[HOW-TO] Install OSX 10.4.8 on Dell Inspiron E1405

[fumanju]

This will be my journal for installing OSX on a Dell Inspiron E1405. Some light reading for E1405 users.

Please read through the whole thing first as this contains almost everything I did, including the stuffs that didn't work.

I had installed OSX then restoring Vista several times because OSX installations had failed.

 

DON'T JUST FOLLOW WHAT I DID, IF YOU FOLLOW EVERY SINGLE STEPS, YOU WILL BREAK YOUR COMPUTER!!!

I CANNOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR WHAT YOU DO TO YOUR COMPUTER BASED ON THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS ARTICLE.

 

System Specification:

Dell Inspiron E1405 (purchased Sept 2006)

Core 2 Duo T5500

Intel Express 945GM Chipset

Intel GMA950 Video

Sigmatel 9200

2GB (2x1GB) OCZ PC2-5400 667 1024MB

60GB Samsung SATA (stock)

DVD+/-RW 8X (stock)

 

Pre-Installation:

Windows Vista Ultimate OEM - located in partition 2, partition 1 contains "EISA Configuration"

Make a complete PC backup using Windows Backup and Restore (included in Vista Ultimate) before attempting anything

I stored my backups (2 sets, just in case) on two separate physical external HDDs.

 

April 13, 2007 and morning of April 14, 2007

- Got Jas 10.4.8 Intel SSE3 Only DVD, obtained iso from the usual place

- Prepped OSX partition using 'Computer Management' > 'Storage' > Shrink Volume on the Vista partition, got about 12 GB out of it -> Unallocated Space

note: 3rd-party partition software (partition magic, etc.) NO LONGER NEEDED in VISTA, resizing partition is a BUILT-IN feature (at least in ULTIMATE)

- Rebooted with OSX DVD in the drive

- Held down F12 during DELL screen, chose to boot from CD/DVD drive

- pressed F8 to continue loading Darwin

- got the Apple logo screen, then blue screen, ..., after several attempts, I found out that you have to connect an external monitor, so I did, press Fn+F8 to switch monitor

- OSX installation loaded, video is a bit distorted, only showed half the screen

- Open Disk Utility from one of the menu on top, ended up deleting all the partitions, created two new ones, first = MS-DOS (for Vista, later on), second partition = MAC (Journaled)

note: i did all this pretty much blind since I could see the whole screen, also the trackpad/cursor was kinda messed up, I used TAB and SPACEBAR

- created the partitions, return to the installation window

- from the intro screen, I blindly proceeded with the installation using TAB and SPACEBAR, based on SOMEONE ELSE instructions -> TABx3,SPACE,TABx3,SPACE,TAB,SPACE,TABx6,SPACE,TABx3,SPACE (the exact sequence wasnt like that, but close, had to select/deselect some install options, make sure driver for GMA900 is selected)

- skipped the DVD check

- INSTALLATION STARTED, FINISHED, yay!

- Laptop rebooted to a blinking underscore...dumb-founded...had to CTRL+ALT+DEL and boot from OSX Installation DVD, didnt press anything and let it load

- OSX loaded, if I remembered correctly, video was fine, got through the "enter you information" part, stuttered and hang when I pressed 'save' on the set time screen

- Hard reset

- Gave up because it's 4AM, restored Vista using Vista Install DVD and image stored on Ext. HDD, good thing I did that

- Windows successfully restored, reboot in 53 seconds, forget that, REBOOT

- Laptop rebooted to a blinking underscore...deja vu...not cool

- had to re-install Vista from scratch, during installation, I delete partition, make new, format, delete again, make new, format, then installed Vista

- went to bed...woke up...

- boot laptop using Vista Install DVD, restored image stored on Ext. HDD...one more time

- went back to bed...woke up, everything was nice and peachy...as if everything that had happened was just a horrible nightmare...

- went back to bed

 

April 14, 2007

 

- getting JaS OSX 10.4.8 AMD Intel SSE2 SSE3 with PPF1 & PPF2 from the usual place, will attempt another round of install later tonite

 

April 14, 2007 - Round 2

- got JaS OSX 10.4.8 AMD Intel SSE2 SSE3 with PPF1 & PPF2 from the usual place, took quite some time, but got it nonetheless

- Backed up Vista using Windows Backup and Restore, did both complete PC backup and files backup, just in case

note: most of the instructions that I'll be using are from [1] and [2] (see list of references below)

- shrink Vista partition using Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management, got 12GB out of the Vista partition -> unallocated space

note: 3rd-party partition software no longer needed, resizing partition is built-in...though I only got 12GB out of 33GB free...good enough, plus no restart

- START > RUN > "diskpart" > "list disk" > "select disk 0", where 0 correspond to HDD that contains Vista and soon to be OSX partitions > "create partition primary id=af"

> "list partition" > "select partition 3", 3 is where the newly create partition for OSX is, 1 = EISA Configuration, 2 = Vista > "active" > "exit"

 

- boot with installation DVD in drive

- hit F12 to select boot device during DELL screen

- select CD/DVD

- hit F8 for Darwin prompt

- type "cpus=1" indicate that only one core of the Core 2 Duo will be active

- now, this is the really cool part, remember how I said that video was distorted, had to use external monitor, only half screen was showing? well, this time, video shows correctly on the LCD (laptop screen)...how cool is that, and I didnt even use any dongle or paper clip, *knock on wood*

- after the installer finished loading, everything looks great...open Disk Utility from the menu up top

- Right Click on the partition prepped for OSX

- Select ERASE from the menu, then click ERASE

- exit Disk Utility

- proceeded to install, hit continue a couple of times, customized the installation, I selected loginwindow, support for GMA950, X11, fonts, i think that's it, didn't select sound, printer or languages.

- continued

- i skipped the DVD checking

- INSTALLATION took about 15 min, then rebooted

- "HFS+ Partition Error" ... don't panic, [1] warned about this

- reboot with OSX installation DVD, hit F8 for Darwin, enter single user mode by typing -s

- typed (without quotation marks) "fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0", that's a ZERO not O > "flag 3", remember how 3 was my OSX partition > "update" > "write" > "quit" > "reboot"

- OSX LIVES!!!

- went through first-time user registration...choose your name wisely...played around a bit...*drooled*...

 

- hide vista partition using method from [2]

- reboot with OSX installation DVD in drive

 

- F8 for Darwin, gotta be quick, do it right after selecting CD/DVD as boot device, otherwise it'll boot into OSX...*drooled*

- enter single user mode by typing -s

- once single user mode prompt appears, type "fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0" > "flag 2", 2 for VISTA partition > "quit" > "y" to confirm > "reboot"

 

- WINLOAD.EXE failed ... don't panic, [1] also warned about this

- reboot with VISTA installation DVD

- choose language, continue

- click REPAIR SYSTEM, continue and restart

- system restart into Vista

- copied chain0, got it from googling "chain0", that's a Zero not O, and used WinRAR to extract from .gz, then again from .iso

 

- START > RUN > "cmd"

- type "bcdedit /copy {current} /d "Mac OS X" > "bcdedit /enum active" > "bcdedit /set {BUNCH-OF-CHARACTERS} PATH \chain0" where {BUNCH-OF-CHARACTERS} is from the list and corresponds to Mac OS X > "exit"

 

- now, i'm gonna go play around some more on OSX...*drooled*...will report other stuffs that i do

- next stop, OSX...10.4.9!!!

 

 

References (sorry, too lazy to look from the URL, just do a search)

 

[1] devilhood, "[Guide] The Fool-Proof Vista & XP / Mac OS X Dual-Boot Guide", InsanelyMac Forum/Tutorials (The Genius bar), 19 Jan 2007, 11:07PM.

[2] DucPilot1, "[How To] Auto-Mount only selected partitions. Two Methods", InsanelyMac Forum/Tutorials (The Genius bar), 31 Jul 2006, 03:37 AM.

[fumanju]

updated, SUCCESS...*knock on wood*