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Trying to tackle a G4 Cube hack.

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joshfabean,

I read in your PM, that you use the MacMini 6,1 definition instead of 5,1. This could be the problem.
 
Okay another update.

After just messing around with setting and looking around this site I switched bios back down to 044 instead of 046. Booted right up first time and has been on since then. I don't exactly know why this would make a difference, but it's on now and everything so far has been working just fine.

The specs I ended up going with are:

Intel DQ77KB
Intel i7-3770S
8GB Corsair Vengeance RAM
120GB SandDisk Extreme SSD
IOGear Bluetooth adapter
sata to esata adapter
2 different USB headers, one with just 1 port, the other with 4 which hasn't arrived yet
Apple Wireless Keyboard
Apple Magic Mouse
G4 Cube Speakers
The Power adapter is interesting...

For the power adapter, I purchased a refurbished Dell adapter that I read would fit this motherboard, it didn't. So I found a universal adapter that had the right tip, but I couldn't find one over 90W and I needed more power than that. So I cut them up and soldered them together.

IMG_1376.jpgIMG_1379.jpg

I thought my soldering job went pretty good, works just fine cables don't overheat or anything. Was sad to put up a $50 universal charger though.

I forgot to take one of those fancy "here's all my parts" picture. But here is all the basics hooked up and running.

IMG_1383.jpg

After BIOS update to 046 and install, this is the screen I would see if not booting in safe mode. I don't know if anyone can read the error message and make sense of what's actually happening.

IMG_1397.jpg

As I said earlier I flashed the BIOS back to 044 and it booted right up. I'm not sure why, but it's working now. Mactester does have the suggestion of me using the MacMini 5,1 instead of 6,1 since it's currently working I haven't tried doing that yet.

I'm writing this post from the computer actually!

I'm not sure that flash drives are working out of the USB 3.0 ports but a wired keyboard is. Maybe just flash drives in general don't work or maybe it's just mine. The App Store sometimes works sometimes doesn't. I haven't been able to sign into iMessages yet, it keeps giving me errors. I've found tutorials on here explaining how to fix it and it seems easy enough.

Also a fun little side note, I do have a working wifi card! I months ago took the wifi card out of my ATV1 to replace it with a HD encoder and I kept it. I just tried throwing it into this motherboard and it worked right away! I haven't actually used it yet because the wires are still in the ATV1 and I haven't pulled them out yet, but it shows I have wifi and it will scan for networks.

Tonight I started working on the case a little, I cut out the heatsink and the IO shield. Tomorrow I will have time to play with the case some more and I can hopefully get it semi moved into the case tomorrow.

I'm going to mess with a couple of things then do some geekbench scores and things like that. I'll post those in a bit.

EDIT:

Just ran a geekbench and the score was: 11,869
 
Another Update.


Okay I redid everything going step by step with what MacTester does with his cube. It still won't boot without being in safe mode.


I figured out what is needed for my computer to boot w/o safe mode though, it's with multi beast added "AppleACPIPlatform.kext". I came to this conclusion by booting verbose which threw the error "ACPI table not found" Now it boots up just fine but has other issues.

When it first booted the system knew my screen was 1080, but it was actually only showing me about 50% and the rest hung off the edge. I was able to open the System Preferences and change it to 1080i which fixed the issue.

Also the screen is doing strange things. When I scroll text and things on the screen look bad. Maybe they're not anti-aliasing? Also sometimes in menus the blue highlight flashes just under the cursor. Turns out the screen was set to PAL and 50 hertz, switched it to NTSC and it's great now.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks!
 
Okay I redid everything going step by step with what MacTester does with his cube. It still won't boot without being in safe mode.
Click to expand...

Strange. Try the following:
-Install BIOS 0045
-Move the yellow jumper (disconnect PSU first!)
-Load the BIOS defaults with "F9"
-Save BIOS settings and shut down
-Move the yellow jumper back (disconnect PSU first!)
-Re-apply your BIOS settings ("Boot from USB", Fan Settings)
-Save BIOS settings and reboot
-Install ML 10.8.2 with your Unibeast-Stick (connected to an USB 2.0 port!)
-DO NOT REBOOT after Installation, then download and install Multibeast and apply the following settings:
G4%20Cube%20Multibeast%205.1.3%20settings.tiff

In the current version of Multibeast select MacMini 5,1!

If you still have issues then, I think the problem is your I7 CPU

good luck

MacTester

Edit:
I don't know if anyone can read the error message and make sense of what's actually happening.
Click to expand...
Your displayed crash-report is related to the "AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext". It does mean, that "NullCPUPowerManagement.kext" is not installed. The DQ77KB will not run without it!
 
MacTester57 said:
Strange. Try the following:
-Install BIOS 0045
-Move the yellow jumper (disconnect PSU first!)
-Load the BIOS defaults with "F9"
-Save BIOS settings and shut down
-Move the yellow jumper back (disconnect PSU first!)
-Re-apply your BIOS settings ("Boot from USB", Fan Settings)
-Save BIOS settings and reboot
-Install ML 10.8.2 with your Unibeast-Stick (connected to an USB 2.0 port!)
-DO NOT REBOOT after Installation, then download and install Multibeast and apply the following settings:
G4%20Cube%20Multibeast%205.1.3%20settings.tiff

In the current version of Multibeast select MacMini 5,1!

If you still have issues then, I think the problem is your I7 CPU

good luck

MacTester

Edit:

Your displayed crash-report is related to the "AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext". It does mean, that "NullCPUPowerManagement.kext" is not installed. The DQ77KB will not run without it!
Click to expand...

I didn't know there was a way to not reboot after installing, I'm guessing you just hit cancel or something to the rebooting after installing. But as I said earlier it does work now. I added "AppleACPIPlatform.kext" and now it boots up fine. It's been up and running for over a day now without issues.
 
How's the cube doing? Any issues with temperature?

I'm disappointed that motherboard doesn't support the Core i7 3770T (45W).
 
ahhyes said:
How's the cube doing? Any issues with temperature?

I'm disappointed that motherboard doesn't support the Core i7 3770T (45W).
Click to expand...


Hey, I've been really quiet on here which saddens me. Honestly I just haven't had time to keep working on it. It's up and running, but maybe ~80% done. As of now there is no case fan at all (scary!) but it never runs hotter than 70-80º. I credit this to it being in my basement and it being winter. But I've been leaving it on for awhile and it's very stable! I don't believe it's crashed once since I got it up and running.

Things I'm still needing to do are:


  • file down the heatsink to allow room for the front USB headers
  • add case fans
  • add esata port to back IO
  • get power button working (currently a long cabled one I tore off an old server)
  • add blu-ray drive
  • remount the motherboard in a more stable way. (currently not 100% safe feeling with how I secured it, I bought the wrong type of nuts so part of the board is just floating, luckily I don't really move it)

I also want to add more pictures that I have of the cube and show things I had to cut and how I ran certain things. But since I've got it up and running thing work fine on it.
 
Hey,

Everything with the computer is working fine. Slow to do new things, I just got married June so I'm kinda busy as of lately.

I did recently try installing Windows on one of the drives to dual boot to play some games. I'm not really a gamer, I just like to play some classic games like Roller Coaster Tycoon.

So Windows 8 runs great on the computer on my one drive. The issues is actually dual booting them with Chimera. To get Windows 8 to work properly I had to turn off UEFI boot in the BIOS. Then Windows 8 boots right up and it's great. But it skips Chimera. But if I turn it back on, Chimera works, and I choose the Windows 8 drive and it won't boot.

Now I haven't tried to hard to fix this issues as I already have a perfectly running rMBP so I've just been running the Cube with Windows for the past week. Does anyone have suggestions?

I'm thinking I probably need UEFI boot on to get into Chimera then change settings so it boots into Windows fine. But I don't know what those are.

Thanks in advance!
 
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