Zotac GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi

Apr 19 2009, 12:22 AM

I have a more or less successful install with this board that I'll share. This is kind of a lazy write-up because this is not my main hack and thus it is "good enough" for me, not a perfect install. This is for a little media center with PLex, EyeTV, Remote Buddy, and the Sony BD remote.

This is a Vanilla Retail type install!

What does not work, but could:

-On-board Audio (I am using iMic USB which does work and did not hassle with this except to find that VoodooHDA does NOT work).

-wireless networking (did not try on this b/c I use wired gigabit)

-Sleep/resume works from menu, but usb keybord does not come back--get error about overvoltage causing USB device to be disabled. Unplugging keyboard and plugging back fixes, but I have sleep turned off. For my purposes I can't wake the system from remote anyway, so I do not care.

-PS2 Key/Mouse (why bother?)

Does not work and never will: This board does not support USB wake on the hardware level, Zotac you b*stards!

What does work (reliably)

-onboard gigabit ethernet

-onboard video

-iMic USB for audio

-bluetooth dongle usb

-Playstation3 BD remote with remote buddy/bluetooth

Untested:

-I do not have an optical drive in this system. I assume a Sata drive should work fine.

Install Method:

1. Insert sata hard disk in working hackintosh, partition GUID. Mark to not ignore permissions on this drive in info.

2. Install OSX 10.5.0 from working hack, run Apple 10.5.6 combined update.

3. Copy over AppleACPIPlatform, AppleSMBIOS, dsmos, IntelCPUPMDisabler, IOAHCIFamily, IOATAFamily, NVkush. (these are attached, not all may be necessary, like I said this is a lazy write-up!).

4. run Chameleon 2.0RC1 and use standard install (EFI-type may work, I did not use it).

5. Put the disk in the new system and boot up. OK, here's the gotcha. The 10.5.6 update will run a boot time process that will overwrite some of the kexts you just copied. In fact, it will boot and do this, then reboot on its own. Just let it go until you get a kernel panic or something then copy your kexts again and repair permissions. I might have re-run chameleon installer here, kind of forget.

6. Boot up and if you do get any kind of kernel panic, just reboot. Once this is setup, you will NOT get any panics or instability. I am typing this from this system now!

7. Run all updates from the Apple menu, all install with no issues.

All-in-all, this is a very easy install and the board supports OSX pretty well for me at least. Not sure of the OP's problems, but I would just say to try to get away from Distros if you can. Retail installs are actually a lot easier/more predictable. Who knows what the scripts in a distro are doing? Just get your retail working and save a copy of the particular kexts/dsdt etc you used and then a reinstall is a breeze.

Edit: One thing I forgot to mention. I have tried Vanilla retail on 2 different systems with 10.5.6 retail DVD and have not had success. Specifically, 10.5.6 Reatail DVD did not work on this board for me. For some reason the 10.5.0 -> 10.5.6 update method works much better for me even though it is an extra step.