[GUIDE] Snow Leopard Vanilla Retail Guide for GA-P35-DS4 and other related boards

[stangn99]

Yeah, man, you're right! That worked, and I can now boot with the first CD as well. But there's another problem, which I think is something with the BIOS again. When I try to load the Retail DVD I get this error:

 

 

 

... or something like that. And I think the same error flashes before the chameleon boot screen appears. What have I done wrong again?

 

No man.. you're good.

I had the same error pop up. After the installation is complete, the errors will no longer come up.

 

Just keep going.

 

Edit: At the end of the installation, you may get a message saying something along the lines of "unable to set startup disk"..and will show the error icon.

 

Ignore this..just reboot, reset your bios settings, and use the BOOTCD to get back into your new install.

[ogynche]

But.. it doesn't load the installation, it displays the error several times and then stops. And btw before this error there's another one - can't find mach_kernel. Hm strange.

[stangn99]

But.. it doesn't load the installation, it displays the error several times and then stops. And btw before this error there's another one - can't find mach_kernel. Hm strange.

 

 

Sorry if you have already done this..just trying to help.

 

- Once in Chameleon, eject the BOOTCD and put in your Snow Install DVD.

- Press F5, and Snow Leopard DVD shows up.

- highlight it, type "-v", and press enter

 

 

Are you doing it like that?

[ogynche]

Yeah, I did it this time. I just couldn't manage to find where to write -v, cuz after pressing F5 nothing special happened. Anyway, I waited the errors this time a lil bit longer and the installation loaded successfully. But, of course, I now have another problem - my mouse and keyboard are not working (in the installation) :? I remember I had some issues with them, when installing the 10.5, but after changing some boot CDs everything was good. Should I try with another CD?

[qaz012]

Thanks tseug

[stangn99]

Yeah, I did it this time. I just couldn't manage to find where to write -v, cuz after pressing F5 nothing special happened. Anyway, I waited the errors this time a lil bit longer and the installation loaded successfully. But, of course, I now have another problem - my mouse and keyboard are not working (in the installation) :? I remember I had some issues with them, when installing the 10.5, but after changing some boot CDs everything was good. Should I try with another CD?

 

 

Are you sure you re-enabled USB mouse and keyboard? The bios will reset after you reboot, and by default the USB keyboard and mouse is disabled.

[juanml82]

I'm also having trouble with the bootcd. I've burned it to a CD-RW and I'm planning to make a test install this way: I'm using an external HD, with two partitions. One has the SL install disk image "restored" there, and the other partition is the one I'm trying to install to (that should work, right?)

The bootcd reaches this point:

http://img36.imageshack.us/i/img0252a.jpg/

and nothing else happens

 

My hardware is the following:

GA-P35-DSL3 motherboard

E6750 Intel processor

Gigabyte Nvidia 8600GT

Sata DVD burner

2 Sata HDs. A 320GB for windows and its applications, the other is a 500 GB with two partitions: the OSX partition (currently with 10.5.2) with around 35GB and another partition for data. If it works in the external HD, I'm planning to make a permanent install in this last internal HD.

 

Any idea on which could be the issue with the bootcd? Thanks in advance

[Bernard Tapie]

ok, it's working now

 

I've installed it through Leopard from the restored Snow Leopard DVD partition, that was the only way to install in the Snow Leopard partition (and from Leopard running) the Netkas' new universal injector for ati and nvidia, cos as you guessed it right the Ati 2600 was the problem. And then I had to reboot with -x because unless you delete the ATIRadeonX2000.kext you'll always have to boot in safe mode.

So, so far so good, I've updated to 10.6.1, I haven't experienced any KP or whatever, spotlight and repair permissions are running flawlessly, as for sound I can't tell anything since I'm running a Motu Soundcard which works well.

 

Now I don't have any support for QE or Core Image neither Open CL and exposé is very slow, so with next month paycheck I'm gonna get a 9800GT.

 

voilà so I'd like to thank all the community for helping me

 

[ogynche]

Are you sure you re-enabled USB mouse and keyboard? The bios will reset after you reboot, and by default the USB keyboard and mouse is disabled.

 

My mouse and keyboard are PS/2

[Rebellion]

Ok, this is probably stupid question but I'm newbie so bear with me. What I dont understand is following:

 

4) "Restart. You need to load your saved settings in BIOS before proceeding. You should also exchange the retail DVD with your boot CD. Save your settings (F10) and restart. Press F12 to boot from your CDROM."

 

The question is why should I load my BIOS settings? I saved them on start, so why is this part necessary?

Cant I just set first boot device CDROM at the beginning and keep this settings all the way?

Also on the beginning of the tutorial says that F11 is for saving BIOS settings and in this line says F10?

 

I just want to understand everything before I start installation.

Thanks.

[kludgedean]

@Rebellion: You'll need to save correct BIOS settings, install from DVD (or partition) and then when finished installing, RE-LOAD saved settings, this is because installing from the Snow Leopard DVD/Partition breaks BIOS settings (DSDT issue, which is why it needs patching at some point to stop CMOS getting corrupted after every reboot)

 

Hi everyone, Just joined after way too long lurking! System Spec is in my sig, Been running OSX10.5.x (upto and including .8) easily, but battling for 3 weeks now to get 10.6 installed and working stably!. Read far too much stuff, too many bad/flaky guides out there, or just far too long for someone that wants a really quick rundown ((MY ultimate failure as I DO now have this running! -- Will update within a few hours of how!)

 

I'll have a few more retries at getting this installed consistantly perfectly!. I've had several issues along the way (Kernel Panics), from multiple installation methods (Most recently before I went BootCD method) was OSInstall.mpkg from a working Leopard install. I installed Snow Leopard EASILY and perfectly using a BootCD for the GA-P35-DS4 (works fine on the GA-EP35-DS4 too] and restoring from a partition (or DVD)... After its finished installing, Booting AGAIN from the BootCD works every time!.... eventually I'll be happily Dual booting OSX10.6.1 and Win7 on an SSD!

 

 

EDIT: Just because I can, and as a proof of concept this guide works perfectly IF you follow it, I done a quick movie with Quicktime X (

)

[stangn99]

My mouse and keyboard are PS/2

 

Ok...I didn't even know it would work with PS/2.

 

Why not just pick up a cheap usb keyboard and mouse, and not have to worry about PS/2?

[kludgedean]

Ok here's my turbo How-I-Finally-Cracked-SL! (accumulated from lots of different sources, Credit to everyone due!)

Hopefully this is comprehensive and SHORT enough to hold everyone's attention (it did my own, hence why i kept leaving out little steps that were VITAL!)

 

If you need any of the files mentioned in this guide, feel free to grab them from my 100mbps server in Europe ( http://kludgebox.no-ip.org/insanelymac/GA-P35-DS4K.zip )

 

Assuming you have the following done already)

 

0 Have CORRECT BIOS settings setup and the profile saved, a SATA CD/DVD drive etc!

1/ Burnt the GA-P35-DS4 snow-leopard BootCD

2/ Have a USB stick (or CD) with the following files on it

a/ EFIStudio

b/ GA-P35-DS4 Snow Pack.pkg

c/ KextUtility (I used 2.3.2)

OPTIONAL d/ X58 Mobo Patch Installer (Optional, will allow you to correct minor informational errors, suchas "about this mac")

 

3/ Have either

a/ Snow Leopard Retail DVD

b/ Have the DMG restored to a partition which you can install from!

 

Right, we're ready to go!

 

Put your GA-EP35-DS4 BootCD into the drive, and boot from it (HIT F12 if your CD/DVD drive isn't first and select it)

 

1/ Allow the BootCD to do its thing, If you cannot get to the graphical Chameleon RC3 screen, and it hangs at a boot stage, Your CD/DVD drive isn't the first device (make sure it is)

 

( In my BIOS I have 3 devices at the moment, the first listed is my DVDRW, then the 2 HDDs) 0M (Disk 0 master) is the DVDRW, then 0S (0 slave) and 1M (1st Master) are the the two HDDs)

 

2/ Swap out the BootCD with your Retail DVD, wait a few seconds for it to be recognised, and hit F5 to refresh the Chameleon GUI, and select the Retail Snow Leopard Boot DVD (If you restored the Snow Leopard DMG to a partition, select that to boot it)

 

**- Install MacOSX 10.6 ensuring to NOT install printers and any languages you don't need -**

 

3/ When installed, reboot and restore/load your BIOS settings as they WILL be corrupt (there is no DSDT on the bootCD)

 

4/ Boot from CD again, and you're IN OSX10.6! Fill in the basic info, or skip registration

 

*NOTE: At this point Snow Leopard LIVE with internet connectivity and will automatically download system updates in the background!!! If you wish to prevent this go to system preferences, open Software Update, and until Download updates automatically - You will also need to reboot for this to take effect, BUT by doing this you'll need an additional reboot and reloading of the BIOS settings!)*

 

6/ Install GA-P35-DS4 Snow Pack

 

7/ Run EFIStudio, Select your graphics card from the list, mine is a 1GB 8800 GT, So I selected the 512MB 8800GT

 

8/ Click Add device

 

9/ **** REMOVED thanks LS8! ****

 

10/ The editor opens with a string, In my case seeing as I have a 1GB card, and it only 'sees' 512MB, you can manually edit a string to make it 1GB.

Scroll right down the bottom until you see this key and string

 

<key>VRAM,totalsize</key>

<string>0x20000000</string>

 

Manually swap out the 2 of 0x20000000 to 4, so double 512*2 == 1024MB

 

11/ Select write to com.apple.Boot.plist

 

12/ Run KExt Utility to rebuild caches and basic permissions

 

13/ Run Disk utility, select your Snow Leopard Partition and Repair Permissions

 

14/ Reboot machine, RELOAD BIOS settings, Remove CD from drive, and boot from HDD!

 

OPTIONAL

 

To get your "About this Mac" and "System Profiler" To give more correct settings if you're really picky (like I am); Then read on!

 

1/ You will need to set yourself a password as the X58 installer script won't work without one, So open System Preferences, Accounts, and Change Password

 

2/ Insert your USB Stick or CD (wherever you put the downloaded files onto) and open "X58_Mobo_Patch_Installer" folder, and double click the "RUN-PATCH_INSTALLER"

 

3/ Give it your password you just set up at step 1

 

4/ Select the CORRECT choice for your Snow Leopard Partition and hit enter, then select 1 (System Partition (/Extra)

 

5/ Ignore choices 1-7 as you have done the equivalent of these for our boards! We're just interested in the plists and other minor cosmetics

 

6/ select 8 (Modify plists) and look for the numerical choice for the Boot Plist for your Snow Leopard Partition, In my case this is 4 ("Snow") the default is to boot the kernel in 32bit, to change this simply remove the kernel flag by selecting it in the choice menu (3), and then the number (1) after with the line arch=x86_32, and d to delete it

 

7/ e to exit, and e to exit, so you're back to the main page of 19 choices again

 

8/ Back to (8) Modify plists, and select the SMBIOS Plist for your Snow Leopard, mine is (6) ("Snow")

 

/ a/ Change (2) "SMmaximalclock" to your actual frequency if this is wrong, my "About this Mac" reports 3000, when it should be 3600, so select 2, then enter the correct integer number (in my case 3600)

b/ (3) SMmemspeed = If this is incorrect for your RAM then feel free to change it, mine said 800, but is DDR2-1000, so enter 1000

c/ (4) SMmemtype if you have DDR2 RAM, this number should be 19

d/ (5) SMexternalclcok I know that my FSB if I was running my C2D E6600 stock would be 266MHz, but I have overclocked, and know that my FSB is indeed 400, so I change this to 400

e/ e to exit!

 

Feel free to change the other options here (in menus 9 to 13) when finished just Exit or Reboot

 

UK BRIT KEYBOARD SETTINGS with a PC keyboard

 

1/ This is something that really peeved me off for quite a while. If you're in the UK, you'll notice that the " and @ are switched around, there is a keymap that corrects this behaviour

 

Here is a website with 2 keyboard layout files for OSX10.6 ( http://liyang.hu/osx-british.xhtml ) with instructions on how to install

 

Proofing; http://redirectingat.com/?id=292X457&u...v%3DDco5FJYmJgU

[LS8]

quote: 9/ Select Ethernet and Click Add Device

 

You should not need the ETHER EFI string. DSDT should do the thing.

[kludgedean]

Nice one, cheers LS8, I'll remove that one for a cleaner install. Only having slightly jerky pauses with my mouse (Could be no sound) Onboard Audio disabled, and my PCI Terratec Phase 28 Producer soundcard drivers for 10.5.x don't work (The card is still in the PC)

[ogynche]

Ok...I didn't even know it would work with PS/2.

 

Why not just pick up a cheap usb keyboard and mouse, and not have to worry about PS/2?

Ok, i found an USB mouse, but now I have another problem - the install doesn't recognize my SATA hard drive (on which I have installed Leopard 10.5.7). I'm tired of problems

[tseug]

Nice one, cheers LS8, I'll remove that one for a cleaner install. Only having slightly jerky pauses with my mouse (Could be no sound) Onboard Audio disabled, and my PCI Terratec Phase 28 Producer soundcard drivers for 10.5.x don't work (The card is still in the PC)

 

I don't have the jerky mouse problem myself, but you can try removing AppleEFIRuntime.kext from /S/L/E (make sure to back up).

[oSxFr33k]

tseug,

 

Will this work on a GA-EP35-DS4?

 

 

If not does anyone have the DSDT for that board? I also have both the NV 7300GT and 9800GT. What do I need to do so those work properly? Will running the EFI studio generate the strings I need? Does this go into the DSDT or only in the com.apple.boot.plist? And which plist the one in the Chameleon folder or the one on the actually snow leopard tree. /library/preferences/forgot the next folder but its in there. Is this were I add the strings I generate?

 

I don't understand why the Lan and Audio go into the DSDT but not the graphics or does it go into the DSDT and the plist?

[stangn99]

Ok, i found an USB mouse, but now I have another problem - the install doesn't recognize my SATA hard drive (on which I have installed Leopard 10.5.7). I'm tired of problems

 

Did you use Disk Utility in the Installer to format/create a GUID partition?

 

Nice one, cheers LS8, I'll remove that one for a cleaner install. Only having slightly jerky pauses with my mouse (Could be no sound) Onboard Audio disabled, and my PCI Terratec Phase 28 Producer soundcard drivers for 10.5.x don't work (The card is still in the PC)

 

Not sure if its the same jerky/lagged mouse issue I had (when quicktime/itunes is open).

 

I removed AppleUpstreamUserClient.kext and have not had any mouse issues!

[ogynche]

Did you use Disk Utility in the Installer to format/create a GUID partition?

Yes, I started Disk Utillity but couldn't see the SATA hard drive on which I want to install, and which has installed Leopard 10.5.7 on it. I could only see my SATAII with win7/vista installed on it.

[tseug]

tseug,

 

Will this work on a GA-EP35-DS4?

 

Some people have reported success.

 

If not does anyone have the DSDT for that board? I also have both the NV 7300GT and 9800GT. What do I need to do so those work properly? Will running the EFI studio generate the strings I need? Does this go into the DSDT or only in the com.apple.boot.plist? And which plist the one in the Chameleon folder or the one on the actually snow leopard tree. /library/preferences/forgot the next folder but its in there. Is this were I add the strings I generate?

 

Why don't you actually check in EFIStudio? There's a string for 7300GT but not for 9800GT. Also, the guide clearly states that it should be put in /Extra/com.apple.Boot.plist

 

I don't understand why the Lan and Audio go into the DSDT but not the graphics or does it go into the DSDT and the plist?

 

The graphics can be put into the DSTD, put it seemed a better idea to put in into Boot.plist, because that made the DSDT more generic, and it saved me from doing a lot of work by adding strings to support various graphic cards. Also, EFIStudio does a better job of supporting this functionality.

 

 

 

Ok, i found an USB mouse, but now I have another problem - the install doesn't recognize my SATA hard drive (on which I have installed Leopard 10.5.7). I'm tired of problems

 

OK, I'm not trying to be rude here, but I would like to address this in a general way. It's not just you

 

First of all, you could have avoided some of the problems by actually reading the guide. The AHCI bios settings, for example, were referred to clearly (IMHO).

 

Secondly, I've tried to make it very easy to install this. In fact, It seems to be the easiest install out there. I also spend a lot of time testing, but I obviously cannot test hardware I do not own. Installing OS X on non-Apple hardware is a lot of trial and error, and there is not a lot of reasoning involved. Either it works, or it doesn't. I get a lot of questions like: Will this work on hardware X? The answer is: I don't know, and I can't/won't test it for you. just because installation is easy does not mean that you won't have problems or that you won't have to use Google to find out what to do.

 

That being said, I do appreciate getting feedback, but I cannot give you a guarantee that something or other will work. A hackintosh will probably require you to tinker, and if you don't like tinkering, you can always buy a real Mac. Not only will you get a great machine, you'll be able to call Apple for all sorts of problems. They will listen to your support questions and will replace/repair you machine if it has issues. They do this because you pay them

 

So please, keep the questions coming, but do make an effort to actually figure out your problems for yourself.

[ogynche]

Sorry bout that man. I'm actually looking for another boot CD now, which will recognize my SATA drive. Thanks for your help and the great guide.

[kludgedean]

@oSxFr33k: Yes, that's the exact board I have, To get those working properly follow my 'turbo' how-to, the GA-P35 Snow PKG will create a DSDT for the board, EFI studio will create the correct strings, just write them to your com.apple.Boot.plist

LAN for for the GA-EP35-DS4 and just the P35-DS4 i'm told doesn't need EFIStudio to create strings for the ethernet, only the graphics. EFIStudio upon saving writes the boot.plist and the graphics card will work. If the RAM amount isn't in there (see my turbo how-to as I changed my VRAM from 512MB to 1GB)

With regards to the /Extra/com.apple.Boot.plist being used rather than the default one… One way would be to copy/paste the original one to your desktop as a backup. Go ahead with the EFIStudio, SAVE it, and move that copy over to your /Extra/ directory, and copy back the original boot.plist from your desktop back where it should be.

 

@strangn99: Will remove that kext and see if that helps, could just be a no audio card issue, Roll on my Focusrite Saffire!!! <3 It'll also be my first firewire device!

 

@ogynche: What SATA port on your motherboard is it on? Could be relevant, I've kept things as simple as possible with DVDRW on 0M and my 2 test HDDs on 0S, and 1M.

 

@tseug: This is definitely the BEST and failsafe tutorial i've followed, just my own bad habits to either

1/ Completely bypass reading important parts of the procedure

2/ Go off on a tangent and do my OWN thing!

Your guide is flawless, but it somehow didn't hold my attention ;x That's why I wrote my 'turbo' how-to, 100% based on your own, It holds my attention, and just gets down to the nitty gritties, i KNEW i was so close when I woke up, but to have nailed it today… I'm celebrating with pizza and beer!

 

 

@Everyone, This guide is excellent, But if it doesn't hold your attention somehow, then my 'turbo' how-to may be just what you need to finally nail it too!

[tseug]

@oSxFr33k: Yes, that's the exact board I have, To get those working properly follow my 'turbo' how-to, the GA-P35 Snow PKG will create a DSDT for the board… And EFI studio will create the correct strings, just write them to your com.apple.Boot.plist

LAN for for the GA-EP35-DS4 and just the P35-DS4 i'm told doesn't need EFIStudio to create strings for the ethernet, only the graphics… EFIStudio upon saving writes the boot.plist and the graphics card will work… If the RAM amount isn't in there (see my turbo how-to as I changed my VRAM from 512MB to 1GB)

With regards to the /Extra/com.apple.Boot.plist being used rather than the default one… One way would be to copy/paste the original one to your desktop as a backup… Go ahead with the EFIStudio, SAVE it, and move that copy over to your /Extra/ directory, and copy back the original boot.plist from your desktop back where it should be.

 

You can to that, but the com.apple.Boot.plist in Extra created by the installer has a special kernel flag to specify that the 32-bit kernel should be run. If you do not specify this, the 64 bit kernel will be used instead which may cause problems. For example, it has been reported that VMWare Fusion will not run on a 64-bit kernel. Also, there aren't really any benefits from running the 64-bit kernel; it runs ever so slightly faster and will allow you to use >32 GB RAM, but your motherboard probably won't support that much RAM anyway.

 

@tseug: This is definitely the BEST and failsafe tutorial i've followed, just my own bad habits to either

1/ Completely bypass reading important parts of the procedure

2/ Go off on a tangent and do my OWN thing!

Your guide is flawless, but it somehow didn't hold my attention ;x That's why I wrote my 'turbo' how-to, 100% based on your own, It holds my attention, and just gets down to the nitty gritties, i KNEW i was so close when I woke up, but to have nailed it today… I'm celebrating with pizza and beer!

 

Hey, I encourage that and tend to (obviously) do the same thing myself. That's why I included the source, and I encourage anyone to use it in any way they can. Also, I will be happy to make changes if I have the time and it makes sense.

 

Sorry bout that man. I'm actually looking for another boot CD now, which will recognize my SATA drive. Thanks for your help and the great guide.

 

Are your SATA drive attached to the yellow or the purple SATA connectors? If it is attached to the purple, try moving it to the yellow.

[juuva]

I would just like to extend my sincere thanks to tseug...

 

First vanilla install ever, and this went perfectly - Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P (F2 BIOS)

 

Typing this from back in Kalway 10.5.4 - Next challenge is to get my TP-link TL-WN651G Atheros chipset wireless card going. It took my a month or so under leopard, but hopefully a few days on SL. Research to do - let the difficulties begin. If anyone happens to be using the card - please drop me a line!

 

Once again, thanks.