My insane Hackintosh Experience/Nightmare

[BBrown]

I don't know if this is the appropriate forum to post this but as it concerns Jas 10.4.8 installation, I thought it would be relevant. If not, mods feel free to move.

 

First off, I would like to thank Minus 273 and Keongx for their kind help and guidance. I am by no means a computer noob, but I won't deny being a huge hackintosh noob. I picked up an IBM T30 a few months ago, updated the bios and souped it up by adding 2 Gigs memory and a CD/DVD burner. I installed dual boot Ubuntu 8.04 and Windows XP which were running fabulously.

 

When I came across this forum, the idea of running hackintosh on this computer intrigued me and I had read other members's success stories with installing Jas 10.4.8 on a thinkpad t30. I had a spare hard drive laying around, so I removed the hard drive with Ubuntu and Windows and replaced it with this one temporary to install Jas 10.4.8. The problem that I immediately experienced was the Jas 10.4.8 would not boot and the DVD burner appeared to not read the DVD eventhough it would easily read CDs with Winxp operating system or Ubuntu Distro. The problem was easily resolved by replacing the DVD burner with the original DVD ultrabay DVD player that originally came with the computer. So now I was up and running. Jas seemed to install until I rebooted and ended up with the dreaded Unable to find driver for this platform: "ACPI" and a frozen screen. This is like the WinXP equivalent of the BSOD(Blue Screen of Death). I googled the subject and searched this forum for a solution but to no avail. I monkeyed around with my bios as much as humanely possible hoping to resolve the issue, but to no avail. The conclusion that I came to is that updating the bios from the original may be responsible for this. I don't want to downgrade the bios for fear of ruining a perfectly good computer. Plus the bios upgrade was to allow me to bump up the memory to 2 gig and I don't want to lose that capability by downgrading the bios(the old bios only allows up to 512mb memory max).

 

I have made the decision to save up for a real macbook. For anyone thinking of tinkering with Jas 10.4.8 on a IBM T30, my recommendation is that you don't upgrade the bios because if you do, you may run into the dreaded ACPI error. I have come to this conclusion through trial and error as others have been able to install without any issues. If anyone can confirm this, I would be curious. I am out of possible solutions to resolve this issue and have tried just about everything except downgrade my bios. There comes a point with this stuff where I think you just have to accept the fact that it may just be best to buy a real mac if you can afford it than to deal with all the headaches of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

 

Later.

[XweAponX]

Since I am just starting with this, I have some empathy for your situation, but not high empathy for it. I understand the frustration when something does not work right, but on the other hand I think you were aiming for too high a target- I have high hopes for building a great OSx86 machine, but high hopes begin with small steps, and even smaller computers. But said small computers has a lower shelf of components that will actually allow you to get OSX installed: For example, I could NOT install OSx86 into a 500 MHz Celeron-a machine with 512 Ram. But I DID install a version of 10.4.6 onto a Prescott Pentium-IV with 250 MB of ram.

 

I bought a T-30 for a friend about a year ago, but it was left with the default Windows 2000 OS in it. Lenovo thinkpads are highly resistant to updates of any kind, especially since there is that complicated BIOS protection that cannot be removed- Meaning, if you buy a T-30 and it has a password set... the seller better damn have the password, because nothing can crack the password save either buying complicated hacking tools, or buying a new module, the module that holds the Bios passwords... Which IBM sells for about 400 to 900 dollars.

 

A friend of mine bought a beautiful new Lenova notebook, and someone had done just that, set an admin password and not bothered to tell the guy. So, the whole system can only either be disassembled as spare parts, or thrown in the trash and bye bye to 1,000 crisp 1 dollar bills.

 

Which brings me to your T-30: Your Bios update is probably not the problem. If you still have the T-30, get into your BIOS, and look for the settings for the ACPI, IF they are available in the BIOS, which, for laptops, is rare.

 

IF the ACPI is accessible through the BIOS, then make sure it is TURNED ON- Because if it it shut off, the OSx86 installer will fail at the point you said it failed. I do not know if this situation is the same for all PCs with ACPI, but it happened with the Biostar P4M900-M4 I am building on: I shut off ACPI in the BIOS and I immediately got the Blue ACPI message of Deth. Ergo, it MAY be an issue. When I turned it back on, the installer went right on past the place where the panic happened.

 

You also may want to try other OSx86 install builds, and I do not know if you are limited to having to have ONLY OSx84 10.4 (Tiger) like myself- If not, you may want to use Leo4all or one of the other builds.

 

They key is, find out what works, and then buy the best system you can that falls into those parameters, and install only that OSx86 that will correctly interact with your motherboard and other hardware- Or get an OSX that will just install, and add the drivers manually.

 

But avoid high expectations with machines that are known to have high security, and you were lucky to find a BIOS update that allowed you to put 2 GB into your system... If you got Windows and Ubuntu, then be happy that you got that dual boot to happen, cos other than the BIOS security issue, IBM TBs are fine pieces of machinery, and I see lots of older ones still being used.

 

I hope that helps a little, cos I've been trying to install this one "Uphuck" 10.4.9 by trial and error and it has been errors since 7:00 last night.

[BBrown]

Thanks for the advise and suggestions XweAponX. I did go through the bios and believe it or not but there is no setting to enable or disable ACPI. I have not totally given up just yet. I tried installing Leo4All, Kalaway 10.5.2, and Kalaway 10.5.1. I ended up with a perpetual reboot with all of those. I also tried iATKOS_v1.0ir2. With that I got as far as the Apple Screen and turning wheel and no progress beyond that. As I am posting this, I am downloading iATKOS_v1.0ir3 and IATKOS_v1.0i. I am crossing my fingers and hoping that I can make some progrss with IATKOS_v1.0i or iATKOS_v1.0r3.

The only reason I decided to test on the IBM T30 is that I had the laptop already on hand, and I had read others having success with installing Jas 10.4.8 and even came across Minus 273 excellent step by step guide. I was pretty much caught off guard when I did not experience the same success as Minus 273 did not experience the kernel panic screen freeze problem that I experienced. As tempting as it is, it would be illogical for me to sink money into buying another more hackintosh compatible laptop since I am saving up to purchase a real Macbook.

 

Regards

[XweAponX]

Hey BB, I saw this post over in the Genius Forum:

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...mp;#entry783529

 

maybe they have a solutuion, if you have not already tried it.

 

I dont think you oughtta give UP OSx86... Just dont let it absorb you like it is doing me, ahaha.

 

Yah, you ought not to shove money into a system that will not boot- Personally, I would buy the Macbook, if I needed a Mac notebook.

 

I'm trying to install onto a P-IV here, on a Biostar MB... I finally got XxX's 10.4.11 rev2 installed... I lucked out and must have hit the right kernel/driver/OS combo.

 

I hope you get it figure out.

 

you might wanna try this: try ionstalling to an attached USB - Will the T30 allow you to boot from a USB drive? If so, try that, then if you can get the drivers for the T30 installed, you can move the whole partition to your Notebook HD.

[BBrown]

Hey BB, I saw this post over in the Genius Forum:

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...mp;#entry783529

 

maybe they have a solutuion, if you have not already tried it.

 

I dont think you oughtta give UP OSx86... Just dont let it absorb you like it is doing me, ahaha.

 

Yah, you ought not to shove money into a system that will not boot- Personally, I would buy the Macbook, if I needed a Mac notebook.

 

I'm trying to install onto a P-IV here, on a Biostar MB... I finally got XxX's 10.4.11 rev2 installed... I lucked out and must have hit the right kernel/driver/OS combo.

 

I hope you get it figure out.

 

you might wanna try this: try ionstalling to an attached USB - Will the T30 allow you to boot from a USB drive? If so, try that, then if you can get the drivers for the T30 installed, you can move the whole partition to your Notebook HD.

 

Thanks XweAponX. That is the exact same post that peaked by curiosity about trying hackintosh on my IBM T30. From what I understand, there is some variation in Motherboard and hardware from one IBM T30 to another, so perhaps minus 273` IBM t30 is different than mine. Also, I would be curious to know if he left the original bios version alone or if he updated. I am still leaning towards the updated bios causing the issue, but I could be wrong. I hope minus 273 chimes in if he is reading this and can confirm if he updated his bios or not.

[XweAponX]

Ah, I had a feeling you had "been there" over in that thread... I hope you can get the guy's attention? Send hi a Private Message, ask him if he modded his BIOS in any way.

 

T30s are kick Arse anyway, even if you cant get OSx86 into it.

 

You know what I did for this BIO-barf MB I am tinkering with? Well, I installed XP, and for XP there are two programs:

 

Lavalsoft Everest- The version I use is Ultimate 4.2x.x - It breaks down you system and reveals all those HARDWARE IDs you need to get to figure out which drivers to use

 

http://www.lavalys.com/products/download.p...=UE&lang=en

 

or try the links directly - But do it fast! cos they only leave these betas and trial versionz up only a short time:

 

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1018/mirrors.php

http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/EVER...load-30373.html

 

CPU-Z: At CPUID.org, com something:

 

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

 

CPUID tells you the specs of you CPU - But you use Everest to pull up ALL of the specs of your CPU.

 

I'll post some screencaps later, if you do not know about these proggys, gets em NOW, cos you need em.

 

 

 

Cos I am ready to try it again. and THIS time I'll be Prepped! And I will not be choosing the wrong drivers, kernels, and stuff.

[BBrown]

Ah, I had a feeling you had "been there" over in that thread... I hope you can get the guy's attention? Send hi a Private Message, ask him if he modded his BIOS in any way.

 

T30s are kick Arse anyway, even if you cant get OSx86 into it.

 

You know what I did for this BIO-barf MB I am tinkering with? Well, I installed XP, and for XP there are two programs:

 

Lavalsoft Everest- The version I use is Ultimate 4.2x.x - It breaks down you system and reveals all those HARDWARE IDs you need to get to figure out which drivers to use

 

http://www.lavalys.com/products/download.p...=UE&lang=en

 

or try the links directly - But do it fast! cos they only leave these betas and trial versionz up only a short time:

 

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1018/mirrors.php

http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/EVER...load-30373.html

 

CPU-Z: At CPUID.org, com something:

 

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

 

CPUID tells you the specs of you CPU - But you use Everest to pull up ALL of the specs of your CPU.

 

I'll post some screencaps later, if you do not know about these proggys, gets em NOW, cos you need em.

 

 

 

Cos I am ready to try it again. and THIS time I'll be Prepped! And I will not be choosing the wrong drivers, kernels, and stuff.

 

Good Stuff!! Many thanks for those useful links I will be downloading for sure. By the way, while I love my IBM t30 laptop, in hindsight I would have bought an IBM t42 instead. The IBM t42 is more compatible with hackintosh and also fully compatible with Ubuntu 8.04 and Suse linux 10.3. And most importantly the IBM T30 has an inherent design flaw that will lead to the eventual failure of one memory slot. That is the main reason, I updated my bios and upgraded to 2 gig memory. If one slot fails, I will only lose one gig and will not be limited to 256 mg due to the failure under the old bios. Here is the link that talks about the memory slot flaw in the IBM t30 laptop.

http://www.omskakas.se/2007/07/thinkpad-t3...ot-failure.html

 

I have not totally given up on hackintosh yet. Just came across this info, so there may be some hope yet. The instructions to patch iAtkos V1.0ir2 are having problems with that iatkos version and want to try.

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=95283

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=75703

 

 

Quote

 

antonbhc

 

Posted by: antonbhc Apr 16 2008, 02:29 PM

Current OS X Version: 10.5.1

Install method: iAtkos V1.0ir2

 

Desktop/Laptop?

 

Prebuilt?

Manufacturer: IBM (Lenovo)

Model: Thinkpad T30

 

Motherboard

Manufacturer: IBM

Model: 2367GU3

Version: N/A

Bios Version: 1ET71WW (2.10)

Chipset: Intel i845D Rev. 04

Audio: Works OOB, but does not show in System Profiler

LAN: Works OOB

 

CPU

Model Number: Intel Pentium 4-M 1.8GHz

Recognised as: "Unknown 1.79GHz"

 

Memory/DDR:

1GB 400MHz DDR

 

Video

Manufacturer: ATI

Model: Radeon Mobility 7500

Bus Type: AGP, but recognized as PCI in Leopard

Memory size: 16MB

 

No proper support in Leopard for AGP cards; Fixes that were used for 10.4.x to enable QE do not work in Leopard.

OpenGL.framework from 10.4.1 (that makes QE work) causes Crashes/Black Screen.

To date there is no working AGPGart support in Leopard.

Installing drivers and Callisto (003 from 5/27/06 works) causes mouse/graphics artifacts; system errorneously detects two displays when there is only one (LCD).

Recommend use of no drivers until fix is resolved.

 

 

SATA/IDE working: Yes

 

Wifi : Used Dell Truemobile 1370 WLAN Card (uses Broadcom 43xx chipset); works OOB

For Travelers: WWAN Cards also work OOB (if used USB)

 

NOT WORKING:

 

PCMCIA BUS

 

Notes to consider before installing Leo on your system: (This is what I experienced; YMMV)

 

ToH 10.5.1, Kalyway 10.5.1, and JaS 10.5.2 DO NOT boot from the install DVD. It might be an issue with incompatibility with the MOBO/GFX, but certain that the issue is related to the Bootloader.

 

iAtkos v1.0ir2 will install ONLY IF the (unofficial) r3+BadBIOS patch is applied. But will not boot unless DVD is in the drive and using flag "rd=disk0s1". Tried to use Kalyway Make Bootable Disc, but makes no difference.

 

DO NOT install the stock AppleACPIPlatform.kext (vanilla) if you want power management (battery status) to work on your system. Fine installed on your system must be version 1.0.3 and modify the ACPIPowerSource.kext to reflect version 1.0.5 (version is 1.1 in kext); and download PowerManagement.bundle v. 137 (can be found here in forums)

 

End of Quote

 

[XweAponX]

The PCMCIA bus wasnt working, thats bad news if you have a WiFi add on card.

 

But it looks like a few people have actually got systems like yours to work...

 

About that 512 original Ram limitation,

 

And you said that you did the Bios update because you wanted the extra memory slot?

 

Does the original Hardware config, have an EMPTY slot? I don't understand...

 

Why would IBM/Lenovo make a severly HiTech (for its time) system and NOT give you access to all of the hardware capabilities?

[BBrown]

The PCMCIA bus wasnt working, thats bad news if you have a WiFi add on card.

 

But it looks like a few people have actually got systems like yours to work...

 

About that 512 original Ram limitation,

 

And you said that you did the Bios update because you wanted the extra memory slot?

 

Does the original Hardware config, have an EMPTY slot? I don't understand...

 

Why would IBM/Lenovo make a severly HiTech (for its time) system and NOT give you access to all of the hardware capabilities?

 

I am going to mix and match. In minus 273's guide there is a patch to get PCMCIA slot working and another patch in another guide there is a patch to get the the exact same Netgear PCMCIA wireless network card that I have working. With nothing to lose and everything to gain, I am going to give this a go and see what happens. My dual boot Ubantu and Winxp is preserved on another hard drive so it would be just a matter of switching the original hard drive back if this does not work out. This is the only thing left to try before I throw in the towel. Downgrading the bios is not an option as I don't want to brick the computer.

 

The IBM T30 was orignally designed with two memory slots to accomodate 512 MB maximum(256 MB max for each slot) under the old bios. I guess when the computer was originally designed IBM felt the maximum 512 mg would be sufficient for most applications during that time. The bios update allowed the memory slots to take 1 gig each for a maximum of 2gig. Later on, it became evident that there was an inherent design flow, so one of the memory slots regardless of the IBM T30 in question would inherently fail. With a updated bios you are still left with 1 gig if one memory slot fails. Under the old bios, if one memory slot fails, you are left with only 256 MG memory which is hardly enough to run anything.

[XweAponX]

Sorry, I was thinking in terms of 512 MB being the lowest Ram module for some reason.

 

I found a Lenovo page with the original specs: it says there, 1 GB total ram.

 

Nobody really got ram conscious until Vist-{censored}e came out, cos in 2005 and 2006, most people were happy with XP Pro and MCE with 256 and 512 MB. A couple people I knew had 1 GB of Ram, and we all thought "Wow that's a lot"

 

But when Vista came out... And everyone learned immediately, the damn system wont even start right with less than 2 GB of Ram. SP1 fixed that slightly but they took the opportunity to install a "Compatibility Subsystem" that hard-blocks programs like Acronis Disk Director... And you have to search the MS dungeons to find the MS Application Compatibility Toolkit.

 

The point is since Vist-{censored} came out, people have been wanting more and more and more ram, and faster ram, and gigs and terabytes of RAM!

 

That is why I like my G4, cos I have it next to my AMD Socket 754 tower with 2 GB of Ram and lemme see: 256+256+256, well, .75 Terabyte of Hard Drive Space (all filled)

 

I am running OSX.3.9, on a 733 G4, 1 GB PC-133 Ram. And it is the only Older G4 I have ever seen that took the PC-133 sticks.

 

I have Pro Tools 6.4 on both machines, and on the AMD, 2.2 GHz, 2 GB of Ram machine- It crashes and is slow and the sound suffers.

 

But on my G4, the Digi-001 kicks ass, sounds great, and I can process about... 8-16-24... 32 Tracks before the system is weighed down, but I have a couple of tracks that have 40-odd separate audio tracks.

 

Ah, I got side-tracked: Here is that page

 

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss...ocid=MIGR-58227

[BBrown]

*****UPDATE FWIW****

 

Okay, I thought that I would post this for anyone interested. Noobs may find it useful.

 

I finally was able to get my IBM T30 laptop up and running with hackintosh. There were only 2 distributions that worked. Jas 10.4.3 as per Minus_273 guide.

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...mp;#entry783529

 

and Atkios patched as per antonbhc.

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=75703

 

with patch applied to Atkios as described here:

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=95283

 

 

 

Comparing the two was quite interesting and revealed some interesting things for anyone contemplating using an existing IBM T30 laptop or buying one for installing any one of these distributions. And yeah, I tried em all. leo4all, kalaway, etc., The only one that I did not try was uphuck. None but the two mentioned worked for me.

 

Hardware Issues:

 

While Jas 10.4.8 did not appear to mind, neither did Ubuntu 8.04 and Windows XP, Atkios seemed not to like the 2 gig PC2700 memory. And for the doubting Thomas' out there, I can honestly tell you that after spending many hours and days on this, I was able to pinpoint installation problems with the Atkios to the memory. How? My a process of elimination and trial and error. After trying everything when Atkios would stop at 30% installation and show a kernel panic halting installation. I replaced 2 Gig PC2700 memory with the original 256 MB each of the DDR memory that originally came with the computer. And lol and behold, with no other changes and everything else being equal, installation proceeded without any problems. Also, FWIW, I replaced back to the 2 gig memory after installation of Atkios and ended up with contant screen freeze ups that could only be resolved with a reboot. The problem seemed to disappear after I replaced the memory with the 2 256 mg DDR memory. The 2 Gig PC2700 memory issue did not effect Jas 10.4.8 during or after installation. The 2 1 gig memory chips themselves checkout out okay using memory tests outside and inside Atkios, so the memory chips themselves were not the problem. Although I did not test with only 1 gig PC2700 memory chip. The issue may well be the total memory vs the actual memory. Atkios may not like 2 gig memory on IBM T30 laptops.

 

I could not install either Jas 10.4.8 or Atkios from my CD/DVD burner(the DVD disks were not being booted from) although after installation, the CD/DVD burner would be recognized and I could burn CD and DVDs. Also, there were installaion problems with both distributions unless the extra step of creating and formatting 1 partition in disk utility was not done. There were no installation problems with either distribtion when the original CD player/DVD player was used for the installation. Also, as others have found, for Atkios once installed, I found I had to leave the Atkios installation DVD in the DVD player and type rd=disk0s1 for Atkios to fully work, although I could eject the DVD after Atkios was up and running without any problems. I searched far and wide for a solution to this and even when through the steps of setting the partition "active" using fdisk in Mac0SX, but this did not work. I read that there is some kind of Brazillain Mac patch or fix floating around but was unable to find a guide and information on this. Lol,I probably have been looking in the wrong places.

 

I was unable to get by Netgear WG511T PCMCIA card working in either distribution. Also with PCMCIA slots working, there were constant freeze ups and lockups.

 

Software Issues:

 

Screen saver(only two) works in Atkios but not Jas. This is not an issue unless you leave your computer unattended for hours. Safari web browser crashes in Jas but not Atkios. The crash happens at the worst of times(like immediately after I log onto Ebay) I managed to fix this by installing and using Firefox for Mac. Open Office for Mac does not work in either Atkios or Jas, I get the open office icon bouncing box followed by a time out there. For me, this is a huge issue as I use Open Office for all my word processing requirements.

 

WMV files did not play well even with Flip4Mac™ and Windows Media Player for Mac installed. What a real PITA! This may be due to graphic limitations of the IBM T30.

 

Conclusion:

 

I am not here to flame anyone, so I hope no one takes offense to this. I realize and appreciate that most people mess with Hackintosh because they love the challenge or want a real mac but cannot afford one. As far as an IBM T30 is concerned, my suggestion would be to install Ubuntu 8.04 unless you don't mind running a severly crippled operating sysem(hackintosh) on your laptop. I can honestly tell you that while Ubuntu may also not work right out of the box, I had no problems finding solutions in a hurry by googling and any issues that arose after installation of Ubuntu were miniscule in comparison to Hackintosh. "All" my wireless network cards worked out of the box including my high gain cantenna usb card. Open Office works flawlessly. WMV files work no problems. Ubuntu does not mind the 2 gig PC2700 memory so I can get the full functionality of the memory. I don't have to leave some stupid DVD in my DVD player just to get the operating system to boot up. Updates are available regularly and no issues around not being able to update. My sister is only restricted to dial up and wanted to try Ubuntu Linux. I got an old US Robotics external modem and we were up and running with dialup in Ubuntu no problem. God only knows what would have happened with any Hackintosh distributions since there is no support for any third party modems.

 

Even if I were to 100% succeed with hackintosh, I share may of Cavemonkey's sentiments.

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=20472

 

In my IBM T30 Laptop, I plan to stick with Ubuntu 8.04, just because it works so well and IME even better than Windows XP. I can do more in Ubuntu than I ever could in Windows XP and I am not bound by many of the issues or restrictions posed by Hackintosh.

 

After the next two paycheques from work, I should have enough money for a new laptop. It was a tough choice between IBM T61 laptop and MacBook. In the end I chose the Macbook, primarily because of its lower depreciation and higher resale value. Mac operating system is something else for me to monkey around with. Unlike the IBM T61, the Macbook is also 100% compatible with the installation of Ubuntu and even Vista should I choose(not likely). I want to thank everyone on this forum who was kind enough to respond to my private messages and for all the useful information and responses to my post. It was a lot of fun and I learned quite a bit, but for me this journey is over.

[BBrown]

****UPDATE****

 

If anyone is still following this post with any interest,FWIW, I ordered a Linksys WPC54G V3 PCMCIA Wireless Card Plugged it in after following Minus_273 guide, it was detected as a Mac Airport Card and WPA Wireless Security. I was able to connect to and detect my encrypted network and log on with the WPA card. No hiccups and appears to run more smoothly(no signal drop off) than the 2 PCMCIA atheros based chipset cards that I use with Ubunutu 8.04.

 

Now for the real kicker. I recently converted by $60 Linksys router into a $600 router with a 3rd party firmware upgrade as described here:

http://lifehacker.com/software/router/hack...uter-178132.php

 

By all indications, many people with Mac computers have indicated connection problems connecting to this router wired and wireless. They claim not to have this problem when they downgrade back to the original Linksys Router firmware. I did not experience this problem. No connection issues wired or wireless. I am typing this from my laptop with wireless internet connection and modified router

 

Finally, I can now play Windows Media Video Files by download and installing the Nightly Builds Version of VLC Player for Mac which can be downlaoded from here: http://nightlies.videolan.org/build/macosx-intel/?C=M;O=D

 

DVD Player does not play DVDS. It seems to stuggle and all I see is a choppy screen with distorted video. Screen Saver does not work and crashes when I attempt to configure the screen saver. I still plan on buying a genuine Mac, but for now, this 90% functioning hackintosh on a IBM T30 is not too bad.

 

Will update if more progress is made.

 

Regards

[BBrown]

***FWIW, another update(lol, I feel like I am talking to myself)***

 

The lack of a screen saver was really beginning to get under my skin. Quartz extreme graphics support would have also be nice. So, to make this a reality, I was left with three options (1) Buy a real macbook laptop. Well, this was my plan, but I could not afford one and needed something to tie me over until I could afford one, (2) Buy another more hackintosh compatible laptop with better hardware, including graphics, and better overall hardware support. This would be an illogical move as it would mean sinking money that I had saved up for a macbook towards the purhchase of another computer. Plus as others have stated there is no such thing as a 100% compatible hackintosh computer, (3) trying another hackintosh(distro) that would give me the screen saver functionality and Quartz Extreme graphics support.

 

Well, I went for option 3. Using XxX 10.4.11 rev.2 with the kext files referenced in minus_273 Jas 10.4.8 IBM T30 guide, I now have Airport functionality(using linksys WPC54G wireless card), fully functional screen saver, and Quartz Extreme graphics support. The only real problem that I encountered was the constant computer lockups(forcing a reboot) whenever I tried to enter my WPA key for wireless airport configuration. I am not sure what was causing this, but after about three tries and reboots, the WPA key finally took without locking up and I am posting this while connected wireless using Safari Browser. So far the system seems appears pretty stable, but it is too early to tell how it will perform over the long run. One thing is for sure, installing more than 1 Gig memory appears to cause major install issues and system instability issues even after the memory is installed after the distro is fully installed.

 

All this on an ancient IBM T30 laptop. I would never have thought that hackintosh would ever run on this little sh*t bucket, let alone run with Quartz Extreme graphical support.

 

Will post further if additional progress is made or problems discovered.

 

Regards

[BBrown]

***Update****

Well, it has been a lot of fun tweaking hackintosh and further testing what works and what does not work. I am posting this update in the hopes that some of my discoveries may help others with their Hackintosh setups.

 

I wanted to desperately get a triple boot system setup with WinXP, Ubuntu, and OSX(XXX-10.4.11) . As it was I had no problems with dual booting WinXp and Ubantu or just WinXp and OSX. Grub was not detecting OSX even when it was successfully installed so I had to pop in the installation disk to get OSX to boot from the hard drive. I googled this subject to death and tried all possible solutions, including this one:

http://maketecheasier.com/how-to-dual-boot...1051/2008/02/28

 

It did not work. The problem was that while the bootloader picked up Mac osx, everytime I clicked on it, Darwin would do its thing for 10 seconds and the whole computer would reboot.

 

Finally, and many thanks to Boinky2, Boinky2's dual boot guide(Winxp chainloader method) worked.

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=52954

 

I modified the steps by setting up an additional partition(unformatted) and after I followed his steps. After I installed WinXp, and XXX-10.4.11, I installed Ubuntu and during installation, I chose the use all free space option and Ubuntu 8.04 automatically found the extra partition and formatted it and installed successfully. Now when I boot up grub shows Ubuntu 8.04 and WinXp as always, but now when I click WinXp in the grub manual it gives me the option of booting into WinXp or XXX-10.4.11. No more putting the installer DVD in the DVD just to get it to boot Mac OSX!!

 

Many thanks to Macgirl also. Although I have access to high speed wired and also wireless, and don't need to use dialup, my sister only has dialup internet. When I save up enough for a real Macbook, my sister will inherit this laptop and I wanted her to be able to experience Mac OSX. I had a all US Robotics 5686 External Serial Modem and was convinced that it would never work for my Mac OSX setup as US Robotics did not have a Mac OS specific driver for this modem. In another post Macgirl posted about successfully getting this modem to work with a setup she had. So instead of giving up, I persisted and bang! the USR 56K modem works. No fancy cables. It is connected through the serial port of the laptop just as it would be with a regular PC.

 

Although my linksys WPC54G worked perfectly and was detected as an airport, I wanted a real integrated wireless solution. Perhaps I am just too nitpicky, but the sight of a PCMCIA card sticking out of one corner of the laptop was too much of an eyesore for me. I purchased a

Dell TrueMobile 1370 Wireless WiFi Card - DW1370 to test. I was immediately hit with the "1802: Unauthorized network card is plugged in Power off and remove the miniPCI network card" error. This is due to an IBM bios block. IBM wants customers to purchase only their cards. The solution to the problem proved quite simple. I don't know if the solution will work for other laptops and it is said not to work with newer IBM laptop models. Thanks to Collin(author of the article) for posting the solution here:

http://www.command-tab.com/2006/02/26/thin...1802-error-fix/

 

I downloaded and installed the drivers for the Truemobile card from Dell and the card works perfectly in WinXP

Here is the link to the drivers: http://www.dell-drivers.com/dell-drivers-d...ard_13021.shtml

 

In Ubuntu 8.04, no special procedure was required. Ubuntu automatically detected the card and gave me the option of enabling the restricted broadcom driver for the card. I enabled the restricted driver and Ubuntu automatically downloaded and installed the required firmward and the card is 100% working. With Mac OSX XXX-10.4.11, it was pretty much plug and play. The card was detected as an airport and worked 100% without anything other than choosing my network and entering my WPA password. I should point out that WPA works with all WinXP, Ubuntu,and Mac 0SX.

 

DVD plays DVD using VLC not the built in Mac OSX DVD Player. windows wmv files play best with mplayer for OSX

http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html and realplayer for OSX

 

While the built in burn program found in Disk utility works best for burning ISO images to CD/DVD, I found that for regular burning of CD and DVDS, disk burner worked really well http://mac.sofotex.com/download-126893.html

 

For an excellent Microsoft Word compatible free wordprocessing program, I found NeoOffice to work really well.

http://www.coolosxapps.net/2008/06/19/neoo...sheet-and-more/

 

I found this torrent program, Vuze, to work best for dowloading torrents.

http://www.coolosxapps.net/2008/06/19/vuze...lient-for-os-x/

 

Finally, I found this archive decompression free software to work really well.

http://freesoftwaresnow.blogspot.com/2008/...or-mac-osx.html

 

The only huge system instability issues to arise and only in OSX XXX-10.4.11 is installation problems and system lockups and freezeups when memory is bumped up to 2 gigs from one gig. This does not happen with Ubuntu 8.04 and WinXp which leads me to believe that this is due to some software restriction issue with the OSX and not a hardware issue with the memory.

 

I also experienced major system freezeups and instability using Onyx(and yes I did use the Tiger Version)maintenance program

http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs2/english/download.html The lockups would often occur after about the third use of the program, so I would encourage other tiger users to stay away from Onyx.

 

This is no longer a nightware. It took some tweaking and finetuning, but everything works perfect now and with a triple boot system on one computer, I can monkey around with, compare, and enjoy the best of all worlds: Ubuntu 8.04, WinXP, and OSX. The only regret that I have is not being able to use the full 2 gigs memory with the Mac OSX.

 

If anything else worth posting should arise, I will be sure to post.

 

Regards.

[shifuharris]

I have been having a similiar experience as with my t30.I started this because I had a spare HDD and wanted to see if I could get OSx86 on it. I tried several distros and finally got a pretty solid install using the XxX10.4.1 distro like you. I would say it is about 95% (sound is choppy and no scrolling for the trackpad).

 

Did you get scrolling enabled on yours? I tried the FFScroll I found on another post and that killed my PCcard bus.

 

Also, if anyone knows how to install Leopard on a T30, I would love to hear about it. I tried most of the 10.5.x distro and all I get is the reboot problem with most of them or a freeze up at the ACPI portion of the install. seems the T30 has as serious problem with the EFI.

 

Any feedback would be appreciated

 

T30

1GB Ram

ATI Radeon 7500 16mb

Intel i845D chipset

 

Thanks