Hackintosh 2.0
After spilling water through the fan vents of my desktop on my current hackintosh, I had to make a new one. All that needed replacing was the motherboard. I wanted to pick a board that had been put through it’s paces in the OSx86 (hackintosh) community. There was an amazing guide for the first board I picked, but it wasn’t being sold on Newegg.com anymore, so I decided on the Gigabyte GA-EP4-UD3P.
You can find more information about my setup on my hackintosh v2 wiki page. If you want to see every step I went through to get this system working, check out that page.
What To Expect
This guide will let you install OS X Leopard 10.5.6 from the retail disk (straight from Apple!). You’ll have a system with full functionality and minimal hacking.
I have not tested this setup extensively since I got it working, so I make no guaranty about it’s stability. The way I went about it isn’t the cleanest, but it works. I’m hoping weaksauce12 will release a Universal OSx86 Installer plug-in for this board in the near future. Keep an eye out on my blog for another post involving that installation.
Hardware
Here is the hardware I used. You can poke around the InsanelyMac forums to find instructions for your own system.
Same hardware I used in version 1, except with a new motherboard. The motherboard is the most important factor in a hackintosh as long as you have an Intel processor and an NVIDIA video card.
- Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P (newegg)
- Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz (newegg)
- Video Card - EVGA GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit PCI Express x16 (newegg)
- RAM - CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin 800 (PC2 6400) (newegg)
- DVD - SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R SATA (newegg)
- Power Supply - COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus 460W (newegg)
- Case - COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower (newegg)
Required Goodies
Here is what you’ll need to complete this guide.
- Retail Leopard install disk
- Note: Please purchase the CD and support the Apple developers!
- Download the handy UD3P-package I compiled for this motherboard. See “Credits” section below for all the original content in the package.
Preparation
- Burn grub-dfe.iso to a CD. Disco is a handy app for doing this.
- Put the UD3P-package onto a USB flash drive.
Steps
- Boot with GRUB-DFE boot cd.
- At the “fake darwin” screen it will say have a prompt that says “Boot:”. Switch out the boot cd for retail leopard.
- When prompted for a 2-digit hex number, press “fe” to boot to the Leopard CD.
- Note: I used retail verison 10.5.0, but any retail disk should work.
- Once you’re in the installer, format your drive (Utilities > Disk Utility). Make sure the partition type is set to GUID.
- Install OS X normally.
- When installation is done, restart (you might have to do this forcefully) and place the boot cd back in.
- Boot to the boot CD as before.
- This time when you’re prompted for a 2-digit hex number, enter “80″ to boot to your hard drive.
- Follow the on-screen steps to complete the Leopard installation
- When prompted to register, press CTRL+Q and select “skip”
- When you create your account, keep in mind you can only have each username once. If you plan to migrate files from a previous OS X installation, pick a different “Name” and “Short Name”
- Once this is done, it should load you into OS X.
- Install all updates (including 10.5.6) from Software Update. Restart when directed to.
- Boot from the GRUB-DFE disk again.
- Use -v at the real Darwin screen so you have verbose output. The update should apply itself during the boot process. When you see “MACH Reboot”, go ahead and forcefully restart the computer.
- Boot from the GRUB-DFE disk yet again.
- Keep installing updates and restarting until there are no updates left in Software Update.
- Run Chameleon_DFE_for_Hard_Disk.dmg (located in the UD3P-package) (Note: I don’t think this step is completely necessary since we install PC_EFI v9 later, but it definitely doesn’t hurt to do it anyway).
- Drag all the files in the “Kexts for Chameleon” folder into the “Extra Contents” shortcut in Chameleon’s .dmg.
- Run Chameleon_DFE_for_Hard_Disk.pkg to install the bootloader.
- Reboot with the boot CD. Use -x to boot into safe mode
- Use Universal OSx86 Installer
- Select the following options:
- Do OSx86_Essentials as motherboard
- Boot timeout to 5
- Native resolution to 1920×1200
- Install PC_EFI v9 Chameleon
- Apply Ethernet EFI String (Time Machine Fix)
- Apply EFI String for video card (I selected NVIDIA DeForce 7600FT 256MB for my card)
- Click “Add extra kexts” and select all the files in the “Kexts for Uinstaller” folder.
- Eject boot CD.
- Restart
- Select the following options:
- Everything should be working!!
Finishing up
- System Preferences > Sound > Output > Switch it to “internal speakers”
- Disable sleep and the “turn off monitor” features. For me, every time it went to sleep or turned off my monitor, it would come back with a blue screen.
- Migration Assistant
- When selecting parts you want to restore, make sure you do not select Applications or Library. Restoring the Library folder could ruin all the work you’ve done to get your system running.
- Press Transfer and let it go to work
- You can start installing applications while you wait. I have a helpful list here. Some programs might not expect to be installed on one account (your current one) and then be used on another account (the on you’re transferring), so use with caution.
- Fix drive icons if you wish
That’s all!
You should have a working system at this point. Please add a comment below if this worked for you or if it broke everything or if you just love me. Please share your own experience if it wasn’t based on my guide. Thanks to everyone at InsanelyMac for creating an awesome community of hackintosh-ers!
Bonus:
XBench Results (with hardisk): 135.72
XBench Results (without hardisk): 201.97
Credits
- Adapted heavily from basshead’s blog, the thread (for the EP45-UD3R board), and weaksauce12’s amazing guide (for the P45-DS3L board)
- Universal OSx86 Installer (Uinstaller.app) - Please donate to PCWiz for the incredible amount of work he has put into this application.
- Chameleon DFE for Hard disk
- grub-dfe.iso (download)
- An alternative is to use the boot-132 “modified kexts” ISO (download)
- .zip for audio kext
Jeremy Blanchard: Student, Nerd, Enviro-geek
speeeding did you h appen to get your tew 421pc working? I have been trying to sort it out to no avail.
Great guide . thanks. Will it work with ati hd 2600 pro PCI?
@lama
no, I couldn’t get it to work, so i returned it :/
Your guide is just outstanding. Followed it to the letter and I now have my hackintosh up and running. Many many many thanks.
@speeeding
I followed your directions. Everything is good. Even sleep, reboot, power off. Only one issue no hardware 3d support for 2600 Pro. My config.
UD3R
Q6600 at 3.0
8G
ATI 2600 pro pcie
Any advice? what card do u recommend?
Hi! Thanks for great manual. My hackintosh on ep45-ud3 is up fine. But only ethernet with RealtecR1000.kext not work. I am use AppleRTL8169Ethernet.kext and ethernet works fine.
But i have one trouble. Sometime system freeze only mouse cursor move. Why? I am noob.
Excellent tutorial.
I have:
GA-EP45-UD3P
Q6600
9800gtx+
dual monitors
Your steps / kext packages worked flawlessly. I’ve now gone completely Mac, as the only thing holding me back before was the fact that my MBP couldn’t do dual external monitors.
Excellent. I believe it can work when I try it later but at the mean time I can’t download the UD3P-Package from mediafire. Could you please upload it somewhere else?
@ed: The download works for me. Try again, maybe?
@Everyone: Sorry I haven’t been providing support for this. Aside from having a very busy life, I also generally don’t know the answer to your questions. The InsanelyMac forums are definitely a better place to be asking your questions.
Thanks for all the kind words, everyone!
Hey Guys…
It’s been a while since I posted, but I wanted to share some things I have discovered after following this awesome guide and working with my hackintosh now going on about 3 weeks. One thing I have noticed is that if you have an Apple TV and you use the onboard ethernet, you will most likely have problems as the onboard ethernet does not work well with the bonjour services. What will happen is that the Apple TV will not reliably show up in iTunes. I went out an bought an external USB to ethernet Apple adapter and that seemed to help, but then I started having problems with that after a while. I have read on the OS86Xproject.org site that the Netgear Gigabit adapter works very well. I think it’s the GA311 model or something like that. I am going to try it out, as it is frustrating when I cant keep my Apple TV synced. If you do use the Netgear PCI card, it’s probably wise to disable the onboard ethernet adapters in the BIOS. I will point out that the ethernet will work fine (browsing the ethernet, etc), but there is something about the internal ethernet ports and bonjour that don’t mix, and unfortunately iTunes relies on it.
Just wanted to put this out there in case anyone else runs into it. Oh and the only other problem I have had is that Time Machine worked ok for a while but now I consistently get problems with Backups failing. Seems like this is a common problem for all Apple users, not just me as a hackintosh user.
Take care..
I followed these steps and everything… but some how, I can’t get my video driver to work. I patch all the kexts and everything includes in the folder. I still get no luck. I installed the full retail Leopard 10.5.6 DVD. This is w/out the patch in it. I’ve searched and searched all the forums, still no luck getting my drivers to work. I got my sound to work… but everything else isn’t working for me. Help a noob out!!!
@Auzigog
links working now, thanks. maybe an error on mediafire server last time. Anyway, will try this on my UD3P next week. Cheers.
damn good guide.
specs:
Asus p5w dh deluxe
2.4 dual core
9800 gtx+ black edition
6gb ram
80 gb ide hd
followed your instructions and everythings works great. however i had to download a audio package and install the 882 audio kext. now my audio works like normal. thanks.
how about some xbench scores of your system?
with and without hard drive test would be nice.
@Nano: Great idea! I added them to the end of the post!
Thanks for the great guide.
I follow it to a T and i was able to get my build up and going in a very short time.
I used a burned copy of 10.5.6 retail disk.
My hardware:
Ga-45-UD3P
Intel Core 2 duo Quad core Q9400 - 2.66 GHz
4 GB of G Skill RAM
SATA HD and SATA DVD drives
ATI Radeon 2600XT (Sapphire) 512Mb
I had to install the natit.kext to get my video card working because it is ATI. Other than that, your guide was spot on. Audio, ethernet, shutdown, restart, and sleep all work. The only issue ive ran into is that when i come out of sleep mode i have to renew my DHCP lease.
Im going to test Time Machine tomorrow.
The one thing i did notice is that in my “About this MAC” screen it says my memory is only at 800mhz. It’s supposed to be 1066. No biggie though, this thing is great.
Thanks Again.
checkout this topic
http://10007.info/forum/index.php?topic=227.0
worlds most cheapest hackintosh pc
GREAT guide, I can’t wait til I start this — I’ve been hunting around for the exact same hardware but newegg has the CPU deactivated — could I use any CPU that goes with the mobo? Same question with the vid card (both items were deactivated on newegg as of 4/2/2009) Many thanks in advance
Everything is good in this tutorial except the applesmbios and usb kext need to be installed also. WIthout SMBioskext, the system profiler will show error. In addition, the USB kext will allow front and back usb to work. Here’s the link with all the required kexts.
http://www.mediafire.com/?fowbynybjyh
I think I followed all the steps except I have an nVidia card. However I missed checking the box about applying the kexts the first time through Universal Installer. Went through it again and check this box a second time.
Now I get this during boot:
boot0: GPT
boot0: HFS+
boot0: booting
boot0: done
boot1: error
I solved my problem by installing Chameleon 2.0 RC1. Everything worked fine after that. It was either because something went haywire writing the bootloader or the version included does not support the case sensitive formatting option. Either way, that did the trick.
Thanks for the great guide!
Hey auzigog…
Just installed osx on my desktop, did a search on how to tweak a few things and sure enough you show up
I am a complete noob at this so forgive me if I am asking a dumb question.
I am trying to install this to an IDE drive rather than my SATA drive. I am wondering if that is a problem.
Where I am having trouble is that when the instructions say to press “fe”, that is not actually an option (I am assuming as such because there are other drives with two digit letters after them). Also when I put in “fe” or the other letters, nothing happens and it goes right back to the enter the hex number again.
Anyone have this problem before? Any advice would be awesome! Thx
I am a noob with OSX, I have the same MB, 4gig OCX Ram, SATA HD, and DVD drive, PNY NVidia 8500gt with 512mb. I spent a couple days and kept getting the “waiting for root device” error. After a lot of ruined discs, and cussing a lot. I figured out a simple fix that nobody seemed to mention. ( It was a ‘DUH’ moment ). I needed to format the harddrive I was trying to install on. For some reason if there was vista partition on the drive it would not recognize it. After doing so, the installation went smooth just like the website said.
hello, this tutorial work with GA EP45-UD3LR or GA EP45-DS3 ??
Thanks
hello
when i try to install osx i get a stop sign
and for me the 2-digit hex number are 9f
does someone as some advice??
thanks
For me I had to format the hd completely. I formatted it in fat, and did not make it active. (I did all that in vista)
Also I used a SATA hd and SATA DVD burner to install. It took a couple of tries to get it all recognized (usually it wouldnt boot properly to darwin. ((the one with the leopard print background)) but once it did it installed just like the instructions said. As a matter of fact it works so good, that my 2 laptops are collecting dust since then, and one is a brand new macbook.
fixed i had to activate ahci and now i get fe and not 9f anymore
i think that should be in the tutorial
but that the very good tutorial anyway
Worked great on the first try on the hardware below.
Ga-p45-UD3P
Intel Core 2 E6700
2 GB of G Skill RAM
2 SATA HD’s and SATA DVD drive - AHCI on the OSX HD/DVD and IDE on the Vista HD (purple SATA ports)due to utilizing a previous install.
Nvidia 7800 GT
I exactly started to follow what you said with a 10.5.6 Mac Air DVD, but as soon as I replaced the disc and proceeded, it grayed the screen with a message ‘Restart your computer’ in different languages. There after I did not even reach to that screen.
mediafire is giving me an error for the UD3P-package.
В посте много чего упрощено, в отличии от реальной жизни…
Have you tried upgrading this setup to 10.5.7? Were there any issues like errors in the System Information when getting hardware information? Just wondering if there is any special instructions necessary to update or whether it just works.
I have followed this guide but how do i use smbios enabler to change system profiler information like serial number, mac version etc. And yes i googled it for 2 days but no luck yet.
Hi guys,
I have the same config but a Gainward 8400GS 512MB
everything went fine, but after the last reboot… BLACK SCREEN. Even if i use the -x option i always get black screen as soon as the apple logo disappear and the os finish loading.
any ideas? Pleaseeeee
@marcowww
forgot to mention. I’ve upgraded from 10.5.4 to 10.5.7 at step 4
Booted up first try! At first I was removing the CD too fast but after I figured that out it was fine. I am now going to try and make chameleon 2.0 RC1 work. Thanks!
This guide is absolutely incredible!! I have a fully working 10.5.6 build on my UD3P.
However, when I tried to update to 10.5.7, I get a kernel panic, and some searching indicated that it may be because of the audio drivers…
Anyone have any luck with updating to 10.5.7? Safari 4 and the updates to iLife ‘09 require it, so i’m trying to get the machine up to date.
Will this work with a GA-EP45-UD3L? It’s basically the same as the UD3P but with firewire and raid.
Я вот подумал, а где Вы материал взяли для этой статьи? Неужели из головы?
Решил Вам помочь и разослал пост в соц. закладки. Надеюсь поднимется ваша популярность
All ok, for three days… then I do not succeed more to be annoying in net with firefox and safari… because? Help
I´ve used a 10.5.6 Retail and had no full support of my Gainward HD4870 1GB golden sample. Then I did a delta update to 10.5.7 and started normally (without boot cd) funny thing was that when I started I saw the mac screen loading and got afterwards a “Black screen” but no kernel panic or something else… Just no signal on the screen. I knew OSX was runing because when i moved the mouse to a point where i thought a program or a menu was, the CPU and HD started working (LEDs emiting light) so i decided to connect the screen to the HDMI port with a DVI adapter. This did not work, but to my surprise, when I plugged in a second screen to the standard DVI output (the one without adapter) I became a signal from the HDMI port with DVI adapter… this is strange but it works…
Resume:
-Plug the monitor you want to use to the HDMI port with a DVI adapter.
-Plug a secont monitor to the DVI main port. (does not have to be turned, only connecting the cable does not work)
- Now you should get a signal… I will look for a solution without a seccond screen but at the moment I´m just happy everything is running…
So nice to edit photos with power…
A new motherboard is good for the soul! I just picked up an EP45-UD3P board because I was tired of trying to get the audio (ALC883) working with the new framework. With your clear tutorial, getting 10.5.6 working on a new disk was a piece of cake. I then tried to migrate my applications and personal data from the old disk, and ruined everything.
Long story short, I have been able to modify my old 10.5.8 setup so it’s now working with my new hardware: I had to regenerate the device-properties string in com.apple.Boot.plist for my 8600GT card using EFI Studio, and patch a fresh copy of my DSDT dump to support both the ethernet and audio cards. The HOWTO for doing the patch is over at InsanelyMac by tmongkol, post 140941.
Again, thank you for getting me started down the right trail!
–Skip
hello, I am currently trying to boot osx 10.5.4 on my ‘hackintosh’ while using your guide, and have found that the system constantly hangs on ‘verfiying dmi pool data’. if anyone else gets this, all they have to do is press f12 (i’m using an ep45 ud3r) and go into the boot list and select cdrom and it will boot grub dfe. thanks for this wonderful guide auzigog!
Everytime I try to install a hackintosh dvd my mouse cursor is frozen during the installation process.
Why do I keep getting GRUB> prompt and not a BOOT: prompt?
Auzigog, how ’bout another nice guide to upgrading/installing snow leopard?
I just wanted to say thx to auzigog. I came across this guide back in Feb 09 and by March 09 had built two systems using this guide. They are running great and have had no issues doing software updates, etc. I have not went to Snow Leopard yet and am on 10.5.8 which I am quite happy with. My project for 2010 is to go to Snow Leopard, but I am just very thankful and appreciative to auzigog for putting this guide together and that my machines are still humming along quite nicely. And.. I save quite a bit of money and didnt buy an iMac. Anyways… just wanted to say Thanks to auzigog and everyone on this forum who has provided invaluable insight. Happy New Year 2010!!!!