[GUIDE] How to install Snow Leo on ASUS Z8NA-D6

[carlosdk]

i tried that as well;-) that was the first thing i tried

 

 

 

I talked with the guy I bought it from and he agreed to take them back, So by tomorrow I have to 5520 instead, and your method should work just fine.

 

A couple of last questions

 

-Which version of snow leopard did you use to install?

-in you signature it says chameleon RC4 did you upgrade to that version after the install?

-Are you only using Asere's boot file, or did you also install the others, and was it before or after the initial install?

 

Thanx

[peach-os]

Installed official Snow Leo Vanilla

 

you can install Asere bootloader straight away - no need to mess around with other versions

the chameleon 431.mpkg is only misused to install extra / the initial bootloader and the rest (fdisk and setting active)

[Mangadj]

Hi Peach-os,

Ive encountered a problem assembling my system: my z8na-d6c doesnt startup - all i have is spinning fans and flashing power led. Its look like the bios cant recognize the cpu.

 

The matter is that Asus officially says at asus.com that all Xeons 55xx series (and even yours E5520s) are not supported by the first version of bios (0205), only 0406 up. According to the sticker on my mobo, there is 0205. Im very sad. I have no idea how can i flash my MB

Tried i7 920 but no luck...

 

My only hope is if E5520 is supported by bios 0205 then i find one and try to reflash. So, did U flash your bios with a newer version and what version was when you've bought your mobo?

[peach-os]

flashing the bios is not a big deal

 

1.get the HP USB format tool from here http://www.chip.de/downloads/HP-USB-Disk-S...l_23418669.html

 

2.create a bootable usb stick with the tool

 

3.add the downloaded ROM File from Asus and the Afudos.exe to the USB stick

rename the ROM file to a shorter name (makes it easier) ie Z8NAD6.ROM

 

4.boot into the USB Stick and type afudos /iZ8NAD6.ROM (if you named it Z8NAD6.ROM)

 

there shouldn´t be any space between /i and the bios rom name!

there are more options like saving the old bios -you will find it in the manual

[Mangadj]

i have no cpu to boot that's the problem. To flash bios i need to make it start but i couldnt.

It seems you had no problem with booting for the first time with yours cpus. So I need to find one E5520 too. In order to boot and flash my bios. I hope the newer bios will recognize my cpu.

And thanx alot for flashing instructions.

 

One more question, as I understand flashing using recovery jumper is simplier than the mentioned way, isnt it?

But i couldnt understand exactly, if i need to make a bootable flashdrive in this case or a flashdrive with rom file copy only would be enough?

[carlosdk]

Thanx again, I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Mangadj!

 

I had the same problem, i didn't know anybody who had a 55xx cpu so I could upgrade, instead I payed a computerstore a small amount to dó the upgrade. It was done in 15 minutes...

[Mangadj]

And with what cpu did you have the problem?

[carlosdk]

I had problems with the e5620 cpu's.

[peach-os]

One more question, as I understand flashing using recovery jumper is simplier than the mentioned way, isnt it?

But i couldnt understand exactly, if i need to make a bootable flashdrive in this case or a flashdrive with rom file copy only would be enough?

 

you need a bootable flashdrive with the bios rom and afudos.exe - and it´s really easy if someone has explained you the procedure (especially the trick with the hp format tool )

 

by the way afudos.exe is always attached to the rom file when downloading it from asus

[Mangadj]

Still bad news for me, today I flashed the bios using a chip programming device to version 0902 - still no luck.

[carlosdk]

Hi again

 

I got the new CPU's today, and everything works great so far. Your dsdt gives me the good old "still waiting for boot device" error . Any idea why?

 

Thanx

[peach-os]

on snow leo? it can´t be the dsdt

 

but put any disabler.kext into extra and boot without the dsdt. is it possible that your bios was reseted and now in IDE mode instead of AHCI?

[carlosdk]

the Bios was reset when I installed the new CPU's, but I set Ide to AHCI and enabled Plug and Play.

 

It still won't boot with the dsdt

 

which disabler kext do you mean, could you make a link?

[Magus Of The Bizarre]

Hi Peach-os,

Ive encountered a problem assembling my system: my z8na-d6c doesnt startup - all i have is spinning fans and flashing power led. Its look like the bios cant recognize the cpu.

 

The matter is that Asus officially says at asus.com that all Xeons 55xx series (and even yours E5520s) are not supported by the first version of bios (0205), only 0406 up. According to the sticker on my mobo, there is 0205. Im very sad. I have no idea how can i flash my MB

Tried i7 920 but no luck...

 

My only hope is if E5520 is supported by bios 0205 then i find one and try to reflash. So, did U flash your bios with a newer version and what version was when you've bought your mobo?

 

Call Asus, they'll send you a new one. It's what I had to do.

 

Edit:

I'm trying to follow your guide with a z8na-d6c and 2x xeon e5620s, and no matter what I do, the screen turns black as soon as the SL kernel tries to load and it hangs, and when I reboot, my bios is reset.

 

I didn't use your DSDT, cause it's different from mine, I used DSDTSE from within the kalyway install to extract my own, and Xcode's fileMerge tool to add in your mods (I took a couple changes from around Device(RTC0... and the MUTE 0x****->0xFFFF ones. Did you change anything else?)

[carlosdk]

Magus Of The Bizarre

 

Hi I also at first tried with two 5620's, It seems that snowleopard no matter what I did was not able to boot. I think you need a hacked kernel to get westmere cpu's working. I returned mine and bought a two 5520 CPU's instead...

 

Best of luck

[carlosdk]

peach-os

 

Hi again, everything is running great now. But I was wondering if you would share your bus speed in about this mac, mine is 533. Have I set something wrong in Bios you think?

 

Thanx

[Magus Of The Bizarre]

Magus Of The Bizarre

 

Hi I also at first tried with two 5620's, It seems that snowleopard no matter what I did was not able to boot. I think you need a hacked kernel to get westmere cpu's working. I returned mine and bought a two 5520 CPU's instead...

 

Best of luck

 

Oh, shame. I was kind of worried about that. I'm beyond my time to return them, so I guess I'll just use ubuntu until apple starts using westmere procs and there's a kernel for them that works.

[peach-os]

peach-os

 

Hi again, everything is running great now. But I was wondering if you would share your bus speed in about this mac, mine is 533. Have I set something wrong in Bios you think?

 

Thanx

 

sorry for the late response - I was on holidays

 

bios setting is correct - what you see is the result of the setting in smbios.plist in EXTRA - change the clock speed there from 133 - to whatever you want. bus speed will change in sysprofiler

[Check-IN]

peach-os

 

Hi again, everything is running great now. But I was wondering if you would share your bus speed in about this mac, mine is 533. Have I set something wrong in Bios you think?

 

Thanx

 

Hi Carlos,

You have solved with the e5620 cpus? Hi have the same cpus (2x). SL work for me with only one cpu installed, when i install all both cpus the pc was restarting and dont not boot.

let me know if You have a solution for me.

Thanx

[peach-os]

did you update already to 10.6.4 ? it should support now westmere cpu´s like the 5620´s

[Goddard]

I am having an issue. After installing SL and doing all of C: Install Snow Leo, when I go to boot I recieve:

SerialATAPI initial device configuration did not complete successfully. (failedCommandInfo = 0x1)

Still waiting for root device

 

I have my bios settings to AHCI. It is a sata hard drive. I have also tried using rd=disk0s2.

 

Thanks,

Kyle

[peach-os]

it looks like there is something messed up with dsdt bootloader or disk permissions.

what are your kexts in Extra?

 

1. try to boot with different options using -f -v -x -s arch=i386 cpus=1

2. leave only fakesmc in Extra if you have dsdt and try

3. try to boot without dsdt and disabler.kext instead in Extra

4. delete smbios.plist in Extra

5. try newest chameleon or AnV´s bootloader

 

 

is your bios up to date?

[oraton]

it looks like there is something messed up with dsdt bootloader or disk permissions.

what are your kexts in Extra?

 

1. try to boot with different options using -f -v -x -s arch=i386 cpus=1

2. leave only fakesmc in Extra if you have dsdt and try

3. try to boot without dsdt and disabler.kext instead in Extra

4. delete smbios.plist in Extra

5. try newest chameleon or AnV´s bootloader

 

 

is your bios up to date?

 

 

Hi Peach-os - thanks for the guide.

 

I have put together this system in a 1U server rack.

 

I have 2 xeon 5506 processors w/ 12gb of 1333 ram.

 

I am 99% of the way there thanks to your excellent guide.

 

I have enabled my bios settings again, (HP, cores = all, etc) and I am now booting into HD1, in -v, and it is taking a really long time. If i boot w/o verbose mode, it just hangs on the grey apple screen and spins forever.

 

If i boot to SL (HD1) in verbose mode it is hanging on:

 

launchctl: Please convert the following to launchd: /etc/mach_init.d/dashboardadvisoryd.plist

Waiting for DSMOS...

systemShutdown false

 

I am using the AnVAL4 bootloader you recommended.

 

Any ideas where i could go from here?

 

I am attaching a screenshot of where it is hanging

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

 

 

Hi Peach-os - thanks for the guide.

 

I have put together this system in a 1U server rack.

 

I have 2 xeon 5506 processors w/ 12gb of 1333 ram.

 

I am 99% of the way there thanks to your excellent guide.

 

I have enabled my bios settings again, (HP, cores = all, etc) and I am now booting into HD1, in -v, and it is taking a really long time. If i boot w/o verbose mode, it just hangs on the grey apple screen and spins forever.

 

If i boot to SL (HD1) in verbose mode it is hanging on:

 

launchctl: Please convert the following to launchd: /etc/mach_init.d/dashboardadvisoryd.plist

Waiting for DSMOS...

systemShutdown false

 

I am using the AnVAL4 bootloader you recommended.

 

Any ideas where i could go from here?

 

I am attaching a screenshot of where it is hanging

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

UPDATE:

 

I let it continue, and it actually starts to load. It goes to the grey screen, (dark grey w/o the apple logo) and shows a mouse cursor. It seems like it is starting to load the os (now the cursor turned into a spinning beachball) but it is taking forever. This boot is probably about 30 minutes so far

 

I am going to let it continue and see what happens. At the moment the mouse has no control over the cursor, but it seems like it is about to load into SL, but very very slowly.

 

ok, now my cursor has disappeared, and the screen is just grey.

 

i'm stumped. any ideas at all?

[oraton]

Hi peach-os,

 

The only step from your guide i haven't done is:

 

13. (edit the serial in case - now its set to 012345...)

 

i see the string to edit within the smbios.plist file, but im not sure what to change it to.. ?

 

where would i get that info?

 

Could that be causing the problem w/ the hanging boot?

[peach-os]

it looks like you are using my provided dsdt.aml - this could be the problem

put disabler.kext instead into Extra and delete dsdt.aml