Leopard on Pre-Series 7 NVIDIA nForce MCP + Intel CPU MOBOs

[MacTech84]

For a single HDD this is strange as I can choose Options in the Partition tab window and choose Master Boot Record before formatting the volume partition(s) as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).....

 

However, I believe that GPT is the Apple hard drive partitioning standard format for Apple software RAID....just confirmed by this Apple Developer document....

 

That is interesting, what distro would you recommend for installing? ideneb v1.4 seems to work smoothly for me, but have multiple problems with disk utility. Could this be since I have it on a hard drive, and not installing from a DVD? And any recommendations for trying to get that raid online? I have followed everything from the BIOS settings at the begging of the forum but it does not seem to work. I even seem to have more problems with the Raid setting put to enabled...

[verdant]

That is interesting, what distro would you recommend for installing? ideneb v1.4 seems to work smoothly for me, but have multiple problems with disk utility. Could this be since I have it on a hard drive, and not installing from a DVD? And any recommendations for trying to get that raid online? I have followed everything from the BIOS settings at the begging of the forum but it does not seem to work. I even seem to have more problems with the Raid setting put to enabled...

 

Are you saying that in Disk Utility you cannot select Options in the Partition tab window (is it greyed out?) and choose Master Boot Record partitioning for a single hard drive before formatting the volume partition(s) as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).....?

 

My suggestion would be to first see if you can get OS X running OK on just one HDD partitioned as GPT......before trying to set up natural RAID......

 

For setting up Chameleon with RAID see here....

 

From what you say it appears that if you are Apple RAIDing drives you may have to disable RAID in BIOS, even though each SATA HDD is RAID disabled in BIOS.....

 

BTW re distros, as you see from my blog I have used a number of distros successfully......

 

Current Distro Rankings for nForce Chipset MOBOs (based on my personal experience) :

 

10.5.6 Install

 

1st - iPC OSx86 Leopard 10.5.6 Intel AMD SSE2 SSE3

 

Nothing against XxX_10.5.6_Leo_Ins tall_Disc_Rev2 or iDeneb v1.4 10.5.6 (yet to be tried) ........

 

10.5.5 Install

 

1st - Mysticus C* 10.5.5 Combo Updater Pre/Post Update Packages

 

Nothing against iDeneb v1.3 10.5.5 or iATKOS v5i 10.5.5 (as neither tried) ........

 

10.5.4 Install

 

1st - iDeneb 10.5.4 v1.1

2nd - iDeneb 10.5.4 v1 + post-installation update

3rd - NForceATA-patched Jas 10.5.4 (Installation now completed successfully....See Part II of my JaS blog entry..... )

 

Nothing against iATKOS v4.0i (yet to be tried) or Leo4All v4.1 Intel (yet to be tried).....

 

10.5.2 Install (updated to 10.5.5 via Mysticus C*'s 10.5.5 Combo Updater Packages)

 

1st - Kalyway 10.5.2

2nd - IATKOS v2.0i

 

proving that it is less the distro (assuming installer packages are correctly built) and more the kernel, driver kexts and patches chosen in Customize menu in such a way to suit the PC system......i.e. "know thy system"......

[MacTech84]

Are you saying that in Disk Utility you cannot select Options in the Partition tab window (is it greyed out?) and choose Master Boot Record partitioning for a single hard drive before formatting the volume partition(s) as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).....?

 

My suggestion would be to first see if you can get OS X running OK on just one HDD partitioned as GPT......before trying to set up natural RAID......

 

For setting up Chameleon with RAID see here....

 

From what you say it appears that if you are Apple RAIDing drives you may have to disable RAID in BIOS, even though each SATA HDD is RAID disabled in BIOS.....

 

BTW re distros, as you see from my blog I have used a number of distros successfully......

 

 

 

proving that it is less the distro (assuming installer packages are correctly built) and more the kernel, driver kexts and patches chosen in Customize menu in such a way to suit the PC system......i.e. "know thy system"......

 

Ok, wow! is what I have to say again, I will give the RAID a try through that link you sent, seems a bit of work but worth it. As for partitioning goes, I have full access to all options. I go in an choose MBR, but if I choose MacOS Extended (journaled) it kicks back an error, will have to get that when I get home. Will also have to see about fully disabling RAID as well, to see what happens. Thank you for your opinions on installers. I love the XxX installer but he stopped the project, iDeneb seems to work as I can get OS X up and running on one drive, but have some weird lockups in GPT. I have a few things I need to try, so I will get back to you when I have more info, but thank you for all that you have done. I feel I am off to a good start. One last question, as I am at work (ugh), is there any place in particular that you recommend for getting a copy of the iPC distro?

~Stephen

[verdant]

It concerns me that Disk utility is behaving unexpectedly in the iDeneb install......In the usual fast running streams, you may find a green scary "oid"......

[MacTech84]

It concerns me that Disk utility is behaving unexpectedly in the iDeneb install......In the usual fast running streams, you may find a green scary "oid"......

 

That is what I have been thinking as well. I can install from it just fine on a single drive, and the disk utility in os x works just fine, but I have been getting hit or miss with iDeneb, I am currently dl'ing iPC and waiting to see what happens. From their site I have to say I am extremely impressed with their distro, the options are phenominal...

 

Update:

As a funny side note, I just noticed that I am now an InsanelyMac Geek in the forum... Sweet!

 

Update 2:

I have dl'ed and used a DVD for the install of iPC and its awesome... I still could not get the MBR with MacOS Extended but, I have Chameleon 2.0RC1, and I have my 8GB of RAM in... WOW! what a screamer. Under a little stress testing no freezes, I think it is the iDeneb distro, thanks for the help. The only problem I have come across... I installed the wrong Audio driver, DOH!

[verdant]

@ SBMac you not being able to partition as MBR and then format as HFS+ is wierd.....

 

But glad you running OS X OK on GPT/HFS+ partition......

 

Any progress on RAID setup?

[MacTech84]

@ SBMac you not being able to partition as MBR and then format as HFS+ is wierd.....

 

But glad you running OS X OK on GPT/HFS+ partition......

 

Any progress on RAID setup?

 

For the most part I gave up on the raid, I followed it to the T and still could not get it online. But I have a few updates!

 

First, the MBR partition apparantly applies to the size of the drive I am using. For some reason when trying to do this to a 750GB drive, or roughly 698.6 GB, it will not format correctly due to a random error I have seen only once when it froze. As I was trying the format it came back with an error stating that this drive cannot be formatted as the size is not divisible by 4. I thought this was weird, so I tried a smaller drive, a 320GB and behold it formatted to MBR with MacOS Extended (journaled). Oh well...

 

Second, the part where I was experiencing these weird drive freezes. I figured out why... I was taking the installer image for a distro, and restoring it to a hard drive vs burning it to a DVD (trying to save time), and it turns out that is the fault. I burned the iPC distro to a DVD and it worked. No hard drive freezes at all. Although the only question I would have is, is there a certain speed I should burn the disc at just in case? Past that I am now ready to make this beast my primary machine. Just need to zero the drives and I am set!

[verdant]

For the most part I gave up on the raid, I followed it to the T and still could not get it online. But I have a few updates!

 

First, the MBR partition apparantly applies to the size of the drive I am using. For some reason when trying to do this to a 750GB drive, or roughly 698.6 GB, it will not format correctly due to a random error I have seen only once when it froze. As I was trying the format it came back with an error stating that this drive cannot be formatted as the size is not divisible by 4. I thought this was weird, so I tried a smaller drive, a 320GB and behold it formatted to MBR with MacOS Extended (journaled). Oh well...

 

Second, the part where I was experiencing these weird drive freezes. I figured out why... I was taking the installer image for a distro, and restoring it to a hard drive vs burning it to a DVD (trying to save time), and it turns out that is the fault. I burned the iPC distro to a DVD and it worked. No hard drive freezes at all. Although the only question I would have is, is there a certain speed I should burn the disc at just in case? Past that I am now ready to make this beast my primary machine. Just need to zero the drives and I am set!

 

Burn the DVD at ≤ x4.......the slower the better.......

 

AFAIK the MBR partition scheme supports 4 primary partitions per hard drive, with a maximum partition size of 2TB........I have a 750GB SATA HD (698.6GB) partitioned as MBR but into multiple volumes, the largest being 188GB.......so there may be a requirement that the largest volume size must be divisible by 4...... the volume size being divisible by 4 if the number formed by the last two digits is divisible by 4......e.g. 320GB but not 750GB......!

 

That is, if you want to partition the HDD as a single volume, the nominal HDD capacity must be divisble by 4.....? I cannot now remember if I ever tried to MBR-partition the 750GB HDD as a single 750GB volume.....

[MacTech84]

Burn the DVD at ≤ x4.......the slower the better.......

 

AFAIK the MBR partition scheme supports 4 primary partitions per hard drive, with a maximum partition size of 2TB........I have a 750GB SATA HD (698.6GB) partitioned as MBR but into multiple volumes, the largest being 188GB.......so there may be a requirement that the largest volume size must be divisible by 4...... the volume size being divisible by 4 if the number formed by the last two digits is divisible by 4......e.g. 320GB but not 750GB......!

 

That is, if you want to partition the HDD as a single volume, the nominal HDD capacity must be divisble by 4.....? I cannot now remember if I ever tried to MBR-partition the 750GB HDD as a single 750GB volume.....

 

I feel just as clueless about it, but its ok. I just cant wait to get it up at full power. And one thing to add. With the Acer Aspire one that I have setup as well. I always configured that as GPT and have never had a single error. Is MBR mandatory or best used for setting up a hackintosh?

[verdant]

I feel just as clueless about it, but its ok. I just cant wait to get it up at full power. And one thing to add. With the Acer Aspire one that I have setup as well. I always configured that as GPT and have never had a single error. Is MBR mandatory or best used for setting up a hackintosh?

 

No, MBR is not mandatory for OSx86......if you can set your system up with GPT without any issues, then use GPT......

 

It is just that new OSx86 users tend to have more issues with GPT than MBR.......and up to the present MBR generally made multi-booting easier because of Windows being BIOS/MBR based rather than EFI/GPT based.....that position is changing gradually with Vista and now Windows 7....see here.....and here......and with the newer bootloaders e.g. Chameleon 2.0, working with both MBR/GPT, e.g. hybrid GPT/MBR volumes etc.....

[MacTech84]

Burn the DVD at ≤ x4.......the slower the better.......

 

I have got to ask, why < 4x burns? The discs I have are 16x and of course can burn slower, but that install would take forever. What is it about the slower burn? Just wanted to ask as I have heard this before and curious...

[verdant]

I have got to ask, why < 4x burns? The discs I have are 16x and of course can burn slower, but that install would take forever. What is it about the slower burn? Just wanted to ask as I have heard this before and curious...

 

My guess is that it may be related to the fact that a .iso image file is a virtual CD or DVD (depending on its size) and that you are having to make an exact copy of the .iso image file, i.e. data block by data block.....

[MacTech84]

My guess is that it may be related to the fact that a .iso file is a virtual CD or DVD (depending on its size) and that you are having to make an exact copy of, data block by data block.....

 

Makes sense... and one more quick question as usual... Do you think it would be possible to format a 1.5TB hard drive, in one partition, to MBR with MacOS Extended (journaled)? I really need the size drive for everything that I do with my computer, and I cant afford to go lower than 750GB which does not format properly, any suggestions...

[verdant]

Makes sense... and one more quick question as usual... Do you think it would be possible to format a 1.5TB hard drive, in one partition, to MBR with MacOS Extended (journaled)? I really need the size drive for everything that I do with my computer, and I cant afford to go lower than 750GB which does not format properly, any suggestions...

 

If you are using the 1.5TB drive for data storage rather than as a bootable system, then why not just partition it as GPT, given that Time Machine will not work with MBR and Vista can access a GPT data storage volume....... or, are you wanting a 1.5TB bootable HDD.....?

[MacTech84]

If you are using the 1.5TB drive for data storage rather than as a bootable system, then why not just partition it as GPT, given that Time Machine will not work with MBR and Vista can access a GPT data storage volume....... or, are you wanting a 1.5TB bootable HDD.....?

 

Basically it would be my primary drive, and would want it to work with Time Machine, so I guess that answers that lol. I am going to use a simple 300 GB drive to run windows in virtualization, pretty much turning this whole PC into my MAC! Only need to run windows for a few minor things thank god!

 

Update:

I got the 1.5TB drive and it would not format as a whole volume into MBR with MacOS Extended, but apparantly when you split the volume into 2 or more partitions at any size, you can. Weird!

[verdant]

Basically it would be my primary drive, and would want it to work with Time Machine, so I guess that answers that lol. I am going to use a simple 300 GB drive to run windows in virtualization, pretty much turning this whole PC into my MAC! Only need to run windows for a few minor things thank god!

 

Update:

I got the 1.5TB drive and it would not format as a whole volume into MBR with MacOS Extended, but apparantly when you split the volume into 2 or more partitions at any size, you can. Weird!

 

It fits in with my experience with my 750GB HDD......

 

Anyhow, I personally favour multi-volume partitioning of ≥ 500GB HDDs.......I treat the separate volumes as MAJOR folders and real Directories/Folders as MINOR folders......e.g. Software volume, Music Volume, Video Volume, Photo Volume, or whatever is needed.....

 

It gives added protection against widespread data corruption across the HDD from whatever cause apart from full HDD failure.......I think of the volumes as individual compartments separated by bulkhead doors on a submarine......thus, one volume becoming corrupted is very unlikely to affect other volumes......and you can have more than one bootable OSX system on the HDD ....

 

So, in my case: Boot OS X System [small 10GB system as the first volume on the HDD - never updated except for security updates and fully working system updates, and full of HDD/System maintenance software], Main OS X System > 100GB, Backup OS X System >100GB, plus a non-booting Data violume >100GB)......

[MacTech84]

It fits in with my experience with my 750GB HDD......

 

Anyhow, I personally favour multi-volume partitioning of ≥ 500GB HDDs.......I treat the separate volumes as MAJOR folders and real Directories/Folders as MINOR folders......e.g. Software volume, Music Volume, Video Volume, Photo Volume, or whatever is needed.....

 

It gives added protection against widespread data corruption across the HDD from whatever cause apart from full HDD failure.......I think of the volumes as individual compartments separated by bulkhead doors on a submarine......thus, one volume becoming corrupted is very unlikely to affect other volumes......and you can have more than one bootable OSX system on the HDD ....

 

So, in my case: Boot OS X System [small 10GB system as the first volume on the HDD - never updated except for security updates and fully working system updates, and full of HDD/System maintenance software], Main OS X System > 100GB, Backup OS X System >100GB, plus a non-booting Data violume >100GB)......

 

I completely agree with you. I separate everything out, I just use multiple hard drives. I have a few RAID 0's in external cases, and my Time Machine for my primary drive. In total between all of my drives I have somewhere around 11TB of storage, so a lot of redundancy. Have never really liked partitioned drives so I keep a lot of backups, and before you ask... I do a lot of $hit with my computer, i.e. Audio, Video, Photo, and fair share of downloading, lol...

[verdant]

@ SBMac had you ever thought of using a 19" U1 rack system...... Are your external HDDs eSATA for speed, or Firewire, or USB 2.0?

[MacTech84]

@ SBMac had you ever thought of using a 19" U1 rack system...... Are your external HDDs eSATA for speed, or Firewire, or USB 2.0?

 

Funny enough, I actually turned a 3U server into an external drive enclosure with e-sata. It had its problems so I went back to just using a few USB 2.0 drive cases, and looking to put a few inside the new behemoth of a computer I am making :censored2: . I have learned to do a lot of customization and building for my needs, never satisfied with something that is stock.

[verdant]

Funny enough, I actually turned a 3U server into an external drive enclosure with e-sata. It had its problems so I went back to just using a few USB 2.0 drive cases, and looking to put a few inside the new behemoth of a computer I am making . I have learned to do a lot of customization and building for my needs, never satisfied with something that is stock.

 

That is interesting......likewise the MBR/volume size issue has been bugging me......

 

So I "dug" up the answer from Macworld......

Although OS X supports MBR, there's a catch: Mac OS Extended volumes can be no larger than 512GB on a drive partitioned with the MBR scheme.

......hence the "divisible by 4" error message (512 is divisible by 4) and so HDDs ≥ 750GB in size can only be partitioned as a single volume using GPT [the default partitioning scheme for Intel Macs] or APM [the default partitioning scheme for PPC Macs] for use with Time Machine......with the Time Machine backup HDD having at least 1.5 times as much free space as the space used on your OS X system/boot volume....

[MacTech84]

That is interesting......likewise the MBR/volume size issue has been bugging me......

 

So I "dug" up the answer from Macworld............hence the "divisible by 4" error message (512 is divisible by 4) and so HDDs ≥ 750GB in size can only be partitioned as a single volume using GPT [the default partitioning scheme for Intel Macs] or APM [the default partitioning scheme for PPC Macs] for use with Time Machine......with the Time Machine backup HDD having at least 1.5 times as much free space as the space used on your OS X system/boot volume....

 

 

What else is more interesting is that I have that 1.5 TB drive partitioned in 2 with 1 - 150 GB partition and the rest, 1.22TB as the primary. How is that possible? lol....

[verdant]

What else is more interesting is that I have that 1.5 TB drive partitioned in 2 with 1 - 150 GB partition and the rest, 1.22TB as the primary. How is that possible? lol....

 

Let me guess......first partition is 150GB and second is 1.22TB.......as MBR/HFS+......?

[lovable_richierich]

Hey Folks... Can u help me installing Leopard Osx on my PC..

 

My Computer Specifications are:

 

Asus P5N-MX [nViDiA Chipset nForce 7050- 610i]

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, 2400 MHz (9 x 267)

2Gb DDR2 RAM

250GB IDE HardDisk

400GB SATA HardDisk

 

plz help me ... i have tried some install dvds ... but they stuck in booting process .

 

error shows "Still Waiting For the Root Device "

 

plz help me and tell whether ther is a problem in my hardware config or Install dvd...

Do i need to patch the dvds ..

 

plz help me ... plzzzzzzz...

 

thnx in advance

[verdant]

Hey Folks... Can u help me installing Leopard Osx on my PC..

 

My Computer Specifications are:

 

Asus P5N-MX [nViDiA Chipset nForce 7050- 610i]

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, 2400 MHz (9 x 267)

2Gb DDR2 RAM

250GB IDE HardDisk

400GB SATA HardDisk

 

plz help me ... i have tried some install dvds ... but they stuck in booting process .

 

error shows "Still Waiting For the Root Device "

 

plz help me and tell whether ther is a problem in my hardware config or Install dvd...

Do i need to patch the dvds ..

 

plz help me ... plzzzzzzz...

 

thnx in advance

 

Is your DVDRW drive SATA or IDE?

Do you want to install OS X to the IDE or SATA HDD?

[-Spud-]

Hi All

I am currently new to this OSx86 stuff

I am having trouble installing this on my system:

Mobo: p5n32-e sli plus

Cpu: Q6600 Quad core @2.4 ghz standard.

Memory: 2x2gig sticks Patriot ddr2 6400 @ 800mhz standard

G.Card : BFG 280gtx 1gig

hard drives: 1x 500gig sata 32mb cache

1x 115gig sata

1x 150gig ide

Sound card: creative audigy2zs

 

I can get the OSx86 to install then it says restart after install and then i take the disc out and let it boot and it just give me no smoking error sign.

I really really want to get this to work as im a really big mac fan but cant afford one sad.gif

I am trying to install iPC OSx86 10.5.6 final copy also have iDeneb 10.5.6 copy any ideas on this and solutions to this matter

Many thanks! biggrin.gif