MSI GT627-218US (MS-1651)

[14irahtom]

Hey forum,

I would just like to report on a successful install of Snow Leopard. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to mention patched install DVDs but I used the new iAtkos S3 v2 disk and it booted up normally.

This will be more of a guide/push in the right direction than a full on tutorial.

 

First things first: Basic specs.-

MS-1651 board.

Intel Core2Duo P8600 2.4GHz.

4GB 667Mhz RAM

NVidia Geforce 9800M GS 1024MB VRAM

ALC888 HD Audio

 

Burnt the DVD at 4x using Imgburn, popped it in and waited a good 10 minutes for everything to load and detect. At the insall, I WIPED OUT my Windows 7 partition and made it my OSX partition (Disk Utility).

For the customization checklist, I checked the Chameleon RC4 bootloader, left the patches section alone, VoodooPS2, audio nothing, NVenabler, Realtek Ethernet kexts. In the laptop hardware section I checked the first three. Sorry if I left something out since I'm doing this off the top of my head.

 

What works so far:

Both cores

GPU with QE/CI and 1024 MB VRAM out of the box.

Ethernet

Sound, using patched AppleHDA.kext and HDAEnabler.kext (patched AppleHDA.kext by Bansaku)

Integrated webcam

Integrated bluetooth

2-finger right click and scrolling

 

What doesn't work:

Wifi intel 5100...it'll never work.

sleep. every time i tried to do something about it and tested it, system would screw up and i had to do fresh installs each time.

(Update): I just realized that if you do screw around with sleep and your system hangs upon boot, pop in the install dvd and repair disk. you should be able to boot into the os now. if you're messing with the sleepenabler kext, you have to enter pmVersion=0 as the bootflag and you should be able to boot.

 

Notes:

After installing from DVD, take out the disc, boot into 10.6.3 and right away run the 10.6.4 update from apple software update.

I used VoodooHDA before and it was great, every output worked and the internal mic was great but the output volume was pretty low. So I went with the patches AppleHDA and HDEnabler method and you have to make sure that you select the headphones for output and internal speaker for headphones. Basically, the outputs are switched. Internal mic has too much static.

 

Enjoy, and if someone could help me with the issues, I'd appreciate it.

 

Again admins, sorry if I was not supposed to mention patched DVDs.

[direcalmly]

I can confirm this method working on my GT627 as well. I installed Snow Leopard yesterday and updated to 10.6.4 via Apple Software Update no problem. The compatibility is very nice.

 

To clarify on the "customize" menu:

 

Bootloaders: Chameleon v2 RC4.

Bootloader options: (selected none)

Patches: /Extras directory, fakesmc, Disabler, RTC, Evo Reboot.

Drivers: Laptop Hardware: Battery, Card Reader, TSC Sync. VGA: NVidia/NVEnabler. Network: Wired/Realtek/Whichever card you have (mine was RTL8168). PS/2 - Voodoo PS/2 (for the trackpad).

 

Boot using "-v" the first time to watch for any funny business.

 

Some more info on updating to 10.6.4:

Something strange happened when I was playing around with make a dual-boot set-up. Whenever I set up the partitions using the disk utility on the iBlahktos DVD the 10.6.4 update would brick the OS (this happened twice today). This latest time I did this and got it to work:

 

1. Ran gParted and whiped out everything I was screwing around with and set up a new partition filling the entire drive named osx, formatted MS-DOS.

 

2. Exited and popped in the iBlahktos DVD installer. In the disk utility (not messing with the "partition" tab at all) erased and formatted the one partition I made MacOsx Extended (Journaled). Verified OK so I ran the install with the customization above.

 

3. Ran 10.6.4 update no problem again.

 

Sound:

I installed the latest version of VoodooHDA w/ prefpane and the sound works just fine. The line-out and the built-in speakers work fine and the inputs correspond correctly in System Prefs. I'm not experiencing the "low volume" problem as described above.

 

Video:

NVEnabler works well. I do use a secondary monitor attached to the HDMI port. The only issue I've had so far is upon resuming the display from sleep (not the whole computer from sleep as that function doesn't work) I get about 45 seconds of static before it kicks back on.

 

Sleep:

Nope.

 

Ethernet:

Works. When I powered the system on this morning (I had it shut off all night) I experienced a kernel panic having to do with VoodooHDA. I rebooted and it booted fine but when I got in to SL the ethernet appeared as "unplugged" in Network prefs. I rebooted and everything was working OK. This is the only problem I've had with it so far.

 

The two-fingered scrolling works too, which is kind of neat.

 

So all and all things work OK. A little buggy but nothing a restart hasn't fixed so far.

[14irahtom]

For detailed dual booting instructions you can check out my other post in the multi-booting section. Currently running the dual boot setup smoothly with Win7 64bit and SL 10.6.4 with a separate "Data" partition.

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=229562

 

P.S. direcalmly, what are you going to do about the wifi issue? Possibly swap out for a compatible airport card? I'm debating on whether or not to do it.

[Tiwaz]

Hello, i also want to install MacOSX 10.6.4 on my GT627 notebook. I downloaded the iATKOS S3v2 disk and booted up. It hangs.

 

I started in verbose mode and saw it hang on socket error or something like that.

 

Used boot options cpu=1 -x still te same problem. Someone knows this error? Is there a other custom DVD were i can get to 10.6.4 please someone reply

[jacobisthe]

Just as a conformation. I followed these instructions exactly and it worked perfectly. Everything except sleep and wifi works correctly. I ordered a BROADCOM BCM94321MC wifi adapter and stuck it in the other mini-pcie slot and attached the two other antennas that are in the laptop, booted back into mac and now have wifi. (I also have two wifi card working in linux and windows which is good, but could draw more power)

[godlyatheist]

iatko S3 v2 is the easy way to get SL working on MS-1651 based notebooks. You can do a retail install easily as well. You have to change the Intel 5100/5300 wireless to a supported one.

 

UPDATE TO THE LASTEST BIOS FIRST

1. make a USB installer

2. Use the following kexts:

fakesmc

EvoReboot

IOATAFamily

VoodooPS2Controller (add AppleACPIPS2Nub if you use older version of voodoo)

NullCPUManagement (you don't have to use this one, just for safety)

3. boot using -v GraphicsEnabler=YES

4. after install chameleon 2 rc5 to the hdd, put the kext there, update to 10.6.4

5. install VoodooHDA 2.7.2

6. Mess with DSDT, you can get rid of NullCPU and use vanilla power management.

 

If sleep doesn't work for you, use NullCPU + sleepenabler

 

other kext you can use

Voodoo Battery

Card reader kext

kext for wireless/lan if you use a chip that needs it

[direcalmly]

P.S. direcalmly, what are you going to do about the wifi issue? Possibly swap out for a compatible airport card? I'm debating on whether or not to do it.

 

I've been using the DWA-110 usb dongle for a few months now without any problems. It uses the RT73 chipset (drivers are on the ralink website). I wouldn't recommend this card though. The drivers are kind of poorly written and don't support WPA encrypted networks, or at least the driver I'm using doesn't.

 

Everything else is working great on the GT627. It's stable and fast. I've experienced 1 kernel panic when booting (IOUSBFamily) in the months I've been using it. Still no sleep but oh well.

 

One thing I've noticed is that the battery life sucks pretty bad. I get maybe an hour to an hour and a half depending on what I'm doing. This might be because my battery is kind of old or it might be something else. Has anyone else noticed this?

[godlyatheist]

If you are not using any power management program, then your battery life will suck. With native or voodoo power management your battery life should be a little less than when running windows. Hackintosh won't give you extra battery life.