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Build a Perfect Mac for less than $250

MrFlooD

By MrFlooD,
in Tutorials (The Genius Bar)

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MrFlooD
MrFlooD
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Sweet! installed the patch and now it works perfectly. I will update the original tutorial to make sure people install the fix with OSX.

 

Thanks for all the help guys.

 

DigitalNinja - I can only recommend you try using an IDE DVD drive. Or reburn your Kalyway disk.

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AK2007
AK2007
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Where do you guys see the "TimeMachineFix_ionetworkingfamily" option? I am using the "Kalyway_10.5.2_DVD_Intel_Amd.iso" and I don't see this option. Am I using the correct iso?

hey guys what about firewire? the mobo doesn't includes one, but i've seen pretty cheap pci ones in newegg, since this mobo has one pci slot. firewire = time machine (been using it with an imac, already saved me twice big time, also makes switching macs a breeze). what do you think? is time machine working with osx86?
I used this FW card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16815265003. It is NEC based, and even ISight works on it right out of the box without any drivers, which is pretty much the compatibility test for me.
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MrFlooD
MrFlooD
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Where do you guys see the "TimeMachineFix_ionetworkingfamily" option? I am using the "Kalyway_10.5.2_DVD_Intel_Amd.iso" and I don't see this option. Am I using the correct iso?I used this FW card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16815265003. It is NEC based, and even ISight works on it right out of the box without any drivers, which is pretty much the compatibility test for me.

 

 

Scrap this step. I will post the needed file when I get home tonight.

 

Cheers,

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2twisty
2twisty
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I just built this machine yesterday for a new Hacintosh convert (kens97sto171). We used 2GB ram since the mobo only has 1 DIMM socket, and the mobo maxes out at 2GB. I'd recommend that for anyone building this machine--just max it out.

 

We also put a 400GB SATA drive in because we got one at our local computer store for $69.99.

 

So.. Here's my experience..

 

Some notes on this install to include in the instructions on page 1:

 

Partition the Hard Drive as MBR!

 

I used the defaults (GUID) and I couldn't get it to boot from the hard drive no matter WHAT I did. I tried about 5 different ways to fix the "requires the DVD to boot" problem, and the closest I got was a b0 error.

 

After installing the OS 3 times, I decided to try using MBR even though your instructions say to use the defaults. The 4th install (and 5 hours later than I started) it worked fine.

 

Also, there are GMA950 drivers right on the Kalyway 10.5.2 DVD that work fine - you can select them under Graphics drivers.

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AK2007
AK2007
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Scrap this step. I will post the needed file when I get home tonight.

 

Cheers,

 

OK so I skipped this step, the system got built everything is working fine. Thank you very much for the clear instructions. I was going crazy trying to get clean instlall.

 

However I have run into one thing, after 10.5.4 update the system doesn't shut down all the apps close but I am left with a grey spinning wheel. Any suggestion on what to look for?

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2twisty
2twisty
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I had the same problem. It seems to happen when an installer wants to cause a reboot. It happened several times while I was installing.

 

The solution I came up with as a "rule" for the user:

 

If an installer wants to reboot, tell it "no" then initiate a SHUT DOWN. That seems to always work. Once you restart after the shutdown, it will restart just fine if you (the user) tell it to restart.

 

Just remember-don't let an installer do the reboot--just do it manually.

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AK2007
AK2007
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60w should do the job. at least in windows 720p works perfect. 1080 is a little sloppy

 

That is what I thought, but the board does'nt even turn on with a 60 watt PS its been rated to use 30 some watts so I don't understand why it would'nt turn on. The PS is a dc-dc and it is good I tested it with a VIA EPIA M board and seems to function fine. It had bought this case which came with a DC-DC 60 watt PS.

 

Now I have to spend more money, I am getting a Pico 120W.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811154089

 

BTW this is very nice box, but had to do a little dremeling to connect the firewire card, since the box is designed to accommodate a riser card.

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MrFlooD
MrFlooD
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That is what I thought, but the board does'nt even turn on with a 60 watt PS its been rated to use 30 some watts so I don't understand why it would'nt turn on. The PS is a dc-dc and it is good I tested it with a VIA EPIA M board and seems to function fine. It had bought this case which came with a DC-DC 60 watt PS.

 

Now I have to spend more money, I am getting a Pico 120W.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811154089

 

BTW this is very nice box, but had to do a little dremeling to connect the firewire card, since the box is designed to accommodate a riser card.

 

 

Does the 60 watt PS have a 4 pin connector? If not this board wont boot.

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lh99
lh99
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Does the 60 watt PS have a 4 pin connector? If not this board wont boot.

 

That sounds like the problem. Mine runs fine on a PicoPSU 90. It only draws 30-35 watts from the AC line (including a hard drive).

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AK2007
AK2007
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Does the 60 watt PS have a 4 pin connector? If not this board wont boot.
yes it does. may be its not really 60Watt they just claim it is.
That sounds like the problem. Mine runs fine on a PicoPSU 90. It only draws 30-35 watts from the AC line (including a hard drive).
Good to know that you are running an HD with a 90, what kind of HD do you have? I have one 7200 rpm laptop SATA, one IDE 5400 something ancient, and a laptop dvd. BTW the not turning on problem I had was with just the MB and not a single drives plugged in. I tried all combos, it just wouldnt turn on.
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lh99
lh99
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Good to know that you are running an HD with a 90, what kind of HD do you have? I have one 7200 rpm laptop SATA, one IDE 5400 something ancient, and a laptop dvd.

 

It's a 7200rpm 1TB Western Digital SATA drive, but it is from their "GreenPower" (low power consumption) line so probably a little less power consumption than the average 1TB disk. Other than a PCI gigabit network card, that's the only peripheral I have in my system, though. Based on the peak power consumption I'm seeing (less than half the 90 watt rating), I'd think the 90 would work fine for you, but the 120 watt version isn't that much more expensive.

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lh99
lh99
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I am having problems with graphics (Screen Sharing causes a kernel panic) though, so I'll give the patched kexts a shot.

 

UPDATE: The graphics kexts from this tutorial fixed my Screen Sharing kernel panics issue -- thanks MrFlooD!

 

Also, I got time machine working with the ToH IONetworkingFamily.kext: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...mp;#entry488519

 

Everything I needed works great now (I didn't try audio or the built-in NIC). I didn't think making a Hackintosh could be this easy. I'd highly recommend the Retail DVD install for this board!

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SUBnet192
SUBnet192
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I just built this machine yesterday for a new Hacintosh convert (kens97sto171). We used 2GB ram since the mobo only has 1 DIMM socket, and the mobo maxes out at 2GB. I'd recommend that for anyone building this machine--just max it out.

 

We also put a 400GB SATA drive in because we got one at our local computer store for $69.99.

 

So.. Here's my experience..

 

Some notes on this install to include in the instructions on page 1:

 

Partition the Hard Drive as MBR!

 

I used the defaults (GUID) and I couldn't get it to boot from the hard drive no matter WHAT I did. I tried about 5 different ways to fix the "requires the DVD to boot" problem, and the closest I got was a b0 error.

 

After installing the OS 3 times, I decided to try using MBR even though your instructions say to use the defaults. The 4th install (and 5 hours later than I started) it worked fine.

 

Also, there are GMA950 drivers right on the Kalyway 10.5.2 DVD that work fine - you can select them under Graphics drivers.

 

I had the same issue, requiring the DVD in the drive to boot. Fixed it by doing this:

  • Reboot using the Kalyway DVD
  • Start the terminal once the disk is loaded
  • Using the following command, identify which partition your Leopard installation is on.diskutil list

  • Once you’ve identified which disk (disk0, disk1, etc…) use the following commands to mark the partition active.fdisk -e /dev/rdisk# --> where # is the number of the disk.
    p --> will show you the partitions list, to confirm you're on the right disk.
    f # --> where # is the number of the partition to mark active
    w --> write changes
    q --> quit
    reboot

I'm documenting the same kind of install on my blog:

http://www.subnet192.com/?page_id=53

 

This thread helped me with the video fix (I had fixed resolution before this). Thanks!

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2twisty
2twisty
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Have any of you tried using VMWare or Parallels with this rig? I can't get either of them to work. VMWare gives me a bizarre error involving cpuid.c, and Parallels never fully loads - it just hammers the processor. We left it for about 10 minutes and it never came up. We had to force a reboot.

 

 

Ideas?

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Honda Boy
Honda Boy
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I have GPT and Chameleon EFI both working great. I had to update to firmware 0067 from the Intel site. PC_EFI does not work though, it said there was a error on the HFS+ partition. This was a retail install from a real Macbook using a SATA to USB bridge. I used the KEXT from the Realtek site to get ethernet. Using AppleIntelIntegratedFrameBuffer for graphics, AppleAzalia for sound, and DSMOS. Works great, sleep works. Reboot is broken though. I will work through and see if I can get it running using just the Realtek kext and DSMOS.

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AK2007
AK2007
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Have any of you tried using VMWare or Parallels with this rig? I can't get either of them to work. VMWare gives me a bizarre error involving cpuid.c, and Parallels never fully loads - it just hammers the processor. We left it for about 10 minutes and it never came up. We had to force a reboot.

Ideas?

 

I have Parallels working great, I did a fresh install of Parallels 3.0 and imported a new virtual machine from an older physical machine, everything is working well. I haven't used an existing VM, but for this computer I don't need to.

 

I am quite surprised at the performance of the VM its quite peppy, actually feels faster than the P4 1.8 it was pulled from. I have 2 GB RAM though, I wonder if that makes a diff.

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2twisty
2twisty
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We tried a fresh install, also. It just hammers the machine when you try to even launch the interface. I can't even get to the point of selecting an existing VM or creating a new one.

 

Which build are you running?

 

We'll try it again.

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AK2007
AK2007
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We tried a fresh install, also. It just hammers the machine when you try to even launch the interface. I can't even get to the point of selecting an existing VM or creating a new one.

 

Which build are you running?

 

We'll try it again.

 

At work now so can't check, I downloaded it yesterday so whatever is on the Parallels website, the latest. It must be a memory thing. My Leo Install was done following the steps in this tutorial the only additional device I have is a firewire card, but that should have no effect.

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danielmramos
danielmramos
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This all sounds like a really cool build. It sort of makes me want to take apart my vintage 450 mhz g4 Cube and see if I can get this to fit seamlessly. I am sure that this Atom motherboard would make the old g4 Cube look like it is running with a hamster for a processor. Can someone please do a physical measurement of the complete board with a firewire card and post the dimensions? Hey, I wonder if I could rig up the old Cube power supply so that I didn't even have to worry about buying something else. It would be sweet to buy the parts, mount it in the Cube when my wife is out, test the system, and totally fool her into thinking that nothing had happened to the old except for a remarkable speed improvement. Wouldn't that be a riot?Thanks for the help.

 

Damn it, I just realized something. WTF is up with all of those legacy ports on this little board? I assumed that they would have dumped all that old stuff on such a small board, but nooooo. Intel has to go and stay with a freaking parallel printer port?!!! PS2 ports?!!! Legacy serial ports?!!! YUCK! YUCK! YUCK! I will keep my eye on Atom systems, but I will have to wait until they get rid of that junk on the motherboard. What a bummer.

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