No internet on Dell Optiplex GX620

[roses 10]

Here's an interesting puzzle.

I bought a Dell Optiplex GX620 recently for 50 Euro (3.0GHz Pentium 4 HT, 2 GB RAM, 80 GB SATA HDD, Ultra Small Form Factor case, Dell 19-inch monitor with swivel & tilt stand, Dell keyboard, Microsoft mouse, DVI-DVI video cable, all power cables - good bargain hey?).

It already had a Hackintosh Leopard 10.5.3 installed on it (but exactly which distro I'm not sure and the vendor couldn't remember. Is there any way of finding out from looking in the Systems folder?)

It connects to the internet just fine with no problems via the en0 adapter using the internal Broadcom BCM5751 PCI card. Interestingly, I cannot find the kext for this particular hardware in the System/Lib/Extensions folder so I'm not exactly sure which driver it is using.

After taking the 80GB HDD out and putting in my own brand-new 64GB SATA SSD, I have successfully installed various distros of Leopard and Snow Leopard up to Hazard's 10.6.6i. However, NONE OF THEM will connect to the internet. System Diagnostics gives me 5 red lights, Network Utility shows the en0 as Internal adaptor but all other Interface Information fields are blank, and it always says in System Prefs>>Network "Cable Unplugged: Either the cable is unplugged or the device at the other end is not responding". But I know this is not true, because 5 minutes before it WAS WORKING with the 80GB HDD booted up in the Optiplex with no cables or anything else changed. The light on my router is green and the LED at the back of the Dell where the Ethernet cable plugs in is orange which shows there is a good 100Base TX connection according to the manual.

Even stranger - I now take the 64GB SSD to my other computer which usually runs Windows (an AS Rock MB with AMD 4200+ Athlon CPU, Realtek RTL8168B/8111B network card), boot up the Mac OS X using the SAME Ethernet cable into exactly the same router port, router light is green again, and this time there is IMMEDIATELY a successful internet connection. I export the configuration and save it onto the desktop.

I take the 64GB SSD back to the Dell with the Ethernet cable, reboot, but again no internet, not even after importing that configuration.

I notice that there is an AppleBCM5751 kext in the Extensions folder but I don't understand why the Ethernet adapter cannot see it and use it.

PLEASE PLEASE help me someone. It's doing my head in. It must be something simple and quick to rectify.

[roses 10]

OK, I found this by accident while I was wandering through other Dell Optiplex posts (thanks to Dellmanntt).

 

For Onboard Network problems. With some routers a "mac address has to be set. Thanks to Weazlmon for this solution
Open a terminal window and type (not sure if you need to sudo -s first):

cd /etc
sudo nano rc.local

edit the end of the file with:

ifconfig en0 ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx

where you replace the xx's with your actual MAC address

press ctrl-x, and select y to save it.

 

 

But it doesn't work for me for a variety of reasons:

1) There is no such file called rc.local in the folder /etc

2) So it has to create a new one

3) And therefore it doesn't make sense "edit the end of the file"

4) It's not clear whether the MAC address should be in decimal or hexadecimal format

5) I created the file anyway but even after reboot still no internet access or change in Network Utility or SysPrefs>>Network

6) I went back to the 80GB HDD and there's no file ANYWHERE in the systems folders called rc.local so it must be doing things a different way. I never had to tell it how to connect to my router, it just did it from day one.)

 

 

It's so frustrating. I'm getting near the answer but just can't quite get there.

Oh, and by the way, I installed Hazard's 10.6.1-10.6.2 on my GX620 STRAIGHT from the DVD which I burned on my PC from the ISO WITHOUT going through all that rigmarole as described by Dellmantt. Sorry mate, don't mean to denigrate your hard work and very long post but it really was a piece of cake for me. I even used TransMac to restore the ISO to a USB stick and installed direct from that too. (I expected a HUGE decrease in install time too, although to be honest it wasn't all that much faster, especially taking into account the time for the TM transfer.) However, for me, I'm still bootingfrom Nawcom's ModCD every time as none of the B/Ls work for me - could be I'm doing something wrong as I'm very new to all this.

 

I also installed Hazard's 10.6.6i VERY easily too, from both DVD and USB stick, although I can't remember if I booted first before install from the ModCD. I'll get back to you on that.

 

Edit #1: deleted

Edit #2: My apologies, I didn't let it run long enough. Direct from DVD, it does indeed cause KP after about 45 secs of install. To overcome this, I boot first with Nawcoms's ModCD, swap discs, press F5, and install 10.6.6i from there, no special boot flags needed. The only prob for me is that after install has finished and it reboots to keyboard recognition screen, it won't recognise the USB keyboard and mouse (although I did check the USB3.0 and USBFix in Customise Install) and of course there are no PS/2 ports on the Optiplex. As a workaround, I simply take the SSD and boot it up on my ASRock/AMD 4200+ system which I usually use for Windows. Then after keyboard recognition and registering and it boots to the desktop, I shut down and just put the SSD back in the GX620.

 

My next step is to try Dellmanntt's instructions for update. I've tried to update to 10.6.8 from 10.61/10.6.2/10.6.3/10.6.6i but EVERY time I get the [PCI begin configuration] kernel panic and there' no recovery from that so I have to re-install and start from scratch.

 

I've tried using boot flags npci=0x2000 and npci=0x3000 with AND without PCIRootUID=1 before them........but to no avail.

[rlf 160]

Try the AppleBCM5751Ethernet.kext found in the middle of this posting:

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/155590-broadcom-5751-applebcm5751ethernetkext/?p=1396335

[roses 10]

Thanks rlf, I got there just ahead of you.

 

Although I did it another way on my Dell Optiplex GX620...........but with the same end result. The internet WORKS!!!!

 

1) Downloaded the aforementioned AppleBCM5751.kext on my Windows PC (could have also used the working OS X on my 80GB HDD)

2) Didn't unzip it there because Avira Antivirus told me there were some bad things in it like worms (false positive?)

3) Saved the Zip file to a USB stick

4) On my Dell, copied the Zip file to  the Desktop and unzipped it.

5) Looked in Systems/Lib/Extensions to see if there were any previous 5751.kexts or 5751.bak.kexts. If so, you should put them in the trash. Not sure if it's necessary to run Kext Utility after deletion. (comment, anybody?)

6) Shut down the Dell, rebooted but immediately went into BIOS F2 (System Utility). My BIOS version is A11 - might be a good idea to upgrade yours to the latest from the Dell website. Only downside is you need to be running Windows to facilitate the BIOS update. AFAIK, it don't work in OS X.

7) Disable the Network card (NIC), save those BIOS settings, and reboot. Hover your mouse over the 5751.kext (not the Zip file), right click and choose Kext Utility. Enter your password and have a cup of tea while KU does its stuff.

8) Shut down again, go into BIOS re-enable the NIC card to On (don't choose ANY of the other settings for Network boot), save BIOS settings.

9) Restart MAC OS X and your internet should work. Double check in SysPrefs>>Network and also Network Utility and of course by opening a browser.

 

 

Don't know why this procedure works (why the hell would an OS have to have the PCI card disabled before it can install its driver?? Weird!!!)..but I don't care.

 

The only fly in the ointment that there is no Mac address assigned in the Network Utility window in the field "Hardware Address" - it's all zeroes. We shall see if this causes any probs in the future. But the IP addess is automatically and correctly assigned.

 

Wow!!! 10 days of tearing my hair out is now over.

[Cerastez 11]

You can use this applescript to set your MAC address on startup.

 

I have used this guide on three GX620's and have had no problem with the internet.

[roses 10]

You can use this applescript to set your MAC address on startup.

 

I have used this guide on three GX620's and have had no problem with the internet.

 

Not quite sure why you're replying to this when the thread has been clearly marked "Solved".......................but I appreciate your input anyway.

 

It doesn't really matter to me if I can see the 'correct' MAC address during verbose mode boot up or in SystemPrefs>>Network. As long as the network connection works, that's enough for me. Don't think I want to be mucking about with AppleScripts when it's simply a case of installing the kext with the NIC turned off in BIOS. Less than 5 minutes' work now I know what to do.

 

But the strange thing is, I can swap the SAME hard drive containing my OS X into my other computer (ASRock MB/AMD 4200+ CPU) which has a Realtek (onboard) AND is plugged into the SAME router as my Dell Optiplex (a different port obviously but I get the same result if it's in the GX620's port), and this time I do see a specific MAC address at boot up and in SysPrefs. Explain that if you can.

 

All I can think of is that it's some sort of strange idiosyncrasy involving either the Dell or the Broadcom 5751 NIC.

 

Just as a matter of interest: do you recall exactly what NICs were in your 3 GX620s? Before you used that guide, did you have any issues with "no network" immediately after install?

 

And did you get to a higher OS X version than Snow Leopard on your Dells? If so, do you mind if I PM you to find how you installed Lion & ML?? Thanks.

[Cerastez 11]

My router won't connect to my GX620 unless it has a non-zero MAC address, so for me it was something important to fix.

 

I never did have your problem with a "No Network' error.  It was more than a year ago since I did my installs, but I  I do remember trying many AppleBCM5751Ethernet.kext's.  There are several versions floating around out there and no way to tell them apart.  I also edited the info.plist of the kext to include

<string>pci14e4,1677</string>

 

I didn't check all three GX620's but the one I'm sitting at has this NIC

Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5751 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express [14e4:1677] (rev 01)

 

I have not tried installing Lion or Mountain Lion.  It is something that I am hoping to find the time to do sometime soon.

[roses 10]

My router won't connect to my GX620 unless it has a non-zero MAC address, so for me it was something important to fix.

 

My router is a Netgear WGR614 v6. Not sure if you that particular make and model is available where you are. All my Windows PCs and laptops connect to it with no problem or adjustments to settings.

 

That router connects to a modem (a Thomson Speedtouch) which is provided by my ISP and it's that modem which has a MAC address. (It's on the label underneath and I can also check it from my PC by accessing the router's 'home page' by putting into my browser 192.168.1.1 .) But it only has 2 Internet ports (the other two are for TV top boxes) which is why I need a router.

 

I do remember having to set up the router when I first got it and putting in the modem's MAC address, but after that it was plain sailing.

 

But on my GX620, on all the Leopard and Snow Leopard installs I've done, I always get in About this Mac>>More Info>>Network the zero MAC address. (Likewise in SysPrefs>>Network>>Advanced>>Ethernet where the Ethernet ID is also all zereos.) However, in About this Mac>>More Info>>Network, next to the entry for IPv4>>Network Signature there is a Router Hardware Address and this is not zeros but 6 pairs of hex numbers each separated by a colon. I don't know how this is related to the MAC address.

 

 

 

I didn't check all three GX620's but the one I'm sitting at has this NIC

Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5751 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express [14e4:1677] (rev 01)

 

Yep, that looks to be the same or similar to my one.

 

 

 

 but I  I do remember trying many AppleBCM5751Ethernet.kext's.  

 

 

Well, maybe I got lucky but the first kext I tried worked. Like I said, for me it was simply a case of installing it with the NIC turned off in BIOS.

 

I have not tried installing Lion or Mountain Lion.  It is something that I am hoping to find the time to do sometime soon.

 

Please let me know either via the forum or PM when you do this, as I have already at several attempts, all so far unsuccessful. (Cannot even get to the first "Choose Your Language" screen".) I would like to pool our ideas on installing Lion or ML and maybe benefit from your knowledge and experience.

 

I am even planning to pimp my GX620 by adding a dual-core Pentium D but have no idea if it will work or enable me to have 10.7 or 10.8 or even how to physically do the changeover. Did you ever upgrade your CPU?

 

 

 

 

 

===Intermission===

 

Hmmm, but even as I was writing the above, the old problem of 'No Internet' reared its ugly head again.

 

This is what I was doing.

I had an install of 10.6.6 on my 64GB SSD which I had saved as a sparsediskimage using CCC.

Internet was working and everything was set up and tweaked to my satisfaction.

I saved it so that I could try the combo update again and again using guides from this forum, but of course I always got KP at [PCI Config begin].

No prob, I just restored the disk image and tried again.

After the restore, I had to re-install Chameleon (a different version) and found it would not boot with the standard mach_kernel, only with legacy_kernel on the Dell. (And even more strangely, not with either of those two but only with modbin_kernel on my ASRock/AMD 4200+ PC - see below.)

I don't know why. Remember I'm a noob and even simple things like setting up Chameleon usually defeat me.

And now I find that the en0 has no internet connection (it says the cable is unplugged but that is clearly impossible because 2 minutes earlier it WAS working when I booted up my Leopard 10.5.2 which is on the 80GB SATA HDD). 

So obviously the BCM5751 kext I was previously using only works with mach_kernel and maybe I'll have to try your suggestion of editing the info.plist to include the ID number.

 

I'll let you know if that works.

[roses 10]

 

<string>pci14e4,1677</string>

 

 

Er, doesn't there need to be an key entry before this? For example, <key>something or other</key>

 

Does it matter where in the info.plist I put it? Isn't the order of these entries important?

 

Is it better to do this kind of editing with Text Edit or Property List Editor?

[Cerastez 11]

I used TextEdit to edit the info.plist file.   This is the section of the fie that I changed.  It has a list of NIC IDs and I just coped what they had.

 

            <array>
                <string>pci106b,8</string>
                <string>pci106b,9</string>
                <string>pci106b,85</string>
                <string>pci14e4,16a6</string>
                <string>pci14e4,166a</string>
                <string>pci14e4,1677</string>
                <string>pci14e4,1648</string>
                <string>pci14e4,165d</string>
                <string>pci14e4,1696</string>
                <string>pci14e4,165e</string>
                <string>pci14e4,169d</string>
                <string>pci14e4,167d</string>
            </array>
 

 

This is the kext that I used if you want to look inside at its plist or try it out: AppleBCM5751Ethernet.kext

 

Everything that you described with the MAC address being all zeros in some places is exactly how mine appears too.  The applescript that I use does fix it but it needs to be fixed again every time I restart.  Is that what yours does?  Restarting un-does your fix?

 

I did upgrade my CPUs to dual cores and I highly recommend it.  The CPU's are cheap, easy to install and make a huge difference in speed and performance.

 

 

[roses 10]

I used TextEdit to edit the info.plist file.   This is the section of the fie that I changed.  It has a list of NIC IDs and I just coped what they had.

 

 

Hmm, my info.plist file doesn't have that array. Obviously the kext you are using is a lot different to mine.

 

Whatever, I sorted out the problem without having to use your kext. I just restored the disk image and changed chameleon to boot with the legacy kernel. The only downside is that I am unable to use -force64 or arch=x86_64 to use 64-bit mode. but I guess that's what legacy means, that it's only 32-bit.

 

There's still a lot I don't understand about all the various kernels and how they are compatible with kexts.

 

The main thing I was trying to solve was why my QE/CI was not working anymore on 10.6.6 (I'm sure it was previously) as I needed that to install Logic Pro 9 (a music program) which has minimum system requirements of 64 MB VRAM and QE/CI capable. But I managed to hack it by editing the minsys.plist and it did install. However, the performance of the software in 32-bit with a lot of data is sluggish and I was hoping 64-bit would improve it. 

 

 

Everything that you described with the MAC address being all zeros in some places is exactly how mine appears too.  The applescript that I use does fix it but it needs to be fixed again every time I restart.  Is that what yours does?  Restarting un-does your fix?

 

Ooh no, my fix is permanent. No need to change anything after every reboot. Only if I move the SSD to the other computer will it find en1 (previously it was en0 in the Dell) but that's only because it's a different make/model of card. But still no need to make any alterations apart from click on 'Apply Settings' to accept the new NIC. Now of course there's two entries on the LHS of SysPrefs>>Network, one active and the other not.The IP address & MAC address for the new card are automatically assigned.

 

 

 

I did upgrade my CPUs to dual cores and I highly recommend it.  The CPU's are cheap, easy to install and make a huge difference in speed and performance.

 

Well, that's extremely good news. I'm reluctant to spend too much on pimping it because a) finances are tight and b the whole system including monitor & stand only cost 50 Euros (see first post).

 

I did find a dual core Pentium D820 2.80GHz 800MHzFSB 2MB cache, boxed with fan (used but VGC), for only 10 Euros and as soon as I saw your message I went ahead and clicked 'Buy'. The only bummer is that if I was living in the same country as the seller the postage would be free. As I live in the neighbouring country, delivery is another 10 Euros.

 

Can you give me any hints and tips about the physical changeover of the CPU please? I've changed CPUs and fans in normal ATX desktops hundreds of times, but I'm a bit put off by the huge heatsink in the USFF as it diesn't look easy to remove. I guess the fan I'm getting will be superfluous as it's designed for a normal sized desktop case. Either I'll sell it on to recoup some of my outlay, or keep it I ever decide to move all the Dell innards to a normal sized box (if that's possible).

 

I'm also thinking about upping my 2 x 1GB RAM to 2 x 2GB, if I can find any DDR2 cheap enough. How would that improve my SL performance and would it make Lion & ML installation more feasible??

 

Please be so kind and include the detailed specs including case size for your GX620 in your signature (or tell me via PM) so that I know how similar or different your setup is to mine.

[Cerastez 11]

I did watch a few youtube videos before I installed the new CPU, but it did turn out to be quite easy.  A quick search and I am sure you will find a good video.  You will need to order a tube of thermal paste.

 

One thing I read was that the faster CPU required a copper heat sink.  Two of the three GX620 that I have came with a copper heat sink.  One had an aluminum heat sink.  I did replace it when I upgraded the CPU.  I didn't try it out so I can not say for sure that the aluminum one would have over heated.  It has been awhile since I did it, but I think that the fins on the heatsink are aluminum an it is just the pad that contacts the CPU that is copper. 

 

Did you use a kext to fix your video or DSDT? 

 

I have a mini-tower, a desktop and a USFF.  All of them are at bios version A11, a Pentium D CPU, GMA 950 graphics and SATA hard drives.

[roses 10]

I did watch a few youtube videos....

 

Well, to be frank, I try to avoid them cos although I would not call myself an expert by any stretch of the imagination, some of the things the people say and do on there make my blood boil.

 

However, because you suggested it I had a look, and the first 3 I found did exactly that. But more to the point, none of them featured my USFF case and the layout and method of deinstallation/installation may as well be on another make and model of computer. My current heatsink does have the copper pipes - I'll try and upload a photo soon - and two fans either side of it (one bringing cool air into the case, the other expelling it from the back) but now I'm very concerned that it won't handle the heat output of the new CPU. The current Pentium 4 HT 3.00GHz is rated at max 84W TDP, the new dual core D 2 x 2.8GHz at 95W. Will that increase of 11W make a huge difference? I'm also fairly sure that the fan coming with the dual core will not be suitable for the USFF so I'll have to use the old one. (Should have some paste lying around somewhere, but good job you reminded me.)

 

Edit: I just tried looking for some temperature monitoring software to see what my current CPU runs at on average, but the bad news is none of them can find a temp sensor for the CPU, only for the hard drive. (What's the point of not fitting a sensor for the processor, Mr Dell??)

 

Aaargh.......but those people on YT!! Someone who switched on the video camera after he'd done most of the important-to-see steps and appeared to be working in a dungeon with only a 40 Watt bulb; someone else doing the changeover in his kid's bedroom complete with bunk beds and putting his CPUs on a bed cover made of cotton or some other static material - and then leaving the camera running for over a minute looking at a black wall while he cleaned the heatsink (never heard of video editing dude?); an English guy specifically saying he was not taking any anti-static precautions because of the video camera (huh, why would that make a difference??) and putting LOADS (far too much) thermal paste on both the CPU AND the heatsink. OMG!! I could go on.

 

This is why I need specific information about the CPU change on the USFF case, eg did you use the same heatsink as was in it before?

Did you use a kext to fix your video or DSDT? 

 

I assume you mean the QE/CI problem. No, I didn't fix it. I found on the web some progs that are supposed to sort it out and just install QE/CI for SL 10.6.6 but they didn't seem to work. But it's probably cos I still don't really know what I'm doing. The annoying thing is I'm 99% sure it was working on the first few 10.6.6 installs I did. I'll have to have a look and see if I have any disk images of those, or if not, reinstall from scratch again from the DVD. I wonder if there was a QE/CI patch or option in the Customise Install section of my distro?

 

(I have to admit that the first few 10.5 & 10.6 installs I did, I had no clue what all those options meant. Now I have a better idea and am more selective. For instance, i couldn't figure out why every 10.6.6 install went fine until it rebooted to the keyboard recognition screen and I couldn't go any further as it seemed to be looking for PS/2 M & KB (but there are no such ports on my USFF). The USB ones were not recognised and did not respond. But if I put the SSD into my other computer, I could register and get to the desktop and then put it back in the Dell. Then I realised after about the 10th time I had selected USB3.0. There is no USB3.0 in the Dell but there is in my other PC. So now I don't select it and every install on the Dell goes all the way to completion. Does that make you laugh? I hope so, maybe you need cheering up this weekend.)

 

It's not important for me to have QE/CI working anyhow, as I don't use Dashboard and I don't play chess, the only 2 things it seems to be needed for. Logic Pro 9 at install time says it needs it, but after hacking the minsys.plist file and running the software and doing some fairly heavy work on it, saw no graphic peculiarities or deficiencies. (However, I read Logic Pro 8 definitely needs it.)

 

The only 2 things I noticed are that when Cubase AI5 (another music program) starts up, the intro logo flashes and flickers quite a bit, but after that, while doing some extended audio editing and mixing, it gave no cause for concern graphically. Also Google Chrome sometimes fails to respond to mouse and keyboard instructions to scroll down/up pages, either with the slider, the arrows or Page Up/Page Down keys on the KB. (Safari isn't affected in any way.) But I think this is related to something else, although I'm not quite sure what. Tried updating it and reinstalling it to no avail. Strange thing is it doesn't do it immediately on start up, but after a while it stops responding. Even closing and reopening a new page doesn't help. Weird!!

[Cerastez 11]

The USFF GX280 that I have did come with a copper heatsink and I did re-use it.  From your description of copper tubes, I would say that you have the heatsink that will work.    And I think that you are right, the fan that comes with the processor you bought won't be something that can be installed.

 

This is the Dell manual, page 212 has instructions on replacing the processor. 

[roses 10]

The USFF GX280 that I have did come with a copper heatsink and I did re-use it.  From your description of copper tubes, I would say that you have the heatsink that will work.    And I think that you are right, the fan that comes with the processor you bought won't be something that can be installed.

 

That is good news. Have taken a pic and will try to upload it. 

 

How feasible is it to move the insides of a USFF to another case, eg ATX?

 

Success!!

This is the Dell manual, page 212 has instructions on replacing the processor. 

 

D'oh!!! Now I'm the stupid one and I'm telling myself: RTFF

 

One of the first things I did actually was to download the manual and wondered why it was so huge until I realised it covered all four case sizes. I did flick through it (not easy on a PDF, much prefer a paper version) but only in order to find specific answers to a few questions (eg 1) When I was trying to sort out the 'no internet' issue exactly what the colours of the LED next to the RJ45 ethernet socket mean; and 2) how to activate the USB ports on the side of the monitor. I still don't know. Do you?).

 

But never in my wildest dreams would I have thought it would show you how to change the processor. That's fairly unusual wouldn't you agree? Especially for a company like Dell who market their PCs at shall we say the less geeky end of the population. ("I own a car and know where to put the gas in but other than that I don't know and have no desire to know how it works!!")

[Cerastez 11]

After looking at the picture, I have no doubt that you have the right heat sink.

 

I have never tried to move the guts of a computer into another case, so I'm not sure how that would work out.  The only real issue that I can see is overheating.   As long as there is airflow into and out of those black plastic shrouds, I would think it would be okay.

 

I have gotten to be a big fan of Dell.  Their manuals are generally very good but more than that, Dells just seem made for hackintoshing.   I once hackintoshed two computers that both had the same motherboard, one was a Dell and one was an HP.  The Dell was a piece of cake, but the HP was so difficult.  I had to try installing a couple of times before it stuck and then everything was buggy and weird.   HP's are awful to hackintosh. 

 

There was a rumor way back when that Dell was going to start selling computers with the Apple OS preinstalled.    It never happened of course, but I do sometimes wonder if Dell doesn't design their computers so that they can take the Apple OS. 

[roses 10]

While I wait for the new CPU to arrive, I had another try installing Lion and/or ML yesterday..................but to no avail.

 

Maybe I need another distro, or even (shock horror!!!) to get the retail DVD. But here in Europe I think it's impossible to buy a physical OS X DVD so it looks like I might having to download it from the app store.

[roses 10]

Hey, why don't you go on ahead and try installing ML 10.8.2 on your GX620?

 

It worked for me. (But see my new thread in OSx86 Installation>>10.8 Mountain Lion forum, as there are a few problems, like it only boots in safe mode.)

 

The new processor arrived yesterday............and guess what, you're gonna laugh, but after all that it came without a box or a fan – just the CPU in a flat padded envelope/jiffy bag!!! There was some small print on the Amazon page which I didn't see which said the particular supplier I chose did not ship the fan, although other suppliers do for a slightly higher price (15 EUR plus delivery). So now there's going to be a long battle about whether I get a partial refund, or have to return it and order from another firm. We'll see.

 

So I went ahead and installed it in my USFF GX620 – and it was easy as pie. I spent w-a-y longer worrying about how to do it than actually doing it. If anyone else is reading this apart from Cerastez (who has already done this procedure) and wants further details, let me know and I'll post photos of every step of the CPU installation process.

 

 

 As long as there is airflow into and out of those black plastic shrouds, I would think it would be okay.

 

 

What is this shroud you're talking about? I can see one in in the diagram in the manual but it's on the old-style heatsink. When I take my Optiplex's top cover off, I see exactly what you see in the photo I posted previously: just the heatsink and copper pipes but no shroud.

 

Booted first time into BIOS to check if it was recognised. Yep!! Booted into OS X 10.6.6, and after a failed first attempt (which had me very concerned), all was well. System Profiler gave the right CPU name, number of cores and clock speed. Let it run for a few hours with no load or programs running to see if it was stable, and it seemed to be.

 

But I never noticed the Optiplex had variable speed case fans before now. It was always so quiet. But when I installed ML later on that day (BTW, every one of my Lion 10.7 install attempts with 3 different distros ALL failed), the fans really got cranked up to a disturbingly high noise level, and even during normal operation in safe mode, the CPU seemed to be chucking out a lot of heat which the fans had to deal with. I really hope my heatsink is up to the task of coping with 95W TDP. But still no processor temperature sensor to know for sure what's happening.

 

And anyway, how do the fans know that they must increase their speed? There must be some sort of sensor somewhere down there.

[roses 10]

But I never noticed the Optiplex had variable speed case fans before now. It was always so quiet. 

 

Well, after a few days of living with the fans being so noisy almost ALL the time, even while the computer is doing relatively nothing, I might be looking at finding some quieter/noiseless replacements (pity there's two of them as that doubles the cost).

 

Anyone ever replaced their fans? There's a guy on eBay UK who sells exact replacements (brand new) including the blue plastic mounting base (put in the search engine the Dell Part number below to find him).

 

This is what I found in my case (are they different in the larger GX620 cases and in other GX desktops?):

 

Sunon (China) PMD1206 PMD3-A

Dell Part Number OU 8679

DC12V, 5.2 W, 0.43A

5 pin connector, only four wires used

Depth (front to back): 39mm

Height & Width: 62mm x 62mm

Speed: 6000 RPM

Airflow: 41.5 CFM

Noise: 47dBA

Weight: 90g

 

But I think I'm going to be looking at quieter replacements rather than originals. 47dBA at 6000 RPM is far too loud.