Hackintosh freezes and a possible solution
With Hackintoshing, I’ve learned that you have to adopt a “learn as you go” attitude. A few days ago, I noticed my MacBeast would freeze completely when working in OS X. As in: a full on solid lock up that requires a hard reboot.
Frustratingly, the freezes appeared to be intermittent, occurring only after a few hours of dedicated use. Needless to say, after enduring a few crashes, I jumped on the Internet and did some research.
That research led me to a potential culprit: DRAM voltage.
DDR3 memory is rated for 1.5 volts, and it was set at that value in the BIOS. However, when looking at the sensor data in the BIOS, I noticed the actual voltage draw on the memory modules was 1.56 volts. The Hackintosh’s DRAM modules weren’t getting enough voltage, hence the random freezes.
With a simple BIOS setting, I bumped up the voltage value to 1.6 volts, rebooted the MacBeast, and crossed my fingers.
I’m pleased to report that three days in, the MacBeast is rock solid. No freezes whatsoever.
coius
September 14, 2015 at 2:50 amI believe the common occurance you are facing is that as the heat goes up, so does resistance. You are right to assume the RAM is having voltage issues, but also you need to make sure the processor has the right power. if the processor ATX-12v has 8 pins and you only have 4 hooked up, you could be starving the processor of power. Then you will have a situation on your hand. the other is if the power supply is not putting out enough power on each of it’s lines you will have issues too.
I had a power supply that was putting out 11.1v on a 12v line to the CPU. it caused the CPU to freeze, or slow down in response to not enough power. I found out not by HWMonitor, but by using a multimeter. When the CPU power went up, it dropped down to 9.9v(!). replacing the power supply fixed it by not using a $30USD newegg special. I went to a $80 power supply and I can safely say after transferring it to three new builds, it’ still rock solid. In the meantime the $30 special killed a Core2Duo system I put it in by slow-cooking the CPU and board. Processors don’t die often, but it killed the CPU and board at the exact same time. And the system was on a UPS so a surge or brown-out was not likely.
Krishna
September 14, 2015 at 8:03 pmOuch. Sorry to hear that Coius. My PS is pretty decent (it was donated for my Hackintosh build). The freezes have stopped altogether when upping the voltage by one tenth. No other problems to report, knock on wood (or should that be silicon?) :)
coius
September 16, 2015 at 9:30 pmGlad to hear. You using this as a production system?
Krishna
September 16, 2015 at 11:17 pmYep. The Hackintosh gets heavy use in Manga Studio / Photoshop day in and day out.