Gigabyte's Nvidia 9400 powered M-ATX MOBO

[LJSeinfeld]

Probably should also note

(as it was mentioned before) the audio driver -at the time of this writing- does not seem to recover from sleep.

 

I have an old iMic (usb sound card) I may hook that up and see what happens...

[netcastle]

Could there be any differences in the underlying architecture of the ASUS and the GA boards? I ask this because I have not seen windows users having the shared memory problem (having both installed vista on this board and looking at the thread over at avs here).

[kromozone]

Could there be any differences in the underlying architecture of the ASUS and the GA boards? I ask this because I have not seen windows users having the shared memory problem (having both installed vista on this board and looking at the thread over at avs here).

 

I installed Vista x86 and put 8gb of RAM on the board just to see what would happen. I had nearly identical problems to what I experienced with OSX, everything showed up properly but if you actually tried to run anything the display driver would crash, or I'd snowcrash and have to reset the system.

[netcastle]

I installed Vista x86 and put 8gb of RAM on the board just to see what would happen. I had nearly identical problems to what I experienced with OSX, everything showed up properly but if you actually tried to run anything the display driver would crash, or I'd snowcrash and have to reset the system.

 

Again, good to know though in vista my experience was different (I used the 64 bit version). I was able to play an h264 MKV in the 64 bit WMP and transfer large amounts of data between across the SATA channels without experiencing a system snow. However, Vista probably uses ram differently than OSX so it doesn't really prove anything. Also after I asked these questions I did some more lurking and answered my own question regarding the difference between the ASUS and GA boards: nothing really (just a slightly scaled back graphics chip for the 9300). Could this just be a problem with V1 of this board? Maybe Gigabyte bought a bad run of hardware from NVidia and this is what we are stuck with. Wouldn't be unheard of.

[LJSeinfeld]

Again, good to know though in vista my experience was different (I used the 64 bit version). I was able to play an h264 MKV in the 64 bit WMP and transfer large amounts of data between across the SATA channels without experiencing a system snow. However, Vista probably uses ram differently than OSX so it doesn't really prove anything. Also after I asked these questions I did some more lurking and answered my own question regarding the difference between the ASUS and GA boards: nothing really (just a slightly scaled back graphics chip for the 9300). Could this just be a problem with V1 of this board? Maybe Gigabyte bought a bad run of hardware from NVidia and this is what we are stuck with. Wouldn't be unheard of.

 

Man, I hope not. I'm very happy with the way everything else is working out so far. These are major issues -- but I hope they are not hardware-based and can be resolved via software. I guess I have 30 days to find out!

[netcastle]

I'm just being hypothetical.

 

Can anyone else try out the file transfer rate on the gigabit ethernet. When I start up the computer the ethernet port glows orange and the transfer seems okay, but soon thereafter it slows to a crawl. Trying this latest driver to see if it helps.

[DiaboliK]

I'm just being hypothetical.

 

Can anyone else try out the file transfer rate on the gigabit ethernet. When I start up the computer the ethernet port glows orange and the transfer seems okay, but soon thereafter it slows to a crawl. Trying this latest driver to see if it helps.

 

 

i dunno why you are using a hacked homebrew kext for your lan when the one apple supplies is 10x better.

 

-D-

[netcastle]

i dunno why you are using a hacked homebrew kext for your lan when the one apple supplies is 10x better.

 

-D-

 

Because the apple kext doesn't connect at gigabit speeds. Thanks for your input.

[DiaboliK]

Because the apple kext doesn't connect at gigabit speeds. Thanks for your input.

 

dunno about you but mine does.

 

-D-

[Signal64]

dunno about you but mine does.

-D-

 

Anybody else wanna confirm such issue with some debug information before I jump in and say "and so does mine on both boards which fly at transferring 4 to 7gig dmg files between each other and my windows box over a simple netgear 1 gig 8 port hub and cat6 cable"?

 

Something along the lines of actually showing your settings in preferences and what ifconfig shows?

 

The only issue I see on the giga with ethernet is the sleep issue which is now compounded by the audio one.

Don't see any reason to change it to a driver that's been known to have it's issues just to get sleep to sorta work either.

[netcastle]

Anybody else wanna confirm such issue with some debug information before I jump in and say "and so does mine on both boards which fly at transferring 4 to 7gig dmg files between each other and my windows box over a simple netgear 1 gig 8 port hub and cat6 cable"?

 

Something along the lines of actually showing your settings in preferences and what ifconfig shows?

 

The only issue I see on the giga with ethernet is the sleep issue which is now compounded by the audio one.

Don't see any reason to change it to a driver that's been known to have it's issues just to get sleep to sorta work either.

 

I never thought to grab that info before installing the new kext. The preference setting always indicated auto and in the verbose boot sequence it listed it as 1000baseT. However, across my network it just crawled. I tried the new kext and now it works very well. I'm not quite sure why this should be a point of contention. Are you using the NoPE install?

 

When I inevitably do my next reinstall I will oblige with more accurate debug info. I can only say that it seems like some of us are having a much harder time than others getting this thing going.

[Signal64]

BTW folks - Please, if your getting problems with the video in Vista or XP 32bit with 4Gig, please open a problem report with Gigabyte.

 

They are generally responsive and if you give them the basic details of the nvidia drivers used, OS version, etc you can avoid going around in circles with them.

Including a dump from msinfo32 would be best.

 

You can tell what the video display range is in msinfo32 by going to Components and clicking on Display.

Note the Memory Address ranges and see if it changes between using 2gig and 4gig.

 

They may argue back that it's normal, but if your getting crashes then it may get their attention.

Obviously telling them that their board doesn't work with 4+ Gig and OS X isn't going to get any attention from them.

Work the Windows and Linux angles if the issue is showing up there.

[guyin916]

Has anyone tried osx with ZOTAC GF9300-A-E? It's under $100 on newegg so I was thinking of picking it up.

 

can't wait for this one: http://www.zotac.com/index.php?option=com_...&Itemid=425

 

Zotac GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi

[leogsfa]

I have just got my Gigabyte motherboard came in and willing to get osx running on this machine.

I tried to follow the topic here and see quite some issue about the ram/video aside from the audio.

Just wondering, if anyone tried to turn off the onboard video and switch to a proved running independent graphic card to see if the ram issue still there?

I know the whole point is to build a HTPC with this integrated NV 9400 graphic but I think this somehow clarify the issue.

[Signal64]

I have just got my Gigabyte motherboard came in and willing to get osx running on this machine.

I tried to follow the topic here and see quite some issue about the ram/video aside from the audio.

Just wondering, if anyone tried to turn off the onboard video and switch to a proved running independent graphic card to see if the ram issue still there?

I know the whole point is to build a HTPC with this integrated NV 9400 graphic but I think this somehow clarify the issue.

 

Main issues right now with the Gigabyte is ethernet/audio after a resume from sleep and using 4 or more gig of RAM and video corruption.

For now, keeping it to 2Gig of ram and disabling sleep in OS X the board will run stable (with my usual "using the unibody aluminum mb restore disk" disclaimer).

 

Again, I'm running a pretty simple test for the memory issue:

 

Open up Activity Monitor - click on memory

Open Terminal, md5 a large dvd dmg.

Watch free memory start to be used and eventually your display will get corrupt beyond use.

System is still online though, if you've enabled ssh you can still get into it.

 

I can now confirm that the DFI GF9400-T2RS does not have the 4+ Gig of RAM I'm seeing on the Gigabyte.

 

I've tested with 2Gig, 4Gig, and now running 8Gig and do not get the video corruption from the above test.

The display mapping is starting up at 0xe0000000 which is consistent with the ASUS and my 13" alu macbook.

 

So this doesn't appear to be a 9400 based board issue specifcally.

 

I'm still tearing into this DFI to see if sleep is an issue and again try to compare it's bios to the Gigabyte.

I didn't try a dedicated PCIe video card with onboard completly disabled and now that you mention it I'd be curious to see what the results are.

I won't be able to try that tonight.

[bobisdead]

Main issues right now with the Gigabyte is ethernet/audio after a resume from sleep and using 4 or more gig of RAM and video corruption.

For now, keeping it to 2Gig of ram and disabling sleep in OS X the board will run stable (with my usual "using the unibody aluminum mb restore disk" disclaimer).

 

Again, I'm running a pretty simple test for the memory issue:

 

Open up Activity Monitor - click on memory

Open Terminal, md5 a large dvd dmg.

Watch free memory start to be used and eventually your display will get corrupt beyond use.

System is still online though, if you've enabled ssh you can still get into it.

 

I can now confirm that the DFI GF9400-T2RS does not have the 4+ Gig of RAM I'm seeing on the Gigabyte.

 

I've tested with 2Gig, 4Gig, and now running 8Gig and do not get the video corruption from the above test.

The display mapping is starting up at 0xe0000000 which is consistent with the ASUS and my 13" alu macbook.

 

So this doesn't appear to be a 9400 based board issue specifcally.

 

I'm still tearing into this DFI to see if sleep is an issue and again try to compare it's bios to the Gigabyte.

I didn't try a dedicated PCIe video card with onboard completly disabled and now that you mention it I'd be curious to see what the results are.

I won't be able to try that tonight.

 

 

i have issues when in XP sometimes when i use tools like Daemon tool. A huge big freeze like in OSX.

 

did it while installing GTA IV. I'll try to submit a msinfo32 with it.

 

Another quick thing, it seems that i can't boot from a cd using AHCI mode with a sata dvd driver, i tried F12 boot menu ans switched all the boot to CDROM. I have to switch to IDE mode or use a USB to SATA adpator.

 

Does anyone would have a workaround ?

 

Good day to y'all

[Signal64]

See if selecting AHCI in BIOS, then reboot, go back into BIOS and under the 1st boot device bring up the list and scroll till you see your model of CDROM your using (it won't be just CDROM) and try that.

[raffitaffy]

Bad Board? I Need Help....

 

I really could use some advice. I have installed and reinstalled Osx from distros but it wasn't till I dropped to 2G ram that I was able to install the NoPE disk and get a nice stable clean install. Then one day it wouldn't boot, I was getting syncing disks.. MACH reboot. I tried to install to a newly partitioned drive, now it would suddenly reboot after it loaded the kexts and the dsdt.aml. Perhaps something was wacky in the BIOS settings, I tried many permutations and even timings. Perhaps hardware, I tried 3 different hard drives, switched out RAM, a different power supply. It shouldn't be this difficult to get something going. I was able to install (and boot) a distro with an older chameleon wo the dsdt feature. I would guess the dsdt is conflicting with the CPU in some way or the motherboard or CPU is flakey.

Any insights ?

[bobisdead]

Bad Board? I Need Help....

 

I really could use some advice. I have installed and reinstalled Osx from distros but it wasn't till I dropped to 2G ram that I was able to install the NoPE disk and get a nice stable clean install. Then one day it wouldn't boot, I was getting syncing disks.. MACH reboot. I tried to install to a newly partitioned drive, now it would suddenly reboot after it loaded the kexts and the dsdt.aml. Perhaps something was wacky in the BIOS settings, I tried many permutations and even timings. Perhaps hardware, I tried 3 different hard drives, switched out RAM, a different power supply. It shouldn't be this difficult to get something going. I was able to install (and boot) a distro with an older chameleon wo the dsdt feature. I would guess the dsdt is conflicting with the CPU in some way or the motherboard or CPU is flakey.

Any insights ?

 

I had the same problem until, i modified the nope disk osxinstall.mpkg from signal64.

since then it worked like a charm

 

bob

[stan78]

I had the same problem until, i modified the nope disk osxinstall.mpkg from signal64.

since then it worked like a charm

I didn't really follow the whole osxinstall.mpkg story because I have the original mb and disc -

but isn't Signal64's patched one only removing the model check ?

 

That would mean absolutely nothing is changed except for a "nagscreen".

 

st

[Signal64]

I didn't really follow the whole osxinstall.mpkg story because I have the original mb and disc -

but isn't Signal64's patched one only removing the model check ?

That would mean absolutely nothing is changed except for a "nagscreen".

st

 

Yup, it just has the model check removed and there isn't anything special going on there.

 

You use it if you don't have a UAMB (Unibody Aluminum MacBook.. don't know what else to call it) to do the restore with.

Replace the OSInstall.mpkg file on the restore DVD with that one if you want to use other hacks (via boot-132) or real macs to boot off of it and restore to another drive in a very clean fashion.

 

And just to be clear, it isn't my patch.

The model check removal info is out on the net but Socrates was kind enough to quickly drum this one up to try out for a few experiments and it worked out well.

 

I'm not sure where the "synching disks MACH reboot" is coming from.

From what I've gathered in this thread and on irc is it's from folks using pacifist or other means to get a copy of the DVD onto a drive.

You really want to install from it "as is" for a clean install and apply the usual aftwards.

 

BTW - Sleep issues are worse on the DFI GF9400-T2RS (and I don't mean with just OS X).

[bobisdead]

I didn't really follow the whole osxinstall.mpkg story because I have the original mb and disc -

but isn't Signal64's patched one only removing the model check ?

 

That would mean absolutely nothing is changed except for a "nagscreen".

 

st

 

Using the restrore install after modifying the nope release is the only way i could get away from the synching disk.

You should try that it work, on the first time.

 

bob

[stan78]

I'm not sure where the "synching disks MACH reboot" is coming from.

From what I've gathered in this thread and on irc is it's from folks using pacifist or other means to get a copy of the DVD onto a drive.

You really want to install from it "as is" for a clean install and apply the usual aftwards.

 

Yup, at least I got this error after installing with pacifist (and applying the .5.6 update with pacifist).

Vanilla install to usb went fine.

[Lokoh]

Hello people!

 

Well, I'm back with things to share with all of you, after I have installed and used OS X for about three days in my recently adquired Gigabyte E7AUM.

 

Instalation was hard for me because it was my first try in the OSx86 scene. Have some problems here and there, but actually I could get a partition that seems at least 80% funtional.

 

First, I'm going to share with you how I install my system (I need to use my Macbook 1.1 -not new alu macbook- for the process).

 

1) Connect External 2.5 HDD to one USB in the Gigabyte Mobo. Format it with GUID scheme and 2 partitions (15 GB and 40 GB).

 

2) Insert Unibody Macbook DVD in my Macbook, and through Disk Utility apply Restore DVD to first partition on External HDD. Replace with the help of Path Finder, original OSInstall.mpkg with the one supplied by Signal64.

 

3) Run modified OSInstall.mpkg with Path Finder (I used this because let see hidden files with easy) and install Leopard in Partition 2 of External HDD.

 

4) In External HDD's partition 2, install all of this with Universal OSx86 Installer:

-Install PC-EFI v9 with boot time-out set to 3 seconds.

-Set Native Resolution to 1680x1050 (The resolution of my 20" Monitor connected with VGA).

-Install the following kexts:

*dsmos.kext

*disabler.kext

*AppleDecrypt.kext (Do I need it? I really don't know :S)

*OpenHaltRestart.kext (If I don't install that Kext, my system won't restart correctly. Does it happen you too, people?)

-DSDT.aml supplied by Signal64

 

5) Connect External HDD to Gigabyte Mobo and start from this drive. When PC-EFI comes up, I select second partition to boot from and it start loading Leopard.

 

6) Well, we're in Leopard. Open Disk Utility and format an internal sata drive with GUID and 3 partitions (200, 20 and 12 GB). With SuperDuper! i cloned the second partition of external HDD to all three partitions on internal sata. The first one will have my system with my files, the second is a backup to try things and the last one is "a virgin install that works".

 

7) In partition 1 of SATA HDD, with Universal OSx86 Installer, install PC-EFIv9 with boot time-out set to 3 seconds.

 

8) Restart computer and boot from SATA HDD partition 1. Go to Software Update and download and install all (so we're going to 10.5.6).

 

9) When installation finish, restart one more time and install next things with Universal OSx86 Installer:

-Install the following kexts:

*NVkush.kext (with NVCAP value supplied by chrilled, MANY THANKS TO YOU FOR THE WORKING VALUE! . This is because I have dual boot: 20" Monitor[VGA] + 32" FullHD Samsung[HDMI])

*AppleHDA.kext, HDAEnabler.kext and AppleSMBIOS.kext from that post ( AppleHDA_10.5.6.zip ( 549.78K ) and karaakeha1's AppleSMBIOS.kext )

 

Well..... a lot of work. I have to go now, but in awhile I'll post my results and impressions with that two days of use.

 

Before I leave, one important question for the Asus owners (Diabolik & cia), please: Apart from HDMI-audio non working, the rest of things are 100% OK in that board? I mean: 5.1 optical sound, dual screen, network, SLEEP, STABILITY, +2GB RAM? Does you suffer from freezes of any type in Asus or totally stable??

 

I ask this because i'm going to build another computer and actually I don't know if choose another GA-E7AUM-DS2H or go for the Asus. The last week in that topic seems to give Asus Mobo the medal for "best 9400 option today" or that its what I believe after read all of you says 'that problem is on gigabyte & cia, asus work ok".

 

Well, Thanks all!! I'll back soon with the results

[metzz71]

I have the e7aum-s2h board with ide, dvd 3gb 6400 ram, 250gb sata drive. I have a copy of retail 10.5, I have kalyway 10.5.2 and iatkos 4i and 5i, NOTHING works.... any suggestions?