Dell Vostro 1500 Mega Thread

[Descalzo]

Instead of using something like NVinject or something else similar to that, you actually plug that data in yourself and don't need the kext to do that. It does make your computer more like a "real mac" and saves you the hassle of updating the injector or worrying about if something else will screw with it.

 

OK, thanks. I'll try it soon, I hope.

 

I just downloaded the latest version of iATKOS (that's iATKOS 2.0i) and it's nice. I selected the install options as follows:

Stock->kernel 9.2.2

Drivers->INinject (I tried the nVidia Laptop one, but it didn't work)

Drivers->System->NTFS-3G (This is AWESOME!)

Drivers->Network->Broadcom 440x

 

After bootup, I had to do the 1395 update, as seen on page 4 of this thread. I'm getting around to doing sound now.

 

On my previous install, everything worked great, but at a certain point (I think it was when I installed the Time Machine update, and all the updates hidden within) I took a performance hit. WarcraftIII stopped working well, and some other slowness. Has anyone else noticed anything similar to this? I haven't been able to test it on this install yet.

 

It's after midnight, and I'm tired. If I'm not clear, I'll try to fix it tomorrow.

[cu3edweb]

I have a dell vostro 1500 and am having tons of problems getting this to work. Is there certain bios settings that need to be set? I get it installed but I have the x3100 so I can't get the display right. But the broadcom only works sometimes. The biggest problem is after a few boots I start getting the gray screen that says you need to hold the power button to restart and it just keeps doing that.

 

Here is my problem hardware

Intel x3100 - Can't get it to work. I tried the sleep method but must have done it wrong.

Intel Wireless 4965agn - pretty sure this doesn't work yet.

Broadcom - Only works sometimes

 

But as I said I keep getting the gray screen and having to re-install. I obviously don't expect everything to work but it sounds like people are having some good results. A lot better then me so i didn't know if there was special bios settings or something different that others are doing?

 

Thanks

[Descalzo]

I have a dell vostro 1500 and am having tons of problems getting this to work. Is there certain bios settings that need to be set? I get it installed but I have the x3100 so I can't get the display right. But the broadcom only works sometimes. The biggest problem is after a few boots I start getting the gray screen that says you need to hold the power button to restart and it just keeps doing that.

 

Here is my problem hardware

Intel x3100 - Can't get it to work. I tried the sleep method but must have done it wrong.

Intel Wireless 4965agn - pretty sure this doesn't work yet.

Broadcom - Only works sometimes

 

But as I said I keep getting the gray screen and having to re-install. I obviously don't expect everything to work but it sounds like people are having some good results. A lot better then me so i didn't know if there was special bios settings or something different that others are doing?

 

Thanks

I've read about the x3100. I see you've tried the sleep method, but that's all I know. I remember something on the wiki about it, and in fact I'd read more success stories with the x3100 than the nVidia until I found this thread.

Intel Wireless: I found something on Google Code about this, but it apparently sucks. Your best bet is to find a cheap Dell card on eBay.

Broadcom: I've had troubles with mine, but nothing a reboot didn't fix, and it hasn't happened for a couple of weeks. The only trouble I had with it was plugging it in at home, then at work. It only happened once or twice, though. I almost always use wireless at home, and wired at work.

 

Which install DVD are you using?

[cu3edweb]

I've read about the x3100. I see you've tried the sleep method, but that's all I know. I remember something on the wiki about it, and in fact I'd read more success stories with the x3100 than the nVidia until I found this thread.

Intel Wireless: I found something on Google Code about this, but it apparently sucks. Your best bet is to find a cheap Dell card on eBay.

Broadcom: I've had troubles with mine, but nothing a reboot didn't fix, and it hasn't happened for a couple of weeks. The only trouble I had with it was plugging it in at home, then at work. It only happened once or twice, though. I almost always use wireless at home, and wired at work.

 

Which install DVD are you using?

 

I am using the iATKOS v2. Yeah I have only got a couple of boots out of each install and then I get the gray screen over and over telling me to hold the power button down to reboot.

[Descalzo]

I am using the iATKOS v2. Yeah I have only got a couple of boots out of each install and then I get the gray screen over and over telling me to hold the power button down to reboot.

 

What Hard Drive setting are you using? I doubt that's it, because it probably wouldn't even boot once.

 

Hmmmm. What install options are you using?

[djparasite]

I am having *extreme* difficulties with installing Leopard on my Vostro 1500. I have the *exact* same hardware setup and the *exact* same discs but this is not working for me one bit.

 

I can get through partitioning with the disk utility and setting the drive for MBR instead of GUID. Leopard gives me the successful completion check mark of ultimate happiness, reboots, and I insert GParted LIVE. It boots from that, and here are where my issues BEGAN.

 

I could not go through GParted because it would not detect my vostro's screen. It told me exactly that: no screen detected. So I said to myself "hey, I'm not a noob, I'll just use the "medium" interaction level and get through this." This is exactly what I did, having to manually set a couple things but got to GParted disk utility and flagged the leopard partition "boot." Now I said to myself "that wasnt too ahrd, not mentioned but I'm through with that. Now its time to go and fix Leopard up with geforce drivers and what not so I can begin using it!" WRONG.

 

It does not boot from the HDD. At all. I just get the blinking hyphen/underscore whatever cursor (i've had the square one once... so i figured I'd dif. them for you all). So I say to myself "it is possible for it to not install entirely properly or maybe I just didnt save the boot flag or something." I went through the Mac OS X install again until I could get to first aid, where I repaired the permissions and the disk (which said everything checked out fine). I double-checked to make sure it was HFS+ journaled and MBR. Then I went back into GParted LIVE, and sure enough, the boot flag was still present. So I tried booting from the HDD again. Same blinking cursor. I tried waiting even though I was sure it wasnt going to do anything, and 15 minutes later of course I was right.

 

I have done this procedure ON TWO DRIVES: the one that came with my Vostro, and now an APPLE-tagged Seagate SATA 5400RPM drive from a Macbook Pro that had been wiped clean. I've reinstalled WinXP Home on the original HDD so I can at least use the Vostro for... whatever it is I bought it for...

 

I've noticed that people with this particular issue seem to have their questions fall upon deaf ears, which was the case when I called Apple 3 years ago about my under-warranty Macbook, too... So PLEASE HELP ME. I *really* dislike Windows and would like to have my OS X back...

[Descalzo]

I am having *extreme* difficulties with installing Leopard on my Vostro 1500. I have the *exact* same hardware setup and the *exact* same discs but this is not working for me one bit.

 

I can get through partitioning with the disk utility and setting the drive for MBR instead of GUID. Leopard gives me the successful completion check mark of ultimate happiness, reboots, and I insert GParted LIVE. It boots from that, and here are where my issues BEGAN.

 

I could not go through GParted because it would not detect my vostro's screen. It told me exactly that: no screen detected. So I said to myself "hey, I'm not a noob, I'll just use the "medium" interaction level and get through this." This is exactly what I did, having to manually set a couple things but got to GParted disk utility and flagged the leopard partition "boot." Now I said to myself "that wasnt too ahrd, not mentioned but I'm through with that. Now its time to go and fix Leopard up with geforce drivers and what not so I can begin using it!" WRONG.

 

It does not boot from the HDD. At all. I just get the blinking hyphen/underscore whatever cursor (i've had the square one once... so i figured I'd dif. them for you all). So I say to myself "it is possible for it to not install entirely properly or maybe I just didnt save the boot flag or something." I went through the Mac OS X install again until I could get to first aid, where I repaired the permissions and the disk (which said everything checked out fine). I double-checked to make sure it was HFS+ journaled and MBR. Then I went back into GParted LIVE, and sure enough, the boot flag was still present. So I tried booting from the HDD again. Same blinking cursor. I tried waiting even though I was sure it wasnt going to do anything, and 15 minutes later of course I was right.

 

I have done this procedure ON TWO DRIVES: the one that came with my Vostro, and now an APPLE-tagged Seagate SATA 5400RPM drive from a Macbook Pro that had been wiped clean. I've reinstalled WinXP Home on the original HDD so I can at least use the Vostro for... whatever it is I bought it for...

 

I've noticed that people with this particular issue seem to have their questions fall upon deaf ears, which was the case when I called Apple 3 years ago about my under-warranty Macbook, too... So PLEASE HELP ME. I *really* dislike Windows and would like to have my OS X back...

 

Out of curiosity, what did you name your Leopard partition?

[djparasite]

I named it "Leopard" without the quotes. No multiple words means no spaces, which when it comes to command line can end up being the difference between getting something working and having it stay broken right?

 

I'm actually finishing up *ironically* my MCSE

[Descalzo]

I named it "Leopard" without the quotes. No multiple words means no spaces, which when it comes to command line can end up being the difference between getting something working and having it stay broken right?

 

I'm actually finishing up *ironically* my MCSE

 

Did you install ALL the Darwin Bootloader options?

[djparasite]

I've tried a variety of options with the install, both bootloaders, just the EFI one, with and without the broadcom driver, and with/without video drivers for the 8400GS. I've tried erasing the partitions and repartitioning with both the Mac installer and GParted (obviously HFS+ doesn't work in GParted). I didn't, however, try anything other than single user mode (-s flag) at Darwin bootloader for install because using the -s flag resulted in weird issues I honestly couldn't explain (a reboot, followed by the HDD not being detected and the only install option being from PXE).

 

I am beginning to wonder if installing another OS first and then installing Leopard might yield better results? I am planning on installing Sabayon Linux w/ Beryl, so when it finishes downloading tonight (4.13GB on a 1.5mbps DSL line FTW) I'll give it a shot.

 

Any other ideas? BTW, thanks for actually helping!

[Descalzo]

I wish I were actually helping you get somewhere!!!

 

I have a feeling that we're overlooking something really dumb and basic.

 

What happens when you install Windows?

[djparasite]

Is there any way to keep a primary root partition during OS X install? I have Sabayon 3.5 Loop3 installed now on root partition (it requires something be installed on root) but now when I try OS X install I have to repartition the whole drive :/ I installed Linux first in the hopes that I would have GRUB and be able to go into OS X from there during startup. Obviously to no avail...

 

So I think I'll try doing the OS X install again, repartition the whole thing, but isntead of doing the GParted part of this guide install Sabayon on the second partition and do the whole boot flag thing within the Sabayon LIVE install.

 

if I repartition the disk with 2 parts, 1 HFS+ journaled and one free space, when I install OS X does it install on the disk at root? if so, when I mark it and the Sabayon partition as bootable, I *should* have Darwin bootloader with OS X and Sabayon bootable partitions both as options, correct? Any chance I can oust Darwin for GRUB? Darwin is what I believe to be the source of my issues right now, being that it is the selected bootloader and I *coincidentally* cannot boot from the HDD after OS X install...

[Descalzo]

When you install Linux, the root partition just means the main partition, or the partition that Linux is going to use as the base for its filesystem. OSX has a root partition as well, in fact it used to be possible to have the users folder on a separate partition than the rest of the filesystem, and OSX would seamlessly integrate it.

 

When I did a triple-boot system, I seem to remember just creating all the partitions from the Linux installer. I made (on that particular disk) a 10 GB partition for OSX, a 79 GB partition for Windows, then another 10GB for Linux, and a tiny swap partition. I did all that from within the installer, and then only used the OSX Installer to format the drive (from the Erase tab in Disk Utility). Likewise, in Windows, I used the Windows installer to format the Windows drive, and that's all. I don't remember what I did to change the boot flag, but it wasn't as easy as the PartedMagic CD, or GParted.

 

So what happens if you install ONLY OSX on your machine? If you have a single partition with OSX on it?

[djparasite]

Thats where my issues initially occurred was when I tried just for OS X. That's why I decided to dual-boot and see if I can make any headroom by forcing the bootloader to recognize that there are two operating systems.

 

Here's exactly what I have set up right now: 1 partition that is 37.1GB formatted as ext3 (i think its ext3, default for Sabayon). When I go into the OS X disk utility, under partition it gives me the drive, then the first level down is the linux partition (disk0s0 I believe) but the OS X installer says it is an MS-DOS partition. if I hit the verify button in the top left (because trying to verify it any other way is impossible, the buttons are greyed out)it then recognizes a linux file system (unknown though). When I try to create a Mac partition, it won't let me unless it partitions the whole disk, which would overwrite the Linux partition, too (i checked the sizes to make sure).

 

I haven't tried going under the erase tab, so I'll see if doing anything under there gives me results.

 

Sabayon installs GParted during the install process, so maybe I'll make some progress today trying various things...

 

EDIT:

 

I have both Sabayon and OS X installed, but only Sabayon Linux will boot, there isn't even an option for OS X when booting from the hard drive. Also, now we're getting into unfamiliar territory, so questions are gonna arise...

 

Mas OS X was already marked with the boot flag when I opened up GParted. Keep in mind I hadn't marked it, I had *just* installed OS X minutes earlier... so I rebooted the laptop and got GRUB, but it had no option for leopard. So I booted to Sabayon, went into GParted, and saw that Mac OS X was the only thing marked with the boot flag. Curious? To me it is. Sabayon wasn't marked as bootable, but I was able to boot from it. When I installed Sabayon, GRUB's info was added to the MBR, but it didnt overwrite anything... so the Mac OS X DARWIN boot info should be there, too, shouldn't it? The differences I noticed between the Sabayon partition and the Max OS X partition are:

 

Sabayon:

not marked with boot flag

ext3 FS

forced to be primary partition

mounted to root

 

Mac OS X:

marked with boot flag

HFS+ Journaled

...just a partition?? mac OS X installer doesnt tell you this and GParted doesn't read HFS+...

doesn't mount. ever.

 

When booting from the HDD I get GRUB with its 3 default options (Sabayon, Sabayon safemode, Windows). I don't have Windows installed or an MS-DOS partition, but GRUB has that as a default entry... back to the issue... DARWIN just isn't working I'm pretty sure. You're definitely more knowledgeable than I am about these things, so looking at this information might help you help me? lol I haven't marked the OS X partition as active again, but I forgot how :/ This could be my issue, but I had marked it as active but it didnt help the last time. Maybe marking it as active now will display it in GRUB?

[Descalzo]

Hmmmm. I am running out of ideas. It sounds like you're doing the same thing as I am, but it will never boot to OSX no matter what you do.

 

Here's another thought, once upon a time I installed OSX and the bootloader bypassed the OS select screen, like the wait time was set to zero or something. But if you're using iATKOS v2, like I am, then you would probably have the same wait time as I do: 3 sec. or so.

 

Have you yet tried to install ONLY OSX? Then boot to it without fiddling with GParted or anything? Try the following options:

 

Repartition the HD to one single partition, as HFS+ Journaled.

 

Install options:

Stock->kernel 9.2.2

Drivers->Network->Broadcom 440x

 

Then reboot. I'm curious to see what happens. I reread your posts and it sounds like we've never tried just OSX before.

 

If this doesn't work, we need to consider the following possibilities:

You have misidentified your hardware somehow.

You have a bad install CD or something.

You have bad hardware.

 

What do you think of this idea? It's all I can think of now.

[djparasite]

here's an update we can all somewhat enjoy

 

I am in leopard RIGHT NOW. This was the process that worked out *so far*:

Install OS X with recommended options in first post

Install Sabayon Linux, switch boot flag to linux partition and force primary

reinsert and Boot OS X install, use Disk Utility to repair permissions and repair disk

reboot using HDD instead of DVD drive

Leopard boots after 3 seconds!

 

now I just have to figure out how to get Sabayon into the options list so I can boot from either OS X or linux. Any ideas? While I await a reply, I'm gonna go through the rest of the first post and get my drivers in, the leopard graphics, etc

[Descalzo]

The last time I tried to install Linux with OSX, Darwin bootloader automatically detected Linux and added "Other OS" into the boot options.

[djparasite]

o rly... I'll have to do a reinstall of Linux (I think I'm gonna switch distros since I'm not a fan of the compiz-fusion version of Beryl so much) and *hope* that doesn't re-disbale my lovely OS X

 

Again, thx for the help!

[djparasite]

One more question since I'm new to having a HACKBOOK PRO... can I use software update, and if so are there certain things I should avoid updating?

[Descalzo]

I use Software Update. But I'm careful. Usually the front page at InsanelyMac has warnings when it's not safe. If you have EFI and vanilla kernel, you're usually ok. But I still try not to install any update I don't need.

[Tmacfan4321]

I'm new at this and I have run the iAtkos install quite a few times, I always seem to do something wrong. Where can I find the option for the EFI Bootloaders? Is it listed as something else or what? I'm just looking for some direction.

[Descalzo]

I'm new at this and I have run the iAtkos install quite a few times, I always seem to do something wrong. Where can I find the option for the EFI Bootloaders? Is it listed as something else or what? I'm just looking for some direction.

I installed ALL of the bootloader options. I can't remember what they're called, and I left my install CD at work. I'll try to remember to pick it up tomorrow and see if I can't be more specific.

[Tmacfan4321]

It's working right now, I just got the Graphics working with the latest nVinject or whatever. I just need to do the WiFi, the audio, and I need to install Vista for a dual boot. The XP CD wasn't recognizing my HDD, I think that I needed some drivers for the MoBo, but my Dell driver CD didn't work. I'll keep working. I am happy right now that the Ethernet works at least.

[CowboyMiller]

How about something for the Vostro 1000?

Im at about 90% but Display seems to be my last obstacle. only have 1024X768 with NO KEXT loaded. but when i try and use the ATI1000 drivers, it doesn't detect that there is a display attached. i know this becuz i connect to it with my gatebook Pro via screen sharing...

[Tmacfan4321]

I am still having problems, I tried to install the 10.5.3 combo update, but I am retarded, so I didn't read the readme. I restarted and it froze. I try to fix the problem with the iAtkos DVD, and I get all the way through, but now, my main (and only) user account has been demoted. I cannot do any type of system file editing, making updates and kext work impossible. Does anyone have anything that could fix this?