Mac OS X on x86 Hardware 2008–2024 Technical Archive
InfiniteMac OSx86 › OSx86 Core & 10.X › What can DSDT do for me? (EP35 DS4)
13,372 reads · 2009-10-13 – 2010-02-11
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What can DSDT do for me? (EP35 DS4)

I have a motherboard from Gigabyte and I'm current running leopard without the use of DSDT. But now I'm planing to upgrade to Snow Leopard and I'm come across the DSDT hack and for what I understand it something that helps the system…

Primary Author
@vega2000 Published 2009-10-13
Collection
OSx86 Core & 10.X
Archival Footprint
13,372 historical reads · 4 curated field notes (from 6 dispatches) · 2009-10-13 – 2010-02-11
Credited Voices (4)
@vega2000 (2)@thorazine74 (2)@patpourri@ntsmkfob

I have a motherboard from Gigabyte and I'm current running leopard without the use of DSDT.
But now I'm planing to upgrade to Snow Leopard and I'm come across the DSDT hack and for what I understand it something that helps the system understand the hardware better, but I cant really understand what it can do for me?
Will it completely erase the need of kexts?

Hope someone can help me here, Thanks.

----- My Hardware -----
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.6 GHz (not overclocked)
Corsair 4x1GB memory sticks
Nvidia 8800GT

Author Updates & Technical Revisions

Follow-up dispatches by @vega2000

Author Update #1 @vega2000 2009-10-14

Okey, after your post I did some more research what I need to do for my MB to work and hoped you could help me to correct the thinks I understanding wrong.

kext needed:
LegacyHDA.kext - Helps fixing the HDEF audio
OpenHaltRestart.kext - Fixes restart/shutdown
fakesmc.kext - Some decryption thing for make the system work?
UUID.kext or PlatformUUID.kext - Removes the boot warning about UUID root device
smbios.plist - Make the System profiler display the right information (After editing)

DSDT patches:
HDEF(Audio) - Fixes the onboard 889a audio(HDEF), but LegacyHDA.kext still needed
Ethernet - Fixes the onboard network card
Time Machine - Fixes the 35 error?
Speedstep - Fixes the dynamic CPU speed scaling
ICH9-R - Fixes so the hard drives is displayed as ESB2
UHCI/EHCI - Fixes the USB port to they are displayed as onboard and work in "high-speed"
RTC/HPET - Fixes the out of sync clock when multiboot and remove the CMOS reset bug in

Synthesized Community Field Notes

4 technical responses curated from 6 original dispatches

Field Note #1 @thorazine74 2009-10-14

You will always need kexts, like you said a patched DSDT can only make your hardware look more compatible for OS X so you may not need to patch some kexts or avoid using some kexts like graphic injectors or hdaenabler and such.
With Snow, most motherboards with an Award BIOS need a tiny DSDT fix to the RTC device to avoid OS X to reset your CMOS values with each restart.

Field Note #2 @thorazine74 2009-10-15

You shouldnt really need to do all of those DSDT patches for your mobo to work with Snow, i.e. the Ethernet/Time Machine fix can be done with Chameleon options, or the ICH9-R fix I think its just for having internal icons instead of the default one.
I would advise you to install Snow with minimum patches needed (i.e. only the RTC patch) and then when you get it running, try to apply the other patches if needed, and one by one, so you can debug the DSDT properly (if something stops working how would you know what patch went wrong?)

Field Note #3 @patpourri 2009-11-10 ↳ Re: @vega2000
@vega2000I have a motherboard from Gigabyte and I'm current running leopard without the use of DSDT. But now I'm planing to upgrade to Snow Leopard and I'm come across the DSDT hack and for what I understand it something that helps the system understand the hardware better, but I cant really understand what it can do for me? Will it completely…

Hello, DSDT works great , get your hands on DSDTSE.app and have a peak @ what a dsdt.aml looks like. Your in for a real treat. The more you look at i the more it makes sense. The goals is to have your DSDT resemble & respond to spec with apple hardware. Check out blackosx & masterchief & other dsdt override in this forum. Best O'luck

Field Note #4 @ntsmkfob 2010-02-11

There's a great thread on Gigabyte DSDTs on insanely. Lots to read, but worth it.

Sources & Contributor Provenance (4 credited usernames · Thread #4419)
UsernameDossier ContributionDispatchesActive Window
@vega2000Primary Author22009-10-13 → 2009-10-14
@thorazine74Contributor22009-10-14 → 2009-10-15
@patpourriContributor12009-11-10
@ntsmkfobContributor12010-02-11