The Merged Hackintosh Thread

[sneezymarble]

Well, hey, congrats on getting it to work. Last week I was spent some time trying to do a SL install without getting involved in the DSDT stuff, but I just kept running into problems so I bit the bullet. Kudos to you for sticking to your guns

[NoSmokingBandit]

I cant help it, im a natural problem solver and i'm stubborn as hell. Consequently i end up spending a lot of time working on things like audio because im to stubborn to do it the dsdt way, lol.

I'll learn all about the dsdt eventually, but im going to put up a fair fight

[matteusclement]

after reading this for weeks, I finally have my parts:

EVGA 512 DDR3 geforce 980GTX+
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16814130339

intel quad core yorkfield 2.83 ghz
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16819115041

gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16813128358

mushkin 8 gigs of ram
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820146785

Antec case with 3 120mm fans and rosewill 630w PS

haha, then i forgot to get a drive. going to get that tomorrow.

will the onboard RAID work on a hackintosh?

[GFLPraxis]

I upgraded my Hackintosh to a 1.5 TB HD and got Snow Leopard running, fully functional.

It's

[xxxshooter]

Everything bought from Newegg.com

• Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550
• Gigabyte GA-EP45T-UD3LR
• G.Skill 2x2GB DDR3 PC-10666 (1333mhz)
• Seagate 1TB 7200rpm HDD
• evga GTX 280 1GB
• NZXT Zero 2 Case
• Arctic Cooler Freezer 7 CPU Cooler
• 4xThermaltake Red 120mm Fans
• 2x 80mm Case fans
• 1x 120mm red led fan
• OCZ StealthXStream 700w PSU
• LG 22x DVD Burner

Everything below $1050 USD at time of purchase.










Custom Icon:

Standardized Benchmark:

Proper recognition of video card:


Currently have a 750 GB HDD (Mac Storage), 1 TB (Partitioned 100 GB for Win XP and 550GB for shared storage between both OS's), and a 74 GB 10000 RPM drive for Mac (iAtkos v7)
Dual booting Windows XP Pro SP3 and iAtkos v7 at the moment, planning on doing a tri-boot with Fedora 11
Computer is currently sitting below my desk, not on top as in the picture.

[NoSmokingBandit]

I have 10.6.1 on that motherboard with a gtx260, if you need help getting SL running send me a pm!

[nanofrog]

Nice.

[matteusclement]

It seems as though no one has had a kick at this one yet.
I am trying with the MSIWIND slip stream, but it's jamming at the "DO YOU ALREADY OWN A MAC SCREEN?"
it restarts over and over again at that point.
I cant get into the bios to shut down the network card which is what everything online says to do.

ideas?

[dandaley]

I haven't kept up on this thread... so am way behind. Just thought I would post my experiences with the subject.

I started out my quest for a hackintosh with the efi-x dongle. I bought the hardware from their HCL list. Once I had everything assembled, the installation was straight forward and worked great. But, then I found out that the version of the device I had most likely wouldn't support SL. So, I decided to rid myself of the dongle.

I used these instructions to convert my machine to a Chameleon based setup.

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2009/09...art-to-finish/

I was able to upgrade my EFI-X machine to SL 10.6.1.

I have to say, I finally have what I want... an upgradable OSX desktop that didn't set me back $3k+. Now, if some component goes out after the warranty has expired, I can just replace it for a reasonable price. I don't have to toss it in the trash like my PowerMac.

[NoSmokingBandit]

Now that Chameleon supports two different folder for SL and Leo (which is awesome), i've decided to move my bootloader over to a usb drive and always boot from that. Anyone have experience with this? It shouldnt be too hard. I perused the internet and found a few sites giving away promo flash drives that are like 256mb or something, which is great because i dont need a ton of space and i like free stuff.

[dandaley]

Originally Posted by NoSmokingBandit

Now that Chameleon supports two different folder for SL and Leo (which is awesome), i've decided to move my bootloader over to a usb drive and always boot from that. Anyone have experience with this? It shouldnt be too hard. I perused the internet and found a few sites giving away promo flash drives that are like 256mb or something, which is great because i dont need a ton of space and i like free stuff.

I am currently booting from a USB thumb drive. If you look at the lifehacker article, it walks through setting that up. At the end of the article, it discusses moving the boot files to your hard drive, but I skipped that... for now.

[sneezymarble]

Originally Posted by NoSmokingBandit

Now that Chameleon supports two different folder for SL and Leo (which is awesome), i've decided to move my bootloader over to a usb drive and always boot from that. Anyone have experience with this? It shouldnt be too hard. I perused the internet and found a few sites giving away promo flash drives that are like 256mb or something, which is great because i dont need a ton of space and i like free stuff.

I suggest using a disk partition as a Chameleon boot drive as opposed to a USB drive. Obviously it frees up a USB port or two, but the bigger plus for me was that it side-steps potential USB/Sleep problems.

My 500GB HD is partitioned into a 10GB Chameleon partition and a 490GB OS partition. The reason my Chameleon partition is so big is because I also restored a Snow Leopard disc image to the Chameleon partition. So, the Chameleon serves two purposes: (1) I can boot Snow Leopard with it, and (2) I can install Snow Leopard with it. As to (2), if I ever need to perform a re-installation of Snow Leopard, I don't need to use any media (DVD or USB drive); rather, I can just boot into the installation from the Chameleon partition. Additionally, the installation goes quicker than it would from the DVD or a USB drive.

[NoSmokingBandit]

I had an efi partition setup with Leo, but every time i format the partition in SL it un-hides it and i dont know how to re-hide it. I used to use a modified version of the script from Munky (a kind fellow on IM) that would format, install chameleon, set up folder structure, and install kexts, but it stopped working with SL, so i tried to format the partition by hand the Terminal but i cant keep it hidden.

[sneezymarble]

Originally Posted by NoSmokingBandit

I had an efi partition setup with Leo, but every time i format the partition in SL it un-hides it and i dont know how to re-hide it. I used to use a modified version of the script from Munky (a kind fellow on IM) that would format, install chameleon, set up folder structure, and install kexts, but it stopped working with SL, so i tried to format the partition by hand the Terminal but i cant keep it hidden.

I suppose you could always run a script that unmounts the Chameleon partition when the OS starts up.

[edgar.amaro]

so what is the spects to actually build a hackintosh?

i have a desktop that i bough about a month ago.. it has an intel dual core chip 4 gigs of ram... sufficient for snow leopard, but what kind of motherboards are compatible with snow leaopard? just about any as long asit has an intel chip?

[NoSmokingBandit]

A large amount of motherboards are supported, but if something like you audio or ethernet doesnt work you are SOL unless you know how to write a driver. What model mobo are you using?

[nullx86]

Has anyone been able to get Snow Leopard installed on their netbooks? I tried to install it on my Mini 9 but it KP'd . Currently running 10.5.6, for some reason, the 10.5.8 update brakes the wifi.

[mypup]

Originally Posted by nullx86

Has anyone been able to get Snow Leopard installed on their netbooks? I tried to install it on my Mini 9 but it KP'd . Currently running 10.5.6, for some reason, the 10.5.8 update brakes the wifi.

I am running Snow Leopard 10.6.1 on my mini 9 works great except mic and headphone jack. Everything else is great I assume the devs will have these other two items fixed before long. They have come along way in just a month since the release. You can find alot of information (below Link) http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/

I had been happy running Leopard 10.5.5 (to 10.5.7) (10.5.8 seemed to have issues for me) until safari 4 came along I has really happy running Leopard. To tell you the truth I did not like Safari 4 much kept crashing alot. However, in Snow Leopard it works much better not one crash. I still am not a fan of topsites but thats another story.

[nullx86]

Originally Posted by mypup

I am running Snow Leopard 10.6.1 on my mini 9 works great except mic and headphone jack. Everything else is great I assume the devs will have these other two items fixed before long. They have come along way in just a month since the release. You can find alot of information (below Link) http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/

I had been happy running Leopard 10.5.5 (to 10.5.7) (10.5.8 seemed to have issues for me) until safari 4 came along I has really happy running Leopard. To tell you the truth I did not like Safari 4 much kept crashing alot. However, in Snow Leopard it works much better not one crash. I still am not a fan of topsites but thats another story.

I'm registered there and i havent found much on the mini 9 and 10.6... 10.5.6 works out of the box, 10.5.7 and 10.5.8 seem to break my wifi, but I'm replacing the standard 802.11g card with an Apple Airport Extreme card later, so that shouldnt be a problem... Can you link me to anything that you used?

[mypup]

I am not sure the guide i used think it was
here> http://osx.mechdrew.com/guides/nbi1.shtml
I made a usb install stick used the "netbookmaker" tool found at the above link that put chameleon and kexts on the usb stick after using disk utility and restoring my Snow Leopard install disk to the usb stick (makes it easy for me not having to use a dvd external dvd drive they can be harder to boot from) Today they have a new version of netbookInstaller 8.3 rc2 which will also allow for dual booting (in my case xp pro that I had a ghost usb stick to restore with) To keep up with netbookinstaller and the netbookmaker go to the google code page here->http://code.google.com/p/netbook-installer/ Hope that helps some things are still new and being worked out so you will have to search around some for information till someone writes up the latest installation guides.

[nullx86]

Originally Posted by mypup

I am not sure the guide i used think it was
here> http://osx.mechdrew.com/guides/nbi1.shtml
I made a usb install stick used the "netbookmaker" tool found at the above link that put chameleon and kexts on the usb stick after using disk utility and restoring my Snow Leopard install disk to the usb stick (makes it easy for me not having to use a dvd external dvd drive they can be harder to boot from) Today they have a new version of netbookInstaller 8.3 rc2 which will also allow for dual booting (in my case xp pro that I had a ghost usb stick to restore with) To keep up with netbookinstaller and the netbookmaker go to the google code page here->http://code.google.com/p/netbook-installer/ Hope that helps some things are still new and being worked out so you will have to search around some for information till someone writes up the latest installation guides.

Thanks, ill give it a try... Does your mini hang on boot every once in a while?

[merelli]

Originally Posted by nullx86

Thanks, ill give it a try... Does your mini hang on boot every once in a while?

mine does

Here is the official how to

[nullx86]

Originally Posted by merelli

mine does

Here is the official how to

Ok, so I followed the guide there to the letter and installed Snow Leopard, but when I start up, Chameleon gives me an error of "cant find mach_kernel10.5.6". I tried booting via "mach_kernel" and any other combination I could think of, but nothing works. So I have a successful Snow Leopard install, but nothing will get it to start up. Any thoughts.

[matteusclement]

Maybe because a lot of my software craps the bed when I tried SL (FC & a few others) I went to 10.5.8 using iDeneb and it has been great. What do you do on a netbook that needs 64 bit processing? I have a Lenovo S12 and it's single core, so there will be no benifit to going 64 bit... well, any that's worth the hassle. Not trying to be a douche, just curious.

[matteusclement]

So as shown before, here is what I used:
EVGA 512 DDR3 geforce 980GTX+
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16814130339

intel quad core yorkfield 2.83 ghz
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16819115041

gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16813128358

mushkin 8 gigs of ram
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820146785

Antec case with 3 120mm fans and rosewill 630w PS

1TB calavier 7200 rpm hard drive

PROCESS:
USE iDENEB v1.6 lite!!!
It worked for both my netbook (lenovo s12) and my tower!
Loaded it onto a USB stick using the restore function off of a MAC. Applied chameleon.
Had to change to ACHI mode for my hard drives in the bios as well as temporarily turn off my FW and LAN onboard.
It came up really easy.

enabler_for_nvidia_and_multiple_ATI_cards.pkg
this made it so that my video card was recognized with quartz extreme and open CL.

Everything works. LAN, onboard sound (digital sound is toast)

A little bit of overclocking worked my up to 3.2ghz. Max temp under full load is 61 degree celcius with a stock fan.

Overall, it's sexy fast.
xbench score of 320 w/o my hard drive.
cost me $1200 canadian.