[Succes] Hackintoshing the HP DC7900 SFF

[optroodt]

[Success] HP DC7900 SFF Core2Quad Hackintosh

I found that a lot of DC7900's are being sold second hand for low prices (~200 EUR), I figured I might as well give it a go as it gives pretty good value for money.

I ordered one here (in the Netherlands): http://www.mr-at.nl/hp-dc7900-sff-c2q-q9400-266ghz4gb80gbdvdromw7pcoa-p-9702.html?cPath=107


I installed using the following (default) hardware, anything else was added later:

Intel Core2Quad Q9400 2,66Ghz
80gb SATA drive (small drive, avoids 4k sector issues)
DVD-ROM SATA drive
4Gb DDR2 800 Mhz RAM (2x2Gb)
Integrated graphics. (only for install)

For the graphics I used an ASUS EN GeForce 210 Silent DD3. It comes with and extra set of low profile brackets so it will fit in the SFF case! You can buy one at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/EN210-SILENT-DI-1GD3-V2/dp/B004I5UDO6


Requirements:
- UniBeast USB drive (I used 10.9.1)

Put these in a seperate folder on the USB drive
- Latest MultiBeast (I used 6.3)
- KextBeast
- VoodooHDA 2.8.5
- 10.9.3 combo update


There is not much to be configured in the BIOS, basically anything works.


Take your UniBeast drive with Mavericks (I used 10.9.1) and boot using the following flags:

-v -f -x IGPEnabler=Yes GraphicsEnabler=No

You should boot fine now and should reach the installer without any issues.

In the installer:
- Select Utilities -> Disk Utility
- Partition your drive (I used a small drive, 80Gb, so no 4k sector issues), 1 partition Mac HFS+ Journaled (case insensitive). Make sure you select GUID partition table under options.
- Apply and close Disk Utility.


Now perform the install as usual, this took about 20 minutes.


After install reboot using UniBeast and boot the newly installed partition.


Run MultiBeast.


- Select "DSDT Free" and don't change anything!
- Install the defaults.
- Close MultiBeast


Open terminal, from /Volumes/UniBeast/Extra/Extensions (assuming your UniBeast drive volume has the name UniBeast) copy these kexts to your Desktop.


- GenericUSBXHCI
- IONetworkingFamily
- NullCPUPowerManagement
- EvOreboot

cp -R /Volumes/UniBeast/Extra/Extensions/GenericUSBXHCI.kext ~/Desktop
cp -R /Volumes/UniBeast/Extra/Extensions/IONetworkingFamily.kext ~/Desktop
cp -R /Volumes/UniBeast/Extra/Extensions/NullCPUPowerManagement.kext ~/Desktop
cp -R /Volumes/UniBeast/Extra/Extensions/EvOreboot.kext ~/Desktop

Run KextBeast to install them.


Edit /Extra/org.chameleon.Boot.plist and change UseKernelCache to No


Reboot without the USB drive in the computer.


ETHERNET
Ethernet is probably not working now (it didn't for me), install the 10.9.3 Combo update.
Ethernet should work after reboot.


GRAPHICS
Shut down the system and plugin the ASUS GeForce 210 Silent (1GD DDR3).
Use the following bootflags: GraphicsEnabler=Yes IGPEnabler=No
The card will now be automatically detected! Change these settings in /Extra/org.chameleon.Boot.plist so it will automatically use the right graphics card. I tested VGA and HDMI, they both worked but HDMI audio is still a problem.


SOUND
Install VoodooHDA 2.8.5 MAV, after reboot gives you only HDMI (but doesn't really work, 1 sec then stops). Use the DPCI Manager Tool to find the DeviceID of the Analog Devices AD1884A audio. In my case this is 0x80863A6E. Edit the /System/Library/Extensions/VoodooHDA.kext/Contents/Info.plist. Remove the IOPCIClassMatch key and string and insert a new pair:
<key>IOPCIPrimaryMatch</key><string>0x80863A6E</string>. Put the /Applications/VoodooHdaSettingsLoader app in your loginitems. In the VoodooHDA prefspane, select your output and set iMix to max in order to hear something.
I tried to change change the VoodooHDAEnableVolumeChangeFix to true in the Info.plist, but the Volume slider doesn't work.


After a reboot, analog audio should work. These is some static, but I find it acceptable. If somebody has a solution to this, please help!


iMessage
I couldn't log into iMessage, I put the FileNVRAM.dylib (1.1.3) in /Extra/modules, rebooted, then was able to sign into iMessage. I later removed it, not sure what happened.

Sleep
It sleeps but doesn't recover after full sleep was reached. I just disabled the power savings options in System Preferences, no sleep for me.


I added another 4Gb of RAM, an extra harddrive and a PCI firewire card, everything worked! I'm pretty happy with my system, it's a cheap PC running Mavericks with decent performance. If you have one laying around, you might want to give it a shot!

UPDATE

I installed the 10.9.4 update through the AppStore and everything still works, so it's safe to update!

UPDATE October 12th 2014

I installed the 10.9.5 update through the AppStore, everything still works, except iMessage won't login anymore. I haven't tried to fix it.

 

[tedbaker]

Old thread, I know! But could I run yosemite on the same machine but with a intel core 2 duo e8400 3.00ghz processor??

 

[VioletDragon]

yeah you can run Yosemite on a core 2 duo CPU its still supported

 

[trompeto]

I'm running 10.10.5 on an E8400 with 8GB RAM and a GeForce 210 card

you have installed 10.10.5 from clover? can you tell me what steps or guide you followed? i have the same machine but my processor is 8600 and also the same graphics card, but can’t get run the correct steps, i would like install directly from usb with clover not chimera (multibeast).

Thanks !