Asus G1-S Hackintosh
For me, the iPhone was the gateway to all things Apple. So much so that I became interested in programming for it and that meant procuring a Macintosh. Doing so would mean parting with 17 Benjamin Franklins though. So, while my mild mannered wallet hid, my mentat mind went to work on a solution.
I already owned a very capable Asus G1-S laptop so buying a new Macbook Pro was out of the question. I could however consider it expendable and try to hack it…
With a bit of luck I’d make a hackintosh although a fried machine, temporarily upset wife and new Macbook wouldn’t be so bad either.
The Journey
I was unsure of how to even proceed until the kindly @jeffreed guided me to light side of hackintoshing . This entailed using real retail discs which maintains software update functionality unlike some pirate flavoured distros. A big relief to me too since I’ve worked hard to leave my pirate skills where they belong, in the 1990s.
After intial course guidance came hours of research and painstaking trial and error. Incremental progress was very slow at first but persistance payed off eventually and I reinstalled (only crom knows how many times) my way to success.
I couldn’t have accomplished any of this without oodles of helpful guides and the fine forum folks of InsanelyMac.
Instructions
- Remove any existing partitions on your hard disk by using GParted.
- Flash your motherboard using the modded ASUS G1S BIOS for better Mac OS X support.
- Load BIOS manufacturer defaults and then customize to your liking.
- Boot up with the GRUB-DFE.iso disc.
- At the Darwin/x86 command prompt press enter.
- Switch your GRUB-DFE disc with a Mac OS X 10.5 Retail DVD.
- Wait for the drive indicator light on your DVD drive to stop flashing and then press enter to choose the default boot device.
- In my case, default was the hexadecimal code [ef] also known as the dvd drive.
- Plug in a USB mouse.
- Install Mac OS X.
- If your only see a blank screen or the system becomes unresponsive for several minutes, reboot with the GRUB-DFE disc and try again. In my experience it always seemed to work the second time.
- Reboot with the GRUB-DFE disc and choose hex code 80 to boot to first HD.
- Press enter at the next Darwin prompt to boot to the hard disk.
- Plug in a USB keyboard.
- Plug in an ethernet cable for internet access.
- Finish the Mac OS X install.
- Download Chameleon DFE for HD.
- Open the grub-dfe.iso disc and copy the Extensions folder under /boot/initrd.img/Library/Application Support/DarwinBoot/Extra/ to the “Extra Contents” folder within the mounted Chameleon DFE for HD.
- Run Chameleon DFE for HD.
- Reboot without any helper discs.
- Install the Mac OS X 10.5.8 Combo Update.
- Reboot.
- Download and uncompress the NVinjectGo 0.2.0 video driver.
- Run OSX86 Tools 1.0.150 and use the “Install Kexts” feature to install the NVinjectGo.kext video driver.
- Reboot.
- Download and run PS2FixKeyboard (mirror) to enable the built-in keyboard and trackpad.
- Reboot.
- Download and uncompress Apple HDA Patcher 1.20 (mirror).
- Download ALC660.txt (mirror) and drag it on top of the Apple HDA Patcher.
- Download the ALC660_660VD.mpkg.zip (mirror) audio drivers, uncompress and run.
- Choose the second driver option and install.
- Reboot.
- Go to Apple > System Preferences > Sound > Output and choose “Internal Speakers”.
- Bask in the warm glow of success.
Limitations
Everything seems to works except eSata, the memory card reader and wireless. Of these I only miss the wireless but I’m sure a compatible USB device could remedy that.
Epilogue
While many of my previous computer endeavors were based simply on the joy of discovery, I find that I’m now drawn to challenges that require tenacity. A migration from simple pleasures to the greater rewards of delayed gratification perhaps?
Either way… confidence gained is a wonderful currency for future ventures.
Cheers!
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September 19, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Estoy muy contento con la publicación que te has currado, de echo tengo el mismo portatil i voy ha intentar hacerlo!! solo decirte que si tengo alguna duda me puedas ayudar!!
Graciasssss
September 21, 2009 at 4:46 am
Hello I am tried to do it of the manual, but happen to me that I change a vez of disc me keda the screen into white(target) and an apple into the way!! Have I to do something in the bios?? Thank you for answering!!
September 21, 2009 at 5:15 am
When I erase(smear) the partitions, with which system of files I leave it?
With ntfs, fat or osx with record?
September 21, 2009 at 7:38 pm
If the install locks up try rebooting and doing it again. I would also suggest flashing your bios with the modded version linked above. It seems to make the install process much more likely to succeed. Oh and for erasing choose “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)”.
September 22, 2009 at 4:21 pm
He(She) excuses but we have not understood each other, my question is if before doing it of the boot CD and putting the original disc of osx I must have the hard disk in some specific format. Since it(he,she) does not start(extract) the installation and he(she) was thinking if it was possible that it was a problem of which not me reconocia the system of files that I have that now, that is NTFS.
Already that then I have to install with mac osx with record, but not wise if before nothing does habia that to format..
September 22, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Right, I would totally delete, nuke, blow away and/or destroy any existing partitions before you start this procedure. GParted (linux boot disk) is really great for doing this.
September 23, 2009 at 5:05 pm
He(She) excuses your portable one is the following model Asus G1S AS022G? It(he,she) is that I have tried(meant) it often and do not obtain it.
I have updated the bios to G1sas.300, have the erased(smeared) disc, and do not manage to happen(pass) from the screen in white(target) with the apple.
That you have configuration in the bios?
September 23, 2009 at 7:46 pm
My specific model is an ASUS G1S-B1.
Hmm you could try disabling your wireless, esata and anything else you don’t need in your bios. Definetly couldn’t hurt to try.
So, you have no problem booting with GRUB-DFE.iso, swithcing to the Mac OSX intall dvd and then it locks up during the setup?
September 24, 2009 at 1:55 am
Con grub dfe.iso no tengo ningún problema, es cuando pongo el dvd de intalación. Se queda alli en la manzana y pantalla blanca. Voy a probar lo de la bios.. Muchas gracias y salu2
September 24, 2009 at 1:56 pm
No hay manera!! no se porque no va bién!! ya lo he intentado todo, si no es porque tu procesador es un Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 y el mio un Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 a 2.2 Gh, por lo demás creo que és igual.
September 25, 2009 at 6:41 pm
I’m not sure what it could be then. Can you try another Mac OS install disc? Maybe make sure it is a 10.5 retail install disc? I haven’t tried any others.
October 1, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Al final he instalado ideneb, una versión parcheada. muchas gracias por tus contestaciones.
December 1, 2009 at 2:47 am
you dont happen to have tried to install 10.6? or gotten the builtin wireless to work since you wrote this guide?
December 1, 2009 at 11:31 am
Oh yes I did but unfortunately it kept freezing during the 10.6 install. *sniff*
No luck with the wireless either. You can get a USB wireless device that has drivers but since I only use mine at home I can look unfashionable with a long network cable.
December 8, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Ok, wireless is kinda of a dealbreaker for me, we’ll se if I part with alot of franklins or if I give it a try and replace the mini-pcie card with one that works in the future.
Thanks for your reply.
December 11, 2009 at 6:52 am
Hallo, thank you very much for your cool description. I am using ideneb on the G1S and wireless is working fine with this USB-Stick: http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B001A4HP0I So i guess it will also work with other sticks with Mac driver
December 17, 2009 at 10:53 am
Hey, I was wondering about skipping the bios flash. Because I bought a second harddrive so I decided to install OSX on the old HDD. So I have win 7 running on my other drive so I don’t want to flash my bios and screw over my windows booting… But I’ve been having problems installing, it keeps freezing on the greyish screen with the mac logo before the install prompts begin.
December 19, 2009 at 1:04 pm
I think you can get a lot farther without the BIOS flash if you use a Darwin command line option to disable one of your two processors. This means less CPU power though.
I just finished a fresh Windows 7 install on my laptop with the flashed BIOS and it works perfectly so I’d say go for the flash and you’ll be fine in either Windows or Mac worlds.
Oh and the separate hard drives sounds like a nice way to keep things simple, separated and clean.
January 19, 2010 at 11:36 pm
Thanks for the explicit set of instructions, I’ve been working through them with no problem until I get ‘Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer”.
I’m actually running off legit 10.5.1 install media as I have a Mac already. I vaguely recall that Apple do check for Mac hardware at install time. I guess you didn’t hit this problem, can you offer any suggestions ?
January 20, 2010 at 6:08 pm
My pleasure.
When you boot up with the GRUB-DFE.iso it is supposed to emulate a MAC enough so that when you switch to the real OS X disc it can operate normally.
What model is your laptop? I only ask because this method won’t work with AMD processors, only Intel.
March 13, 2010 at 10:27 am
insteed of removing all partition (formating) can you only make a new partition from free space and install OsX on that (and keeping windows on another partition…) ?
March 15, 2010 at 8:51 pm
Looks like there might be some really good information on dual booting at http://thebackpackr.com/hackintoshing-with-snow-leopard/. Not sure if you can reuse the existing partition or if you’ll have to make two new ones. Couldn’t hurt to try as long as you have a backup ya?
May 19, 2010 at 6:08 am
Hello. I have an ASUS G1 (without S). Can I use your same method? I’m not sure at the BIOS update step. What do you mind? Thanks.
May 19, 2010 at 4:47 pm
I haven’t seen a modded bios specifically for the ASUS G1 but I do see a lot of people saying that OS X does indeed run on it.
I’d say skip the BIOS flash and try it out.
Oh and if you do think you need a modded bios try searching http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/. There are a lot of good links hiding in there.
May 20, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Hello again. Thanks for your answer. I have try with a 10.5.6 version, but I have a problem at the end of the installation. Say something like “Cannot install on your hard disk”. I continue with the other steps (reboot with GRUB-DFE disk) and when I select 80 for boot, say “System config file …./com.apple.Boot.plist not found”.
Any idea?
Thanks.
May 20, 2010 at 7:15 pm
One easy thing you can try is typing “cpus=1″ at the Mac OS X Darwin Prompt (before you install the OS). This will limit the OS to use only one core in a multicore system.
When I was searching for information I came across a more updated set of install guides at http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Installation_Guides#10.5.6_Guides. I’m particularly interested in the 10.6.3 guide since it sounds really easy.
I haven’t tried it out yet but hackintosh software and techniques are improving rapidly so the future is only getting brighter.
May 21, 2010 at 6:29 pm
I tried another and I have installed ok, but now the problem is with NVinjectGO. Once installed, when I boot, after apple screen, the screen turns black with the cursor only. Another kext to install? Thanks.
May 23, 2010 at 1:43 pm
The place I had linked to for the video driver seems to be gone so I posted the exact version that worked for me in the tutorial above.
Try http://forestmist.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/NVinjectGo.0.2.0.zip and see if that works any better?
The video cards are different between the G1 and G1S but I’ve read about other people getting the G1 to work with NVinject drives so don’t give up hope just yet.
May 24, 2010 at 1:02 am
I tried a Snow Leopard install (http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2010/04/iboot-multibeast-install-mac-os-x-on.html) which looked promising but no luck. Oh well.
I have to admit, my motivation to get Snow Leopard to work an Asus G1S has been much lower ever since work finally got me a real Mac Mini. *heart* new hardware.
May 24, 2010 at 4:58 am
Hello. I finally find another driver (the same you say) and I finished the installation succesfully.
Now I will search for a 10.6.3 installation. Thanks for all.
May 24, 2010 at 8:56 pm
Awesome!
If you find a 10.6.3 installation that works I’d love to hear about it. Best of luck.
May 27, 2010 at 5:09 am
Hey, I try to install the 10.6.3 version and I archieved it sucessfully. I follow the guide you said (http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2010/04/iboot-multibeast-install-mac-os-x-on.html) and except for initial nvidia problems, the rest of installation was without problems.
I installed 10.6.3 version directly. The performance is better than 10.5.8.
Thanks for all.
September 1, 2010 at 3:04 pm
mazing, so you followed that guide and installed mac os x successfully on your g1s? Did you need to replace the bios with the one shown here also?
October 20, 2010 at 3:59 am
I DRIED MY aSUS g1S AFTER SUCEESFUL INSTAL, I UPDATED THE osx NOW IT MAKES A NOISE ON BOOT AND BLANK SCREEN, PRETTY MUCH BRICKED IT!! ANY CLUES ON WHAT TO DO?
October 22, 2010 at 10:28 pm
Not sure but in the worst case you can try to install OS X from scratch again.
October 24, 2010 at 8:31 am
Guys what ever you do DO NOT USE MAC UPDATE!!!! IT WILL FRY YOUR GPU Bios!!!! Thanks Daniel my G1s worked great until I updated it, now its a brick!! FYI: I bought a Broadcom PCIe wirelees card fits right in $15.00 ebay, just tape up your grey wire no need for it, runs off Mac drivers, and works fine with Windows 7
, So now I am looking for a second hand G1s to start over again. ;-(…..
October 24, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Ouch! You can’t even get into the bios setup screen anymore?
October 29, 2010 at 10:58 am
Nope its a Brick, used moded bios ASUS-G1S-Modded-Bios-for-running-Mac-OS-X-G1Sas.300
..
works great..just Do Not Update it!!
got a second hand G1s, re-installing, but hang in Apple desk top, i’ll let you how it goes, wish there was an ISO that someones made that i can just torrent , be a lot easyer, i forgot most of what i did now
October 30, 2010 at 4:37 am
sustem hangs at osx dektop rainbow circle in mouse rotates, thats it! what am i doing wrong? anyone got a completeed iso i can just download to install??
cheers
October 31, 2010 at 12:25 am
got it going again used USB install method, looking for sound drivers now LOL!
January 21, 2011 at 6:40 am
More one G1s Owner with 10.5 installed thanks to u. TY. i will try to install 10.6 later. anyone knows what update fry’s the system?
February 6, 2011 at 12:49 pm
Hi to all.
I have installed 1.6.6 in my ASUS G1. The only thing not working is the QE/CI. OSX recognize the Geforce 7700 Go with 512Mb, but not enables the QE acceleration.
Any idea?
Thanks at lot.
August 4, 2011 at 6:20 am
hello,
I’ve isntalled succesfully snow leopard on my G1s. Everything works even wifi (I’ve change the wifi card, for an airport 13$), except the keyboard and pad, actualy using a an usb keyboard and mouse.
I’ll realy appreciate if anyone have an issue !
note : keyboard and mouse were working until 10.5.8….
August 8, 2011 at 1:16 am
Very helpful post.
I spent 5 days trying to get Snow Leopard 10.6.3 to work and then another 3 days to get Lion to work.
But is was worth it.
Thanks
October 14, 2011 at 1:40 am
hello,
I am not able to use Webcam. Any idea?
Laptop model : G1S
Mac version : 10.6.5