11 replies to this topic

[fr3ak!]

April 2012 update

With this guide you will be able to install Mac OS X 10.6.8 on Dell Dimension 8400!

CPU P4 3GHz > RAM 4 Go
DD SATA 320 Go AHCI > DVD IDE DVD-ROM
Chipset 82801/82925X ICH6 > Audio ADI 198x (AC97) > Lan BCM5751
Video Asus GeForce 7500LE PCIe

What you need
============
  * USB iPortable Snow Leopard 10.6.2
  * Snow Leopard DVD Retail
  * MacOSX Combo Update 10.6.8
  * Dell Dimension 8400 Package

Preparation
==========
  * In BIOS choose Combination mode for SATA
  * Boot on iPortable Snow Leopard (Boot with -v -x if you have issue)
  * With Disk Utility define partitions on your desired 10.6.8 disk (GUID or MBR, I choose GUID)

Installation
=========
  * Insert Mac OS X Snow Leopaord Retail DVD
  * Launch OSInstall.mpkg from /Volumes/Mac OS X DVD/System/Installation/Packages
  * Choose the previous prepared disk as destination
  * When it finished install MacOSX Combo Update 10.6.8 on the same drive
  * install Chameleon on this disk
  * Copy Extra folder and chocolate_kernel from iPortable (remove unused strings in com.apple.boot.plist)
  * Backup, Delete and Replace Kext on your disk S/L/E from iPortable S/L/E
  -AppleACPIPlatform
  -IOPCIPlatform
  -IOUSBPlatform
  -IOUSBMassStorage
  -IONetworking (if you have if you have trouble with LAN chipset)

First Boot
========
  * In BIOS choose RAID/AHCI mode for SATA
  * Boot on your drive
  * Follow Wizard
  * At the end Launch kext Utility
  * Reboot et Voilà!!

Thanks All for help!!  

Note: You must connect speakers on black jack. VMware Fusion not working...

Attached Files

•  FRK_D8400_10.6.8.zip   5.88MB   77 downloads

[fr3ak!]

BIOS settings is very important : SATA mode must be in "combination" for better stability

I have freeze, with onboard LAN when I try to modify MAC address with terminal, but manual IP work great, even if my router won't let me going on internet with 00:00:00... mac

[fr3ak!]

My Dimension 8400 hackintosh rocks!  

In BIOS, SATA must be in COMBINATION
I disabled integrated NIC

iDeneb 1.5.1 OSX 10.5.7

Chameleon v2
Kernel 9.7 Qoopz
ICH Fix

After First Boot, install AC97 from the pkg attachment
You must connect speakers to black connector, not the green

AppleBCM5751Ethernet works but needs more trick and stay unstable.
I installed an old 3C905B-TX network card, that works out of box

My video is ASUS GeForce 6800 LE, with nvDarwin 256, quartz and dual display supported.

Hope it will help.

Attached Files

•  FRK8400.zip   314.17K   49 downloads

[fr3ak!]

In BIOS, SATA must be in COMBINATION
I disabled integrated NIC

iDeneb 1.5.1 OSX 10.5.7

Chameleon v2
Kernel 9.7 Qoopz
ICH Fix
AC97 Audio

Speakers must be connected to the black connector with power on.

Note: 10.5.8 Update or Full install does not work, even with voodoo, anv or qoopz kernel

I will stay at this configuration for a long, very stable!

[iMorocco]

 I've made dsdt for the Dimension 8400 Bios A09, with it everything works (Sata AHCI, IDE, Sleep, CMOS reset fix...) you can use it for Leo and Snow

You must set SATA Operation to RAID Autodetect / AHCI in the bios 

DSDT_D8400.zip

[EpicKris]

fr3ak!, on Aug 26 2010, 07:46 PM, said:

AppleBCM5751Ethernet works but needs more trick and stay unstable.
I installed an old 3C905B-TX network card, that works out of box

I seemed to have got everything working, installed the ethernet kext you provided and now it hangs on loading. I've ordered the suggested network card you mentioned, but that could take at least five days for delivery, could you help me get online in the meantime please? Thank you.

iMorocco, on Sep 14 2010, 11:20 AM, said:

 I've made dsdt for the Dimension 8400 Bios A09, with it everything works (Sata AHCI, IDE, Sleep, CMOS reset fix...) you can use it for Leo and Snow

How do I use the DSDT? Does it enable ethernet?

[fr3ak!]

@EpicKris

I take this card because I have it with old other computer parts
You can look at forum to find another one can that be better

If I can, I will try to help

DST is a file that will interface BIOS/OS/KERNEL, search on the forum

[EpicKris]

fr3ak!, on Dec 23 2010, 10:29 PM, said:

@EpicKris

I take this card because I have it with old other computer parts
You can look at forum to find another one can that be better

If I can, I will try to help

I took a look, but with no luck, I ordered the part anyway (was only £3.50) but think I'm going to use Ubuntu Server as I really wanted Mac OS X Server anyway. Hopefully I can get a cheap (under £100) Mac one day for it. Haha!

[fr3ak!]

Thanks to iMorocco and TH3L4UGH1NGM4N, I can confirm Snow Leopard 10.6.3 (Retail and iAtkos S3 v2) works well on DELL Dimension 8400 with AHCI/SATA support !! (iMorocco DSDT + Chameleon v2RC4 + some Extra Kext + Chocolate_Kernel)

The major issue is when I try to enable acceleration and dual monitor with my graphic cards, GeForce 6800 LE (00c2)...I try Injectors, Enablors, EFI Strings, i386 mode, add entrie in NVxxx.kext... my hack reboot in loop or stay in verbose mode.

So I go back in 10.5.8 (instead of 10.5.7) until I have a better video card.

[fr3ak!]

Stable Retail Snow Leopard 10.6.8 on Dell Dimension 8400 !!
See top of topic

[TH3L4UGH1NGM4N]

Oh snap I got a shout out lol and you're more than welcome man always glad to help out

[Aks33]

I am trying to install Snow Leopard on my Dell Dimension 8400 with a very similar setup as fr3ak! using the guide you provided in this post. I keep getting stuck at Destination Select once I have booted from iportable snow. I reformatted the HD to GUID and I have also tried MBR and get stuck at the same place. The error message I am getting is "MAC OS X can't be installed on this disk. You can only install this software on the disk that is running Mac OS X."

Any help getting past this issue will be greatly appreciated. I used to have a stable 10.5.8 running on this computer but it crashed yesterday and after numerous attempts of fixing 10.5.8 I decided to use your guide and install 10.6.