[GUIDE] 10.6.8 on a Dell Optiplex GX620

[pabloscotty]

ok through a lot of experimentation, downloads and various attempts, i was able to get the graphics card working with the card code added to my boot.plist under device_properties and some other hacks.

 

if there's one thing i can share from this experience - make sure you are using a 10.6.3 installation and not a 10.6.0. 10.6.0 wont work.

 

Another happy Mac on Dell user regards.

[LatinMcG]

10.6.0 will give IOATA panic.. needs dsdt fix.

[Squiffy]

EDIT (2012-07-24): After a little thinking, I looked over the Nawcom booter again and decided to give it another shot to the basic procedure by the original poster. The only change came in reducing the size of the install to ONLY the critical components and unchecking anything optional (installed later). I then followed the procedure to the letter and it worked ALMOST fine. The 10.6.8 updater appeared to work fine. However, when I ran the legacy kernel installer pkg, it ALSO produced a "restart" option when it finished. I soldiered on and rebooted as instructed and installed the needed kexts for networking and sournd (don't need MAC fix, my router handles and zero'ed MAC).

 

I then proceeded to RE-install the 10.6.8 update as instructed, followed AGAIN by running the legacy kernel installer. Presto, stable system. The remaining small updates worked fine and the system appears initially stable. It is interacting with my internal SATA HDD fine, allowing me to boot my other OS's (WinXP and OSX Leopard) fine. I can also use the Chameleon bootloader on my main HDD to boot the new Snow Leopard partition on my external USB drive.

 

So...I would say was almost a seamless install. Kudos to the original poster for the detailed instructions.

 

END EDIT..............

 

 

Hey all,

 

This appears to be an active thread so here goes. I have a Dell GX620 small form factor that is the following specs:

 

Intel Pentium D 3.6Ghz (dual CPU)

1GB DDR2 RAM

80 GB SATA HDD

Internal Floppy

PATA IDE DVD-ROM Drive

Intel GMA950 internal graphics (8MB shared enabled)

 

BIOS version A11

 

The internal HDD has a dual boot WinXP SP3 and Leopard 10.5.8 installation (iDeneb Lite with some kext patches). This works mostly fine with only some wonky graphics "issues", such as tearing in odd ways sometimes and will not sleep. Otherwise, rock solid, both OS'es.

 

However, I would like to "test drive" Snow Leopard. The method overview in post #1 of this thread looked promising. Obtained all the tools listed, burned the "Eye Boot" Legacy CD, dumped the tools to a USB drive and off to the races. NOTE: I wanted to avoid using the internal hard drive, so I attached and external IDE drive (100 GB Maxtor unit) through a USB adapter and external power supply. The drive was low level formatted prior to make sure it was clean.

 

Issue 1: "Eye Boot" Legacy gets started, runs for all of two seconds, with some initial text at the top left, then unceremoniously craps out and forces a warm reboot, over and over again until I shut of the computer. "Eye Boot" Legacy is showing as version 2.7.2.

 

Issue 2: Nawcom Boot CD boot the computer fine and allows the swap of the Installer DVD. However, the installer makes it about 50% of the way through then dumps an error pop up indicating an error and cannot continue. I am offered only a choice of "Restart" or.... "Restart".

 

So, looking for a little guidance as to what I might be missing. Is there some key errors I should be looking for during the non-graphical boot for Nawcom? Is there something I should look out for in the non-graphical portion of the booting of the Installer DVD?

 

Does anyone have any suggestions as to why the "Eye Boot" Legacy CD is gagging? One thing I note in the video tutorial is the version of BIOS on the test bed is A07.

 

Thanks,

 

Squiffy

[LatinMcG]

Hey all,

 

This appears to be an active thread so here goes. I have a Dell GX620 small form factor that is the following specs:

 

Intel Pentium D 3.6Ghz (dual CPU)

1GB DDR2 RAM

80 GB SATA HDD

Internal Floppy

PATA IDE DVD-ROM Drive

Intel GMA950 internal graphics (8MB shared enabled)

 

BIOS version A11

 

The internal HDD has a dual boot WinXP SP3 and Leopard 10.5.8 installation (iDeneb Lite with some kext patches). This works mostly fine with only some wonky graphics "issues", such as tearing in odd ways sometimes and will not sleep. Otherwise, rock solid, both OS'es.

 

However, I would like to "test drive" Snow Leopard. The method overview in post #1 of this thread looked promising. Obtained all the tools listed, burned the "Eye Boot" Legacy CD, dumped the tools to a USB drive and off to the races. NOTE: I wanted to avoid using the internal hard drive, so I attached and external IDE drive (100 GB Maxtor unit) through a USB adapter and external power supply. The drive was low level formatted prior to make sure it was clean.

 

Issue 1: "Eye Boot" Legacy gets started, runs for all of two seconds, with some initial text at the top left, then unceremoniously craps out and forces a warm reboot, over and over again until I shut of the computer. "Eye Boot" Legacy is showing as version 2.7.2.

 

Issue 2: Nawcom Boot CD boot the computer fine and allows the swap of the Installer DVD. However, the installer makes it about 50% of the way through then dumps an error pop up indicating an error and cannot continue. I am offered only a choice of "Restart" or.... "Restart".

 

So, looking for a little guidance as to what I might be missing. Is there some key errors I should be looking for during the non-graphical boot for Nawcom? Is there something I should look out for in the non-graphical portion of the booting of the Installer DVD?

 

Does anyone have any suggestions as to why the "Eye Boot" Legacy CD is gagging? One thing I note in the video tutorial is the version of BIOS on the test bed is A07.

 

Thanks,

 

Squiffy

boot with -v to see what errors are. test ram or that hdd ? . go internal plug hdd not usb. unplug original internal.

try a video card.. and dsdt patches.

also a core duo would come in handy . pent d might need legacy kernel if EnablePStates EnableCStates dont work properly in chameleon

 

good luck following old or flawed steps.

[Squiffy]

boot with -v to see what errors are. test ram or that hdd ? . go internal plug hdd not usb. unplug original internal.

try a video card.. and dsdt patches.

also a core duo would come in handy . pent d might need legacy kernel if EnablePStates EnableCStates dont work properly in chameleon

 

good luck following old or flawed steps.

 

Thanks for the reply. What I was driving at was that the legacy CD won't get past the first few seconds of trying to boot. So, I couldn't even get a try to follow the procedure. The Nawcom CD was getting me to the install but gagging. So, ultimately, your suggestions, while potentially helpful following install to get a stable system do not help with the initial boot from the legacy CD to even TRY an install. The Dell GX620 I have will not apparently take a Core Duo CPU. The internal GMA950 graphics and sound should work fine according to earlier posts, so I am confident it was something with the legacy CD preboot.dmg, a plist file or something being passed/not being passed to the kernel on start up that caused the gag.

 

As it turned out, the Nawcom boot, followed by a slimmer install (unchecked all the optional stuff) worked fine. Then, following the first post (procedure one) worked fine with only one hiccup. My old GX620 is chugging along just fine now, fully updated to 10.6.8 booting fine from the external USB hard-drive. It is even interacting fine with my older Chameleon bootloader on the internal SATA drive.

[GR Ant]

Hi Guys,

 

I've followed this post with a lot of interest, I have always had a MAC but recently my workplace (which is sadly all PC now) are replacing our workstations. I've managed to put one sadly under my desk instead of the skip, and yeah it's a GX620.

 

I've got legit copies of 10.3 - 10.7

I tried ###### & legacy, neither worked.

I succeeded booting into the full install of 10.6.3

Ran [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] - and no luck... wouldn't even boot using the swap disc.

 

I'm going to try and reinstall, adding kext by kext (and repairing permissions).

 

Has anyone got a next for Ati Radeon x600 (256mb)?

 

Any help would be appreciated, thanks

[Cerastez]

Hi Guys,

 

I've followed this post with a lot of interest, I have always had a MAC but recently my workplace (which is sadly all PC now) are replacing our workstations. I've managed to put one sadly under my desk instead of the skip, and yeah it's a GX620.

 

I've got legit copies of 10.3 - 10.7

I tried ###### & legacy, neither worked.

I succeeded booting into the full install of 10.6.3

Ran [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] - and no luck... wouldn't even boot using the swap disc.

 

I'm going to try and reinstall, adding kext by kext (and repairing permissions).

 

Has anyone got a next for Ati Radeon x600 (256mb)?

 

Any help would be appreciated, thanks

 

Why did you use [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url]? Use the instructions in the tutorial and you will be up and running. I would take out that video card and do the installation with the onboard video. Once it is up and running you can try to get the video card working.

[GR Ant]

Hey Guys,

 

I followed the install to the letter and everything worked perfectly, except that the onboard ethernet is broken. So, I slotted in an intel PCI ethernet card and turned off onboard ethernet in bios.

 

I tried countless kext's but nothing worked. Going to try a reinstall tomorrow morning with the PCI ethernet in place and see if it works out the box.

 

Thanks again for the tutorial and if anyone knows how I can get the intel ethernet working please, post away.

 

G

[Cerastez]

Hey Guys,

 

I followed the install to the letter and everything worked perfectly, except that the onboard ethernet is broken. So, I slotted in an intel PCI ethernet card and turned off onboard ethernet in bios.

 

I tried countless kext's but nothing worked. Going to try a reinstall tomorrow morning with the PCI ethernet in place and see if it works out the box.

 

Thanks again for the tutorial and if anyone knows how I can get the intel ethernet working please, post away.

 

G

 

Did you try the AppleBCM5751Ethernet.kext.zip that is attached at the bottom of the first post? It should get your computer to recognize the onboard ethernet. You will still have the problem with the MAC address being all zeros. That may prevent you from getting online, but the first post has a link to another post that gives a fix for that.

[GR Ant]

The problem is the on board network card is dead.

So when in Windows I used an Intel ethernet card in the PCI Slot.

The card was found after the 10.6.3 install (natively) using the os x 86 mod CD bootloader to install the OS.

I upgraded to 10.6.8 as instructed and now there's no ethernet card in the PCI Slot... System Profiler reads as if there's no card at all.

 

I tried all available Kext's but no joy... any suggestions or help?

[LatinMcG]

The problem is the on board network card is dead.

So when in Windows I used an Intel ethernet card in the PCI Slot.

The card was found after the 10.6.3 install (natively) using the os x 86 mod CD bootloader to install the OS.

I upgraded to 10.6.8 as instructed and now there's no ethernet card in the PCI Slot... System Profiler reads as if there's no card at all.

 

I tried all available Kext's but no joy... any suggestions or help?

PCIRoot=1

or the files

AppleACPI from 10.6.7

[GR Ant]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the response. I used the AppleACPI from 10.6.7 method... no change. The OS can't see my PCI Ethernet Card! Any other suggestions???

 

Thanks

G

[LatinMcG]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the response. I used the AppleACPI from 10.6.7 method... no change. The OS can't see my PCI Ethernet Card! Any other suggestions???

 

Thanks

G

what smbios.plist model u using. is it done properly (chameleon wizard or champlist)

in dsdt

Device (PCI0) under it it shows_UID, 0x00 or ??

[Cerastez]

The problem is the on board network card is dead.

So when in Windows I used an Intel ethernet card in the PCI Slot.

The card was found after the 10.6.3 install (natively) using the os x 86 mod CD bootloader to install the OS.

I upgraded to 10.6.8 as instructed and now there's no ethernet card in the PCI Slot... System Profiler reads as if there's no card at all.

 

I tried all available Kext's but no joy... any suggestions or help?

 

I would get the IONetworkingFamily.kext from 10.6.3 right click on it and show package contents. Then open the Plugins folder. Move your IONetworkingFamily.kext from 10.6.8 on to your desktop and do the same thing to open its Plugins folder. Compare the two Plugins folders, move anything that is missing in 10.6.8 over from 10.6.3. Re-install the 10.6.8 IONetworkingFamily.kext.

[GR Ant]

It's working!!!

 

I have onboard graphics, sound and now PCI Card ethernet.

 

I took Cerastez's advice and copied the IONetworkingFamily.kext from 10.6.3. - specifically the kext inside the plugins folder (AppleIntel8255x.kext).

 

I updated to 10.6.8 as instructed and rebooted.

 

I ran kext wizard and installed AppleIntel8255x.kext into the Extra Folder on Root drive. Rebooted and everything works!

 

I do have a couple more questions - I have an ati X600 - I downloaded every kext and have one for the x600, should I install the kext??? And, ram, I have 2x 2gb ram chips installed, but have an extra 2x1GB ram chips to fill up the empty slots - would this work???

 

A big thanks to everyone's help here, I'm up and running. :-)

[Cerastez]

Hello. No. only onboard video card Intel® 82945G Express.

And this is ultra smal factor version. But the same specs as yours. Bios A11.

 

Now I'm trying to follow your guide with the 10.6.3 retail disk.

OK same there I've just instaled 10.6.3 then myhack 1.1 then DSDT edits. I've skip the combo 10.6.8 restarted and the same grey screan appears. I'll use M@ultiBeast with [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] mode because I'm not super user and will see what happened.

 

No luck with easyDSDT computer restarts about half a second after apple logo I don't have any ideas how instal Snow Leopard on this maschine

 

OK I think I've found the problem. I've aplied yours guide to DSDT Editor but skiped patch for video. And after restarts system boots. So I should use different patch for the graphic. Maybye laptop version?

 

What do you think?

 

I just spent 3 days trying to install on an Ultra Small Form Factor. I was using a DVI to VGA adapter to connect to my monitor. That was a big mistake. Everything worked smoothly once I extracted my DSDT while connected with a DVI cable. Who knew it was so important to use a DVI cable.

[pabloscotty]

I just spent 3 days trying to install on an Ultra Small Form Factor. I was using a DVI to VGA adapter to connect to my monitor. That was a big mistake. Everything worked smoothly once I extracted my DSDT while connected with a DVI cable. Who knew it was so important to use a DVI cable.

 

Hey Cerastez. Why don't you just applied AppleIntelIntegratedFramebuffer.kext which works for my little Dell?

[Cerastez]

Hey Cerastez. Why don't you just applied AppleIntelIntegratedFramebuffer.kext which works for my little Dell?

 

I did try it, but I never could get it to work. It would start and get to my desktop picture but the menu bar and things on my desktop never appear.

Are you using a VGA adapter to connect to your monitor?

Do you use a DSDT file and the AppleIntelIntegratedFramebuffer.kext? Or just the kext?

Did you use a newer Chameleon? Any special settings?

Did you upgrade to 10.6.8 or did you stay at 10.6.3?

[pabloscotty]

I did try it, but I never could get it to work. It would start and get to my desktop picture but the menu bar and things on my desktop never appear.

Are you using a VGA adapter to connect to your monitor?

Do you use a DSDT file and the AppleIntelIntegratedFramebuffer.kext? Or just the kext?

Did you use a newer Chameleon? Any special settings?

Did you upgrade to 10.6.8 or did you stay at 10.6.3?

 

1. For the first time I've used a VGA adapter so I was't able to use DSDT patch. So I've applied only AppleIntelIntegratedFramebuffer.kext in 10.6.3 without any DSTD patch and after upgrade to 10.6.8 I have to reinstal this kext because system upgrade modified it again. So from that time I was able to use this graphic card with almost any resolution. Now I'm not using any VGA adapter and maybe DSDT patch should work?

 

So only AppleIntelIntegratedFramebuffer.kext - No special settings.

 

2. I've upgraded Chamelon with Champlist software to v2.1VS r1817 and everything still works.

 

3. I have small artifacts when I'm using special programs like Photoshop or Cubase but only with mouse pointer. so sometimes I have to refresh screen with expose or dashboard when I have two pointers on screen.

 

4. Sometimes I'm losing volume control with dedicated keystrokes or menu bar slider but it only happens when I'm using special audio programs like Cubase or Wavelab. So I think the audio kext isn't perfect for this onboard card.

 

5. I strongly recommend you to instal Applejack for ability to repair permissions in single user mode. I have had small problems with permissions when I was trying to apply different kext to graphic to solve problems with artifacts. But for for now I stay with first solution because it works best.

 

Do you have any artifacts with mouse pointer with this DSDT patch?

 

Kind regards, Pablo

[Cerastez]

I was able to get the AppleIntelIntegratedFramebuffer.kext to work like it is supposed to in 10.6.3, but once I upgraded to 10.6.8 it didn't work anymore. I did reinstall it and fixed the permissions, but it would only show my desktop picture with no tool bar or dock.

 

Did you use an efi string?

 

I am certain that you will be able to use the DSDT if you are connected to your monitor with a DVI cable. I don't get any artifacts with the DSDT.

 

I would like to connect my GX620 to my TV and use it as a media center, but the TV only has a VGA connector.

[pabloscotty]

I was able to get the AppleIntelIntegratedFramebuffer.kext to work like it is supposed to in 10.6.3, but once I upgraded to 10.6.8 it didn't work anymore. I did reinstall it and fixed the permissions, but it would only show my desktop picture with no tool bar or dock.

 

It's because of incorrect resolution or screen refresh. The same thing happen to me then I have connected it to my 21' 1900x1200 monitor via VGA adapter only desktop picture appears - nothing more. So you have to connect to different monitor maybe?

 

Now I can use VGA adapter or DVI. I've used this machine for that purpose you want - media center and I've connected it to the TV via DVI to HDMI adapter. Whey are very cheep. It works great even with XBMC for MAC. I have TV with 1360x768 resolution so it worked really smooth.

 

Try to check artifacts with the Photoshop.

[pabloscotty]

Hey Cerastez. I've instaled AppleIntelIntegratedFramebuffer.kext from my macbook oryginal 10.6.8 and applied DSDT patch from your first video tutorial but I can't boot to desktop right now.

 

I've connected monitor via DVI extracted DSDT applied 2 patches, copied dsdt.aml to extra folder... and it didn't boot so I think I should stay with modified kext on my machine?

 

or mabye if you can send me your dsdt.aml I'll give him another chance.

[Cerastez]

Sorry to take so long to respond. I have attached my DSDT file. I did try photoshop and there are no artifacts when I used it. I bought a DVI to HDMI adapter and it works perfectly!!

dsdt.aml.zip

[pabloscotty]

Sorry to take so long to respond. I have attached my DSDT file. I did try photoshop and there are no artifacts when I used it. I bought a DVI to HDMI adapter and it works perfectly!!

 

 

Hi Cerastez. Thank you for your DSDT file. I've compared them and they look very similar. Both have same number of lines and exact same file size. So I really don't know why I can't even boot this machine with DST patch.

 

Mabye I shoud use different AppleIntelIntegratedFramebuffer.kext from 10.6.3? Or my computer is different than yours?

I noticed one difference - then draging DSTD.aml to extra folder I don't need to autenticate anymore. Is just copied.

 

Here is my sceenshot from EFI list

 

my artifacts are only with the mouse pointer but few things doesn't work as it should so thats why I'm trying to use DSDT patch.

[Cerastez]

Hi Cerastez. Thank you for your DSDT file. I've compared them and they look very similar. Both have same number of lines and exact same file size. So I really don't know why I can't even boot this machine with DST patch.

 

Mabye I shoud use different AppleIntelIntegratedFramebuffer.kext from 10.6.3? Or my computer is different than yours?

I noticed one difference - then draging DSTD.aml to extra folder I don't need to authenticate anymore. Is just copied.

 

Here is my sceenshot from EFI list

 

my artifacts are only with the mouse pointer but few things doesn't work as it should so that's why I'm trying to use DSDT patch.

 

Our computers are the same. My EFI list looks just like yours. I have had trouble with DSDT files that I had extracted when I had already upgraded to 10.6.8. The only DSDT files that I have gotten to work are ones where I extracted the file in 10.6.3 and I had not yet done any hackintosh stuff to the computer, ie no EXTRA folder or special kexts. Please do try my attached DSDT.aml file. I know that it works.

 

Also I have been using MyFix to set all the permissions correctly.