2306 replies to this topic

[DoiX]

@darren, I'm a bit too busy for my taste right now, thus i'm not very active. I barely have time for myself yet alone osx86

[amh10]

Evening All.

I assume this is a *straighforward problem*

Today, I decided to upgrade from W8CP to W8 pro. This involved formatting the Windows partition and installing windows. I currently have three partitions on my disk
1) System Reserved
2) W8 Pro
3) Mountain Lion.

Of course, now the computer will boot straight into Windows, and I can't get to boot into OSX. The partition won't load with the eyeboot CD, and the OSX partition originally had the Chameleon boot loader. What are my options:

1) Try to boot with a different loader via disc, e.g rboot
2) Try to change partition 3 to be active using the Windows diskpart command? *edit* made the ML partition active and it still doesn't load, cursor just flashes at me!
3) Reinstall ML? (Prefer not to do this?)

Any help appreciated!

AMH.

[darren cox]

DoiX, on 28 October 2012 - 10:39 AM, said:

@darren, I'm a bit too busy for my taste right now, thus i'm not very active. I barely have time for myself yet alone osx86

Just wanted to check all was ok with you - wasn't hassling!

[DoiX]

@amh, simply use rboot to get into ML then reinstall the boot loader.

@darren, i wasn't implying you were hassling

[darren cox]

Well I was just good and bought Windows 8 (windowsupgradeoffer.com works - no proof of purchase needed and it costs £15 in UK for 8 pro)
Installed on the spare HDD.  Lasted 2 hours and I've swapped drives back to good old OSX.  I'll keep it on the drive in the caddy to play Guild wars and WOW but can't see the appeal right now especially on a non-touch device...

Install for Win 8 is trouble free BTW if anyone is going to test it out!

[amh10]

darren cox, on 29 October 2012 - 01:51 PM, said:

Well I was just good and bought Windows 8 (windowsupgradeoffer.com works - no proof of purchase needed and it costs £15 in UK for 8 pro)
Installed on the spare HDD.  Lasted 2 hours and I've swapped drives back to good old OSX.  I'll keep it on the drive in the caddy to play Guild wars and WOW but can't see the appeal right now especially on a non-touch device...

Install for Win 8 is trouble free BTW if anyone is going to test it out!

Thanks for your comment. Many of us that work in Healthcare are committed to Windows as hospitals are sticking to MS, and many of the UK hospital intranet pages are IE compliant. OSX will never have an updated "internet explorer for Mac" and the plugins for Firefox and Chrome require a working version of IE. I haven't tried it on a touch device, but I do like the concept of live tiles esp for e-mail, twitter etc.

AMH.

[Katuku]

Iam Planning to install Mountain Lion 10.8.2.I have prepared bootable USB thumb.I need to just confirm whether these specs are good to go.

Dell XPS L502X

Processor : i7 2630QM 2.0 Ghz
RAM : 8Gb
Bios : A12
Graphics :Nvidia Geforce GTX 540M and Intel HD 3000 series

I just need to confirm whether system specific DSDT and SDST are avialable for my specs before I get started.

Thanks in advance.

[TimeWalker75a]

Guys we are trying to troubleshoot sleep/wake bios-related issues over at bios-mods.
Are you absolutely certain that the last version wake has worked properly is A06 ? And that A09 broke sleep/wake cycle all together?

[DoiX]

@TimeWalker, yes. A06 is the last working sleep bios for L502x model. If you need more info feel free to ask me, or to test something (that doesn't require windows since i installed W8 and its crap compatibility wise)

[TimeWalker75a]

Well, we have narrowed it down to:

SystemSmmUsbLegacySmm.efi			 EF33C296-F64C-4146-AD04-347899702C84_1_1138.ROM
SystemBootManagerDxe.efi			 73DAB30F-3F9C-4160-B064-439CE16C3EDE_1_1090.ROM
SystemXhciDxe.efi					 949822BC-26D3-4BC6-954B-F2C581342DE1_1_273.ROM
PlatformSetup.efi					 A4F2909C-5E2A-438A-91BA-272B0923049A_1_907.ROM
SystemUsbBusDxe.efi				 240612B7-A063-11D4-9A3A-0090273FC14D_1_947.ROM
PlatformSmm.efi					 CB73C3D9-2F01-4342-AE67-04DDE5264092_1_912.ROM
DellReadyToBoot.efi			 C0330B04-CBB8-4CCF-B45B-C7DBD943782B_1_976.ROM

Also I highly doubt DellReadyToBoot or SystemBootManager can impact this somehow.. so this leaves us with just 5 modules to backport. I will try backporting these from a working bios to a later bios which has issues .. module by module, if however it doesn't help, then all the usb-related modules together and platform modules together.... hopefully it can be traced down.

[DoiX]

What does PlatformSmm.efi handle/do?

Well, you could narrow it down some more by thinking what usually breaks sleep on os x. I remember on my old desktop PC that USB broke sleep if not patched.

Also, i've read on NotebookReview that you're comparing A06 to A09, why not A06 to A07 ?

[TimeWalker75a]

Cause there's no a07 on dell's FTP and I don't have a xhangelog for it.

Platform setup does port configuration for USB/data/pci-e IRRC

[DoiX]

Click on the A07 text. I linked the a07 ftp to it.

As for the changelog, i'll post it in a couple of minutes.

Quote

1. Updated Intel microcode.
2. Added support for i5-2450M.
3. Fixed system may stay in S3 state when doing BIOS update
4. Fixed system can't boot from USB3.0 ODD if set CD/DVD as first boot device in Setup Menu.
5. Fixed Function Key Behavior and Charger Behavior in Setup Menu will be disabled if to do load default and exit without saving.
6. Fixed system does not handoff XHCI controller correctly before enter OS
7. Enhanced compatibility of Windows flash utility, to support BIOS update if only 1GB RAM installed.
8. Prevent OS pop up the warning message to notify user to change battery even if the battery capacity is not less than 40%.
9. Change Intel IGD VBIOS to v.2104 for PSA compatibility.
10.Enhanced compatibility on Lite-On LAT-256M2S SSD for fixing system cannot switch to Delldiag partition after PSA test is done.

Pardon the double post.

[TimeWalker75a]

Thanks for the heads up. So its either 3, 4 or 6.. because my Vostro had same changes listed as of A07 which broke sleep. As soon as I replace the USB bus module I can no longer boot USB devices, this entry is gone from boot manager. Replacing bootmanager as well doesn't bring it back

According to jkbuha 15z has no sleep issues, so its a good idea to compare 15z A07 to L502x A07 as well as my Vostro's A07. I won't have time for this today.. but will intent to do this tomorrow..
This module comparing/swapping is really a nerve wrecking experience hehe ;/

[DoiX]

Why not 9? PSA stands for power supply adapter afaik. It may affect the system...

I anticipate i'll have a couple of days free this week so i'll install W7 and pitch in however i can, i also haven't forgotten about the resolution module we talked on the other forum.

What tools are you using to extract and compare modules on windows?

[TimeWalker75a]

PSA is Dell&#39;s diagnostics utility called ePSA. You can run it by Fn+Power button from completely turned off state or from F12 boot menu.<br /><br />Vesa resolution is addressed by using vbioses from inspiron 17r se. I have ported 2130 and jkbuha has found how to patch connectors table to fix DP on XPS.<br /><br />I&#39;m using Araxis Merge to compare.<br />

[DoiX]

Wait, i just had an epiphany. The easiest way to determine if the IGPU has something to do with sleep is to get a L702x with 3D panel. I recall that after A12 their sleep gets broken as well, on the non-3d model at least.

You could ask Steve from tonymac if sleep is working for him on the latest bios, he has a L702x 3D version.

[TimeWalker75a]

Graphics do not impact this, dell actually downgraded Intel's vbios from 2117 to 2104 .. to get lazy and don't fix their PSA {censored}.
Nothing regarding VGA has changed from A04 to A07 for my Vostro but sleep got broken. I've tried using 2104 vbios in A04 and sleep remains functional.

[mackyreddy]

Sleep works fine on A.12 non 3D L702x, after A.12 dell updated with A.14 from then Sleep fails big time till A.18 its not fixed. I dont know much about the new A.19 bios as i haven't tried it.

[jkbuha]

All - I might have stumbled on something in the Intel VBIOS. The structure seems to support some additional functionality like Optimus configuration and connector information. Could also lead to sleep mode as well, though I'm not that familiar with how Vesa interacts with S3 modes (and what Intel is doing about it).

I've posted an updated (hacked) bios v2143 (the most updated I could find) at the usual forum - works fine on my machine apart from the inexplainable loss of 80x25 text mode. If anyone can help me uncover more of the Intel vbios structure it would be greatly appreciated