Friday, November 8, 2013

Hackintosh: Kernel Panic/Freeze randomly Gigabyte Z87 motherboards

Dreaded Kernel Panic
So I recently purchased some new parts for a new Hackintosh build I wanted to do and was able to successfully get Mavericks up and running but would continuously encounter random freezes.  Sometimes I would get a kernel panic message similar to screenshot above or no message but the computer would lock up.

01/24/2013 - Added System Definition Suggestion
03/03/2014 - Added new beta BIOS Info

After digging around I found so many "solutions" but none of them worked for me.  I was basically using the same parts of an existing build, parts that have been used successfully w/o issues.  The new parts:
Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H
Intel i5 4670K
I read that disabling Vt-d might resolve the freezing problem but since I'm using a K processor disabling Vt-d is not an option.  I tried doing all of these other configs/options in the BIOS, using less than 4 sticks of RAM yet it would continue to freeze.  I was almost at the point where I was going to return the board, but finally stumbled across a suggestion that had finally worked (so far).

If you are encountering random freezes or kernel panics and you have one of the newer Z87X boards from Gigabyte, what you can try is to increase the voltage of the memory by +.1.  My memory's voltage was set at 1.5 so I increased it to 1.6.  So far I  haven't any problems and my Hackintosh has been solid.  You may even be able to increase it by less than +.1 but I have not tried any other voltage setting.  You can also bump it up to 1.65 to if you still have freezing issues.

Hopefully this helps those who are struggling with a Hackintosh that randomly freezes.

I have also read that boosting the System Voltage by +0.2 volts maybe help, but I would start with +0.1 volts first as that is where overclocked systems apparently run at. 

If you are still experiencing issues check out this thread over at TonyMac which might possibly have additional solutions.

Some people have had success with using less than 4 sticks of RAM, I did not, but that is just a temporary fix.  I don't know what Gigabyte is going to do so I would recommend waiting until the next release of motherboards.

You can also find an official list of supported memory modules here

Some people have also had success changing their System Definition to iMac 14,2.
Hopefully one of these suggestions will or has helped you.

Apparently there was a new bios beta release (F9a), which people have had success with.  Not sure if all of their boards have the newest beta BIOS but you can find the BIOS downloads at Tweak Town.  Obviously the BIOS is in the beta testing stage so try it at your own risk.

Good luck.

9 comments:

  1. My new Hackintosh wit the Z87N-Wifi would randomly freeze. Thanks to your tip, increasing the memory voltage to 1.6 from 1.5 in the bios so far has 24 hours w/out a freeze. Thank you! Any idea why this works?

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    1. I honestly don't know why it works. It might have to do with how OS X Mavericks now handles memory.

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  2. you can attach a photo of the bios where is the voltage setting,
    I have the Random freezong with my Z87X-UD3H

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    1. I don't have to system with me, but you can try and check the Performance > Voltage tab. I can't remember exactly where it is. You can also check the motherboard manual, should tell you where to look.

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    2. Thanks Jon, change the memory voltage, but still continued with random freezing

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  3. this is really strange, I have Gskill 2400mhz kit of two sticks on the Z87X-UD3H if I operate on 2400@1.65v or 1600@1.5v I get the freezes but when I lower the memory clock to 2133@1.65v or push it to 1.65v while leaving it on 1600mhz I can run for days without a problem, I have run memtest+ over night and have done about 5 passes without an error ... so the sticks don't seem defective ... strange!! have you tested your ram on its rated specs and voltage without an error before pumping up voltage to 1.65v?

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    1. On it's rated specs it would freeze, so I upped just the voltage by .1 and it seemed to be quite stable. The ram was good because I've used it in a previous machine without fault.

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  4. I had the same problem with GA-Z77-DS3H and have apparently (2 days with no freeze) solved by changing the system definition to Imac 14,2. Solved even the random wake up when pc is in stop.
    Thanks for this blog, i will write here if something happen.

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    1. Glad it's working for you so far and thanks for leaving a comment.

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