OS X 10.5.6 on an Nforce 680i PC

[nwoolls]

Hey guys, I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

I'm trying to get OS X (iDeneb v1.4) on my PC:

EVGA nForce 680i SLI: http://www.evga.com/products/pdf/122-CK-NF63.pdf
On board audio
On board network
e-GeForce 9800 GTX KO: http://www.evga.com/products/pdf/512-P3-N875-AR.pdf

I've tried both the XxX and iDeneb distributions. I've tried both the AppleNforceATA chipset option and the MCP67 driver. I've tried a few of the networking drivers - forcedeth, NforceEthernet, and NforceLan.

After probably 10 attempted installs, I've seen the introduction to OS X (with welcome in the various languages) once, seen screen corruption another time, and actually booted to the desktop once before the system froze.

At this point, after trying new installs with various chipset options and drivers with iDeneb v1.4, I'm not able to get the machine to boot up after the install at all.

When using the AppleNforceATA chipset option:
The apple boot screen with the spinning circle never stops (left it overnight)
Starting with -v -x again never boots - console output just stops (left over night as well)

When using the MCP67 chipset driver:
The apple boot screen with the spinning circle leads to a kernel panic - tells me to restart in several languages
Starting with -v -x does not boot nor show any descriptive error text - output just stops

See the images here: http://gallery.me.com/nwoolls#100008

The first two images are during verbose mode with AppleNforceATA. The next three are images during verbose boot with MCP67 chipset option.

Any additional suggestions or feedback would be greatly appreciated. I've gotten addicted to OS X on my laptop - I'd love to get this working on my desktop!

Update - I've had another go at it while writing this post. I did an install with just AppleNforceATA and forcedeth. Now I do get a visible error with verbose logging. See the last image in the above gallery. However, I think this may be specific to the forcedeth driver being used.

[thorazine74]

Try using AHCI mode if available, that will let you avoid AppleNForceATA and all its troubles.
Also check your BIOS settings, the last panic mentions APIC, some BIOS could have APIC disabled.
The other screens suggest your troubles are cause by the graphics card, not being able to get to the desktop. I dont have a solution for that though...

[Undead Surfer]

Use this NForceATA driver --->> http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=127611

Use this network driver --->> http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=125569

I'm using the same chipset on the MSI P6N Diamond. I used iATKOS 5i (I think there's version 7 out now). After that I went retail and never looked back. I'm still trying to sort out having to boot with cpus=1.

Try that boot option as well. cpus=1

Yeah, I think that option should do the trick.

[nwoolls]

Nice - thanks for the hints, I'll try those out.

Now that you mention the graphics, the only time I think I've seen the desktop was when I tried installing NVinject (but I also got corruption and lock-ups). Since then, because I was having issues, I had only been choosing the bare minimum options and hadn't been choosing a kext for my graphics.

I'll give those a shot, thanks again!

[thorazine74]

For the graphics, newer cards always a better chance of working with latest version so I would consider updating Leo to 10.5.7; alternatively you can install an nvidia driver pack with latest kexts but I dont know if there is any with 10.5.7 kexts...

[nwoolls]

Use this NForceATA driver --->> http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=127611

Use this network driver --->> http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=125569

Thanks for those - the first sounds promising as I do have 8 gig of ram.

However, how/what do I do with the kext's when I don't have a booting OS X? I see that I can install tools to install kext's once OS X is installed, but how would I do it at this point? Thanks again.

[nwoolls]

Try using AHCI mode if available, that will let you avoid AppleNForceATA and all its troubles.
Is this "AHCI mode" a BIOS setting or a kext or? Sorry, I'm new here ;)
Also check your BIOS settings, the last panic mentions APIC, some BIOS could have APIC disabled.
I checked and APIC is set to enabled. Is that the correct setting?

Thanks again for your help :)

[geiman]

I've got a BFG nForce 680i that I run OS X on. In fact, its now running 10.5.7 server, and is the primary server on my home network. It handles all the home audio/video, and other network tasks. I used iPC for my machine; other than iPC, the only other distro that actually worked for me was the original TOH RC2 10.5 Leopard release; now, I use iPC to install 10.5.6, and then install server packages, and finally update to 10.5.7 and use the ANV kernel. Works great, runs 24/7 and I've yet to have it crash on me.

Anyways, just wanted to let you know that you can get OS X running on the 680i boards with very nice results. If you haven't already seen, there is a great thread over at Insanelymac headed by a user that goes by the name of "Verdant" and it deals exclusively with the nForce boards. While I don't condone the extensive use of Insanelymac anymore, these in particular are some very nice threads for the nForce boards, and Verdant is very knowledgeable on the subject. If you need specific help with anything, let me know and I can get you more detailed steps of what patches, etc I used.

-geiman

[thorazine74]

Is this "AHCI mode" a BIOS setting or a kext or? Sorry, I'm new here ;)

I checked and APIC is set to enabled. Is that the correct setting?

Thanks again for your help :)

AHCI is a BIOS setting, in the SATA section, it would make the controller behave as a real SATA one instead of emulating IDE, AHCI is natively supported by OS X, while in IDE mode a different kext is required for each SATA chipset.
Not all nForce SATA support AHCI though...
APIC should be enabled I think, but you could also try with it disabled just in case.

[nwoolls]

I used iPC for my machine; other than iPC, the only other distro that actually worked for me was the original TOH RC2 10.5 Leopard release;
I'm trying iPC 10.5.6 Final. The install goes through fine, but after restarting I get:

system config file' /Libary/preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist' not found

This is new - I didn't have this issue with XxX or iDeneb. I've looked around and tried several suggestions, including reburning the ISO at 4x and using the BIOS settings from the page you referred to (Verdant's thread).

I also tried using the alternate Chameleon boot loader.

I am installing Leopard to a partition on a SATA HDD that also contains Windows 7. It seems like the boot loader can't find the OS X install, but I'm not certain why - again this didn't happen with iDeneb or XxX.

I know it must not be easy as this is now 3-4 different errors I've gotten with various releases and setups, but would appreciate any help. Thanks again!

[nwoolls]

I'd still love any direction on getting the iPC release going as it seems pretty comprehensive. However, I have made some good strides with XxX and iDeneb. It seems like the only missing piece was using cpus=1 at the boot prompt. This, along with:

AppleNforceATA
NforceLan
NVInject or EFI strings
Azalia audio

seems to work, with the obvious downside of 3 cores going unused.

Are there any hints as to how to make the system stable without using cpus=1? I get a panic waiting for a thread (going from memory, I'll post the callstack later).

I read I should try updating my BIOS. I also found a thread suggesting installing Chameleon 2.X and a DSTD package. However, to be honest, I'm not sure what roll the boot loaders play, what boot loader is installed with XxX or iDeneb, etc. Should I be able to just install a Chameleon 2.X package along with the DSTD package without messing up the booting?

Thanks again for all the feedback. This has been very helpful and a nice learning experience.

[thorazine74]

Its reported that a fixed DSDT can help solve panics with Quad Cores. Its just like a file inside the BIOS that contains info about the hardware.
To fix it you would have to extract it from the BIOS, replace it with a fixed one for all cores working and reflash it to the BIOS.
Alternatively you can use a bootloader with DSDT override like Chameleon2, it will let you do the same without risky BIOS reflashing, it just uses a file in the HD as the DSDT table instead of the one from the BIOS, the results are the same. Keep in mind the DSDT is BIOS-specific, up the point it can be different even for same BIOS with a different version (i.e. motherboard x BIOS v1.0 to v1.1).
You should be able to upgrade most bootloaders to Chameleon2 without troubles.

[sumity]

Try this guide in which he usen VMware for installing and the good thing is that he used Nforce 680i sli mobo...:cool:

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=176857&st=0&p=1213791&#entry1213791