(mostly) successful Leopard install on ECS 945GCT-M/1333

[MjP99]

So we have it confirmed that with this new modified bios works with wolfdale chips and successfully boots into Leopard?

[JaE-V]

So we have it confirmed that with this new modified bios works with wolfdale chips and successfully boots into Leopard?

 

Sure does!

[mainecrab]

Well since you already got a good how to I guess there is no need for me to do one. I did redo my system on a dual boot of XP and 10.5.5. I installed xp normally on partition, installed osx on the other one using atkos 4. after the install I ran the script for using when updating and ran the update to 10.5.5 and rebooted. I installed the drivers from the pages at the beginning to get everything working.

[hagfish]

About to grab the board from fry's, another good combo deal goin on. I saw a few people ask, but no one confirm. Are you in fact stuck at 1024x768 w/ the stock video? Or can it be changed with some tweaking? Would rather not buy another nvidia card if I don't have to (not gonna game or anything). Thx

[JaE-V]

About to grab the board from fry's, another good combo deal goin on. I saw a few people ask, but no one confirm. Are you in fact stuck at 1024x768 w/ the stock video? Or can it be changed with some tweaking? Would rather not buy another nvidia card if I don't have to (not gonna game or anything). Thx

 

the onboard vid works fine for full resolutions but you cant use apps like final cut and etc. Pick up an nvidia 7200 or something cheap like that. they're like 20 bucks. Seriously its worth it.

[liupingguo]

Thanks for the amazing contribution to the ECS 945GTC-M/1333 users!

I've successfully got 10.5.5 installed with working on board audio. but as the pending problem of the on board video GMA950, still can not get resolution change, or QE/CI enabled.

 

tried maybe all the ways in this forum without success.

 

can anyone get it work without using PCI-E video card?

[br0adband]

Thanks for the amazing contribution to the ECS 945GTC-M/1333 users!

I've successfully got 10.5.5 installed with working on board audio. but as the pending problem of the on board video GMA950, still can not get resolution change, or QE/CI enabled.

 

tried maybe all the ways in this forum without success.

 

can anyone get it work without using PCI-E video card?

 

And you're 100% absolute-bloody-lutely positive you have a 945GTC-M/1333 v3.0 board with the Sigmatel chip for audio that's been causing issues? I can get this Celeron 430/ECS mobo up and running with Kalyway 10.5.2 but I can never get audio working, so I'm still stumped after all these months.

 

I give up on it, go back to XP Pro x64 sometimes, then I feel like the damned OS is getting the best of me, so I give it another shot, and get most everything working (with 10.5.2 though, not with updates, haven't gotten that far yet because I get frustrated at not getting the audio working) then drop it and come back some time later.

 

So I'm about to give this another go. I've got the iDeneb 10.5.5 DVD here, tried it about 3 weeks ago, got frustrated because it wouldn't even get me to the desktop so... now I'm about to try the Kalyway 10.5.2 thing once more, if this fails out and I can't get things working - and with Kalyway 10.5.2 everything works outta the box, so to speak, except audio with the single installation.

 

But I've got the 945GCT-M/1333 v3.0 board and still, I can't get that damned audio working, with all the kexts, the different jacks (no audio output from any of the 3, ever) and it pisses me off. So much for my Guru badge, eh?

 

liupingguo, if you could confirm the board you've got and maybe offer the specific way you got the onboard audio to function maybe that'll give me some enthusiasm to not give up quite so easily this time.

 

Thanks...

[liupingguo]

I installed 10.5.5 using the Ideneb v1.3, very smoothly. do exactly as DUCMAN told you to: first, download and flash the modified BIOS he'd contributed to all in Windows XP, be sure you've change the BIOS setting as instructed, which will not do any harm to your XP.

 

you can ignore the audio drive while you can still choose GMA950, but in all the case ( I believe), this will give you QE/IC enable but no resolution change. because Device ID and Revision ID are different to those who had experienced success on GMA950. then using your DVD to boot, shouldn't be any problem. since you need XP, format HDD with MBR option. install it and enjoy the peace before the success boot.

 

for the audio, do the same thing as Ktheurer wrote, download and patch, and you'll have audio from Mic port for sure, Mic shows internal. and my front audio works too, mic not tested. anyway, it's a brilliant progress already.

 

I think you had never flash the BIOS, which gives a very compatible hardware setting with MAC OS. try this and you'll not be any happier to have the 10.5.5.

[JaE-V]

you guys need to research different installation methods, there's perfectly working drivers for gma950 in the graphics section of these forums and the audio question has been answered in this thread many times. Liupingguo, use a retail method.

[br0adband]

So, lemme just ask this because I've been away for a while and just getting back into this project with a bit more enthusiasm:

 

- using anything but the retail DVD (using Boot-132 I'm guessing) means I'm going to encounter GMA950 issues, most likely the lack of being able to change resolution even though CI/QE seems to be working according to System Profiler, and...

 

- using the Boot-132 method with a retail Leopard DVD (I have a Leopard 10.5.4 retail DVD sitting here on my desk, actually) would mean I get everything working without hacks, cracks, or BS except that damned audio problem which never seems to work regardless.

 

If that's correct, someone say "Yes, that's correct" or "No, and here's where you're mistaken..." and explain why, pretty please.

 

I'm doing research on the Boot-132 method now to use this Leopard retail DVD I picked up this week for $20 (real legit 10.5.4 retail DVD, no kidding). If doing it that way by the Boot-132/retail DVD method means everything works as it should except for the damned audio, I can live with that, completely, and find some other audio card or USB adapter for sound as required.

 

I'm doing all this for the Wife, actually, as I personally still can't stand OSX - pretty funny considering my history and contributions to this community, ain't it?

 

The things we do for loved ones... I tell ya... hehe

 

ps

I find it odd that ECS in Taiwan has that 945GCT-M/1333 v3.0 BIOS from August but the USA site doesn't, it still only has the February 2008 BIOS... but I grabbed the August one and applied it last night, doesn't really matter to me since this box is a Celeron 430 so the dual core support is still useless unless the Wife wants me to get her one sometime. I just think it's a pretty weird the USA site doesn't have it but the Taiwan site does. Seen that sort of thing with Asus before: one of their other country websites has BIOS updates that are newer than the USA site has...

[hagfish]

the onboard vid works fine for full resolutions but you cant use apps like final cut and etc. Pick up an nvidia 7200 or something cheap like that. they're like 20 bucks. Seriously its worth it.

 

I took your advice and was able to find a 6600gt to throw in there. I reinstalled from scratch and and made sure to select NVinject (128). All was well except I was getting all black video in VLC. I then discovered that all the quartz stuff showed "not supported". Ok, so then I found a link to nvinstaller, which supposedly gets rid of the nvinject and modifies EFI, etc. Seemed to be going well, followed the directions (installed drivers, efistudio comes up, I select my card, add, click add to plist).. Then reboot and it stops loading during the spinning apple.. Can only boot safe mode. Did I go about this all the wrong way? Thanks for any more advice, the end goal is to just have my 6600 working the way its supposed to, even if I need to reinstall. Can ya point me in the right direction? Thanks again

[br0adband]

Well, I finally got it to work. Except for my PS/2 keyboard, of course, but... I've got working audio without issues, working GMA950 (using the 10.5.5 kexts except for the framebuffer which is still the 1.4.2 older one, not a big deal at this point), and I'm pretty jazzed to have finally made it all come together. As my Wife uses a USB keyboard (which I'm using right now just to make all this work in the first place), it won't be an issue since I won't be using OSx86 at all.

 

Thanks to those that have worked diligently and put forth the effort to get this mobo functional pretty much 100%...

[LargeFormat]

Is anyone getting kernel panics while using bit torrent. I have been having this issue from day one. After reading through other threads I still don't know why this is happening. Not sure if using 4GB of ram is the problem or something else entirely. I am only at 10.5.2 and don't really have any modifications to the system. Is anyone suffering through this. I have torrents going all day, all the time. I get multiple KP's a day. I've tried different clients but they all do it.

[liupingguo]

Well, I finally got it to work. Except for my PS/2 keyboard, of course, but... I've got working audio without issues, working GMA950 (using the 10.5.5 kexts except for the framebuffer which is still the 1.4.2 older one, not a big deal at this point), and I'm pretty jazzed to have finally made it all come together. As my Wife uses a USB keyboard (which I'm using right now just to make all this work in the first place), it won't be an issue since I won't be using OSx86 at all.

 

Thanks to those that have worked diligently and put forth the effort to get this mobo functional pretty much 100%...

 

 

How did you make the on board GMA950 working? I've tried hundreds of times with different kext, none of them work on mine. Could you upload the files, there are too many models, posts, replies, I could hardly find a clue,please........

[Henrik C]

Just a few quick questions.

What is the easiest way to install Mac OS X 10.5.5 on this motherboard?

I also have a ATI Radeon HD 2400PRO, will this work nicely? I guess I will have to use NVinject, right?

 

And I have the v3.0 board, will I need Windows XP to install the BIOS which support dual cores?

[liupingguo]

tons of thanks to br0adband!

I've managed the GMA950 with all resolution and QE/CI enable. simply use Kw 10.5.2 and choose GMA950 during option selection which I had thought would have some tearing. the fact is, it works natively without any patching needed on this board.

cheer!

[ktheurer]

Just a few quick questions.

What is the easiest way to install Mac OS X 10.5.5 on this motherboard?

I also have a ATI Radeon HD 2400PRO, will this work nicely? I guess I will have to use NVinject, right?

 

And I have the v3.0 board, will I need Windows XP to install the BIOS which support dual cores?

 

There is a new version of Debil with 10.5.5, that is the easiest way. Or you can see my topic for upgrading to 10.5.5 with any OSX,

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=129320

 

Well, I think the DVD has drivers for tha ATI video cards included.

 

If you need to upgrade the BIOS, yes you need Windows XP, it doesn't to be fully operational. You need since the new program to upgrade the BIOS runs under Windows XP. There used to be a version of this program you could run from diskette, but at least for this motherboard, no anymore.

[Henrik C]

Looks like my old Kalyway 10.5.1 install (now upgraded to 10.5.3, going to update to 10.5.4 as soon as my backup is done) works fine.

Got the ATI card running just fine, and in fact, I'm using it as my primary machine right now.

 

Will sleep work better on 10.5.4?

Right now, if I choose sleep, it shuts down, and starts up again after half a second. :/

[icemank121]

Maybe someone can help me, I just ordered an ECS 945GCT-M/1333 and I have created a boot-132 USB stick in anticipation using the generic.iso. Now my question, what will I have to add to this boot0132 to make sounds and my x1900xt work? Or are these thing I should add post install? I would prefer to do it before for the fact that i can just install and go about my business without having to fix a ton of {censored}, my goal is 100% vanilla as possible. My other question, I have a 10.5.4 retail disc, can I just use it then run Software Update? Thanks.

[OzTambo]

Maybe someone can help me, I just ordered an ECS 945GCT-M/1333 and I have created a boot-132 USB stick in anticipation using the generic.iso. Now my question, what will I have to add to this boot0132 to make sounds and my x1900xt work? Or are these thing I should add post install? I would prefer to do it before for the fact that i can just install and go about my business without having to fix a ton of {censored}, my goal is 100% vanilla as possible. My other question, I have a 10.5.4 retail disc, can I just use it then run Software Update? Thanks.

 

I have a few Hackintosh's built using the ECS945 from Frys... They work pretty well with the exception of the USB for sound. I do not know how close to a vanilla install you will get with this mobo.

 

I would recommend the Gigabyte GA P35-DS3L, strong emphasis on the P35... Guide 2 Perfect build Check out Weaksause12's guide... out of the 6 or so Hackintosh's I have built this is definatly the best and without doubt is just like my wifes Real MAC...

 

Bad side is that Frys have the ECS Mobo and an E2200 for $80 buck and the P35 mobo is about the same with no CPU... But it is 100% worth it IMO

[RavenCore17]

I have this mobo and an E7200 my problem is that with the latest 10.5.5 from ideneb it shows that I only have 1 core. Is there a way to fix this issue?

[scram69]

you guys need to research different installation methods, there's perfectly working drivers for gma950 in the graphics section of these forums and the audio question has been answered in this thread many times. Liupingguo, use a retail method.

 

As far as the audio question, it hasn't exactly been answered in this thread. The link from ktheurer on the first page of the thread downloads 3 files: the patch utility, a modified AppleHDA.kext, and an audio codec dump.

 

However, that audio codec dump is not for all flavors of this mobo. When I tried using it, following his directions carefully, not only did I not get sound, but I got kernel panics on shutdown.

 

The real answer is to just get your own codec dump and use that in place of the one from kthurer's .zip file. It's pretty easy to do. Just pick your favorite linux distro live CD (if you're new to linux, I recommend ubuntu), boot up, and copy the /proc/asound/card0/codec#0 file onto a usb stick. Then copy it onto your mac, rename it whaterver.txt, and drop it onto the patcher v1.16 utility. Follow the rest of the directons in kthurer's post and you should be good to go - sound out of the pink jack.

 

When I compared my dump (that worked) to the one I downloaded, they were both 9221D, but just looking at the first few lines I noticed subtle differences.

 

I have this mobo and an E7200 my problem is that with the latest 10.5.5 from ideneb it shows that I only have 1 core. Is there a way to fix this issue?

 

Even with the modified bios from macman (page 12 of this thread), I was not able to get iDeneb 10.5.5 to boot post install with this mobo, one core or two.

 

But using that bios, kalyway 10.5.2 (vanilla) installed just fine, shows 2 cores. I plan to try one of the methods posted earlier in this thread to upgrade to 10.5.5.

 

Does anyone have sleep working yet with v3 of this board? If so, how?

[kd7skx]

I used iDeneb v1.3 that I found on the side walk. Make sure you select the correct smbios fix, it crashed the first time i didn't make sure I had the correct one selected on install. Other wise no problems, I have been up and running for a while now with iDeneb on this board.

[RavenCore17]

kd7skx what smbios fix did you select? what did it fix even?

my only issue with ideneb 10.5.5 is that it will not give me sound and only uses 1 of my 2 cores on my e7200

 

For me I have ideneb running with the following

 

ICHx fix, Jmicron fix

vanilla kernel

nvjector 512

AHCI fix

[RavenCore17]

Update*

Fixed the 1 core issue with the help of a modded bios provided earlier and sound now works through mic(barely used it anyway)

this is one happy camper with 10.5.5