Random Constant Freezing on new Hackintosh z87x-Ud5h

[BurtRichalds]

New to this whole Hackintosh thing and my build is freezing randomly. Can be minutes after start up or hours. I used the july buyers guide to build my system and had only minor issues for the longest time (audio kept turning on and off while use roland Quad Capture interface, or after leaving sleep mode) but never any freezing.

I usually have a seagate 3TB usb3 external and a 1TB WD usb2 external plugged in. I've reinstalled OSX mavericks as well as all my Multibeast settings. Seems to be very random and sporadic, I've used optimized defaults as well as modified BIOS settings and both seem to have the same issues.

Specs:
Ga-z87x-Ud5h
i7-4770k
32Gb crucial ballistix LP 1600mhz RAM
2GB windforce GPU

Any help would be awesome.

Cheers!

 

[bmoag]

You are probably aware random freezes are often hardware related: power supply, failing mechanical hard drive, over heating, occasionally RAM. Software tests for ram and mechanical drives are plentiful on the Windows side, less so, like everything else, in OSX. It may help to run the built in OSX disk utilities to verify/repair permissions etc.

One advantage of a dual boot system is if there are similar problems on both sides it is likely a hardware issue.

USB, especially 3, can be problematic in Hackintoshes and I suspect USB implementation is a problem inherent to OSX. If you have not done so try running without the external hard drives attached. I have two Apple machines, one a new Retina notebook, that consistently fail to recognize USB drives and may have long delays booting when non-bootable USB drives are attached, so USB issues are not solely relegated to Hackintoshes. Those drives are all recognized in Windows, including the Windows side of dual boot machines. In Windows you can force the system to repoll for new devices but I have never found a comparable way to do that in OSX, which does not mean it does not exist but I have never found a way.

Apple's ultimate response is to blame the USB device vendors, all of them.

 

[archelon]

I use the same CPU and mobo as you, but there are some differences:
GTX 780 video card
16 (2x8) GB of Corsair DDR3 RAM

I'm using UEFI vF9 and Mavericks 10.9.5, so it could be considered a test since the OS update has only been available for a day. But so far, no freezes that I can attribute to the UEFI version or OS update.

Just in case you're wondering, my UEFI settings are optimized defaults with:
- XMP memory profile to make RAM run at 1600 MHz
- Disabled Wake on LAN
- Changed xHCI mode from Smart Auto to Auto
- Enabled EHCI Hand-off

Since I’m using Windows 8.1, these have been enabled and don’t appear to impact Mavericks:
Intel Rapid Start Technology
Intel Smart Connect Technology

My MultiBeast settings:
DSDT Free
Realtek ALC898
3rdParty eSATA
FakeSMC with Plugins and HWMonitor
PS/2 kext
AppleRTC patch to prevent CMOS resets
Chimera bootloader
Basic Boot Options with desktop hibernate mode and KernelCache (Special note: I don't use Generate CPU States because OS X won't boot on an overclocked setup.)
MacPro3,1

The only thing that seems to lead to freezing for me specifically involves the (included with the mobo) bracketed pair of USB3 ports that I've connected to the front USB3 header (next to the RAM slots). I don't think it's a coincidence that these freezes happen after using one of these two USB3 ports. There's also strange behavior while in Windows, for example: I can plug in an external USB3 HDD for file transfers, but somehow, the eject option doesn't appear!

Let me know if any of what I posted helped.

 

[froghammer]

If you ever find the answer, let me know. I have pretty much the same setup and have been plagued with this from the start. It's rampant with this motherboard and four sticks of ram. If I pull two I far less frequent freezes, but they're still there sometimes.

I almost hate to say this, but if you have this motherboard, learn to live with it because I've tried everything (and I mean EVERY THING) with absolutely no luck. Totally jealous of the people who have the same setup and no problems.

 

[lilstuey]

Hey,

Was searching for another problem when I came across your post. I had the same problem before switching to clover (and might go back to chameleon). I wrote about this problem and what I found to fix it on a previous post. What I found out that isn't stressed enough for a smooth operating system is your smbios description (identifies what sort of mac OSX thinks you have). Everyone starts out with the basic 3,1 (mac pro I think). You need to find the closest hardware setup and choose the correct smbios description. Since you have a 4770K LGA1150 socket Haswell processor you need to choose an iMac smbios description (14,1 or 14,2). Download chameleon wizard. It has everything you need there. Pick the description closest to your hardware config (you won't get it perfect depending on your graphics card and such, but it will be close enough). Should solve your issues.

Stuart

 

[stehor]

@froghammer gskill ram is well known for needing more volts. up it by .20 and make sure xmp is disabled in bios also set your ram timings manually

 

[BennyBAD]

@froghammer gskill ram is well known for needing more volts. up it by .20 and make sure xmp is disabled in bios also set your ram timings manually

I have G.Skill Ares PC3-12800 CL9 1.5 V RAM (http://www.gskill.com/en/product/f3-1600c9d-16gar) installed in a Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 mobo with a i7-4790K CPU. What would be the correct timing for them?

And what is your opinion on editing SMBios? I am using the standard MacPro 3.1 definiton from the latest MultiBeast. I tried changing to a MacPro 4.1 definition but that only gave my many more freezes.

I can confirm that setting XMP to profile 1 is NOT good - at least with my RAM. Gave me konstant freezes after a very short period. Now I only get freezes once in a while.

 

[stehor]

@bennybad Id use iMac15,1 smbios for the 4790k ram timings of 9/9/9/24 for that ram but apple uses 9/9/9/27 in the new iMac so try that aswel also would bump volts to 1.6v gl

 

[BennyBAD]

@bennybad Id use iMac15,1 smbios for the 4790k ram timings of 9/9/9/24 for that ram but apple uses 9/9/9/27 in the new iMac so try that aswel also would bump volts to 1.6v gl

Thank you for all your help but no succes with that ...

I changed system definition to iMac15,1 via MultiBeast (just marked the new system defintion and pressed install) and made the changes to memory latency and voltage in my bios. However now the system will not boot.

It loads but where it normally changes to the login screen it now turns off the video signal and the screen goes black and the system becomes unresponsive. I have installed a GTX560 that normally works fine with inject Nvidia. I tried changing to the onboard Intel video port but there was no signal. Maybe I need to make some alterrations in the system definition?

I have also tried only with the new system defintion and with or without voltage and latency. No change so I think it is the 15.1 system definition that causes the problem.

I have now changed voltage, latency and system defintion back and the systems boost again fine with the 3.1 definition.

Is there another system definition that better fits my hardware?

Btw. I have searched a bit and stumbled over this thread http://www.tonymacx86.com/general-help/176893-finder-freezes-right-click.html. The freezes described here are very similar to the ones I have had. I have also changed the SSD sleep setting. Now I can only wait and see the effect.

 

[Oreyeon]

Did you ever resolve this ? Im having the same exact problems my self (that were talked about in this thread)