on the mSATA drive running SATA2...IMHO....

Best wishes & keep us posted!

 

[kmhacker]

Boomr - Today, I bumped into my first real problem since I got the box up and running.

1) I have two hotswap bays in my build, one for SSDs and one for 3.5 drives. Both sets are recognized, but some times, one or the other is not there on boot.

2) Hotswapping drives seems to lock up the box for a while. This includes attaching USB or Firewire drives. It is as if Finder is hunting for them or, perhaps indexing them.

3) After two lockups, I had to remove the case cover to push the Power button on the motherboard to get the machine to reboot.

Given this behavior, I suspect that I am experiencing some conflict between the 3rd Party SATA and 3rd Party eSATA drivers I initially installed. Another possibility is that I have something in the BIOS set incorrectly.

Any ideas or comments?

Thanks,

KM

 

[BoomR]

Unfortunately I don't really have any experience with using hot-swap bays for mechanical or SSD drives. So not really sure what I could suggest