Jump to content

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)

 Share

Snow Leopard on nForce + Intel CPU MOBO in Desktop  

213 members have voted

  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

Recommended Posts

breakingbad
breakingbad
Posted
Posted
1. Did Disk Utility or CCC 3.21 complete the cloning without any errors....?

 

2. Did you install the Chameleon RC bootoader + PC_EFI V10.3 files to your SL MBR/HFS+ partition after cloning SL to it....?

 

3. Did you boot into the SL MBR/HFS+ partition with -v -f.....?

 

No mate.

I forgot that step.

My really bad. :D

Sorry. Report back as soon disk util finishes restoring MBR partition.

 

C ya.

 

Hey everyone,

 

Unfortunately every attempt to get this working on my EVGA 780i has failed. I ended up buying a gigabyte mobo that people are reporting 100% success with. I wish you all the best, and want to thank Verdant especially for his extraordinary work here. If I end up not selling the 780i I might use it on a different computer and I will be back here I am sure.

 

Sam

 

Sam, sorry to hear you're quitting ! :P

My advice to you: keep trying. Keep working, keep reading and researching.

And most of all keep counting on Insanely Mac to install Snow Leopard.

I know it's pretty damn hard to try installing it and don't reach your goal, but quitting, you will have only one thing for sure... you won't have Snow Leopard installed.

 

Keep going.

 

EDIT

 

Hi verd. Good news on MBR/HFS+ partition.

Did everything suggested and booted via -v -f flags and SNOW LEOPARD in MBR is working OK.

Writing this post from it :)

 

Take a look a this:

post-223908-1253840473_thumb.png post-223908-1253840647_thumb.png

 

As you may know and expect the MBR/HFS+ partition on boot don't need to do it with any flag. ;)

 

 

Cheers.

bb.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
samdelgado
samdelgado
Posted
Posted
Sorry to hear that that.......did my nForceSLBoot132DVD for SATA DVDRW work or not.....?

 

Breakingbad has success finally.......

 

Even though you have joined the Intel chipset/CPU MOBO camp.......drop by and let us know how you get on with it.......then when you feel refreshed, try putting SL on your 780i MOBO again (if you have not sold it......) to remind you just how fortunate you are....... :wacko:

 

All the best

verdant

 

 

Your bootdvd did work but then I got a kernel panic just like the other one when it started reading the SL disc. I have a couple big video editing projects for school coming up and I need this running so I can get Final Cut up. Otherwise I would have kept trying everything. I will be checking in!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
verdant
verdant
Posted
  • Author
Posted
Your bootdvd did work but then I got a kernel panic just like the other one when it started reading the SL disc. I have a couple big video editing projects for school coming up and I need this running so I can get Final Cut up. Otherwise I would have kept trying everything. I will be checking in!

 

Hope the video projects go well........ :thumbsup_anim:

 

No mate.

I forgot that step.

My really bad. :(

Sorry. Report back as soon disk util finishes restoring MBR partition.

 

C ya.

 

 

 

Sam, sorry to hear you're quitting ! :(

My advice to you: keep trying. Keep working, keep reading and researching.

And most of all keep counting on Insanely Mac to install Snow Leopard.

I know it's pretty damn hard to try installing it and don't reach your goal, but quitting, you will have only one thing for sure... you won't have Snow Leopard installed.

 

Keep going.

 

EDIT

 

Hi verd. Good news on MBR/HFS+ partition.

Did everything suggested and booted via -v -f flags and SNOW LEOPARD in MBR is working OK.

Writing this post from it :)

 

As you may know and expect the MBR/HFS+ partition on boot don't need to do it with any flag. ;)

 

Cheers.

bb.

 

Phew.......for a moment you had me worried there......surely things cannot just work for me......LOL

 

But seriously I am pleased for you..... :thumbsup_anim:

 

As you may know and expect the MBR/HFS+ partition on boot don't need to do it with any flag. ;)

 

I am surprised.....NOT.......LOL...... ;)

 

BTW I now have audio working.......see post # 2......now only sleep is left to sort out.....the most difficult issue I suspect........ :hysterical:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
juanmacrack93
juanmacrack93
Posted
Posted

Just a note, i've noticed that in snow leopard my airport card (bcm4306) is really unstable. The signal will drop every a couple of minutes, and now i have to use my usb dongle (ralink rt73) which is a piece of {censored}.

 

I've been reading through some apple forums and realized that a lot of people is having that problem, even on real macs, so i really hope Apple will fix it soon.

 

BTW Verdant, good news you got your sound working!

Now, the next thing is sleep, but I don't really care about it, cos it wasn't working in Leopard either.

 

Cheers

 

JM

Link to comment
Share on other sites
verdant
verdant
Posted
  • Author
Posted
Just a note, i've noticed that in snow leopard my airport card (bcm4306) is really unstable. The signal will drop every a couple of minutes, and now i have to use my usb dongle (ralink rt73) which is a piece of {censored}.

 

I've been reading through some apple forums and realised that a lot of people is having that problem, even on real macs, so i really hope Apple will fix it soon.

 

BTW Verdant, good news you got your sound working!

Now, the next thing is sleep, but I don't really care about it, cos it wasn't working in Leopard either.

 

Cheers

 

JM

 

Thanks......I kept putting it off while completing the nForce SL Install guide, multi-booting of OS X leopard, SL, Windows and Linux being the last aspect.......but after bb said I had covered all the generic points in the guide I decided that I should actually sort my own MOBO out.....LOL

 

I agree with your comment about the USB WiFI dongle (rt73)......I have one that I only use for surveying for my wifi network to check that it is still secure....because it cannot link to my WPA2 wifi network....

 

The Airport connection problem is a pain....

 

I would like to get sleep working in SL as it works 100% in 10.5.6 (but not in 10.5.7 and 10.5.8.....go figure that one.........

 

Cheers

verdant

Link to comment
Share on other sites
johnredcorn
johnredcorn
Posted
Posted

First I would like to say THANKS! for an excellent guide. My Striker Extreme 680i system works great.

 

However, I have followed your post #2 update to getting onboard sound (ad1988b) to work. My dsdt.aml has been patched exactly as described in your post and I have tried both of the ad1988b.fix.kexts with no luck. Fortunately, I have a working PCI soundcard from RME with native mac support, but the completist in me wants to see working onboard sound.

 

Could the problem be that I have a PCI soundcard also?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
verdant
verdant
Posted
  • Author
Posted
First I would like to say THANKS! for an excellent guide. My Striker Extreme 680i system works great.

 

However, I have followed your post #2 update to getting onboard sound (ad1988b) to work. My dsdt.aml has been patched exactly as described in your post and I have tried both of the ad1988b.fix.kexts with no luck. Fortunately, I have a working PCI soundcard from RME with native mac support, but the completist in me wants to see working onboard sound.

 

Could the problem be that I have a PCI soundcard also?

 

Thanks for your appreciation for the guide..... :(

 

Well......with the PCI soundcard in, you then have two audio devices......you would have to check how PCI devices are dealt with in the DSDT......so that you can stop the two sound devices conflicting by choosing to recognise one or the other.....

 

But an obvious simple way to check is to temporarily remove the PCI sound card before booting, and see if your AD1988b chipset is recognised and you get working sound......

Link to comment
Share on other sites
breakingbad
breakingbad
Posted
Posted
Phew.......for a moment you had me worried there......surely things cannot just work for me......LOL

 

But seriously I am pleased for you..... :(

 

I am surprised.....NOT.......LOL...... ;)

 

BTW I now have audio working.......see post # 2......now only sleep is left to sort out.....the most difficult issue I suspect........ ;)

 

Wow.

I couldn't have my audio not working.

I listen to music almost all the time I spent here at the computer.

 

I am pleased for you too. To know that you got your sound working fine. And I do believe you'll fix the sleep problem in a while. You just need to take your time to study it for your machine because more than enough knowledge to solve this problem I know you have. :)

 

One point I could realize today is that my USB Bluetooth dongle is not being recognized after I upgraded to 10.6.1. When I was in 10.6 only, it recognized, created the little icon on the menu bar and now the icon is there but not active and says: Bluetooth: Not Available but my dongle is plugged.

Of course I'm not that worried about that but what is curious is that if I use the same USB ports to plug a flash drive, the flash drive is recognized without problems. Isn't that strange?

 

EDIT

Mate, have you seen this??

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=183801#

 

Its related to sleep problem. Don't know if make sense at all, but I was looking under my Sys Pref > Energy Saver and I don't have the "stupid SL option" of "Start up automatically after power failure". I believe it's worth giving a try on that except you say me that is completely stupid.

 

My sys prefs looks like this:

post-223908-1253891440_thumb.png

 

But I believe it should look like this, right?

post-223908-1253891932_thumb.jpg

 

Cheers.

bb.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Volcacius
Volcacius
Posted
Posted

You have to add your id to AppleLPC.kext (or add it to DSDT with zhell trick) in order to have the power failure option, however it doesn't change anything, still sleep doesn't work properly (atleast on my system). Anyway, you can try to install sleepenabler for SL and disable legacy usb support in bios (that's will make sleep work, but not resume) and see what happens.

 

Do someone has front audio (mic/headphones) working with the KiNG fix? I got mic working using a new legacy fix from projectosx and enabling AC97 front audio in bios (instead of HD), but headphones still don't work :thumbsup_anim:

EDIT: Just noticed that front mic works also with posted fix, enabling AC97 made the difference.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
verdant
verdant
Posted
  • Author
Posted
You have to add your id to AppleLPC.kext (or add it to DSDT with zhell trick) in order to have the power failure option, however it doesn't change anything, still sleep doesn't work properly (atleast on my system). Anyway, you can try to install sleepenabler for SL and disable legacy usb support in bios (that's will make sleep work, but not resume) and see what happens.

 

Do someone has front audio (mic/headphones) working with the KiNG fix? I got mic working using a new legacy fix from projectosx and enabling AC97 front audio in bios (instead of HD), but headphones still don't work :wacko:

EDIT: Just noticed that front mic works also with posted fix, enabling AC97 made the difference.

 

In his post lancelotu says that "Note that this has no front panel headphones working (trying to figure that out) but at least microphone is working great now"......meaning the AD1988b.Fix.kext......hence I do appear to have front mic but no front headphones with Front Panel Audio set to HD Audio in BIOS......with no apparent change when switching to Legacy AC97.....

 

As for sleep......

Link to comment
Share on other sites
johnredcorn
johnredcorn
Posted
Posted
Thanks for your appreciation for the guide..... :thumbsdown_anim:

 

Well......with the PCI soundcard in, you then have two audio devices......you would have to check how PCI devices are dealt with in the DSDT......so that you can stop the two sound devices conflicting by choosing to recognise one or the other.....

 

But an obvious simple way to check is to temporarily remove the PCI sound card before booting, and see if your AD1988b chipset is recognised and you get working sound......

 

I just got home from work and pulled out the PCI card. On board sound still does not work. The dsdt has been patched just as described in post #2 and placed in the root of the drive. The 1988b kext is in extra/extensions. Am I missing something?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
verdant
verdant
Posted
  • Author
Posted
I just got home from work and pulled out the PCI card. On board sound still does not work. The dsdt has been patched just as described in post #2 and placed in the root of the drive. The 1988b kext is in extra/extensions. Am I missing something?

 

Did the patched dsdt.dsl file compile successfully to a new dsdt.aml file.....which you then renamed to DSDT.aml and put in /.......?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
johnredcorn
johnredcorn
Posted
Posted
Did the patched dsdt.dsl file compile successfully to a new dsdt.aml file.....which you then renamed to DSDT.aml and put in /.......?

 

Nope, it seems as though it did not complie correctly. I am not sure how I did not notice this last night. I am compiling using the same method I used for the cmos error. I edit and save the dsdt.dsl, but when i ./DSDT\ Patcher Debug/dsdt.dsl, I get errors and it does not generate a dsdt.aml.

 

Should i have to force the compile?

 

Edit: SUCCESS! Force compiling worked. Any reason it doesn't compile normally?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
verdant
verdant
Posted
  • Author
Posted
Nope, it seems as though it did not complie correctly. I am not sure how I did not notice this last night. I am compiling using the same method I used for the cmos error. I edit and save the dsdt.dsl, but when i ./DSDT\ Patcher Debug/dsdt.dsl, I get errors and it does not generate a dsdt.aml.

 

Should i have to force the compile?

 

Edit: SUCCESS! Force compiling worked. Any reason it doesn't compile normally?

 

I had to force compile it too after patching.....

 

I guess there are some layout/syntax errors in the patching; BUT if the compiling goes wrong, it doesn't always mean the patching is incorrect.......some OEMs just ship a poorly written DSDT in their BIOS......

 

But as you know, you can force it to compile, even if there are errors, using fassl's DSDT Patcher: /path/to/DSDT\ Pachter -f dsdt.dsl

Link to comment
Share on other sites
breakingbad
breakingbad
Posted
Posted

Hi verd, hi all.

 

Well, I know this is a little off topic, but maybe people are having same problem.

Today I realized that my Snow Leopard is missing some "pieces". For you all to understand take a look at this picture:

 

post-223908-1254008569_thumb.png

 

Isn't that strange?

Well, if somebody know how to "heal" my Snow Leo, please let me know.

:(

 

Cheers to all.

bb.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
breakingbad
breakingbad
Posted
Posted
You can try to reinstall BSD.pkg from SL dvd, I also had some issues (e.g. can't repair permission, HD shown as folders) and that fixed them.

 

Hi ale!

 

Well, in fact I didn't need to install BSD.pkg from disc.

Just "killed" Finder and when starting it up again, everything got back to normal.

Didn't posted this before because I had some trouble around here. Family issues. :wacko:

Thanks for the tip anyway.

 

Cheers.

bb.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lolscrapa
lolscrapa
Posted
Posted

Super unlucky... I found if you don't use all onboard devices, the usb lockup doesnt happen, so I try to use different LAN solution... got 2 different cards both with RTL8139 chips... both of them cause kernel_task to go crazy after about 20 minutes, just starts eating cpu for no good reason... (was using pcgen kext, as snow leopard kext for rtl8139 completely {censored} itself)... so I try a wireless card with Ralink chip, works fine for about 4 hours or so, then connection drops, lan isn't seen by osx at all, unloading/loading kexts does nothing, only fix is to reboot from there.... so I go out and buy a NetGear GA311 with RTL8169 chip... works OOB, didn't need to tweak anything, but now that caused the system to {censored} itself competely randomly, if I'm listening to audio, that stops, then applications slowly stop responding, and then it just comes to a standstill, can't do anything but move the mouse.... wow.

my solution: sold the board on craigslist for $100, going to order GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R from newegg for $104 tomorrow. :(

 

for everyone who believes they have a solid install, i dare you to stress test it :P

 

thanks verdant for all the support =]

Link to comment
Share on other sites
verdant
verdant
Posted
  • Author
Posted
Super unlucky... I found if you don't use all onboard devices, the usb lockup doesnt happen, so I try to use different LAN solution... got 2 different cards both with RTL8139 chips... both of them cause kernel_task to go crazy after about 20 minutes, just starts eating cpu for no good reason... (was using pcgen kext, as snow leopard kext for rtl8139 completely {censored} itself)... so I try a wireless card with Ralink chip, works fine for about 4 hours or so, then connection drops, lan isn't seen by osx at all, unloading/loading kexts does nothing, only fix is to reboot from there.... so I go out and buy a NetGear GA311 with RTL8169 chip... works OOB, didn't need to tweak anything, but now that caused the system to {censored} itself competely randomly, if I'm listening to audio, that stops, then applications slowly stop responding, and then it just comes to a standstill, can't do anything but move the mouse.... wow.

my solution: sold the board on craigslist for $100, going to order GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R from newegg for $104 tomorrow. :P

 

for everyone who believes they have a solid install, i dare you to stress test it :P

 

thanks verdant for all the support =]

 

Glad to help for what it was worth.......in Mac circles RTL8139 is known to be problematic with Leopard......hence Sonnet Technology use the RTL8169......also at present SL is not without its issues on "real' Macs either.........only to be expected with a new OS release......

 

I have been using the mouse, USB devices, applications, all while listening to internet radio via my RTL8169 Netgear GA311.......no major problems yet.....but with nForce tomorrow is always another day....... :(

 

Wish you all the best with your GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R......;)

 

Cheers

verdant

Link to comment
Share on other sites
breakingbad
breakingbad
Posted
Posted
Glad to help for what it was worth.......in Mac circles RTL8139 is known to be problematic with Leopard......hence Sonnet Technology use the RTL8169......also at present SL is not without its issues on "real' Macs either.........only to be expected with a new OS release......

 

I have been using the mouse, USB devices, applications, all while listening to internet radio via my RTL8169 Netgear GA311.......no major problems yet.....but with nForce tomorrow is always another day....... :)

 

Wish you all the best with your GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R......:)

 

Cheers

verdant

 

Hey verd, how you doing mate? I hope fine. Solved your sleep prob in Snow Leo? Hope you do that soon.

 

Well people, I saw that one of our mates is having issues with LAN NIC of every kinda sort. Let me remind you something that Mysticus - if I'm not wrong - told me once: to have internet access without any problems on OSX no matter the version you're using, buy a Apple USB Ethernet Adapter. Works OTB. It's original parts from Apple and as a friend told me, it's cheap to have one of those around.

 

Since I bought mine, internet it's not a trouble anymore. Why bothering with RTLXXXX onboard NICS when you can have one simple solution??? Think about it. :)

 

Cheers.

bb.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lolscrapa
lolscrapa
Posted
Posted

Yeah but who knows what that will do? Who could've ever thought inserting those cards would produce those strange effects, with nForce there's no telling what's going to happen... I believe I now have the "simple solution"... I also believe the cause of all these issues has to do with the ATA kext... if system supported AHCI I'd bet money I wouldn't have had all those issues

Link to comment
Share on other sites
verdant
verdant
Posted
  • Author
Posted
Yeah but who knows what that will do? Who could've ever thought inserting those cards would produce those strange effects, with nForce there's no telling what's going to happen... I believe I now have the "simple solution"... I also believe the cause of all these issues has to do with the ATA kext... if system supported AHCI I'd bet money I wouldn't have had all those issues

 

Since the Southbridge MCP controls Ethernet, USB, Audio, SATA, PATA it is difficult to say if it is just the AppleNForceATA.kext.......one could test this if you only used a USB external HDD and ideally external USB DVDRW......

Link to comment
Share on other sites
breakingbad
breakingbad
Posted
Posted

Hi all.

 

Well, I'm here to say that I'm having problems with one little issue.

Some of my .DMG files are not mounting. Today I tried to install new version of Growl and I'm getting this error:

 

post-223908-1254321608_thumb.png post-223908-1254322349_thumb.png post-223908-1254323455_thumb.png

 

What could be causing this trouble? Anybody had any problem like that with Snow Leo?

 

Cheers.

bb.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
verdant
verdant
Posted
  • Author
Posted
Hi all.

 

Well, I'm here to say that I'm having problems with one little issue.

Some of my .DMG files are not mounting. Today I tried to install new version of Growl and I'm getting this error:

 

post-223908-1254321608_thumb.png post-223908-1254322349_thumb.png post-223908-1254323455_thumb.png

 

What could be causing this trouble? Anybody had any problem like that with Snow Leo?

 

Cheers.

bb.

 

Try downloading it using another browser......e.g. Camino, Firefox, Opera.......BUT note from Growl discussion group:

 

Christopher Forsythe View profile More options Sep 30, 3:45 pm From: Christopher Forsythe <ch...@growl.info> Date: Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:45:26 -0500 Local: Wed, Sep 30 2009 3:45 pm Subject: Re: [growl-discuss] Re: Disk Image Couldn't Be Opened Reply | Reply to author | Forward | Print | Individual message | Show original | Report this message | Find messages by this author I have a few google engineers in #growl on irc right now working through the

problem. You can retry downloading for now, but it'll fail randomly. Once

they say it's working again I'll email the list.

 

 

Chris

 

> > > > >>> Any idea why I'm getting this message when attempting to open the

> > > > >>> 1.2 DMG?

 

> > > > >> Most likely because you didn't download all of it. Try downloading

> it

> > > > >> again.

 

> > > > > I'm getting the same message -- "Growl-1.2.dmg not recognized" .

> I've

> > > > > downloaded several times with the same results. all downloads have

> > > > > been complete.

 

> > > > Try downloading it in another browser.

> > > > Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites
breakingbad
breakingbad
Posted
Posted
Try downloading it using another browser......e.g. Camino, Firefox, Opera.......BUT note from Growl discussion group:

 

Thanks mate for the tip.

Downloaded it via Firefox 3.5 and worked like a charm.

No problems. Growl 1.2 is installed perfectly with a lot of new features. New at least for me. :D

 

EDIT

 

As I can't take the survey from the topic again, I'd like to say just for the record that Onboard Ethernet nForceLAN is working with one kext from en0 that supports Snow Leopard already. For those who are having problems with it, here's the file:

 

http://www.mediafire.com/?4wynynjtdjk

 

post-223908-1254343763_thumb.png

 

Cheers.

bb.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...