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The Complete Dell XPS m1210 Installation + Dual Boot Tutorial

seaDonkey

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mximus
mximus
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Is this mifki? If so, it doesn't seem to work with the HDAPatcher and the sigmatel text document. It says when I try to drag the .txt over the patcher:

* Detected unsupported SigmaTel Codec Exiting...:)

Any advice guys? I really wanna make this work. I noticed that the numbers from the text file is wrong, it says sigmatel9221.txt, and not 9220, shouldn't it be 9220? Could this be why it's not working?

 

if you selected mifki in the install using jas sse3 intel only it should install fine, i'd say your using the wrong txt. here is the txt file i'm using

codec_Sigma9220.txt

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Slayte
Slayte
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That's awesome man, I used that file and it worked, eventhough it said semthex using the uname -a command in the terminal, wierd!! Although I think I have booted the mifki kernel twice, and I think it is the mifki kernel that is the second line I explained in the last post, but it seems to go back to semthex after I reboot.....Should be noted that the sound works through the speakers even now as semthex is back. :) Now I just gotta get me one of them wireless 1390 cards. Check the link there to see if that is the right one? And I will grab it, I live in Norway though, so it might take awhile to ship here. :wink2:

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Slayte
Slayte
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So since everything was going so well, I decided to install the 10.4.9 update somebody listed. :) Bad idea! Now VLC media player can't play video files properly anymore, the sound gets all choppy. Also I can't log on my linux fileserver anymore.... I'm reinstalling 10.4.8 and gonna use that for awhile. :wink2:

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Jami Ortiz
Jami Ortiz
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dublued, that really sucks :D

 

I hope your vehicle insurance will cover it, sometimes they do cover theft.

If you do get money to replace it, check out the dell refurbished website. You can get amazing deals there.

 

I hate how this sounds like bragging, but I want other people to know the deals you can get.

 

My m1210 has:

 

Core2duo 7200 (2.0ghz 4mb)

2 gig ram

80gig (7200rpm)

Nvidia 7400

Webcam

DVD writer

Vista Premium

Standard battery (I got an extended off of ebay)

 

This was a certified refurbished, NOT a scratch and dent, and it has no visible scratches or anything.

 

1389+tax+free shipping = 1472 shipped

I tried finding a better deal for something equal to this on ebay and couldn't.

Jami,

 

I think that beta v2 dvd you have might work, but I think you'll need the mifki kernal to get the sound working, you can PM me if that's the case, and I'll send it to you.

 

but in short:

get the right iso

get the right wifi card on ebay

 

good luck and keep trying, I'm pretty sure none of us had things working on the first try =)

Seadonkey, fix your signature so it says both cores are working =) and have you tried the 10.4.9 update yet?

 

 

How did you get both cores to work. Thanks for the information. Does that Slot load DVD drive fit into the XPS M 1210. I got everything to work except wireless and I think I need a new wireless card. But sound and all works perfectly. I can even use my external mouse with its own scroll makes things alot easier. I have not gotten the scroll zones to work. Sleep also doesn't work, I think that is something that has to do with the driver.

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Slayte
Slayte
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So, the keyboard! Is it possible to do something to make the windows key become the command key? Also, how do I use the special keys where I would press ctrl + alt and then a key to get the sign I wanted in Windows? I have a Norwegian keyboard where I need to press ctrl + alt + 3 on my keyboard to get the @, wich is extremely frustrating because ctrl + alt + 3 doesn@t seem to work, neither do any of the other ctrl + alt keys.

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alfdog
alfdog
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ok, maybe I'm confused... doesn't this section enable both cores?

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Re-enabling dual-core without freezing OSX:

In OSX, open finder -> applications -> utilities -> terminal (drag terminal icon to the dock for easy future access)

 

Open terminal and type the following:

CODEsudo –s

 

*enter password*

 

nano /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist

Type in your password at the prompt. This opens the boot config file where we can add kernel boot flags.

 

Add the following under the <key>Kernel Flags</key> section (add this section if it doesn't exist):

CODE<string>cpus=1 platform=X86PC</string>

 

It should look like this:

CODE<key>Kernel Flags</key>

<string>cpus=1 platform=X86PC</string>

-Hit ctrl-o to save and enter to keep the filename.

-Press ctrl-x to exit nano.

-Exit terminal and reboot into the bios settings and re-enable multi-core threading.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Jami,

Ya, scroll zones and sleep still don't work. I'm not sure if sleep will ever be fixed. If you look, you'll find some threads about enabling speedstep, which might get ya less heat and more battery life. I get by without the vertical scroll just fine, since the M1210 has DEDICATED page up, and page down keys. :whistle:

 

I'm 98% sure that the slot drive will work fine, the only thing that might happen is that the front of the bezel of the slot drive might not cover the old opening completely.

 

Here are a couple of sites that will get you prepared if you're interested:

 

Dell's M1210 documentation, very informative:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/syst...en/SM/index.htm

 

A site of a guy who actually upgraded his cpu in his M1210, you can see what it looks like totally apart (even though this is not necessary for changing the dvd drive).

http://www.notebookforums.com/post2343884.html

 

 

Slayte,

Here is the thread on all things keyboard, it may be possible... but it doesn't look easy.

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=35972

 

Here's a site that has a list of OSX keyboard shortcuts, maybe it'll help.

 

http://creativebits.org/keyboard_shortcuts_in_os_x

 

Also, on that 10.4.9 update, try finding this file on one of your favorite sites.

 

JaS_10_4_9_Intel_SSE3_Only_Combo_Update

 

 

It's good hear that people aren't giving up, and are having success. Let's keep this guide active so we can all learn from each other.

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seaDonkey
seaDonkey
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Technically, it enables multicore in the bios (for windows), but the cpus=1 disables the second core in OSX, otherwise the operating system stutters very badly. If you remember correctly, to install OSX, we had to disable multicore processing in the bios, so it didn't freeze the instant OSX booted up.

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Slayte
Slayte
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Is there no way of enabling the second core in OS X? Obviously the Macbooks must use both cores of their core 2 duos?

 

Also, for some reason when I play HD trailers the picture and video gets all choppy. I've tried with both VLC and Quicktime, anyone else experienced this? I can play SD video just fine with VLC.

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MeltedDuron
MeltedDuron
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Hi, I'm a noob here, but i seriously dont get why my M1210 isnt letting me install OSX. I'm using 'Mac OS X 10.4.8 [JaS AMD-Intel-SSE2-SSE3 with PPF1].iso' and whenever I boot up I keep getting the infamous Still waiting for root device error, is there something i should be doing or do i have the wrong iso? I cant get it to install no matter what i try, I've tried turning all sorts of things off in the bios, and tried starting the cd with the -v and -x flags and its just a no go... Please help!

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Jami Ortiz
Jami Ortiz
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Not the right iso, I have that one too, and when I used it, it instantly crashed. Either get the one listed in the guide, or the one that doesn't have ppf1.

Yeah I am going to second that I had alot of problems with any other disc I used except the one mentioned in the guide. At one point, with the other disc I could not even use my USB devices like hard drives because they were not even being detected. My ext mouse was not even getting detected. Untill I got CD mentioned in the guide I was able to follow this guide and everything worked.

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jake123
jake123
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anyone given 10.4.9 a go and had good results? is it worth to upgrade?

I heard the JAS 10.4.9 worked with the m1210.....

 

 

 

Also, for me, I used the text file you gave, along with the HDA Patcher, dragged the txt into the Patcher, waited for it to install, it said to reboot... i did.. and no sound. Actually i had headphones before, and now i have nothing.

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mximus
mximus
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I heard the JAS 10.4.9 worked with the m1210.....

Also, for me, I used the text file you gave, along with the HDA Patcher, dragged the txt into the Patcher, waited for it to install, it said to reboot... i did.. and no sound. Actually i had headphones before, and now i have nothing.

 

strange, the one i uploaded works fine for me....i know slayte also had some success with it, maybe you should try 9221? I'll give 10.4.9 a go later, will see how it goes.

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skeo
skeo
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Hi Guys, new to this forum.

I've just placed an order for my dell m1210 with 2.16ghz 2gig ram with GO 7400 vid card.

Was also considering to install tiger on it...

 

Can anyone tell me what the performances are like running tiger on the m1210 laptop?

 

cheers

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seaDonkey
seaDonkey
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Hi Guys, new to this forum.

I've just placed an order for my dell m1210 with 2.16ghz 2gig ram with GO 7400 vid card.

Was also considering to install tiger on it...

 

Can anyone tell me what the performances are like running tiger on the m1210 laptop?

 

cheers

 

OSX boots up in pretty much no time. The benchmarks are higher than the macbook pros in most areas. The animations and rendering are definately faster after disabling beamsync. Here are the apps I run on a normal basis (see my sig for specs):

 

-Photoshop CS2: slower than windows because it uses rosetta (its esp slow starting up) CS3 will be a universal binary and run perfectly, although I haven't tried the beta yet.

-firefox/thunderbird: just as fast as windows

-VLC player: I've had no problems with stuttering, audio and video are fine

-DVD player: same as above

-Neo office: runs beautifully

-Keynote: perfect

-Network and printer sharing with windows is fine

-Prey (universal binary): very playable at med settings

-Toast: I've burned both CDs and DVDs included PS2 backups and it works fine and fast

-Halo (non universal bin version) slow, but playable (uni version is suppost to work perfectly though)

-Aperture 1.5: interface slow for some reason when processing D200 raw files in full screen edit (anyone else have this problem?)

 

In conclusion, most powerPC optimized programs will run slow (on any intel mac). There is a tiny bit of lag with the gui (switching to dashboard for the first time since booting will lag for a sec, then it works perfectly). However, if you disable beamsync it seems to fix the problem.

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skeo
skeo
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thanks for the heads up SeaDonkey,

 

that's a really quick response.

 

Any body had any succusses in getting both cores to function ?

or is this pretty much limited to Apple ?

 

thanks for any info...

 

cheers

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mximus
mximus
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thanks for the heads up SeaDonkey,

 

that's a really quick response.

 

Any body had any succusses in getting both cores to function ?

or is this pretty much limited to Apple ?

 

thanks for any info...

 

cheers

 

the dual core not working is a problem with the dell bios and until there is a new one which fixes the problem we'll be stuck with 1 core. I tried 10.4.8 for a few days on the m1210 but since sleep doesn't work and there are a few other small problems i went back to XP...might install Gentoo at some point but i think unless the newer OS X releases are more targeted towards laptops we wont be at 100% any time soon. I also was a bit annoyed with the fans turning on a lot more in OS X than windows which was another reason that i went back. Final note...i think its fun to play with as second partition but for 24/7 use this particular laptop is not quite there yet. For 24/7 use i think the desktop based machines have far better results since they don't have to worry about power management, card readers, wireless etc.

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JorgeJones
JorgeJones
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How many people have video out (vga external display) working? I installed on my m1210 from the 10.4.8 JAS AMD SSE2 SSE3 dvd and everything works fine, it even installed Natit/Titan and power management, so I was stoked, but I can't get VGA out to work on it. I tried installing Natit universal, but it booted up to that crazy resolution of 400 by 800, so I reinstalled and everything is kosher, but I still want dual displays. Any tips? What is the dif between Natit and Titan? Is one for Ati and the other for NV?

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Jami Ortiz
Jami Ortiz
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Using the directions in the thread I was able to get it working after using various disc. I suggest to any that that continually has problems to

use the disc mentioned in this thread. The others, they seem to cause problems with this laptop model for some reason. I had alot of problems with the AR5006 card. For some reason I could not get this card to work. Ironic since it came out of an apple Mac INTEL Mini. I am guessing because its not picking up the card some how. The LED for WIFI is off and the card isn't detected.

 

So I ordered a 1490 MiniCard from dell and had it shipped the next day. Cost me 39.99 and DELL didn't even charge me shipping. I installed it the minute I got it and OS X detected it immediately. At first it said not configured. I then went to network preferences and it came up as a new detected interface. I didn't have to load no kext drivers or anything it works prefectly. Even my sound works perfectly I am able to watch movies and all.

 

Much thanks. Now if I can only get the other things to work... SD reader, CAM, Scroll...

post-34037-1176779441_thumb.jpg

post-34037-1176779529_thumb.jpg

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skeo
skeo
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Hi guys,

got 1 core working on 10.4.8 with semthex SSE3 for intel

head phone jack working, no speakers though

GO7000 video card is reporting as only 64 meg

no wifi, as I bought the intel WIFI as that was the only option available.

however I've noticed that only USB1 is working and not usb2..

 

Anybody had USB2 working ?

 

cheers

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seaDonkey
seaDonkey
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Hi guys,

got 1 core working on 10.4.8 with semthex SSE3 for intel

head phone jack working, no speakers though

GO7000 video card is reporting as only 64 meg

no wifi, as I bought the intel WIFI as that was the only option available.

however I've noticed that only USB1 is working and not usb2..

 

Anybody had USB2 working ?

 

cheers

 

 

The semthex kernel will not work properly with your speakers (you can patch your kernel to a kernel that will work though), you can change your wifi card to a compatible one and the GEForce 7400 GO only has 64mb dedicated ram (the rest is shared, up to 256mb with 2GB of DDR ram).

 

Please read through the thread because every one of your questions is answered.

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