Much needed advice

[lanceomni]

So I am starting from scratch and would like some advice.

Questions:

1. Which distro should I use? Or should I use the Kalyway distro I already know works and update?
2. Do the program crashes apear to be cause because of my AMD processor and are they correctable?
3. What is the best way to update an AMD Leopard Install?
4. I want to dual boot Leopard and XP on separate drives (and I dont need to write to the XP volume from OSX) I have done this with Tiger but Leopard gives me problems. Does anywone know of an DUAL BOOT Leopard/XP separate drives AMD tut?

I recently installed Kalyway's 10.5.2 package, on the hardware listed below, without too many problems.

Where I was:
I had managed to get my graphics card fully supported, onboard audio worked in stereo, sata worked, Firewire worked fine.
I installed 90% of the software I use on my actual workstation. CS3, MS Office (All licensed copies)


Problems:
Certain programs will not run or crash. *EXAMPLE CRASH REPORT AT BOTTOM OF POST
-Epson 4870 Scanner driver crashes on install
-Final Cut gets preflight error on install
-Color calibration software Eye-One crashes on install
Onboard LAN unsupported (I purchased a Netgear ethernet card)
4GB of memory crashes when I use over 3.5. (Fixed with maxmem on boot)
Onboard RAID did not work.

What happened:
I wanted to update to 10.5.4 as I hear Voodo_Beta2 kernel fixes some issues related to AMD So I downloaded Zephyroth's ASU and bricked my machine. I was a bit foolish as I probably should have done a little more research and updates to 10.5.3 then 10.5.4.

My Goal:
To Dual Boot XP with Leopard as Default and be able to install FCP and the drivers to my scanner. I would be completely happy at that point. I would be exeptionally happy to get my onboard LAN & RAID working but im not holding my breath

My Box:
MOBO: Asus M2N SLI Deluxe
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 5000 X2
RAM: Corsair XMS2 DDR-800 1gb x4 (4gb)
GRAPHICS: PNY 7600GT 256mb (VCG7600GXPB)
DRIVES: 1x WD 74gb Raptor SATA 1.5, 3x WD Caviar 80gb SATA 3, NEC DVD Burner (ND3550A), ASUS DVD ROM (E-616A2)


*Example Crash Report:

Epson Scanner Drivers

Log:

Process: EPSON Scan Installer [272]
Path: /Volumes/epson12092_pr48ph_twain_driver_and_epson_scan_util ity_303a/EPSON Scan Installer
Identifier: com.MindVision.InstallerVISE
Version: 8.4 (Installer VISE 8.4
© MindVision Software 1991-2004)
Code Type: PPC (Translated)
Parent Process: launchd [139]

Date/Time: 2008-11-06 17:36:51.225 -0500
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.5.2 (9C7010)
Report Version: 6

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_INSTRUCTION (SIGILL)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000001, 0x0000000000000000
Crashed Thread: 0

Thread 0 Crashed:
0 translate 0xb81908fc 0xb8000000 + 1640700
1 ??? 0x8fe0e723 0 + 2413881123
2 ??? 0x8fe0e809 0 + 2413881353
3 ??? 0x8fe04102 0 + 2413838594
4 ??? 0x8fe07b5f 0 + 2413853535
5 ??? 0x8fe01872 0 + 2413828210
6 ??? 0x8fe01037 0 + 2413826103

Thread 0 crashed with X86 Thread State (32-bit):
eax: 0x00000002 ebx: 0x8fe12d91 ecx: 0x8fe12e76 edx: 0x8fe2fc20
edi: 0x00000001 esi: 0xb8000334 ebp: 0xbfffe2d8 esp: 0xbfffe270
ss: 0x0000001f efl: 0x00010293 eip: 0xb81908fc cs: 0x00000017
ds: 0x0000001f es: 0x0000001f fs: 0x00000000 gs: 0x00000037
cr2: 0xffe2aa14

Binary Images:
0xb8000000 - 0xb81d7fe7 translate ??? (???) /usr/libexec/oah/translate


EYEONE Color Calibration Software

Console:

11/9/08 8:42:23 PM com.apple.launchd[148] ([0x0-0x82082].ch.gretagmacbeth.i1.EyeOneMatch[938]) Exited abnormally: Illegal instruction

Crash Report:

Eye-One crashes:
Process: Eye-One Match [938]
Path: /Applications/Eye-One Match 3/Eye-One Match.app/Contents/MacOS/Eye-One Match
Identifier: ch.gretagmacbeth.i1.EyeOneMatch
Version: 3.6.2 (v3.6.2, © LOGO GmbH, a GretagMacbeth Group Company)
Code Type: PPC (Translated)
Parent Process: launchd [148]

Date/Time: 2008-11-09 20:42:23.082 -0500
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.5.2 (9C7010)
Report Version: 6

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_INSTRUCTION (SIGILL)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000001, 0x0000000000000000
Crashed Thread: 0

Thread 0 Crashed:
0 translate 0xb81908fc 0xb8000000 + 1640700
1 ??? 0x8fe0e723 0 + 2413881123
2 ??? 0x8fe0e809 0 + 2413881353
3 ??? 0x8fe04102 0 + 2413838594
4 ??? 0x8fe07b5f 0 + 2413853535
5 ??? 0x8fe01872 0 + 2413828210
6 ??? 0x8fe01037 0 + 2413826103

Thread 0 crashed with X86 Thread State (32-bit):
eax: 0x00000002 ebx: 0x8fe12d91 ecx: 0x8fe12e76 edx: 0x8fe2fc20
edi: 0x00000001 esi: 0xb8000334 ebp: 0xbfffe398 esp: 0xbfffe330
ss: 0x0000001f efl: 0x00010217 eip: 0xb81908fc cs: 0x00000017
ds: 0x0000001f es: 0x0000001f fs: 0x00000000 gs: 0x00000037
cr2: 0xffe2af8c

Binary Images:
0xb8000000 - 0xb81d7fe7 translate ??? (???) /usr/libexec/oah/translate

[Aydinz]

well i can tell you with my hardware which you can see in my sig, i am using Leo4All and my opinion it is the best AMD HackOS, with it i have been able to get to 10.5.5 with everything working and i think it is great, i think you should check it out :)

[lanceomni]

If you don't could you give me a quick 123 as to the order in which you managed to get to 10.5.5.

I can pull Leo4All 10.5.2. but I also see a few other versions such as Leo4All v4.1 AMD only.

Did you start with 10.5.2 and incrementally update to 10.5.3 then 10.5.4 and so on? Did you manually download and patch the updates or did you use a special program like Zephyroth's Apple System Updater?

Thank You,
Justin

[Ianxxx]

Q1 as to which distro others probably have more experience than me, but a lot of peeps seem happy with leo4all.
Q2 Before you try anything else I would try removing memory and going down to 2 gig.
I'm using intel and i have no crashes, that doesn't mean its definatly your processor but eliminate the memory first. I think that might still be your main problem
Q3 Best way to update, read threads on here and do what has worked for others.
Q4 Easy BCD

Hope this helps

[lanceomni]

Thank you for the advice I will give EasyBCD a try.

As for the memory I installed with 2GB and had the same problems.

I installed 4GB and added maxmem=3548 to my com.apple.Boot.plist. This capped my memory at 3.5GB. I stress tested it for a few hours maxing out memory usage and couldn't get it to crash.

On my next install I will most likely pull the 2GB despite being able to use maxmem on boot just to narrow down the cause of any problems.

Ive read about AMD dual core timing issues. I however could not find a definite example of someone who had similar FCP install and driver problems which were solved when the timing issue had been fixed. In addition I did not get a chance to use cpu=1 so I dont know if that would have solved the install problem.

leo4all is on the list for the next hack to try. I also would like to try an install from the retail disk.

Thank Again

[Ianxxx]

Thank you for the advice I will give EasyBCD a try.

As for the memory I installed with 2GB and had the same problems.

I installed 4GB and added maxmem=3548 to my com.apple.Boot.plist. This capped my memory at 3.5GB. I stress tested it for a few hours maxing out memory usage and couldn't get it to crash.

On my next install I will most likely pull the 2GB despite being able to use maxmem on boot just to narrow down the cause of any problems.

Ive read about AMD dual core timing issues. I however could not find a definite example of someone who had similar FCP install and driver problems which were solved when the timing issue had been fixed. In addition I did not get a chance to use cpu=1 so I dont know if that would have solved the install problem.

leo4all is on the list for the next hack to try. I also would like to try an install from the retail disk.

Thank Again

The only other problems I've had with amd that would make applications crash is; applications not being patched with cpuid correctly, and the problem "probably timing issues" where the mouse would go strange and applications would start to quit. Theres threads on here about the issue but don't think it was ever properly resolved.

[lanceomni]

Ill have to do some research on that. In other words you would be patching the app to think it is being run by an intel processor?

-Justin

[Ianxxx]

Ill have to do some research on that. In other words you would be patching the app to think it is being run by an intel processor?

-Justin

I think we just found your problem, look here

http://osx86.wikidot.com/en:software

[lanceomni]

Well I have bookmarked that page and will give this a run this weekend. Ill post my results. I appreciate all of the help I have been receiving on this forum. I will have to admit that people on this forum seem more active and eager to help as opposed to InsanelyMac. Dont get me wrong I have learned a wealth of information over there but mostly reading other peoples posts. I will definitely continue browsing this forum and offering what ever information I have learned to return the favor.

Thank You

[Ianxxx]

couldn't agree more insanelymac is a good place for info but not the best place to get advice.

[Aydinz]

to get Leo4All to 10.5.5 with my hardware anyway all i had to do was install the patched AMD updates, but individual ones, not the combo ones, and after ever installed update i had to install Zeph's Universal Nvidia Kext and it worked fine