[Guide & Boot CD] D-Series Latitude/w NVIDIA or GMA950 and Intel Dual Core Retail Installs

[leppy700m]

Hi Leppy! :-)

 

Rebooted, and still no dice - graphics are still non-accelerated, and I can't change resolutions. :-(

 

Still no dice. Graphics are still non-accelerated. T_T;;

 

I have created a tarball of the /Extra directory that Chameleon created with the GraphicsEnabler option turned on (I called it Extra-GraphicsEnabler.tgz). I will attach the file here. The mach_kernel file is not included, as it is was not created by Chameleon.

 

You mentioned you have other ideas on how to make it go? I'm all ears! :-D

 

 

 

My two yen on this. I have gotten sleep to work on my D820 before, but it was on one of the "other" disributions under 10.5.6. I have two hard drives in my D820 - I think what I'm going to do is install that distribution on my other hard drive and get it working with accelerated graphics and sleep, sound, ethernet, and (hopefully) PCMCIA & ExpressCard slots. Then maybe we can compare the two installs (vanilla -vs- non-vanilla) and see if we can isolate the differences that will help us.

 

Your thoughts on this?

 

-FoxND001

 

 

ATTACHMENT: /Extra from Chameleon install with GraphicsEnabler selected

 

hey Fox, glad you checked back in.

 

I just wanted to see if the Chameleon install would add an EFI string to your Boot.plist, but I see it didn't. I am looking for the easiest way to get graphics enabled without actually installing a kext to your /System/Library/Extensions folder.

 

I am guessing that the distro which has your vid working properly uses a modified nvidia kext or nvkush. My D630 works without those and just the GraphicEnabler string. Odd that it won't work that way on the D620. Next, I am thinking nvkush.kext. I am wondering if Chameleon can load that successfully from Extensions.mkext. Are you familiar with pcwiz's mkext tool? With that, you can customize an Extensions.mkexts to slip into the /Extra directory to play with. I'd start with the Extensions.mkext from the Nvidia archive I put up because it has the Intel Graphics stuff stripped out. If you don't want to mess with the tool, I'll get another Extensions.mkext to you.

 

Here's something I've been playing with: I formatted a 4gb USB flash drive (a smaller one will do) GUID. Then I installed chameleon on it, then replaced the /Extra directory with the one from the CD. I can boot from it - and quickly, so if I mess up the /Extra folder on my hard drive I can recover easily.

 

Maybe someone who has a D620 with Nvidia working with an EFI string only could share the string.

 

Sleep pretty much has to come after graphics. I've noticed in the past that until you sort out graphics, it's too early to worry about sleep. I've had sleep working on other machines only to break it again with a graphics solution.

 

Also, on INTEL graphics -

 

I am still unsuccessful getting my 620 working with the Intel Graphics correctly. I can get rid of artifacts if i give up hardware acceleration. If someone has an elegant solution to that, I'd appreciate hearing from you.

[leppy700m]

UPDATE: I obtained a D620 motherboard with NVIDIA graphics on Ebay on the cheap. I installed it in my D620, used the files from the 620 Nvidia patch I posted, and graphics work perfectly with hardware acceleration at 1440x900 resolution.

 

I think this proves out a viable install for the D620 with both Intel and Nvidia graphics options, and the D630 with Nvidia graphics. I haven't tried a D630 with Intel graphics and I think that video chip will be problematic. I still have artifacts with the D620 with Intel graphics, but hardware acceleration does work.

 

I don't know how the D820 with Nvidia differs and why it's not working. Maybe Fox has something more to report.

[jay25f]

i have tried this with a D630 and 10.5.6 with no luck. i get through the first part of the install, but then when i reboot and try to boot using the 80 option, it just comes back to the same screen.

 

this is a d630 with nvidia graphics.

 

 

<edit> i got that fixed. I didnt setup the GUID partition as the installer did not prompt me. my next issue is the fact that my ethernet card is not being recognized. i ran the post 10.5.6 stuff, but have not installed 10.5.7 update yet.</edit>

 

any ideas?

[leppy700m]

i have tried this with a D630 and 10.5.6 with no luck. i get through the first part of the install, but then when i reboot and try to boot using the 80 option, it just comes back to the same screen.

 

this is a d630 with nvidia graphics.

 

 

<edit> i got that fixed. I didnt setup the GUID partition as the installer did not prompt me. my next issue is the fact that my ethernet card is not being recognized. i ran the post 10.5.6 stuff, but have not installed 10.5.7 update yet.</edit>

 

any ideas?

 

 

I'll double check ethernet on my D630 later today. I am pretty sure it was working with the supplied Extensions.mkext from the 620 nvidia patch I put up. 1440x900 hardware accelerated graphics were also working. Make sure you've installed that.

 

On the D630, I was having trouble with shutdown/restart, but I think that could be fixed with openhaltrestart.kext

[creed205]

I am working on this installation with an upgrade to Snow Leopard 10.6. I will post my findings.

 

Current plan is to work on the installation as described for 10.5.6 which is the first Retail DVD I have. Then install 10.6 as an upgrade. (wasn't able to boot directly off the 10.6 DVD).

 

If that does not work, then I will attempt 10.5.6 to 10.5.7 then 10.6.

 

Then as a last effort, 10.5.6, 10.5.7, 10.5.8 up to 10.6.

 

Wish me luck and post any ideas

[bjorndewolf]

Hey Leppy,

 

did you try installing Snow leopard on your d620? I've been using Leopard on my d620 for few months now and it works like a charm. I managed to get SL running as well, but Wifi and the gma950 video card weren't working correctly. If you had more luck than I had, I'd really like to know how you were able to do so.

 

cheers!

[leppy700m]

Hey Leppy,

 

did you try installing Snow leopard on your d620? I've been using Leopard on my d620 for few months now and it works like a charm. I managed to get SL running as well, but Wifi and the gma950 video card weren't working correctly. If you had more luck than I had, I'd really like to know how you were able to do so.

 

cheers!

 

Haven't tried SL yet. I am going to study other results some before I buy it.

 

GMA video on these seems to be an issue all the way around. Were you able to get the GMA950 working with hardware accelleration and no minor artifacts? If so - how?

 

Also, what wifi card do you have? The broadcom cards seems to work fine with 10.5.x, but 10.5.8 broke a lot of them. Some earlier version OS X kexts seem to fix that. You might have similar results with SL.

 

Wish me luck and post any ideas

 

Good luck! What hardware are you using?

[bjorndewolf]

Haven't tried SL yet. I am going to study other results some before I buy it.

 

GMA video on these seems to be an issue all the way around. Were you able to get the GMA950 working with hardware accelleration and no minor artifacts? If so - how?

 

Also, what wifi card do you have? The broadcom cards seems to work fine with 10.5.x, but 10.5.8 broke a lot of them. Some earlier version OS X kexts seem to fix that. You might have similar results with SL.

 

 

 

Good luck! What hardware are you using?

 

I did get video in SL but only 1024x768 no qe/ci No kext loaded

 

These are my specs according to osx86tools

 

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub [8086:27a0] (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:27a2] (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:27a6] (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller [8086:27d8] (rev 01)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 [8086:27d0] (rev 01)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 [8086:27d2] (rev 01)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 [8086:27d4] (rev 01)
00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 [8086:27c8] (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 [8086:27c9] (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 [8086:27ca] (rev 01)
00:1d.3 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 [8086:27cb] (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller [8086:27cc] (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge [8086:2448] (rev e1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge [8086:27b9] (rev 01)
00:1f.2 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller [8086:27c4] (rev 01)
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller [8086:27da] (rev 01)
03:01.0 CardBus bridge [0607]: O2 Micro, Inc. OZ601/6912/711E0 CardBus/SmartCardBus Controller [1217:6972] (rev 40)
09:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5752 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express [14e4:1600] (rev 02)
0c:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN [14e4:4311] (rev 01)

[jay25f]

I'll double check ethernet on my D630 later today. I am pretty sure it was working with the supplied Extensions.mkext from the 620 nvidia patch I put up. 1440x900 hardware accelerated graphics were also working. Make sure you've installed that.

 

On the D630, I was having trouble with shutdown/restart, but I think that could be fixed with openhaltrestart.kext

 

I tried the nvidia stuff. it changed my graphics to the standard 1280x800. however, the ethernet card is still not working. if i upgrade to 10.5.8, the wireless card stops working also.

 

 

 

let me know what i need to do. if it is get a D620, then ill do that.

[leppy700m]

I tried the nvidia stuff. it changed my graphics to the standard 1280x800. however, the ethernet card is still not working. if i upgrade to 10.5.8, the wireless card stops working also.

 

 

 

let me know what i need to do. if it is get a D620, then ill do that.

 

Well, I am glad your video is working at the right resolution.

 

Just double checked my D630, and ethernet is detected and works with the 620 Nvidia stuff, though I haven't given it a great big workout - I generally use wireless on these. At this point, I don't have any idea why your ethernet doesn't work - I think it's the same device for both the D620 and D630.

 

I am less than impressed with the 10.5.8 update process. There are reports all over of airport problems with real macs after the 10.5.8 update.

 

On my D620, 10.5.8 breaks my wireless sometimes when I upgrade, but not others. I've done it about a million times now to test this process - I think the restart processes in the 10.5.8 update are critical - they have to finish and restart for the wireless to work properly. If I get impatient and power down (thinking it's stuck) before the update finishes it's thing, it definitely will not work. Even if it does all the restarts on it's own (no intervention from me) it will fail to update the wireless properly about 30% of the time. Since the D630 doesn't shutdown/restart properly without openhaltrestart.kext, wireless doesn't work after upgrading to 10.5.8. When it doesn't work on the D620, I've been able to fix it by reverting back to a couple of kexts (APPLEAIRPORT and IO80211FAMILY) from 10.5.6 and they are included on the ISO image in the POST_INSTALL\EXTRA\58 folder. I think this should fix it on the D630 as well. You could use PCWIZ's MKEXT tool to add those kexts to your Extensions.mkext in the /Extra directory. Or you could try adding openhaltrestart to the extensions.mkext prior to the 10.5.8 update to see if that fixes the shutdown/restart issues and then try applying the 10.5.8 update to see if wireless works properly then. If shutdown/restart works during the update process, I'd say there's about a 66% chance of wireless working after 10.5.8 without reverting back to older airport kexts.

 

When I have some time, I'll patch my Extensions.mkext specifically for my D630 with Nvidia and post it here.

 

While the D620's make really nice hacks, I don't think they are perfect - Sleep doesn't work right and GMA950 graphics are buggy. The Nvidia version doesn't have the graphics issue, but sleep is still buggy. If you have a D630 with NVidia, I really don't think you'd be better off with a D620 hack.

 

Once again, if anyone has solutions to make this better, please post them. Outstanding issues:

 

* Sleep

* Intel GMA950 - Minor artifacts with hardware graphics acceleration enabled

* D/Port D/Dock compatibility with external monitors

[leppy700m]

I did get video in SL but only 1024x768 no qe/ci No kext loaded

 

These are my specs according to osx86tools

 

 

interesting... what version did you upgrade from or were you able to do a fresh install?

 

What video kexts have you tried with SL? I wonder if the kexts we're using with Leo will work?

[bjorndewolf]

interesting... what version did you upgrade from or were you able to do a fresh install?

 

What video kexts have you tried with SL? I wonder if the kexts we're using with Leo will work?

 

I followed a guide on ihackint0sh.com called "How to Install Snow Leopard (10A432) on PC Hackintosh" (can't post a link following forum rules... but it's on the main page for those interested). I used all the kext mentioned in this guide and the ps2 kexts from a post called "Dell D630 kext pack" over at infinitemac. That's it.

 

I tried inserting EFi String in com.apple.Boot.plist but then I get a Kernel panic. Tried using 10.5.7 gma950 kexts but also kernel panic... Not sure how to figure this out in a systematical way. So maybe someone else does...

[leppy700m]

I followed a guide on ihackint0sh.com called "How to Install Snow Leopard (10A432) on PC Hackintosh" (can't post a link following forum rules... but it's on the main page for those interested). I used all the kext mentioned in this guide and the ps2 kexts from a post called "Dell D630 kext pack" over at infinitemac. That's it.

 

I tried inserting EFi String in com.apple.Boot.plist but then I get a Kernel panic. Tried using 10.5.7 gma950 kexts but also kernel panic... Not sure how to figure this out in a systematical way. So maybe someone else does...

 

I'd probably put chameleon on a GUID formatted flash drive and play with the /Extra folder on that. If you break it, you could still boot from the HD and get back to where you were. Have you tried not using any kexts for vid and using only EFI strings? I was able to get full res working that way once, but I didn't have hardware acceleration.

[jay25f]

i got the ethernet working using the attached kext. im running 10.5.7. i havent upgraded to 10.5.8 yet, but i will post results when i do.

AppleBCM5751Ethernet32b.kext.zip

[dc5guy]

I got the boot CD to work, however, on the OSX DVD, I keep getting the following error:

 

EBIOS read error: Error 0xbb

Block 0 Sectors 64

 

Any idea as to what is going on? I have the retail installation DVD.

[dc5guy]

I got the boot CD to work, however, on the OSX DVD, I keep getting the following error:

 

EBIOS read error: Error 0xbb

Block 0 Sectors 64

 

Any idea as to what is going on? I have the retail installation DVD.

 

Problem was a faulty DVD drive. On with the installation...

[leppy700m]

i got the ethernet working using the attached kext. im running 10.5.7. i havent upgraded to 10.5.8 yet, but i will post results when i do.

 

 

Glad you got your ethernet sorted out, Jay. I am not sure why you needed a different kext, but I guess it's possible that these machines vary slightly.

 

Problem was a faulty DVD drive. On with the installation...

 

Glad you figured it out. How'd things go with a different drive?

[dc5guy]

Glad you figured it out. How'd things go with a different drive?

 

Everything worked out great. I haven't tried updating to 10.5.8 yet. I ran the commands; seems like this is to prepare for us to download the updates?

 

On another note, I've been trying to get the 2-finger scrolling to work properly. It seems like the Alps Touchpad driver is not installed. I've been trying to figure out how to get this to work with the Voodoo app but no success so far. Any ideas as to how we can get this to work?

[creed205]

I am working on this installation with an upgrade to Snow Leopard 10.6. I will post my findings.

 

Current plan is to work on the installation as described for 10.5.6 which is the first Retail DVD I have. Then install 10.6 as an upgrade. (wasn't able to boot directly off the 10.6 DVD).

 

If that does not work, then I will attempt 10.5.6 to 10.5.7 then 10.6.

 

Then as a last effort, 10.5.6, 10.5.7, 10.5.8 up to 10.6.

 

Wish me luck and post any ideas

 

I have now tried 2 scenarios. I have tried to install 10.5.6 and go straight to SL 10.6 and after the installation of SL it rebooted and came back to 10.5.6 like nothing happened. I also tried to go from 10.5.6 to 5.7 to 5.8 then to 10.6 SL and the same reaction. I tried booting the 132 CD with the 10.6 DVD and no luck.

 

Looks like it's stuck for some reason.

 

Has any one else seen this behavior?

[leppy700m]

Everything worked out great. I haven't tried updating to 10.5.8 yet. I ran the commands; seems like this is to prepare for us to download the updates?

 

On another note, I've been trying to get the 2-finger scrolling to work properly. It seems like the Alps Touchpad driver is not installed. I've been trying to figure out how to get this to work with the Voodoo app but no success so far. Any ideas as to how we can get this to work? It is the last and final feature that will make this the main OS for me on the D620.

 

Thanks for all your help Leppy!

 

I haven't played with 2 finger scrolling yet, but it's on my to-do list. I used the Voodoo kext to enable mouse & keyboard - supposedly it can be set up to support 2 finger scrolling (an additional kext)?

 

The post install updates on the boot cd just make sure you're set up with the correct kernel to support dual core for the version you are updating to - it doesn't do the update. It also makes sure that compatible video kexts are in place for Intel video. If the wrong kernel is used, it will likely break things like USB support.

 

I have now tried 2 scenarios. I have tried to install 10.5.6 and go straight to SL 10.6 and after the installation of SL it rebooted and came back to 10.5.6 like nothing happened. I also tried to go from 10.5.6 to 5.7 to 5.8 then to 10.6 SL and the same reaction. I tried booting the 132 CD with the 10.6 DVD and no luck.

 

Looks like it's stuck for some reason.

 

Has any one else seen this behavior?

 

I'm still waiting for my Snow Leopard update DVD to arrive. I don't know if it will work at all or if I'll need to buy the retail DVD (only found in the new box set). I am curious to see how this works out myself, as I'd rather not buy a new box set after just buying one within the past couple of months.

 

One thing for sure - if you are going to run Snow Leopard, com.apple.Boot.plist will have to be edited in /Extra unless you've located a patched kernel for dual core support. Until one is available, you'll probably need the cpus=1 kernel param and remove the kernel spec and -tsync param.

[Edijs]

So. Good news - I have my Nvidia videocard now fully working! I installed your d620 nvidia fix and now I have 1440*900 resulotion. That's cool. BUT! Now my broadcom wifi card isn't working! And it worked before installing Nvidia fix you posted. When I run lspci command in terminal, I can see my wifi card - Broadcom BCM4312 802.11a/b/g. But Airport tool says, that "there's no airport card".

[leppy700m]

So. Good news - I have my Nvidia videocard now fully working! I installed your d620 nvidia fix and now I have 1440*900 resulotion. That's cool. BUT! Now my broadcom wifi card isn't working! And it worked before installing Nvidia fix you posted. When I run lspci command in terminal, I can see my wifi card - Broadcom BCM4312 802.11a/b/g. But Airport tool says, that "there's no airport card".

 

 

try a reboot with -F param at the Chameleon screen. let me know how it goes - the nvidia fix should not impact airport. I know the 10.5.8 update can.

[Edijs]

This is something unbelievable.. I noticied that my touchpad and that blue thing in middle of my keyboard don't work either. Buy keyboard is working, usb mouse too.

 

I tried to restore com.apple.Boot.plist and Extensions.mkext that was in Extra folder before installing Nvidia fix. Impossible - video works fine without that enabling string in /Extra/com.apple.Boot.plist, but airport and touchpad is dead. Hmmmm.

 

Maybe it's somehow related with fact that yesterday I tried to install chameleon RC3? But today I installed RC2 back...

[dc5guy]

Couple of issues I've found so far:

-Once the display goes to sleep, can't "wake" it (this is not the SLEEP function itself, but the screen saver power setting)

-Can't "wake" from screen saver

-Touchpad and pointstick are both working; however, they are both not showing up as an Alps touchpad (I'm sure this is a big reason as to why the two-finger scrolling isn't working properly)

 

The display turning off could be a big issue since it kills battery life if you are away from your laptop for a bit.

 

Is there a way we can scroll with the touchpad at all (like windows; on the side)?

[dlowe]

First off, fantastic work and guide. I was able to get everything working on the laptop. I am trying to tether my iphone to the laptop and it never sees it as a new ethernet/modem. The iphone is setup using the At&t settings and official tethering toggle. I was able to get tethering working on an iPC distro on anther laptop (that laptop had an unresolved video incompatibility).

 

My D620 is the same setup as the guide uses and I have updated to 10.5.7. I have also tried 10.5.8 with no luck. Anyone seen this or have info.

 

 

Thanks for any info you can provide.