Which mode is currently selected? If it's AHCI, switch it to SATA or vice-versa and test if the drive shows up in Disk Utilty.

Okay, I've erased EVERYTHING off the first drive, so now it's totally blank with no partitions at all. Also worth noting, I've moved the drive in question from SATA0 to SATA1 while the second drive is still disconnected.

Now, Disk Utility detects the first drive, and I can attempt to format to HFS+.
However, even after multiple tries, I still end up with Disk Erase Failed; Operation Timed Out error.

What is going on here?? I'm quite literally at my wits end.
Nicholas.

Praise the Lord; under AHCI mode the disk partitions properly (and fairly quickly)! Thank you Von1x! A couple of last few questions and we can see light at the end of the tunnel.

To reiterate my current hardware from the first post:
AMD Phenom X3 4580
Asus M2N68-VM motherboard
- Onboard sound: HDeck HD audio (Azalia)
- Onboard networking: nForce PHY Gigabit LAN
-Nvidia nForce 630a chipset
ATi Radeon HD4850 1GB
OCZ Camo Edition 4GB DDR2-1066

This may be of help for reference.

Under video drivers:
I have an ATi HD4850. This is not listed in the driver list under Customize. Seeing that OSX is used on the iMac some of which have 4850s, I assume that 4850 support is built-in and therefor I do not have to select anything under Video Drivers. Can someone verify this for me please?

Under chipset drivers:
I have an nForce chipset (the specific model number I can't recall offhand). The closest option is AppleNForceATA nForce driver, do I check this or the one below which also sounds possible?

Under Ethernet Drivers:
Do I select nForce LAN driver, nForce Ethernet driver, or both?

Under USB Drivers:
Do I select everything?

Under Fixes and Patches:
Do I select everything?

Under Alternate Disablers:
Do I select anything?

Under PS/2 Device Support:
Do I select everything?

Under DSDT Patches:
Do I select everything?

Under Apple SMBIOS Patches:
Do I select everything?


The computer is on and awaiting input. A response as soon as possible will be very much appreciated.

Nicholas.

No idea, it's probably best you don't select one now and use the default VESA for now. You can always get your gfx card working properly later if needed.

Not sure, choose AppleNForceATA for now. If it doesn't work try the other :D

Again, not sure what the difference is. You can always install the other later if needed.

Nope, i would just choose verbose mode and seatbelt kext 10.5.5

Not if you've chosen the Voodoo kernel (essential)

Only if you a use PS/2 device

None

Just AppleSMBIOSEFI

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As a side note, you should be able to click on each option to find out what it does and then make an educated guess if you need it or not. Make sure you're prepared for a lot of trial and error. Good luck! :)

Also as I recommend to everyone, once you've made your machine work and know what kexts you need to get it running – I would ditch the prepatched install dvds and go the retail EFI partition method. The main benefit of this approach is that you have a 'vanilla' machine without hacks and can use Apple Software Update without worry.

Thank you Von1x. I am now able to boot into OSX. The resolution is terrible however, and at first glance I'm unable to change it. How would I go around adding drivers (primarily getting my graphics to kick in) for the different hardware?

Ethernet is working (albeit admittedly very slow),
Audio isn't working; (there's nothing in Preferences - I can't even select Internal Audio),
Graphics certainly isn't working.

I can't think of anything else I'd like to have working at the moment.

Nicholas.

Maybe I need to rephrase this into simple English or Spanish or something before you guys can understand and respond. It's been 8 hours, no reply, and looked high and low but no comprehensive guide.

How. Do. I. Install. And. Remove. Additional. Kexts?

The OSx86 community is a total letdown. Fine, I'll use the search engines; but over half the results I get contain no solutions at all, but are instead mere threads back here or insanelymac.com that are completely ignored. Kexts.com contains nothing but a handful of drivers and it calls itself The Hackintosh Kext Database. You people have gotten Leopard to work on your computers - great job. But in my personal opinion that is no excuse to start behaving like snobs.

Yes, I am a newbie. And there are many things I do not yet know, but is is very much to ask for someone to show me where the kexts shown during installation are so that I can tweak around with different combinations to see what works? Does it take eleven hours just to post such a response? Both my computers are on, I keep reloading both forums and each time I am greeted with disappointment. For people like Voyn1x, they are of valuable assistance as has been already shown and I am very much thankful. But surely there is more than 1 person in this entire forum? What use is a forum for newcomers when all there is are rotting question threads?

Great job guys, great job.
You've worked so hard and accomplished so much, and yet this is your idea of sharing it with the world. It's kind of sad.

Sorry you've had this experience, it's sad people don't help each other enough. I believe it's because they were treated the same when they first got into the scene. They think they had to search and learn the hard way so you can too. Unfortunately the people with real knowledge that stick around and share are few and far between.

Imho the majority of noobs don't help themselves though, asking for help when spending 5 mins searching would reveal the answer. Most of the time, working it out for yourself is the best way to learn, rather than getting step by step instructions but no understanding. Reading, research and knowing your hardware is the key to OSx86.

Back to your unanswered question, OS X has hidden files just like windows. To show them you enter this in terminal:

You can then find all the drivers on the install dvd in /System/Installation/Packages/

If you need to get kexts out of pkg files you can use Pacifist

To hide the files again:

To install kexts and do a hell of a lot more, it's best you get yourself a copy of the swiss army knife of OSx86 - OSx86Tools. You might also be able to get your GFX card working with an EFI string which you can create with OSx86Tools. This app will save you having to get your hands dirty in terminal.

unbelievable. i just signed up today to find out more info about installing one of these builds onto my computer and was reading this thread for some guidelines. i hope you have at least some vague idea of how ridiculously ungrateful and spoiled you sound.