Driver compatibility for Dell Studio 14z (Successful OSX install!)

[glitchbit]

well I am stumped.. I have everything working except wireless, and ethernet.. I know for a fact that I have the proper kexts installed, R1000 in extra and followed the package install for the wireless, rebooted, and ran the shell script and rebooted again.. I have even opened up the plist files to make sure the kexts match my device and vendor id and they do.

 

So what now??!?

 

yay I forced the ethernet driver to load.. forgot about -f.. although it still appears like the airport kext did not load still..

 

Ok for the wireless here is my error message, also I am using dell 1397 (b/g)

 

Dependency com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family of kext com.apple.driver.AirPortBrcm43xx failed to load

kext com.apple.driver.AirPortBrcm43xx failed to load (0xdc008015)

couldn't alloc class "AirPort_Brcm43xx"

Load com.apple.driver.AirPortBrcm43xx failed; removing personalities

 

Also the voodoo battery kext is not working either..

 

1. I realize now that yes the r1000 kext does not actually work it only loads...

2. I installed Snow Leopard straight off a distro disc.. SnowOSX to be exact which might be the cause of the wireless kext not working so in my case you will have redownload the entire package.. so anyone in my boat might as well go to this thread and download the whole thing already fixed up http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...p;#entry1364000

3. I respect mmoogle but I have to disagree with the statement that he made regarding battery management, because based on my Snow Leopard install and using the dsdt files meant for A01 that were posted here, it appears like battery management does not work. Only thing I can figure is maybe some people here have some weird hybrid of 10.5 and 10.6 mixed in due to the way they've upgraded their system o0??

 

Anyways if you want battery management to appear in the top bar then download both voodoobattery and voodoopoweracpi kexts and place them in the extra extensions folder http://www.superhai.com/darwin.html

[glitchbit]

ok finally I have about 90% or more of everything working from what I can tell and here is what is in my extensions folder

 

BroadcomUSBBluetoothHCIController.kext SleepEnabler.kext

DellBluetoothHCI.kext VoodooBattery.kext

HDAIDT.kext VoodooPS2Trackpad.kext

OSXRestart.kext VoodooPowerAcpi.kext

RealtekR1000.kext

 

I have not retested r1000, not sure if the one mmoogle posted was supposed to work or what.. or did westep post r1000?

 

Anyways, for the life of me and all the dsdt files I tried sleep just wasn't working on 10.6.2 so I had to use sleepenabler. However, for whatever reason SleepEnabler must be installed (and rebooted) BEFORE VoodooBattery and PowerAcpi, otherwise it appears like the battery icon/management will disappear. Also I tried OpenHalt and Evoreboot kext files to fix the reboot and shutdown issue after going to sleep but neither work, so then I tried OSXRestart which was said to ONLY work on 10.6... but well it appears to work just fine in 10.6.2 also and it resolved a keyboard bug where it appeared like a button was pressed down when waking back up.

 

You also have to use one of the dsdt files westep posted, sorry I am not sure which page it was on. I am also assuming you are on A01.

 

I think that is it!

 

and here is a link to OSXRestart http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=199048

 

Only other things I need to mention I guess is that I have not yet tested, mic in, eSata, hdmi, displayPort or firewire but I will likely post back in less than 24 hours with how that stuff is going.

[mmoogle]

1. I realize now that yes the r1000 kext does not actually work it only loads...

2. I installed Snow Leopard straight off a distro disc.. SnowOSX to be exact which might be the cause of the wireless kext not working so in my case you will have redownload the entire package.. so anyone in my boat might as well go to this thread and download the whole thing already fixed up http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...p;?do=findComment&comment=1364000

3. I respect mmoogle but I have to disagree with the statement that he made regarding battery management, because based on my Snow Leopard install and using the dsdt files meant for A01 that were posted here, it appears like battery management does not work. Only thing I can figure is maybe some people here have some weird hybrid of 10.5 and 10.6 mixed in due to the way they've upgraded their system o0??

 

Anyways if you want battery management to appear in the top bar then download both voodoobattery and voodoopoweracpi kexts and place them in the extra extensions folder http://www.superhai.com/darwin.html

 

1. The r1000 kext either has to be placed in /System/Library/Extensions, or you have to copy some Apple networking kexts into /Extra/Extensions in order for it to work. I was lazy and copied it into /System/Library/Extensions and it works fine.

2. I can't comment on your wireless issues as I have the 1510 card which has an Atheros chipset

3. VoodooBattery is all I need. As proof, attached is the output from a kextstat.

 

I'm on BIOS A04 with a DSDT modified from A04. The only thing that doesn't work for me is backlight control. I have smbios configured to say that I'm using a 13" Macbook Pro, and I'm running in 64-bit kernel mode. I don't need a SleepEnabler extension, either.

kextstat.txt

[glitchbit]

1. The r1000 kext either has to be placed in /System/Library/Extensions, or you have to copy some Apple networking kexts into /Extra/Extensions in order for it to work. I was lazy and copied it into /System/Library/Extensions and it works fine.

2. I can't comment on your wireless issues as I have the 1510 card which has an Atheros chipset

3. VoodooBattery is all I need. As proof, attached is the output from a kextstat.

 

I'm on BIOS A04 with a DSDT modified from A04. The only thing that doesn't work for me is backlight control. I have smbios configured to say that I'm using a 13" Macbook Pro, and I'm running in 64-bit kernel mode. I don't need a SleepEnabler extension, either.

 

I see, I was under the impression that you were on A01, I certainly need to spend the time to compare the twos dsl files. My previous asus notebook reacted similar depending on the firmware loaded and I ended up creating a hybrid dsdt file out of the two firmwares. Not to mention I was already on a hacked bios firmware.. on the Asus.

 

Only other issue I have is with the xbench results.. it gave my hard drive a very bad rating. It rated the drive at 23 overall vs 207 (real macbook pro 13")

 

So I seriously need to figure out why my drive performs so badly. I don't really feel like it is performing that bad though, it boots fast, but I have yet to load all my imaging and development software.

 

I am reading about a solution that the King has found and I will probably start looking into it tomorrow. http://www.projectosx.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=564

 

Also my wireless is working fine now, I even updated it via the software update, but it broke it again so I just placed the original kext I backed up back over the update o.o.. It seems to be stable so far.

[glitchbit]

long day at work... but I am beginning to look at of this.. then I have other peoples hardware I got to take a look at tonight too.. just not enough time for it all.

 

Also right now I think I am going to try to stay on A01.. all things considered everything in it works other than lid sleep which I fixed on an asus laptop awhile back and on an hp laptop I had via dsdt so I hope it is similar enough. Well the hard drive performance also seems like it is suffering so I first and foremost want to get it resolved.

[glitchbit]

Ok I fixed the dsdt file for faster read and write access on the 14z. I followed instructions from both The King and csharpmac and renamed certain devices inside the dsdt so that they would properly be detected and I changed the logic some in those devices to match Kings post as much as possible from projectosx86. It took me 3 tries to get it done right but here it is. Enjoy!

 

I am using A01 btw and if you would like to compare my aml/dsl file to yours then I suggest using Komodo Edit (Tools -> compare files) as it has a compare feature that is very useful. I also used either a dsdt posted by bcc9 or westep23 as the base for mine.

 

Also my 14z hard drive is now benchmarking (xbench) at an overall 62.56 (before I was getting 23 and as low as 11!!).. while that is no 200+ that I was aiming for I did not realize that, that mac had a SSD hard drive and not a standard 5200-5400rpm drive. When compared to the standard 5200rpm apple drive... well lets just say I smoked it. (by 20+)

 

Thanks everyone! I will try to get around to updating my firmware to A04 and look at those brightness keys but for now I feel like my 14z is running at 99% on A01, just no automatic sleeping when the lid is shut just yet..

 

Here is my dsl and aml dsdt and if I left anything out that has been posted in previous dsdt files then please feel free to update my dsdt and repost it! Thanks!

 

Fixes

- Lid sleep for firmware A01 (untested for other firmwares, but it seems A04 already works)

(note lid sleep does work on A01 by default (with sleepenabler), but it only works when you are unplugged, my dsdt does not affect sleep)

- SATA hard drive speeds appear to be 3-4x faster

- eSata is unknown but I expect it works faster now too

gbit_14zDSDT.zip

[nightrider]

I've been following this thread since it began, trying to get snow leo or even just leo up and running on my 14Z. I don't have access to a genuine mac, am I flat out out of luck? I tried using the ddmac tool but havn't had any luck so far.

 

I made an 8gb partition on my internal drive that I can rip an install ISO to and boot the install partition if there is a program in windows other than ddmac that can do the job. So my HD is set up 300gb windows, 30 gb unpartitioned (place for OS X eventually) and 8 gb for installer files.

 

Any suggestions?

[glitchbit]

nightrider, imo I would google SnowOSX (v3.6.. maybe v3.5) and just go from there.. why almost everyone here wants to go through the pain of upgrading Leopard is beyond me.. I mean I get it but really?

 

Anyways you will likely have issues with the IO80211Family.kext so be prepared to replace it altogether with the IO80211Family.kext I linked to earlier (via a link to another thread here). Although if you have the dell 1515 (wireless n) and not the 1397 then ignore what I just said.

 

lol I also just learned just now that the dsdt file I posted earlier.. it also fixes the LID SLEEP for firmware A01!! So to summarize, I have working brightness keys/media keys, faster hard drive speeds, and working automatic lid sleep. So actually I think I have everything working perfectly.. =). Only other thing I could do now and see if I can remove some of my Extra Extensions and see if my dsdt also resolved other issues relating to battery, sleep, and restarting.

[glitchbit]

Ok I have found a few bugs that I will work on tomorrow.

 

1. My sound has disappeared.. not sure if I messed it up with messing with my kexts or if it is my dsdt just yet..

3. OSXRestart kext is no longer needed with my dsdt, not a bug but a good sign.

4. SleepEnabler is still needed, but once I visit the _WAK and _PWR methods or device I should be able to fix it I think.

 

UPDATE

Same read/write fix as before except now I have fixed the audio that I broke.

gbit_14zDSDT_audio.zip

[nightrider]

Sweet, thanks for the advice glitchbit, I downloaded the Hazard release of snow leo and I actually installed it on my desktop which has an nforce mobo (a pain in its self lol) but I'm running it perfect on there so I'm imaging my thumb drive with disk util right now!! Really excited to get my 14z going. Thanks for all your help in this thread!!! Much appreciated!

 

EDIT: So I've got the Hazard snow leo iso file saved on my desktop hackintosh's desktop, if I restore it to an 8gb pendrive will I be good to go right off the bat? or must I install chameleon or similar on the usb drive after restoring the iso in order to boot the installer from the usb stick?

[glitchbit]

ah, I guess you do not have an external dvd drive?.. Yea I think you should be able to just use the disk utility to restore it to your 8gb drive and then just boot from that usb drive and it should setup chameleon and all that for you automatically as it installs everything. I installed from my usb dvd drive... however I have installed Leopard from a usb drive before.. but that was on my real macmini.

[RikoNaz]

hey guys ive been following the board for quite some time. and was wondering if someone who has a atleast 90% operational snow leopard install running on the 14z to zip up their kext files. because im running the retail version of SL 10.6.2 and it doesnt include fakesmc kext, and the ones ive found on the net gives my install a kernel panic.

 

if you guys have x64 bit kext for the 14z that would be good to either one architect is good for me.

thanks

[glitchbit]

I have found that at least on my install by using coolbook and xbench that speedstep is indeed not working on my 14z. I expect the same is likely to be true for other 14z users.

 

I am looking into how to fix this issue right now in the dsdt. At the moment on all the dsdt's that I have tried that have been posted here, it appears when you boot up it runs at full speed and stays at full speed, but if you go to sleep and wake back up it stays stuck at 1.2ghz instead of 2.Xghz... I have the T6600 cpu I believe so please post your results on this issue.

 

Xbench says my cpu rates ranks at 155 when I first boot but then after going to sleep and waking back up it ranks at 85 consistently.

 

So it is pretty clear to me that speedstep is not functioning properly.

[mmoogle]

Built-in Speedstep works for me, both before and after a sleep/wake up. I've verified it with the Coolbook utility - I can see the speed jump up and down with normal use and go up in response to a load test. I'm running BIOS A04 with the DSDT I've posted here before. There's only 2 or 3 steps that the CPU will downclock to however (I'll double check when I get home to see exactly what they are).

[glitchbit]

Built-in Speedstep works for me, both before and after a sleep/wake up. I've verified it with the Coolbook utility - I can see the speed jump up and down with normal use and go up in response to a load test. I'm running BIOS A04 with the DSDT I've posted here before. There's only 2 or 3 steps that the CPU will downclock to however (I'll double check when I get home to see exactly what they are).

 

hmm.. thanks for posting and letting me know.. I think now I will upgrade to A04 to see if it makes a difference for me. I may also try all the other firmware versions out there so I can compare their DSDT files to each other.

 

Also the coolbook utility seems to show only 3 states on mine as well, but cpu-i will show 6. I have also found that I can remove appleintelcpupowermanagement.kext altogether and it still shows the p-states in cpu-i but no longer in coolbook and cpu-i does show that when I go to sleep and wake back up my cpu is downclocked to 1.2ghz after being at 2.2ghz.

 

So it appears to me that my A01 bios is not giving up control or communicating properly to the vanilla cpu speedstep kext or even voodoopower, or evoSpeedstep for that matter.

 

I hear I will lose some control over my brightness control but at the moment I think that would be preferable over no speedstep control.

[glitchbit]

Ok I just updated to A04 and I have to say this speedstepping appears to be working very well, although it appears to just jump from the slowest to the fastest. Although I cannot really complain because technically I would think if something needs my cpu then it might as well get it full power so it can get it over with more quickly which in some maybe most cases will save battery life in the long run.

 

Although according to CPU-i my cpu voltage is not dropping consistently, it appears to mostly use the same voltage at 1.2ghz as it does at 2.2ghz (although it is running a few to several degrees cooler than before. I guess I will rename my computer model in smbios to get coolbook running again and see what it reports back.

[lancorp]

New here, but have done Dell Mini 9's and Mini 10v's in the past (but by no means an expert).

 

Anyway, I've read through most of the posts and find the "summaries" to install Snow Leopard on the 14z, BUT...

After I have created the USB drive from the OSX SL DVD, what do I do to it to make it bootable on the 14z and start the OSX install? I've tried some of the 10v tools, but I think I messed up the flash drive with drivers that hang the boot now.

 

So, starting with a freshly made USB drive with Snow Leopard on it (using disk utility on a mac), what do I do to make it boot? Any links to other sites, etc., would be great! (actually, a real step-by-step guide for putting OSX SL on a 14z would be awesome!).

 

Thanks all! Really looking forward to SL on my 14z.

 

p.s. I'm NOT dual booting the 14z. Just OSX Snow Leopard.

[lancorp]

UPDATE: I finally got OSX installed and read/reread all the posts. I have A04 BIOS so a lot of them don't seem to apply to me. Surprisingly, my display and sound are working fine. BUT, I cannot get Wired Ethernet or my Dell 1397 working. I've tried and tried, but cannot do it. I don't know enough but to read what others have tried and try it myself.

 

In any case, without ANY network connection, I think i'm about done.

 

If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it.

[glitchbit]

lancorp, the network kext only works in the SLE location not EE. Also replace your IO80211Family.kext with this one here and it should resolve your 1397 issue.

 

http://www.mediafire.com/?iyjt4qmitvq

 

Basically the package GAOO posted is supposed to patch that kext file, but it failed for me and I am not sure why. I came across this thread here http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...p;#entry1364000 which already had it patched up.

 

Also my DSDT file posted here works fine in A04, and it appears to have working brightness control 90%+ of the time. I think my bluetooth keyboard throws it off sometimes.. but not always so I cannot say for sure.

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...t&p=1372232

 

The main advantage though I think from my DSDT is that I have speed up the hard drive performance significantly according to xbench. I would like to spend the time though to properly sleep the usb ports so drives do not eject improperly..

[glitchbit]

After using this laptop for several weeks now running OSX I feel like it is time to say definitively what works and what does not work and to discuss the bugs.

 

Works

- DisplayPort (VGA adapter)

- HDMI* (no audio over HDMI, still plays on laptop though)

- 1397 wifi b/g is solid, no issues

- firewire, I suspect this works because the expresscard shares the same interface and definitely works for sd adapters and eSATA adapters

- webcam and mic

- ethernet, appears to be solid

- bluetooth, newer update on the proper thread works without the need of setting up scripts

- eSata

- Brightness controls*(it does falter at times, but it works 95% of the time for me so.. I am not complaining)

 

Not Working

- Secondary audio port

- audio out over HDMI

 

Bugs

- Sleep bug I have encountered about 1/4 times going to sleep where the mouse left and right clicks register as right clicks.. sometimes going to sleep and waking back up fixes it.

- Sleep bug 2, the ~ key on waking up gets jammed but pressing the key always fixes it... it also occurs about 1/4 of the time, usually at the same time as the first sleep bug

*UPDATE*

SleepEnabler.kext causes this issue, should not need as long as nullcpupowermanagement.kext is not being used

 

- Firewire GUID is invalid but does not appear to create any ill fated consequences that I can tell

- I usually get the spinning beach ball of death twice within 5-10 minutes of boot up which will last for 30 seconds to 2 minutes for no reason but it does not happen again while running.. so?!? I also updated my particular dsdt file a post or 2 back with enhancements to try and stop it. While I think I curbed the problem some it still exists but the hard drive performance on my machine at least has improved by up to 4x! It is kind of sad that I only see 5 people have downloaded it lol.

 

*UPDATE*

For now I have disabled PC Card & 1394 in bios to resolve this issue with the beachball and GUID is invalid error, and the expresscard still functions fine!

 

 

I think that is all the issues I have run into, over all this is a very good install and very stable. I have dismantled my quad-core hackintosh because of this machine too.

[lancorp]

lancorp, the network kext only works in the SLE location not EE. Also replace your IO80211Family.kext with this one here and it should resolve your 1397 issue.

 

http://www.mediafire.com/?iyjt4qmitvq

 

Basically the package GAOO posted is supposed to patch that kext file, but it failed for me and I am not sure why. I came across this thread here http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...p;#entry1364000 which already had it patched up.

 

Also my DSDT file posted here works fine in A04, and it appears to have working brightness control 90%+ of the time. I think my bluetooth keyboard throws it off sometimes.. but not always so I cannot say for sure.

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...t&p=1372232

 

The main advantage though I think from my DSDT is that I have speed up the hard drive performance significantly according to xbench. I would like to spend the time though to properly sleep the usb ports so drives do not eject improperly..

 

Thanks for the help, glitchbit!

 

I did download your DSDT zip files, but think I used someone elses because of the A04 BIOS. Do you recommend, then, the gbit_14zDSDT_audio as the best one to use in my case? Also, seems the DSDT files also have a .DSL file...What do I do with that, stick it in the same Extra folder? (which, btw, I could not find, so I search my hd for "Extra" and it found the folder, so I assume that is where they go?)

 

Secondly, I agree that HD performance lags. I have a Samsung SSD in mine now, and boot times are lousy compared to what I had with my Dell Mini 10v with an SSD. That one booted in seconds to OSX.

 

I do believe I used the SLE location for the kext file. I ran the 1397 (Broadcom) pkg and then the .sh shell script (again, being a bit of an OSX dummy I didn't know what to do with the .sh file since dbl-clicking it just brought up text editor, so I renamed it .command, ran it, and accepted the defaults for the questions it asked.).

 

Which network kext should I be using (is that for the wired ethernet, or just networking in general)?

 

Sorry, I need a bit more hand-holding than most because I don't know OSX well...

 

Thanks for your help on this!

[lancorp]

@Glitchbit (and others)..I used your latest DSDT file (the gbit_14zDSDT_audio) and installed that 80211 kext, and now Wifi works (yea!) and the system sees the Ethernet now and detects when I have the cable plugged in, but for some reason does not get a DHCP. Any ideas?

 

So, a big "Thank you" for helping on that. I think reading through all these pages and posts, and with so many DSDT files and kexts posted, it's very easy for someone new here to get the wrong combination of stuff.

 

So, what is the opinion of applying 10.6.2? Does that break anything and if so, how does one fix it? Also, does it make anything better?

 

I'm going to run some benchmarks on my Samsung SSD and see if performance is up to par and report back.

[lancorp]

I ran QuickBench 4.0 on my 256GB Samsung SSD and it seems to be performing fine.

 

Sequential reads peaked at 215MB/sec (tests of 128K - 1024K were all above 200MB/sec).

Sequential writes peaked at 192MB/sec (steady increase except at 256K where it fell from 142MB/sec down to 26MB/sec, but then back to 184MB/s at 512K).

Random reads rose steadily and peaked at 208MB/s.

Random writes peaked at about 80MB/s (again, a drop at 256k and 512k test, but rose back at 1024k).

 

So, looks ok. When I had SL on my Mini 10v, and had an OCZ Vertex in it, I remember it booted up OSX amazingly fast. I think the little circular progress indicator only went around 4-5 times and then switched to graphics screen and then desktop. Now, with the Samsung, it's almost 20 circular revolutions, then switch to graphics screen and then desktop.

Seems markedly slower (almost what one would expect from a spinning hard drive, not an SSD).

 

FYI.

[glitchbit]

I ran QuickBench 4.0 on my 256GB Samsung SSD and it seems to be performing fine.

 

Sequential reads peaked at 215MB/sec (tests of 128K - 1024K were all above 200MB/sec).

Sequential writes peaked at 192MB/sec (steady increase except at 256K where it fell from 142MB/sec down to 26MB/sec, but then back to 184MB/s at 512K).

Random reads rose steadily and peaked at 208MB/s.

Random writes peaked at about 80MB/s (again, a drop at 256k and 512k test, but rose back at 1024k).

 

So, looks ok. When I had SL on my Mini 10v, and had an OCZ Vertex in it, I remember it booted up OSX amazingly fast. I think the little circular progress indicator only went around 4-5 times and then switched to graphics screen and then desktop. Now, with the Samsung, it's almost 20 circular revolutions, then switch to graphics screen and then desktop.

Seems markedly slower (almost what one would expect from a spinning hard drive, not an SSD).

 

FYI.

 

Whose dsdt file are you using? Mine or someone elses? (I hope that you are not using mine, because at least for me it boosted my spinning hard drives performance according to xbench..) Whichever you are using, I'd suggest that you try someone elses and see if your performance increases/differs. I am confused about your circular revolutions, because I don't see the ball usually until after my desktops loads up.. I never watch the number of revolutions but I do keep track of the time which can be as short as 30 seconds and as long as 2 to 4 minutes at times, but it only occurs once or twice relatively close to boot up only so I am ignoring it for now. Also the console log usually reports a Ccacheserver error or some other re-occuring error which I have found several others complain about... in fact I have found more complaints about it from real macbook owners than hackintoshes.. but that probably does not say much.

 

I will also note that I have changed my smbios.plist file to report that my mac is a MacBookPro5,5 whether it is the optimal thing to do I am not certain, but as far as hardware similarities go I know that the macbookpro5,5 is the macbook pro 13" 2009 model which is very similar to our 14z MCP79 chipset.

[lancorp]

Whose dsdt file are you using? Mine or someone elses? (I hope that you are not using mine, because at least for me it boosted my spinning hard drives performance according to xbench..) Whichever you are using, I'd suggest that you try someone elses and see if your performance increases/differs. I am confused about your circular revolutions, because I don't see the ball usually until after my desktops loads up.. I never watch the number of revolutions but I do keep track of the time which can be as short as 30 seconds and as long as 2 to 4 minutes at times, but it only occurs once or twice relatively close to boot up only so I am ignoring it for now. Also the console log usually reports a Ccacheserver error or some other re-occuring error which I have found several others complain about... in fact I have found more complaints about it from real macbook owners than hackintoshes.. but that probably does not say much.

 

I will also note that I have changed my smbios.plist file to report that my mac is a MacBookPro5,5 whether it is the optimal thing to do I am not certain, but as far as hardware similarities go I know that the macbookpro5,5 is the macbook pro 13" 2009 model which is very similar to our 14z MCP79 chipset.

 

I'm using your latest DSDT file (the 14zDSDT_audio). It's confusing, because the benchmark numbers look good, but boot times suck (I have SSD's in all my PC notebooks with Windows 7, and this 14z with SL boot times are slower). I'm afraid to change it now that I have things mostly working. Any idea on ethernet and why it won't DHCP? I haven't had time to try statically assigning an IP yet to see if it even works...

 

When I said "circular revolutions", I meant on the initial grey screen with the white apple. Below the apple is a circular "progress" indicator that goes in circles. I didn't mean the beach ball. It takes about 19 revolutions of that before my 14z switches to the graphical desktop screen. My Mini 10v with OSX SL took like 4 or 5. It was super fast (and it only had a lowly Atom CPU!).

 

Regarding your smbios.plist file...can you post that for download? Do I just copy it to what folder??

 

Also, important...what about 10.6.2 combo update? OK to do in your opinion?