Trouble to get OS X on SONY VAIO W

[ben.rec.exe]

After many tries and no real success, now a topic about the Sony Vaio W:

 

I've tried the iDeneb 10.5.8 distribution from September 2009. It isn't very hard to get OS X working (with Vanilla kernel), but the big problem: the 1366x768 resolution (stuck at 1024x768). The panel has the ID 27ae. With the normal gma950 driver, sound and voodoo-power (battery icon) work, but with the fix for 27ae available during installation, neither sound nor battery icon work, but proper resolution does

 

So, after MANY tries of different combinations, my question: Did anyone have real success for the Sony Vaio W???

 

 

Greetz and thanks in advance

[ben.rec.exe]

Strange, using voodoo-kernel produces kp always...

[nae]

Just to bring this back to life, I am very curious also. I am interested in possibly purchasing a Vaio W if it will work perfectly. I have an HP 110 with the high resolution screen and am also stuck on 1024x768.

 

Also, does the wifi card work? I saw that it has Atheros and I've had bad luck getting Atheros cards to work on OSX.

 

Thank you so much!

[jaibri2]

After many tries and no real success, now a topic about the Sony Vaio W:

 

I've tried the iDeneb 10.5.8 distribution from September 2009. It isn't very hard to get OS X working (with Vanilla kernel), but the big problem: the 1366x768 resolution (stuck at 1024x768). The panel has the ID 27ae. With the normal gma950 driver, sound and voodoo-power (battery icon) work, but with the fix for 27ae available during installation, neither sound nor battery icon work, but proper resolution does

 

So, after MANY tries of different combinations, my question: Did anyone have real success for the Sony Vaio W???

 

 

Greetz and thanks in advance

 

 

Hi Ben.rec.exe

 

I Installed iATKOS v7 (10.5.7) from an External DVD drive to my vaio w using the next steps

 

1. on boot from chamaleon Press 8, type cpus=1

2. On OSX install Partiotion your HDD as GUID

3. Install with these options

voodoo Kernel 9.7.0

GMA 950

USB

PS/2 controller and trackpad plugin

Only that

4. On first boot boot again with cpus=1

5. Go to the snow first run setup

6. Boot again normally (this time not with the cpus=1 option)

 

What works

Graphics 1366x768 QE/CI enabled

Sound

Bluetooth

Battery

 

Don`t work

 

Wirles Atheros ( I use a linksys with ralink chipset), will work on snow leopard but I couldn`t install it con my vaio w with the toshiba NB205 method

 

I someone could make a Wiki or a guide to install snow Leopard in Vaio W (W11 or W12) I`d really appreciate it

[Bucher]

I someone could make a Wiki or a guide to install snow Leopard in Vaio W (W11 or W12) I`d really appreciate it

 

 

There are 2 or 3 other threads on these, here is my post from it today.

 

 

Running the VPCW121AX Sony Vaio W.

 

I have 1366x769 QE/CI enabled in 10.5.8 - no problem.

 

1) Used iAtkos 710.5.7 to install:

usb

Intel 950 (had a lost of problems here till I realized that all 3 950s had to be checked)

9.7 Voodoo Kernel

Bios Enabler (About this Mac would not work and restarted finder without it)

PS2 keyboard with trackpad.

Voodoo Battery

boot with cpus=1 on first boot.

 

-No LAN, wifi, and sound is a bit distorted/scratchy at times (mic and sound jacks also disabled).

-Use a ZyXEL 300Mbps NWD-271N USB wifi (OSX driver installed from company website, works in 10.6 also)

 

2) Updated with the Ideneb Combo update to 10.5.8 w/ vanilla core.

cpus=1 on first boot again

Start IAtkos and unchecked all but Intel 950. (will say failed, but just ignore the error)

Restarted.

Installed all listed updated from Software update.

 

3) Have been told that removing/reinstalling the audio kexts will correct the scratchy sound. Will test this as well.

 

 

 

I have also pushed this model thru osx 10.6.2 with the new atom kernal patch, but could not get the video above 1024x768 and could never get the sound working so reinstalled to 10.5.8.

 

As another note, have installed this from IPC 10.5.6 as well, but the video is not corrected and iAtkos 7 must be used for the video drivers again.

 

I really hope that someone can get the Atheros 8132 for the LAN or the Atheros 9285 for the wifi working at some point. neither would work under 10.6.2 either.

[jaibri2]

Almost everything working now on 10.5.8 with Bucher method

 

Only thing not working is Atheros WiFi

 

 

 

Thanks Bucher

[Bucher]

Almost everything working now on 10.5.8 with Bucher method

 

Only thing not working is Atheros WiFi

 

 

 

Thanks Bucher

 

Glad to hear it. I do not have a lot of hope on the Atheros so far. At 10.6.2 I tried various Atheros fixes, but no dice, and 10.6.2 still did not recognize it. I will remain at 10.5.8 for the time being.

 

Does your mic work jaibri2? I have not had any success there on the VPCW121AX. Have a usb mic/speaker by altec lansing that works well and is an easy solution. Are you using a VPCW121 or a APCW 111?

 

Thanks,

[jaibri2]

Does your mic work jaibri2? I have not had any success there on the VPCW121AX. Have a usb mic/speaker by altec lansing that works well and is an easy solution. Are you using a VPCW121 or a APCW 111?

 

Thanks,

 

 

Hi Bucher

 

Sorry for this late reply, I have a VPCW120AL, sorry, No, my mic was not working on 10.5.8, I recently notice this, I`m still trying on another HDD to make snow leopard work, but as far as I go I can only make sound work with voodooHDA.kext, GMA 950 gives always 1024x768 no QE/CI.

[Scann69]

So since there is no drivers for the Atheros WiFi, would it be possible to change the wifi card with a broadcom? Hard to make the change? I have not gotten the Sony W12 yet but am planing on getting it this weekend provided OSX can work on it

[Bucher]

Hi Bucher

 

Sorry for this late reply, I have a VPCW120AL, sorry, No, my mic was not working on 10.5.8, I recently notice this, I`m still trying on another HDD to make snow leopard work, but as far as I go I can only make sound work with voodooHDA.kext, GMA 950 gives always 1024x768 no QE/CI.

 

 

Same here. I have an Altec Lansing USB mic & jack that works like a charm though. I find that I only need the mic on skype, so since I plug in a headset anyway, this works out fine. The only thing you have to do is go into settings and switch the priority of devices to the USB. Then works like a charm.

 

 

Cheers.

 

So since there is no drivers for the Atheros WiFi, would it be possible to change the wifi card with a broadcom? Hard to make the change? I have not gotten the Sony W12 yet but am planing on getting it this weekend provided OSX can work on it

 

I have not taken the Sony apart. In most netbooks you can change the card, but I have been told that the Sony W netbook wifi is integrated. Like I said though, I have not stripped mine down.

[yummy1]

Just wanted to chip in that Butcher's method works a treat. The only things that aren't working are the wifi and LAN, Sleep, and I'm not sure if Bluetooth is working properly or not - I'm trying to tether my iPhone via Bluetooth for internet access, but no go.

 

Not tested the mic yet either, but I'm happy to have gotten this far already, thanks to your pioneering.

 

Cheers!

[jaibri2]

Ok Just an update

 

I noticed that my cpu was always on 1.66 Ghz (166 Mhz and multiplier always x10) with CPU-X, which implies more fan work and also lower battery time, I solved this problem when I installed voodoopower.kext, on iATKOS v7 there is an option on drivers/system that says "lntel speedstep" which installs voodoopower kext, and there is also an app "throtting control" which monitors cpu speed, temp, and mWatts, you can find it also on this forums or the web. With voodoopower your cpu can do speedstep (change speed depending on workload), saving battery life time.

 

Don`t know this is a nob thing but I just find this useful and think may help anyone on this forum.

 

 

 

PS. first time I installed it, booted with -v cpus=1 at chameleon bootloader to see any KP, and actually it was a Kernel Panic, but don`t worry, restart an boot again with -v cpus=1 and everything works, on next boot you can boot normally and you can verify on CPU-X or the app "throtting control" which comes with iAtkos to see if your cpu can do SpeedStep.

 

greetings.

[yummy1]

Ok Just an update

 

I noticed that my cpu was always on 1.66 Ghz (166 Mhz and multiplier always x10) with CPU-X, which implies more fan work and also lower battery time, I solved this problem when I installed voodoopower.kext, on iATKOS v7 there is an option on drivers/system that says "lntel speedstep" which installs voodoopower kext, and there is also an app "throtting control" which monitors cpu speed, temp, and mWatts, you can find it also on this forums or the web. With voodoopower your cpu can do speedstep (change speed depending on workload), saving battery life time.

 

Don`t know this is a nob thing but I just find this useful and think may help anyone on this forum.

 

 

 

PS. first time I installed it, booted with -v cpus=1 at chameleon bootloader to see any KP, and actually it was a Kernel Panic, but don`t worry, restart an boot again with -v cpus=1 and everything works, on next boot you can boot normally and you can verify on CPU-X or the app "throtting control" which comes with iAtkos to see if your cpu can do SpeedStep.

 

greetings.

 

Nice one Jaibri2, you just added 20 more minutes to the battery life

[ben.rec.exe]

Hi everyone,

 

has anyone been able to get the brightness keys to work? I still have to use the little app, but keys would be much nicer!

 

 

Yours,

Ben

[Bucher]

Just wanted to chip in that Butcher's method works a treat. The only things that aren't working are the wifi and LAN, Sleep, and I'm not sure if Bluetooth is working properly or not - I'm trying to tether my iPhone via Bluetooth for internet access, but no go.

 

Not tested the mic yet either, but I'm happy to have gotten this far already, thanks to your pioneering.

 

Cheers!

 

Yummy1,

 

I am using a bluetooth mouse and it pairs and works just fine. Have not tried an iPhone as I am working outside the US right now and don't use one anymore.

 

Cheers!

 

Nice one Jaibri2, you just added 20 more minutes to the battery life

 

 

Thanks Jaibri2,

 

I will try this one when I get home tonight.

 

Cheers!

[lotech]

Just an update on the W and what works and doesn't - definitely issues with SL - Graphics mainly. For someone looking to install osx86 your best bet is to use iatkos 10.5.7 (which you can update safely to 10.5.8).

 

Ethernet now works using these drivers - http://code.google.com/p/iats/ - use the Attansic / Atheros L1C drivers.

 

You can replace the wifi card easily enough and I posted some pics to show what you're looking for on this thread - http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...p;#entry1457871. FYI you're looking for a PCI-Express type - and a small one at that (some are longer than will fit). Taking the W to pieces is pretty easy - just remove all the screws and be careful as you take off the Keyboard and the top sheet - as they have ribbons connecting them to the mobo.

[lotech]

Can someone confirm/deny Sleep support? I know Bucher says its working but following his settings to install, my W goes to sleep but never wakes up again.... I've tried installing Iatkos a couple of times with a few different settings with no luck. From what I can tell its more to do with the screen not waking up - as the comp is accessible via the network and screen sharing.

 

As for replacing wireless cards, you can physically replace the card but when I did I couldn't get Windows to detect the new card, let alone OS-X. I'm going to order a Dell 1510 Wireless card via Hong Kong / ebay and try that one.

[lotech]

The 1510 worked great - native wireless now working perfectly.

 

I've finally had some success with screen brightness and the problem of the backlight not reseting on wake. If you make sure you have pcitulis installed (http://x86dev.org/forum/index.php?topic=307.msg2750) which allows you to directly set the backlight setting -

 

setpci -s 00:02.1 F4.B=XX

 

Where XX is replace with a number from 00 (off) to 99 (100%). I made a couple of automator applications with 10% and 100% settings so I can easily switch brightness - I had hoped to find a programme to do this easily elsewhere - for now the shortcuts I have on the dock work well enough.

I had issues with the computer waking but the backlight being set at 0% - I've found an program called SleepWatcher which can run a command (set the brightness @ 100%) on wake - or an even easier option using an App called Keyboard Maestro and then setting the original F5/F6 keys (no fn) to set the brightness at 10% or 100% - it also allows me to run a command on wake and thus get the backlight to set at 100%.

 

So heres where I'm at with my PCG-4V1W / VPC-W126AG (aka USA VPC-W111XX)

Specs, Atom 1.6 N280, 1GB, 250GB, GMA950 (ID 27ae)

 

Things I can't yet get working -

* About this mac forces logout/finder crash, system profiler works fine.

* Sleep on lid close does nothing

* Battery doesn't redetect on wake, and won't give feedback but continues to work (tried various voodoo battery versions)

* Distorted sound once woken (sometimes)

* Onboard mic doesn't work

* Card reader (voodooSDHC.kext/IOSDHCIBlockDevice.kext both tried)

* Keyboard sometimes wakes and presses 2222222222 until a physical key is pressed.

* Sound comes out both headphones and speakers - no switch.

 

Working

GMA950 QE/QI 1366x768, 2nd Monitor support (Iatkos 10.5.7 GMA950 Drivers)

SPEED STEP (Voodoo Power)

KB / Touchpad (Voodoo PS2)

SOUND (Patched AppleHDA.kext with an audio codec dump) - works but I've now discovered Headphone/Speaker switch doesn't work.

ETHERNET (Attansic / Atheros L1C drivers)

WIFI (Replaced card with Dell 1510)

BLUETOOTH

SLEEP / WAKE (Backlight stays on 0% on boot - use an app like Keyboard Maestro to set at 100% via terminal command).

KEYBOARD - By default types § instead of tilde (~) making terminal a pain - use Keyboard Maestro to restore ~/` key to map it to their correct keys.

[lotech]

I thought I might include some files I've needed / used to get closer to a perfected setup.

 

Getting sound working well(ish)

I've managed to get the speakers and headphones switching properly and for headphones to even work.

Heres a codec dump made via ubuntu, when used via Taruga's Patcher (http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=32859)

codec_dump.txt

The volume controls have always worked via the fn key.

 

Brightness Controls

First install PCIutils -

pciutils_osx_installer_1.03.zip

And then these 2 Automator apps with switch your backlight between 10% & 100%

SonyViaoWBrightness.v1.zip

 

I've had success using a little app to auto set brightness on wake but will have to write a little more info as it wasn't a one step process.

[lotech]

After some messing around I've found the app Keyboard Maestro is quite a useful thing to have.

 

Keyboard Shortcut Fixes

Using it I've managed to set the F5/F6 keys to change brightness between 10/100% and also set my backlight to 100% on wake.

It also allowed me to set the tilde key (` - right beside Esc) to work correctly as it was previously typing the completely useless § key (what is that anyway?).

 

So now the normal mac keyboard controls should work -

~ - Working

F1 - Help

F2 - Mute

F3 - Volume -

F4 - Volume +

F5 - Brightness 10%

F6 - Brightness 100%

F7 - n/a

F8 - n/a

F9 - All Windows

F10 - Application Windows

F11 - Desktop

F12 - Dashboard

 

Attached is the Keyboard Maestro macro files which you can use. They're individual files so install just the ones you need.

Vaio_KB_Fixes.zip

 

Fix for About this Mac causing Finder to crash and logout/in

Originally from here, but instead of removing menu options I just got the option to open System Profiler instead. Any upgrades to to the OS will break this.

 

Open in a text editor like TextWrangler /System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/HIToolbox.framework/Versions/A/ Resources/English.lproj/StandardMenus.nib/objects.xib

 

Change

<object class="IBCarbonMenuItem" id="220">
	  <string name="title">About This Mac</string>
	  <boolean name="dynamic">TRUE</boolean>
	  <boolean name="updateSingleItem">TRUE</boolean>
	  <ostype name="command">abtm</ostype>
</object>

 

To:

<object class="IBCarbonMenuItem" id="220">
	  <string name="title">About This Mac</string>
	  <boolean name="dynamic">TRUE</boolean>
	  <boolean name="updateSingleItem">TRUE</boolean>
	  <ostype name="command">spro</ostype>
	</object>

[wolfiem]

Thanks everybody who contributes this topic. your tips helped me so much. I installed iAtkos 7 and after iDeneb for 10.5.8 update. After update i used iAtkos dvd again for screen resolution and sleep function. Also i'm using lotech's brighness solution for wake from sleep.

 

My only problem is sometimes when i plug off power adapter, screen goes black and never come back. i guess it stuck in somewhere between at sleep-awake state but i'm not sure. Except this everything works well(of course i have same issues with lotech's post #18 but they are minor) and performace is better then windows 7.

 

I also tried Linux Mint as second OS which is give full hardware support for Sony Vaio W Series Netbook. I recommend it as a second OS alternative for windows.