SB600 SATA DVD-RW

[milanca]

I have a small issue here with my sata dvd burner; i am using it, the burner, but i'd like entire system to run smoothly as everything else is (thanks to Zephyrot!!). AFter 10.5.1 which i was using for some time, i installed 10.5.2 amd-efi, first version that came out.
Everything is running just fine, efi+mbr, toh 9.2.0. Mobo is GA-MA790X-DS4, Amd 790x chipset/SB600. I didnt install any additional third party drivers at initial install; later i installed my 8800 GTS 320MB which is also working fine.
Both hard drives are sata2 in sata-ahci mode and dvd writer is also sata, recognized, and working fine.
Deal is when i install VIA/SB600 kexts dvd burner won't work any more, it does read the disks but won't write. I get big improvement for the hard disks (tested with xbench before and after) when i installed chipset, about 30%, sata disks are no more on unknown bus, etc. Also what i noticed there is no more s.m.a.r.t, native command queue. after installing chipset. I dont care much about that (honestly i dont know much about it) as the rest of the system is working fine. Only dvd burner is causing me troubles now.
I made backup of IOATAFamily.kext, when i load it back, DVD starts working again.
What do you guys suggest? So, with default install everything works fine, with chipset installed i get better h.drives performance but i lose dvd writer.
(here is a screenshot i made)

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m140/milanca/leopard/hdisks.jpg

Other little thing is i cant make the sound work anymore. ALC889a, in 10.5.1 loading kexts with my device and vendor id was working, not now. Any ideas?

[roisoft]

try with this (http://www.mediafire.com/?ymb19yzj4js) (delete the others), and for the other questions you can try a sata/usb adapter for your DVD.

What is the xbench score (disk) with or whitout the chipset kext?

[milanca]

Thanks roisoft, audio fixed, now working in 10.5.2. Don't have it in System Profiler but its working and i have vol.control. Thanks.

Here is disk benchmark. At some aspects results are the same and at sequental like more than 20% improvement.

Disk Test 62.61 (without chipset)
Sequential 104.21
Uncached Write 102.05 62.66 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 105.68 59.79 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 81.75 23.92 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 145.16 72.95 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 44.75
Uncached Write 15.75 1.67 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 114.92 36.79 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 95.98 0.68 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 147.88 27.44 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Disk Test 66.81 (with chipset kext)
Sequential 121.88
Uncached Write 126.96 77.95 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 125.82 71.19 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 99.03 28.98 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 145.00 72.88 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 46.01
Uncached Write 16.36 1.73 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 110.58 35.40 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 98.52 0.70 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 151.22 28.06 MB/sec [256K blocks]

[roisoft]

I donīsee too much differences, if without the chipset kext you donīt have problems with data transfer donīt use the chipset kext.

this is my system profiler (audio)
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/5553/audioki1.png

Iīve changed the string for my Alc889a in system profiler, download this (http://www.mediafire.com/?0ndmmdlea9e) and copy into System/Library/SystemProfiler/SPAudioReporter.spreporter/Contents/Resources/"your lenguage"/Localizable.strings

You can edit the string with textedit.

[milanca]

Dude, works like a charm ;-) Thanks. I think my machine is all fixed now, everything works just great. Thanks a bunch!

To use the opportunity to ask you something else as i assume you are much much more experienced with Macs than i am (messing with for just 2 months). I figured a little, to make my hardware working, load kexts with my ven and dev ids etc.

But my eternal trouble is my wife's laptop (as i am in the fury of installing leopard everywhere at my home, hehe). Everex laptop, intel dual core, VIA chipset. Won't go. What i was trying was 10.5.1 (for intel), it boots from dvd but doesnt see my HD, its SATA disk on VIA chipset. Starts, Examining discs and nothing, no drives. I was trying to enter VIA sata controll for my VEN/DEV, but wont go. Definitely i do not know how to do that properly, who knows how many dvd's I burned trying to make it work and at the end I gave up. If you know how to lead me through this it will be greatly appreciated ;-)

[roisoft]

ur welcome :)


is there in the bios laptop an option for set your sata drive like AHCI? if so, set the HD to AHCI. What chipset ID? doyou have a USB HD? you can try install leopard to the usb drive try to see the internal sata from the usb editing the appleviaata....let me know your progress

[milanca]

No AHCI in laptop bios, thats how it works on my AMD box but i don't have any options to change anything regarding hard drive in laptop.
While booting up from the DVD there is a message:
AppleVIAATADriver: VIA Unknown (CMD 0x170, CTR 0x374, IRQ 15, BM 0x4c58)

Via chipset is VIA VN896. Sata controller is ven_1106&dev_0591, so its 0x05911106. In AppleVIAATA, under PATA i found 0x5711106 which is also my ide/pata controller and i guess its good. But under sata, in the same kext, i was trying to add my sata controller id among the others but it crashes while booting. So that was what i tried.

Ops, i see we are close to something :-) Yes i have USB drive, lacie 80gb. Trying it right now and installer finds it, so i guess i can install leopard on it.

[roisoft]

do you have windows in Sata drive? maybe the crash when you add your device id into the appleviaata is about your windows (ntfs) install. Try to install leo in usb and once install finishes add your sata id to appleviaata.

What leo release are you using (intel)?

edit: try with this ioatafamily.kext, delete the old one and the appleviaata.kext as well.

[milanca]

Yeah, there is Vista Home installed on that drive. Maybe its causing troubles, dont know for sure. I am installing it right now on usb drive. I will prepare another install with new ioatafamily.kext to see if it can help. Its kalyway 10.5.1 leo. my email is [email protected], so if you'd like we can stay in touch. Thanks buddy!

[milanca]

Foobar! tried with the kext you sent me.. wont boot. Also I installed leo on usb disk and bad thing is i dont have the option in bios to boot from usb hard drive, damn.

[roisoft]

wont boot? how did you inject the kext?

From terminal

hdiutil attach /"Your ISO File" -readwrite
delete extensions.mkext
Add the kext you want in the Extensions folder.
Fix the permissions on the newly added kext.
Recreate the mkext file that way ----> kextcache -a i386 -K /Volumes/"DVD"/mach_kernel -m /Volumes/"DVD"/System/Library/Extensions.mkext /Volumes/"DVD"/System/Library/Extensions

[milanca]

Yep roi, thats the method. Its is actually booting but it crashes after like 15-20sec thats why i said it wont boot from dvd. Maybe its because the ntfs.. i will give it one more try maybe today, as i said earlier that laptop is eternal trouble:-)

[roisoft]

if ntfs is the problem, delete the ntfs.kext in extensions folder and boot with -f...Yes i know, itīs very tedious but ....!
try with zephyroth dvd, yes in your intel system, iīm not crazy...

[milanca]

Roiseoft, very very close to make it work! You were absolutely right, Zephyrot dvd rocks, i tried with it and its booting up, finds intel, switching to intel but it doesnt see sata disk still.. nevermind about that, i fixed it the other way.

I made another dvd, paying attention to everything, and instead of burning it to dvd-rw i burned it to dvd-r and it worked!! i cant believe that all the time rewritable dvd was causing me troubles. i wasted so many dvds and thats why i was testing install dvd with rw. Working now, appleviaatadriver loaded, sata found (thanks to heavens) and i installed Leo.

Heh now it is not booting up from the sata disk, like it doesnt see it anymore. Bootloader is installed, everything is ok about that, it starts booting and 'still waiting for root device'. I tried booting with dvd again, check to see if IOATAfamily.kext is there, appleviaata, everything is installed on the system, its there. tried with rebuiling permissions but no help, like it is not loading sata driver from the hard now. Any ideas what i could try?

[roisoft]

The kext that you are injecting into the install dvd is not copied to the sata disk, because this kext only is for you can see the sata hd, and the installer copy the kext wihin of installers pkg, so copy the injected kext into the /extensions (Sata) and repair the permissions.

[milanca]

right, its not. i found out that just after posting the message. fixed;-) booting up..
cant believe my eyes that i am still stucked!! stucked at 'do not transfer my information now'. i cant believe , after clicking continue i am going in circles to pick country, keyboard and again asked if i want to transfer my information. just cant believe it.

[roisoft]

Congrats !!! :)

[milanca]

Fixed this stupid issue. Probably because my graphics card, network, wi-fi, anything isnt recognized and system stuck at making account. To bypass it i had to use low graphics mode and it completely skips this step..

;-) Finally into Leo 10.5.1 on this laptop. Now to see if i can install anything to work. Display at first place.