Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R?

[drew.barrett]

Hey everybody,

 

The parts for my new system should start arriving tomorrow, and I'm expecting everything to be here by Monday. So that gives me the weekend to figure out exactly what I need to do for this system.

 

Here's what I'm building:

Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R (plan to immediately flash BIOS to F10)

Q6600

EVGA GeForce 9800GTX

2x 80gb WD Caviar Blue SATA2

1x 1tb WD Caviar Black SATA2

Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750W PSU

4gb G Skill DDR2-800 PC2-6400 RAM

Antec NSK6580B Case

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro

Lite-On DVD-RW SATA

 

A little background: this is my first time building a system. I'm pretty happy with Windows, there are a lot of things about OS X that bug me which prevent me from wanting to use it as my primary operating system. However at work I'm on OS X all day and I want to run Final Cut at home. Hence, I'd like to try to install Leopard on this new system.

 

Ideally, I'd like for this to be the set up

One 80 gig drive for Vista x64 + Windows apps

One 80 gig drive for Leopard + Mac apps

1TB drive for all the fun stuff.

 

I know I should be able to figure all of this out from reading the thread, but if anybody could just give me a push in the right direction that'd be a lot of help. If possible I'd like to install Vista first. I'm trying to figure out exactly what I need and what order to do it in, and I think I could maybe figure it out based on some of these guides, but many of them seem to imply Vista is not present or installing requires several free drives... but if anybody has experience with a similar set up and could give me more specific directions, geared towards an extreme n00b, I'd love it.

[LogicalUser]

i too shall be assembling my machine either this weekend, or monday, depending on when my motherboard/case/PSU actually arrive

[drew.barrett]

Okay, I looked back through the thread and I'm beginning to understand things a little more clearly...

 

Am I correct in my understanding that to not take up multiple drives I should use boot 132 in the form of grub-dfe, or the image that Maasey has posted/is posting? This would allow me to install a retail 10.5.4 and upgrade to 10.5.5?

 

Then to make everything work properly I have to install kexts... I have no idea what a kext is or where to install it but I'm sure it will make more sense to me when I actually have to do it and it's not just some thing I'm reading about... regardless, I've downloaded many of the zip files in this thread, including the ones which are supposed to repair audio.

 

After that, EFI Studios should be able to recognize my gfx card.

 

Here, when the computer starts it will boot to OS X unless I press the right keys and enter something at a command prompt? (I forget what I read)

 

Is there no "Pick OS A or OS B" on boot-up way to go about this?

[buddymalec]

Hey guys I have read this entire forum up and down. I need a little bit of assistance. I have the EP-45-UD3P board and am having mountains of trouble.

 

First off the computer turns on then off then on again every single time i turn it on. I have left the bios totally stock it has a Q6600, 8 gb ram, 2 500 gb sata drives, and an HD3870.

 

I cant even boot to the HD it just hangs. No installations work but kalyway. I am going to do the retail install but am still waiting for the damn thing to download. I am curious on the over clocking settings you guys are using and also why is my system just hanging constantly? and also why would it just go off and on everytime? My external drives stay running via USB even when the comp is off also.

 

I have followed a ton of guidelines and I just had leopard running 100% on a dell inspiron 530 before I upgraded to a new case and mobo.

 

Also my wireless is a usb dongle and worked fine and now it doesnt even get recognized. I feel like this thing is a complete mess.

 

in response to my own thread.....

 

I have resolved a lot of issues just by tweaking settings. It still turns on turns off then turns on again which is totally strange to me. I also am hoping that someone comes through with a good boot cd for me. I was reading that someone may be posting a new one soon. Does anyone have any idea which one is the best at this very moment. I have gotten a handful of them and just would like to use the very best one.

 

 

Thanks!!!

[Generic George]

First off the computer turns on then off then on again every single time i turn it on. I have left the bios totally stock it has a Q6600, 8 gb ram, 2 500 gb sata drives, and an HD3870.

 

That sounds like the behavior I've noticed when I tried overclocking my machine. Make sure your heatsink is properly mounted and making good contact. Your comment below indicates you are overclocking it. It's a bad idea to be doing that before you have the machine functioning and stable. So step back to stock settings first thing.

 

A sata optical drive seems to be very highly recommended vs a PATA drive. It's also possible that you have a defective something or other.

 

Is your HD3870 a PC & Mac edition? IIRC, it has special roms for functioning in both Mac and PC environments, which might be the cause of malfunctions if you only have a stock PC version.

 

I cant even boot to the HD it just hangs. No installations work but kalyway. I am going to do the retail install but am still waiting for the damn thing to download. I am curious on the over clocking settings you guys are using and also why is my system just hanging constantly? and also why would it just go off and on everytime?

 

I had to use iAkios v4 to get my machine functioning. You might want to try that.

 

Make sure you have AHCI enabled, disable all of the legacy stuff (parallel ports, PS2 etc..). You may need to use the boot menu (f12) to get it started off of the optical drive. I find it works better if I select the name of the drive (samsung Model # or something like that) rather than just telling it "CD".

[buddymalec]

Thanks for the quick response. I will get at it...I do have it running now however not with the retail install I will get to that when its done. Now my problem is in audio.....

 

I cant get it to work for the life of me. I have used kexthelper and the HDAaudio patcher. Neither method worked for me. I get nothing at all. Now it wont even boot up can anyone offer any assistance?

[LogicalUser]

anyone here ever try a GA-EP45-UD3R?

 

the store i ordered from just informed me that the EP45-DS3R i ordered on monday & was told was in stock is not available, discontinued, and he's gonna "try" to see if any leftover in stock at their supplier...

 

this board seems to be very similar to the DS3R, same specs, ports, audio/lan/etc...

from what i've managed to gather, it seems like the difference is heat dissipation related changes to the motherboard PCB design, and some new quickboost feature that seems like a way to overclock from windows, which seems useless IMO

 

i'm quite iffy really, i might just ask for a refund & order from elsewhere, rather than go for an untested board

[JaE-V]

My board, all my memory, my processor, and 9800GT will all be for sale soon. Lol someone buy it.

[zebaril]

My board, all my memory, my processor, and 9800GT will all be for sale soon. Lol someone buy it.

 

 

I successfully install the sound drivers on board Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R but before play any sound I hear a "explode song".

 

For example when someone try to join on msn i hear a joining song...Before hear the joining song i hear a "explo song".

 

Any sollution

 

Thank's

[LogicalUser]

I successfully install the sound drivers on board Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R but before play any sound I hear a "explode song".

 

For example when someone try to join on msn i hear a joining song...Before hear the joining song i hear a "explo song".

 

Any sollution

 

Thank's

 

my EP45-DS3R has yet to arrive, so havent tested it, but i did notice this thread the other day, sounds like it might fix your issue

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=129449

[paduck]

I just built my first Hackintosh system based on the following specs which I consolidated from this board. The install is vanilla with Chameleon boot EFI and almost no KEXTs. Just about everything worked out of the box. I got everything but the Wifi card at New Egg. You could get a wifi card from New Egg, but I forgot.

 

Here is the list of equipment for the basic installation. My goal was to have everything working OOB as much as possible using a vanilla retail installation with minimal modifications necessary. The various postings on this thread and those linked were incredibly valuable in both hardware selection and installation.

 

Gigabyte EP45-DS3R motherboard $115 (deactivated now, so maybe a similar board in the same family)?

Intel Q6600 Quad Core 2.4 GHZ $180

EVGA GeForce 8600GT 256MB $50

CoolerMaster RC-690 Case $75 (ended up being pretty big...)

PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W PSU $75 (PSU is probably not an area to skimp on)

G.SKILL 4GB Memory DDR2 800 $44

SAMSUNG 22X DVD Burner SH-S223F $25

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound $6

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 CPU Cooler $27

Acer V223wbmd Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor $170

Seagate 640GB HD $80

Dynex Wifi Card DX-BGDTC $35 (at Best Buy)

Used existing keyboard and mouse

 

COST: $882 after various rebates (not including shipping)

 

Note: I added a couple extras which are beyond a minimal installation, so my final cost ended up being closer to $975. Add another $100 for Leopard which I already own a retail disk of.

 

I used the grub-dfe bootloader for a 10.5 installation.

I used to Apple Combo Upgrader to go to 10.5.5.

Then Chameleon.

I used EFI Studio to add hex strings to the boot.plist for the graphics card.

I added the 889a ACI patch to get sound working (not on the bootlader, but in the main drive).

I added to Restart/Sleep/Shutdown patch to get that working.

 

Copied all the files off my Time Machine backup and it looks just like before. I'm quite pleased with the results so far at the one week point. Since this is an upgrade to a 2GHz G5 iMac, I am seeing quite a speed increase.

 

Thank you all for your help with this project, even if you didn't realize you were helping out!

[protogabe]

Thanks for the quick response. I will get at it...I do have it running now however not with the retail install I will get to that when its done. Now my problem is in audio.....

 

I cant get it to work for the life of me. I have used kexthelper and the HDAaudio patcher. Neither method worked for me. I get nothing at all. Now it wont even boot up can anyone offer any assistance?

 

Hey buddymalec, i was looking into getting that exact same board from newegg because there's a good combo option but now that Im reading your problems im wondering if its worth it. The HCL compatability list says this board should work fine (Install Method: Kalyway 10.5.2 -> 10.5.5 Retail ) but "audio needs patching". Did you solve all the problems yet?

 

Looking foward to your results.

[damarsman]

I got this board coming in the mail. I got a couple quick questions for MaaseyRacer...

 

Are you making a version of the ISO that can be booted from a USB drive?

Do I need to install chameleon or anything like that if I want to be able to do Apple updates?

I have a 7950GT graphics card...Do I need to install EFI strings to get this working vanilla or will your ISO alone be fine?

[modis]

this probally isnt directly related to this mobo but i'm wondering what bluetooth dongles people are using. i have one my brother gave me (unsure of brand), i am able to send files to others but completely unable to receive files. anyone have a bluetooth dongle and is able to pair devices and do file transfers both ways?

 

thanks

[Nexus7]

Get kext helper. Also i have posted all the audio extensions to my media fire account.

http://www.mediafire.com/?jzziytmjnyo

 

 

PS I am making some last adjustments to my Boot132 ISO should have it up shortly.

 

Any sign of the Boot ISO Maasey?

[JaE-V]

I hear this board works very well with the latest iaktos 10.5.5 sleep/restart/shutdown and all, plus it has that thing so you can use the apple software updater with no future chance of bricking your install. I'll try it on a spare drive a few days from now and let you guys know

[dinsdale]

Here's what I'm building:

Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R (plan to immediately flash BIOS to F10)

Q6600

EVGA GeForce 9800GTX

2x 80gb WD Caviar Blue SATA2

1x 1tb WD Caviar Black SATA2

Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750W PSU

4gb G Skill DDR2-800 PC2-6400 RAM

Antec NSK6580B Case

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro

Lite-On DVD-RW SATA

 

That is so funny, I have almost exactly the same system. See links which helped me in my footer. It works very well. Good luck.

[fishmonger]

That is so funny, I have almost exactly the same system. See links which helped me in my footer. It works very well. Good luck.

 

You have no footer that I can see.

[JaE-V]

Anyone got sleep working on their boards yet?

[MaaseyRacer]

Anyone got sleep working on their boards yet?

 

Yes I used the Psystar OpenHaltRestart kext. Works like a champ now. However, does not wake from the keyboard. Power button wake only.

[JaE-V]

Yes I used the Psystar OpenHaltRestart kext. Works like a champ now. However, does not wake from the keyboard. Power button wake only.

 

Hey if you dont mind, drop a link!

[fedup flyer]

I am considering buying the GA-EP45-DS3R or EP45-DS4P to build a gaming rig with a Mac bootable drive. I see that both of these Mobos are Crossfire ready but I am looking the GeForce 8800 GT video card. Later on I would like to put in a second video card via SLI. Will these motherboards support SLI?

[JaE-V]

I am considering buying the GA-EP45-DS3R or EP45-DS4P to build a gaming rig with a Mac bootable drive. I see that both of these Mobos are Crossfire ready but I am looking the GeForce 8800 GT video card. Later on I would like to put in a second video card via SLI. Will these motherboards support SLI?

 

Nope, and get an 9800GT instead.

[fishmonger]

I got around to building my Hackintosh today. Here's a rundown of what I did ... comments/suggestions/ridicule are welcome. Hopefully this is helpful for someone, and I can reference it later to remember what I did.

 

Hardware

GA-EP45-DS3R motherboard, bios F10

Q9650 3GHz Core 2 Quad

4GB DDR2-800

nVidia 6600 256MB

320GB Seagate SATA HDD

Pioneer SATA DVD-RW

 

The only OS this computer is running is Leopard.

 

I used the grub-dfe.iso Boot-132 disc to install from a retail Leopard disc. The only hiccup I had was that after using the Disk Utility to partition my disk, the installer crashed & I had to reboot the whole thing ... installed fine after that.

 

After the first boot, I set up munky's EFI boot partition using the kext's from the grub-dfe.iso. These consisted of dsmos.kext, IntelCPUPMDisabler.kext, and SMBIOSEnabler.kext. I did not use ACPIPS2Nub.kext since I'm not using PS2 keyboard or mouse; only USB. A reboot w/ the -f flag later and I had a bootable 10.5.1 system from the retail disk.

 

Then I updated everything via Software Update, until there weren't any more updates. The machine wouldn't reboot or shutdown - the OS would shutdown, the screen would blank, but the computer just stayed on.

 

Firewire worked out of the box. The 2 NICs worked out of the box as well, but I was getting the "GetHostUUIDString" error (found this by checking dmesg .... open the terminal and "sudo dmesg"). I fixed this by editing NetworkInterfaces.plist in this manner. This fixed that problem.

 

Next step I took was to add a com.boot.Apple.plist file to my EFI partition that had the EFI string for my nVidia graphics card. I made this using the handy EFIStudio tool - simply wrote the EFI string to the standard com.boot.Apple.plist file, copied that file to the EFI partition, and then removed the graphics entry from the standard file. Another reboot later, and I had full graphics support w/ QE/CI enabled. Nice.

 

Then I fixed the ICH10 thing via the method on page 3 of this thread... change a couple plist files in the Apple supplied kexts listed. Thanks MacUser225.

 

Next step was to get sound working. I used the "889a.Audio.ICH10.zip" file attached to this thread. No audio strangeness that I can hear (pops, etc). Audio does not show up in the System Profiler. All of the inputs/outputs are listed in the Sound preferences dialog, though. I'm using 2-channel output & the headphone on the frontpanel and both work. The 2-ch output on the back is listed as "internal speaker" and the front panel headphone is listed as "headphone". Selecting one mutes the other; it doesn't happen automatically (like I'm used to it doing in Windows or Linux) but it's functional enough. Thanks MacGenius (ccg).

 

Then I tried out the DSDT stuff. You can read about it here. After this, my computer slept but it still would not turn off or restart correctly. I also have not tried removing the IntelCPUPMDisabler.kext from my EFI partition yet, so I don't know how successful the DSDT patch was. I'm pleased sleep works though. If you try the patcher, I used the "emulate Vista" option; I never did figure out which option you should use in which situation. It may be a case of trying them all to see which works best. Thanks for the education fassl, this is something I want to play with more in the future.

 

So to fix the reboot/shutdown issues I was having, I stuck Psystar's OpenHaltReboot.kext in my EFI partition. This fixed the restart/shutdown issues for me. Sleep still works. Sweet. You can get the kext here.

 

That's where I am. The "About This Mac" screen says "3 GHz Unknown" for my CPU, and I could probably change that if it bothered me either by using OSX86Tools, hacking the files by hand or possibly by using a different SMBios kext. I'm not sure which is the best option.

 

If anyone has suggestions for how to do things better, I'd love to hear about it. I'd like to get audio & the ICH10 stuff working from the EFI partition, and I'd like to go about validating if my dsdt.aml file is decent/working or not. Those are probably the things I'll work on next.

[JaE-V]

OpenHaltRestart kext doesnt correct my sleep issues, but meh. Not a big deal. My vista install doesnt even sleep correctly lol