I have been trying to install Leopard on my system for a couple of days, and I have run into a few problems along the way. I want to start over again from scratch, but I want some suggestions about my methodology first. If I can get this working right, I will be more than happy to write a full blown guide for the X58/i7 Community, as the other guides out there for similar platforms have failed me.
Requirements:- 100% Vanilla Install using Retail Disk
- Reliable Installation I can use without worry of it breaking
- All Hardware Working
- Ability to Dual boot into Windows after all is said and done.
- Ideally use a nice graphical Bootloader, like chameleon
Hardware:- Asus P6T (Non-Deluxe) LGA1366, Bios 0605 (Latest)
- Integrated Realtek 8111C Network
- Integrated Realtek ALC1200 Audio
- Intel i7 920
- 6GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1600 Memory
- WD 500GB Sata Hard drive
- LG SATA DVD Drive
- D-Link DWA-552 Wireless Card
- nVidia 9800 GX2 Video
- Various USB Peripherals (KB, Mouse, Webcam, Headset)
So far, I have been following a couple guides on InsanelyMac, which have failed me.
Basically my plan of attack has been:
- Boot from Boot-132 CD
- Install Retail Leopard (10.5.0)
- Install Combo-Update to 10.5.6 or 10.5.7 (tried both)
- Attempt to get all i7 cores+HT working (DSDT Patch)
- Install Bootloader
- Install remaining devices
My results have been varied. The booting from Boot-132 Always works, the Vanilla/Retail install always works.
I can always get into OSX after the fresh install using Boot-132, the problems come when I start trying to enable all cores, and/or upgrade to a newer version of OSX.
My best attempt has been this process:
- Boot-132 -> Install Retail
- Boot-132 -> Log into Retail
- Install DSDT Patch using DSDT Patcher 1.0.1e
- Combo Update to either 10.5.6 or 10.5.7 (Same results on both)
- Put DSDT.aml in /
- *Attempt to reboot on all cores, fails*
- *Reboot again on 1 core, no HT
- Install Chameleon EFI
- Put DSDT.aml in chameleon Extra folder
- *Attempt to reboot on all cores, success, sorta*
At this point it gets past the normal place it would hang on all cores, and seems to recognize the CPU properly. But it will always hang somewhere, and never boot again.
I have tried -v, -f, -x, -v -f -x, everything. All I can do at this point is get into Single User mode.
Last night in #hackint0sh a few people tried to help me, we deleted various kexts, deleted the DSDT.aml file, etc. It would always hang somewhere, and depending on what we did, somewhere different.
Bottom line it, no matter what we did, it would not boot into OSX.
I have also had attempts where I was able to get into OSX 10.5.7 using Voodoo kernel, but only with 1 core, no HT.
It seems like everything sorta stops working right after I try to install a bootloader (Chameleon v2 every time), whereby the DSDT patch seems to work, but nothing else does.
Does anyone have any suggestions for me as to what I should do, if I was to try again, to get as close to a vanilla install as possible working on my system?
I know my requirements are stiff, but if I am to move off of Vista to a hackintosh setup, then it needs to be reliable. If I cannot do something as simple as run apple update reliably, then it is nothing more than a toybox which I would never actually use.
It should be noted that I do have a real MacBook Pro running Leopard 10.5.7, might that be of any use to me?