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

[blackosx]

wow..that's a quick reply..thanks!

 

basically i just need to cp -f the Chameleon RC3 boot file to root of my usb drive? am i correct?

Yes, that's correct

 

cp -f boot /Volumes/Install/

 

Thanks for the advice. I'd not heard anything about the original EFI partition being used for updates as I think you intimated, but now I don't have to worry about that just in case it's true.

 

As an aside, do you (or anyone else here) know how to re-establish the original EFI partition if you've done the [diskutil eraseVolume "HFS+" "EFI"] thing. In the past, I've just reformatted the whole hard drive and started from scratch. Would like to know an easier way if it's out there.

Well done with restructuring your hard drive. I have not heard anything since about the EFI partition being used for updates, but it was just what I had read elsewhere.. It might turn out to be rubbish.. who knows?

 

As for re-establishing the EFI partition to it's original state, no, sorry, I don't know. Like you I have just reformatted. But there must be a way?

[WildSteve]

Hi again!

I used the DSDT USB patches to get all USB devices shown as "integrated" or "built in". Still no wakeup after sleep...

[Simonia]

This is great - well done

Lucky you - I have been waiting for Gigabyte to update the BIOS for GA-EP45-DS3L to use AHCI v1.20E for months now..!

How much faster does your computer boot now?

 

But I recommend you patch your DSDT with the CMOS reset fix soon.

 

It takes just 2 seconds for the BIOS to start printing out the attached SATA devices vs. about 12 seconds for the old version.

 

I've just patched my DSDT.aml and happy to report that it's stable so far in 32-bit mode. Thanks again .

[Godowski]

About DSDT

 

First I have only 10.5 not 10.5.8 because I need it only to install Snow Leopard; and my question is does the DSDT created with 10.5 is valid or not and should my all devices works in 10.5 to create valid DSDT?

 

Can some one give me a link - url for simplest way to create DSDT for my EP45-DS4 without video because I have ATI 4870

 

tnx

[blackosx]

Hi again!

I used the DSDT USB patches to get all USB devices shown as "integrated" or "built in". Still no wakeup after sleep...

Well done for trying it WildSteve - Well at least you can rule that fix out... It must be something else then?

[titan4]

About DSDT

 

First I have only 10.5 not 10.5.8 because I need it only to install Snow Leopard; and my question is does the DSDT created with 10.5 is valid or not and should my all devices works in 10.5 to create valid DSDT?

 

Can some one give me a link - url for simplest way to create DSDT for my EP45-DS4 without video because I have ATI 4870

 

tnx

 

Just follow the guide linked in first post only skip steps with settings on Video tab. It should work for you on 10.5.whatever_version_you_have only prerequisite is bootloader with DSDT override support.

 

Well done for trying it WildSteve - Well at least you can rule that fix out... It must be something else then?

 

He has the same problem as I do. I still think it is some hardware incompatibility issue, because I tried nearly every setting, every tweak I found and for no help.

[blackosx]

It takes just 2 seconds for the BIOS to start printing out the attached SATA devices vs. about 12 seconds for the old version.

I'm envious.... come on Gigabyte.. Hurry up!

 

 

@WildSteve & @titan4 - I wish I knew what it was stopping your systems from sleeping correctly, but I don't. I know titan4 has tried nearly everything but it has to be something. Like I have said before I tried for months with my system when I was using 10.5.6 and then 10.5.7, and in the end it was my mouse that was the culprit!

[hetman]

hi guys

now that my SL is running using blackosx's partition scheme,

[Cham]

[sL]

[Data]

 

i'd like to ditch the cham partition and just have:

[sL]

[Data]

 

do i just install chameleon on my SL volume, copy /Extra from Cham and whatever else is there to SL and resize SL?

[undo_undo]

BlackOSX,

 

Now that I had more time to play with SL, I noticed some minor stability issues:

1) Somehow I see random "lockups" (beach ball spinning) in 32bit mode. It happens in 64bit mode too but I get it more in 32bit mode. I cannot understand what may be causing it. It happens when I open systems management items like Monitor. Also it happens when eject multiple dmgs and DVD rapidly. I don't think this is KP as I don't see power button shut down msgs.. or crash dump. Would you be able to suggest what I can try?

 

2) Also, how clean should kernel.log be? Often I get Sound Assertion error and nvram errors. Would that be causing issue 1)?

 

Thanks.

[titan4]

@WildSteve & @titan4 - I wish I knew what it was stopping your systems from sleeping correctly, but I don't. I know titan4 has tried nearly everything but it has to be something. Like I have said before I tried for months with my system when I was using 10.5.6 and then 10.5.7, and in the end it was my mouse that was the culprit!

 

I tried without mouse, I tried without keyboard...And problem is not with sleep that works fine, waking is problem. I found that this issue can happen on real Mac Pro as well with incompatible memory, but damn we have practically the same memory. I can look around if I find some other DDR2 modules so I can try if this is not the case.

 

BlackOSX,

 

Now that I had more time to play with SL, I noticed some minor stability issues:

1) Somehow I see random "lockups" (beach ball spinning) in 32bit mode. It happens in 64bit mode too but I get it more in 32bit mode. I cannot understand what may be causing it. It happens when I open systems management items like Monitor. Also it happens when eject multiple dmgs and DVD rapidly. I don't think this is KP as I don't see power button shut down msgs.. or crash dump. Would you be able to suggest what I can try?

 

2) Also, how clean should kernel.log be? Often I get Sound Assertion error and nvram errors. Would that be causing issue 1)?

 

Thanks.

 

1) These happens for me too from time to time. It is actually hard to investigate if it is SL or Hack issue since sometimes there are problems like this on real Macs with SL too.

 

2) I am not sure about nvram errors, but regarding Sound Assertion error - We all have them.

[blackosx]

I tried without mouse, I tried without keyboard...And problem is not with sleep that works fine, waking is problem.

Sorry, I meant waking from sleep.

[blackosx]

hi guys

i'd like to ditch the cham partition and just have:

[sL]

[Data]

 

do i just install chameleon on my SL volume, copy /Extra from Cham and whatever else is there to SL and resize SL?

You should just be able to run the installer and point it to your SL volume. Then build it up just as you have on your existing Cham partition. But I don't think the Chameleon installer runs from 10.6, so you might have to do it from 10.5.

Then you can erase the Cham partition. But as for removing it from the front of the partition map, I don't know?

 

I haven't tried installing Chameleon on to the system volume since now using SL, so can you let me know how you get on? As for removing the Cham partition, it might be easier to just rebuild your system on to a separate HD if you have one?

 

But it's always worth taking the precaution of backing up everything and having a way to recover just incase it doesn't work !

[tastytoast]

Dear Mr.blackosx,

 

Thought I would show my appreciation to say your guide works wonders!!

I installed successfully on a Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3P

 

I didnt exactly follow your partition scheme (I didnt see a need) but yeah apart from that I followed everything, including generating a DSDT.aml...

Only thing that seemed a little funny, is it didnt like the GFX included in the DSDT...it worked, but didnt seem to acquire 3D acceleration.. Put the string in the apple.boot.plist file and it was fine...

 

I went ahead and moded my DSDT for the in-built USB ports, which only seems to be on USB2 ports? but I still cant seem to make sleep work...I never could with 10.5.x either.....basically the machine keeps on running, and doesnt exactly switch off....

 

Any thoughts??

 

Setup is..

GA-EP35-DS3P

Intel Q9300

Geforce 8600 GT 512

 

Also running Chameleon v2 RC3

[blackosx]

Thanks tastytoast - and Well done

The partitioning scheme I propose isn't set in stone and it's there to give others a feel for building their systems. So quite right, do it how you want to. As for the video in DSDT, it seems a few people have had the same issue and solved it with using device (EFI) strings.

 

If sleep never worked on your 10.5.X system then I'm not surprised it doesn't work on 10.6.... I wish I knew the answer, but unfortunately I don't and it could be a long journey for you to discover why. But good luck.

 

1) Somehow I see random "lockups" (beach ball spinning) in 32bit mode. It happens in 64bit mode too but I get it more in 32bit mode. I cannot understand what may be causing it. It happens when I open systems management items like Monitor. Also it happens when eject multiple dmgs and DVD rapidly. I don't think this is KP as I don't see power button shut down msgs.. or crash dump. Would you be able to suggest what I can try?

Hi undo_undo

 

What method did you use to install your system? as you shouldn't be having these stability issues, my system hasn't faltered in weeks. One thing I did was to re-install Snow Leopard, from booting the USB drive, over the top of my running system. You won't lose any applications or document etc... You will just get a fresh file system.

 

Again, have a backup and be prepared to your system just incase it doesn't work - But I swear it worked for me. (it used to be an Archive and Install in Leopard)

[dakku]

can someone help me? this is the kp i get each time, ive tried to install it via usb, bootcd, and the osinstall method. with osinstall method i can install everything but once i try to reboot into snow leo this is what i get. and with the other 2 methods i cant even install.

 

[Wolge]

hi @all,

 

I tried this guide of Blackosx, and got Snow Leopard working on a ga-p35-ds3l, 8gb ram, nvidia 8600 gt 512 mb with two monitors in both 32bit and 64bit. video, audio and lan with dsdt.

 

Now i have only three problems:

 

1. when the system waked up from sleep i'm unable to start any 32bit app.

 

2. when the monitors going to sleep the system hangs

 

3. when a second hd is connected on the second sata port i get kernel panics at different times

[undo_undo]

Hi undo_undo

 

What method did you use to install your system? as you shouldn't be having these stability issues, my system hasn't faltered in weeks. One thing I did was to re-install Snow Leopard, from booting the USB drive, over the top of my running system. You won't lose any applications or document etc... You will just get a fresh file system.

 

Again, have a backup and be prepared to your system just incase it doesn't work - But I swear it worked for me. (it used to be an Archive and Install in Leopard)

 

BlackOSX,

 

I used OSX Snow Leopard DVD .DMG and installed straight to the target partition from my Loepard 10.5.7 system. I have not tried booting and installing SL from USB stick as I don't have 8GB USB stick. Does it make difference by installing SL from USB? Or would the end result be the same if I install .dmg file to SL partition from Leopard 10.5.7?

 

Thanks!!

[Cinner]

But I don't think the Chameleon installer runs from 10.6, so you might have to do it from 10.5.

 

Yes you can, I know because that's what I did after completing your guide You get an error at the end of the Chameleon installation, but it works just fine on 10.6!

[blackosx]

Does it make difference by installing SL from USB? Or would the end result be the same if I install .dmg file to SL partition from Leopard 10.5.7?

From the front page of this thread.....

It's recommended to install from the BootCD or USB drive as installing with the OSInstall.mkpg method WILL give you errors..

 

Yes you can, I know because that's what I did after completing your guide You get an error at the end of the Chameleon installation, but it works just fine on 10.6!

Thanks for pointing this out Cinner

 

I tried this guide of Blackosx, and got Snow Leopard working on a ga-p35-ds3l, 8gb ram, nvidia 8600 gt 512 mb with two monitors in both 32bit and 64bit. video, audio and lan with dsdt.

Now i have only three problems:

1. when the system waked up from sleep i'm unable to start any 32bit app.

2. when the monitors going to sleep the system hangs

3. when a second hd is connected on the second sata port i get kernel panics at different times

Hi Wolge - Well done for getting Snow Leopard installed on your system

 

Your sleep issue could be down to anything, and as for system hanging and then monitors go to sleep and Kernel panic when 2nd SATA HD is connected.. I don't know. Unfortunately, you are going to have to do some research and investigate for specifics for your mobo.

[svencux]

hey everyone,

 

just want to thank you all people working in this thread so hard an for the great guide.

 

I have my system up and running on 64 bit SL now.

All working great and stable. I have no KP only when I installed my banking program (star money, but works now too)

I have paralles working with win xp and no problem.

I was not able to get my on board sound working through DSDT patching so i got an Terratec USB sound dongle wich is nativly supported by SL.

The really fatastic thing is that sleep and wake up works perfectly and also time based wake up (even when the computer is totally shut down) works great.

So now I can program an recording in eye TV shut the pc off and the system will start up 5 min before the recording, does

the recording and then shut's off again.

My geekBech score is 7400 about 1000 point more i got with Leopard 10.5.8

 

Here is my hardware

 

Gigabyte EP45 DS

Intel 2Quadqore 9400 3,2 Ghz

4GB Ram OCZ 960 mHz

Geforce 9500 GT silence

500GB Sata II Harddrive Snow

259 GB Sta I Harddrive Leo

IDE DVD burner

IDE DVD

 

Thanks all again for their hard work!!!!!

[blackosx]

The new iTunes 9 runs fine.

 

hey everyone,

just want to thank you all people working in this thread so hard an for the great guide.

I have my system up and running on 64 bit SL now.

Hi svencux - This is great to hear, thanks for the report - Well done

[titan4]

The new iTunes 9 runs fine.

 

Yes it does ! And I must say I really like the little color and style redesign of both iTunes and iTunes Store (still no Music Store for my country tho )

 

And to not be completely offtopic - I must say that after last install, new Cham and all the bios tweaks my system is rock-stable so far ! I love my kitty !

[The Alchemist]

Hey Blackosx, you really are doing a great job with this guide, regular updating and all, excellent stuff really, thank you!

 

Anyway, after giving up on installing few days ago due to successive failures, i thought about taking a shot at it again with BOOT132 CD method as explained in your recent v2.3 guide, i somehow managed to modify kexts to support my hardware partially and booted SL DVD and completed installation successfully on a separate HDD.

 

After that, i booted into 10.5 again and installed chameleon along with the new RC3 boot file on the Cham partiton, added kexts to e/e along with boot.plist Smbios.plist and my dsdt.aml, rebooted and set boot device priority accordingly but just as i boot from it i get a screen

boot0..GPT

boot:...

boot0:Done..

And the cursor stalls after that, forcing me to restart, what am i doing wrong here?

 

I removed all the unnecessary stuff from e/e, but its stays the same, even after reinstalling chameleon all over again on the Cham partition, it stays the same, also tried setting the Cham partition "active" with fdisk but that didn't help it either.

 

Anyway, i inserted bootCD again and somehow managed to get into snow after almost 5 minutes it took to load.

Everything works great but i experienced a few weird things.

 

1. Disk utility fails to launch through spotlight.

2. Chameleon installation fails from within snow.

3. My PS/2 key/mouse aren't working, although i inserted voodoo kexts into preboot.dmg which made them work while installation.

[kennypharma]

Just to say a big thanx for this guide. It let me install Snow quite easily.

 

The only problem i encountered was the non detection of my atheros wifi PCI card. This point was due to the DSDT compilation : HPET option killed the detection of my card.

So I have rebuilt one (without HPET nor sound) and now it's working out of the box in 32 bits.

 

Thanx again for this awsome guide !

[blackosx]

Yes it does ! And I must say I really like the little color and style redesign of both iTunes and iTunes Store (still no Music Store for my country tho )

 

And to not be completely offtopic - I must say that after last install, new Cham and all the bios tweaks my system is rock-stable so far ! I love my kitty !

Yes, I was surprised to see the interface change.. and yes I like it.. But I will have to get used to swtich to Mini Player to put the player in the small window (It's now like the Windows version).

 

Good news you have got your system back and that it's rock steady!

 

.....booted SL DVD and completed installation successfully on a separate HDD.

.....After that, i booted into 10.5 again and installed chameleon along with the new RC3 boot file on the Cham partiton, added kexts to e/e along with boot.plist Smbios.plist and my dsdt.aml, rebooted and set boot device priority accordingly but just as i boot from it i get a screen

boot0..GPT

boot:...

boot0:Done..

And the cursor stalls after that, forcing me to restart, what am i doing wrong here?

Hi The Alchemist

 

Thanks - I try to keep it all up to date - But I will be going away for a week soon so it will be up to all of you to keep this thread going

 

Well done for tweaking this install for your mobo. But strange you're not getting past the boot0: Done..?

You could try to manually install the stage 0 and 1 boot files... To do that try this..

 

Download the Chameleon v2 RC3 binaries, unarchive it and load up terminal.

Type diskutil list to list your disk structure and under the IDENTIFIER column, note your disk number for the Cham partition (i.e.. disk1s2) and then type...

cd (space) then drag the 'i386' folder to the Terminal and press return.

then type...

sudo fdisk -f boot0 -u -y /dev/rdisk1

then type...

sudo dd if=boot1h of=/dev/rdisk1s2

 

You should already have the boot file in the root of your Cham partition.

 

 

Try that to see if it makes a difference, if not the go back to using the installer (Maybe even try RC1 r431).

 

Just to say a big thanx for this guide. It let me install Snow quite easily.

 

The only problem i encountered was the non detection of my atheros wifi PCI card. This point was due to the DSDT compilation : HPET option killed the detection of my card.

So I have rebuilt one (without HPET nor sound) and now it's working out of the box in 32 bits.

 

Thanx again for this awsome guide !

Hi kennypharma

 

Well done to you too

Interesting about HPET in DSDT not allowing detection of your WiFi PCI Card?.. As I have had a few people in the DSDT thread mention problems with their WiFi... I will post this as a possible fix - Thanks

 

EDIT: Just rambling here but....

I was speaking with a colleague at work today and he has a MacBook Pro.. Anyway he asked 'How do I remove Snow Leopard?', as since installing it he's had problems, mainly with his WiFi dropping connection all the time. He has to reboot to get it back!