Completion of Shuttle K48 (Snow Leopard 10.6.7) Project
PH
2011_03_22X_Shuttle_dsdt.aml.zip
... and ...
2011_03_22X_Shuttle_dsdt.dsl.zip
... which are, respectively, the object code and the source code of
the completed Shuttle K48 DSDT.
The purpose of these " Rev. X" uploads is documentary. The "E"
revision DSDT remains the "golden" version.
Rev. X, then, is Rev. E, but is extensively commented.
This is a HUGE hack and fixes all known problems with the Shuttle K48
and Snow Leopard up to and including 10.6.7.
The intention, therefore, is to provide guidance for others who are
also hacking ill-designed Award BIOS DSDTs, possibly for non-Shuttles.
Remember: the GMA950 device is 32-bit, only, in order to obtain full
acceleration and all resolutions. 64-bit will give you no acceleration
and 1024 x 768, only. The applications may run 64-bit, of course even
if MacOS X runs 32-bit.
Also remember: the optical and hard devices are on the PATA channel.
For this to be most effective, a fast optical device is highly
recommended. 22x should be fine. A hand-me-down 4x Pioneer DVR-110,
say, from an old G4 Mac will probably be too slow. The SATA channels
are reserved for eSATA uses.
The dual eSATA bracket and cable arrived from HK today.
The "tail" of the bracket was cut-down to more appropriately fit the
Shuttle case.
The particular vendor supplied internal cables which were VERY
long ... long enough for a true desktop Hack. I carefully unfolded and
the refolded the cables to better fit the small Shuttle case.
My Shuttle K48 project is, therefore, complete, and I am moving on to
other things, perhaps the "resurrection" of my old Gigabyte GA-EP45T-
DS3R mobo in a full-sized case. The "T" versions of Gigabyte mobos are
DDR3, only, and I happen to have a set of four 2 GB DDR3 sticks which
I purchased on a NewEgg unadvertised sale (15 percent off, with "free"
shipping) a couple of weeks ago.
Just to recap the Shuttle K48 project ...
This is (or was) Shuttle's smallest, and lowest-powered box.
There are only two internal drive positions, one 5.25" and presumably
intended for an optical drive and one 3.5" and presumably intended for
a hard drive.
There are two functional media channels, a PATA channel (originally
named ICHX, but renamed to PATA by me), and a SATA channel (originally
named IDE1, but renamed to SATA by me) in the Shuttle K48.
Although the Shuttle's ICH7 actually has four SATA ports, only two are
"printed" (i.e., provided with copper traces and terminating
connectors) by Shuttle, hence the decision early on to make this
Shuttle an all-PATA box, but with the option for one or two eSATA
ports.
The DSDT defines two PATA channels, but only one is actually
"printed". The second, however, MUST remain defined in the DSDT,
otherwise the machine will not boot. A small price to pay.
The original DSDT had a great many issues, all of which were
eventually solved:
1) the USB power function was not supported at all, hence using a KVM
switch would result in losing your video resolution, amongst other
significant issues; all of these are now fixed,
2) none of the recent Award BIOS "AMAC" functions, for MacOS X-
compatibility, were provided; all are now fully supported, and
3) numerous fixes to some of the "usual suspects" problems, and to
some of the not so usual problems.
Which brings me full-circle, and why I released the above-mentioned
fully-commented files.
Kris Tilford
> Remember: the GMA950 device is 32-bit, only, in order to obtain full
> acceleration and all resolutions. 64-bit will give you no acceleration
> and 1024 x 768, only. The applications may run 64-bit, of course even
> if MacOS X runs 32-bit.
My understanding is that the current versions of the GMA950 kexts are
all 64-bit only, and as such, disable acceleration and limit you to
one resolution, and that to get acceleration & resolutions back you
must substitute an older 32-bit version of both the GMA950 kext and
the associated FrameBuffer kext. Is this correct?
pete...@cruzio.com
Not consistent with my understanding.
Apple has had no reason to update its GMA950 kexts since the earliest
version of Intel-based MacOS X.
I could be wrong, and I possible am.
Why, then, would Apple, which has not supported GMA950 since, perhaps,
10.4.8 or 10.4.11, elect to update, with 10.6.x, its GMA950 kext?
Kris Tilford
> Apple has had no reason to update its GMA950 kexts since the earliest
> version of Intel-based MacOS X.
>
> I could be wrong, and I possible am.
>
> Why, then, would Apple, which has not supported GMA950 since, perhaps,
> 10.4.8 or 10.4.11, elect to update, with 10.6.x, its GMA950 kext?
In Leopard 10.5.8 the GMA950 kext is v.1.5.48. The current version for
Snow Leopard 10.6.7 is v.1.6.26. There are several other versions
between these two.
I've been struggling to get 1024x600 resolution and QE/CI acceleration
on my MSI Wind U100 under 10.6.7. I have patched the current 1.6.26
kexts using the 27ae patch, and while they load fine, there is no fix
for the resolution or acceleration.
It appears that a specific 32-bit version of the GMA950 kext is
required to get resolutions & acceleration under Snow Leopard.
Also, in the Snow Leopard X3100 kexts, the current versions are all 32-
bit versions, but Apple did release a 64-bit version back in 10.6.2,
but unfortunately that kext causes panics with the newer Snow Leopard
updates AFAIK. Strange that Apple would bump a kext up to 64-bit, and
then bump it back to 32-bit.
On my Inspiron 1525 I've got over 100 kexts loaded, and only about 8
are 32-bit, but two of those are the X3100 kexts which seem to
artificially restrict my laptop to 32-bit mode forever, which I
believe is an example of Apple's use of planned obsolescence to force
owners of older hardware to upgrade early.
PH
1) MacOS booted into 32-bit, then all resolutions are available, as
are CI and QE; the applications MAY operate in 32-bit or 64-bit, at
their own discretion, but at least ONE will ask you to relaunch it
(the application) in 32-bit if it was launched in 64-bit, and
2) MacOS booted into 64-bit, then only 1024 x 768 is available, and CI
and QE are not available; the applications MAY operate in either mode
with the same caveat as described above, but the display subsystem is
restricted as described here.
Note well: the power management functions (calls to PWRB with the 0x02
parameter) MUST be present on all USB devices. These were NOT present
on ANY of these in the K48 DSDT. And, if not present, then switching
the USB and video to another machine, and then these switching back to
the K48, will result in the K48 having only 1024 x 768 from then on. I
believe this significant flaw exists in more than just the Shuttle
K48. So, when hacking a DSDT, BE SURE to check for EVERY occurrence
of, for instance, ...
Notify (\_SB.PCI0.UHCx, 0x02)
... and add ...
Notify (\_SB.PWRB, 0x02)
... immediately thereafter, on ALL of them.
The same is true of EHCI or EHC1 and EHC2.
PH
on the K48 (and probably not the K45, although I have only tested the
K48).
Some PATA controllers will panic without this hack.
But, NOT the K48.
This is a simple hack, and is only being included in my K48 DSDT
because someone might use my DSDT as a model for PATA support on non-
K48 systems.
pete...@cruzio.com
> Hello, I'm trying to rescue my beloved k45.. somehow I did just a tiny
> security update (was already up to os x 10.6.8) and something ruined my
> instal!!!!! I can't seem to remember all the proper bios settings etc. Do
> you think you could help?
My K48 is still intact and is sitting not far from where I am presently
writing this.
As I recall, I did not have to do much of anything in the BIOS.
I retained IDE mode for the disk channel as this was an IDE install (but
dual booted with Windows 7 32-bit). SATA was used for the eSATA channels.
Not sure if 64-bit HPET was supported, but DO select 64-bit if it is offered.
I have a meeting in town today so I will not be able to address the K48
for time hours, perhaps tomorrow.
I can boot mine and see what it looks like then.
pete...@cruzio.com
I powered-on my Shuttle K48 this morning.
I found that I had saved every DSDT version I worked on for it.
Rev. H is the most recent and is recommended especially for those users
who are using IDE devices as the correct _INI (initialization) for those
devices is incorporated.
Mine is running 10.6.8 on a 160 GB 3.5" drive.
The partitions, in the order found, are as follows:
0) the EFI partition
1) Snow Leopard 10.6.8 (Voodoo is 2.7.2)
2) Untitled, but is really Windows 7 32-bit
3) DATA, to be shared between OS X and Windows
4) Snow Leopard 10.6.8 Backup
I have a 2.5 GHz Core 2 Duo in this machine.
Also, I have 2 x 2 GB = 4 GB of DDR2 RAM, but only 3.5 GB appears to be
available.
Actually, the Shuttle specs say that only 2 GB of RAM is supported, but
the software is telling me 4 GB, with 3.5 GB being usable.
Obviously, the GMA950 is taking some for its frame buffer.
GMA950 resolution is 1920 x 1200 with CI and QE.
Sound works well and as the machine is booted in 32-bit mode because of
the GMA950, Voodoo's preference pane, which is 32-bit only, is working.
I have U108 BIOS in mine.
It has lots of controls and the optimized defaults should be OK.
I then disabled the unused parallel and serial ports, but retain the IDE
port and the two SATA ports.
It had not been powered-on in a long time and initially the hard drive had
to recalibrate itself, but once that was accomplished everything worked.
The DSDT has lots of stuff in it for maximum OS X compatibility, which is
why it is at Rev. H. It even has the AMAC stuff which Award did not add to
their BIOS until after the Intel P45s came out.
PH
My Shuttle K48 is now at 10.6.8 with ALL Apple maintenance being applied (LOTS of updates ... the download alone took 2 hours at DSL speeds, yesterday).
A remarkably user-friendly system, the Shuttle K48 ... GMA950, so it works with all resolutions and CI/QE up to and including OS X Lion.
Sound is good with Voodoo 2.7.2.
Is easily upgradable to Lion or Server Lion, as was proved in the Supermicro system, which uses some of the same chip sets.
I can see that the NYC-based seller of K48 barebones systems is no longer offering them.
Too bad, really, as they were being sold really cheaply, and with a reasonable or no shipping charge ... roughly $125, total.
Alas, replacement K48 mobos now COST MORE than what I paid for my complete K48 barebones system!