Anyhow, in keeping with the times, we needed a new Mac-based machine in the office and I decided to get grimy and build one with Snow Leopard AND Windows. Yup, dual-booting it’s called. Over the weekend, I encountered numerous grey screens of death, hung computers and problems of every kind – I just could not believe how others said this motherboard was the easiest to install on. After awhile, I decided to return it to the store and get another unit, JUST IN CASE the motherboard had problems (which HARDLY ever happens, right?). Whaddya know… the install was flawless after I swapped it!

I haven’t got oodles of tips and tricks to share, but here are some of the things I did to get it going.

1. If you haven’t heard of the all-time-awesome-kickass-Lifehacker-Snow-Leopard-install, then you simply must. It’s a prerequisite to building a hackintosh. Read here.
2. Do as Lifehacker tells you – go prepare your thumbdrive with the install files, then come back here.
3. Also, go procure your hardware – for BEST-est results, do get the Gigabyte EP45-UD3L, EP45-UD3R or EP45-UD3P motherboards. They allow you to pretty much get the retail Snow Leopard working out of the box. Any current NVIDIA graphics card will do. I got the 9400GT which has HDMI, DVI and VGA ports. As for the processor, any Core2Duo/Core2Quad ones are fine. I used a Q9400 Intel Quad Core CPU.
4. Set your BIOS settings – this is important for the system to run optimally. The only settings you really need to modify are in “Integrated Peripherals” – set the ICH SATA Control Mode to AHCI [default is IDE] and Onboard SATA/IDE Ctrl Mode to AHCI [default is IDE].
5. Now, proceed to boot with the thumbdrive – you have to configure your BIOS boot options to select the thumbdrive.
6. Everything else is pretty dead easy (from going to Tools-Disk Utility and partitioning the hard drive), to installing the OS.
7. Complete the installation process and when the machine reboots, let the thumbdrive boot again. On the OS selection screen, select the internal hard drive you installed it to. (The reason you do this is because the bootloader isn’t installed on the internal drive yet – don’t worry if you don’t understand this gibberish!).
8. Now, download the file mentioned in Lifehacker (EP45UD3P Snow Leopard.pkg zip) and run it, but install it on the internal drive.
9. That’s it really! If you’d like to run Software Update to upgrade to 10.6.1, you may do so (that’s the latest version as of today) – nothing adverse will happen.

If you’d like to dual boot between the Mac OS and Windows, here’s a spanner that gets thrown in.

1. After booting into the installation (Step 5 above), go to Tools-Disk Utility and create 2 partitions. (Practical tip: make them slightly different sizes so you can identify them easily later in your Windows install). On one partition, set it to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and on the second, set it to FAT32. Do click on Options and set the Partition Map scheme to GUID.
2. After the partitioning and formatting is done, close the window and return to the installer. You can resume with Step 7 above.
3. After you’re done with the Mac OS installation, pop in your Windows DVD and change the boot sequence in BIOS. I’m using Vista (*puke*) as I’ve got a legit licence for it. Let the DVD boot up.
4. Click on Repair your computer link, then click Next and select Command Prompt.
5. At the black screen, type diskpart [enter].
6. Then type select disk 0 [enter].
7. Type list partition [enter].
8. You will see a list of your partitions with numbers on the side. You need to select the one you intend to install Windows on.
9. Type select partition xx [enter] (where xx is the number you identified in Step 8).
10. Type active [enter].
11. Return to the Windows installer and continue to install Windows on the designated partition.
12. When you’re done, Windows will boot by default (hey, where’s my Mac installation?).
13. Don’t worry, you just need to download a program called EasyBCD that will easily tweak the Windows boot manager. Download it here.
14. Run it and go to Add/Remove Entries. Select the Mac tab.
15. Select Generic x86 PC and give it a name you like – Mac OS works well. Click Save.

There you have it… A Mac and a PC cohabitating on the same hard drive. How sweet is that…? Here’s the bootloader screen that gives you the option to select your OS.

Here’s my setup before I put it into a “nicer” casing. 2 friends commented that a hackintosh is function without form – I totally agree, and think that Hackintoshes are like Frankenstein – an ugly brute with force. Macs are the princess with elegance but less power.

Now, write a comment and let me know if you’ve had success. Please don’t ask questions such as, “will this XYZ motherboard work?” – this short tutorial is solely for the EP45-UD3R and similar variants. If you want it to work, get this motherboard. I’ll try to put a video together when I work on the next installation of this setup, but it may take awhile…

Your parts may be different from what I’ve prescribed, and it’s alright. You may have success with what you have already, but in the event you do not, then go watch the video and buy the recommended parts.

Other resources that are handy while building your hackintosh are as follows:

• Choosing the parts
• Bios settings before installation
• OSx86 Project
• InsanelyMac

If you have questions on building the Hackintosh, feel free to post them here. I’ll try my best to help you out.

Music credit: Robert Jakob

Before you commence the installation of the Mac OS on a PC, there are some settings in the BIOS you’ll have to configure. As your PC boots up, hit the key that is stated which takes you into BIOS – it’s normally the [DEL], [F1] or [ESC] key that will work for you.

(It’s amazing… this guy, Michael Stevens set up a page on most BIOS types and what key to press. Check it out here.)

Anyhow, once you get into BIOS, follow each setting to the “T” and you’ll be assured that your Mac OS installation will work. I used the Leo4All installation, it will work for others too, I’m sure.

ASUS P5K PRO BIOS MAIN TAB

ASUS P5K PRO BIOS ADVANCED TAB

ASUS P5K PRO BIOS BOOT TAB

ASUS P5K PRO BIOS POWER TAB

ASUS P5K PRO BIOS EXIT

Okay, you’re done! Save and exit… and get to the installation of the Hackintosh part!

(Last image is courtesy of barrys-rigs-n-reviews.com – we forgot to take a snapshot of the Exit and Save screen… which IS the most important!!!)

Apple & Intel inside

As part of my exposure to the world of Macs, I decided to try a project that is fairly publicized on the Internet – to build a Hackintosh. This is essentially building a computer system with regular PC parts that you can pick up from your local computer store, but installing the Mac operating system on it.

This effectively provides you with a full functioning Mac that could even be more powerful than their native Macs, and most importantly… AT A LOWER COST! (I paid less than USD600 for this Core 2 Quad machine – not including the monitor)

Stay tuned for the next part of this series that details the operating system software installation process.

Summary of computer components used

• ASUS P5K Pro motherboard
• Core 2 Quad 2.4 GHz (Q6600)
• NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT graphics card
• 2x 2GB DDR2-800MHz Kingston RAM
• Pioneer SATA DVD-ROM
• 250GB SATA hard drive
• A regular casing with a good power supply

Music credit: Sunset (Ken Verheecke), Farranos no Frevo (Camerata Brasileira)