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Anyone try ASUS Z8NA-D6 with 2 xeon

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Ashmodai
Ashmodai
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Posted

Hi guys,

Sorry for the very late answer ! I used the following guide in fact

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=168883

 

I use the last Chameleon with the boot file replaced from the latest PC-EFI. I attached my DSDT.aml and smbios.plist files

 

Full hardware :

Asus Z8NA-D6

2 * E5520 Xeon nehalem CPU

12 GB RAM (6*2GB) DDR3 ECC kingston

Raid card Highpoint RocketRaid 2320

Graphics : Asus 9400GT silent

 

In My extra folder I have :

AHCIPortInjector.kext

ATAPortInjector.kext

Disabler.kext

IOAHCIBlockStorageInjector.kext

JMicronATAInjector.kext

 

not sure all are usefull but works perfectly !

 

Hope this helps !

Ashmodai

z8na.zip

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  • 5 weeks later...
peach-os
peach-os
Posted
Posted

news ! installing the ASUS Z8NA-D6 is easy-peasy :)

 

finished my mod and installed as described here http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=168883 - but went straight through to snow leo instead of 10.5.7 . everything working with 8 (16) cores! one problem still to fix is sleep.

 

a work log with the whole installation guide will follow as a christmas present :)

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  • 1 month later...
render^
render^
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Posted

I'm setting this one up, but with the Z8NA-D6C. My goal is to build a sub $3000 8-core dual Xeon and get 2 monitors instead of spending four grand on a Macpro without monitors.

 

2x Xeon E5520

Asus ATI 4890 (will it run Open CL?)

12GB ECC ram

3x 1TB (hopefully in RAID5 hardware? software?) (2xSamsung F1R, 1xWD Caviar Black)

1x 750 with OSX 10.6 preinstalled.

LiteOn DVD burner iHAS124-04

steelseries Siberia 51001SS USB Interface Soundcard

Asio USB Bluetooth (for the apple kbd)

Apple wireless keyboard (sweet!)

 

Original Snow Leopard DVD 10.6 with Xcode, etc. (Fink and Linux repos ftw.)

 

I want to know if this setup will boot.

If it doesn't boot, is there a way to install 10.6 from the dvd? Will it just work?

 

I'm new to this and i've read

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...p;#entry1308592

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...p;#entry1369057

and http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=168883

but I have no idea what they mean. I read some news about Psystar etc. I can't understand a thing and I don't know what EFI is.

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peach-os
peach-os
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but I have no idea what they mean. I read some news about Psystar etc. I can't understand a thing and I don't know what EFI is.

 

with this qualification......hmmm - are you sure you want to spend that much money?

 

don´t get me wrong, but this is a really challenging build.

 

to respond to some questions.

 

I can´t test MIO, but I´m pretty sure that it won´t work.

 

the machine booted fine after following the method of your third link. I decided to use an nvidia 9800gt card - very easy install - just used the chameleon graphics enabler.

 

you don´t need psystar.

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render^
render^
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I read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Firmware_Interface but it doesn't make it any clearer if this EFI you guys talk about is the same thing. I haven't had much luck googling, but I found that Vista supports it and it's becoming something of a standard.

http://www.tuaw.com/2007/08/30/vista-sp1-t...does-this-mean/

http://www.uefi.org/home/

 

So is it a replacement of the BIOS, or an interface that works on top of the BIOS? Is it like a bootloader (LILO, grub)? It seems it's a simple install onto the HDD, and not the BIOS, so there's no flashing required? Will I be able to do everything from a Live CD? (I like using Hirem's CD for partitioning, etc.)

 

peach-os, sorry I wasn't clear. I have the parts. I removed the MIO card, and added a USB sound card. The right fans are coming tomorrow (I ordered the wrong fans).

I've built a couple computers before (a 'budget' AMD 955 x4). I've spent around 3.3 grand, (Including two 22" monitors), which is much less than the 4 grand i'd spend on the MacPro alone. I plan to do *heavy* work on it.

Do you think the USB Bluetooth and the external USB sound card will work?

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render^
render^
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I also read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSx86

It also seems that "Chameleon" is a bootloader, and PC EFI V 10.6 is an EFI, which still doesn't make things any easier.

Marucins said:

chameleon is a boot loader. PC EFi is a EFI for PC ;)

on http://netkas.org/?p=372#comments

It's the first time I ever hear about a video card being enabled on a bootloader. This might turn out to be an interesting learning experience. It seems I will need to install Netkas's something something with something Chameleon something by doing something. I have no idea what these names refer to but they seem pretty important. There's still too much inside jargon to understand.

 

Two more links, this time for ATI HD 4890 video: http://forum.hardmac.com/index.php?showtopic=6384 http://netkas.org/?p=315

Sorry about the thread hijack. I'm going to document my progress and info on this thread.

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render^
render^
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I found out what the netkas' EFI does. And chameleon is a bootloader (to my understanding, something like an MBR boot loader like LILO or GRUB that is compatible with the EFI standard).

 

Now, I have installed Chameleon RC4 and netkas's EFI manually on a USB external drive preinstalled with OSX server 10.6.2 (booted on another Mac and updated through Apple software update). Manual install from an OSX machine:

sudo -s
fdisk -f boot0 -u /dev/rdiskX
dd if=boot1h of=/dev/rdiskXs2
cp -p boot boot0 boot1h /Volumes/usbboot

I googled to see if there's a way to do this on a linux bootable distro (a live-cd or live-usb). There's issues with hfs+ journaling FS and other {censored} that nobody bothers explaining (I could not find any distros even with my googlefu, that can confidently mount and mess with OSX partitions on linux).

 

The Xeon box has no OS, but by plugging in the external usb drive I hope to install OSX (with chameleon and working efi) to the PC all through the USB drive.

 

Now, I don't know what kind of kernel I would need, how to install this special kernel (vanilla), and as far as I've read, there's a way to install all these extensions and barebone vanilla kernel on the EFI partition without modifying the OSX installation (10.6.2 as of today).

 

The USB drive boots, and shows The EFI bootloader with HD Partition and "USBOSX" installation of OSX. It goes on to the Apple loading screen, but it stays there, spinning forever (15 minutes). OSX won't start.

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  • 3 weeks later...
render^
render^
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I can't mount the EFI partitions on any hard drive. not the USB drive, not the drive.

when it do mount_hfs as superuser, it gives me:

 

Invalid argument.

Why can't I mount the partition? I want to mount so I can copy netkas' boot file.

 

For the section below, what IOPCIMatch value did you use? I don't have Windows Device Manager. Will both ethernet ports work?

 

9. Fix Onboard Ethernet

The Z8PE-D12 motherboard has an Intel 82574L ethernet controller on it. This is the same controller used in the new Mac Pros, and as such, Apple generously provides the kext for us. We just need to add our Ethernet controller's device id to the list of supported devices in the kext itself. Open /System/Library/Extensions/IONetworkingFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/Intel82574L.kext/Contents/Info.plist and edit the following lines:

 

<key>IOClass</key>

<string>Intel82574L</string>

<key>IOPCIPrimaryMatch</key>

 

I. Change <key>IOPCIPrimaryMatch</key> to <key>IOPCIMatch</key>.

II. Add your Ethernet Controller's uid to the list in the line right after the <key>IOPCIMatch</key> line. My id is 0x10D38086 and the simple way to find out what it is is to use Windows Device Manager.

III. Remove the line that says <key>IOPCISecondaryMatch</key>, and also remove the line immediately below that.

 

Once complete, open a terminal and "sudo su" again. Then do the following:

rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/Caches ; rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions.mkext

 

Also, I have no idea what kexts are required. you listed only

AHCIPortInjector.kext

ATAPortInjector.kext

Disabler.kext

IOAHCIBlockStorageInjector.kext

JMicronATAInjector.kext

 

but the z8na-d6 doesn't have any ATA connection, so I've selected the following:

 

FakeSMC.kext (v2.5 for Snow from http://netkas.org/?p=338 It's very hard to track versions on other websites like kexts.com as they do not document at all what version they are providing. too many links to versionless files on the internet confuse me a lot.)

AHCIPortInjector.kext (kexts.com)

ApplePS2x64.zip (Apple P/S2 Drivers/kexts. unzip to /E/E)

NullCPUPowerManagement.kext (temporary until I install 10.6.2, then remove, as there is support for speedstep on the latest snow version with chameleon/netkas I think. http://netkas.org/?p=315)

Not yet installed:

IOAHCIBlockStorageInjector.kext (to remove orange icons. later.)

SleepEnabler.kext (needs 10.6.2, i'm still trying to make 10.6 boot, install network drivers, then upgrade)

 

 

Once I have these kexts copied to /Extra/Extensions, in the EFI partiton, what do I need to do to make chameleon load them? I don't know how to rebuild mkext caches. My guess is that I'd have to follow this (from http://osx86.sojugarden.com/2009/09/permissions-kext-caches/):

To do this manually open a terminal and enter the following commands to repair the permissions on your “/Extra” directory:

 

$ sudo chown -R 0:0 /Extra

 

$ sudo chmod -R 755 /Extra

 

You may also need to repair the permissions on your “/System/Library/Extensions” directory:

 

$ sudo chown -R 0:0 /System/Library/Extensions

 

$ sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions

 

Now build the Extensions.mkext for /Extra/Extensions in /Extra with the following command.

 

$ sudo kextcache -v 1 -a i386 -a x86_64 -m /Extra/Extensions.mkext /Extra/Extensions

 

You may also need to rebuild the Extensions.mkext for the “/System/Library/Extensions” directory:

 

$ sudo kextcache -v 1 -a i386 -a x86_64 -m /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/Extensions.mkext /System/Library/Extensions

 

Then you may reboot your system. Please note that the above examples are assuming you want to repair permissions on your root volume ( / ) if you are repairing the permissions on another volume in your system make sure to adjust the path accordingly.

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peach-os
peach-os
Posted
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you will need only IOAHCIBlockStorageInjector.kext , NullCPU (or disabler), fakesmc, Openhaltrestart (or Evoreboot). later you leave the dsdt.aml in the Extra folder and delete the NullCPU.

 

attached the Extra folder, the IONetworkingFamily and my actual dsdt.aml

the IONetworking has to be installed to S/L/E. best to do this is to drag the IONetworkingFamily.kext on kextutility, download from here http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=140647

 

this will repair your permissions automatically and create new extensions.mkexts - no chmod and chown in terminal

to do the repair permissions only, doubleclick

Z8NA_D6.zip

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render^
render^
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Thanks for the files. I'm using your IONetworkingFamily.kext (the only kext on /S/L/E), Evoreboot and the files Ashmodai posted in this same thread that I already installed. I didn't use kextutility because I want to know what I'm doing this time around so I can apply these commands to any new machine I try to build. Hopefully I'll be able to eventually do an EFI partition install.

 

I copied the network kext as super user, replacing the old one (rm -rf ionetworkfamily.kext and cp yourkext) and the kernel immediately enabled the network ports, so I didn't change any permissions.

I couldn't find a guide that explains how to remove and rebuild from scratch (it's lost among hundreds of bookmarks).

 

So now I've downloaded automatic apple updates. I restarted to find that 10.6.2 boots.

I removed applecpupm.kext but idk what if any changes i need to do to dsdt.aml

I'm gonna use the one you provided, but it would be nice to know what fixes it has. Hopefully it will show my CPU name, instead of Unknown.

 

OTHER EDITS:

I don't know how to make or build dsdt.aml files. Is leaving the one I have there (Ashmodai's dsdt.aml) a good solution? I coudln't find any easy to follow guides. I also don't know about making one from scratch or what kind of fixes are added to dsdt.aml

 

some links: http://www.projectosx.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=515

http://www.mediafire.com/?kmmmjnyd52g

Here's a guide I found (http://efixusers.com/showthread.php?t=533):

BIOS Settings:

 

Please enable EIST (Enhanced Intel SpeedStep), C1E and if you have C2(E), C3(E) and so on.

 

 

LPC Driver:

 

LPC stands for Low Pin Count and this device is part of the southbridge. For some reason this driver must be loaded to have fully working SpeedStep with AppleIntelCPUPowermanagement. LPD device address in the DSDT is 0x1f0000. The device name in all Gigabyte DSDT is PX40. Here is a code snippet:

Code:

 

Device (PX40)

{

Name (_ADR, 0x001F0000)

OperationRegion (PREV, PCI_Config, 0x08, One)

Scope (\)

{

Field (\_SB.PCI0.PX40.PREV, ByteAcc, NoLock, Preserve)

{

REV0, 8

}

}

...

 

You can check whether the AppleLPC driver is loaded or not with SystemProfiler (Software->Extensions) or with this Terminal command:

Code:

 

> kextstat | grep LPC

70 0 0x5c36b000 0x3000 0x2000 com.apple.driver.AppleLPC (1.4.9) <14 5 4 3>

 

The PCI Dev-Id of the LPC device is 0x3a18 for the ICH10 southbridge and 0x3a16 for the ICH10R. The driver is AppleLPC.kext. You can find them in /System/Library/Extensions. The problem is that AppleLPC does not load if you have an ICH10R southbridge, because it has no entry for the ICH10R Dev-Id in IONameMatch (see Info.plist in AppleLPC.kext). This can be fixed by patching the AppleLPC.kext itself or by patching the DSDT like this:

 

Code:

 

Device (PX40)

{

Name (_ADR, 0x001F0000)

Method (_DSM, 4, NotSerialized)

{

Store (Package (0x02)

{

"device-id",

Buffer (0x04)

{

0x18, 0x3A, 0x00, 0x00

}

}, Local0)

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

Return (Local0)

}

OperationRegion (PREV, PCI_Config, 0x08, One)

Scope (\)

{

Field (\_SB.PCI0.PX40.PREV, ByteAcc, NoLock, Preserve)

{

REV0, 8

}

}

...

 

This fakes the Dev-Id to be an ICH10 one (0x3a18). It's also a good idea to rename the PX40 device into LPCB like on a real Mac. Please replace all PX40 you can find in the DSDT with LPCB.

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render^
render^
Posted
Posted

peach-os, after I applied the automatic apple update (directly from the internet), the network doesn't work anymore.

So, I replaced the IOnetworking kext once again (using su, rm, and cp), set permissions to it, and ran the 

sudo kextcache -v 1 -a i386 -a x86_64 -m /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/Extensions.mkext /System/Library/Extensions

as described in http://osx86.sojugarden.com/2009/09/permissions-kext-caches/

Network still doesn't work.

 

I can't find any mistakes. I went insde the plugins and kext, and opened the plist with textedit, and compared to yours. The file is the same. (I see your modified Matchkey values).

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