[HOW TO] Getting Supermicro X9DAi audio working

[Jarek Januszewski]

Since winter 2015 I've been slowly building my Hackintosh workstation based on Supermicro X9DAi. This mobo has quite good reputation in the community, that's why I have chosen it as my base platform.

It quickly turned out the X9DAi Hackintosh setup process is time consuming and has very steep learning curve. Preparation of my rig went into months. Ethernet, USB, USB3, PM, ... step by step I fixed succeeding issues. Days, weeks – you probably know that.

 

It was all worth it however, cause today I have 100% functional muscle hack.

Thanks to wonderful community I overcame many obstacles and solved hundred of issues. So now is my turn to put my two cents.

___

Last thing which not worked in my system was audio. Many users reported lack of ability to fix this and after several attempts I also quit. Bought cheapo USB PnP sound card and left the issue unsolved.

Having to test some DIY microphone project I did recently, I thought why not to give another shot to my onboard ALC889?

I did, and after an hour had working audio onboard.

 

Setup is very simple and you can proceed it in minutes. Of course this is not my developement but compilation of solutions from the web.

Tested on OS X Yosemite 10.10.5 only. I don't know whether it works in other system versions.

 

So, here's step by step how-to guide:

 

___

1. Download "Realtek ALC888s Solution for Yosemite by Mister Thibard" here:

http://www.osx86.net/files/file/4299-realtek-alc888s-solution-for-yosemite/

This is very convenient set of utilities suitable here. Download, mount DMG, read the README.

 

 

2. Run the PKG from "A" folder.

App installs to S/L/E two kexts: VoodooHDA & AppleHDADisabler,
Also Voodoo preference pane and VoodooHdaSettingsLoader.app in the Utilities.

 

 

 

3. Open the "B" folder from DMG and copy VoodooHDA.kext somewhere on your HD.

Go to new kext location, do "show package content" and edit containing info.plist file in any plain text editor.

 

VoodooHDA is an open source audio driver for devices compliant with the Intel High Definition Audio specification. It is intended as a replacement for AppleHDA on Mac OS X.

 

 

4. Check whether your device ID is indeed 0x1d208086 under the "IOPCIPrimaryMatch" key.

			<key>IOPCIPrimaryMatch</key>
			<string>0x1d208086</string>

If it's not, refer to the README on DMG (or use DPCIManager utility to get device ID).

 

 

5. Find the "AllowMSI" key and change its value to "false".

			<key>AllowMSI</key>
			<true/>

to:

			<key>AllowMSI</key>
			<false/>

NOTE: if sound is lost after few seconds of any first play, it means you have missed this step

 

 

6. Save the info.plist file and close editor.

 

 

7. Using KextWizard, KextUtility or any similar app install edited VoodooHDA in /S/L/E and do usual full service.

 

 

8. Make VoodooHdaSettingsLoader load at startup.

Go to System Preferences -> Users & Groups -> (select desired user) -> Login Items tab.
Click "+" and locate VoodooHdaSettingsLoader.app in the Utilities. Select it and add to your startup items:

 

9. Restart machine. Enjoy your new sound.

This solution is quick, effective and elegant. Checkout the Sound pane in System Preferences – all motherboard audio connectors are present:

 

 

In the VoodooHDA preference pane you may fine-tune output & input source parameters. Very convenient.

Cheers!

 

[PunkNugget]

 hello, I was wanting to find out if I would need this patch for Sierra 10.12.503?

 

 Also I wanted you to see if you could read this post that I put on here just recently?

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/324545-ultrabeast-2-x-980tis-2-x-e5-2697v2-cpus-geekbench-59104-fastest-system/

 

 After you're done looking at it if you have time let me know what your thoughts are about why my screen is going black at startup? Thanks for whatever input you can give and I'm extremely excited to know that you got yours working!  That's awesome!