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

[verdant]

Wow, how quick was that!! Many thanks.

On a slightly newbie note, where do I put the files now? (newbie alert )

 

Regards,

Steve.

 

You need to put the DSDT.aml file in the root i.e. / directory of OS X and the AD1988B.FIX.kext in the /Extra/Extensions/ directory.....

 

You will see many saying that DSDT.aml is put in /Extra but I prefer to put it in / as that way it is very unlikely to be 'trashed' when you are 'playing' around with the /Extra/ directory......

[relocation]

You need to put the DSDT.aml file in the root i.e. / directory of OS X and the AD1988B.FIX.kext in the /Extra/Extensions/ directory.....

 

You will see many saying that DSDT.aml is put in /Extra but I prefer to put it in / as that way it is very unlikely to be 'trashed' when you are 'playing' around with the /Extra/ directory......

 

Thanks for all the help, it worked perfectly!!

Just wanted to check that your control panel looks the same as mine.

 

Regards,

Steve.

[verdant]

Thanks for all the help, it worked perfectly!!

Just wanted to check that your control panel looks the same as mine.

 

Regards,

Steve.

 

Glad to help......

You can check my screen shots at the end of post #2....

 

Don't forget to keep AppleHDA.10.6.2.kext safe as you will need to use it instead of the AppleHDA.kext installed by all Snow Leopard post-10.6.2 Updates and also by Lion in /System/Library/Extensions/

 

You can just rename AppleHDA.kext via this Terminal command:

 

sudo mv /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext.orig

[relocation]

Thanks for all your help, just one more thing:

Is there a way to edit the names in Audio Midi Setup??

 

Regards,

Steve.

[KSwoosh]

No and yes to your questions.......you need to follow Part F. in post #1 step-by-step from step 1 to step 20.......the nForceSLBoot132DVD is only used in step 15. and 16.......BTW you can choose to use Chameleon 2.0 RC5 rather than an earlier version if you are later planning to install OS X Lion.....

Ok, nice, but there still are some things I don't really understand.

In step 1, 2, 3, 4, should I already have installed OSX from the retail disk and should I be doing these things from within OSX? Or am I supposed to run EFIStudio or OSx86Tools before I install OSX?

[verdant]

Ok, nice, but there still are some things I don't really understand.

In step 1, 2, 3, 4, should I already have installed OSX from the retail disk and should I be doing these things from within OSX? Or am I supposed to run EFIStudio or OSx86Tools before I install OSX?

 

Normally for convenience, you need access to OS X Leopard on your PC to:

 

1. Generate a RTC patched DSDT.aml file for SL [Part B]

 

2. Use Disk Utility to get the UUID for your target SL OS X volume

 

3. Establish OS X target HDD ownership

 

4. Run EFIStudio or OSx86Tools to generate the graphics string for your graphics card

 

5. Install Chameleon 2.0 RC3 (or RC4 or RC5) onto your target SL OS X volume and in the process generate a /Extra directory.....

 

6. Follow PART F if you want to install from a Retail Snow Leopard Mac OS X Install DVD disc to a GPT HDD volume using my nForceSLBoot132DVD......

 

But since you have your DSDT.aml and can try Graphics Enabler=Yes in com.apple.Boot.plist and can use the Terminal function under Disk Utility of SL Retail Install DVD to carry out

 

a. Use Disk Utility to get the UUID for your target SL OS X volume

 

b. Establish OS X target HDD ownership

 

c. Manually install Chameleon 2.0 RC3 (or RC4 or RC5) onto your target SL OS X volume and in the process generate a /Extra directory.....

 

Thanks for all your help, just one more thing:

Is there a way to edit the names in Audio Midi Setup??

 

Regards,

Steve.

 

I will check on my system and get back to you later as I will be travelling for a while.....

[KSwoosh]

Normally for convenience, you need access to OS X Leopard on your PC to:

1. Generate a RTC patched DSDT.aml file for SL [Part B]

2. Use Disk Utility to get the UUID for your target SL OS X volume

3. Establish OS X target HDD ownership

4. Run EFIStudio or OSx86Tools to generate the graphics string for your graphics card

5. Install Chameleon 2.0 RC3 (or RC4 or RC5) onto your target SL OS X volume and in the process generate a /Extra directory.....

6. Follow PART F if you want to install from a Retail Snow Leopard Mac OS X Install DVD disc to a GPT HDD volume using my nForceSLBoot132DVD......

 

But since you have your DSDT.aml and can try Graphics Enabler=Yes in com.apple.Boot.plist and can use the Terminal function under Disk Utility of SL Retail Install DVD to carry out

 

a. Use Disk Utility to get the UUID for your target SL OS X volume

b. Establish OS X target HDD ownership

c. Manually install Chameleon 2.0 RC3 (or RC4 or RC5) onto your target SL OS X volume and in the process generate a /Extra directory.....

Ok, I also read you mention that CHameleon RC1 + netkas PC_EFI v10.1 is the best choice to avoid errors, now, how in the world am I supposed to install those from the setup?

During the setup I cant plugin extra usb sticks or something, right? :/

(I also don't know how to add the netkas PC_EFI to Chameleon, but I guess that's a problem for later)

 

So after preparing the disk during the SL setup, and getting ownership, I install Chameleon and then SL?

 

I'm sorry if this all sounds stupid, but this is hard to learn...

 

Also, let me see if I get this:

Using your guide you put all kinds of files in place for where the SL installation should be (kexts, bootloader and dsdt files), and then install SL?

 

EDIT:

I just booted using the Hazard disk (because I cant burn the OSX SL Retail disk on a normal dvd (i have to get some dual layer dvd's for that)) but when i tried that target HDD ownership command:

sudo chown 0:0 /Volumes/"your target OS X HDD volume name

I get:

sudo: command not found

 

it also says: -bash-3.2# in front of every line, im not sure if that is how it should be.

[verdant]

Ok, I also read you mention that CHameleon RC1 + netkas PC_EFI v10.1 is the best choice to avoid errors, now, how in the world am I supposed to install those from the setup?

During the setup I cant plugin extra usb sticks or something, right? :/

(I also don't know how to add the netkas PC_EFI to Chameleon, but I guess that's a problem for later)

 

So after preparing the disk during the SL setup, and getting ownership, I install Chameleon and then SL?

 

I'm sorry if this all sounds stupid, but this is hard to learn...

 

Also, let me see if I get this:

Using your guide you put all kinds of files in place for where the SL installation should be (kexts, bootloader and dsdt files), and then install SL?

 

EDIT:

I just booted using the Hazard disk (because I cant burn the OSX SL Retail disk on a normal dvd (i have to get some dual layer dvd's for that)) but when i tried that target HDD ownership command:

sudo chown 0:0 /Volumes/"your target OS X HDD volume name

I get:

sudo: command not found

 

it also says: -bash-3.2# in front of every line, im not sure if that is how it should be.

 

The problem is that many distro DVDs do not include all the Terminal Unix functions in order to save space.........the simplest solution is to boot with a Leopard OS X Install DVD e.g. iPC 10.5.6 and use Disk Utility to set up 3 OS X equal size volumes on the HDD that you partition as GPT and format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as follows:

 

1st volume: OS X Lion

 

2nd volume: OS X Snow Leopard

 

3rd volume: OS X Leopard

 

Install Leopard OS X 10.5.6 Final Version using my blog install guide, or any Leopard distro you have successfully used before, and then do a Retail install of Snow Leopard and later a Download install of Lion.......later on you can delete the OS X version(s) you do not wish to keep and then use Disk utility to resize the remaining OS X volume(s)......

 

Thanks for all your help, just one more thing:

Is there a way to edit the names in Audio Midi Setup??

 

Regards,

Steve.

 

Since these are the OS X system default devices and hence default names, I think that you may have to create a new Aggregate Audio Device (with the device names you choose) for each of your external MIDI devices (although I would expect an external MIDI device to 'report' its name to OS X) and select the input and outputs device(s) associated with each new device name……..

[icedtrip]

I wanted to add another PCI NIC known to work OTB. I got tired of eno's nForceLAN causing problems with some NFS shares, causing a long lag before shutdown, etc; so I went out and purchased a Rosewill RC-401-EX. I was going to originally get the Netgear GA311 since I knew it would work, but I read Lion has some issues with it and it now requires an additional kext, but the RC-401-EX works with both SL and Lion OTB. It works great, but I did have an issue with it not showing up as "built-in" and therefore the Mac App Store and other programs had some problems, but this was resolved by adding the Ethernet to my EFI Strings using EFIStudio. The

 

<key>EthernetBuiltIn</key>

<string>Yes</string>

 

portion of the com.apple.Boot.plist would not work for me, but EFI Strings did.

[KSwoosh]

Install Leopard OS X 10.5.6 Final Version using my blog install guide, or any Leopard distro you have successfully used before, and then do a Retail install of Snow Leopard and later a Download install of Lion.......later on you can delete the OS X version(s) you do not wish to keep and then use Disk utility to resize the remaining OS X volume(s)......

Well, I probably will stop trying to install OSX on this cursed computer.

Why? I'm planning on getting a new pc (i7, 8GB ram, SSD) and checked the motherboard if it was compatible, and found a guide for it, by someone else:

http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=21724

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=255493

Seems like a much better way to go if you ask me.

 

Though, I really want to thank you very much for taking the time to help me out and all the effort you put into this. Thank you!

[verdant]

I wanted to add another PCI NIC known to work OTB. I got tired of eno's nForceLAN causing problems with some NFS shares, causing a long lag before shutdown, etc; so I went out and purchased a Rosewill RC-401-EX. I was going to originally get the Netgear GA311 since I knew it would work, but I read Lion has some issues with it and it now requires an additional kext, but the RC-401-EX works with both SL and Lion OTB. It works great, but I did have an issue with it not showing up as "built-in" and therefore the Mac App Store and other programs had some problems, but this was resolved by adding the Ethernet to my EFI Strings using EFIStudio. The

 

<key>EthernetBuiltIn</key>

<string>Yes</string>

 

portion of the com.apple.Boot.plist would not work for me, but EFI Strings did.

 

I have had no problems with eno's nForceLAN.kext (version 0.64.5)........my connected onboard LAN port is picked up as Ethernet (en0) even with

 

<key>EthernetBuiltIn</key>

<string>No</string>

 

in org.chameleon.Boot.plist......thus I see in System Report:

 

Ethernet (en0):

 

Type: Ethernet

Hardware: Ethernet

BSD Device Name: en0

 

Configuration Method: DHCP

Interface Name: en0

 

Configuration Method: Automatic

 

Media Options: Full Duplex, Flow Control

Media Subtype: 1000baseT

 

while for my Netgear GA311, all I had to do was put the AppleRTL8169Ethernet.kext from 10.6.8 in the PlugIns folder of the Lion IONetworkingFamily.kext, from which it is/was missing i.e. no longer included in OS X Lion IONetworkingFamily.kext........the Netgear GA311 is recognised as en2:

 

 

and both ports are connected to the internet:

 

 

and I can connect to the App Store......

 

Well, I probably will stop trying to install OSX on this cursed computer.

Why? I'm planning on getting a new pc (i7, 8GB ram, SSD) and checked the motherboard if it was compatible, and found a guide for it, by someone else:

http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=21724

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=255493

Seems like a much better way to go if you ask me.

 

Though, I really want to thank you very much for taking the time to help me out and all the effort you put into this. Thank you!

 

Many thanks for your appreciation..........I hope all goes well with your Intel chipset + CPU MOBO.........

 

Installing OS X Leopard, Snow Leopard and Lion on an nForce chipset MOBO should be viewed as a victory not a curse....LOL

[icedtrip]

I have had no problems with eno's nForceLAN.kext (version 0.64.5)........my connected onboard LAN port is picked up as Ethernet (en0) even with

 

eno's nForceLAN.kext worked great for 99% of time. Everything shows up just fine. The issues that I had might be uncommon and it is hard to figure out where the blame it.

 

I have an unRAID server (which runs a modified version of Slackware Linux) sharing out all of my media (including all of my iTunes collection) via SMB and NFS shares. My Mac Mini never has issues using either SMB or NFS shares, but my hackintosh, with eno's kext, would freeze at certain heavy load times when using NFS shares. It never had an issue with SMB shares. When I mention heavy load times, this would be while transferring a 20GB+ file or doing anything with my iTunes library (220GB+ with ~20k songs). Again, oddly, never had an issue with SMB. Since I installed the PCI NIC, I haven't had a single problem with the NFS shares. Like I said, it is probably an uncommon issue, but enough of one for me to look for a better solution. Also, since my NIC works OTB, the decision was made even easier allowing me to dump one more kext.

 

All of this was with using 0.64.5. Of course, 0.64.6 never had a chance....it was way too problematic. 0.64.6 would lose connection, forcing me to bring down the connection and back up again, but 0.64.5 did have the issues with NFS.

 

With that said, is eno still around?

 

while for my Netgear GA311, all I had to do was put the AppleRTL8169Ethernet.kext from 10.6.8 in the PlugIns folder of the Lion IONetworkingFamily.kext, from which it is/was missing i.e. no longer included in OS X Lion IONetworkingFamily.kext........the Netgear GA311 is recognised as en2:

 

That's right! The AppleRTL8169Ethernet.kext is what I remember reading about. Apparently it had been dropped from one of the Lion betas.

[verdant]

@ icedtrip

 

eno appears to be off scene.......good to know that the Marvel Yukon 88E8053 chipset Rosewill RC-40-EX PCI-e NIC is working OTB for you.......their Gigabit PCI NIC, the Model RC-400 uses the RTL8169S-32 chipset.....

 

Unfortunately, it does not appear to be available outside the USA at present, apart from Canada, Israel and Japan......

[ctuprde]

Hi all

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mobo - Asus Striker Extreme - Does not support ACHI.

Processor - Intel Core2Quad Q6600

Graphics - Nvidia GTX470

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I installed OSX 10.6.3 to an IDE HDD successfully using Nawcoms Mod CD.

Restarted and updated to 10.6.7.

Everything worked fine, until i restarted and plugged in my other SATA drives.

They appear in finder, but when i browse through them the PC locks up and i cant do anything.

I am using the imk 64bit AppleNForceATA.kext, and everything was working perfectly until i plugged in the SATA drives.

Any ideas?

[verdant]

Hi all

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mobo - Asus Striker Extreme - Does not support ACHI.

Processor - Intel Core2Quad Q6600

Graphics - Nvidia GTX470

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I installed OSX 10.6.3 to an IDE HDD successfully using Nawcoms Mod CD.

Restarted and updated to 10.6.7.

Everything worked fine, until i restarted and plugged in my other SATA drives.

They appear in finder, but when i browse through them the PC locks up and i cant do anything.

I am using the imk 64bit AppleNForceATA.kext, and everything was working perfectly until i plugged in the SATA drives.

Any ideas?

 

In BIOS have you set:

 

SATA Controller [Enabled]

RAID Enabled [Enabled]

SATA 1 to SATA 6 RAID [Disabled]

 

If not then do so........

 

See post #1 for link to 680i BIOS settings template......AHCI mode is set implicitly when RAID is enabled......

[ctuprde]

Tried rebooting, and again. Gets to the desktop and then Keyboard/Mouse lockup, however mobileme icon and the clock continue to rotate/change.

 

After a few minutes of this, i got a Kernel Panic again.

 

[verdant]

Tried rebooting, and again. Gets to the desktop and then Keyboard/Mouse lockup, however mobileme icon and the clock continue to rotate/change.

 

After a few minutes of this, i got a Kernel Panic again.

 

 

What kexts have you got in /Extra/Extensions/.......?

 

Are you using a USB keyboard and USB mouse.......?

[ctuprde]

I am using USB mouse and Keyboard, and have taken a photo of the contents of E/ E, as i dont know of any other way of telling you other than typing them in.

 

[verdant]

I am using USB mouse and Keyboard, and have taken a photo of the contents of E/ E, as i dont know of any other way of telling you other than typing them in.

 

 

In which case you do not need AppleACPIPS2Nub.kext, ApplePS2Controller,.kext in /E/E/.........and set up your BIOS as in my OS X 680i template........

 

1. You should only need (with SATA HDDs) to have in /Extra/Extensions/:

 

AppleNForceATA.kext (AppleNForceATA.AnV.kext or AppleNForceATA.slash.kext from Snow Support Files v2.3 .....see post #1)

FakeSMC.kext

NullCPUPowerManagement.kext

OpenHaltRestart.kext or EvoReboot.kext

 

and nothing else if you are using Chameleon 2.0 RC4 or 5 as your bootloader........

 

2. For your com.apple.Boot.plist in /Extra

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">'>http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

<plist version="1.0">

<dict>

<key>Graphics Mode</key>

<string>"Put No if you are using NVEnabler OR EFI Graphics string instead of GraphicsEnabler"</string>

<key>Kernel</key>

<string>mach_kernel</string>

<key>Kernel Flags</key>

<string>-v arch=i386</string> "You can remove -v after confirming OS X booting OK and arch=i386 is replaced by arch=x86_64 in 64bit mode"

<key>Timeout</key>

<string>5</string>

<key>device-properties</key>

<string>"EFI graphics string if you are NOT using GraphicsEnabler OR NVEnabler"</string>

</dict>

</plist>

 

and in Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

<plist version="1.0">

<dict>

<key>Kernel</key>

<string>mach_kernel</string>

<key>Kernel Flags</key>

<string></string>

</dict>

</plist>

 

3. For onboard LAN, put nForceLAN.kext v0.64.5 manually in /S/L/E/ and then in Terminal:

 

sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/
 sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/
 sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions/
 sudo  kextcache -v 1 -t -m /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/Extensions.mkext  /System/Library/Extensions/

 

4. Reboot with -v -f............

 

5. Only once you are running 100% in 32bit mode Snow Leopard, then make the switch to using 64bit kexts in /Extra/Extensions/

 

AppleNForceATA.imk64bit.kext instead of other ApppleNForceATA.kext

EvOReboot.kext or 64bit OpenHaltRestart.kext

 

Note that AppleNForceATA.imk64bit.kext does not support SATA DVDRWs either......

 

6. Then if you wish follow my OS X Lion install Guide.......

[ctuprde]

So, to confirm, my boot.plist should look exactly like this?

 

(I am using GraphicsEnabler=Yes )

 

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

<plist version="1.0"> What does this mean?? Does this get included in boot.plist as well?

 

 

<dict>

 

 

<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>

<string>Yes</string>

<key>Kernel</key>

<string>mach_kernel</string>

<key>Kernel Flags</key>

<string>-v arch=i386</string>

<key>Timeout</key>

<string>5</string>

 

 

</dict>

</plist>

 

 

Thanks for your help.

[verdant]

So, to confirm, my boot.plist should look exactly like this?

 

(I am using GraphicsEnabler=Yes )

 

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

<plist version="1.0"> What does this mean?? Does this get included in boot.plist as well?

 

 

<dict>

 

 

<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>

<string>Yes</string>

<key>Kernel</key>

<string>mach_kernel</string>

<key>Kernel Flags</key>

<string>-v arch=i386</string>

<key>Timeout</key>

<string>5</string>

 

 

</dict>

</plist>

 

 

Thanks for your help.

 

What you have indicated in bold should be present already........I was showing you complete Boot.plist files.......and yes for

 

<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>

<string>Yes</string>

[ctuprde]

Okay great, done everything above - im now booted into 32bit mode.

 

Are there any tests that you would recommend i do to test the system?

 

EDIT - i notice that i only have Read access to all the SATA drives....

[verdant]

Okay great, done everything above - im now booted into 32bit mode.

 

Are there any tests that you would recommend i do to test the system?

 

EDIT - i notice that i only have Read access to all the SATA drives....

 

Glad you up and running in 32bit mode.......

 

You can check for full CI/QE......see post #1

You can do some heavy data transfers / downloads

I presume you have checked USB mounting/unmounting; sound; networking; Firewire (if you have it/use it) etc.

 

Right-click HDD volume icons and select Get Info......click on padlock in bottom RHS corner.......then look at Sharing and Permissions......see if you can change to read:

 

system = Read & Write

admin = Read & Write or wheel = Read & Write

everyone = Read Only

 

'Ignore ownership on this volume' box left unchecked

[ctuprde]

There is no padlock displayed bottom right.... Is that because drives are formatted NTFS?

 

EDIT - When watching a video, I get about 2 mins in and the pc locks up. However there is no obvious kernel panic, and the clock continues to change!

[verdant]

There is no padlock displayed bottom right.... Is that because drives are formatted NTFS?

 

EDIT - When watching a video, I get about 2 mins in and the pc locks up. However there is no obvious kernel panic, and the clock continues to change!

 

I thought you were referring to OS X on a SATA HDD.........yes, there is no padlock displayed bottom right for non-OS X volumes......OS X is set up to naturally read/write FAT32 volumes but only to read NTFS volumes......to read/write NTFS volumes see here and here for commercial solutions and here for freeware solution...

 

What app are you using to watch videos.....?

 

Boot with debug=0x100 debug=0x144.....use debug=0x100 first and watch a video and then use debug=0x144 and watch the same video.......you may see what error messages pop up when the lockup occurs......