Lenovo Y550 Ideapad - Leopard Install

[capoteleet]

Couldn't find any guidance on this specific model, so I thought I would chime in. Did a lot of mucking about and this is what finally worked for me. I tried installing Snow Leopard from Hazard, but could only get safe mode after all of my efforts. Will try a retail install after I get the physical means to, and when the integrated graphics and wireless get working kexts. (Or i install an Nvidia card)

 

Machine specs:

 

Ideapad Y550 4186-46U

T4200 2.00GHZ Core 2 Duo

4GB DDR3

15.6" WXGA LED

X4500 GMA

Intel 5100 Wireless

 

Tri Boot OSX - Ubuntu - Win7

 

I won't go into partitions and such, as that has been covered elsewhere better. But simply, Win7 installed first, Ubuntu installed 2nd AND MAKE SURE YOU INSTALL GRUB TO THE UBUNTU ROOT PARTITION, NOT (hd0)! Then install OSX86 last if you want the pretty Chameleon boot loader to manage your partitions. (When will grub go with the pretty instead of text menu lists?)

 

iDeneb v1.6 10.5.8 Lite Edition

 

Things to check in the "Customize" menu:

 

- VoodooPS2 Controller

- VoodooPS2 Trackpad

- AppleTyMCEDriver Fix (had this problem with SL, so I included just in case)

- SD/SDHCI Drivers

- AHCI SATA/IDE

- VoodooPower

- GenericCPUPMControl

- VoodooBattery Manager

- GMAX3100

 

After the install you'll have a working OSX Leopard that needs a native resolution fix, sound and a way of connecting to the internet.

 

For Wireless:

 

I won't go into Ethernet, because I didn't do that. I bought an AZIO AWU254 802.11g usb dongle off of Newegg for really cheap. Go to:

 

http://www.ralinktech.com/support.php?s=3

 

and look for the latest version for the "USB(RT257X/RT2671)" driver. Use the Ralink wireless manager instead of the Airport utility.

 

For Video:

 

For native resolution on the X4500 GMA:

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=200093

 

download and install the kext from the first page of the thread:

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...st&id=62831

 

(I tried a few other kexts from different threads that completely hosed my install, use only the one above!!!)

 

For Sound:

 

Download and install the latest VoodooHDA (VoodooHDA 0.2.2 currently) from:

 

http://forum.voodooprojects.org

 

 

Not an overly perfect machine, no QE/CI yet & wireless dongle, but this does let me futz about with all the OS's on a great and inexpensive machine. Surely I've done something inefficient, or wrong. If so, please enlighten me and add your 2cents.

 

I just thought I would post what works for this specific machine since I spent 5 days learning and trying different combinations. 5 DAYS!!! Definitely not as computer savvy as I first thought I was...

 

Hope this helps someone.

 

 

Update:

 

Forgot to add that I haven't worked on sleep yet. I changed the power options to never spin down the HD, Turn off the display, or auto-sleep. The default power settings will lock up the machine after the wait. I'll post more when I get the time, but for now I'm tired of reinstalling.

[omoluabi]

Thanks for posting this. It is surely helpful. I have a y550 as well but with a GT130 GPU. I used iPC distro for installation and almost everything works smoothly except the poor screen resolution, wifi and maybe sleep. I'm sure the GT130 drivers are somewhere on this website.

 

I will try your wifi solution and see if it works for me. Thanks again !

[PeteTees.com]

Thank you so much for this guide! I have a y550 and your options worked ion! To add some more help...

 

Audio: Use VOODOOHDA in the installer... works great from the get go, and is the same version capoteleet installed manually.

 

Networking: The driver for the ethernet is in the installer (Broadcom 5758M), however selecting it during the install causes the mac to freeze booting up, so hopefully I can find a driver for it after that'll work.

 

Graphics: I have a GeForce 240M, and GT200 works, however I'm stuck in 1024x768 and it stretches the screen... trying to find a driver that'll fix that! I tried the one on kexts for the y550 but it froze my laptop when it finally loaded, so I need to see if there's a driver to install first, then install that. Once it was installed though the resolution was correct...

 

I'll be reporting back shortly!

[tj1988]

Hey. I've got a small problem with Lenovo and Snow Leo Retail. On Windows there is "One Key Theather" which turns on the so called subwoofer. I just wonder is there a way to use this speaker on MacOS?

 

As far as I know, on Windows there is something called Waves Maxxx Audio, which allows it to work. Any idea?

 

TIA