nForce OS X Lion (10.7) APP STORE DOWNLOAD INSTALL GUIDE on a Series 6 or 7 nForce chipset / Intel CPU MOBO

[verdant]

@ Everyone

 

There have been key updates to post #1..........

 

[1] Setting root ownership on the mounted USB flash drive installer volume after unlocking a 'locked' boot.efi file......see PART B - Steps 9. and 10.

 

[2] More detailed explanation of booting the USB flash drive installer in Step. 2 of PART C and PART D......

 

[3] Explanations of how to install OS X Lion on GPT (see PART E) and on MBR (see PART F) partitioned HDDs from the Mac OS X Lion Installer app on DVD, using my OS X Lion Boot CD (download link posted) and a Mac OS X Base System DVD......

[abhilash]

abhilash here is my DSDT. If you need anything else send me a PM or message me here.

 

DSDT.aml.zip

 

 

DSDT HDEF section is same for both of us. I don't understand why LegacyHDA.kext and ALC885.kext are making difference on same mobo.

 

Hi Vinnymac, just checking if everything is still working 100% for you.....?

 

@ abhilash You can compare two dsdt.dsl files using DiffMerge.......

 

 

Thanks..and sleep is working but making cmos reset.

[verdant]

DSDT HDEF section is same for both of us. I don't understand why LegacyHDA.kext and ALC885.kext are making difference on same mobo.

 

Thanks..and sleep is working but making cmos reset.

 

@abhilash

 

Have you compared LegacyHDA.kext and ALC885.kext using DiffMerge.....?

[abhilash]

@abhilash

 

Have you compared LegacyHDA.kext and ALC885.kext using DiffMerge.....?

 

yes.. DSDT's of both are same.. Both ALC885 and LegacyHDA are working for me. But, ALC885 doesn't have front panel working. As vinnymac said, if he uses LegacyHDA sound is greyed out resulting in no audio devices and 100 % sound with ALC885 kext.

[verdant]

yes.. DSDT's of both are same.. Both ALC885 and LegacyHDA are working for me. But, ALC885 doesn't have front panel working. As vinnymac said, if he uses LegacyHDA sound is greyed out resulting in no audio devices and 100 % sound with ALC885 kext.

 

What I meant was comparing the ALC885 and LegacyHDA kext Info.plists......are they the same?

[ErOSx86]

Firstly many thanks verdant for a very extensive guide! I thought I would check in here as a nForce 780i Motherboard user (more complete specs listed in my sig).

 

I used the guide to install OSX via a USB stick, on a single GUID partition, though I have seemingly been hit by two problems (not sure how related they are) 1) Graphics, and 2) Finder freezes.

 

[EDIT] I should also note that in my case, i started from fresh. I have a MacBook Pro running lion, my PC never had OSX installed on it. I did try back when i built it, and failed miserably. So in my case its a totally fresh install.

 

On the first issue, I have searched around the forums and the reams and reams of scattered material online and tried the following.

 

a) EFI String, seemed like a straight forward one to do, so i spent a bit of time trying to be sure i did it correctly using an EFI string pack for generating the string with my GPU (a Dual PCB GTX295), Things appeared to go smoothly and make sense, I turned the string into hex and pasted into the relevant plist, but found no success unfortunately. Im not sure if i did something wrong, or if in Lion with my rig, its going to be a bit difficult.

 

I used the nvenabler.kext this actually got the GTX295 to work, I believe with acceleration, I have certainly been able to play EvE online and play with some 3D rendering applications at respectable frame rates... *However* suffered from crashes about 70% of the time during a particular session. (ie if i played eve, 70% of the evenings would end with a crash)

The other notable thing is that, it would only list one of the cards of the GTX 295 as having VRAM, not sure if this is part of the issue.

c) I haven't tried DSDT modding to enable the GPU... though did do a DSDT extraction for my motherboard, and the parts that require editing appear to not suffer from the issues listed (ie... pretty much no editing or CMOS resetting occurs in my case)

 

 

On the second issue i have never been able to fix it or improve the behaviour, and it appears to happen regardless of if i am in safemode or do a normal boot. The freezes usually happen if im copying a large number of files, though does happen when ocationally if im loading a new directory (i tend to use column view in finder) so it has failed a number of times when im clicking about trying to check or search files.

 

I am quite new to all of this, but, once more many thanks for allowing me to run OSX on my PC and ill keep searching for possible solutions.

[verdant]

Firstly many thanks verdant for a very extensive guide! I thought I would check in here as a nForce 780i Motherboard user (more complete specs listed in my sig).

 

I used the guide to install OSX via a USB stick, on a single GUID partition, though I have seemingly been hit by two problems (not sure how related they are) 1) Graphics, and 2) Finder freezes.

 

[EDIT] I should also note that in my case, i started from fresh. I have a MacBook Pro running lion, my PC never had OSX installed on it. I did try back when i built it, and failed miserably. So in my case its a totally fresh install.

 

On the first issue, I have searched around the forums and the reams and reams of scattered material online and tried the following.

 

a) EFI String, seemed like a straight forward one to do, so i spent a bit of time trying to be sure i did it correctly using an EFI string pack for generating the string with my GPU (a Dual PCB GTX295), Things appeared to go smoothly and make sense, I turned the string into hex and pasted into the relevant plist, but found no success unfortunately. Im not sure if i did something wrong, or if in Lion with my rig, its going to be a bit difficult.

 

I used the nvenabler.kext this actually got the GTX295 to work, I believe with acceleration, I have certainly been able to play EvE online and play with some 3D rendering applications at respectable frame rates... *However* suffered from crashes about 70% of the time during a particular session. (ie if i played eve, 70% of the evenings would end with a crash)

The other notable thing is that, it would only list one of the cards of the GTX 295 as having VRAM, not sure if this is part of the issue.

c) I haven't tried DSDT modding to enable the GPU... though did do a DSDT extraction for my motherboard, and the parts that require editing appear to not suffer from the issues listed (ie... pretty much no editing or CMOS resetting occurs in my case)

 

 

On the second issue i have never been able to fix it or improve the behaviour, and it appears to happen regardless of if i am in safemode or do a normal boot.

 

I am quite new to all of this, but, once more many thanks for allowing me to run OSX on my PC and ill keep searching for possible solutions.

 

Glad the guide was helpful......

 

1) Graphics and EFI string - did you generate this in Leopard (rather than in Snow Leopard, and even perhaps Lion?) as recommended in post #2......?

 

Post #2 also tells you how to confirm operation of CI and QE in Lion.....

 

 

2) Finder freezes - could be MOBO / GTX 295 related.....see here

[ErOSx86]

Glad the guide was helpful......

 

1) Graphics and EFI string - did you generate this in Leopard (rather than in Snow Leopard, and even perhaps Lion?) as recommended in post #2......?

 

Post #2 also tells you how to confirm operation of CI and QE in Lion.....

 

 

2) Finder freezes - could be MOBO / GTX 295 related.....see here

 

The EFI string i generated in Lion, on the PC after the initial install. On the surface things seem to look ok, and the string appears to be very similar to those posted in a few of the forum threads.

 

On checking if i have CI and QE support, before use of the enabler kext, i would see horizontal tearing and stuttered performance, also, the resolution was naturally locked at 1280x1024 as probably expected. After the enabler I would get full resolution settings control for my monitor, and a much smoother experience. I didn't check out any other apps other than EvE online (shamefully enough) And i should do this when next near the computer.

 

Thanks for the links, i will check it out

[iLeopod]

First Pretty amazing and Stunning Knowledgeable.

 

Thanks about the PM, but i had no Problems with windows so i assume it was no Hardware Config/Defect related Problem.

 

1 AppleHDA

Interesting fact that that some boards Have Audio codec with address 2 (Like the Gigabyte and original Apple ) and zero Like mine and others. There are different Pros and Cons about using the old open 10.6.2 AppleHDA (Open for All codecs, working Frontpanel) or a later one (HDMI Audio for GFX with integrated HDMI audio). With codec Address (first Number in pinconfig) 2 u can use the new AppleHDA. Using the Lion Apple HDA is not recommend because there are a lot of sound assertions and it take 1 min. or more till you hear sth.

 

 

I Will edit my Legacy for Front Panel later.

 

For Firewire there is fix but i will be disable Hotplug.

Will add it later here.

 

Best Regards

 

iLeopod

[verdant]

First Pretty amazing and Stunning Knowledgeable.

 

Thanks about the PM, but i had no Problems with windows so i assume it was no Hardware Config/Defect related Problem.

 

1 AppleHDA

Interesting fact that that some boards Have Audio codec with address 2 (Like the Gigabyte and original Apple ) and zero Like mine and others. There are different Pros and Cons about using the old open 10.6.2 AppleHDA (Open for All codecs, working Frontpanel) or a later one (HDMI Audio for GFX with integrated HDMI audio). With codec Address (first Number in pinconfig) 2 u can use the new AppleHDA. Using the Lion Apple HDA is not recommend because there are a lot of sound assertions and it take 1 min. or more till you hear sth.

 

 

I Will edit my Legacy for Front Panel later.

 

For Firewire there is fix but i will be disable Hotplug.

Will add it later here.

 

Best Regards

 

iLeopod

 

 

Hi iLeopod

 

Many thanks for the nice words........

 

I have the same view of you on DSDT modding / Legacy kexts etc. for nForce MOBOs.....

 

Owing to the time taken to prepare and support my nforce OSx86 guides for OS X Leopard, Snow Leoaprd and Lion, I just have not had/do not have enough time to research into DSDT modding as deeply as you...... thus, I use auto-generation of C-States and P-states by Chameleon RC5 for SpeedStepping, rather than modding my DSDT for C-States and P-states etc.....

 

I would be happy to include any AppleHDALegacy kext mods / binary patching of AppleHDA etc. by you in my Audio post #5.....

 

I really like what you have started to do with your DSDT Tutorials on a German OSx86 forum because as good as Master Chief's post's are, they do not explain with reasons what is being done by each DSDT change in a way for nForce MOBO users new to DSDT modding to easily learn and understand.....and then translate onto their own nForce DSDT.aml files.....

 

So, I would happily include an English version of your DSDT tutorials in post #4 or #7 of my guide if you wanted to prepare one.......

 

Best wishes

verdant

[abhilash]

What I meant was comparing the ALC885 and LegacyHDA kext Info.plists......are they the same?

 

 

no they are not same... LegacyHDA has BuiltinHDA addition and configdata is different.

[iLeopod]

In Pinconfig it's the codec address 0 versus 2 and the front mic and I saw u replaced Digital out with 7.1 Line out.

 

Here is my update:ALC885.kext_test.zip

HP should work via auto-detect like before. Try if front mic is working maybe Built in HDA its he solution for that (not yet added).

 

If u get with my previous working Audio:try it if u used abhilash version stay with it.

 

@ verdant I'm only a beginner in DSDT editing. I was only the first one who applied not only RTC and HDEF patch.

.

[verdant]

In Pinconfig it's the codec address 0 versus 2 and the front mic and I saw u replaced Digital out with 7.1 Line out.

 

Here is my update:ALC885.kext_test.zip

HP should work via auto-detect like before. Try if front mic is working maybe Built in HDA its he solution for that (not yet added).

 

If u get with my previous working Audio:try it if u used abhilash version stay with it.

 

@ verdant I'm only a beginner in DSDT editing. I was only the first one who applied not only RTC and HDEF patch.

.

 

@ iLeopod you may view yourself as a beginner but, excluding myself, you appear to be the only IM member writing detailed DSDT guides for beginners based upon your experiences with an nForce MOBO, and so, your fuller knowledge of DSDT editing is invaluable to the nForce MOBO community.......

[Vinnymac]

This is all very strange. Verdant you make a good point about the amount of ram, especially because back in Snow Leopard you helped me realize the installer hated having more than 2 GBs. I'll play around with that idea, and see what my results are like.

 

I think I'll give iLeopard's kext a test and see how it runs :/

abhilash, is their anything else you did to your system with the LegacyHDA.kext + AppleHDA.kext + HDef Fix?

If there was one difference then it might explain why I cannot get that setup working, and then we would know for sure. I feel like I must have done something while fixing usb, or you must have done something while trying to get audio to work, that made our configurations differ using Legacy and ALC885.

[verdant]

Hi Vinnymac,

 

It is definitely worth knowing if the amount of RAM and/or having only the same memory size RAM modules is important in terms of the stability of the 680i chipset MOB), and possibly others too.......so I look forward to your experimental results......

 

In my Asus 650i I have: 2GB RAM modules in slots A1 and B1 plus 1GB RAM modules in slots A2 and B2..........I have no problems with random freezes but I also have Northbridge chipset and Southbridge chipset fan cooling and so do not know if this is a contributory factor to the running stability........so perhaps RAM module location is important too depending on the MOBO.....

[Vinnymac]

@iLeopard I tried that kext, same results as the ALC885.kext I originally used from abhilash. Lets wait and see what his system does with it.

 

@Verdant, I used to have more RAM in this PC, but now I am only running 2 GB of Ram in A1 and B1. I will try different combinations though.

 

@abhilash, I am gonna install LegacyHDA and see what I can do.

 

I have a question, it may seem dumb, but after using the DSDT I did not see ANY system improvements, so it is quite possible my DSDT is not being used. Is their a way I can prove it? I know verdant says to put the DSDT in root but I keep it in Extra, because I like it that way. Basically what I am saying is, if the DSDT is NOT being used, then it is possible that is why LegacyHDA.kext is not working for me, because I also need the HDEF fix which may not be happening.

 

How can I be 100% sure the DSDT is being used in my system?

[iLeopod]

Chameleon dos not care if DSDT is in / or in /Extra.

You can verify if DSDT loads by checking if in System Profiler is the Audio-Id you injected with Layout-id in HDEF Device in DSDT.

or

 

Type in Chameleon: Wait=Yes

 

Then you can see Chameleon recognizing your hardware and showing what tables like DSDT and SSDT being loaded.

[Vinnymac]

I know the DSDT doesn't need to be, I just want to know if it is being loaded for sure

I see that it says it is loaded in the Chameleon log at the beginning of boot. Is this saved somewhere?

I wish I knew why LegacyHDA wasn't working, so I am going to post some information here, and see what we can solve from it.

 

This is a list of the kexts I have loaded via Kext Wizard:

Vinnymac___s_Mac_Pro.txt

This is my boot.plist in my /Extra folder:

org.chameleon.Boot.zip

Here is my DSDT again if anyone wants it:

DSDT.zip

 

This is my kernel.log file:

kernel.zip

[iLeopod]

Yes bdmesg. It can also accessed via Chameleon Wizard.

[verdant]

@ Vinnymac

 

The reasons I personally like having the DSDT.aml in / like the mach_kernel, are because {1} that way I do not have to worry about accidentally trashing it while experimenting with different /Extra folders and {2} I like the DSDT.aml file to have the same path address as the mach_kernel as it is read after the kernel is loaded.....

 

bdmesg output extracts:

 

Chameleon 2.0-RC5 (svn-r1191) [2011-07-20 10:32:54]

 

Read HFS+ file: [hd(0,1)/Extra/org.chameleon.Boot.plist] 566 bytes.

 

Read GPT

 

Read HFS+ file: [hd(0,1)/Extra/Themes/Default/theme.plist] 2709 bytes.

 

Read HFS+ file: [hd(0,6)/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist] 290 bytes.

 

Read HFS+ file: [hd(0,6)/Extra/org.chameleon.Boot.plist] 667 bytes.

 

Read HFS+ file: [hd(0,6)/System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist] 478 bytes.

 

Loading Darwin 10.7

Loading kernel mach_kernel

Read HFS+ file: [hd(0,6)/mach_kernel] 4096 bytes.

Read HFS+ file: [hd(0,6)/mach_kernel] 7948352 bytes.

Read HFS+ file: [hd(0,6)/DSDT.aml] 31181 bytes.

 

Read HFS+ file: [hd(0,6)/Extra/smbios.plist] 662 bytes.

 

Read HFS+ file: [hd(0,6)/DSDT.aml] 31181 bytes.

ACPI table not found: SSDT.aml

FADT: Restart Fix applied!

FADT: Using custom DSDT!

Found ACPI CPU: CPU0

Found ACPI CPU: CPU1

Found ACPI CPU: CPU2

Found ACPI CPU: CPU3

SSDT with CPU C-States generated successfully

SSDT with CPU P-States generated successfully

RSDT: Added 2 SSDT table(s)

FADT: Restart Fix applied!

FADT: Using custom DSDT!

Added 2 SSDT table(s) into XSDT

Read HFS+ file: [hd(0,6)/Extra/Extensions/ACPIMonitor.kext/Contents/Info.plist] 2005 bytes.

Read HFS+ file: [hd(0,6)/Extra/Extensions/AD1998b.FIX.kext/Contents/Info.plist] 77489 bytes.

Read HFS+ file: [hd(0,6)/Extra/Extensions/AppleNForceATA.imk64bit.kext/Contents/Info.plist] 2902 bytes.

Read HFS+ file: [hd(0,6)/Extra/Extensions/EvOreboot.kext/Contents/Info.plist] 1358 bytes.

 

If you compare this with the bdmesg output when DSDT.aml is in /Extra, you will see that you still have

 

Loading Darwin 10.7

Loading kernel mach_kernel

Read HFS+ file: [hd(0,6)/mach_kernel] 4096 bytes.

Read HFS+ file: [hd(0,6)/mach_kernel] 7948352 bytes.

Read HFS+ file: [hd(0,6)/DSDT.aml] 31181 bytes

[Vinnymac]

I checked, and my DSDT is definitely being loaded. Why would LegacyHDA not work altogether? Where as ALC885 works fine. In abhilash's case both at least work in some way. LegacyHDA doesn't throw up any errors for me, but output/input are blank for me.

 

I think if my DSDT is being loaded it is less likely the problem, since our mobos are similar and I don't have any weird hardware. Regular intel cpu, 2GB of ram, I'm not throwing a wrench in the mix. So what could it be?

[verdant]

I checked, and my DSDT is definitely being loaded. Why would LegacyHDA not work altogether? Where as ALC885 works fine. In abhilash's case both at least work in some way. LegacyHDA doesn't throw up any errors for me, but output/input are blank for me.

 

I think if my DSDT is being loaded it is less likely the problem, since our mobos are similar and I don't have any weird hardware. Regular intel cpu, 2GB of ram, I'm not throwing a wrench in the mix. So what could it be?

 

I am presuming that you have reset ownership and permissions for the kexts in /S/L/E/ including the AppleHDA.kext and for the kexts in /E/E/ including the LegacyHDA.kext for good measure even though Chameleon does not bother with kext ownership and permissions......I would then again repair permissions of the system folders and files using Disk Utility......

 

Note that abhilash reported that "no they are not same... LegacyHDA has BuiltinHDA addition and configdata is different", so the answer would seem to be the differences between the LegacyHDA and ALC885 kexts and the differences between the implementation of the ALC885 codec by your nVidia 680i LT SLI MOBO and abhilash's XFX nForce 680i LT SLI, given that you both use the same DSDT Device (HDEF) sections and the same AppleHDA.kext.......

 

I suggest that you try the general DSDT Device (HDEF) section by THE KiNG (see post #5), which he says should work with all codecs:

 

Method (_DSM, 4, NotSerialized)

{

Store (Package (0x04)

{

"layout-id",

Buffer (0x04)

{

0x0C, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00

},

 

"PinConfigurations",

Buffer (Zero) {}

 

}, Local0)

DTGP (Arg0, Arg1, Arg2, Arg3, RefOf (Local0))

Return (Local0)

}

}

 

with both the LegacyHDA and ALC885 kexts but same AppleHDA.kext.......

[Vinnymac]

Okay, so you guys are gonna laugh but I figured it out.

 

So I have fixed permissions before, and reset em on the specific files, but it never worked. And I did not know why. So I thought well why not go back and reread what they wrote. Nobody ever told me WHERE to put the LegacyHDA.kext file. So then I see verdant here say /E/E/ and I am like, hrmm why not test it out. I have never dealt with LegacyHDA before, so how would I know, I just thought it belonged with AppleHDA. Anyways, it worked!, after placing LegacyHDA in /E/E all of my problems are fixed. LegacyHDA works with both back and front panels, and is completely functional! Verdant you can now add abhilash's information to your guide, thank you abhilash, and I hope when you write the guide you mention specifically where to place the files because my stupid mistakes could as well be anothers

 

The only problems I can see in my kernel.log are these three:

1.

Kext com.apple.driver.AppleHDAController might not load - kextd is currently unavailable.
Sound assertion "0 == pciVendorProductID" failed in "/SourceCache/AppleHDA/AppleHDA-179.1.4/AppleHDAController/AppleHDAController.cpp" at line 2682 goto Exit

2.

 kxld[com.yourcompany.driver.AppleACPIPS2Nub]: The Mach-O file is malformed: Invalid magic number: 0xfeedfacf.
Can't load kext com.yourcompany.driver.AppleACPIPS2Nub - link failed.
Failed to load executable for kext com.yourcompany.driver.AppleACPIPS2Nub.
Kext com.yourcompany.driver.AppleACPIPS2Nub failed to load (0xdc008016).
Failed to load kext com.yourcompany.driver.AppleACPIPS2Nub (error 0xdc008016).
Couldn't alloc class "AppleACPIPS2Nub"

 

3.

0		0 AppleUSBCDC: start - initDevice failed
USBMSC Identifier (non-unique): 0c1401d76b1535 0x1b1c 0xab1 0x100
0		0 AppleUSBCDC: start - initDevice failed

[verdant]

Okay, so you guys are gonna laugh but I figured it out.

 

So I have fixed permissions before, and reset em on the specific files, but it never worked. And I did not know why. So I thought well why not go back and reread what they wrote. Nobody ever told me WHERE to put the LegacyHDA.kext file. So then I see verdant here say /E/E/ and I am like, hrmm why not test it out. I have never dealt with LegacyHDA before, so how would I know, I just thought it belonged with AppleHDA. Anyways, it worked!, after placing LegacyHDA in /E/E all of my problems are fixed. LegacyHDA works with both back and front panels, and is completely functional! Verdant you can now add abhilash's information to your guide, thank you abhilash, and I hope when you write the guide you mention specifically where to place the files because my stupid mistakes could as well be anothers

 

The only problems I can see in my kernel.log are these three:

1.

Kext com.apple.driver.AppleHDAController might not load - kextd is currently unavailable.
Sound assertion "0 == pciVendorProductID" failed in "/SourceCache/AppleHDA/AppleHDA-179.1.4/AppleHDAController/AppleHDAController.cpp" at line 2682 goto Exit

2.

 kxld[com.yourcompany.driver.AppleACPIPS2Nub]: The Mach-O file is malformed: Invalid magic number: 0xfeedfacf.
 Can't load kext com.yourcompany.driver.AppleACPIPS2Nub - link failed.
 Failed to load executable for kext com.yourcompany.driver.AppleACPIPS2Nub.
 Kext com.yourcompany.driver.AppleACPIPS2Nub failed to load (0xdc008016).
 Failed to load kext com.yourcompany.driver.AppleACPIPS2Nub (error 0xdc008016).
 Couldn't alloc class "AppleACPIPS2Nub"

 

3.

0		0 AppleUSBCDC: start - initDevice failed
 USBMSC Identifier (non-unique): 0c1401d76b1535 0x1b1c 0xab1 0x100
0		0 AppleUSBCDC: start - initDevice failed

 

Thanks for your honesty Vinnymac.......every step taken is something new learned hopefully.......

 

Glad the "problem" is now sorted.....and I will make sure that I put in the Audio section ALC885 codec guide explicitly where each kext should go.......

 

Problem 3) is seen by just about everyone I think......

 

Problem 2) is a PS/2 kext..... use a USB keyboard and USB mouse.....no need for PS/2 kexts......

 

Problem 1) over to iLeopod on this one.....

[iLeopod]

Can be solved by adding subsystem ids to HDEF Device in DSDT:

like:

"subsystem-id", 
Buffer (0x04)
{
0x79, 0xCB, 0x00, 0x00
}, 

"subsystem-vendor-id", 
Buffer (0x04)
{
0xDE, 0x10, 0x00, 0x00
},

or

 
"subsystem-id",							 
Buffer (0x04)							
{							   
0xA0, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00						   
}, 

"subsystem-vendor-id",							 
Buffer (0x04)							
{								
0x6B, 0x10, 0x00, 0x00							
},

 

would prefer the first entry.

Be carful with:

 Store (Package (0x08)

just remove the numbers and let the compiler care about this.

like this:

 

Store (Package ()