[Guide] Acer Aspire 7738G - iATKOS v7

[harmc0re]

How to install a Leopard 10.5.7 on an Acer Aspire 7738G or equal laptop.

 

Hi everyone, I have a pretty nice Leopard installation on my ACER laptop (thanks InsanelyMac and the iATKOS team!), and I'd like to share my installation method with you.

 

This tutorial is intended for Acer Aspire 7738G, but it might also work on other laptops with more or less the same setup.

 

My Acer Aspire 7738G:

- Processor: Intel Core2 Duo CPU P7450 @ 2.13GHz (2 CPUs),

(For a Intel Core2 Duo CPU T6500, have a look at aHille's post)

- Memory: 4096MB RAM,

- Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 130M

- WiFi: Intel WiFi Link 5100 AGN

- Ethernet: Broadcom NetLink Gigabit Ethernet

 

Please note: Read this guide first, before installing.

 

Preparation:

 

Before you start, you will need to make sure that you have made your ACER eRecovery backup,

(your ACER laptop asked this automatically, if it didn't, read this manual (PDF).)

and a normal backup of your files, just in case you made a mistake.

 

For this guide, basic knowledge of installing operating systems is recommended, you need to know what a bootloader is, what you can do if something goes wrong, ...

 

If you are unsure about this guide, don't do it! It could mess up your system if something goes wrong!

 

Step 1, Create iATKOS DVD:

 

Okay, first up you will need to download and burn

the iATKOS v7 dvd image, I'm not allowed to give you the downloadlink, so

you will need to find that yourself. The file is about 3,50 GB.

Step 2, Partitioning (1):

 

Then, I suggest you make a partition where you want to install Leopard.

I used Windows disk manager for this, I created a 100GB ntfs partition, and named it "Mac OS X".

(You can choose a name yourself, it doesn't matter)

Step 3, Boot iATKOS DVD:

 

Now, insert your iATKOS DVD and reboot your laptop.

If the iATKOS DVD doesn't boot, you will either need to reboot,

or change your boot order settings, so your laptop can boot from your DVD.

 

Step 4, Partitioning (2):

 

You will get a screen saying "Click the button to continue..."

Do that

 

You will get a iATKOS welcome screen, click continue.

 

Then, you will get a iATKOS note, click agree.

(you can save this note to a thumbdrive if you want to)

 

Before the real installation, you will need to turn your new ntfs partition into HFS+,

you can use Disk Utility right from the DVD to do this.

 

Disk Utilities is located under Utilities - Disk Utility....

 

Disk utility is located here.

 

In the left column, you pick the partition you just made, and the erase tab.

Not the DATA, not the windows partition, but the partition you made in step 2!

 

Select "Mac HFS+ Journaled", and name your partition like you want.

This name will be shown as partition name in Leopard later.

Then press "Erase".

 

 

The Mac OS X Disk Utility app.

When that's done, you can quit Disk Utility, and go back to the iATKOS installation.

 

Step 5, The installation:

 

Pick the HFS+ partition you created and click next.

 

In this screen Leopard will be installed to the "osx" volume, you were able to chose your own name back in step 4, partitioning (2).

Next you will need to click Customize!

 

Don't click install yet!

Step 6, choose installation packages:

 

In the next screen you get a checklist with stuff you want to install.

I will give you the options that work for my installation,

if you have a different laptop then mine, you may need to

select different packages.

 

[b]V [/b]iATKOS v7 Main System
 Bootloader
   [b]V[/b] Chameleon V2
 X86 Patches
   [b]V[/b] /Extra directory
   [b]V[/b] DSDT
   Decrypters
       [b]V[/b] dsmos
   Kernel
     [b]V[/b] 9.7.0 Kernel voodoo
 [b]V [/b]Disabler
 [b]V [/b]Remove TyMCE
 Drivers
   VGA
        nVidia
            Enablers
              [b]V [/b]CoreVidia
 System
   Sound
        [b]V [/b]Voodoo HDA driver
   PS/2 mouse/keyboard
        [b]V [/b]Voodoo PS/2 driver with Trackpad plugin
   [b]V [/b]Laptop Battery
Languages
 [i]
[Look if your language is here, if not, don't select anything.[/i]]
[b]
V [/b]Post-Install Actions

List of packages you'll need in order to install Leopard on non-mac laptops.

(I suggest you print the above codebox,

or make sure you can display it on a second computer.)

 

Confirm this list, take a deep breath, and click install.

 

Step 7, Installation:

 

Now, the installer will check your DVD for faults,

and then install Leopard.

You can skip the fault checking, but i recommend to do the checking,

so if something goes wrong, you know it ain't your DVD.

 

It could happen that your screen freezes during install,

(the progress bar stops moving)

don't freak out, just move the mouse, and it goes on.

Step 8, Reboot and done!:

 

After the install, your laptop will automatically reboot.

you will notice a nice Chameleon bootloader that automatically boots Leopard

if you don't press any button.

 

you will get a beautiful leopard welcoming screen,

if not, you have a kernel panic, don't panic yourself,

just hold your laptop's power button and reboot.

 

You will notice your ethernet driver

doesn't work, that's normal.

(Look a bit more down for this)

 

You will notice your wifi driver

doesn't work, that's also normal.

(but there's no solution available yet)

To do after installation:

 

Install ethernet driver:

You will need to install this:

Broadcom5787M.zip

There's a readme included.

Now i don't know where exactly I got it from,

but the credits for this driver go to nobb1x v 0.3, and not me.

 

System Preferences:

Language,

time zone,

desktop wallpaper,

etc,...

 

Not to do after installation:

 

Don't install the Leopard 10.5.8 update!

This will result in an unbootable installation!

 

Don't install that package.

You can hide this update under Update - Ignore update....

 

Some optional stuff you could do:

 

Add real separators to your Leopard Dock.

Put widgets on the desktop layer by enabling Dashboard's developer mode.

Change your login screen background.

Put a shortcut to your Home folder on your Desktop.

Make your Desktop's icons snap to a grid.

Look for the best free video converters for Mac.

Download the latest Safari webrowser for 10.5.7.

Install games for your new Mac.

Install the latest ntfs-3g, so you can make your Leopard read/write on ntfs (Windows) partitions.

Install the latest version of the Chameleon bootloader.

(Why is it not allowed to link to the chameleon homepage?)

 

Conclusions of this guide:

 

Upsides:

Full screen resolution (1600x900).

Sound works.

Ethernet works.

Trackpad works.

 

Downsides:

Sometimes kernel panic on startup.

No wifi. (a solution is in the make)

Or check wifi for iPhone and smartphone users.

Sleep doesn't work.

 

Okay, that's it.

 

That's it, if you have any questions or problems, please post.

I have put some effort in making this guide, I've tried to make sure

that everything is clear.

If there's something unclear, please tell me, so I can improve this guide.

 

 

Harm.

Last updated: November 13, 2010.

[maximus_090]

Thank you very much

I shall definitely try this method.

 

-Harsh.

[Eskun]

Nice tutorial!

I'm so gonna do this ri---

 

> No wifi.

 

WTF NO, {censored} it.

 

Very nice guide, but the wifi not working (fuglyass wifi dongles sticking out y'r laptop is not an option) is still the hugest turnoff for me.

C'mon iwidarwin team, we need the 5100 support/love!

 

Great job on the tutorial though Harmcl!

[Joco]

Now this makes me so happy!

I have just the same laptop and will try this within a week. Will try to get w-lan working as well. I will report back with the progress

 

Thank you so much for the nice Guide!

[harmc0re]

Now this makes me so happy!

I have just the same laptop and will try this within a week. Will try to get w-lan working as well. I will report back with the progress

 

Thank you so much for the nice Guide!

 

Hi Joco,

 

Did you try it yet? ^^

 

And how about your laptop in general?

I'm very happy with mine,

how about yours?

 

Thank you for the reply ^^

[polard]

hey

 

Finally i found someone with a acer aspire 7738g on the web!

nice and thanks for sharing the guide and your'e progress

 

I first installed kalyway 10.5.2 but now i followed your'e guide because i couldnt get my resolution higher then 1024

well in the beginning it seemed that the installation went pretty well.

But now i almost get 9 out of 10 panic's

maybe it has something to do something with how i installed the driver for ethernet.

i've read the readme but i would like to know how you installed the ethernet drivers?

also do you you have some bios settings i should be aware of?

 

thx

 

Ries

[harmc0re]

hey

 

Finally i found someone with a acer aspire 7738g on the web!

nice and thanks for sharing the guide and your'e progress

 

I first installed kalyway 10.5.2 but now i followed your'e guide because i couldnt get my resolution higher then 1024

well in the beginning it seemed that the installation went pretty well.

But now i almost get 9 out of 10 panic's

maybe it has something to do something with how i installed the driver for ethernet.

i've read the readme but i would like to know how you installed the ethernet drivers?

also do you you have some bios settings i should be aware of?

 

thx

 

Ries

 

Hi,

 

Yeah, I get a lot of panics too

but sometimes it's 2/10 panics and

sometimes 9/10 panics.

It's pretty random.

And i don't know what the problem is.

 

For ethernet, I used the third method in the readme,

the promiscuous startup way.

 

I didn't change a bios setting, all

bios settings are default, except for the boot order.

 

Have you foud a solution for wifi?

 

 

cheers.

[polard]

Hi,

 

Yeah, I get a lot of panics too

but sometimes it's 2/10 panics and

sometimes 9/10 panics.

It's pretty random.

And i don't know what the problem is.

 

For ethernet, I used the third method in the readme,

the promiscuous startup way.

 

I didn't change a bios setting, all

bios settings are default, except for the boot order.

 

Have you foud a solution for wifi?

 

 

cheers.

 

nevermind the post above lets just say not used to a mac

 

anyhow i managed to get my internet as i am posting from os x right now

so hooray!

as for the kernel panics...

i think we should try to figure out why it happends and how we can solve this problem.

I didn't try the voodoo kernel 5 because youre guide told me to use 7 could it has something to do with it?

also i have now os x dual booting with win 7 and i think for some reason os x boots better when restarting

 

did you try boot in different resolutions?

also what did you try to get rid of the panics already i mean if we keep updating ourselves we dont have to do double shifts

ofcourse i went searching and searching for a solution on the intel 5100/5300 problem

and found out that there are a lot of people searching for the driver/kext

its in progress and i've downloaded the beta version but it didnt work as told on the site.

as soon as something comes out and i find it i will lett you know.

for now iam gonna make a foto from the panic attack and post it

can you maybe pm youre email?

 

gr

[harmc0re]

nevermind the post above lets just say not used to a mac

 

anyhow i managed to get my internet as i am posting from os x right now

so hooray!

as for the kernel panics...

i think we should try to figure out why it happends and how we can solve this problem.

I didn't try the voodoo kernel 5 because youre guide told me to use 7 could it has something to do with it?

also i have now os x dual booting with win 7 and i think for some reason os x boots better when restarting

 

did you try boot in different resolutions?

also what did you try to get rid of the panics already i mean if we keep updating ourselves we dont have to do double shifts

ofcourse i went searching and searching for a solution on the intel 5100/5300 problem

and found out that there are a lot of people searching for the driver/kext

its in progress and i've downloaded the beta version but it didnt work as told on the site.

as soon as something comes out and i find it i will lett you know.

for now iam gonna make a foto from the panic attack and post it

can you maybe pm youre email?

 

gr

 

I have tried 9.5.0 and 9.7.0, both the same issue.

So that's not the problem.

 

Hmm better booting if restarting, could be

 

Different resolutions, no I haven't tried that

 

The things I tried are:

- the 9.5.0 and 9.7.0 voodoo kernel.

- I also tried both decrypters, the dsmos and the apple one.

The other one didn't work at all i believe.

 

Oh, that's great, those wifi drivers, yeah, please

let me know if something new pops up

 

My email is shown on my profile. ^^

[hanspeda]

Hey,

 

First of all, thank you for that guide, iAtkos works 100000 times better than ideneb/leo4all etc.

Now... Could it be that you've got a different graphics card in your 7738g than I do?

 

I've got an gt 240m, and if I use CoreVidia as driver, I get a 1024 resolution.

 

Thanks

[lazardj]

Nice tutorial. I instaled iatkos on 7738g before half year but will try now again will tell if i make it work or not

 

edit:

i managed to start it after 15 to 20 kernel panics... I will try to make lan and my tplink wifi

 

edit2: tplink usb wifi is working

 

can you help me to make lan to work and is it posible internal wifi to make to work?

 

Thx

[Toxx]

Hey Guys,

 

nice tutorial but I have a little problem.

 

I`m too silly for installing the ethernet driver. I`m installing the kext threw kexthelper and then I dont know. I followed the readme but it doesnt work.

 

If someone could write me a step by step tutoria it would be wonderful.

 

Thanks.

 

Toxx

[harmc0re]

Hey Guys,

 

nice tutorial but I have a little problem.

 

I`m too silly for installing the ethernet driver. I`m installing the kext threw kexthelper and then I dont know. I followed the readme but it doesnt work.

 

If someone could write me a step by step tutoria it would be wonderful.

 

Thanks.

 

Toxx

 

Hi Toxx,

 

 

Well, I admit the ethernet driver install wasn't

easy for me either.

And the readme is written in an illogical order.

 

But everything you need is in that readme.

 

I'll copy paste everything you need here.

 

The first thing you need to do is modifying the kext,

so it contains your ethernet card's MAC address,

so you will need to know your MAC address.

 

Get Hex Fiend: Download

 

 

 

 

 

 

unzip the bcm kext on your desktop  

 

start hexfiend and open the file AppleBCM5787MEthernet inside Contents/MacOS

 

 

 

navigate to the 2e900 address,you can see some B8 XX , you need to change the value near to

 

the B8's with your MAC Address

 

YOU MUST ENABLE OVERWRITE MODE - EDIT MENU THEN ENABLE OVERWRITE MODE!!!

 

 

 

0002e900 09 8B 45 0C C7 00 00 00 00 00 31 C0 C9 C3 55 89

 

0002e910 E5 8B 55 08 8B 4D 0C B8 03 00 00 00 90 90 88 01    <-- one occurrence    

 

0002e920 B8 BF 00 00 00 90 90 88 41 01 B8 58 00 00 00 90   <-- two occurrences

 

0002e930 90 88 41 02 B8 4C 00 00 00 90 90 88 41 03 B8 A2  <-- two occurrences

 

0002e940 00 00 00 90 90 88 41 04 B8 11 00 00 00 90 90 88  <-- one occurrence

 

0002e950 41 05 31 C0 C9 C3 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 55 89

 

 

 

on this example the mac address is 03:bf:58:4c:a2:11

 

 

 

kext default mac address is BA:AD:FO:OD:BA:AD

 

 

 

don't touch the B8 of course!!!

 

if you have already installed the kext on its defaults, you must reinstall and reboot to see the changes

 

 

 

Double check then save the file, if you mess with something here the driver will crash as soon it load!!!

 

Next, you need to do the following to

have a process at every reboot that activates

that kext:

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a folder called Start_Promisc within the archive,

copy it in /Library/StartupItems then open the file

 

start_promisc you can find into the folder with TextEdit,

changing the two variables at the top INTF and KEXTPATH

to match your setup. save it.

 

from a terminal window type:

 

  sudo chmod -R 755 /Library/StartupItems/Start_Promisc

 

  sudo chown -R root:wheel /Library/StartupItems/Start_Promisc

 

 

 

and you are all set, at next reboot you dont have to do a thing it will start tcpdump automatically.

 

And that's it, reboot your mac and internet should be working.

 

 

 

 

Cheers.

Harm.

[MythJM]

Did you ever manage to get sleep working?

 

I use my iPhone to tether wifi and managed to get my 240m to work so other than that I have it working exactly as I want it to.

[harmc0re]

Did you ever manage to get sleep working?

 

I use my iPhone to tether wifi and managed to get my 240m to work so other than that I have it working exactly as I want it to.

Hi,

 

No, I didn't get sleep working, I've been busy lately

so unfortunately, I haven't improved my hackintosh much. 

But in a month or two, I will install Snow Leopard instead.

 

 

You use your iPhone to tether wifi? 

You really mean wifi? Or 3G?

How did you do that?

Would it be possible to do

that with an iPod Touch 3G too?

 

 

 

Greetings.

[MythJM]

Yeah it's tethering WiFi through an app called PdaNet.

 

You need to have your iPhone or iPod Jailbroken to get the app (I'm currently using the Spirit jailbreak for firmware 3.1.3) and then download the Mac PdaNet installer from http://www.junefabrics.com/desktop

 

Works perfectly for me.

 

If you install Snow Leopard could you create another guide as I found the current one extremely helpful.

[aHille]

Dude, great guide! Been working my ass of with different releases. Getting all kinds of kernel errors. Then I stumble upon this guide and everything installs fine :}

Only problem now is getting into the OS 10 of 10 times give me a kernel error :/

[MythJM]

I end up with Kernal Errors on boot maybe 2 or 3 times before it boots to OSX which is fine by me.

[harmc0re]

Yeah it's tethering WiFi through an app called PdaNet.

 

You need to have your iPhone or iPod Jailbroken to get the app (I'm currently using the Spirit jailbreak for firmware 3.1.3) and then download the Mac PdaNet installer from http://www.junefabrics.com/desktop

 

Works perfectly for me.

 

If you install Snow Leopard could you create another guide as I found the current one extremely helpful.

Thanks for the PdaNet thing, it's a great solution to get wifi working

Yeah, I'll make another guide for Snow Leopard,

However, I believe it's easier then this guide, according to

this site: http://osx86.sojugarden.com/installer/ (thx to artimess)

I'll give it a try in a month or so, but you're free to go ahead

 

Greetings.

 

 

 

Dude, great guide! Been working my ass of with different releases. Getting all kinds of kernel errors. Then I stumble upon this guide and everything installs fine :}

Only problem now is getting into the OS 10 of 10 times give me a kernel error :/

Damn, 10 out of 10 times? :s

 

Perhaps you did something wrong, or you have a different laptop then mine.

 

Could you take a picture of the kernel panic?

 

 

 

I end up with Kernal Errors on boot maybe 2 or 3 times before it boots to OSX which is fine by me.

Yeah, with a little patience, a kernel panic is acceptable,

However, it would be better without them though.

So I will give Snow Leopard a try in a month or so.

I believe Snow Leopard has less issues, in the hackintosh way

[harmc0re]

hi,

 

I have the acer aspire 7738G as well,

I followed your guide, but now im getting :

boot0 testing

boot0 testing

boot0 testing

boot0 error

 

and it stops doing anything. (my laptop is useless now )

im new to mac on a pc, so can you please help me out?

thank you

Hi,

 

That's strange, can't you turn your

laptop off, and boot into windows again? 

Or is this the first thing you see when booting your laptop?

[MythJM]

I'm trying to install Snow Leopard on 7738g now, will let you know how it goes.

[aHille]

Damn, 10 out of 10 times? :s

 

Perhaps you did something wrong, or you have a different laptop then mine.

 

Could you take a picture of the kernel panic?

 

I might have. Tried to install two times now. Followed your guide down to the last point.

Ive got the 7738G with

- Core2duo T6500

- Geforce GT 130M

 

Ill try installing for a third time now. Third time charm!

[x3rmlygood]

I get past the apple logo with the spinning wheel but then get stuck at the rotating cursor with a gray screen. The cursor keeps rotating and nothing happens.

 

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, build 7600)

AMD Phenom X4 9750 Quad-Core Processor 2.4GHz

8192MB RAM

Gateway DX4300-03

ATI Radeon HD 4650

AMD 780G Chipset

Southbridge: AMD ID439D

[harmc0re]

Hey,

 

First of all, thank you for that guide, iAtkos works 100000 times better than ideneb/leo4all etc.

Now... Could it be that you've got a different graphics card in your 7738g than I do?

 

I've got an gt 240m, and if I use CoreVidia as driver, I get a 1024 resolution.

 

Thanks

Yep, my graphics card is different, I have a GT 130M.

Damn, I didn't realize there were different 7738g's.

Thanks for telling me that.

 

I get past the apple logo with the spinning wheel but then get stuck at the rotating cursor with a gray screen. The cursor keeps rotating and nothing happens.

 

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, build 7600)

AMD Phenom X4 9750 Quad-Core Processor 2.4GHz

8192MB RAM

Gateway DX4300-03

ATI Radeon HD 4650

AMD 780G Chipset

Southbridge: AMD ID439D

I can't guarantee that my guide works for all laptops,

and your laptop is completely different then mine.

 

Did you pick a different graphics driver, since I have nvidia?

You will also need to pick an AMD processor driver.

 

I might have. Tried to install two times now. Followed your guide down to the last point.

Ive got the 7738G with

- Core2duo T6500

- Geforce GT 130M

 

Ill try installing for a third time now. Third time charm!

Good luck on your third try

 

I have a Core 2 Duo P7450 (2.13GHz) and Geforce GT 130M.

The kernel panic could happen because of the different processor.

 

Hey,

 

First of all, thank you for that guide, iAtkos works 100000 times better than ideneb/leo4all etc.

Now... Could it be that you've got a different graphics card in your 7738g than I do?

 

I've got an gt 240m, and if I use CoreVidia as driver, I get a 1024 resolution.

 

Thanks

 

Yep, my graphics card is different, I have a GT 130M.

Damn, I didn't realize there were different 7738g's.

Thanks for telling me that.

Have you taken a look at the preferences pane in Leopard?

1024 is the highest you get?

 

Note that there's a nVidia GT 200 driver for the GT 200 series graphics cards

included on the iAtkos install DVD.

You should try that.

 

You can install this driver without reinstalling,

just boot from the DVD, pick your already existing Mac partition,

and check only the nVidia GT 200 driver.

Uncheck everything else.

Uncheck the iAtkos v7 Main System.

Uncheck the Post-Install Actions.

[aHille]

Finally got it working!

 

Tried many different solutions.

This is the one that worked for me.

 

Used the 9.5.0 Kernel

Added Intel Speedstep driver and throttle

Changed to ACHI in BIOS and sat the partition as first priority.

Now it boots up fine almost every time.

 

 

Thanks for a great guide, and the help so far :]

 

 

Edit: Only problem now is that I have to change between ACHI and IDE when I switch between OSX and W7.

 

Edit2: Installed ACHI drivers in Windows 7, so now I don't have to change anything in BIOS.

Only thing left now is to make the Chameleon boot loader actually boot Windows. Getting an error. Guess it has something to do with windows being on another hard drive then OSX ?