[Guide] Vanilla Retail 10.6.x with Chameleon v2 for Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L

[blackosx]

Thanks aread22

 

It's just a shame this guide isn't as fool proof as my other ones, and I don't know exactly why everyone is having all these problems. My Snow Leopard system is running sweet and I have now switched over to using it as my main machine. There must be some common underlying issue as to why the system with KP when reaching the desktop? (sorry, I was rambling...)

 

Anyway, for you, fsck failing is a strange one. Have you tried running First Aid on the Snow Leopard partition in Disk Utility from 10.5.X? And even now you have managed to boot in to the system to see the welcome video, does the fsck still error?

 

What hardware are you running? I guess you have HPET set to 64-bit in the BIOS?

[aread22]

Thanks aread22

 

It's just a shame this guide isn't as fool proof as my other ones, and I don't know exactly why everyone is having all these problems. My Snow Leopard system is running sweet and I have now switched over to using it as my main machine. There must be some common underlying issue as to why the system with KP when reaching the desktop? (sorry, I was rambling...)

 

Anyway, for you, fsck failing is a strange one. Have you tried running First Aid on the Snow Leopard partition in Disk Utility from 10.5.X? And even now you have managed to boot in to the system to see the welcome video, does the fsck still error?

 

What hardware are you running? I guess you have HPET set to 64-bit in the BIOS?

 

Hardware;

Gigabyte GA-Ep45-DS3R (Only major difference I see from DS3L is ALC889a and Raid, but I use a firewave for sound and have the onboard sound and raid disabled in the bios)

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700

8GB 1066Mhz Mushkin Ram

Nvidia 8800GTS 640MB

Hard drives set to AHCI and HPET set to 64-bit.

 

I have tried the first aid and have even tried to install Snow Leopard on two other drives, they both bomb out with fsck_hfs errors when running in 64bit mode...I made some progress with 32bit mode, I was able to finish the setup assistant...but it still bombs out right before the desktop

[blackosx]

Thanks for confirming your hardware.

I have just been doing some reading and would you be willing you try something to see if it makes a difference? It will mean wiping and re-installing SL again.

 

What it is, is to enter single user mode and enter the mount, chown and kextcache commands at the very first boot. Do not let it boot first to see the welcome video and wait for it to KP. Can you let me know if that makes any difference?

 

Thanks

 

EDIT: So just to recap the steps to try:

• Install SL

• Install Chameleon, then add boot file, kexts, DSDT, SMBIOS, com.apple.Boot.plist (also UUID stuff)

• Reboot into Chameleon, highlight SnowLeopard, down arrow to select Single User mode and press enter

• type...

mount -uw /

chown -R 0:0 /System/Library/Extensions

kextcache -v 1 -t -m /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/Extensions.mkext /System/Library/Extensions

Note: The purple statement should all be on one line with a space when the line breaks occur here

 

While your here, also try this....

kextcache -v 1 -t -m /Volumes/Cham/Extra/Extensions.mkext /Volumes/Cham/Extra/Extensions

 

Reboot

 

Then see what happens.

[aread22]

Thanks for confirming your hardware.

I have just been doing some reading and would you be willing you try something to see if it makes a difference? It will mean wiping and re-installing SL again.

 

What it is, is to enter single user mode and enter the mount, chown and kextcache commands at the very first boot. Do not let it boot first to see the welcome video and wait for it to KP. Can you let me know if that makes any difference?

 

Thanks

 

I will try that tonight when I get home from work...and don't worry I will reinstall SL as many times as it takes to get it right!

[blackosx]

...and don't worry I will reinstall SL as many times as it takes to get it right!

Lol... That's the spirit.. Same as how I approached it

[YoYelloW]

Hey Blackosx,

 

appreciating what your sharing here, as it seems ur one of the first with a guide that seems to work for most with 10.6

 

im still having troubles thou, and maybe im doing stuff wrong or maybe its just random.

 

again, i got a DS3P which has nothing different then the ds3l xept for some more ports.

 

i followed your guide, still got random KPs at ±5 mins after booting.

 

im using an dstd.aml thats made by dsdtpatcher gui app, is it possible for me to use that or should i manually build my own?

 

also, would you be so kind to post you bios settings, because i think that this makes a difference.

 

im gonna try to install SL till it works right! allready lost my main volume due to some stupid error on my side (deleting wrong partitions etc ) so i thought it was best to update to the realdeal right away instead of installing a fresh 10.5 all overagain.

 

and are you on any irc? would be nice to have a bit faster contact or someit

[elitee]

Thanks to your tutorial blackosx and some other threads and playing around I got it to work on my GA-EP35-DS3L v2 with everything working.

 

Details are here.

[Alex DeWolf]

If you have a modded BIOS is DSDT still needed?

[blackosx]

@YoYelloW - Hi and thanks

Yes I can post my BIOS settings when I get back to my hack. But I have an older post showing 2 of my BIOS pages and I don't think I have changed them since then.

 

No, I am not on irc, I just get on this when I get a chance. But maybe we can sort something.

 

 

@elitee - Well done, Thanks for letting everyone know. For the record, can you remember anything in particular that you did extra to this guide that got it working for you? was it the Extensions.mkext?

[nomi81]

@h4ck1nt05h

 

I tried your method for getting sound from my ALC888 but i get kernel panic, but when i tried same method with 64bit I was able to boot into SL and i was able to see sound out put devices see the attached picture for more details, but problem is I can not get any sound from the speakers or headphone.

 

Please help me...

[AndreaGalileo]

Great guide. Thank you very much!

[blackosx]

If you have a modded BIOS is DSDT still needed?

If your modded BIOS includes the CMOS reset fix then you don't need a DSDT.

 

Great guide. Thank you very much!

Your Welcome

[YoYelloW]

right so now i have a working dsdt.aml, had to download windows7 and install that in virtualbox to run the app its not giving me cmos reset anymore.

 

still got the KP at random time after boot (takes longer now) and my screen is at 1280=something instead of my native resolution, any idea how thats fixable?

[blackosx]

Great, well done with the DSDT.aml

Have you still got your <key>Graphics Mode</key> in com.apple.Boot.plist ?

 

and have you tried building an extensions.mkext with the instructions I posted to aread22?

[YoYelloW]

Great, well done with the DSDT.aml

Have you still got your <key>Graphics Mode</key> in com.apple.Boot.plist ?

 

and have you tried building an extensions.mkext with the instructions I posted to aread22?

 

yes i did set boot.plist to 1920x1080 and by building a extensions.mkext u mean booting in -s and do the chown kextcache stuffs? also ran that kextapp right after booting into finder for first time.

 

i tried to EFI the gfx into the boot.plist but didnt work so far.

[roadcrash1]

Hi it's been a while since i posted on the forums but i've been trying to install snow leopard since yesterday night to no avail i have finally gotten it successfully installed but as soon as chameleon boots up my snowleopard partition a kernal panic comes up the first few lines read

panic cpu 0 caller 0xffffff80002cbf74 kernal trap at 0xffffff80004f65c3 if anyone knows what the problem may be please help it would be greatly appreciated

[blackosx]

I have been testing with using an Extensions.mkext in the /Extra folder and it has helped me get Bonjour working

So maybe it will help others not have KP's?

 

But rather than build and Extensions.mkext of just the extensions in /Extra, I have built and Extenisons.mkext of the extensions in both /Extra and /S/L/E which gives me a 30.2MB file but it works.. (This was in Laszlo's original guide, I don't know how I missed it )

 

To do this, type the following in Terminal on one line...

kextcache -v 1 -t -m /Volumes/Cham/Extra/Extensions.mkext /Volumes/Cham/Extra/Extensions /Volumes/SnowLeopard/System/Library/Extensions

 

EDIT: Before I did this I selected the Cham volume in Finder, Chose Get Info, then unticked 'Ignore ownership on this volume'. Then in Terminal typed....

sudo chown -R 0:0 /Volumes/Cham

sudo chmod -R 755 /Volumes/Cham/Extra/Extensions

 

by doing this I now have to honour permissions in the Cham volume, but that's no hardship

 

 

yes i did set boot.plist to 1920x1080 and by building a extensions.mkext u mean booting in -s and do the chown kextcache stuffs? also ran that kextapp right after booting into finder for first time.

 

i tried to EFI the gfx into the boot.plist but didnt work so far.

If you use the device (EFI) string in com.apple.Boot.plist, then you'll have to build a DSDT.aml without patched video.

 

Hi it's been a while since i posted on the forums but i've been trying to install snow leopard since yesterday night to no avail i have finally gotten it successfully installed but as soon as chameleon boots up my snowleopard partition a kernal panic comes up the first few lines read

panic cpu 0 caller 0xffffff80002cbf74 kernal trap at 0xffffff80004f65c3 if anyone knows what the problem may be please help it would be greatly appreciated

Have you followed this guide and installed all the files?

If so, as you have a different system you might want to try booting with only fakesmc,.kext, NullCPUPowerManagement.kext and PlatformUUID.kext.

[YoYelloW]

hmm im wonderign btw, what does the platformuuid kext do exactly, i didnt see a difference in using it, or not using it.

[brushedtooth]

32bit seems to be pretty stable, been trying out 64bit and seem to get a random system dead lock. Anyone else experiencing this?

[blackosx]

hmm im wonderign btw, what does the platformuuid kext do exactly, i didnt see a difference in using it, or not using it.

I think it just allows the system to pass a few tests and not flag errors in the system.log but I could be wrong. And my backup Snow Leopard install works fine, and that's on a different volume with a different UUID than what's in PlatformUUID and SMBIOS.

 

So roadcrash1, ignore the bit about including PlatformUUID.kext when just trying minimal kexts.

 

Thanks for questioning that YoYelloW

 

32bit seems to be pretty stable, been trying out 64bit and seem to get a random system dead lock. Anyone else experiencing this?

I had this only once in 64-bit (and it wasn't really random) and that was when I was trying to test automatic sleep. I left it with the screen saver running and for it to enter sleep in 10 minutes after that, but when I came back to the machine it was frozen. I haven't tried that since in 64-bit.

[roadcrash1]

no luck even after your suggestion blackosx i'm beginning to lose hope lol

i might be in a bit over my hea, as i might better off waiting for a distro to come out

[YoYelloW]

no luck even after your suggestion blackosx i'm beginning to lose hope lol

i might be in a bit over my hea, as i might better off waiting for a distro to come out

 

we dont need a whole distro, its all about setting the right base for the system to boot, and some people found that and got it stable, but it seems based on luck now, once we get something like an updated version of chameleon(example) together with maybe a few little files in /E and we actually KNOW whats causing it to work we dont need a whole distro like what we had with 10.5 story.

 

distros give alot less freedom in the end anyway.

[elitee]

@elitee - Well done, Thanks for letting everyone know. For the record, can you remember anything in particular that you did extra to this guide that got it working for you? was it the Extensions.mkext?

 

My HD with SL just crashed, so I had to grab another and reinstall. It wasn't the Extensions.mkext in E/E (though it might be necessary in SL, I haven't checked yet). The biggest thing was having a proper DSDT and setting the permissions in the Snow Leopard Volume correctly, without it I got all sorts of weird kernel panics.

 

You could also have a generic DSDT for your board and use EFI strings for audio/video, but having the right DSDT made it easier.

[richtig]

we dont need a whole distro, its all about setting the right base for the system to boot, and some people found that and got it stable, but it seems based on luck now, once we get something like an updated version of chameleon(example) together with maybe a few little files in /E and we actually KNOW whats causing it to work we dont need a whole distro like what we had with 10.5 story.

 

distros give alot less freedom in the end anyway.

 

Maybe it could work this way:

Using a revised generic "boot 132" bootable CD, a blank USB memory stick, and the retail DVD:

Boot from the (new version) generic boot CD, that would write customized files (specific to the user hardware present) to then make a bootable USB drive.

Remove the CD & reboot from the new USB drive.

Insert retail DVD and continue with Snow Leopard customized install onto hard drive.

[blackosx]

we dont need a whole distro

If your hardware is very compatible like mine with this mobo then I agree retail is the way to go.

its all about setting the right base for the system to boot, and some people found that and got it stable, but it seems based on luck now

Yes the correct base is important, but also you need to set the permissions and build the Extensions.mkext.

 

I am still trying to help you guys here, so I wiped my 'BackupSL' partition this morning and did a re-install. I Rebooted in to Chameleon (which was using the -32 kernel flag in com.apple.Boot.plist), selected the BackupSL system and let it run and it KP'd at the grey screen at the start, didn't even show me the welcome video!... so I just went back in to 10.5.8, opened Terminal and typed (something like this)..

 

cd /Volumes/BackupSL/System/Library

sudo chown -R root:wheel Extensions

sudo kextcache -v 1 -t -m /Volumes/BackupSL/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/Extensions.mkext /Volumes/BackupSL/System/Library/Extensions/

 

then rebooted back in to Chameleon, selected BackupSL and it worked this time ... got to desktop. I only spent about 5 minutes or so in it and did the automatic update of remote desktop client. But it worked fine..

 

You could also have a generic DSDT for your board and use EFI strings for audio/video, but having the right DSDT made it easier.

Yes, for example, if you can't manage to get your video working with DSDT, then don't include video in your DSDT and just use a device (EFI) string for video in com.apple.Boot.plist. Just don'e have video in both the DSDT and and EFI string.

 

Maybe it could work this way:

Using a revised generic "boot 132" bootable CD, a blank USB memory stick, and the retail DVD:

Yes I have read people talking about this method. Stellarolla says on his blog to avoid OSInstall.mkpg and put the SL disc image on to a 8GB USb stick anD go from there. And he knows what he's talking about! But for me the OSInstall.mkpg route works fine.