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nForce OS X Snow Leopard (10.6) RETAIL INSTALL GUIDE on a Series 6 or 7 nForce chipset / Intel CPU MOBO

verdant

By verdant,
in OSx86 10.6 (Snow Leopard)

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Snow Leopard on nForce + Intel CPU MOBO in Desktop  

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  1. 1. Have you successfully installed a working, bootable Snow Leopard system?

    • Yes, on a Series 7 (750i, 780i, or 790i) nForce chipset Intel CPU MOBO, using the USB flash drive installer method
      34
    • Yes, on a Series 6 (650i or 680i) nForce chipset Intel CPU MOBO, using the USB flash drive installer method
      50
    • Yes, on a Series 6 (610i or 630i) nForce chipset Intel CPU MOBO, using the USB flash drive installer method
      18
    • Yes, on a Series 7 (750i, 780i, or 790i) nForce chipset Intel CPU MOBO, using verdant's nForceSLBoot132DVD installer method
      14
    • Yes, on a Series 6 (650i or 680i) nForce chipset Intel CPU MOBO, using verdant's nForceSLBoot132DVD installer method
      13
    • Yes, on a Series 6 (610i or 630i) nForce chipset Intel CPU MOBO, using verdant's nForceSLBoot132DVD installer method
      6
    • Yes, on a Series 7 (750i, 780i, or 790i) nForce chipset Intel CPU MOBO using OSInstall.mpkg method from Leopard to another HDD/volume
      10
    • Yes, on a Series 6 (650i or 680i) nForce chipset Intel CPU MOBO, using OSInstall.mpkg method from Leopard to another HDD/volume
      9
    • Yes, on a Series 6 (610i or 630i) nForce chipset Intel CPU MOBO, using OSInstall.mpkg method from Leopard to another HDD/volume
      8
    • No, none of the above methods has worked for me
      35
    • I have sold or plan to sell my nForce chipset MOBO to go over to the "light" side....Intel chipset MOBO.....
      10
    • I have sold or plan to sell my nForce chipset MOBO to buy a "real" Mac
      6

  2. 2. Would you say that your Snow Leopard system is working to your satisfaction (e.g. compared to Leopard)

    • 100%
      60
    • 90%
      53
    • 80%
      20
    • 70%
      19
    • 60%
      4
    • 50%
      6
    • <50%
      18
    • Are you running 10.6.1 successfully , having auto-updated without any problems
      21
    • Are all the standard Apple applications running OK
      12

  3. 3. Is your Snow Leopard system working 100% on

    • SATA HDD
      173
    • SATA DVDRW including burning disks
      47
    • PATA (IDE) HDD
      42
    • PATA (IDE) DVDRW including burning disks
      51
    • Video
      146
    • Onboard LAN (Ethernet)
      131
    • USB devices (mounting/unmounting), plus USB keyboard and USB mouse
      161
    • Firewire
      54
    • PS/2 keyboard and mouse
      42
    • Audio including Front Panel headphones and microphone
      63
    • Audio except Front Panel headphones
      38
    • Audio except Front Panel microphone
      27
    • Sleep including waking from sleep
      24
    • PCI NIC
      24
    • eSATA
      20
    • Bluetooth
      41
    • WiFi
      38
    • Time Machine
      53
    • Overclocking
      35
    • Auto Software Update e.g. to 10.6.1
      90

2,142 posts in this topic

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verdant
verdant
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Hi verdant.

 

Mate, you just won´t believe what happens.

I did the process of creating the installer via USB and everything went fine. Installer is booting perfectly, is loading everything. But when it comes to select the place to install OS, it doesn´t recognizes my MBR/HFS+ partition, so I decided to use one of the 8Gb flash drives I have now. When I partition it as GPT/HFS+ is recognizes 7.69 Gb of space and even if I uncheck the options on install, OS X requires at least 150 Mb more. So I decided to partition flash drive as MBR/HFS+ what gave me 8.03 Gb of free space and in my mind now I´d can install the OS X, so went to customize options, unchecked every one of the and system is requiring 12.3 MB more to install OS X.

 

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?????

 

I´m starting to believe Steve Jobs is sabotaging me. LOL !!!

 

EDIT - CRAZING NEWS

 

Mate, I´m about to format my Windows Vista just to install Snow Leo. I´d like to know if I can install Vista via Virtual Box on a GPT partition. If yes, I´m gonna do that now. In fact I just need Vista installed in case of my hack goes crazy and I can´t boot into it and to use Corel X4 to convert some files I sometimes receive from clients.

 

EDIT - SNOW LEO DOESN`T RECOGNIZES ANY HDD

Hi.

Formated my Vista HDD to GPT/HFS+ but OS X Install doesn´t see any HDD or other storage devices. :wacko:

Very frustrated.

:(

 

I don´t know what to do more, since that buying an HDD or 16 Gb flash drive is out of question.

Any suggestions???

 

 

Cheers.

bb.

 

Try the following.....

 

1. In Leopard OS X

 

Partition/format your 2 8GB flash drives as single volume MBR/FAT32

 

2. In Vista

 

Use TransMac to see if you can read USB flash drives and check if formatted capacity of the single volume MBR/FAT32 reads the same in OS X and Vista

 

3. In Leopard OS X

 

Partition/format your 2 8GB flash drives as single volume GPT/Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)

 

4. Use TransMac to see if you can read USB flash drives and check if formatted capacity of the single volume MBR/FAT32 reads the same in OS X and Vista/TransMac

 

5. If formatted capacities match when read under OS X and Vista, and OS X and Vista/TransMac......then you know your USB flash drives capacities are OK.....

 

6. In Leopard OS X run Dr Hurt's Chameleon 2.0 RC3 installer to install Chameleon RC3 on both flash drives......

 

7. In Vista, use TransMac to copy across all the kexts etc. needed in /Extra onto the /Extra folders on the two USB flash drives

 

8. In Leopard use Disk Utility to set up a blank 8GB Hard Disk that is GPT/Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)/read/write image called Dummy_USB_8GB_A and restore the Mac OS X Install DVD image to it...then repeat steps 6. and 7. on it......

 

9. In Vista use TransMac to set up a blank 8GB Hard Disk that is GPT/Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)/read/write image called Dummy_USB_8GB_B and copy all the Mac OS X Install DVD image files onto it......and all the boot plus /Extra files etc.....

 

10. In Vista use TransMac to see if you can read the Dummy_USB_8GB Hard Disk images and check the space used by the restored Mac OS X Install DVD image reads the same in OS X and Vista/TransMac

 

11. If the space/files match when read under OS X and Vista, and OS X and Vista/TransMac......then you know your USB Mac OS X Install DVD image is OK and will fit onto the 8GB USB flash driven to be used as the Installer.....

 

12. Then try installing OS X to the 8GB Dummy_USB_8GB Hard Disk image using both the USB flash drive Installer and my nForceSLBoot132DVD......and if it works, then also onto the other 8GB USB flash drive......

 

It may be that OS X requires 7.51 or 7.52 GB to set up the Mac OS X Install Data folder (3.5 GB of Installer .pkg's) temporarily plus the installed OS X system......which the USB stick cannot manage....having only 6.1 GB available under OS X.......

 

Yeah your dvd booted ok, although the background image was shifted way to the right so a lot was cut off. It did boot my Snow Leopard , but i received the waiting for root device. If you make the one with MeDevil's I can test it for you with my SATA DVDRWs

 

Here is the alpha version using MeDevil's AppleNForceATA_Test.kext with maxmem=3072 for you to try........ :)

 

Also burn to DVD at the slowest possible speed........

 

Did you ever get your audio working? it's the only thing I haven't got working yet.

 

Thanks

 

No, I have simply not yet had the time to sort out audio and/or sleep on my MOBO yet for obvious reasons......but once I and almost everyone is happy with my two nForceSLBoot132DVD versions (one for PATA DVDRW and one for SATA DVDRW), then I will look into it...... :)

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verdant
verdant
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is AppleHPET being loaded for you guys? i went back and removed my -newHPET.. i don't see it failing probe hpet on start now, but I don't see AppleHPET.kext loaded in kextstat, HPET is enabled in bios.

 

No......but my HPET is enabled in BIOS because of KP with it disabled (if I remember correctly) but I have alway had it enabled even with Leopard because of its use by Windows.......but see here.....so perhaps it is fortunate that AppleHPET is not loaded.......

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verdant
verdant
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haha I was JUST reading that page not 10 minutes ago, and I made those changes to my DSDT, the removal of the IRQs.

I don't get kernel panics with it disabled, it's all the same on my system when enabled or disabled

 

That was why I was not certain if my memory was correct......HPET being disabled does not mean it caused the KP..........anyhow, I have checked the IORegistry and HPET is not present in either Leopard or Snow Leopard on my MOBO.....

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lolscrapa
lolscrapa
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Trying to find the cause of the damn usb lockups, turns out i was wrong about it being gone :D it's a hell of a lot more stable than leopard, but issue still exists... debug flag doesnt output anything, nothing in system log, and no panic that shows on screen, just silent death, only way to fix from there is hard reset :\

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verdant
verdant
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Trying to find the cause of the damn usb lockups, turns out i was wrong about it being gone :D it's a hell of a lot more stable than leopard, but issue still exists... debug flag doesnt output anything, nothing in system log, and no panic that shows on screen, just silent death, only way to fix from there is hard reset :\

 

In System Profiler, are the USB Bus and USB High-Speed Bus Host Controller Locations being shown as "Built-In USB" or as "Expansion Slot" ?

 

On my MOBO under Leopard 10.5.6 they are shown as "Expansion Slot" but under Snow Leopard as "Built-In USB", which is as it should be.......

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lolscrapa
lolscrapa
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Yep mine are both being shown as "Built-In USB"

 

Could IRQ's have anything to do with it? Since it only happens when the disk is under constant usage.... if two things try to use same IRQ at the same time, would it not produce lockup? ..just speculating after reading the page mentioned above...

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verdant
verdant
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Yep mine are both being shown as "Built-In USB"

 

Could IRQ's have anything to do with it? Since it only happens when the disk is under constant usage.... if two things try to use same IRQ at the same time, would it not produce lockup? ..just speculating after reading the page mentioned above...

 

Quite possibly......try disabling Firewire and Ethernet one at a time and then test USB under heavy usage.......as these ports if active may conflict with USB since the Southbridge MCP controls SATA/IDE, USB, Ethernet, Firewire......

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breakingbad
breakingbad
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Hi verdant.

 

Success !! Installed OS X Snow Leo into one GPT/HFS+ partition (my ex Vista partition). :)

Now I seem to have another problem. As my Leopard partition is MBR/HFS+ scheme, Chameleon bootloader recognizes my Snow Leo partition but when I boot into it it gives me a KP.

I tried disabling my Leopard partition but when I do that my Snow Leo partition doesn´t even start.

 

What I´m doing now is cloning my Snow Leo partition to a MBR/HFS+ to see if Chameleon can load it without problems.

 

I´ll post news about it so soon.

 

EDIT

 

Cloning the GPT/HFS+ to an MBR/HFS+ partition didn´t make Snow Leo start. It gives KP right from the start. ;)

 

 

Cheers.

 

BB.

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jchief4040
jchief4040
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I've come to find out over several days use that the my system under Snow Leopard "works" but is not stable. The system will freeze doing various things over time - randomly. It will freeze (with the spinning colored wheel) when watching youtube videos about 4 minutes in. It will freeze when playing a .WAV file in iTunes about 15 seconds in. It will freeze when using Firefox for a couple hours. It lately has been freezing when trying to install NI Komplete 5 (audio production suite) at random points. Have not been able to finish install. Verdant are you having any of these issues whatsoever? Is there anything I can look at to see (like a log file?) what problems are occurring?

 

On a side note, is 10.5.X (specifically iPC) considered to be "more stable" and "easier to implement"? I am going to be using the Mac for Logic Pro and need a stable environment and, in your opinion, would iPC version suit me better? Or do you think your install of SL (your setup specifically) is stable as a rock? Thanks!

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verdant
verdant
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Hi verdant.

 

Success !! Installed OS X Snow Leo into one GPT/HFS+ partition (my ex Vista partition). :)

Now I seem to have another problem. As my Leopard partition is MBR/HFS+ scheme, Chameleon bootloader recognizes my Snow Leo partition but when I boot into it it gives me a KP.

I tried disabling my Leopard partition but when I do that my Snow Leo partition doesn´t even start.

 

What I´m doing now is cloning my Snow Leo partition to a MBR/HFS+ to see if Chameleon can load it without problems.

 

I´ll post news about it so soon.

 

EDIT

 

Cloning the GPT/HFS+ to an MBR/HFS+ partition didn´t make Snow Leo start. It gives KP right from the start. ;)

 

 

Cheers.

 

BB.

 

Reinstall Chameleon RC3 bootloader on the MBR/HFS+ partition......cloning does not copy the hidden boot files across.......

 

Please update me on what happened with your 8GB Hard Disk / 8GB USB stick issues......what did you find was causing you the problems......?

 

I've come to find out over several days use that the my system under Snow Leopard "works" but is not stable. The system will freeze doing various things over time - randomly. It will freeze (with the spinning colored wheel) when watching youtube videos about 4 minutes in. It will freeze when playing a .WAV file in iTunes about 15 seconds in. It will freeze when using Firefox for a couple hours. It lately has been freezing when trying to install NI Komplete 5 (audio production suite) at random points. Have not been able to finish install. Verdant are you having any of these issues whatsoever? Is there anything I can look at to see (like a log file?) what problems are occurring?

 

On a side note, is 10.5.X (specifically iPC) considered to be "more stable" and "easier to implement"? I am going to be using the Mac for Logic Pro and need a stable environment and, in your opinion, would iPC version suit me better? Or do you think your install of SL (your setup specifically) is stable as a rock? Thanks!

 

I am finding with SL 10.6.1 that randomly, typically after a few hours, I have problems with internet access.....even though my Ethernet connection appears fine......

 

I would suggest that you try installing software onto OS X 10.6 when in Safe Mode and with cpus=2 and maxmem=2048......

 

Go to Applications > Utilities > Console > LOG FILES > System.log.....also LOG FILES > CrashReporter.....

 

At present I personally find that Leopard OS X 10.5.6 is the most stable OS X version I have tried apart from 10.5.2......I have used 10.5.1, 10.5.4, 10.5.5, 10.5.7, 10.5.8, and now 10.6 and 10.6.1.......

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jchief4040
jchief4040
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a spinning wheel + freeze sounds like a kernel panic doesn't it? i used to get that tons trying to run vanilla on leopard.

 

Well what version/setup were you using with Leopard? As Verdant stated above (and echoes what I've read in many of the forum posts) 10.5.6 versions were the most stable.

 

Reinstall Chameleon RC3 bootloader on the MBR/HFS+ partition......cloning does not copy the hidden boot files across.......

 

Please update me on what happened with your 8GB Hard Disk / 8GB USB stick issues......what did you find was causing you the problems......?

 

 

 

I am finding with SL 10.6.1 that randomly, typically after a few hours I have problems with internet access.....even though my Ethernet connection appears fine......

 

I would suggest that you try installing software onto OS X 10.6 when in Safe Mode and with cpus=2 and maxmem=2048......

 

Go to Applications > Utilities > Console > LOG FILES > System.log.....also LOG FILES > CrashReporter.....

 

At present I personally find that Leopard OS X 10.5.6 is the most stable OS X version I have tried apart from 10.5.2......I have used 10.5.1, 10.5.4, 10.5.5, 10.5.7, 10.5.8, and now 10.6 and 10.6.1.......

 

I will give that a go! Thanks. Did you write a guide for iPC 10.5.6 with Voodoo for the nForce MOBO? ;)

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verdant
verdant
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Well what version/setup were you using with Leopard? As Verdant stated above (and echoes what I've read in many of the forum posts) 10.5.6 versions were the most stable.

 

 

 

I will give that a go! Thanks. Did you write a guide for iPC 10.5.6 with Voodoo for the nForce MOBO? :)

 

See my iPC 10.5.6 Install guide in my blog.......obviously your video and audio setup will be different......also my Series 7 nForce thread (for Leopard)...... ;)

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jchief4040
jchief4040
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See my iPC 10.5.6 Install guide in my blog.......obviously your video and audio setup will be different......also my Series 7 nForce thread (for Leopard)...... ;)

 

Thank you much. Also, if I were to build a PC from scratch. What particular motherboards and other components are, in your opinion, the easiest to get OSX up and running on? I am considering this.

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verdant
verdant
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Thank you much. Also, if I were to build a PC from scratch. What particular motherboards and other components are, in your opinion, the easiest to get OSX up and running on? I am considering this.

 

Intel chipset MOBO + Intel CPU......there are plenty of guides on this (look for 100% vanilla as a start)......BUT for critical work it will not be as "trouble-free" as a "real" Mac.....

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breakingbad
breakingbad
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Reinstall Chameleon RC3 bootloader on the MBR/HFS+ partition......cloning does not copy the hidden boot files across.......

 

Please update me on what happened with your 8GB Hard Disk / 8GB USB stick issues......what did you find was causing you the problems...... ?

 

Well mate, I know it´s a very noobish question, but as I don´t know how to do it, I´m gonna ask anyway: how do I install the boot files from RC3 Chameleon since the file available from the site is not a installer file? I tried to change the boot files, as suggested on Chameleon site, but when I open the RC2 package in Pacifist i just can see the files, not replace them.

 

I tried installing the Dr. Hurt UNOFFICIAL RC3 installer to the MBR/HFS+ partition, but it doesn´t boot.

 

 

About the flash drive procedure, even creating a HD Image in Disk Utility makes the USB Installer see the hard disk image. I just could install SL to the GPT/HFS+ partition I created when I formated my Vista HD.

 

Cheers.

bb.

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verdant
verdant
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Well mate, I know it´s a very noobish question, but as I don´t know how to do it, I´m gonna ask anyway: how do I install the boot files from RC3 Chameleon since the file available from the site is not a installer file? I tried to change the boot files, as suggested on Chameleon site, but when I open the RC2 package in Pacifist i just can see the files, not replace them.

 

I tried installing the Dr. Hurt UNOFFICIAL RC3 installer to the MBR/HFS+ partition, but it doesn´t boot.

 

 

About the flash drive procedure, even creating a HD Image in Disk Utility makes the USB Installer see the hard disk image. I just could install SL to the GPT/HFS+ partition I created when I formated my Vista HD.

 

Cheers.

bb.

 

Is the MBR/HFS+ partition a primary partition.......OS X needs this to boot?

 

Normally the boot file is hidden.......use TinkerTools or Terminal commands given in the guide to unhide/hide the system and hidden files.....

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breakingbad
breakingbad
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Is the MBR/HFS+ partition a primary partition.......OS X needs this to boot?

 

Normally the boot file is hidden.......use TinkerTools or Terminal commands given in the guide to unhide/hide the system and hidden files.....

 

Hi mate. Sorry for all that trouble. I know you´re kinda busy this week.

 

Well, this is a pic of how my HDD is partitioned, OK? Here it goes.

 

post-223908-1253648683_thumb.png

 

Regarding that:

 

- Leopard partition is the one I use (10.5.8 version)

- Backup partition - speaks to itself.

- Storage - where I keep files from work and more.

- Snow Leopard HD - The MBR/HFS+ where I believe it can be "placed".

 

- Macintosh-HD: Where I installed the Snow Leopard via USB Installer - it´s partitioned as GPT/HFS+

- Snow Leopard: empty.

 

Cheers.

bb.

 

P.S. - Don´t know if will help understand what´s happening, but here are the links for the KP´s I receive when try to load SNOW-LEOPARD-HD.

 

slkp3.th.jpg

slkp2.th.jpg

slkp.th.jpg

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verdant
verdant
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Hi mate. Sorry for all that trouble. I know you´re kinda busy this week.

 

Well, this is a pic of how my HDD is partitioned, OK? Here it goes.

 

post-223908-1253648683_thumb.png

 

Regarding that:

 

- Leopard partition is the one I use (10.5.8 version)

- Backup partition - speaks to itself.

- Storage - where I keep files from work and more.

- Snow Leopard HD - The MBR/HFS+ where I believe it can be "placed".

 

- Macintosh-HD: Where I installed the Snow Leopard via USB Installer - it´s partitioned as GPT/HFS+

- Snow Leopard: empty.

 

Cheers.

bb.

 

P.S. - Don´t know if will help understand what´s happening, but here are the links for the KP´s I receive when try to load SNOW-LEOPARD-HD.

 

slkp3.th.jpg

slkp2.th.jpg

slkp.th.jpg

 

You are not having boot problems but kernel panics for some reason.....

 

Have you tried installing OS X 10.6 to Snow Leopard HD using a modified OSInstall.mpkg run from Snow Leopard on Macintosh-HD.....?

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verdant
verdant
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verdant... you rock! this guide worked perfectly. I have stable Snow Leopard running on EVGA 680i, Q6600 Quad-core, 4GB RAM with EVGA 8800GT. Much more stable than my system under iAtkos 7 10.5.7 with Voodoo Kernel. Update to 10.6.1 without issue. Thanks for the guide!

 

wanman

 

Glad to help....... ;) Did you use the USB flash drive installer or my nForceSLBoot132DVD......?

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wanman
wanman
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verdant... you rock! this guide worked perfectly. I have stable Snow Leopard running on EVGA 680i, Q6600 Quad-core, 4GB RAM with EVGA 8800GT. I use the Griffin iMic which has built-in support from Mac OS X. I also use the nForceLAN kexts for wired ethernet. Much more stable than my system under iAtkos 7 10.5.7 with Voodoo Kernel. Update to 10.6.1 without issue. Thanks for the guide!

 

wanman

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wanman
wanman
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Glad to help....... ;) Did you use the USB flash drive installer or my nForceSLBoot132DVD......?

 

I used the USB flash drive installer method. I followed guide step by step. Everything went as described and has running Snow Leopard on first attempt.

 

Regards.

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verdant
verdant
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I used the USB flash drive installer method. I followed guide step by step. Everything went as described and has running Snow Leopard on first attempt.

 

Regards.

 

That is nice to know......as quite a number of readers/posters in this thread seemed to have had problems with the USB installer approach........

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