OS X compatible motherboard -> QUO

[russ807]

I just wanted to post something interesting that I found.

 

Having a Thunderbolt display connected and a TV connected - I use SwitchRes X (http://www.madrau.com/indexSRX4.html) to make my TV the main display and the Thunderbolt display mirror the TV. When I run a game I seem to be getting the performance from the dedicated graphics card, but I can see it on my Thunderbolt display. Once the profile is created and enabled, this seems to work even if the TV is powered off or on another input.

 

The TV only displays 1080p so the image is centered on my Thunderbolt display, but it seems to work really well. I imagine if you could get a display to render the native resolution of the Thunderbolt display you could leave this option always enabled and have the Thunderbolt display tricked into mirroring off the dedicate graphics.

 

I guess this also only works becuase I have a free port on my tv and it's close enough to connect my mac to, but I'm really happy that I've found a way to use my dedicated graphics when I need to even if my resolution is limited to 1080p at the time.

 

Has anyone else come across this? Hopefully someone else find this useful.

 

edit:

 

It seems like building one of these is a better solution than using a TV - http://blog.macminicolo.net/post/33839671756/build-a-dummy-dongle-for-a-headless-mac-mini - hopefully I'll be able to get a Thunderbolt native resolution.

 

I'm running H3A with a vanilla ML installation.  kextstat shows FakeSMC 1.0.0d1.

 

Same

[electroshock]

Do to some concerns on this thread about the stability of the H3A I did a vanilla installation of OS X using the updated F3A.  The audio and sleep both function great after injecting the proper kexts and I did not receive any kernal panics during the install. I realize that this kind of defeats the advantage of this board but until an update of the H3A is released I feel safer with this choice.

 

I since I used an I5-3570k Ivy Bridge and the HD-4000 intergrated graphics is the system definition for the Mac Mini 6.1 the best choice for this setup or should I go the with the Mac Pro 3.1?

[Lanceomni]

Do to some concerns on this thread about the stability of the H3A I did a vanilla installation of OS X using the updated F3A.  The audio and sleep both function great after injecting the proper kexts and I did not receive any kernal panics during the install. I realize that this kind of defeats the advantage of this board but until an update of the H3A is released I feel safer with this choice.

 

I since I used an I5-3570k Ivy Bridge and the HD-4000 intergrated graphics is the system definition for the Mac Mini 6.1 the best choice for this setup or should I go the with the Mac Pro 3.1?

 

My KPs were under both H3A and stock firmware. I don't like to RMA something unless I am certain of the problem. I have my hands on some different memory. I will be testing my original components in depth on a different motherboard. If I get the panics, Ill test the memory. Ill let all know where the problem is later this week.

 

QUO has been very helpful and responsive. They have offered to RMA but I want to make sure Im not missing something with my components.

 

I am eager to see the source release and a possible build guide. xpamamadeus' post http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/291655-ozmosis/ has been getting a lot of traffic and people are successfully implementing the same process on other boards.

 

Not sure if the kextexcluded list will cause a problem down the road with the particular version of FakeSMC. The code signing situation related to how 10.9 will handle kexts may render the entire topic moot.

 

I also wondered about MacPro 3.1. Not sure. When I get my hardware situation squared away, Ill look into it.

[toren]

Since I don't think I've seen references on how to make iMessages work for the QUO board with H3A firmware, here's what I did (based on other threads):

 

sudo nvram 4D1FDA02-38C7-4A6A-9CC6-4BCCA8B30102:BiosVersion=MM61.88Z.0106.B00.1208091121
sudo nvram 4D1FDA02-38C7-4A6A-9CC6-4BCCA8B30102:ProductName=Macmini6,2
sudo nvram 4D1FDA02-38C7-4A6A-9CC6-4BCCA8B30102:SystemSerial=XXXXXXXXXXXX [appropriate serial generated by Chameleon Wizard, 12 characters]
sudo nvram 4D1FDA02-38C7-4A6A-9CC6-4BCCA8B30102:ProductFamily=Macmini
sudo nvram 4D1FDA02-38C7-4A6A-9CC6-4BCCA8B30102:ProductId=Mac-F65AE981FFA204ED
sudo nvram 4D1FDA02-38C7-4A6A-9CC6-4BCCA8B30102:BaseBoardSerial=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX [17-digit serial number]

I think the trick was the BaseBoardSerial; if you run "nvram 4D1FDA02-38C7-4A6A-9CC6-4BCCA8B30102:BaseBoardSerial" you can see what yours is set to currently; mine was fewer than 17 characters, which seems to be the magic number.  I made up additional digits and appended them to get the right length, then wrote it back out.  iMessage worked after that.

 

CAVEATS:

1) Apple can certainly change stuff in the future, so this may stop working at some point.  If you are reading this post from the distant future, don't assume it still works.

2) Deauthorize your machine from iTunes before you do this so you don't eat up one of your 5 authorizations from your old machine ID.

[sTaN]

I'm not able to flash the HermitCrab Labs BIOS H3A on the quo motherboard. The Q-Flash installer told me that I have an invalid BIOS image as you can see in the picture...Can anybody help me? I formatted the USB device with MS-DOS under mac OSX.

[Lanceomni]

sTaN,

 

 

I had a few bad flashes to begin with. I checked the MD5 on the compressed file but must have had some issues in the decompression.

 

I would suggest that you check the MD5 of the actual rom.

 

Open Terminal type "MD5" a space and then drag the ROM to your Terminal window to fill in the path.

MD5 /Users/YOU/Desktop/Z77MXQUOAOS.H3A.739M.ROM

 

It should resolve:

MD5 (LOCATION/Z77MXQUOAOS.H3A.739M.ROM) = 0075a1008cef8f2dbac913a27ebdc061

 

If the MD5 checksum doesn't match, try re-downloading.

[sTaN]

Thanks for your answer but the problem was not the file but the usb device. I copied the ROM file on an 4GB device first. After formatted a 2GB device the flash worked and now I install OSX Mountain Lion from a 32GB USB device...Hope it works. I guess I only have to install the audio fix and everything is fine including sleep mode and hdmi audio? Isn't it?

[Lanceomni]

sTaN,

 

Interesting, I didnt think it would even read the USB device without formatting as FAT32.

 

I have some hardware related issues that I am dealing with (e.g., faulty memory) so my rig is down. Cant confirm HDMI for you.

 

In addition to the audio fix, I had issues with iMessages. This has been discussed within earlier posts in this thread and there is an easy fix. (Interestingly enough, I have actually had iMessages issues with two genuine Macs due to similar issues.)

 

Would you mind posting the CPU and actual model number for the memory modules you are using. You may consider placing this in your signature.

[sTaN]

I changed my signature with the specs.

 

Installation was succesfull. I could fix the audio problem with the legacy files from quo. Only install the Audio patch for 10.8.4 (after I updated from 10.8.2. Otherwise you have to install the patch twice.)

Wake on LAN and sleep mode working great but I have the same issue with iMessage as described in this thread before. Is the workaround the only way to fix the iMessage issue?

 

Kind regards

[Lanceomni]

sTaN,

 

I am not aware of a different solution.

 

Have you confirmed HDMI audio? I am also pretty sure HDMI is not hot plug-able. Not that it matters.

 

In addition, you may want to look into Trim Enabler as you have an SSD. That is something that you would likely need to address with that SSD on a genuine Mac, as well.

[aircool00]

Confirmed: HDMI with audio working out of the box on a i5-2500k Sandy Bridge (Intel 3000). out of box 

Confirmed: Booting from raid. I have 2x 3tb sata 3 drives running right now. Software raid from install usb.  out of box

 

ML10.8.4 is being used oz.h3a bios. I  just installed from USB. Everything works so far out of box. 

 

F.Y.I. org.netkas.FakeSMC (1.0.0d1) Loaded

 

Side note:

It seems thunderbolt wont work with the sandy bridge with HD300 after some searching . I plan to swap to an Ivy soon

[toren]

Is anybody using an Apple Thunderbolt monitor with this motherboard?  When I first tried it out, the video worked once the machine booted (not during BIOS), but none of the devices were detected.  PCI scans produce some complaints about overlapping PCI bridge configurations.  After I set the Thunderbolt security option to "disabled" in the BIOS, the machine booted up with all functionality of the monitor working; ethernet, firewire, USB (which includes webcam and audio).

 

Yesterday, after a loose power cable reset the machine, none of the thunderbolt devices worked on the monitor any more; just the video.  The security option is still set to disabled.

 

There are a number of Thunderbolt options in the BIOS; does anybody know what's recommended for compatibility with this stuff?

[bs0d]

cool, but USB 3.0 works OOB really ?

firewire 400 works OOB really ?

 

besides no TB

 

shall i continue ?

[aircool00]

P.O.C. Bootcamp almost worked for me

 

So I was bored and wanted to see if bootcamp would work. Before anyone jumps on my nuts this was just as a proof of concept. This was on a single drive and if anything it is a nice way to get the bootcamp drivers put on a usb drive for ya. If that is all you need or want stop after my first step. 

 

1. Ran Bootcamp assistant got drivers computer rebooted.

2. I didn't have my dvd/cd set up as a boot method so I selected it from F12 in BIOS

3. Installed win7 x64* to Bootcamp drive after reformatting to NTFS

4. After install it reboots to finish install like normal. But mine didn't see the BC partition and I think it may be due to NTFS not being in oz.H3A **

5. Got the idea to finish install in VMware* loading BC partition as a VM. It did its thing and unmounted the partition and ran the rest of the install. It installed the VMtools and rebooted

6. Drug the windows support from my usb mounted in osx to the desktop in windows in the VM and installed bootcamp. Was just a test to see drag and drop from one os to other.

7. Rebooted into windows after BC stuff installed

8. Shut down windows and open preference pane  selected to boot from Bootcamp drive and it still booted into OSX

 

* VMware needs virtualization to be turned on in the bios for it to run x64 OS's it is off by default in oz.h3a

**I looked at h3a in MMTools and didn't see a ntfs driver I may be wrong but all I saw ExtFS, EnhancedFAT, and HFSPlus

I'll try to update the bios and reflash with ntfs driver tomorrow sometime.

 

I am pretty sure I need to add ntfs driver to h3a via this method http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/291655-ozmosis/?hl=+quo to get this to work properly but hey bootcamp almost works OOB

 

If anyone has a dual boot system with NTFS working chime in. 2x drives or one partition ***See update below***

 

Happy Hacking

@bs0d  If your refering to my post about TB not working it is because I am using a Sand Bridge Processor with HD 3000 and TB doesn't work with it. If you have an Ivy Bridge with HD 4000 it should work OOB. TB relies on the GFX to work as it used for monitors and I am sure other reasons.

 

 

Update: I am not looking into this any further. I don't care to run this set up, it was just an oh what the heck lets see how Vanilla this things wants to act. You will see below on post  #453 winblows does work on multi partitioned drives with the oz.h3a bios 

[xpamamadeus]

cool, but USB 3.0 works OOB really ?

firewire 400 works OOB really ?

 

besides no TB

 

shall i continue ?

with my hacked ozmosis bios USB 3 works OOB firewire 400 too...

out board only dont have  thunderbold.

[bs0d]

i was replying to  EvgeniX

xpamamadeus well a modded bios implies it doesnt work OOB

[Lanceomni]

Aircool,

 

I have windows 8, 10.8, and 10.9 on the same drive.

 

You can do a UEFI windows install to gpt drive. The drivers from bootcamp are helpful but no need to use bootcamp to facilitate the install.

 

UEFI installed windows does not need to be on the first partition. You can split and resize the partition in diskutility without effecting your primary install.

[bs0d]

be careful though, using disk utility on a disk with ntfs parttition will convert it to hybrid GPT/MBR and windows 7/8 will refuse to install on hybrid drive in UEFI mode.

[Lanceomni]

bs0d, Good call. My experience was with a clean install with no windows partitions. My first attempt included making space for the Windows install and formatting the partition as FAT32. After the UEFI installer alerted me to the fact that I could not install to that partition, I reformatted that partition under Disk Utility before I could continue.

 

aircool00, head bs0d's warning.

[THe KiNG]

with my hacked ozmosis bios USB 3 works OOB firewire 400 too...

out board only dont have  thunderbold.

Sure it works since you got "inspired" from QUO BIOS ACPI.

There is no hacked osmosis as there is no ozmosis ver 1, 2, ...6 and so on.

You should name your "releases" based on ozmosis versioning, ie BIOSNAME.OZVERSION, the latest "released" version is 739M.

Also I think is normal to credit people for their work, seems u miss this part in your topics.

[sTaN]

Is it possible to connect a 400 firewire cable of my case to the firewire IEEE 1394B onboard connector of the Z77MX-QUO-AOS???

[Lanceomni]

sTaN,

 

I have an 1394b to 1394a cable at the shop and will try to test on one of my older cameras. Ive never experienced an issue plugging older hardware into a 1394b port on both PC or Mac.

 

You could look at the pin out for a 1394b motherboard header and see if a 1394a plug would fit. It is probably more likely that you will have to purchase a 6PIN female to female IDC. One that has the individual pins as separate wires.

 

If you have to replace the cable in the case, you may want to consider using an empty bay and a 1394b plate. Then just pick up 1394b to 1394a cable.

 

Others will likely chime in with better solutions.

[xpamamadeus]

Sure it works since you got "inspired" from QUO BIOS ACPI.

There is no hacked osmosis as there is no ozmosis ver 1, 2, ...6 and so on.

You should name your "releases" based on ozmosis versioning, ie BIOSNAME.OZVERSION, the latest "released" version is 739M.

Also I think is normal to credit people for their work, seems u miss this part in your topics.

I didnt got inspired from quo bios acpi,i use pjalm patch repository and maciasl for my board.

 

I fix my USB 3 using that way before ozmosis get released.

 

I will edit future names as u say if when ozmosis get new releases.

 

I used names for my bios mods not ozmosis since i dont mod any of ozmosis files.

 

I am not taking any credit for Ozmosis,and i ask here if i could use  files from this bios for my mods.

 

To who i can put credits for this mods?

The HermitCrab Labs?

Quo?

 

INDI from projectosx its the one that i wanna credit for helping me to do this mods.

Guys form mydigitallife its the one that help me modding APCI in bios.

 

i will put all credits u just need to say to who.

Thx.

[THe KiNG]

To who i can put credits for this mods?

The HermitCrab Labs?

Yes.

 

There are so many years behind this project that I can't realy remember when it started(maybe someone do and bring the light here) anyway was in Chameleon glory days...

People need to know b/c I am really tired to see some venting brain farts like stolen work and s**t like that.

[xpamamadeus]

Yes.

updated my Ozmosis post and added link to tor site where i take firmware.