Up on ASRock H77M m-ATX Yet Again

[PH]

I decided to redo my "port" of Mieze's seriously great USB 3.0/2.0/1.1 DSDT compatibility code to focus on USB, only, and not also on IGPU, thereby leaving GFX0 intact.

The installation method was iATKOS ML2, using an 8 GB USB 3.0 flash drive. Alas, although the flash drive could be accessed for reading and writing in a 3.0 port, it MUST be in a 2.0/1.1 port in order to boot.

Well, the "slimmed-down USB compatibility code is working as expected, and required, but there are issues elsewhere, the DVD drive and DVD Player, in particular.

But 99.44 percent of the remainder of the system is working well.

The ASRock H77M m-ATX left NewEgg as BIOS 1.20, but was immediately updated by me to 1.30 AND with the hack for MSR updating.

This is just about the lowest-cost, yet full function 7-series mobo there is. Cost under $60 for the mobo, which is darn near a steal for a 77 mobo.

Configured is 4 GB as 2 x 2 GB of Corsair RAM, an nVidia 8400GS which refuses to identify itself properly to the nVidia kexts, a 1 TB HGST SATA III drive partitioned as two modest OS X partitions and the entire remainder as an OS X data partition.

The very low cost Rosewill case was modified in my machine shop to allow for better access to the mobo via a revised position of the HDs.

A front panel USB 3.0 frame and connector kit from HK is in addition to the two USB 2.0/1.1 connectors provided by the case.

This gives six USB 2.0/1.1 and two USB 3.0 on the back and two 2.0/1.1 and two 3.0 on the front.

ALC892 is working well.

The proc is a new (to me) i3-2105 Sandy Bridge with HD 3000.

I have yet to get into the DSDT modification business for either HD 3000 or HD 4000 (requires Ivy Bridge), but that was one reason for the i3-2105. A one-day sale at NewEgg with "free" shipping was another.

Oh, WiFi is provided by a Broadcom 4318 mini PCI card (from HK) in an adapter card (also from HK).

Initially, I tried a Broadcom 4322 mini PCI-e card (from HK) in an adapter card (also from HK) in he H77M's second PCI-e 16x slot (but which actually runs at 4x, 2x or 1x) and that didn't work. The H77M has no PCI-e 1x slots, so that forced me to use the legacy PCI WiFi route.

If you're looking for a fully featured 77-series mobo on a budget, the ASRock H77M is a very good choice!

[PH]

Because DVD Player doesn't work on this install, it should come as no surprise that Toast 8 Titanium also doesn't work, although it works more than adequately on all my 5-series, 6-series and other 7-series machines.