Gigabyte H97M-D3H, Core i5-4690, yosemite 10.10.5 -- stable so far

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(previous thread related to this build here)

Successful Hackintosh Build — 2015/Sep/29

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Executive summary

  1. It works, and it has been stable for 2+ weeks of daily use at home
  2. I would NOT recommend this for a beginner
  3. I would NOT recommend this as your “only” computer
  4. Having a “real” mac nearby is a really good idea
  5. This is the most important point: If I were to start over, I would ONLY build a hackintosh by using EXACTLY the same parts as someone has published in a DETAILED build guide.
  6. Yes I am still happy with the system (so far). The cost was about CDN$ 850 which is HALF of what a comparable new iMac would have cost me.

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Build Summary:

(Note I started over several times, and had more than a few headaches along the way. This is just a summary of the final steps that work. Details of my travails will be noted at the end)

Hardware:

  • Gigabyte H97M-D3H mATX LGA1150 H97 motherboard (Revision 1.1 Motherboard, version F5 Bios)
  • Intel Core i5 I5-4690 Haswell 3.5Ghz CPU
  • G.Skill F3­12800CL10D­16GBXL Ripjaws X 16GB kit
  • Corsair CS450M Modular 80 Plus 450W Power Supply
  • Samsung 850 EVO MZ­75E250B/AM 250GB 2.5in SATA III Internal SSD
  • generic ATX case
  • Western Digital WD5000AAKX - 500GB, 16MB CACHE SATA DRIVE

OS: Yosemite 10.10.5

References:

CAUTION:

  • I based my hardware decision mostly on the August version of the tonymacx86.com Buyers Guide; the CustoMac Budget ATX mostly
  • As noted above I would not choose to buy this exact hardware again.
  • I deviated in the choice of RAM from those noted, based on what was available locally. I did check the motherboard manufacturer’s website for their approved list of RAM.
  • I would not use the Tonymac buyers guide for this. Instead, find a detailed SUCCESSFUL build from either the reddit/r/hackintosh forum or from the tonymacx86 forum and copy their hardware list.

INSTALLATION:

  • download Yosemite as per the tonymac guide
  • Note that it automatically launches an installer; quit that.
  • Make the Bootable USB drive, using UniBeast 5.2.0

  • Copy Multibeast to the USB drive

  • Build PC. Did NOT hook up the DVD-ROM or HDD at this point.
    ONLY have the SSD hooked up.

  • turn on PC and hit F2 to get into the BIOS:

    • Save+Exit -> Load Optimized Defaults
    • BIOS Features -> VT-d -> DISABLED
    • BIOS Features -> Boot Mode Selection -> LEGACY ONLY
    • Peripherals -> Initial Display Output -> IGFX
    • Peripherals -> Intel Process Graphics -> Enabled (ALREADY SET THIS WAY)
    • Peripherals -> XHCI Mode -> AUTO
    • Peripherals -> EHCI hand-off -> ENABLED
    • Peripherals -> Sata Configuration -> SATA Mode Selection -> AHCI (ALREADY SET)
    • MIT -> Advanced Memory Settings -> XMP -> Profile1
    • MIT -> Advance Memory Settings -> Memory Enhancement Setting -> “ENHANCED STABILITY”

YES, THIS IS A LOT OF BIOS SETTINGS. NO, I DO NOT KNOW IF ALL OF THEM ARE ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.

I stopped trying different things once it was working. Not entirely happy about the memory settings, as I wonder if it is slowing my machine down, but it was necessary to make it stable.

INSTALLATION CONTINUED…

  • Plug in the boot USB and boot the machine, again referring to the tony mac unibeast/yosemite guide
  • at the splash screen start typing and add “-v -x” boot flags
  • OS-X install starts
  • use disk utility to reformat/repartition the SSD drive
  • After the install it reboots

  • select Yosemite (the internal disk where you installed OS-X) but DO NOT HIT RETURN — type “-v -x” to set boot flags and then hit return

  • MULTIBEAST settings:

    • Quick Start -> DSDT Free
    • Drivers -> Audio -> Realtek ALC892
    • Drivers -> Disk -> Trim Enabler -> 10.10.3 Trim Patch
    • Drivers -> Disk -> Intel Generic AHCI SATA
    • Drivers -> Network -> RealtekRTL8111 v1.2.3
    • Drivers -> Misc -> EvOreboot
    • Drivers -> Misc -> USB 3.0 Universal
    • Drivers -> Misc -> Fake SMC HW Monitor Application
    • Drivers -> Misc -> Fake SMC Plugins v6.16.1372
    • Customize -> Boot Options -> UNCHECK Generate SPU States
    • Customice -> System Definitions -> iMac -> iMac 14,2
    • Now Build
    • Select Save, Save to Documents, Also save to the USB drive, for insurance
    • Install

INSTALLATION CONTINUED - TESTING: - boot + login

  • system preferences -> Network -> verify it picked up DHCP
  • system preferences -> Mouse -> UNCHECK scroll direction: natural (stupid)
  • system preferences -> Sound -> Set to use “internal speakers” (weird, but it works)
  • system preferences -> Energy Saver -> UNCHECK Wake for Ethernet network access

IMPORTANT: - system preferences -> Energy Saver -> Computer sleep: NEVER

From my readings it seems like a lot of Hackintosh systems have the problem of wake-from-sleep, and my system is no different. Setting it to never sleep is an easy fix for me. I have always run my computer like this anyway, as I like to be able to SSH in remotely.

STABILITY ACHIEVED:

After it was running for a day, I turned it off and hooked up the HD and the DVD-ROM and that worked just fine.

I did this build at work, where I had easy access to lots of bandwidth. Once the mac was stable for several days, I took it home, where it is now my personal “do everything” computer. It’s seen daily use for 2+ weeks now with no hiccups.

I did discover that Migration assistant would not run for me. It turned out to be a good thing, as my home directory on my old mac was too large to fit on the internal SSD of the new hackintosh. I used rsync to copy the files to the external HD, and made a symlink to that from /Users/ and it’s been fine. All other stuff I’ve tried just works: configured a printer, shared it, enabled ssh, enabled time machine on an external USB, installed some software, lots of usage of Chrome and iMovie.

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NOW FOR THE UGLY DETAILS AND RELATED PROBLEMS….

  • first time I did the install I had no network. Took a while to figure out the right multibeast settings for that through online searching.
  • One confusion is that during the install, the network works. So there are more network settings in the unibeast Boot-USB-stick.
  • Very quickly experienced it freezing after going to sleep - would have to hit the system hardware reset button.
  • Tried a few options (the uncheck generate CPU states option, for instance)
    That worked for a while
  • Experiences irregular screen issues — lots of breaking up and vertical lines.
  • Over and over - very frustrating.
  • After a while gave up and tried a Clover install — nope, the screen went nuts only 1/3 of the way through the OS X boot. This might not have been a clover problem, read on.
  • Went back to Uni/Multi-beast.
  • I was using a DVI cable - tried plugging in an HDMI cable, and it locked the system. Had to hit the reset button.
  • later on, won’t wake again, get BIOS failure errors.
  • after about 2-3 days of increasing instability the machine totally shut down - would not wake at all. Could not even get the Bios splash screen. Multiple resets. Tried different PSU, RAM, nothing.

BAD MOTHERBOARD

  • sent it back for replacement under warrant.

SIDE NOTE:

  • I mentioned before that I was doing this at work to take advantage of lots of bandwidth. (Yes, my boss was aware of this.)

  • While I was waiting for the MDB replacement I happened to notice that some of our lab machines here had the exact same motherboard as I did. I pulled out one of the spare machines and plugged in my SSD. I booted into the bios and ONLY changed the “VT-d” setting — nothing else.

  • it booted right up. And it was fine for a day. Left it the weekend and it was still fine.

  • Note that this system was a version 1.0 Motherboard, with version F2 of the BIOS.

  • It also had a different brand of RAM (only 8MB), and it had an i7 CPU — I forget the model, I think it was a 3.2 GHz or thereabouts.

  • This system was amazingly stable.

REPLACEMENT MBD

  • my MBD arrived and I put my PC back together
  • booted into the BIOS and and the “VT-d” change
  • Bad screen almost immediately.
  • rebooted and Put in a lot more of the BIOS changes
  • still had no-wake-from-sleep issues
  • still would occasionally lock

Here was the kicker:

  • reset this new board to :

    • MIT -> Advanced Memory Settings -> XMP -> Auto (note that this now shows my “system memory multiplier at 13.33 and memory frequency at 1333MHz — on the other board the ram shows as 16.00 and 1600MHz. However on the MIT Current Status page it shows my memory as 1600MHz. I don’t get that.)

    After this I went to the “extra stability” settings: MIT -> Advanced Memory Settings -> XMP -> Profile1 MIT -> Advance Memory Settings -> Memory Enhancement Setting -> “ENHANCED STABILITY”

  • And the system was now stable.

UNRESOLVED QUESTIONS:

  • is the G.SKILL ram the problem? (Sorry, I do not know the model of the RAM in my work PC. That PC has since been put back into service.)
  • is the older F2 version of the BIOS better for a mackintosh?
  • is it an issue with my Core i5 CPU versus the Core i7 CPU on the spare system?
  • was it something else?

At this point, I did not care, as stability was achieved. Even if my RAM is a bit slow, this system is still MUCH faster than my mid-2009 iMac that it was replacing. Net cost was around CDN$850 (I did not need to buy a case or the Western Digital 500GB HD) which is about HALF of what it would have cost me to buy a roughly comparable iMac from Apple.

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