[SOLVED] mobo: GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 problem?

[DigitALL]

I have the following build:
MB: GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3
CPU: i7-2600K
MEM: 8Gb (2x4Gb) DDR3 1600
VIDEO: On board

I used "UniBeast: Install Mac OS X Lion Using an All-In-One Bootable USB Drive" guide and I can not pass by panic kernel for further installation, no matter what switches/option I use.
Please see the attached pic with the error. Please help me, give a hint, something to try out, I am totally stuck!

 

[Vendetta]

Re: mobo: GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 problem?

You've changed all the appropriate BIOS settings, right?

Are you not able to even get to the installer? Can you give a better description of where you're getting stuck in the process?

Where did you get Lion and on which machine did you make the USB drive?

 

[DigitALL]

Re: mobo: GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 problem?

Thank you for your reply and sorry for missing essential details.

I have followed the guide from the blog for BIOS settings and currently they are:
Quick Boot - disabled
S.M.A.R.T. - enabled
Init Display First - Onboard
Onboard VGA - Enable if no ext PEG
eXtreme Hard Drive - Disabled
SATA Control Mode - AHCI
HPET Support - enabled
HPET Mode - 64 bit

My mobo GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 is an "F4" version and from the pictures that I followed in the blog and in the manual that I have, it shows as 1st item under Power Management Setup page the option where you could change S1 to S3. I do not have such item in my settings and I read somewhere that S3 is enabled by default, possible they shipped a updated BIOS f/w. First item is "Soft-Off by PWR-BTTN" and it is set to "Instant OFF".

I have a MacBookPro and purchased Lion last year and upgraded, so the 8Gb stick was made on this machine without any error.

This PC has a 1TB drive partitioned MAC OS Extended (Journaled). In fact I pull it out and it was partitioned on my MacBookPro via Disk Utility.

So I boot from the USB stick selecting "USB Drive" after pressing F12. At the the boot-up logo I tried to:
- just press enter.
- type -x
- type -v (with this I made the picture)
- type -GraphicsEnabler=No
- type - s
All options ended up with the error shown before getting to choose the language, etc. When I just press enter, I get the apple logo for a short time and then the error is scrolled over the screen.

 

[Vendetta]

Re: mobo: GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 problem?

Thank you for your reply and sorry for missing essential details.

I have followed the guide from the blog for BIOS settings and currently they are:
Quick Boot - disabled
S.M.A.R.T. - enabled
Init Display First - Onboard
Onboard VGA - Enable if no ext PEG
eXtreme Hard Drive - Disabled
SATA Control Mode - AHCI
HPET Support - enabled
HPET Mode - 64 bit

My mobo GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 is an "F4" version and from the pictures that I followed in the blog and in the manual that I have, it shows as 1st item under Power Management Setup page the option where you could change S1 to S3. I do not have such item in my settings and I read somewhere that S3 is enabled by default, possible they shipped a updated BIOS f/w. First item is "Soft-Off by PWR-BTTN" and it is set to "Instant OFF".

I have a MacBookPro and purchased Lion last year and upgraded, so the 8Gb stick was made on this machine without any error.

This PC has a 1TB drive partitioned MAC OS Extended (Journaled). In fact I pull it out and it was partitioned on my MacBookPro via Disk Utility.

So I boot from the USB stick selecting "USB Drive" after pressing F12. At the the boot-up logo I tried to:
- just press enter.
- type -x
- type -v (with this I made the picture)
- type -GraphicsEnabler=No
- type - s
All options ended up with the error shown before getting to choose the language, etc. When I just press enter, I get the apple logo for a short time and then the error is scrolled over the screen.

Thanks for the additional info. There are a few things you could try to get this in order.

The first thing I would do is update your BIOS. I believe the latest version is F10, and you're on F4.

Go here if you have a Rev1.0 board:
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/produc ... =3855#bios
and here if you have a Rev1.3 board:
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/produc ... =3975#bios

You can see which Rev you have because it's written on the corner of the motherboard in white print.

Here's a guide to updating your BIOS:
http://lnx2mac.blogspot.com/2010/06/unp ... ndows.html
http://lnx2mac.blogspot.com/2010/06/upd ... -bios.html

Also, make sure that you then allocate enough memory for the onboard graphics. In BIOS, you need to set it to MAX shared RAM. This is the "On-Chip Framebuffer Size" setting.This likely isn't causing your problem, but the system will run smoother once you have it up and running.

Are you sure you formatted your USB stick properly? It's mandatory that it be formatted Master Boot Record. Also, make sure your HDD partition is formatted to GUID.

Which video port are you using into your monitor?

**Also, make sure no other peripherals are plugged in. Just the mouse and keyboard. No USB Hubs, nothing. Also make sure that you're using the ports on the rear of the motherboard, and make sure they aren't the USB3.0 ports either.

 

[DigitALL]

Re: mobo: GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 problem?

Thank you very very much. Plenty of info. I will do it step by step and get back.
Very useful info.

 

[DigitALL]

Re: mobo: GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 problem?

It is just incredible how stubborn is this situation... I wanted to do something else Saturday eve but I just dated my PC without success... LOL

- I have updated the BIOS to F10 with no problems. My mobo is rev1.
- This time I have the S1/S3 option and selected S3
- Set the HD as AHCI
- Display first "On-Board" connected via DVI
- HPET enabled at 64 bit

I am familiar with formatting drives, so in this case was no problem to erase it, make a new partition as Osx journaled and to MasterBoot Record point.
Following the info, I have burned again the 8GB flash (previously I have tried with a 32 Gb too) with success.
In BIOS I always set the shared mem to max, I believe it is 484Mb
No other peripherals are connected, other than mouse, keyboard (both USB), LAN cable and speakers. Video connected to DVI.

I have tried at the two USB2 in the back (on the same column with LAN, red col), blue is USB3. After pressing F12 at boot and selecting USB HDD, Chimera boots in about one second.
At this point I tired as is and also with the switches mentioned before (-v, -x, without cache, and with GraphicsEnabler=No
I get the same panic kernel...

Then I have removed on mem dimm so the system recognized only 4Gb, and then tried all over. The same result, I can not reach even the installer.
I believe I have a minimum setup and ran out of ideas.

 

[Vendetta]

Re: mobo: GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 problem?

It is just incredible how stubborn is this situation... I wanted to do something else Saturday eve but I just dated my PC without success... LOL

- I have updated the BIOS to F10 with no problems. My mobo is rev1.
- This time I have the S1/S3 option and selected S3
- Set the HD as AHCI
- Display first "On-Board" connected via DVI
- HPET enabled at 64 bit

I am familiar with formatting drives, so in this case was no problem to erase it, make a new partition as Osx journaled and to MasterBoot Record point.
Following the info, I have burned again the 8GB flash (previously I have tried with a 32 Gb too) with success.
In BIOS I always set the shared mem to max, I believe it is 484Mb
No other peripherals are connected, other than mouse, keyboard (both USB), LAN cable and speakers. Video connected to DVI.

I have tried at the two USB2 in the back (on the same column with LAN, red col), blue is USB3. After pressing F12 at boot and selecting USB HDD, Chimera boots in about one second.
At this point I tired as is and also with the switches mentioned before (-v, -x, without cache, and with GraphicsEnabler=No
I get the same panic kernel...

Then I have removed on mem dimm so the system recognized only 4Gb, and then tried all over. The same result, I can not reach even the installer.
I believe I have a minimum setup and ran out of ideas.

I'll first begin by saying that your hardware is supported, and there are many people using this mobo and cpu, so there is no worries there. The only possibility is that it is a configuration problem, so it's important to just walk through everything one at a time and make sure everything is in order. You never know what it could be, and often times it's something silly. Don't get too frustrated, you'll figure it out. Also, I'll quickly mentioned that while I haven't completely installed on my system, I do have the same mobo and cpu and I have booted to the Unibeast installer first try with no problems. So, it can be done, have no fear.

Just to be clear, the HDD should be GUID and the USB should be MBR. The HDD is not formatted as MBR, just the USB.

The next thing I would check is the SATA ports. How many drives do you have plugged in? Also make sure you're using the correct RAM slots. I know some of this is elementary, but it's important to check everything as it's easy to overlook these things.

Lastly, you might try a different brand USB stick. I've used my Kingston with success. Sometimes some motherboards just don't like some USB sticks for some reason.

 

[Jamesbond007]

Re: mobo: GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 problem?

It is just incredible how stubborn is this situation... I wanted to do something else Saturday eve but I just dated my PC without success... LOL

- I have updated the BIOS to F10 with no problems. My mobo is rev1.
- This time I have the S1/S3 option and selected S3
- Set the HD as AHCI
- Display first "On-Board" connected via DVI
- HPET enabled at 64 bit

I am familiar with formatting drives, so in this case was no problem to erase it, make a new partition as Osx journaled and to MasterBoot Record point.
Following the info, I have burned again the 8GB flash (previously I have tried with a 32 Gb too) with success.
In BIOS I always set the shared mem to max, I believe it is 484Mb
No other peripherals are connected, other than mouse, keyboard (both USB), LAN cable and speakers. Video connected to DVI.

I have tried at the two USB2 in the back (on the same column with LAN, red col), blue is USB3. After pressing F12 at boot and selecting USB HDD, Chimera boots in about one second.
At this point I tired as is and also with the switches mentioned before (-v, -x, without cache, and with GraphicsEnabler=No
I get the same panic kernel...

Then I have removed on mem dimm so the system recognized only 4Gb, and then tried all over. The same result, I can not reach even the installer.
I believe I have a minimum setup and ran out of ideas.

I suggest dropping the RAM allocated to the CPU video to 256MB or below. I seem to remember that someone said before that problems may appear if the RAM allocated to the CPU video is too large. But I can't find the link so I can't be sure if I remember correctly.

 

[DigitALL]

Re: mobo: GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 problem?

Thank you guys for being so helpful.
I know the hardware is supported, I used tony's guide when I bought it.

The BIOS settings follows the guidelines:
- Selected S3
- Display first "On-Board" connected only to DVI and set to 128MB as per JamesBond.
- HPET enabled at 64 bit
- Only one hard drive connected. set as AHCI
- 8Gb Ram on board (2x4Gb), tried with one 4Gb too.
- Virtualization: Disabled and Enabled, try it both.
- Hyper-threading: Disabled and Enabled, try it both.

When I formatted the USB flash (tried with 8 GB and 16 GB many times) I have selected to be formated as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" and from options as "Master Boot Record".

----------------------

I have burned another version of Lion on DVD and it worked, I had no panic kernel but after installation when I tried to make it boot or add some kext I got the kernel again.
StingRay says is ludicrous to reinstall everything when faced with panic kernel but there is not much guidance on how to fix it once you got it, other than few switches that may not help in some cases.

So my point is that it works with other methods but I definitely wish to try with tony's way. Getting the kernel before installation window, I figured that the USB stick is not done properly, must be!
I have used this method on a very similar built before, back in January. the only thing has changed was the UniBeast version. Is it possible to get an older version of UniBeast? Is anywhere an Archive of the downloads?

 

[solidst8]

Re: mobo: GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 problem?

I have the same board and I use GraphicsEnabler=yes for onboard video.