Official CustoMac Mini 2012 Guide and Notes (in progress)

[Montmac]

Hi All,

I close to finishing my first Custom Mac Mini and I have a question...

I am not going to use the Ethernet ports of the GA-H77N Wifi (because I am only using an Atheros 9280 card) and I wonder if there is any reason for not disabling the ports in the bios.

Can anyone confirm that it will not be a problem disabling the ports?

Thanks in advance

Mine are not disabled but I don't have the driver installed for them and I have no problems. I have the same Atheros 9280 Card and it's working OOB. A word of warning to anyone with the Z77 WiFi or the H77 WiFi, be sure to tighten the nuts on the antenna stubs before you install the motherboard. I learned the hard way they aren't tight from the factory. When I installed my antenna's one came loose and I had to remove the motherboard to tighten the nut. Big PITA.

Also, I built the Apple IR to USB and the Apple BT to USB and hooked it all up. Everything works perfect including sleep. I finally have a fully functioning Mac Mini with no caveats!!!

 

[B-San]

Hi all,

I just threw together a i5-3570K & GIGABYTE GA-H77N-WIFI LGA & trying to get the ethernet working...

During in Mulitbeast, I checked Network > Lnx2Mac's RealtekRTL81xx Ethernet.

I tried plugging an ethernet into the port on the left side, started Safari & got nothing.

I close Safari & unplug the ethernet cable.

I plug the ethernet cable into the 2nd port & the screen instantly goes black.

When rebooting, the screen goes black after the Chimera screen.

Any feedback would be much appreciated!

 

[jmtarp]

Also, I built the Apple IR to USB and the Apple BT to USB and hooked it all up. Everything works perfect including sleep. I finally have a fully functioning Mac Mini with no caveats!!!

Are there instructions somewhere to do this?

Thanks!

 

[Montmac]

Are there instructions somewhere to do this?

Thanks!

The guides for both the Apple IR module and the Apple BT module are one this site. You need to drop the voltage for the BT module from 5v to 3.3v. It took me a couple hours to solder and heat shrink them together but they work perfect. I bought a USB2 internal hub that lets you plug in 3 more USB2 devices than just the one plug on the H77N-WiFi motherboard. BTW all of my USB3 ports work as well, both the back and the two front ports plugged into the USB3 header on the motherboard. I didn't take on pictures, but the part I used to drop the voltage is an LM3940IS Voltage Regulator. You can find them on eBay for under $5.00.

 

[savestheday]

The guides for both the Apple IR module and the Apple BT module are one this site. You need to drop the voltage for the BT module from 5v to 3.3v. It took me a couple hours to solder and heat shrink them together but they work perfect. I bought a USB2 internal hub that lets you plug in 3 more USB2 devices than just the one plug on the H77N-WiFi motherboard. BTW all of my USB3 ports work as well, both the back and the two front ports plugged into the USB3 header on the motherboard. I didn't take on pictures, but the part I used to drop the voltage is an LM3940IS Voltage Regulator. You can find them on eBay for under $5.00.

What is the internal USB2 hub you purchased?

 

[Montmac]

What is the internal USB2 hub you purchased?

http://www.amazon.com/NZXT-IU01-Internal-Expansion-Black/dp/B0031ESKJA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354642092&sr=8-1&keywords=NZXT+IU01+Internal+USB+Expansion

 

[pk-viper]

Need help finishing - cannot get to a useable platform.

I have the GA Z77N Mobo, I7-3770, GT-640 graphics, 16 GB of RAM, SanDisk 120GB SSD for Mac OS, 1TB for storage - straight off the recommended build. This install is with the graphics card installed - I seem to get farther with it installed than without.

Got Mountain Lion 10.8.2 off a friends computer, created UniBeast USB off v1.5.3. Installed using -x (safemode) to get to install screen, got to the desktop.

Installed MultiBeast 5.2 by getting to the desktop again via -x (safemode), installed with the settings from this build for DSDT-free, in the basic post by TonyMac.

Cannot get back to the desktop.

I have gone back in the BIOS and disabled VT-d, which got me as far as attempting in safemode previously - I get to an adjusted grey Apple screen and it stops. No waiting timer below it, just sits there. Starts up with the screen with 1" borders around it, then adjusts to full screen. Shouldn't need this from previous posts, but nothing lost at this point.

-v (verbose) does me good - get past all the boot loading info and end up at the same grey screen, so cannot show where it is hanging up.

Where am I going wrong? Any ideas how to resolve?

Thanks for the help.

 

[savestheday]

Does anyone have an updated DSDT that would work HD3000 graphics with HDMI audio?? I know the IMEI settings need to be added the DSDT but what else?

 

[musikmann]

Just as an intermediate information, my first Custom Mac Mini is up and running

Up to now, everything seems to be fine, Atheros Wlan module works OOB, Belkin USB Bluetooth Dongle works with Magic Mouse and Wireless Keyboards OOB, etc.

Details will follow in a separate Thread

Cheers
Mike

 

[jminiman]

Any issues with USB 3.0 support? Power management (sleep, peripheral wakeup from sleep, etc.)?