[success] GA-Z87X-UD4H i7 4770k GTX770 32 GB RAM Samsung 840 EVO

[Hattrick]

This was my first build. It came together due to the many guides and posts on this site. Thanks to all.

My one nuance to add: maybe more mention of maxmem to solve kernel panic problems. I don't know if it was due to the 32 GB I was putting on my build, when the MacBookPro I used to get the 10.9.2 software from the Apple store only had 8 GB, but maxmem was the only boot flag I needed.


I used the Feb and Mar 2014 buyer guides to help pick out hardware. I used Unibeast 3.0.1 and MultiBeast Mavericks 6.2.1.

I assembled the hardware according to the guides (I only connected the boot SSD for Mac OS X, and left the Windows SSD, the data platter HDD and the optical drive disconnected).

I verified all the BIOS settings I could find in several guides (virtualization, XHCI, SSD AHCI).

I made many attempts to do a fresh install of 10.9.2 with Unibeast 3.0.1, each ending in a kernel panic. I was using all the combinations I could make for -x -v GraphicsEnabled yes and no, PCIRootUID 1 and 0 and npci 0x3000 and 0x2000 and omitting / combining all the values. After three evenings of trial and panic failure, I found a post in the support forum that mentioned maxmem=4096. It turned out that was the only boot flag I needed to allow Unibeast to do its work successfully.

After that it was really simple to follow along with the video (thanks Beelz) and the 10.9 install guide. I didn't have any issues with MultiBeast and there were plenty of posts with a good list of audio, SSD, networking and boot selections (especially helpful was BacMook's build using the UD4H motherboard).

My thanks to the folks making the software tools that enable the builds.

Hardware:
Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD4H out of the box BIOS rev F7
i7 4770k
GeForce NVidia GTX770 graphics card (connected)
Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD
32 GB Crucial Ballistic Sport (8x4)

BIOS settings: turned off XHCI, and turned off Intel Virtualization (VT-d wasn't editable on my BIOS UI)

 

[shentheory]

Thanks for sharing this! I literally just bought all these exact same parts, and I'll be building it when they all get here. good to know it's a success.

How's it been so far? Any more issues with the ram slots full? This will also be my first build. The only difference for me is a few more drives because I'll be dual-booting Win8, so I'm definitely a little intimidated!

Thanks again. good info.

 

[dannythebeerman]

....
I verified all the BIOS settings I could find in several guides (virtualization, XHCI, SSD AHCI).
....
....
BIOS settings: turned off XHCI, and turned off Intel Virtualization (VT-d wasn't editable on my BIOS UI)

I'm not having success with this board and a similar setup. Wanted some clarity on bios settings and hardware from when you were installing unibeast. If others forum members have suggestions to achieve mac boot, so I may format the SSD please advise.

Did you make just 2 changes from your default bios: disabling both XHCI and Intel Virtualization? and no other changes?

Did you use all 4 memory modules and your graphics card during the initial unibeast install?

I'm using similar mentioned parts together with a ps2 keyboard, USB optical mouse, an SVGA monitor, and an 8gb USB 2.0 boot thumb drive. Having trouble getting past "unable to open /var/db/bootcache.playlist". Would any of these items cause unibeast not to boot?

Other maybe minor differences a 120gb 840 EVO SSD, one 8gb ballistix 8-8-8-24 memory stick, an i5-4670k processor, and a corsair RM650 p/s. thanks in advance for your reply.

 

[dark2tar]

Struggling with the same components (all the same except for and Asus GTX 650 graphics card). I make it into the installer but it freezes when i get a couple of mins in (haven't got past 18mins left).

Is this likely to be bios related as most other things I've read indicate people are struggling to get into the installer!

I've tried lots of bios changes but only the maxmem=4096 bootflag mentioned in this post.

Any ideas would be welcome.

Cheers

D2

 

[dannythebeerman]

I successfully took 2 steps backward and used unibeast 2.1 and mountain lion 10.8.5 on the bootstrap to get OS X Install to come up, without any flags on the boot line.

why did we choose this method? because my buddy who is coaching me used it 6 months ago on his z77 board, I have the z87x-ud4h bios f7.

We had problems getting mavericks to work with unibeast 3 then we tried mavericks and clover, no luck. kept getting the same message Unable to open /var/db/bootcache.playlist. then he advise lets just use his thumb drive, and it worked. I think trying any mountain lion and unibeast 3 would of worked just as well, Only bios setting I changed from optimum was to enable XHCI hand-off, xhci to auto, intel virtualization disabled, and initial display to igfx (which I don't think was necessary). I'm running with as little hardware as possible for the install.

the only problem I am left with is my subsequent boots into Mountain Lion require a -x on a boot line. but hey, I'm pleased as punch for now, I have achieved the dual boot mac/windows computer. and I can upgrade to mavericks. Also had to ditch the ps/2 keyboard for a USB to use the mac interface. vga monitor works fine.

so consider using tried and true mountain lion then upgrading to mavericks. good luck.

 

[dannythebeerman]

Ok thought to give some updates for those trying to use this ud4h board.

I'll mention that some of the script in verbose -v may not mean much. for example "Unable to open /var/db/bootcache.playlist" I've seen it display and not stop the boot process.

I can't upgrade to mavericks from ML. Unable to boot into an install with a unibeast 3.0 and Mavericks thumb drive, nor after downlaoding Mavericks from the App Store; not even by safe mode.

So I focus on getting Mountain Lion working so I can boot in without using Safe Mode as the key to having a real working system.

Installed updates and DSDT Free kext files one at a time hoping that it may fix my boot problems using multibeast 5.5.5 (designated ML) and 6. (mavericks used because more control of DSDT install optiions) and find that the "Basic Boot Options" option fails where I cant boot using safe mode. I use Time Machine to back up successful updates.

Found that once ML is installed it will boot in safe mode using just xhci hand off disabled and intel visualization disabled. And I believe it will normal boot into ML Install with just those settings as well.

Able to use the ps/2 keyboard through the kext available in multibeast. so I can just borrow a USB keyboard.

Any suggestions on how to get this board to boot into a Mac OS without using safe mode would be greatly appreciated.

 

[dannythebeerman]

Thought to give a somewhat successful update on this ud4h board (bios F8) and installing Mountain Lion 10.8.5. waiting for more successful Maverick installs.

Only bios settings changed from optimum were to enable XHCI hand-off, xhci to auto, intel virtualization disabled, and initial display to igfx. And because I'm using 8-8-8- memory used an XMP profile1 to get the OS's to recognize the 1600Mhz speed. I'm running with as little hardware as possible for the install, just to make sure the MB, processor, Mem, HD, keyBd, mouse work together with the Mac.

Finally got it to boot into my Mac partition without using -x safe mode. Rolled back Time Machine to one of my first restore points where I had saved MultiBeast 5.5.5. Using Multibeast 5.5.5. Installing just the DSDT Free option, then because I'm using on board graphics of the i5 4670k processor, using text editor on the c:\extra\org.chameleon.boot.plist file changing GraphicsEnabler to =No. Albeit sometimes it doesn't boot, takes 2 minutes to boot, or boots rather quickly, been using verbose -v frequently. I am using a 17" Vga monitor 1024x768x32bit and on board 4600 graphics.
View attachment 92920

I then used multibeast 5.5.5 to add the on board network, followed by adding a printer and Mountain Lion updates which require a restart. then a successful boot and immediate back up with Time Machine. Then added the drivers Fake SMC v5.3.280 and its Plugins, ps/2, usb3, Apple RTC patch, individually rebooting and backing up. Had problems after a reboot with ALC 898 without DSDT, could only get in with safe mode, so I rolled back and am leaving it out for now.

Hope this helps others get going.