One Sad Mac. It was bound to happen.
I knew it was bound to happen at some point. I guess in the back of my mind, I still held out hope that my Hackintosh was indestructible. Well, it’s not. And this weekend, it “got sick”. I can’t say it died, because I was able to bring it back, but in updating to the latest 10.5.4 OSX update, my graphics went glitchy. In attempting to fix that by loading new graphics drivers, I temporarily killed my Mac.
After the graphics card update, my Mac would no longer boot. It would load part way, then just hang on a light blue screen and go nowhere. I wasn’t overly worried, because I had a full Time Machine backup (Apple’s automated recovery software) of my system from just hours before it died. Plus, I was able to boot into safe mode (-x on startup) and load up my full system to make another full backup of the drive, just in case.
Meanwhile, since I was able to boot into safe mode, I was Googling for ways to get my video drivers working again. I did end up finding the right drivers: Here (and if that link doesn’t work, just Google “X1900 XT EFI VGA Installer 0.1″). The installer ran fine, and after a reboot, my system loaded normally, though I’m still experiencing the graphical glitch. It seems I can’t play any videos on full screen, or they get all choppy and distorted.
So how will I fix it? Unfortunately, the only way I know to fix it is to reinstall the OS. There is a new hacked OSX version floating around called iATKOS. Version 4 installs 10.5.4 directly, so I’m hoping it will correct the problem. However, this is not an easy process. My Hackintosh is my main work machine, and I can’t afford to just reformat and take a chance with all my work data and software. I need to work on Monday morning, and if the install doesn’t go well I’d be screwed. So what’s my plan?
First thing tomorrow, I’m off to buy a new hard drive. That way all I have to do is pull out my existing drive, pop in the new one, and start the install. If it all goes to hell and I can’t get it to work, then come Monday morning, all I have to do is pop in my old drive and it will boot up just like it did today. No risk, no potential downtime; And if all goes well, hopefully a fully working and upgraded system in the process.
Wish me luck. I’ll post back in here when I’m done to let you all know if it worked.
EDIT: I got the hard drive installed today. I started by installing the iATKOS version of OSX, but it didn’t work with my video card. All pop-up menus were blacked out, so I couldn’t use the system at all. I reinstalled the latest version of Kalyway instead (with version 10.5.2 of OSX) and it went really smoothly. In fact, the install went even better than the previous version I installed. The video card drivers worked well, and it included drivers for my network card, and other devices. Once I was up and running I tested some video, and it worked fine. My issue was fixed. I then proceeded to install the updates one by one to see which one caused the issue. Turns out the latest version of Quicktime (version 7.5, which was released in conjunction with the new iTunes 7.7 for iPhone 3G) was the culprit. As soon as Quicktime was updated, I couldn’t play video anymore (it became slow and choppy). I then restored my entire system from my Time Machine backup (it restored everything… from my documents, to my music, to my applications and even my settings). It took about 2 hours to restore, and it went really well. The only issue is that my software licenses are now all gone and I need to re-enter my product activation codes (which makes sense, otherwise people could copy software to other machines that way). Then I used a software called Pacifist to override the new version of Quicktime with the older version (7.4.5) and voila! Video is working perfectly again! My system is running in tip top shape, fully restored, and even faster than before thanks to my new 1 terabyte hard drive. All is well in A7 land, and just in time for work.
A7
Tags: 10.5.4, a7, apple, ati, graphics, hackintosh, iatkos, kalyway, mac, osx, problem, x1900xt
July 21st, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Updates can be such a pain in the A$$
Good thing you got it up and running though!!! because I heard the new update 1.2.3.4.5 for Quicktime 7.8.9.10 runnning on the xyz platform won’t work properly if you have the iPhone 7.8.9. software for the newly revamped mpg 200 super dooper HD format….I heard apple has a patch though so no need to worry…..
don’t you love computers!!!
July 21st, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Dude… are you making fun of my geek speak?
Yeah, ok… my post is a little heavy on the acronyms. Not my fault I’m thorough. 
Don’t forget to vote on my tattoo post!
A7
July 21st, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I’ve been testing on an extra drive and have 10.5.4 running via Kalyway 10.5.2 and updates. But I had to restore a lot of stuff. So this is not a great way to go. My main drive is SATA w/10.5.2 runing but my extra drive is an IDE so that is another issue I think. Anyway it’s not a simple affair.
I have both iATKOS & Leo4All 10.5.2 to test now, but I am holding out as I have been reading some interesting stuff about a “Software Updater” app for the hackintosh that some people are using, also the 123 boot loader workaround. It’s a lot to absorb though… I think for me I may wait for 10.5.5 full install distro to update my main drive.
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Dude……YUP!!
August 4th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Ugh. Back to the drawing board.
Got home. All was well. Installed some minor updates (iTunes and other small apps). Rebooted. Kablooey. System will not start at all. Not even to get to the bios screen. This issue has nothing to do with the updates as it’s not even powering on fully. That means something fried… either my video card, or my CPU, or my motherboard, or my power supply, or any combination thereof. And with no spare hardware lying around to test, I don’t know what to do now.
Any suggestions? And yes, I realize buying a real Mac is the only real solution, but that’s not an option right now. Grrrr.
A7
August 6th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Update: System is back and working somewhat ok.
It turns out my CPU fried. Quite literally in fact. As I was changing the CPU, MC discovered a little pocket at the front of the case where the main intake vent is located. She pulled out a handful of hair and dust! My main air vent was completely clogged, so my system was likely overheating and cooking my CPU.
So… I bought the newer Intel Q9300 CPU to replace my old one. The new CPU was only a few dollars more, but is considerably better and newer. I popped in the new CPU and booted up… no problem. The bios complained that it didn’t recognize the CPU (too new) so I had to download a new firmware. No sweat. I then spent a bit of time playing with the settings to see how well it overclocks. It can easily go up to 3.14 Ghz. Nice.
Unfortunately, the CPU is so new, the Mac OSX doesn’t know how to deal with it. My clock is off (which is not a big issue because it re-syncs with the time server every 30 minutes or so to correct itself) and my sound is a little glitchy. Apparently, OSX is unable to handle the faster bus speeds as of yet. I found a fix online (installing the modbin kernel instead of the vanilla kernel) and I’ll be testing that later tonight after I do a full backup of my system.
At least my computer is back, and I didn’t lose anything. All is good. Now I just need to remember to clear out that vent often so I don’t have a repeat.
A7
August 8th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Good to hear your back up and running. i have not yet over clocked my Q6600… don’t know if I will bother at this point. It’s pretty fast as is for me. Guess I may have over spend on the heat sink… but considering what happened to your system, still a good thing to have.
August 8th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Thanks JB. Yes, a good heatsink is never a bad idea when it comes to these newer intel chips. Did you see the heatsinks and fans on the G5 and Mac Pros? They are huge (almost half the case!).
For the record, my system is now running perfectly. The Q9300 CPU is running safely at 4 x 416Mhz bus speed (1666Mhz) giving me a 4 x 3.14Ghz CPU. Temperature is stable at 49-50 deg. The Modbin kernel fixed the clock and audio issues, so the system is running perfectly (and BLAZING fast).
A7
August 8th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
I’m hearing a lot about this Modbin kernel… some interesting distros of 10.5.4 are also out now. But I will wait as apple is readying a 10.5.5 updates shortly. Also I mentioned above the 123 boot loader might be a good path to explore.
Well my 10.5.2 install that I am running is smooth at this point. I did have an issue for a week or so, but I think that has been solved. I think it might have been my outgoing firewall quiting on me. I updated it and the panics went away so far… knock on wood