[GUIDE] Minimalist retail install of Snow Leopard on Dell D830

[Air]

Well, just so that we're not looking at the wrong targets here, I'm installing off an actual store bought 10.6 DVD that was bought on release day, so I'm at 10.6. I'm goign to try repairing permissions and updating the kextcache this time before booting (doing it again on a new drive) so I'll let you know if I have QE/CI on boot. If so, we can probably isolate the older compatible that's being overwritten. If not, then maybe something like nvinkect, nvkush, etc might work?

 

nvkush and natit work, but i seem to be noticing that it gets a bit laggy...like when you just open drives on the desktop, a thumbnail of them opening kinda gets stuck for a split second, or expose will lag with multiple windows open. anyone else notice this problem? I researched it though and it seems like real macbook users have the same issue, so hopefully it's an apple thing. leopard worked perfectly smooth though.

[msingh]

Well, just so that we're not looking at the wrong targets here, I'm installing off an actual store bought 10.6 DVD that was bought on release day, so I'm at 10.6. I'm goign to try repairing permissions and updating the kextcache this time before booting (doing it again on a new drive) so I'll let you know if I have QE/CI on boot. If so, we can probably isolate the older compatible that's being overwritten. If not, then maybe something like nvinkect, nvkush, etc might work?

 

Good. You can be my guinea pig instead of me tearing up my setup

 

Try the following:

 

Follow this guide but ignore the updates.

Just try 10.6.0 + the kexts (they have changed as well, but those are easy to replace since I have the original kexts I used).

 

Do not use the modified com.apple.Boot.plist initially.

 

Open up system profiler and let me know what you get. Please make sure (using your BIOS) that you actually have the NVS140M card.

 

Do not use NVkush or Natit for this test.

 

I noticed that the 10.6.1 update added a few framebuffer kexts. Maybe it is the update that killed QE/CI (in which case I would have to use Natit / NVkush ultimately). But try the above test, and let us isolate what changed.

 

nvkush and natit work, but i seem to be noticing that it gets a bit laggy...like when you just open drives on the desktop, a thumbnail of them opening kinda gets stuck for a split second, or expose will lag with multiple windows open. anyone else notice this problem? I researched it though and it seems like real macbook users have the same issue, so hopefully it's an apple thing. leopard worked perfectly smooth though.

 

My macbook has the same problem. The hack does not, though it does not show QE/CI enabled anymore.

 

There is one symptom that cropped up a few days ago that appears to correlate with this change. When I fire up Terminal, the prompt seems to take a long time appear. I am going through my system.log to find out what changed.

 

I just installed NVkush/NVkush Leopard. Makes no difference to the QE/CI situation. After installing the Leopard kexts, the system takes forever to boot(gets stuck at creating interface utun0). Not booted even once.

 

Since I use Pages a lot, this disappearance of QE/CI is a serious matter for me.

 

I will be reinstalling probably.

[Nips]

Good. You can be my guinea pig instead of me tearing up my setup

 

Try the following:

 

Follow this guide but ignore the updates.

Just try 10.6.0 + the kexts (they have changed as well, but those are easy to replace since I have the original kexts I used).

 

Do not use the modified com.apple.Boot.plist initially.

 

Open up system profiler and let me know what you get. Please make sure (using your BIOS) that you actually have the NVS140M card.

 

Do not use NVkush or Natit for this test.

 

I noticed that the 10.6.1 update added a few framebuffer kexts. Maybe it is the update that killed QE/CI (in which case I would have to use Natit / NVkush ultimately). But try the above test, and let us isolate what changed.

 

 

 

My macbook has the same problem. The hack does not, though it does not show QE/CI enabled anymore.

 

There is one symptom that cropped up a few days ago that appears to correlate with this change. When I fire up Terminal, the prompt seems to take a long time appear. I am going through my system.log to find out what changed.

 

I just installed NVkush/NVkush Leopard. Makes no difference to the QE/CI situation. After installing the Leopard kexts, the system takes forever to boot(gets stuck at creating interface utun0). Not booted even once.

 

Since I use Pages a lot, this disappearance of QE/CI is a serious matter for me.

 

I will be reinstalling probably.

I'm going to try a couple of different things and report back.

 

I'm doing things slightly differently. I was just given a 500GB WD passport from work. I'm installing to a bootable USB to make this zero impact on my D830 (as it's given to me by my office). Boots off USB just fine.

 

I created a MacHD and a LARGE (read: 380gb) user data partition. I set up my macHD as the guide said, then imaged it before I even booted into it. This way I can play with various pre-first-boot settings and extensions and just restore the image back over the top of the main partition and try again and again.

 

I'll get back to you if/when I have any solutions.

[Nips]

I'm going to try a couple of different things and report back.

 

I'm doing things slightly differently. I was just given a 500GB WD passport from work. I'm installing to a bootable USB to make this zero impact on my D830 (as it's given to me by my office). Boots off USB just fine.

 

I created a MacHD and a LARGE (read: 380gb) user data partition. I set up my macHD as the guide said, then imaged it before I even booted into it. This way I can play with various pre-first-boot settings and extensions and just restore the image back over the top of the main partition and try again and again.

 

I'll get back to you if/when I have any solutions.

 

 

Ok so some interesting news. I haven't tried using your original guide, I did however use the kexts from disneysw's post on this thread on page 3: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...40&start=40

 

I included some steps he didn't (platformUUID) and deleted the existing IOFamilyATA.kext. When I booted up this machine for the first time, I got full sound with the video and QE/CI.

 

This was set up before my previous post on this thread, and I tried it when I got home from work.. Tomorrow morning I will set up a new install using this guide again and will report back.

[msingh]

Ok so some interesting news. I haven't tried using your original guide, I did however use the kexts from disneysw's post on this thread on page 3: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...40&start=40

 

I included some steps he didn't (platformUUID) and deleted the existing IOFamilyATA.kext. When I booted up this machine for the first time, I got full sound with the video and QE/CI.

 

This was set up before my previous post on this thread, and I tried it when I got home from work.. Tomorrow morning I will set up a new install using this guide again and will report back.

 

That sounds a bit like my guide

 

I just did a complete reinstall. Following my guide, I was unable to get QE/CI with the current version of kexts. But by adding one element to com.apple.Boot.plist:

 

<key>Kernel Flags</key>

<string>GraphicsEnabler=Yes</string>

 

(Thanks to Gallus Longus, the chicken novelist ?)

 

I was able to get full QE/CI. The colours just seem more vivid (a purple tinge). Or is this flag killing my display ?

 

This has the side effect of preventing reboots, even in the presence of OpenHaltRestart.kext. This is both before and after installing update 10.6.1.

 

So, the 10.6.1 update is innocent for this choice of kernel flags.

 

Quadro NVS 140M:

 

Chipset Model: Quadro NVS 140M

Type: GPU

Bus: PCIe

PCIe Lane Width: x16

VRAM (Total): 256 MB

Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)

Device ID: 0x0429

Revision ID: 0x00a1

ROM Revision: xx.xx.xx - internal

Displays:

Display:

Resolution: 1920 x 1200

Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)

Main Display: Yes

Mirror: Off

Online: Yes

Built-In: Yes

Display Connector:

Status: No Display Connected

 

 

Checked with glxinfo, glxgears and the operation of Pages'09.

[Nips]

Good deal. I'm just imaging my "pre-first-start" disk w/ nvkush, so I'll set up a new method using your image and the "GraphicsEnabler" flag and report back by this afternoon sometime. The 1390 should be in today *crosses fingers* so I will hopefully have a full working version today.

 

Quick question.

In your guide where you talk about symlinks, you have the following two files symlinked:

 

VoodooHDA.kext -> ../../../Extra/Extensions/VoodooHDA.kext

lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 41B Sep 17 22:48 VoodooSDHC.kext -> ../../../Extra/Extensions/VoodooSDHC.kext

 

However in your zip these files are in Extra/Extensions already. Should they be moved into S/L/E then symlinked, or just kept in /Extra?

[Nips]

I can now verify that this works 100%.

I also have this small purple tinge as well, but it looks great. The wireless card did not come in today unfortunately however, so I can't test the upgrade to 10.6.1, but I will tomorrow. Thanks again!

[msingh]

Good deal. I'm just imaging my "pre-first-start" disk w/ nvkush, so I'll set up a new method using your image and the "GraphicsEnabler" flag and report back by this afternoon sometime. The 1390 should be in today *crosses fingers* so I will hopefully have a full working version today.

 

Quick question.

In your guide where you talk about symlinks, you have the following two files symlinked:

 

VoodooHDA.kext -> ../../../Extra/Extensions/VoodooHDA.kext

lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 41B Sep 17 22:48 VoodooSDHC.kext -> ../../../Extra/Extensions/VoodooSDHC.kext

 

However in your zip these files are in Extra/Extensions already. Should they be moved into S/L/E then symlinked, or just kept in /Extra?

 

Sorry about the confusion.

 

The kexts are present in /Extra/Extensions. But they are symlinked into /S/L/E.

 

I can now verify that this works 100%.

I also have this small purple tinge as well, but it looks great. The wireless card did not come in today unfortunately however, so I can't test the upgrade to 10.6.1, but I will tomorrow. Thanks again!

 

I am thrilled to hear that !

 

The wireless card (Dell 1390) is plug in and forget it. No drivers needed.

 

Have you noticed an inability to shut down as well ? Now, if I can get sleep working, this will be one for the history books. I do not get a gray screen anymore. It sleeps (the green light dims and brightens), but does not hibernate.

 

On shut down, the screen goes dark, but the fans are on. On force powering it off and rebooting, I get the ForceWake=Yes suggestion, which does not work as I get an invalid image signature error.

[msingh]

I'm guessing you still don't have sleep working or is it sorted?

 

I spoke too soon.

 

I realized that I had forgotten to put a SleepEnabler.kext into /Extra. I put it in, and it sleeps !!! My first hack to do so

 

It does not hibernate (and I have tried setting hibernatemode to 1, and also tried SmartSleep prefpane).

 

I am guessing that the same thing that prevents it from shutting down, keeps it from going into hibernation.

 

I am using OpenHaltRestart.kext.

[Nips]

Sorry about the confusion.

 

The kexts are present in /Extra/Extensions. But they are symlinked into /S/L/E.

 

Haha ok, I did that backwards. Not a huge deal, I've been messing around with the system, I'm going set up a clean boot from scratch again today because I expect the card in, and I want the satisfaction of booting up the first time into a clean working system.

 

Have you noticed an inability to shut down as well ? Now, if I can get sleep working, this will be one for the history books. I do not get a gray screen anymore. It sleeps (the green light dims and brightens), but does not hibernate.

 

On shut down, the screen goes dark, but the fans are on. On force powering it off and rebooting, I get the ForceWake=Yes suggestion, which does not work as I get an invalid image signature error.

 

Yes I have the same issue. Screen goes black but the machine does not power off. Once I get a working network card into it I'll spend more time attempting to fix the sleep/hibernate issues.

[msingh]

Haha ok, I did that backwards. Not a huge deal, I've been messing around with the system, I'm going set up a clean boot from scratch again today because I expect the card in, and I want the satisfaction of booting up the first time into a clean working system.

 

 

 

Yes I have the same issue. Screen goes black but the machine does not power off. Once I get a working network card into it I'll spend more time attempting to fix the sleep/hibernate issues.

 

Ok. Make sure you re-download the kexts. I made a change to VoodooHDA kext (replace version 0.2.1 with 0.2.2). The earlier version gives a crackling sound.

[Nips]

It's been a few days since I've posted because I STILL haven't received the 1390. I hate the USPS with a passion.

 

However, some good news: Out for Delivery or Available at PO Box, October 03, 2009, 9:53 am, XXXXXXXXX, CT XXXXX I should have it tomorrow morning (delivered to the office and I'm remote today) and will begin experimenting w/ the remaining issues. (Sleep/Hibernate/Broadcom 5751 pci=1673, etc).

[disneysw]

I can now verify that this works 100%.

I also have this small purple tinge as well, but it looks great. The wireless card did not come in today unfortunately however, so I can't test the upgrade to 10.6.1, but I will tomorrow. Thanks again!

 

I can't say I've noticed any purple tinge - where/how do you see it?

[Nips]

I can't say I've noticed any purple tinge - where/how do you see it?

 

 

You only see this tinge when using the GraphicsEnabler tag and removing NVKush.

 

I believe you're using NVKush, so you don't see it. Try removing the kext, rebuilding the kextcache, adding the GraphicsEnabler tag and rebooting.

[fsckedagain]

Let me know if you get everything working. I am sure I will be bugging you to help me out. I plan on doing this in the next few days. I have my sata-usb adapter and everything all ready to go.

[Nips]

Update: Got the 1390, worked like a charm upon boot-up, no issues whatsoever.

 

I attempted to use Parallels and Fusion 3.0Beta2 to boot my Win7 partition but to no avail. Any ideas how to pull this off? (i'm booting 10.6 off a USB drive).

 

 

 

@fsckedagain:

 

There is no working network unless you replace your wireless card with a 1390. I'll let you know if there's any progress on the Ethernet front. (note: I got mine for $12.59 off ebay. with free shipping, it's worth the buy).

[msingh]

Let me know if you get everything working. I am sure I will be bugging you to help me out. I plan on doing this in the next few days. I have my sata-usb adapter and everything all ready to go.

 

Getting sleep to work (since that is the only major thing left) will probably need some mucking around with the DSDT. I am currently very busy with a few other things, so might take a look at that over the coming weeks.

 

I "fixed" the purple colour problem by using colour calibration in system settings.

 

Update: Got the 1390, worked like a charm upon boot-up, no issues whatsoever.

 

I attempted to use Parallels and Fusion 3.0Beta2 to boot my Win7 partition but to no avail. Any ideas how to pull this off? (i'm booting 10.6 off a USB drive).

 

 

 

@fsckedagain:

 

There is no working network unless you replace your wireless card with a 1390. I'll let you know if there's any progress on the Ethernet front. (note: I got mine for $12.59 off ebay. with free shipping, it's worth the buy).

 

I do not use windows, so cannot help you there. I used to have VMWare working on my macbook before I removed it.

 

I second that suggestion regarding the wireless card. Its the most painfree experience I have ever had with hackintosh networking.

 

Regarding the wired ethernet, it is on my list of things to do. The current bottleneck is that the available driver is 32 bit. I suspect things are not going to change until someone is kind enough to recompile it for 64 bit.

 

Alternatively, I have been unsystematically looking into the ACPI spec. I have also read that it is possible to get the sound card working without any HDA kexts. My next project (which will be months in coming) is to attack the hackintosh incompatibilities from the ACPI end. I am hoping that it might be possible to get everything done by doing some hardcore DSDT editing.

 

My apologies to EricCW whom I probably mislead a bit on this, unknowingly (coming from the linux world, my thinking is in terms of kernel modules). Changing the DSDT is a bit like changing the underlying BIOS/EFI firmware, which can be used to trick the OS into thinking that it is actually running on a computer with Apple supported hardware, if (and that is the massive if) you can map the Apple driver I/O to what the modified DSDT provides.

 

Obviously, this approach cannot work if you are working with windows style software based devices (anyone remember "softmodems" ? ). But for actual honest to God real hardware, this might be doable.

 

My ultimate aim is to have maybe 1-2 kexts in /Extra/Extensions, a heavily modded DSDT which can give us as close to actual Apple experience as possible, and equally critically, no kexts removed (right now, I am removing one). There is already a DSDT repository in existence. Maybe such DSDT's could be added to that.

 

One clarification - this approach will NOT be the same as removing errors in DSDT. Errors are syntax errors, which are a gift of the useless Microsoft ASL compiler. This will be actual changing around of device definitions to make the final DSDT look as close to the equivalent that Mac OSX expects to see on Apple hardware.

 

Let us see if that is realistic. I do not have time for this right now, but it is a long term goal.

[fsckedagain]

So, all in all, if I want to do this what will and won't be working, and what are the steps and required files?

 

I see things from nips, msingh, and disney but I don't want to try to mish mash them myself. I have a whopping 6 days experience doing this. I am running vanilla kernel 10.5.8 on my d830 right now with a few annoyances and 10.5.7 on my presario desktop at home.

 

Let me know where to start guys and I will let you know how successful I am!

[msingh]

So, all in all, if I want to do this what will and won't be working, and what are the steps and required files?

 

I see things from nips, msingh, and disney but I don't want to try to mish mash them myself. I have a whopping 6 days experience doing this. I am running vanilla kernel 10.5.8 on my d830 right now with a few annoyances and 10.5.7 on my presario desktop at home.

 

Let me know where to start guys and I will let you know how successful I am!

 

Just follow the guide (I have consolidated all I know in that). The updates are colour coded, so you should not have any difficulty following the steps.

 

Hibernate, shutdown, reboot and the wired ethernet do not work. The sound works perfectly but after sleep you have to reload the kext (this is a VoodooHDA issue and there is nothing any of us can do about it).

 

I have not tested SD card, PCMCIA card, modular bay hot dock/undock, docking station and firewire. Everything else seems to work as far as I can tell (unless it is something I do not use, and forgot to mention). Firewire might be ok because I have seen a bunch of successful messages at startup.

[fsckedagain]

Just follow the guide (I have consolidated all I know in that). The updates are colour coded, so you should not have any difficulty following the steps.

 

Hibernate, shutdown, reboot and the wired ethernet do not work. The sound works perfectly but after sleep you have to reload the kext (this is a VoodooHDA issue and there is nothing any of us can do about it).

 

I have not tested SD card, PCMCIA card, modular bay hot dock/undock, docking station and firewire. Everything else seems to work as far as I can tell (unless it is something I do not use, and forgot to mention). Firewire might be ok because I have seen a bunch of successful messages at startup.

 

Well I followed a combination of yours, EricW's, and Disneysw guides/instructions and have most things working. I will take a full inventory of what works and what doesn't.

 

I know right now my stupid wifi light won't come on.

I know both my network interfaces (wired and wireless) work.

I know sleep works.

I know shutdown/reboot does not.

 

I also tried to do the dsdt thing and got errors trying to decompile it. I used a kubuntu live cd to get it. I ended up using Disneysw's dsdt from his post here (http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=184903&st=40#)

 

So now I am wondering if I can use software updates to get to 10.6.1 without anything blowing up. I will just use it as is until I hear back

 

Later after I get everything set up the way I want I will clone the drive and start seeing if I can figure out how to set up and external mac debugger (I have another hackintosh that works well) and see if I can look into the shutdown/restart issue.

 

Damn wifi lights lol

 

oh, and I know QE/Ci is orking as I gots rippples in widgets

[msingh]

Well I followed a combination of yours, EricW's, and Disneysw guides/instructions and have most things working. I will take a full inventory of what works and what doesn't.

 

I know right now my stupid wifi light won't come on.

I know both my network interfaces (wired and wireless) work.

I know sleep works.

I know shutdown/reboot does not.

 

I also tried to do the dsdt thing and got errors trying to decompile it. I used a kubuntu live cd to get it. I ended up using Disneysw's dsdt from his post here (http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=184903&st=40#)

 

So now I am wondering if I can use software updates to get to 10.6.1 without anything blowing up. I will just use it as is until I hear back :pirate2:

 

Later after I get everything set up the way I want I will clone the drive and start seeing if I can figure out how to set up and external mac debugger (I have another hackintosh that works well) and see if I can look into the shutdown/restart issue.

 

Damn wifi lights lol

 

oh, and I know QE/Ci is orking as I gots rippples in widgets

 

My wifi light does not come on either. But then it did not work even with Kubuntu, so I am not concerned.

 

I used software update to go to 10.6.1. Had no issues.

 

My sleep works but deep sleep (hibernate) does not.

[disneysw]

Sorry, I've been busy for a while but I'd would like to fix some of the outstanding issues. Which for me are

 

a) corrupted sound after resuming from sleep (biggest issue)

CPU speed being incorrectly reported by System Profiler (random speeds) when using voodoopower. Its always reported correctly if I don't use voodoopower or voodoopowermini

c)Deep sleep (Not really a big issue for me)

d) Silverlight decoding of DRM files, I need to do more research on this as I believe a solution is known

e) I can't get my video cam to work via firewire even though I can use a firewire scanner and external disk (the camera works fine with windows and listed as supported by apple so it should work). Funny thing is the camera is detected and I can control it, just no video. I'm not even sure this is a hackintosh problem but I need to do more research to see if video is transferred differently to other types of data on firewire.

 

I could do with a pointer to any introduction into creating your own DSTD and how EFI works if anyone has any good info?

 

Just follow the guide (I have consolidated all I know in that). The updates are colour coded, so you should not have any difficulty following the steps.

 

Hibernate, shutdown, reboot and the wired ethernet do not work. The sound works perfectly but after sleep you have to reload the kext (this is a VoodooHDA issue and there is nothing any of us can do about it).

 

I have not tested SD card, PCMCIA card, modular bay hot dock/undock, docking station and firewire. Everything else seems to work as far as I can tell (unless it is something I do not use, and forgot to mention). Firewire might be ok because I have seen a bunch of successful messages at start-up.

 

The Dell docking station works fine, but obviously Apple dont have anything like a docking station so you need to be careful about un-docking. I find the easiest thing to to put the machine to sleep, un-dock and then wake it up.

 

I also have a working PCMCIA and cardbus slots, both work. Firewire works fine with a scanner and external disk drive but as mentioned above I have reservations when used with a video camera.

 

Does the Dell 830 have an SD card slot, if so where (I've never noticed it)?

[msingh]

Sorry, I've been busy for a while but I'd would like to fix some of the outstanding issues. Which for me are

 

a) corrupted sound after resuming from sleep (biggest issue)

CPU speed being incorrectly reported by System Profiler (random speeds) when using voodoopower. Its always reported correctly if I don't use voodoopower or voodoopowermini

c)Deep sleep (Not really a big issue for me)

d) Silverlight decoding of DRM files, I need to do more research on this as I believe a solution is known

e) I can't get my video cam to work via firewire even though I can use a firewire scanner and external disk (the camera works fine with windows and listed as supported by apple so it should work). Funny thing is the camera is detected and I can control it, just no video. I'm not even sure this is a hackintosh problem but I need to do more research to see if video is transferred differently to other types of data on firewire.

 

I could do with a pointer to any introduction into creating your own DSTD and how EFI works if anyone has any good info?

 

 

 

The Dell docking station works fine, but obviously Apple dont have anything like a docking station so you need to be careful about un-docking. I find the easiest thing to to put the machine to sleep, un-dock and then wake it up.

 

I also have a working PCMCIA and cardbus slots, both work. Firewire works fine with a scanner and external disk drive but as mentioned above I have reservations when used with a video camera.

 

Does the Dell 830 have an SD card slot, if so where (I've never noticed it)?

 

a) I have the same sound issue. I fix it every time I wake up by reloading the VoodooHDA kext.

I use only VoodooBattery from superhai's webpage.

c) Deep sleep is an issue for me, but I do not know of any workarounds. I tried evoreboot instead of openhaltrestart. Makes no difference. I think it might be a DSDT issue.

d) I have silverlight working (tested with netflix).

e) No idea.

 

Please see the guide regarding the DSDT.

 

Good to know PCMCIA works !

 

Never used the SD card slot. I think it is next to the PCMCIA slot.

[Air]

hey all, what is the difference between hibernate/sleep? because it seems like a lot of you can get it to "sleep," but not "deep sleep/hibernate." at any rate i'm pretty sure i can't get either of them, because once i close the laptop lid, my computer's gone.

[msingh]

hey all, what is the difference between hibernate/sleep? because it seems like a lot of you can get it to "sleep," but not "deep sleep/hibernate." at any rate i'm pretty sure i can't get either of them, because once i close the laptop lid, my computer's gone.

 

Different power states according to the ACPI spec.

 

Hibernate / deep sleep (S4): The contents of the RAM are written to the disk and the system powers off. When you switch it on again, it reloads the contents of the swap (borrowing a linux term) back into the RAM.

 

Sleep / suspend (S3): Same as S4, except for the poweroff.

 

So, when the system does not shutdown, reboot or deep sleep, I think we have a common problem underlying the three. Of course, the wake behaviour is totally different. Many people can deep sleep on other machines but not resume.

 

I get a warning about LPC C-States not getting activated or something. I am looking for a clean workaround (not actively though).