Dell Inspiron 7720 17R Special Edition some issues

naquaada · September 8, 2019

Hello,

I have the laptop mentioned above. It's a nice laptop for OSx86 and very expandable. Here are the specs:

- HM77 Chipset

- Core i7 3840qm (upgraded from 3630qm)

- 16 GB RAM

- Intel HD4000 Graphics (0x1660009, Mobile, 3 Outputs)

- nVidia GT 650M

- mSATA2 1 TB SSD (not bootable)

- SATA3 2 TB SSD

- SATA3 2 TB SSHD

- Broadcom 4352 WLAN + Bluetooth

- Realtek 8105 LAN

- IDT 92HD91Bxx Audio

- 4x Intel USB 3.0 ports (no USB2 fallback mode)

- Realtek Cardreader, Webcam connected to internal USB 2.0

- ALPS trackpad

- Non-Standard 7800 mAh battery

I'm using Mavericks 10.9.5 with Clover on the non-bootable mSATA-SSD. The Clover bootloader is installed on the SSHD. The Clover package is from here. All kexts are in L/E.

Mojave is also working but outputs some errors while booting. Snow Leopard is working rudementary. The laptop is working rather fine. These are the issues:

- Cardreader not detected (common problem)

- Battery is not correctly calculated, there's no warning if it is drained. Sometimes the battery symbol is red if power is connected.

- Sleep works, but can't boot from Hibernate state.

- No USB 2.0 and 3.0 function in Snow Leopard

- No HDMI output, only display. The Intel HD4000 is detected as 0x01660004, Mobile, 1 Output. HDMI works without patched dsdt.aml, but no internal display.

- Trackpad prefpane and gestures are working in Mavericks, but not after Sleep. I solved this by unloading and reloading the driver using an AppleScript which is executed after wakeup.

- Trackpad prefpane is not working in Mojave

- Snow Leopard has no graphics, LAN, WLAN and USB 3.0 ;-) But I just have installed it for recovery reasons.

The biggest problem is the missing HDMI port. I've uploaded the unpatched dsdt.aml files created by Clover. It would be really great if somebody could help me fixing my laptop.

Greets, naquaada.

EFI_Dell_17R_SE.zip

Edited February 23, 2020 by naquaada

naquaada · September 8, 2019

Thanks for the quick reply.

Yes, I will upgrade to newer versions, but the graphics on my Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H were so slow, it was impossible to work with, so I'm still using Mavericks.

Compare some Xbench graphics results:

Snow Leopard: Text 1259, GUI 752

Mavericks: Text 372, GUI 552

Yosemite: Text 348, GUI 72

El Capitan: Text ?, GUI 12

Other Example: The game Plasma Pong has in 1600x1200 on Mavericks 59 fps, in Snow Leopard more up to 180! The Radeon HD6870 seems to be fully supported though, I have 4 monitors with 3 different sizes connected to it, no problems. DVI, HDMI and 2x Mini-DP with active Displayport->HDMI adapters.

I'm planning to use the Samsung SSD (SATA3) in GPT format for MacOS. The mSATA SSD (SATA2) contains Windows 7, Windows 10, Linux, Android and MacOS 10.6. The harddisk (SATA3) will be replaced with a Seagte Firecuda 2 TB SSHD. It is mostly a data partition with MBR partition table. It will be used for the bootloader for the mSATA SSD, probably with Clover 3882, the last version with 32bit-Support. I never was able to boot Windows or Linux partitions installed on MBR with newer versions of Clover.

Snow Leopard isn't fully supported on this laptop, but the Disk Utility is worth it. It's much better than the similar versions up to 10.10. If a partition has problems, you often were told to backup data and reformat. The Disk Utility of 10.6 is mostly able to repair these errors. It also has a function to clone partitions by files, not by blocks. This is useful for cloning to a SSD because not every block has to be written. The file permissions are kept, so it's possible to boot from a drive copied with this method.

I also don't want to disable SpeedStep, but it was a try to get rid of the stopping problem. But it had no effect, so I turned SpeedStep on again. Brightness control, color pofiles etc also are working. I'm using DisplayMergeNub.kext for an optimized display.

I'm now searching files you asked for.

Edited September 8, 2019 by naquaada

naquaada · September 8, 2019

So, here are the files. The archive contains:

- EFI Folder

- IOJones output (IORegistryExplorer)

- Systemprofiler Output

- DCPI Manager Screenshots

- Xbench Overall Result screenshot

- Display EDID binaries

- Color Profiles and DisplayMergeNub.kext

I've installed Clover 5070 tonight. There enhancements with the stuttering problem, it occurs not so often.

Inspiron_7720_17R_SE.zip

Edited September 10, 2019 by naquaada

naquaada · September 9, 2019

Yes, that's correct. I had to stay with Mavericks because all newer versions were too slow. and I'm in the OSx86 scene since March 2006, so it should be understandable that I don't change the tools which I'm used from the beginning. The system layout I'm using is the same like in 2006 and it works fine, so why change it?

I had lots of problem during this time. 10.4.5 to 10.4.7 install DVDs from myzar were running fine. Then came 10.4.8 from JaS with a heavy bug in the Disk Utility. I often complained about it but nobody cared. This bug was in every Tiger release up to 10.4.11. So I was stuck with 10.4.7 and had to wait until a working Leopard DVD was out, the first one was 10.5.2 or so. After the update from Quicktime 7.4.2 to 7.5 a simple AVI needed 90% cpu time on my Athlon 64 4000+. I noticed it was the Radeon X1600, so I exchanged all 4 computers with a Radeon HD2600XT. The card is great, with the Natit driver it allows to 'overclock' TFT monitors - instead of 1600x1200 2048x1536 was possible, my LG 3D TV allows even 2560x1440 and more. But just this HD2600XT was not supported since 10.6. I didn't want exchange four graphics cards again, so I stuck for about 8 years with Leopard. Power supplies died, also the board, but I never had to reinstall the system, it was absolutely smooth. In 2013 I bought my Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H and a Core i7 3770K, but was to lazy to install, so I still continued to use Leopard - until there really was no new software available. My AMD Opteron 185 (2x2,6 GHz) also was able to use a 70-track Logic project, but could not play a Full-HD video. I installed Mavericks on the Core i7 and tried to tested Yosemite and El Capitan, but they were too slow and forced me to stay with Mavericks.

In earlier times, I tested more than 50 Install DVD's from 10.4.5 to 10.5.8. I was moderator in infinitemac (second osx86 forum ever, with focus on AMD) and had more than 1200 posts there, with lots of guides. That's why I have here just a few posts. Believe me, I would like to upgrade. But I had enough reasons in my over 13 years of OSx86 experience to NOT to upgrade. Well, I have missed the whole Chameleon 2 and Clover things. The whole smbios configuration and dsdt.aml patching started after Snow Leopard, which wouldn't work because of my Radeon HD2600XT. And I definitively don't wanted to buy again four new graphics cards.

BlackMagic Disk Speed won't open on my system.

Edited September 9, 2019 by naquaada

naquaada · September 9, 2019

The installer stick doesn't work. I updated the multi-system installer I made a longer time ago, it contains Catalina beta, Mojave, Mavericks and SnowLeopard. Partition table is GPT, Clover 5035, the drivers and your files copied in the EFI partition.

- Catalina stops at 'AMF: Only 126/256 slide values are useable ! Vaild slides: 1-63, 128-190'

- Mojave stops at 'End RandomSeed'

- Mavericks stops after reading kernelcache

So there's no panic, but no installer starts to boot. I tried various settings, also had the error 0x9 when loading kernelcache or error 0xe when loading the mach_kernel.

What is the Option DellSMBIOSPatch? Actually I have it checked on, but there's no difference.

The partition sizes of the installers are only as big as neccessary, is there a reason why they should be larger? Are they creating temporary files?

naquaada · September 10, 2019

Sure, and always selected USB device. If I didn't select something, the Mavericks installation of the MBR HD starts to boot, without showing the Clover boot menu. But it stops during boot. I've switched now back to BIOS mode, I'm copying some partitions the the mSata SSD. The SSHD should arrive soon, it will be the data drive and for the mSATA bootloader. I'm always using a primary 200 MB FAT32 partition for Clover, I never install it in the installation directly.

Is it problematic to add more installation systems on one stick? What about the name, has to be it 'macOS Mojave install' and whatever the names are? I would prefer shorter names, like 'inMojave', 'inMavericks' etc. The partitions are also all hidden (don't show in Finder), except the data partition for updates, software etc.

It's also a USB 3.0 stick, should I test one for USB 2.0 only? At least the laptop has no Smart USB 3.0 function like my Gigabyte board.

Update: The 2 TB Seagte SSHD arrived today. I cloned my old Mavericks installation to the mSATA SSD, using the SSHD as bootloader with sperate 200 MB FAT32 boot partition. This works fine. But every time I open Disk Utility, it shows the SATA SSD and the SSHD marked in red and wants asks about creating a Fusion Drive. That's rather annoying and maybe a potential risk of destroying the partitions, is it possible to disable Fusion drive? I also ordered a 64 GB USB 2.0 stick.

I also got a harddisk speed test program. Not BlackMagic DiskSpeed, but AjA Support Test Lite. Here are the test results writing an 1 GB file:

- Seagate Firecuda 2 TB SSHD (SATA3): Write 113 Read 118

- Samsung Evo 860 1 TB mSATA (SATA2): Write 256 Read 270

- SPCC SSD 1 TB (SATA3): Write 465 Read 531

So, drive speed is ok, although it does not seem much faster than a harddrive yet. Snow Leopards boot awesome fast, but Mavericks is rather slow, both from the mSATA SSD. Well, the installation is several years old. A reinstall was neccessary at all, but I always was to lame to do it ;-)

Edited September 10, 2019 by naquaada

naquaada · September 14, 2019

So, latest news. I got my 64 GB USB 2.0 stick, a good one from SanDisk, no cheap stuff. I cloned all install partitions to it, further I added a 20 GB partition for Catalina and there's also a data partition. Then I installed Clover 5035 and copied the EFI files of your package in it.

But these are the only good news. The USB stick is not even shown in the boot devices list in UEFI mode, so I added a boot entry in the BIOS. I could now boot, the bootloader appeared, but after selecting something everything stays black. There's not even an access light on the USB stick. Then I tried several combinations up to a complete revert to my old settings, nothing. The kexts for Clover are now directly in the 10.9 and 10.14 folders, not in 'Other'. Still no success.

I had never so many problems with MBR and Legacy BIOS, that's why I never changed to UEFI. In my laptop I wanted to do this because it's more confirm to OS X, but why the hell is it not working? Could it be more problematic to install newer versions of OS X in an MBR/Legacy system? In earlier versions the installers were easy to patch by exchanging the OSinstall.mpkg, but in later versions this is more difficult.

zogthegreat · February 18, 2020

Hi naquaada,

Someone just gave me a similar laptop, with these specs:

- HM77 Chipset

- Core i5-3210m

- 16 GB RAM

- Intel HD4000 Graphics

- 128gb mSATA SSD (bootable)

- SATA3 1 TB HD - (7200 rpm)

- Realtek 8105 LAN

- ADI Audio

- 4x Intel USB 3.0 ports

- Realtek Cardreader, Webcam connected to internal USB 2.0

- ALPS trackpad

- no nVidia GT 650M - (makes my life easier)

The system didn't come with these specs. It only had 4gb of memory and a 320gb 5400 rpm SATA drive. In short, it was a POS! I was going to drop it off at the recycler, when I noticed the rather gorgeous 1600x900 panel that's upgradable to a FHD. So I decided to install OS X on it. I think that part of the problem that your having is the BIOS is somewhat strange. It won't boot uEFI for Linux even though I have uEFI boot selected. I finally manged to get things going, (after two bleeping days!), by setting allow legacy boot in the BIOS and then booting my EFI bootable USB stick in legacy mode.

I used the Inspiron7720_Mojave boot pack that Hervé provided you and I experienced the same problems as you. I rebooted with a Linux Live USB and did a quick lspci:

$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev c4)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev c4)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM77 Express Chipset LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 04)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 05)

I then went back to the boot pack and removed everything but the following kext's

FakeSMC.kext

Lilu.kext

USBInjectAll.kext

VoodooPS2Controller.kext

WhateverGreen.kext

I replaced the RealtekR1000SL.kext with a RealtekRTL8100.kext to get the LAN working. I'm going to wait until I have the base system stable before I start messing with WiF.

I also removed the "ACIP/patched" folder in the boot pack as my hardware isn't the same as yours. I also edited the config.plist to remove any refernces to your DSDT/SSDT and nVidia GT 650M.

~~I'm attaching my current EFI. It's rough but it does get my 7720 up and running.~~

Hmm, for some reason seems that my EFI file is larger than 10mb, so I'm uploading it to my webserver. Here's the link:

EFI-01.zip

Let us know how it goes.

Good luck!

zog

Edited February 18, 2020 by zogthegreat

naquaada · February 18, 2020

I now have a working Mojave instalation. I have these errors:

- Bluetooth not working (BCMBCM20702A0Injector.kext not loaded)

- No fans displayed on Mojave, computer is hotter

- Trackpad does not show up in Mojave (but works)

- No battery warning (at least in Mavericks)

- Cardreader doesn't work

- HDMI still does not work

I'm still using FakeSMC, not VirtualSMC. Lilu and WhateverGreen are installed. Should I upgrade, to which version?

If your system works fine, do a disk image backup and try the tool Monolingual. It removes unneccessarry languages and architectures, so it's possible to remove on a good configured Mavericks installation more than 188400 files, 41500 folders and about 2 GB HD space. Check the iDefrag screenshots below. But make sure you have a backup of your system, you can't reinstall the language files. Some applications may not work, but the only one I know is an old version of Pacifist.

@zogthegreat

In your EFI folder is no patched dsdt.aml, I get a black screen without patch. I added the actual version of my EFI folder, including the kexts. They are working on Mavericks and Mojave. All are installed in /Library/Extensions. My laptop supports UEFI, but I'm only using BIOS/MBR mode. I only had bad experiences using UEFI/GPT.

Some help would be great, especcially getting HDMI to work is neccessary. Without patched dsdt.aml it is working, but then the laptop display isn't working. It's a great laptop and capable to upgrade it to 10 TB storage, 2x 4 TB SSD and a 2 TB mSATA SSD from the inside of a Samsung T3 oder T5 external USB 3.1 SSD.

Clover Dell 17R SE.zip

Spoiler

Edited February 19, 2020 by naquaada

zogthegreat · February 19, 2020

15 hours ago, naquaada said:

@zogthegreat

In your EFI folder is no patched dsdt.aml, I get a black screen without patch. I added the actual version of my EFI folder, including the kexts. They are working on Mavericks and Mojave. All are installed in /Library/Extensions. My laptop supports UEFI, but I'm only using BIOS/MBR mode. I only had bad experiences using UEFI/GPT.

Some help would be great, especcially getting HDMI to work is neccessary. Without patched dsdt.aml it is working, but then the laptop display isn't working. It's a great laptop and capable to upgrade it to 10 TB storage, 2x 4 TB SSD and a 2 TB mSATA SSD from the inside of a Samsung T3 oder T5 external USB 3.1 SSD.

Clover Dell 17R SE.zip

Reveal hidden contents

Hi naquaada,

I spent a couple of hours last night trying your EFI. I tried changing various kext's and modifying the different config.plist with no results, with the exception of the config_17rse.plist, Using my minimal kext's setup, I was able to get my system to boot, however, it took 4:30 minutes to boot and the graphics were flaky.

I think that part of my problem is that I need to generate proper DSDT/SSDT's. However, all of the guides that I can find are at least 4 years old. Do you have any preferred guides that you could provide some links for?

I'm going to keep plugging away at this, it's become a challenge now!

naquaada · February 23, 2020

Hm, my Mavericks installation just needs 15 seconds to boot from an SATA2 mSATA SSD. Have you used APFS or HFS+? HFS+ should be faster on Hackintoshes. Perhaps you should try Mavericks, the GUI is much faster than newer versions. It's better at all to have two working OS X versions on the drive, so you can reapair a defective one, defrag and backup the other one. And if anyone moans around, defragmenting DOES help.

It is the best method to configure an installation as good as possible and then migrate the account to the other installation. I also like to change visual appearance, like new default icons for folders etc. Mojave has a 3D Dock using 'cDock' and the black Tiger triangles, so you can definetively see if a program is started. The classic Lucida Grande Font is also used. I never liked the 'flat' style since 10.10, so all apllication icons are changed to the original ones with the tool 'LiteIcon'. It's looking like a classic Mac OS X now. Even the 'About this Mac' information window is modified, here in 10.9.

I'm also removing unneccessary stuff. I'm creating folders like 'Extensions (disabled)' or 'SystemProfiler (disabled)'. In a standard Hackintosh you won't have Parallel-SCSI, SAS, WWAN or cardreaders. So move the .spreporter files to the (disabled) folder and your system profller view gets smaller. With Extensions it's the same, things like Thunderbolt, AppleIRContoller, AppleiSight, unnessessary ATI/AMD/GeForce/Nvidia stuff can be moved. There are a lot of unneccessary Intel Graphics drivers you won't need. But even if your computer does not have Firewire, leave the drivers in. Drivers should get a different color label, modified original Apple drivers are marked red on my system. OSx86 drivers I'm coloring matching to the OS, Leopard and Catalina purple, Snow Leopard grey, Mavericks green, Mojave blue. That's useful if you have more than one OS version on the drive. I have four, 10.6, 10.9, 10.14 and 10.15. All have different advantages and disadvantages. For Mavericks I also have a modified version of the dock which uses the black triangles from Tiger for active programs. They are much more visible than the original small blue bars.

I'm in insanelymac since March 2006. With installing, maintaining and modifying I have no problems. But since Snow Leopard my ATI Radeon HD2600XT graphics card wasn't working and I didn't want to upgrade four graphics cards. So I was stuck with Leopard till 2013. I had no problems with it, I never had to reinstall since 2008 on my AMD Opteron 185. But there was absolutely no software for Leopard, so I had to upgrade. In this time the installation methods have changed drastically since then, and I'm no programmer on modern systems. So I have no idea how this dsdt.aml patching works and can just hope that anyone could help me to fix the laptop. The only problem is missing HDMI, that's because the Intel HD4000 is hardcoded to a wrong device ID, 0x01660004 instad of 0x01660009. Maybe a battery warning would be nice, and if the card reader would be fixed, the system would be perfect.

Edited February 23, 2020 by naquaada

zogthegreat · February 23, 2020

Hi naquaada,

So I made some progress, I managed to get my Intel IDT audio working... sort of! What I had to do was modify the info.plist on the VoodooHDA.kext to show the correct audio device ID. screen shots are below. Essentially, all I did was change this:

Spoiler

<key>VoodooHDA</key>
       <dict>
           <key>AllowMSI</key>
           <true/>
           <key>Boost</key>
           <integer>1</integer>
           <key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
           <string>org.voodoo.driver.VoodooHDA</string>
           <key>DisableInputMonitor</key>
           <true/>
           <key>IOClass</key>
           <string>VoodooHDADevice</string>
           <key>IOMatchCategory</key>
           <string>VoodooHDADevice</string>
           <key>IOPCIClassMatch</key>
           <string>0x04020000&0xfffe0000</string>
           <key>IOProviderClass</key>
           <string>IOPCIDevice</string>
           <key>IOUserClientClass</key>
           <string>VoodooHDAUserClient</string>
           <key>InhibitCache</key>
           <false/>
           <key>MixerValues</key>
           <dict>

To this:

Spoiler

<dict>
       <key>VoodooHDA</key>
       <dict>
           <key>AllowMSI</key>
           <true/>
           <key>Boost</key>
           <integer>1</integer>
           <key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
           <string>org.voodoo.driver.VoodooHDA</string>
           <key>DisableInputMonitor</key>
           <true/>
           <key>IOClass</key>
           <string>VoodooHDADevice</string>
           <key>IOMatchCategory</key>
           <string>VoodooHDADevice</string>
           <key>IOPCIClassMatch</key>
           <string>0x04020000&0xfffe0000</string>
           <key>IOProviderClass</key>
           <string>IOPCIDevice</string>
           <key>IOUserClientClass</key>
           <string>VoodooHDAUserClient</string>
           <key>InhibitCache</key>
           <false/>
           <key>MixerValues</key>
           <dict>

This got my audio working, however, I just have the top speakers working, but no bass from the bottom speaker. Not that big of a thing, but I will probably fiddle with it once I have everything else working.

From the screen shots of the VoodooHDA preference pane, you can see that I have "Digital-out (HDMI)", but I don't seem to have HDMI video out yet! But I'm slowly working my way towards it!

BTW, thanks for the tips on cleaning up unneeded drivers, it's something that I've been thinking might speed up my boot times and remove some ACPI errors when the system is booting.

Right now it seems that I need to learn how ACPI works. I asked my son, (who has degrees in electrical engineering and computer engineering and currently works as a dev for AI/big data), if he had any old books on ACPI and his response was "What's ACPI?" ?!?! My natural response was "What the Hades did I spend all of that money on your education for!?!?" So I'm waiting for some books in the mail. Any suggestions or links on the subject would be appreciated.

EFI - working wifi and audio.zip

Edited February 23, 2020 by zogthegreat

naquaada · February 23, 2020

I would be interesting if you could post your full laptop model and a secreenshot of your devices from DCPIManager. Some Sub-ID's are different, both vendor is Dell (0x1028). Your laptop's Sub-Device-ID is 0x0564, mine is 0x0578. The Audio-ID inside VoodooHDA.kext is also the same. Different is the WLAN card, it's a Broadcom BCM4352 WLAN/Bluetooth card combo. You can get it on AliExpress for a few bucks.

Devices.png.2bebbd28e5038aa5678d72a4c0e7946d.png

zogthegreat · February 23, 2020

Here you go. Thanks for the tip on the WiFi card, I'm using a DW1510 right now that for some reason does't show properly in the DPCIManager. It's a chip that's been laying around in the bottom of my spare parts bin, so it might be bad. The really strange part is it was loading and running fine with the ATH9KFixup.kext. I switched the driver for AirportBrcmFixup.kext and it seems to work the same.

zogthegreat · February 23, 2020

Here's the output of various dmidecode output's under Linux:

dmidecode -t bios

Spoiler

zog@ubuntu:~$ sudo dmidecode -t bios
# dmidecode 3.2
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 2.7 present.

Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 24 bytes
BIOS Information
Vendor: Dell Inc.
Version: A17
Release Date: 05/19/2015
Address: 0xE0000
Runtime Size: 128 kB
ROM Size: 6656 kB
Characteristics:
PCI is supported
PNP is supported
BIOS is upgradeable
BIOS shadowing is allowed
ESCD support is available
Boot from CD is supported
Selectable boot is supported
EDD is supported
5.25"/360 kB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
5.25"/1.2 MB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
3.5"/720 kB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
Print screen service is supported (int 5h)
8042 keyboard services are supported (int 9h)
Serial services are supported (int 14h)
Printer services are supported (int 17h)
CGA/mono video services are supported (int 10h)
ACPI is supported
USB legacy is supported
LS-120 boot is supported
Smart battery is supported
BIOS boot specification is supported
Function key-initiated network boot is supported
Targeted content distribution is supported
BIOS Revision: 0.1

Handle 0x002B, DMI type 13, 22 bytes
BIOS Language Information
Language Description Format: Abbreviated
Installable Languages: 7
enUS
frFR
jaJP
koKR
zhCA
zhCA
ruRU
Currently Installed Language: enUS

dmidecode -t baseboard

Spoiler

zog@ubuntu:~$ sudo dmidecode -t baseboard
# dmidecode 3.2
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 2.7 present.

Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 15 bytes
Base Board Information
Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
Product Name: 04M3YM
Version: A00
Serial Number: .5YFDFT1.CN4864327N1284.
Asset Tag:
Features:
Board is a hosting board
Board is replaceable
Location In Chassis: Part Component
Chassis Handle: 0x0000
Type: Motherboard
Contained Object Handles: 0

Handle 0x0027, DMI type 10, 6 bytes
On Board Device Information
Type: Video
Status: Enabled
Description: Intel(R) Extreme Graphics 3 Controller

Handle 0x0028, DMI type 10, 6 bytes
On Board Device Information
Type: Sound
Status: Enabled
Description: Intel(R) Azalia Audio Device

dmidecode -t system

Spoiler

zog@ubuntu:~$ sudo dmidecode -t system
# dmidecode 3.2
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 2.7 present.

Handle 0x0001, DMI type 1, 27 bytes
System Information
Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
Product Name: Inspiron 7720
Version: Not Specified
Serial Number: 5YFDFT1
UUID: 4c4c4544-0059-4610-8044-b5c04f465431
Wake-up Type: Other
SKU Number: Inspiron 7720
Family: ChiefRiver System

Handle 0x002A, DMI type 12, 5 bytes
System Configuration Options

Handle 0x002D, DMI type 32, 11 bytes
System Boot Information
Status: No errors detected

Handle 0x0030, DMI type 23, 13 bytes
System Reset
Status: Disabled
Watchdog Timer: Present
Boot Option: Do Not Reboot
Boot Option On Limit: Do Not Reboot
Reset Count: Unknown
Reset Limit: Unknown
Timer Interval: Unknown
Timeout: Unknown

dmidecode -t connector

Spoiler

zog@ubuntu:~$ sudo dmidecode -t connector
# dmidecode 3.2
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 2.7 present.

Handle 0x0009, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: None
Internal Connector Type: None
External Reference Designator: Keyboard
External Connector Type: PS/2
Port Type: Keyboard Port

Handle 0x000A, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: None
Internal Connector Type: None
External Reference Designator: Mouse
External Connector Type: PS/2
Port Type: Mouse Port

Handle 0x000B, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: None
Internal Connector Type: Other
External Reference Designator: COM 1
External Connector Type: DB-9 male
Port Type: Serial Port 16550A Compatible

Handle 0x000C, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: None
Internal Connector Type: None
External Reference Designator: USB3.0 - 1#/USB2.0 - 1#
External Connector Type: Access Bus (USB)
Port Type: USB

Handle 0x000D, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: None
Internal Connector Type: None
External Reference Designator: USB3.0 - 2#/USB2.0 - 2#
External Connector Type: Access Bus (USB)
Port Type: USB

Handle 0x000E, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: None
Internal Connector Type: None
External Reference Designator: USB3.0 - 3#/USB2.0 - 3#
External Connector Type: Access Bus (USB)
Port Type: USB

Handle 0x000F, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: None
Internal Connector Type: None
External Reference Designator: USB3.0 - 4#/USB2.0 - 4#
External Connector Type: Access Bus (USB)
Port Type: USB

Handle 0x0010, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: None
Internal Connector Type: None
External Reference Designator: USB2.0 - 5#
External Connector Type: Access Bus (USB)
Port Type: USB

Handle 0x0011, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: None
Internal Connector Type: None
External Reference Designator: None
External Connector Type: Access Bus (USB)
Port Type: USB

Handle 0x0012, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: None
Internal Connector Type: None
External Reference Designator: None
External Connector Type: Access Bus (USB)
Port Type: USB

Handle 0x0013, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: None
Internal Connector Type: None
External Reference Designator: None
External Connector Type: Access Bus (USB)
Port Type: USB

Handle 0x0014, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: None
Internal Connector Type: None
External Reference Designator: USB2.0 - 9#
External Connector Type: Access Bus (USB)
Port Type: USB

Handle 0x0015, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: None
Internal Connector Type: None
External Reference Designator: None
External Connector Type: Access Bus (USB)
Port Type: USB

Handle 0x0016, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: None
Internal Connector Type: None
External Reference Designator: USB2.0 - 11#
External Connector Type: Access Bus (USB)
Port Type: USB

Handle 0x0017, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: None
Internal Connector Type: None
External Reference Designator: USB2.0 - 12#
External Connector Type: Access Bus (USB)
Port Type: USB

Handle 0x0018, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: None
Internal Connector Type: None
External Reference Designator: USB2.0 - 13#
External Connector Type: Access Bus (USB)
Port Type: USB

Handle 0x0019, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: None
Internal Connector Type: None
External Reference Designator: USB2.0 - 14#
External Connector Type: Access Bus (USB)
Port Type: USB

Handle 0x001A, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: None
Internal Connector Type: None
External Reference Designator: Ethernet
External Connector Type: RJ-45
Port Type: Network Port

Handle 0x001B, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: SATA Port 1 J8J1
Internal Connector Type: SAS/SATA Plug Receptacle
External Reference Designator: None
External Connector Type: None
Port Type: SATA

Handle 0x001C, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: SATA Port 2 J7G1
Internal Connector Type: SAS/SATA Plug Receptacle
External Reference Designator: None
External Connector Type: None
Port Type: SATA

Handle 0x001D, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: SATA Port 3(ODD) J9E7
Internal Connector Type: SAS/SATA Plug Receptacle
External Reference Designator: None
External Connector Type: None
Port Type: SATA

Handle 0x001E, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: None
Internal Connector Type: None
External Reference Designator: None
External Connector Type: SAS/SATA Plug Receptacle
Port Type: SATA

Handle 0x001F, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: None
Internal Connector Type: None
External Reference Designator: None
External Connector Type: SAS/SATA Plug Receptacle
Port Type: SATA

Handle 0x0020, DMI type 8, 9 bytes
Port Connector Information
Internal Reference Designator: None
Internal Connector Type: None
External Reference Designator: SATA Port 6(Docking)
External Connector Type: SAS/SATA Plug Receptacle
Port Type: SATA

dmidecode -t slot

Spoiler

zog@ubuntu:~$ sudo dmidecode -t slot
# dmidecode 3.2
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 2.7 present.

Handle 0x0021, DMI type 9, 17 bytes
System Slot Information
Designation: PEG Gen1/Gen2/Gen3 X16
Type: x16 PCI Express
Current Usage: Available
Length: Long
ID: 0
Characteristics:
3.3 V is provided
Opening is shared
PME signal is supported
Bus Address: 0000:00:00.0

Handle 0x0022, DMI type 9, 17 bytes
System Slot Information
Designation: PCI-Express 1 X1
Type: x1 PCI Express
Current Usage: Available
Length: Short
ID: 1
Characteristics:
3.3 V is provided
Opening is shared
PME signal is supported
Bus Address: 0000:00:00.0

Handle 0x0023, DMI type 9, 17 bytes
System Slot Information
Designation: PCI-Express 2 X1
Type: x1 PCI Express
Current Usage: Available
Length: Short
ID: 2
Characteristics:
3.3 V is provided
Opening is shared
PME signal is supported
Bus Address: 0000:00:00.0

Handle 0x0024, DMI type 9, 17 bytes
System Slot Information
Designation: PCI-Express 3 X1
Type: x1 PCI Express
Current Usage: Available
Length: Short
ID: 3
Characteristics:
3.3 V is provided
Opening is shared
PME signal is supported
Bus Address: 0000:00:00.0

Handle 0x0025, DMI type 9, 17 bytes
System Slot Information
Designation: PCI-Express 4 X1
Type: x1 PCI Express
Current Usage: Available
Length: Short
ID: 4
Characteristics:
3.3 V is provided
Opening is shared
PME signal is supported
Bus Address: 0000:00:00.0

Handle 0x0026, DMI type 9, 17 bytes
System Slot Information
Designation: PCI-Express 5 X4
Type: x4 PCI Express
Current Usage: In Use
Length: Short
ID: 5
Characteristics:
3.3 V is provided
Opening is shared
PME signal is supported
Bus Address: 0000:00:00.0

And some info on my touchpad:

Spoiler

I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0008 Version=0500
N: Name="AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio1/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input6
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse1 event11
B: PROP=9
B: EV=b
B: KEY=e420 70000 0 0 0 0
B: ABS=260800001000003

zog@ubuntu:~$ udevadm info --export-db | grep -i -B 5 -A 5 alps
P: /devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input6
L: 0
E: DEVPATH=/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input6
E: SUBSYSTEM=input
E: PRODUCT=11/2/8/500
E: NAME="AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint"
E: PHYS="isa0060/serio1/input0"
E: PROP=9
E: EV=b
E: KEY=e420 70000 0 0 0 0
E: ABS=260800001000003

zog@ubuntu:~$ udevadm info --export-db | grep -i -B 9 -A 6 touchp
E: MODALIAS=platform:dcdbas

P: /devices/platform/dell-laptop
L: 0
E: DEVPATH=/devices/platform/dell-laptop
E: SUBSYSTEM=platform
E: DRIVER=dell-laptop
E: MODALIAS=platform:dell-laptop

P: /devices/platform/dell-laptop/leds/dell-laptop::touchpad
L: 0
E: DEVPATH=/devices/platform/dell-laptop/leds/dell-laptop::touchpad
E: SUBSYSTEM=leds

P: /devices/platform/dell-laptop/leds/dell::kbd_backlight
L: 0
E: DEVPATH=/devices/platform/dell-laptop/leds/dell::kbd_backlight
E: SUBSYSTEM=leds
--
E: NAME="AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint"
E: PHYS="isa0060/serio1/input0"
E: PROP=9
E: EV=b
E: KEY=e420 70000 0 0 0 0
E: ABS=260800001000003
E: MODALIAS=input:b0011v0002p0008e0500-e0,1,3,k110,111,112,145,14A,14D,14E,14F,ra0,1,18,2F,35,36,39,mlsfw
E: USEC_INITIALIZED=10120388
E: ID_INPUT=1
E: ID_INPUT_TOUCHPAD=1
E: ID_BUS=i8042
E: ID_SERIAL=noserial
E: ID_PATH=platform-i8042-serio-1
E: ID_PATH_TAG=platform-i8042-serio-1
E: ID_FOR_SEAT=input-platform-i8042-serio-1
E: TAGS=:seat:
--
L: 0
S: input/by-path/platform-i8042-serio-1-event-mouse
E: DEVPATH=/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input6/event11
E: SUBSYSTEM=input
E: DEVNAME=/dev/input/event11
E: MAJOR=13
E: MINOR=75
E: USEC_INITIALIZED=22051940
E: ID_INPUT=1
E: ID_INPUT_TOUCHPAD=1
E: ID_BUS=i8042
E: ID_SERIAL=noserial
E: ID_PATH=platform-i8042-serio-1
E: ID_PATH_TAG=platform-i8042-serio-1
E: ID_INPUT_TOUCHPAD_INTEGRATION=internal
E: LIBINPUT_DEVICE_GROUP=11/2/8:isa0060/serio1
E: DEVLINKS=/dev/input/by-path/platform-i8042-serio-1-event-mouse

P: /devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input6/mouse1
N: input/mouse1
L: 0
S: input/by-path/platform-i8042-serio-1-mouse
E: DEVPATH=/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input6/mouse1
E: SUBSYSTEM=input
E: DEVNAME=/dev/input/mouse1
E: MAJOR=13
E: MINOR=33
E: USEC_INITIALIZED=21876162
E: ID_INPUT=1
E: ID_INPUT_TOUCHPAD=1
E: ID_BUS=i8042
E: ID_SERIAL=noserial
E: ID_PATH=platform-i8042-serio-1
E: ID_PATH_TAG=platform-i8042-serio-1
E: DEVLINKS=/dev/input/by-path/platform-i8042-serio-1-mouse

I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0008 Version=0500
N: Name="AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio1/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input6
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse1 event11
B: PROP=9
B: EV=b
B: KEY=e420 70000 0 0 0 0
B: ABS=260800001000003

The touchpad is still giving me error in my verbose boot, I'm going to try to work on that today. I have a lot more hardware information via Linux, (udevadm, lspci -nnn, dmesg, lsusb, lshw). I dumped just about everything I could think of. Let me know if you want them, I post them up as text files, (they are a bit long and extensive).

naquaada · February 23, 2020

You don't have this entry: Xeon E3-1200 v2/v3rd Gen Core processor PCI Express Root Port

I have working Trackpad with gestures in Mavericks, but not in Mojave. I really can recommend installing Mavericks.

Trackpad.png.b61ece144ee9760e392968fdd5405dfc.png

Edited February 23, 2020 by naquaada

zogthegreat · February 23, 2020

Not sure why. Do you think that I'm missing a kext somewhere?

naquaada · February 23, 2020

Maybe because your processor is an i5 and mine an i7? What laptop do you have, an Dell Inspiron 5720? You could probably add another processor, the 3840qm is the fastest. I didn't need a BIOS upgrade and the laptop is not louder.

How is your system configured? UEFI/GPT? I'm using BIOS/MBR. I'm also not configuring harddisks with Disk Utility, I'm using gparted from Linux. It's much more accurate.

You can upgrade your laptop to 6 TB SSDs: A 4 TB Samsung QVO 2,5" and a 2 TB mSATA SSD from the inside of an external Samsung T3 or T5 USB 3.1 SSD.

Edited February 23, 2020 by naquaada

zogthegreat · February 23, 2020

6 minutes ago, naquaada said:

Maybe because your processor is an i5 and mine an i7? What laptop do you have, an Dell Inspiron 5720? You could probably add another processor, the 3840qm is the fastest. I didn't need a BIOS upgrade and the laptop is not louder.

How is your system configured? UEFI/GPT? I'm using BIOS/MBR. I'm also not configuring harddisks with Disk Utility, I'm using gparted from Linux. It's much more accurate.

It a Inspiron 17 SE 7720.

(chuckle) I've been thinking about upgrading the CPU. Not because the 3840qm is more powerful, I just thought that it would be simpler to use your configuration!

I have uEFI set in the BIOS, but the system seems to be booting from MBR. Which is strange considering that my bootable USB is GPT format. The BIOS on this machine is strange and about worthless compared to the BIOS on my Latitude E7270.

Yeah, I'm really asking myself why I'm doing this instead of just installing Linux and being done!

naquaada · February 23, 2020

You're booting from USB? Then you don't have to wonder that booting takes 4 mins ;-)

Dell Inpiron 7720 Special Edition? Without nvidia card? The full name of my laptop is Dell Inspiron 7720 17R Special Edition.

The processor isn't important about compatibility. I even cloned a system created on an i7 to a modified socket 775 board with a 771 Xeon and it worked. The i5 has no hyperthreading, and the i7 3840qm has a higher clocked HD4000 than the original i7 3630. And of course 8 MB L3 Cache instead of 6. The TDP is the same, 45W.

I have a lot of .dmg image backups of my system. In therory you just need to clone them to your system. But of course the images are several gigabytes in size, it's difficult to share them via the net. The older backups have all languages, the most actual only German and English. In Mojave removing languages saves around 300.000 files ;-)

zogthegreat · February 23, 2020

Yes, mine is the Inpiron 7720 17R Special Edition without Nvidia. Which means my motherboard only has one SATA port + CD rom drive, (that I have a HDD caddy for.

I'm still booting from USB because I'm getting KP's when I boot off the hard drive, (Samsung EVO 850 mSATA). I'm using the EFI from my boot disk, so I don't understand why everything isn't nice and smooth. Essentially, I boot off the hard drive, look for the errors and then I try to resolve the errors. My main problem seems to be proper USB configuration. I'm working on a patched SSDT for USB, might have it done today.

naquaada · February 23, 2020

I can't imagine that there is a model without nVidia or one less SATA port called 'Special Edition'. There's some other version with 3D gfx support or something like this, or a 1600x900 display, but I've never heard from one without additional graphics. The nVidia is not shown in OSx86 at all. Do you have it in Windows? What Windows sticker do you have on the laptop, 7 or 8? Does your laptop has the backlit keyboard, like mine?

Was the harddrive original? I also had the Samsung 128 GB SSD, but an 1 TB Western Digital WD10JPVX, yours is a Seagate ST9500423AS 500 GB drive.

Here's a Google-translated version of a very detailled german review of the Dell 7720 R17 SE, Is this your model? If not, a photo of the devices beneath the bottom plate would be interesting.

Have you tried to boot without dsdt.aml at all? My Gigabyte desktop boards with Z77 chipset don't need one, and the HM77 chipset is a reduced-performance mobile chipset of the Z77.

USB has no USB 2.0 fallback mode on my laptop, so I can't even boot Clover from USB.

What are your battery experiences? Are you using the original one? I'm using an 7800 mAh battery from another manufacturer, so I had to disable a warning in the BIOS. The bigger battery is a lit larger at the end, so the laptop has a higher angle which is nicer to type.

I also found a nice keyboard, the Dell Y-RAQ-DEL2. It's a bluetooth keyboard/mouse combo. It's interesting because it's a full-size keyboard, not one of those flimsy mickey-mouse-keyboards you'll get everywhere.

Edited February 23, 2020 by naquaada

zogthegreat · February 23, 2020

Huh, well, that's interesting?? When I was taking a photo of the bottom, I noticed that the Dell Service Tag on the bottom of the laptop was different than the one in the BIOS. When I enter the service tag for the motherboard at Dell support, I get an Inspiron 17R SE 7720. However, when I enter the service tag from the bottom, I get an Inspiron 17R 5720. Now, the friend who dumped this on me bought this new and she definitely does not have the skills to swap out a motherboard. I searched both Google and eBay for the motherboard number, (4M3YM and 04M3YM), but I didn't really find anything of interest on Google and nothing on eBay, so I'm not sure what's what here. I'm attaching a copy of my AIDA64 report. It has a lot of information that I need to go through.

As for the DSDT, @MaLd0n was nice enough to patch the one that I have. I was hoping that it would help settle down somw of the boot errors that I'm having, but no luck so far.

Your question about the hard drive is interesting also, I got this with a Seagate Momentus 320gb when the stock hdd for both the 5720 and the 7720/7720 SE were WD 1tb's. I'm going to try to reach my friend and see if she ever sent it out for service. Maybe someone got creative when changing out her parts during a repair.

The battery seems to be really good, although I haven't done any real testing yet. I know that it was unplugged for about 3 hours after I tripped on the power cord and I didn't notice that it had pulled free from the wall! :no:

Nice keyboard/mouse combo. Unfortunately, it's not available on amazon.ca or .com. I'll peruse eBay and see if there is anything.

AIDA64 Report.txt

naquaada · February 23, 2020

Yep, that's weird. You should exchange the HD as soon as possible with a SSD because this port is directly at the CPU's heatpipe. Some people have reported that HD cases bent because of the heat. If the 2,5" port is empty, maybe you could get a mSATA to SATA adapter and add another 4 TB SSD. You'll just need another HD tray. Then you can keep the DVD drive if you want. It's better anyway to change all drives with SSDs. I told OS X NOT to set HD's into sleep mode, but it still does it. Everytime I want to access a file on the HD, it takes a few seconds unitl it is spinng again. If you're planning to ugrade the CPU, there are various videos on YouTube. It's not too difficult. Check out the board, perhaps you may only solder in a SATA port.

Now I see, you have the 500 GB HD in the DVD tray and the original WD 1 TB drive inside the laptop. But why is it not detected in OS X? In DCPIManager is only the mSATA SSD and the 500 GB HD listed.

Edited February 23, 2020 by naquaada

zogthegreat · February 23, 2020

OK, now this is really strange. I went back to Dell's support and entered the service tag for the motherboard. According to the original configuration information, this laptop came with NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M GDDR5 2 GB. Which is strange, since on these motherboards, the Nvidia graphics are BGA mount, not a separate card.

I'm probably going to stick with a pair of Seagate 500gb 7200's for right now. I know that the performance sucks compared to an SSD, but this is one of my, (many), side machines. I've spent the last 5 months collecting parts for a custom water cooled server with integrated pfSense firewall and a managed network switch.

About the 1tb, (chuckle), no, like I said, this machine came with a 320gb. That drive I pulled out of a stack that I keep in a pencil case that I nicked from my daughter. (chuckle) regular SATA hdd's are so cheap now days that I don't even bother keeping them in anti-static bags. Maybe we should have a forum competition to see who had the most hard drives just laying around! I'm sure that there is someone on the forum that has more spare drives than this paltry offering! (I my defense, I do have a stack of 10 3.5's for my server build ).

Dell Inspiron 7720 17R Special Edition some issues

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