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

[jonboyuk]

WOOHOOO!!!!!

 

That was excitement to find this thread after much searching.

 

I've had a little look at the first post and as useful as it is, I find it so overwhelming! Before I persevere, it would be good if someone could give me a heads up! I have tried it on a number of occasions with little luck. Lots of panics and hanging etc.

 

First of all, here's my hardware

 

Core components:

 

ASUS Striker Extreme (680i chipset); (2 Nvidia LAN, Firewire, Soundcard)

Intel Q6600 Core2 quad 2.4GHz Processor;

Nvidia GTX280;

2xSATA 500Gb HDD's. One used for Win7 and the other for MacOS;

1xIDE DVD writer;

 

Other random bits: (not sure if they effect install)

 

Wirelessn RaLink TR2760 PCI card;

Card reader;

Saffire LE firewire soundcard;

USB backup drive;

Space Pilot Navigator;

DVB2 Usb satellite box

Vray dongle!

 

Anyway, I tried EFI Empire V1.085R2 and Retail SL. Using VESA mode for graphics (wouldn't load otherwise), I got SL booting with the CD. As soon as I tried booting without EFI Empire & with Chameleon 2 r4, it gets into the macos when the mouse pointer first appears and hangs completely. Tried copying various kexts over but it always does this

 

Then I tried using EFI Empire V1.085R2 with iAktos s3 v2 and it installs and runs fine (with full graphics, not VESA). However again after installing Chameleon (tried lots of bootloaders by the way), it STILL just hangs when it gets into the OS.

 

NB. I want to be running the OS in x64 and install off the SL disk I bought not iAktos if possible.

 

Is this the right place to help?

 

Thanks! Jon

 

***EDIT***

 

I was also told on a hackint0sh channel on mIRC that the Nvidia SATA is too buggy and will never be stable and that I need an SATA pcie card. Is that true?

[verdant]

WOOHOOO!!!!!

 

That was excitement to find this thread after much searching.

 

I've had a little look at the first post and as useful as it is, I find it so overwhelming! Before I persevere, it would be good if someone could give me a heads up! I have tried it on a number of occasions with little luck. Lots of panics and hanging etc.

 

First of all, here's my hardware

 

Core components:

 

ASUS Striker Extreme (680i chipset); (2 Nvidia LAN, Firewire, Soundcard)

Intel Q6600 Core2 quad 2.4GHz Processor;

Nvidia GTX280;

2xSATA 500Gb HDD's. One used for Win7 and the other for MacOS;

1xIDE DVD writer;

 

Other random bits: (not sure if they effect install)

 

Wirelessn RaLink TR2760 PCI card;

Card reader;

Saffire LE firewire soundcard;

USB backup drive;

Space Pilot Navigator;

DVB2 Usb satellite box

Vray dongle!

 

Anyway, I tried EFI Empire V1.085R2 and Retail SL. Using VESA mode for graphics (wouldn't load otherwise), I got SL booting with the CD. As soon as I tried booting without EFI Empire & with Chameleon 2 r4, it gets into the macos when the mouse pointer first appears and hangs completely. Tried copying various kexts over but it always does this

 

Then I tried using EFI Empire V1.085R2 with iAktos s3 v2 and it installs and runs fine (with full graphics, not VESA). However again after installing Chameleon (tried lots of bootloaders by the way), it STILL just hangs when it gets into the OS.

 

NB. I want to be running the OS in x64 and install off the SL disk I bought not iAktos if possible.

 

Is this the right place to help?

 

Thanks! Jon

 

***EDIT***

 

I was also told on a hackint0sh channel on mIRC that the Nvidia SATA is too buggy and will never be stable and that I need an SATA pcie card. Is that true?

 

Hi Jon,

 

Your hardware setup is OK.........except when initially installing OS X, I would:

 

[1] Disconnect your Windows HDD

 

[2] Disconnect the following:

 

Wirelessn RaLink TR2760 PCI card;

Card reader;

Saffire LE firewire soundcard;

USB backup drive;

Space Pilot Navigator;

DVB2 Usb satellite box

Vray dongle

 

[3] Use a Leopard distro Install DVD, e.g. iPC10.5.6 Final Version (see my blog iPC10.5.6 Install Guide) or XxX 10.5.6 v2 to run Disk Utiliy to partition the HDD as GPT and format as mac OS X Extended (Journaled) into a 12GB OS X target volume as the first physical volume on your 500GB HDD for OS X Leopard, followed by 2 equal size volumes for a main Snow Leopard system and for a backup Snow Leopard system............

 

[4] Install Leopard OS X but do not select any graphics/video options initially in the Customise menu......just get Leopard OS X running in VESA mode so that you can see the OS X Desktop.......

 

[5] Do not be overwhelmed by my Snow Leopard guide........honestly, it is all in the guide, step-by-step......

 

Unless you are using a Snow Leopard distro, the simplest method of installing Snow Leopard (if you do not already have Leopard installed on the PC) is to do a distro install of Leopard on one volume (which you have now done I hope......) and then use the Leopard OS X system to:

 

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

 

2. Format a HFS+ volume as your target Snow Leopard OS X volume (OSX_MAIN) and any other volumes your require on the GPT partitioned HDD using Disk Utility

 

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

 

4. Establish OS X target HDD ownership

 

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

 

6. Install Chameleon 2.0 RC3 (or RC4) onto your target Snow Leopard OS X volume (OSX_MAIN) and in the process generate a /Extra directory.....

 

7. Put all the necessary kexts in /Extra/Extensions/, sort out the com.apple.Boot.plist and SMBIOS.plist files to put in /Extra, as well as putting DSDT.aml in / or in /Extra......

 

That is, do all the above before you decide to use either the USB flash drive installer method or my nForceSLBoot132DVD installer method for installing from the Mac OS X Snow Leopard Retail Install DVD.........

 

8. As for booting in 32bit mode vs 64bit mode..........I would recommend that you initially get the system working 100% in 32bit mode........

 

This is because the 64-bit kernel is only used by default in the 2008 and later Xserve rack mounted servers capable of using up to 48 GiB of memory, but also 2008 and later Mac Pros and the mid 2010 Mac Mini when running 10.6.x Server. All other Macs (apart from the mid 2010 Mac Pros) use the 32/64-bit hybrid kernel by default because their hardware doesn’t support more than 32 GiB of memory, and since Snow Leopard is completely backwards-compatible with 32-bit applications and runs 64-bit applications regardless of whether it boots into a 64-bit or a 32-bit kernel, running the purely 64-bit kernel has little significant advantage........

 

I am not saying that there are no advantages, just that they are not as yet critically significant to the majority of OS X users...........the advantages being that the 64bit OS X kernel has the ability to [1] set up a memory address space for itself greater than 32-bits (4GB) and [2] access the full x64 register set of 64-bit CPUs..........hence, Apple is gradually increasing the number of Mac models that boot by default into the 64bit kernel.........

This Mac uses the 64-bit kernel by default in Mac OS X v10.6.

• Mac Pro (Mid 2010)
  

These Macs use the 64-bit kernel by default in Mac OS X Server 10.6.

• Xserve (Early 2008) and later
  
• Mac Pro (Early 2008) and later
  
• Mac mini (Mid 2010)
  

These Macs support the 64-bit kernel, but do not use it by default.

• iMac (Early 2008) and later
  
• MacBook Pro (Early 2008) and later
  

And, as for the Mac Pros (Mid 2010) using the 64-bit kernel by default in Mac OS X v10.6:

 

4 x 2.8 GHz cores with 4 RAM slots supporting up to 32GB RAM Price: US$2499

6 x 3.33 GHz cores with 4 RAM slots supporting up to 32GB RAM Price: US$3699

8 x 2.4 GHz cores with 8 RAM slots supporting up to 64GB RAM Price: US$3499

12 x 2.66 GHz cores with 8 RAM slots supporting up to 64GB RAM Price: U$4999

 

would you call the "buyers" of these Mac Pro computers, "regular users", or "power users".........?

 

Furthermore, regarding Windows 7:

 

Pros and Cons of a 64 bit system:

• You can address much more than 4GB of memory, which is ideal for avid gamers, CAD, video editors and heavy multi-taskers. However, any 32 bit software you use will still be restricted to 4GB memory – you need a 64 bit CPU, OS and applications to take full advantage of the extra RAM.
  
• 16 bit applications will no longer run. Although this is unlikely to be a problem, if you use very old software (from the Windows 3.1 days!) then it will not work under a 64 bit OS.
  
• Existing 32 bit drivers no longer work.If you have older or poorly supported hardware you may find that it can no longer be used. Got a 7 year old scanner that just about works in Vista? You may not be able to get it working in 64 bit Windows 7.
  
• Unsigned kernel-mode drivers no longer work. Along with the issue above, the inability to run unsigned kernel mode drivers will cause problems for old hardware. (There is reportedly a way to bypass this check).
  
• Running some 32 bit applications on a 64 bit OS could actually be slower. The additional overheads in running 32 bit software in 64 bit mode could cause a slight degradation in performance. It will take some time for 64 bit software to become the norm.
  

The Windows system needs a full 64bit kernel to work at its best because the 32bit kernel Windows system is very limited, whereas Mac OS X is different because the 32bit kernel is capable of launching and running 64bit processes, i.e. applications..........

[jonboyuk]

Thanks for such an intelligible response! I will have a go this week and see what I can do

[jonboyuk]

Right well, so far so good! My system is stable and 90% of it's working perfectly. So thanks.

 

As it happens, I only have 2 issues.

 

1. Sleep doesn't work at all. Seems to go into it, but won't come out again. Is that typical behaviour with the sleepenabler kext on a 680i board? I think I read that in the first post that it's not possible as yet?

 

2. Firewire Soundcard issue. The onboard sound works fine, however the Focusrite Saffire LE is proving to be a bit of a $"*("$.

 

If it's not plugged in, the system is fine, no issues at all. However, when I plug in, at some point, the OS completely freezes. No panic info on screen, it just freezes. When it works, the sound is fine from it, although if I'm listening to itunes or spotify, there's a small blip in the sound every 2 mins or so. Anyway, eventually it will always hang, be it after 2 mins, or 15. Quite random really!

 

So, is it likely to be the kext that controls firewire or the device itself? There are no specific kexts for it, just a program to monitor it.

 

Just as a side note however, with a bit of testing previously, (like before), if I was to boot the system using the EFIEmpire 1.085R2 boot CD I made, it never hangs with this device plugged in.

 

Many thanks again for you previous response. Even if these 2 issues can't be fixed, this hackintosh is sweet and I'll be happy. After all, I'm writing this from it!!

[verdant]

Right well, so far so good! My system is stable and 90% of it's working perfectly. So thanks.

 

Glad to help........

 

As it happens, I only have 2 issues.

 

1. Sleep doesn't work at all. Seems to go into it, but won't come out again. Is that typical behaviour with the sleepenabler kext on a 680i board? I think I read that in the first post that it's not possible as yet?

 

SleepEnabler.kext does not work on nForce MOBOs running Snow Leopard.

 

Also, on my 650i MOBO, with OC'd CPU and/or RAM, sleep stops working on Leopard and sleep has never worked on Snow Leopard........

 

2. Firewire Soundcard issue. The onboard sound works fine, however the Focusrite Saffire LE is proving to be a bit of a {:content:}quot;*("$.

 

If it's not plugged in, the system is fine, no issues at all. However, when I plug in, at some point, the OS completely freezes. No panic info on screen, it just freezes. When it works, the sound is fine from it, although if I'm listening to itunes or spotify, there's a small blip in the sound every 2 mins or so. Anyway, eventually it will always hang, be it after 2 mins, or 15. Quite random really!

 

So, is it likely to be the kext that controls firewire or the device itself? There are no specific kexts for it, just a program to monitor it.

 

Just as a side note however, with a bit of testing previously, (like before), if I was to boot the system using the EFIEmpire 1.085R2 boot CD I made, it never hangs with this device plugged in.

 

Re audio and Firewire, seem my post here and subsequent posts discussing Firewire.........you should compare the kexts (i.e. name and versions) loaded when booting from the EFIEmpire 1.085R2 boot CD, (i.e. the kexts in the CD Extensions.mkext file or Extensions folder) with those loaded when booting from the HDD, using the Terminal command

kextstat

......if there is a different kext and/or version used on the CD, then try it on the HDD......

 

Many thanks again for you previous response. Even if these 2 issues can't be fixed, this hackintosh is sweet and I'll be happy. After all, I'm writing this from it!!

[muiterz]

Verdant, i'm lost

 

i'm unable to install my second videocard to get triple monitor. I got a 8400GS 512 nvidia card, but it won't work. The efi string from aquamac, didn't work at all. So i think the only solution is a dsdt modification.

 

Do you know something about editen the dsdt in combi with 2 videocards? I don't think it will be to difficult, maybe edit the lines for pci-express 2 or so? But i don't know where to start.

 

Do you have any tips? thanks in advanced!

[verdant]

Verdant, i'm lost

 

i'm unable to install my second videocard to get triple monitor. I got a 8400GS 512 nvidia card, but it won't work. The efi string from aquamac, didn't work at all. So i think the only solution is a dsdt modification.

 

Do you know something about editen the dsdt in combi with 2 videocards? I don't think it will be to difficult, maybe edit the lines for pci-express 2 or so? But i don't know where to start.

 

Do you have any tips? thanks in advanced!

 

See here.......

[muiterz]

See here.......

 

tnx! Is it possible to boot videocard 2 as default with our mainboard? Asus p5n23e sli plus?

[verdant]

tnx! Is it possible to boot videocard 2 as default with our mainboard? Asus p5n23e sli plus?

 

I do not know as I only use and have a single graphics card.........

[abhilash]

I am using sl 10.6.4 in 64-bit kernel mode.. it works fine, but the thing is cmos getting reset every time when i use sleep or shutdown... earlier when booted in 32-bit kernel cmos reset didn't happened.... Thanks in advance...

[verdant]

I am using sl 10.6.4 in 64-bit kernel mode.. it works fine, but the thing is cmos getting reset every time when i use sleep or shutdown... earlier when booted in 32-bit kernel cmos reset didn't happened.... Thanks in advance...

 

You need to use either a RTC patched DSDT.aml file (see post #1 Part B.) or ElliottForceLegacyRTC.kext in /Extra/Extensions/......

[abhilash]

You need to use either a RTC patched DSDT.aml file (see post #1 Part B.) or ElliottForceLegacyRTC.kext in /Extra/Extensions/......

 

 

I patched RTC section of DSDT.aml at the time of sl installation only.. even i had used ElliottForceLegacyRTC.kext but i got kernel panic...

[verdant]

I patched RTC section of DSDT.aml at the time of sl installation only.. even i had used ElliottForceLegacyRTC.kext but i got kernel panic...

 

Zip up your MOBO dsdt.dsl generated via fassl's DSDT Patcher and PM me a download link and I will patch it for you........

[abhilash]

Zip up your MOBO dsdt.dsl generated via fassl's DSDT Patcher and PM me a download link and I will patch it for you........

 

Here it is... dsdt.zip

[verdant]

Here it is... dsdt.zip

 

 

Here is your RTC patched DSDT.aml file......abilash_Fixed_DSDT.zip

[abhilash]

Here is your RTC patched DSDT.aml file......abilash_Fixed_DSDT.zip

 

 

hey verdant.. it didn't fix the issue.. ... CMOS reset occurs ONLY when i am using 64-bit kernel mode...

[verdant]

hey verdant.. it didn't fix the issue.. ... CMOS reset occurs ONLY when i am using 64-bit kernel mode...

 

Confirm that all your kexts are 64bit and post what version of Chameleon you have installed.......

 

Boot with

-v Wait=y

and the boot process should be put on hold until Chameleon has finished doing "its stuff", and then look for DSDT.aml in the subsequent boot screen messages to see if the DSDT.aml file in / or in /Extra/ has been found and loaded by Chameleon ........

 

BTW I use RC3 and keep my DSDT.aml file in / directory.......so, if you DSDT.aml is not being loaded from /Extra/ try with it in / and/or try RC3 if you are using RC4 or R5 etc......

 

If that makes no difference, then try booting with

DSDT=/Extra/DSDT.aml

to see if you can force Chameleon to load the DSDT.aml file and in your com.apple.Boot.plist put

 

<key>DSDT</key>
<string>rd(X,Y)/Extra/DSDT.aml</string>

 

where X is your HDD number and Y is the HDD partition/volume number.........

[abhilash]

Confirm that all your kexts are 64bit and post what version of Chameleon you have installed.......

 

Boot with

-v Wait=y

and the boot process should be put on hold until Chameleon has finished doing "its stuff", and then look for DSDT.aml in the subsequent boot screen messages to see if the DSDT.aml file in / or in /Extra/ has been found and loaded by Chameleon ........

 

BTW I use RC3 and keep my DSDT.aml file in / directory.......so, if you DSDT.aml is not being loaded from /Extra/ try with it in / and/or try RC3 if you are using RC4 or R5 etc......

 

If that makes no difference, then try booting with

DSDT=/Extra/DSDT.aml

to see if you can force Chameleon to load the DSDT.aml file and in your com.apple.Boot.plist put

 

<key>DSDT</key>
<string>rd(X,Y)/Extra/DSDT.aml</string>

 

where X is your HDD number and Y is the HDD partition/volume number.........

 

 

All my kexts are 64-bit and i have installed Chameleon RC4... I checked using "-v Wait=y", the chameleon loads DSDT.aml from /Extra/ where i kept my DSDT.aml.. I think DSDT.aml is loaded properly..

[johnredcorn]

It has been almost a year since I last visited this thread, as I was not expecting to see continued development of this guide or nForce kexts (32bit 10.6.2 has been running perfectly).

 

It took about 2 hours to re-read the install guide, research the updates, and rebuild a new USB installer, but my qx6600/striker extreme/ati 4870 system is now running great on 10.6.4 in 64bit. Everything is working (even sata dvd burner) except sleep, but that was expected.

 

Thanks again Verdant for keeping this guide up to date.

[verdant]

It has been almost a year since I last visited this thread, as I was not expecting to see continued development of this guide or nForce kexts (32bit 10.6.2 has been running perfectly).

 

It took about 2 hours to re-read the install guide, research the updates, and rebuild a new USB installer, but my qx6600/striker extreme/ati 4870 system is now running great on 10.6.4 in 64bit. Everything is working (even sata dvd burner) except sleep, but that was expected.

 

Thanks again Verdant for keeping this guide up to date.

 

Glad to help.........

Are you then able to both read and write to DVD/CDs under OS X using the SATA DVDRW....?

[lottomotto]

I updated to 10.6.5

 

I had a big problem with USB... basically no USB was working anymore, included mouse and keyboard..

The only option was to connect the HDD to another mac. Ther I deleted the IOUSBFamily kext and manually copied the old one back.

 

I reebooted and mouse and keyboard where working, but no External HDD or other USB equipment.

 

The system told me that the kext wasn't installed properly.

 

So i installed it back.

Reboot

 

All right now.

 

ah.. you need to to reinstall also the AppleHDA kext... but we knew that...

[RaMDaY]

Hey hey! After updating to 10.6.5 I can boot with all 4 cores in 32bit mode. I'm now going to test stability. Does anyone have any suggesting on what software I should use?

[verdant]

Hey hey! After updating to 10.6.5 I can boot with all 4 cores in 32bit mode. I'm now going to test stability. Does anyone have any suggesting on what software I should use?

 

That is good news..........glad for you........

 

When updating to 10.6.5, loss of audio and USB functionality seem to be the main issues.........fortunately, both are fixable by rolling back to pre-10.6.5 AppleHDA and IOUSBFamily and IOUSBMassStorageClass kexts in my case........i.e. back to 10.6.2 AppleHDA.kext and the 10.6.4 IOUSBFamily and IOUSBMassStorageClass kexts........

 

Try CPUTest v0.2..........

[lottomotto]

That is good news..........glad for you........

 

When updating to 10.6.5, loss of audio and USB functionality seem to be the main issues.........fortunately, both are fixable by rolling back to pre-10.6.5 AppleHDA and IOUSBFamily and IOUSBMassStorageClass kexts in my case........i.e. back to 10.6.2 AppleHDA.kext and the 10.6.4 IOUSBFamily and IOUSBMassStorageClass kexts........

 

Try CPUTest v0.2..........

 

Hi, you are right I had to put back also the IOUSBMassStorageClass.

I also have a Bluetooth problem. To have magic mouse to work had to roll back the IOBluetoothHIDDriver too

[solotitan]

Does anyone else have really laggy QE/CI after 10.6.5??? Menu bar isn't transparent either??