Contribute
Register

nobodynose's 2nd Non-Profit Build(s): THREE (3) Intel Core i3-4330 - ASRock H97M-ITX/ac - 8GB RAM -

Status
Not open for further replies.

nobodynose

Moderator
Joined
Sep 29, 2012
Messages
3,917
Motherboard
ASRock Z370M Pro4
CPU
i7-8700
Graphics
RX 560
Mac
  1. iMac
  2. MacBook
  3. MacBook Pro
  4. Mac mini
Classic Mac
  1. iBook
  2. iMac
  3. Quadra
Mobile Phone
  1. Android
  2. iOS
nobodynose's 2nd Non-Profit Build(s): THREE (3) Intel Core i3-4330 - ASRock H97M-ITX/ac - 8GB RAM - Intel HD 4600 - Clover

ASRock_H97M-ITXac.pngdiypc_htpc_cube.png
Components

ASRock H97M-ITX/ac Mini ITX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157526
Chosen from the January 2015 Buyer's Guide, largely because of its low price. It wouldn't have been my first choice, given the not-so-easy installation experience I had (see below).

Intel Core i3-4330 Haswell Socket 1150 CPU w/Intel HD 4600 Graphics
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116945
Chosen because it is the least expensive Haswell CPU with Intel HD 4600 Graphics. I didn't want to fool with HD 4400, it sounds like a hassle.

Kingston HyperX Fury 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
(PC3 10666) Desktop Memory

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104436

DIYPC HTPC-Cube Mini ITX Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811353044

HEC Compucase HP485D 485 Watt Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817339020

Kingston Digital 120GB SSDNow V300 SATA3 SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820721107

Atheros AR9280 Mini PCIe WiFi Adapter
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JESLUWQ
Chosen because the Wifi/Bluetooth Mini PCIe card that comes with the motherboard is Realtek-based and not supported in Mac OS X. I wanted something that would work OOB, and Bluetooth isn't needed.

Acer G227HQLbd 21.5" Widescreen 1920x1080 LED Backlight LCD monitor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009628

Microsoft Wireless Desktop 800 mouse/keyboard combo
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003SVSJ1K

Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10.1 (downloaded from Mac App Store)

Mac OS X El Capitan 10.11.3 (downloaded from Mac App Store)


Comments

The non-profit for which I built some Hackintoshes previously (see http://www.tonymacx86.com/user-buil...-ram-intel-hd-4600-graphics-quantity-3-a.html) asked me to build some more for a new kid's after school program they're starting.

This program is starting out small -- the executive director asked me to build 3 machines for it. The requirements included Wifi and easily accessible USB ports (presumably so the kids can plug in thumb drives to copy data). So I decided a small Mini ITX case that can sit on the desktop beside the monitor would be appropriate for this build. Price was also a major concern (it's a very small non-profit), so I kept that in mind as I selected components. No Bitfenix cases for this build! :)

When shopping for components for these machines, I was able to keep the cost down to $563.14 per machine (monitor, keyboard and mouse INCLUDED)!

Installation (1st attempt)
I created a standard UniBeast Yosemite install USB, thinking that because the ASRock motherboard was in the Buyer's Guide, the standard installation method should work, right? Besides, I found at least one successful build on the forums. Well, I got a kernel panic before I got to the installer. So I tried booting with -v -x and once again got a KP before the installer.

Then I searched on the forums and found a this article: http://www.tonymacx86.com/yosemite-...ng-kernel-haswell-cpus-xcpm-early-reboot.html. Made sense, so I patched my kernel and copied it to the proper location on the UniBeast installer and tried again. This time it got part way through the install and then, you guessed it, kernel panic. (By the way, I looked into the kernel panics along the way too - all were related to PM and the ASRock motherboard's locked MSR.)

After some more searches, I found a link to an article on our own RehabMan's blog (https://racerrehabman.wordpress.com/2014/10/18/yosemitehaswell-kernel-patch-for-early-reboot/), where he mentions that Clover does the necessary kernel patch automatically, on the fly (and that this survives most OS updates without having to redo the patch).


Installation (2nd attempt)
So, with some nervousness given that my previous experiences with Clover have been frustratingly unsuccessful, I created a Clover install USB. I followed the guide at http://www.tonymacx86.com/yosemite-desktop-guides/144426-how-install-os-x-yosemite-using-clover.html, choosing to install Clover to the EFI for UEFI booting only (once I had verified the installation worked).

I didn't have to change much at all in the Clover config.plist (the Intel HD 4600 graphics version) attached to the guide - I just had to make sure ACPI/KernelPM patch was enabled, add the TRIM patch to KernelAndKextPatches/KextsToPatch, and populate SMBIOS using Clover Configurator's generator (I used the iMac14,2 system definition).

For audio, I used toleda's script as documented in http://www.tonymacx86.com/audio/143757-audio-realtek-alc-applehda-guide.html, which did everything necessary, all I had to do was reboot.

For Ethernet I originally tried the AtherosL1cEthernet.kext since it claims to support the Atheros AR8171 Ethernet chip. But that didn't work, so I tried ALXEthernet.kext, which works fine. The AR9280 Wifi Mini-PCIe card works perfectly OOB, so nothing had to be done with it.

The one remaining issue is that I only have two P-States: 8 and 35. It seems like there should be some in between for good smooth power management. But from what I've been reading, this is actually normal for the iMac14,2 system definition, so I'm not going to spend any more time on it.

Update (3/13/2016)
The kids' after school program had a bunch of Windows PCs donated, and so the non-profit's director decided to repurpose the Hackintoshes to be used by staff instead. So I volunteered to clean up and update them. I opted for a clean install of OS X 10.11.3 El Capitan, as he told me nothing on the drives needed to be saved.

First I created a USB UEFI boot drive using UniBeast 6.1.1, added MultiBeast 8.1.0 and some other tools to it, and got to work. First thing I did was update the motherboard's UEFI BIOS. Then I followed the standard installation procedure using the UniBeast drive. Once the installation finished, I rebooted (again from the UniBeast drive) but booted into the OS X environment on the SSD. I ran MultiBeast, selecting UEFI Boot, Realtek ALC892 for Audio and Atheros E2200 for Ethernet, Intel Generic AHCI SATA for Disk, and 7/8/9 Series USB Support. I left the System Definition as MacPro3,1 this time, which turned out to be a good move (more on that later).

After installing that, I tried to shut the machine down; the screen went blank, but the power never went off - ISSUE #1. When I tried to turn the machine back on (after holding the power button for 5 seconds to turn it off), I got the dreaded "Insert System Disk" error (paraphrased) - ISSUE #2.

ISSUE #1 was easily fixed - I did a quick search and found that I needed to add "FixShutdown_0004=YES" in ACPI/DSDT/Fixes in my Clover config.plist. ISSUE #2 took a little more digging. After some forum searches (and a bit of good luck) I found the answer in this post: http://www.tonymacx86.com/el-capita...-asrock-z77-pro3-motherboard.html#post1130914. Apparently this is an issue peculiar to ASRock motherboards where Clover's bootloader doesn't get added to the UEFI boot menu, so you have to add it by hand.

Finally, I generated a new SSDT for the systems using Piker-Alpha's ssdtPRGen.sh; following the guide here: http://www.tonymacx86.com/mavericks...vericks-native-cpu-igpu-power-management.html, I added "DropTables/SSDT/CpuPm" and "DropTables/SSDT/Cpu0Ist" to the ACPI section of config.plist, copied the SSDT.aml into /EFI/EFI/CLOVER/ACPI/Patched, and the systems now have smooth, functional power management.
 
I got a build that is very similar to yours, do you by chance still have the config.plist and dsdt and ssdt for it?
 
Ok i have the Asrock Z97E-ITX AC motherboard. I followed your steps to install yosemite onto my SSD. It all worked only i'm not able to boot into osx directly trought the UEFI. I'm only possible to boot through my "installer" usb stick. only then the CLover starts and i can select the yosemite installation.

Any suggestions ?
 
Ok i have the Asrock Z97E-ITX AC motherboard. I followed your steps to install yosemite onto my SSD. It all worked only i'm not able to boot into osx directly trought the UEFI. I'm only possible to boot through my "installer" usb stick. only then the CLover starts and i can select the yosemite installation.

Any suggestions ?
How did you create your installer USB stick? Guide?
 
Yes i followed the clover guide: http://www.tonymacx86.com/yosemite-desktop-guides/144426-how-install-os-x-yosemite-using-clover.html

added the kexst as mentioned and used clover configurator to alter the intel HD 4600 graphics version plist to the mac 14.2 config for the SMBIOS.

I also did the post installation part. formatting the UEFI to FAT32 etc etc

I expect to see a UEFI boot partition to select to boot from. in the "bios/UEFI" i can select the boot order. The USB stick shows to partitions, a normal one and a UEFI. My SSD only shows one, but in OSX i can mount the EFI one with the Mount EFI.
 
Last edited:
Also switched the ssd to the first sataport. This i found in the clover wiki. Makes no difference.
 
Any chance that you can post your exact clover install options? I've tried multiple times w/ different combos to no avail. And anything you did to get it working. I still can't boot the clover usb and install.
And also are there any BIOS settings that you did that might matter.
My motherboard is the Asrock Z97E-ITX/ac w/ the Intel 4690k
My board and processor differ from yours, but i could only find builds or people that got it successfully installed. But no full BIOS settings, or steps, and no full clover install settings, (what to check box).
Ive built and installed 5 different hackintosh builds and never a problem, as soon as I switch mother board brands, problem..
Thanks for you help, if you know of a solution
 
Can you give a more detailed overview of how you got your clover installer usb to get to the installer? There are many different instructions for different set ups on the clover install link you posted, and this Asrock MB seems to not like most. I've never had any problems w/ Unibeast/Chimara ever in the past, just this clover:banghead: Any help wold be greatly appreciated!!
This Asrock MB build has been a total nightmare for me, could be a combination of Asrock and Clover.
And I can't seen to find any clear instructions as to how anyone got through this. Not 1 successful build posted. But I am seeing that some have gotten yosetmite booting on their Asrock-z97e-itx. But it seems everyone is keeping it a tight secrete, why I don't know.
 
I have the same mobo w/ Radeon grfx
ASRock H97M-ITX/ac
i7-4770
Sapphire Radeon NITRO R9 380 4GB
HyperX FURY 16GB 1600MHz DDR3
Samsung 850 EVO 250GB

I created El Capitan Installer with Unibeast and all installs easily however when I try to boot into SSD after installation with USB boot loader, Apple Logo with progress bar starts loading the a little more than half way and it freezes with a white flash and a pinkish pixeled line pops up on the top left of the screen. Tried with the -v-x with the same results. Tried creating the unibeast as Legacy & UEFI with same results. Not sure whats going on but since previous install methods were based on mavericks or Yosemite don't know if there are special setting for El Capitan. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top