[Guide] How to get a fully working Dell Inspiron E1505/6400

[Silthrim]

Alright I know there are many people out there that have a Dell Inspiron E1505/6400 and are having trouble finding the exact means to get it to work.

 

The laptop that I have to template this guide is:

 

Dell Inspiron E1505/6400

Intel Centrino Duo (Core Duo) 2.0 GHz

1 GB of RAM

ATI Mobility Radeon X1400

Intel PRO Wireless 3945ABG

80 GB SATA HD

 

FIRST, to clear something up!! At the moment it is not possible to get a fully working X1400 mobility or Intel Pro Wireless 3945ABG, so don't ask. To solve this problem I bought a GeForce 7300 Go off of eBay made specifically for the Inspiron E1505 and a Dell TrueMobile 1490 card off of eBay for 10 bucks. I will elaborate shortly.

 

For those of you that can't get a new video card or don't want to that have the X1400, all that you can do is at the most enable QE/CI. You will be stuck at a resolution of 1024x768 no matter what, so it's not worth trying. The Intel PRO Wireless 3945ABG won't work period with Mac OS X. So like I said go buy a Dell TrueMobile off of eBay. They are really cheap. Now bring on the guide.

 

The main issue with Inspiron E1505's is the lack of Dual Core support in OS X. Always make sure that you start OS X with the kernel flag, "cpus=1" otherwise you will have noticeable problems. It also helps when you use "idlehalt=0" and "fn=3".

 

To do this, open Terminal and type:

 

sudo -s
nano /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist
and where it says:

	<key>Kernel Flags</key>
	<string></string>

change it to look like this:

	<key>Kernel Flags</key>
	<string>cpus=1 idlehalt=0 fn=3</string>

 

Things that do not need to be fixed:

 

This is a list of components on the Inspiron E1505/6400 that work natively.

 

- Touch pad (and buttons)

- Keyboard (CMD key is mapped to Alt by default)

- The SATA HD is usable from the start.

- Bluetooth works flawlessly (is recognized as Apple Bluetooth)

 

Things that need to be fixed:

 

Here are the things that you need to get working after you install.

 

- Sigmatel Internal Audio

- Video

- Wireless

- Ethernet

 

Step 1: Video (because I know this is the most important )

 

First if you have an X1400 and you aren't getting a new one, your only option is to enable QE/CI.

 

To do this, all you have to do is insert you device ID into the ATIRadeonX1000.kext file.

 

Open Terminal and type:

sudo -s
nano /System/Library/Extensions/ATIRadeonX1000.kext/Contents/info.plist

Find the line that says:

 

<key>IOPCIMatch</key>
<string>0x71461002 0x71421002 0x71091002 0x71C51002 ETC ETC</string>

 

Delete everything between the <string> tags and type "0x71451002" w/o the quotes.

 

Push Ctrl + O to save and Ctrl + X to exit nano.

 

Now because you modified a kext we have to delete the kext cache and repair permissions.

 

sudo -s
chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/ATIRadeonX1000.kext
chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/ATIRadeonX1000.kext
rm -f /System/Library/Extensions.kextcache
rm -f /System/Library/Extensions.mkext
diskutil repairPermissions /

 

Now restart you computer. When you log back in you should have QE/CI enabled but like I said before you will be stuck at 1024x768 no matter what.

 

Step 1B: Video (for the 7300 Go)

 

First you need to go to www.macvidia.com and download the MacVidia 1.0.8 Installer .pkg.

 

Use it to install but when it asks you to reboot, STOP and DO THIS:

 

Open up a Terminal window
Type: sudo –s
And press enter, the system will ask for your admin password, type it, and
press enter again.
Now we are going to set the correct permissions to the 2 MacVidia kexts that
we just copied some moments ago, to do that, you type:
chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/NV* &&
chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/NV*
Pay attention that even that the line is broke in 2 parts on this document, this
is a SINGLE LINE and must be entered at once.
I HIGHLY recommend copying the text from this document, and paste on
terminal, to avoid typos and errors.
If everything was ok, you should not get any answer after pressing enter, just
the blinking cursor, if you get any error regarding “File not foundâ€?, etc, you
must double check again that you copied the macvidia kexts on the right
place.
We have the kexts with the right permissions, and we are almost done.
Now we are going to clear the kextcache, I’m not going to explain on this
guide what the kextcache is or what it does, let’s just say that you need to
empty / delete it for the system to load the new drivers.
To do that, still in the terminal application, you type:
rm -f /system/library/Extensions*
And then press Enter.
NOTE: It will say Extensions is a directory. That is OK. MAKE SURE YOU USE -f,
NOT –R.
As a final step, we are going to remove any screen resolution info that could
be left by applications, to do that, you type:
(you may recieve an error, if so, just move on to the next step)
rm -f ~/library/preferences/byhost/com.apple.window* &&
rm -f ~/library/preferences/byhost/com.apple.pref* &&
rm -f /library/preferences/com.apple.window*
Again, this is a SINGLE LINE, not 3 different lines.
In theory, if you reboot the system right now, the driver should load and
everything should work, but we can do some extra steps to make sure that
the drivers really load.
You can type:
kextload –t /System/Library/Extensions/NVidia.kext
And press enter, if you get a message stating “successfully loadedâ€?, then you
are in a lucky day;)
We are going to do the same now for the other kext, type:
kextload –t /System/Library/Extensions/NVDriver.kext
You should also get the same message, stating that the kext was successfully
loaded, if you get errors about permissions, etc, most probably you typed
something wrong, so please, recheck what you did and try again.

 

Now restart and your video should work perfectly.

 

Step 1C: Video (Intel GMA)

 

To install just specify the proper package while installing Mac OS X 10.4.8 JaS

 

Step 2: Audio (The easiest)

 

First, download the attachment at the end of this post named "Sigmatel9200Audio.zip"

 

Open it and run "AppleHDAPatcher_v1.15"

 

After it opens, drag the included text file onto the window and it will patch your audio. When it is done, restart your laptop.

 

Step 3: Wireless

 

Ok, like I said before, there is no way to get the Intel Pro Wireless 3945ABG to work yet so forget about that.

 

Go to eBay and find and buy a Dell TrueMobile 1490 Wireless card and once you install it, it will work perfectly as an Airport Extreme card.

 

Step 4: Ethernet

 

All you need to do to fix the Broadcom 440x ethernet is replace your 10.4.8 IONetworkingFamily.kext with the one from 10.4.6. That is also in the attachments at the bottom labeled as "BroadcomEthernet.zip"

 

Drag and drop the kext into your Extensions folder and run the following commands in Terminal:

 

sudo -s
chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/IONetworkingFamily.kext
chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/IONetworkingFamily.kext
rm -f /System/Library/Extensions.kextcache
rm -f /System/Library/Extensions.mkext
diskutil repairPermissions /

 

Now restart your computer and you should have everything working (hopefully).

Sigmatel9200Audio.zip

BroadcomEthernet.zip

[tErbo b00st]

This write up is a little too late for me, but thanks anyways :-)

 

How the hell do I tell if I have QE/CI enabled? I didn't have to do anything for my video to work "properly". I can choose whatever resolution I want, currently using 1680x1050. I believe I have intel GMA.

[devilhood]

You failed to state the maximum resolution of the X1400, which is infact 1400x1050 (for compatible screens) when you edit the boot plist.

Also, while I appreciate that you are only trying to help, all the information in your guide has already been thoroughly covered in my own, which is now geared towards the entire Inspiron range.

 

This write up is a little too late for me, but thanks anyways :-)

 

How the hell do I tell if I have QE/CI enabled? I didn't have to do anything for my video to work "properly". I can choose whatever resolution I want, currently using 1680x1050. I believe I have intel GMA.

 

Click on 'About this mac..' on the menu bar and then 'more info'

 

Look through the Graphics section of System Profiler and it will tell you if you have QE/CI enabled.

[Silthrim]

I understand that you already covered all of this but I know some people really like it when they have a guide that covers their specific computer. I have no problem deleting it if you think your is worthy enough in covering all the specifics. Like you said, I was just trying to help out.

[devilhood]

Well, your recommendation to buy a Dell TrueMobile 1490 is a great idea, but everything else has been already mentioned.

It's entirely up to you whether you want to keep the thread, however, because I decided to gear my guide towards covering the entire Inspiron range, perhaps it would have been better for you to post the Dell TrueMobile 1490 recommendation on my thread, then I could have added the information to my guide, with credit to you

[Silthrim]

I'll go ahead and get this thread removed... you can go ahead and add the 1490 idea to yours if you want.

 

EDIT: Well I can't delete it myself so...

[devilhood]

I'll go ahead and get this thread removed... you can go ahead and add the 1490 idea to yours if you want.

 

EDIT: Well I can't delete it myself so...

 

Haha, no worries, you can just PM a moderator if you want, but I really don't mind dude

[justinjja]

i have installed leopard and cant seem to get ci qe working with my x1400 on an e1505 using the described method. it worked fine for me in tiger but now it wont. do you know if something needs to be changed for leopard.

 

someting else wierd id like to mention. i added <key>displaymode<key>,1280by800 to boot.plist and the apple loading bar actualy does go to 1280 by 800 then when mac boots up it goes back to 1024 by 800. any idea why 1280 by 800 works while starting up?

 

<edit> by the way i can tell it is 1280 by 800 because the picture of the apple isnt streched.

[macgirl]

is not displaymode.

 

you neet to add this (there are two ways to do it)

Graphics Mode

1280x800x32

 

or

 

Kernel Flags

"Graphics Mode"="1280x800x32"

[bml104]

Hey I like this post geared towards the 6400 laptops. I say leave it!!

 

So I have a few questions.

If i buy this gforce 7300 will this allow me to do my max res without mouse tearing?

Is the video card just a unplug the old and plug in the new type?

 

 

Thanks a lot for the info !!!

[NYC Coyote]

so I just bought the 1500 card and the geforce 7300 to install in my laptop.

 

Does the leopard install see them immediately? or do I need these fixes? I have read posts that say both.

[leorimolo]

Please can some one tell me why I cant reach the OSX loading screen on any mac distribution, I have enabled cpus=1 in Darwin.

[AdrianT]

u say that the keyboard on this tipe of dell should work directly...well mine does not

i instaled the iAKTOS 5i touchpad and keyboard were working then...but as soon as i restarted they stoped responding

...wifi worked directly aswell the bluetooth

any sugestions...i've been reading this forum for a day now and still didn't manage to find a solution...

 

edit:

ok...instaled PS2 driver from dvd and now it's working...but the thing now its that is very sensitive...i'l try to find a solution..if not i'l be back