Well, it wasn't easy, but I have finally got my G31M ES2L Rev 2 system fully working.
Here's the hardware:
- Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L Intel G31 Video/Sound Socket 775 mATX Motherboard
- Intel Pentium Dual Core E5400 2.7GHz 'Wolfdale' 2MB Cache 45nm LGA775 (800Mhz)
- Samsung SH-S223B/RSMN 22x DVDR/RW Dual Layer SATA Multi Bezel
- Asus 512MB GDDR2 GeForce 9400GT DVI/HDMI (PCI-E) With Low Profile Bracket
- Kingston ValueRAM 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400 DDR2 DIMM Memory Kit
- 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 7200RPM SATA 3Gb 16MB Cache
I did two things that made this process a whole lot more complicated that it needed to be.
1) I got a rev 2 board instead of rev 1 (meaning that I would have to spend ages unsuccessfully trying to get ethernet working).
2) I used a small form factor case (which requires low profile brackets for PCI cards), mainly because I got it really cheap (around £7 or $12).
Of course, hats off to the original creator of this thread. The instructions were clear, and I managed to get snow leopard running without any errors or crashes.
I discovered, after a bit of trying that the rev 2 on board ethernet wouldn't work, so bought a NIC. However, as I needed a low profile bracket, I was restricted to the Startech st100s which, after a lot of playing with, didn't work (anyone who wants to buy that off me for a non snow leopard project?
).
The frustration got too much, so in the end I cheated a bit and bought a USB ethernet adaptor from Apple which worked OTB.
The audio also gave me a few problems. I followed the instructions in this thread, but it still didn't want to work.
So, in adition to the ALC883 legacy kext, I also had to stick in the Apple HDA kext and used Kext Utility, plus the pfix included in the original instructions to get things going.
I'm not entirely sure what it was that finally made it all work, but the main thing is that I have sound.
A Mac on a tiny budget. After some hours, and some stress, I'm a happy man!
I have been considering running an update to 10.6.2, but I'm scared that it might break it.
