Enable dual screen support on AMD Radeon 6870 under OS X 10.8

To enable the dual screen support on a multi-monitor Hackintosh equipped with an AMD Radeon HD 6870 under OS X Mountain Lion (this works with the current 10.8.4 too), enter the following shell code into your Terminal session:

sudo perl -pi -e 's|\x00\x04\x00\x00\x04\x03\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x12\x04\x05\x01\x00\x04\x00\x00\x04\x03\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x22\x05\x04\x02\x00\x08\x00\x00\x04\x02\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x11\x02\x06\x04\x00\x02\x00\x00\x14\x02\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00\x03\x05\x04\x00\x00\x00\x04\x02\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x11\x02\x01\x03|\x00\x04\x00\x00\x04\x03\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x12\x04\x04\x01\x00\x04\x00\x00\x04\x03\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x22\x05\x05\x02\x00\x08\x00\x00\x04\x02\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x11\x02\x06\x04\x00\x02\x00\x00\x14\x02\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00\x03\x05\x04\x00\x00\x00\x04\x02\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x11\x02\x01\x06|g' /System/Library/Extensions/ATI6000Controller.kext/Contents/MacOS/AMD6000Controller

This is a single line of a code, mind you. After the patch completes, rebuild the system cache using the following commands or any other method you prefer:

sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions
kextcache -system-caches

Reboot, and you’ll have dual screen support.

Updated fix for “Still waiting for root device” on OS X 10.8.3 Mountain Lion

Apple’s OS X Mountain Lion update to 10.8.3 has yet again modified the IOAHCIFamily.kext, resulting in a failed boot with the “Still waiting for root device” for only a small fraction of users compared to almost everyone with the 10.8.2 version. Most probably Apple techs have increased the enumeration delay, allowing for more devices to register properly. If you are one of these that are unable to boot properly after updating to OS X 10.8.3, check first if you still have /System/Library/Extensions/IOAHCIFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOAHCIBlockStorage.kext (it was missing on one of our machines after updating to the 10.8.3). There is also a known firmware incompatibility for Intel X25-M SSD owners, so if you own one and your system boots from it, you’ll need to update your SSD firmware. Otherwise, apply the patch listed below.

WARNING: Don’t copy-paste everything into the Terminal at once, do it one line at a time. Pasting the whole code at once will result in the second half of the commands being used as your password at the first sudo command.

The following commands place a backup of the unmodified binary before patching it.

cd /System/Library/Extensions/IOAHCIFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOAHCIBlockStorage.kext/Contents/MacOS
sudo mv IOAHCIBlockStorage IOAHCIBlockStorage.orig
sudo cp IOAHCIBlockStorage.orig IOAHCIBlockStorage
sudo /usr/bin/perl -pi -e 's|\xcb\x57\x00\x00\xee\x03|\xcb\x57\x00\x00\xea\x01|g' IOAHCIBlockStorage
sudo /usr/bin/perl -pi -e 's|\x74\x0e\x48\x8d\x3d\x72\x94\x00\x00|\xbf\xc8\x00\x00\x00\x90\x90\x90\x90|g' IOAHCIBlockStorage
sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions

This fix has been made possible due to countless hours spent by bcc9 from InsanelyMac forums reverse-engineering Apple’s work and his original script.

Additional Gigabit Ethernet ports for your Mac

Apple Thunderbolt Gigabit Ethernet adapterIf you need additional Gigabit Ethernet ports for your Mac, there are several options depending on what accessory ports you have on your Mac. If you have one of the latest models with Thunderbolt ports, you can use the Apple’s own Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet adapter.

However, if your Thunderbolt ports are used up for devices that do not support Thunderbolt daisy chaining, you can go with a USB 3.0 Gigabit Ethernet adapter from StarTech. Requiring an additional driver installation, this adapter is also backwards compatible with USB 2.0 ports too, but your real network throughput will be limited to 480Mbps due to USB 2.0 standard bandwidth limitation.

Updated fix for “Still waiting for root device” on OS X 10.8.2 Mountain Lion

Apple’s OS X Mountain Lion update to 10.8.2 has modified the IOAHCIFamily.kext once again, resulting in a failed boot with the “Still waiting for root device” error on the console. The previous fix won’t work, as well.

Here is the updated fix for 10.8.2’s version of IOAHCIFamily.kext. Don’t copy-paste everything into the Terminal at once, do it one line at a time. Pasting the whole code at once will result in the second half of the commands being used as your password at the first sudo command.

The following commands place a backup of the unmodified binary before patching it.

cd /System/Library/Extensions/IOAHCIFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOAHCIBlockStorage.kext/Contents/MacOS
sudo mv IOAHCIBlockStorage IOAHCIBlockStorage.orig
sudo cp IOAHCIBlockStorage.orig IOAHCIBlockStorage
sudo /usr/bin/perl -pi -e 's|\x8b\x4a\x00\x00\xeb\x03|\x8b\x4a\x00\x00\xe8\x01|g' IOAHCIBlockStorage
sudo /usr/bin/perl -pi -e 's|\x74\x0e\x48\x8d\x3d\x72\x92\x00\x00|\xbf\xc8\x00\x00\x00\x90\x90\x90\x90|g' IOAHCIBlockStorage
sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions

Update: Updated fix for “Still waiting for root device” on OS X 10.8.3 Mountain Lion

This fix has been made possible due to countless hours spent by bcc9 from InsanelyMac forums reverse-engineering Apple’s work and his original script.