July 19, 2010

Installing OS X Snow Leopard - Part One

In the past, installing OS X on non-Apple hardware used to be a long journey, which involved gathering a lot of kexts (kernel extensions or drivers), and manually tweaking and installing lots of files...

Those days are over !
Fortunately, tonymacx86 developed iBoot + MultiBeast...

So, let's download what we need:
  • tonymacx86's iBoot: This Bootable CD image will let us boot and start the installer from the OS X Snow Leopard DVD.
    Depending on our Graphics card, we should pick either the iBoot nVidia, or the iBoot ATI.
    It's also possible to use the iBoot Supported, which includes a Vanilla Kernel for supported processors (i3, i5, i7).

  • Mac OS X Update: Earlier Snow Leopard disks included the 10.6.0 version, while the last ones ship with 10.6.3.
    If yours is the 10.6.0, you'll want to download the Mac OS X 10.6.4 Combo Update, which includes all point releases.
    But if you have the newer 10.6.3, you can save some bandwidth, and download the Mac OS X 10.6.4 Update.
  • tonymacx86's MultiBeast: tonymacx86's wonderful post-intallation utility.
    MultiBeast allows to easily customize an OSX installation, adding needed kexts and configuration files.

  • DSDT: One of the advantages of using a DSDT is that it makes your hardware "look" more friendly/Mac-like to OS X drivers, allowing for a more Vanilla (with less extraneous kexts) installation.
    You can extract and edit your own DSDT, or download a pre-edited one from tonymacx86 DSDT database.
    I contributed edits for the GA-P55M-UD4, so those are readily available in the database.

Let's do it !
  • Unpack iBoot, and burn the iso image to a CD-R (Some users reported problems with some CD-RW disks and DVDs)
  • Save the Mac OS X 10.6.4 update to a USB Stick
  • Unpack MultiBeast, and save it to a USB Stick
  • Save the downloaded DSDT to the USB Stick

In Part Two, we'll start the actual OS X installation...

26 comments:

  1. The Combo update link seems to be the same as the normal link. Here's the link to the combo: http://support.apple.com/kb/dl1048

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  2. does can this be applied to my GA-H55M-UD2H i5 750 GTX 240 4 gig of ram?

    thanks

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  3. @djClint: Yes ! However, the options you choose in MultiBeast in Part Three will be different, based on your board.
    Good Luck !

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  4. got ACPI kernel panic in iboot supported...:( any fix of this..i tried to look at tonys forum but theres a thread there it states solved but theres no solution...:(

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  5. @djClint: Have you checked Part Two ?
    Did you press F5 ?
    Don't hit Enter until the Snow Leopard DVD was scanned.

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  6. ok ill try it again ill hit u up for the result..thanks

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  7. got it working now but i dont have audio and lan

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  8. @djClint: Check out my MultiBeast guide in Part Three for the right options to pick for your board - take in mind that the GA-H55M-UD2H uses the ALC889 (not ALC889a like the GA-P55M-UD4) and RTL8111D.

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  9. got the lan working now..ill update you tom..:) thanks again for this tutorial really a big help

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  10. yah i installed the ALC889 but at the same time did a mistake on the ALC889a how do i get rid of it? maybe this is the reason that i dont have audio or the audio icon is greyed out

    thanks

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  11. @djClint: "tom..." Hmmm... "Tomorrow ?"
    Just remove the /Extra library, and rerun MultiBeast with the right options.
    If you want a "clean" install (e.g. for making an image), you can start the installation over...
    I did it several times until I got this perfected. It should not take more than 30 minutes.

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  12. ok bro thank you...yah tom is tomorrow..:) il try rerun of multibeast first then ill start all over again if it doesnt work..thanks again

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  13. sounds strange bro i did a fresh install and its the sound whos working the lan is not not working i cant find RTL8111D. :(

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  14. @djClint: See section "Network" in Part Three...
    The RTL8111D is supported by RealtekR1000SL...

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  15. Bro

    thats the one i install RealtekR1000SL because when i opened it again in multibeast it states upgrade but still no ethernet connection...:(

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  16. @djClint: Check if your NIC is available in System Preferences|Network...
    Depending on your network equipment, you might need to do manual configuration of the Ethernet Speed/Duplex/etc. params instead of Automatic (all this is available under the "Advanced" pane.

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  17. Well sad to say bro its only two choices "Built-in Serial Port" and firewire is present..:(

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  18. @djClint: Check your BIOS. Make sure "Onboard H/W LAN" is enabled, and "Green LAN" is Disabled.

    Also, did you remember to select "System Utilities" in MultiBeast ? This is required in order to rebuild kext caches under /Extra...

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  19. yup bro all those settings are already set..but still got the same errors no audio and Lan..and the worst is that multibeast(2.1.1) keeps on crashing when i install

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  20. just an update i managed to get back the audio again but the ethernet lan still not present..:(

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  21. @djClint: Could be an issue with multibeast ? You could try downloading it again.

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  22. holla!
    first off a big and obvious thx i need to send your crew ant tonymac more coffee money!!
    where do i investigate the meaning of a kernel panic? this is what I get after insertion and partial loading of 10.6.3:

    Launchctl .c: 2325 ( 23938 ) :30 : (dbfd = open(g_job_overides_db_path, O_RDONLY | O_EXLOCK | O_CREAT, S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR)) !=-

    i'd like to suss out what this means, do i need to purchase literature? or is there an open source wiki somewhere that details these things as of right now i don't even know which parts break down into identifiable phrases thx dude!

    oh i left more detail at tmx86 under OSx86 Help Desk / Installation/ padawan has much to learn if'n anybody wants to banish my ignorance.

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  23. @disco_in_my_punk: Thanks !
    Note that while I help moderate the tonymacx86 forum, we are separate crews ;)

    The line you posted is not a kernel panic, but just a log message...

    I see your post... Will followup there !

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  24. Thanks Lnx2Mac for a superb guide.
    I'm building a quiet hackintosh based on your parts. Will iBoot supported work with the i7-860 or do I need the nVidia version (for GeForce 9800)?

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  25. @Anonymous: You can use either one.
    Both will work OK with your build.
    Good Luck !

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