Installing Mac OS 10.4.9 on E1705

[shinji257]

I've managed to install Mac OS 10.4.9 on my Inspirion E1705 using a USB hard drive. This was done 100% native which means I never use VMWare to do this. I removed the drive in the laptop in order to prevent it from being affected by this installation. I installed using the Jas 10.4.8 image with PPF1 and PPF2. I then proceeded to updated to 10.4.9. So far so good. I had Multi-processor support disabled in bios. I then updated the kernel flags so that Mac OS only using 1 cpu and re-enabled the Multi-processor support in bios. Everything appears to be going ok. I also had to use the "switch" trick in order to get the wireless to function. I've also reinstalled back the drive I removed while installing Mac OS X and it all appears to be booting properly for now.

 

Just so everyone knows... these are the options I checked when I installed Mac OS X 10.4.8 using the Jas image. The first one is kinda required otherwise you will get a kernel panic complaining about the ACPI module missing

 

10.4.8 intel kexts

Natit (nvidia video driver)

 

I opted to uncheck the language translation files to save some space and the 10.4.4 login window fix isn't required...

 

Kernel Options Used:cpus=1 idlehalt=0 fn=3 fsb=166 platform=X86PC

 

I also used the Jas 10.4.9 update. I tested the pascalw 10.4.10 update and it can be safely installed on top of this setup. The Power Management bundle however does not work in 10.4.10 so you will lose that when you update.

 

One big resource in getting started had been this guide. devilhood has created a very good guide on getting Mac OS X running on my laptop.

 

Items that are not working at this time...

Modem -- The dialup modem. A Conexant-based HDA modem that works off of the same chipset as the sound. It is unlikely that this will ever get working as the only dialup modem ever produced for Macs is a USB based dialup modem.

SD/MMC slots -- Don't have a clue what is happening here... I can always use a usb adapter instead though. It is possible the slots are functioning but the os isn't detecting a media change for it. I will take a look at dmesg and /var/log/messages for additional information. -- Hmm... there is no /var/log/messages file that I can find.

 

Items that do not quite work as expected...

None right now...

 

Items that work 100% (or so it seems)

Ethernet -- Switched IONetworkingFamily.kext for one from an earlier version of Mac OS X. I think I used one for 10.4.6. Make sure to remember to repair permissions please. -- retrieved from here: http://forum.insavelymac.com/index.php?sho...mp;#entry229681

Wireless -- Had to use the "switch trick" but all I really did was edit /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/NetworkInterfaces.plist. Started at step 11 from this page: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...=44114&st=0 -- Enabled Wireless N by following a tutorial available on the site. You will need to get a certain update which is mentioned on the Apple site when purchasing the update in order to actually install the Wireless N enabler update. http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=55703

Video -- Well it appears to anyways. I am using the kivet (that right?) driver that was included in my Jas image.

USB -- So far any usb device that I inserted in the laptop was seen. I've only connected mass storage type items though. Also if you have not noticed but my install is booting 100% from a USB drive.

Sound -- Sigmatel 9200 -- Used AppleHDA Patcher and Sigmatel9200.txt file -- patcher on linked post and post contains link leading to required dump file -- Did not detect SPDIF in/out although output does exist -- http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=32859

Keyboard -- Windows Key = Option Key // Alt Key = Apple Key

Bluetooth -- Verified working. Tested with a Motorola KRZR K1 (AT&T Network).

DVD Burner -- Burn Disc functionality doesn't appear to recognized this drive as an actual burner. It does recognize the drive itself though and it does read from the drive. It also recognized that there was a blank disc and offered to load iTunes and iDVD to burn data to. I just discovered that non-Apple supplied optical drives will not having burning capability under Mac OS X. One possible fix is a program called PatchBurn available at http://www.patchburn.de. This application corrected my issue with burning capability. I used 4.0.4 which is designed for Mac OS 10.4.x.

Mouse -- No "tap to click" functionality..... this was overlooked. When Oracle67 just replied I took a second look and found the options to enable for this -- System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Trackpad and enable Trackpad Gestures. I enabled Clicking and Dragging for the functionality I wanted. Someone mentioned that the touch scrolling doesn't work...

Power Management -- Now working. I used two different power management bundles that allow for this. I installed them in order.

PowerManagement.bundle -- http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=14912 but only compatible up to 10.4.9. Doesn't work on 10.4.10 yet. This does not provide support for either Intel SpeedStep.

ACPICPUThrottle -- http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=51209Adds Intel SpeedStep capability. It can be combined with the above power management bundle and installs a new compatible kernel. Compatible for 10.4.8 and 10.4.9 per website. It will install a new kernel.

ExpressCard -- Verified working. It was reported to work and I can now validate that is indeed working without any required modification.

 

3rd Party Devices Working...

Canon iP4300 Photo Printer -- Canon provides a capable driver for Mac OS X starting with 10.2.x. The driver is universal meaning it will work on both alpha and intel processors. However it is limited to usb connections and does not include a ppd file so network support is not there. I will email canon in the meantime about this however gutenprint has a ppd file for the ip4300 that is being worked on. Do not install a newer cups daemon unless you know what you are doing. Upgrading the cups daemon to a non-apple provided version is a one-way operation and cannot be undone without reinstalling Mac OS X.

AT&T Option GT Max 3.6 Express -- AT&T supplies the GlobeTrotter Connect program for Mac OS 10.3.9 or greater. This program will work but I would suggest changing a couple of settings in the PPP Setup dialog for the device once connected so it doesn't drop the connection after about 10 minutes.

 

Grr... The OS isn't shutting down like I expect it to. I tell it to shutdown and everything disappears except for the mouse cursor and the background. Any ideas as to why this is happening? fixed -- Added fsb=166 to my kernel flags and now it is shutting down properly. In addition it corrected the speed reading and sound studdering/glitching has disappeared.

 

NOTE: This is merely a project at the most. I am doing this as a learning experience in determining how Mac OS X runs and operates. This is not intended to be permanent but any resolutions that I find for any of my issues will be posted here. As you can see I posted links to the solutions I found for a couple of my issues. This is also an evaluation experience to see if I should get a Mac for my next system. So far I am leaning towards a "Yes" on this one even though the price is high. The fact that it can install, boot, and run 100% from USB is a big plus on the Mac OS X side of things.

 

I have gotten a few days to think about it. I was working on doing the installation a couple of days prior to this post. Based on my experience I have decided to get a Mac-based laptop next. This is going to be one of the lower end ones though. I have my gaming laptop already and it is my Dell E1705 running Windows XP (Vista ugh!). Something under $1000 is appropriate for me.

 

EDIT: Promoted sound to fully working status

EDIT: Promoted mouse to fully working status. My own stupidity for not seeing the settings in gui.

EDIT: Attached a picture of my "successful" install

EDIT: Added a credits section to my post and linked to devilhood's guide for my laptop.

EDIT: Posted a fix for the shutdown issue which also coincidentally fixed the sound studdering/glitching issue. Also fixed a cosmetic issue with the "About this Mac" screen where it showed 2.4Ghz instead of 2.0Ghz. Deleted the old attachment and posted a new one with the new speed reading. It shows 1.99Ghz on it now...

EDIT: Promoted keyboard to fully working status. Had to hook up an actual usb based apple keyboard to discover the settings. Note that the keyboard identification wizard did not work even with the usb keyboard complaining that it was a built-in keyboard

EDIT: Promoted printer to fully working status with some added notes to it. Compatibility with usb connections in canon driver but must use 3rd party drivers for network support.

EDIT: Reviving this thread. Put a note about the cups daemon and that you shouldn't really do that if you don't need to.

EDIT: Added the Bluetooth bit to fully working. It is reported as working and the os does detect and show it properly. I have no bluetooth devices to actually test with though so... I also installed PatchBurn so I will test later if it actually worked but it did detect my drive so it appears to have done the job.

EDIT: Tested PatchBurn and confirmed that this resolved the issue with the inability to burn CDs and DVDs. I also upgraded that item to Fully Working status. The "items not working as expected" area is now empty.

EDIT: Found, installed, and tested a PowerManagement.bundle file. This has created and restored full power management functionality on my laptop. Power Management upgraded to Fully Working status. Updated credits below.

EDIT: Added some information regarding 10.4.10. This is using the pascalw released update available at the usual place. Changed the subject to reflect that. I will wait until a 10.4.10 compatible version of the Power Management bundle is released though before I update to it again.

EDIT: Found, installed, and tested ACPICPUThrottle. This file added Intel SpeedStep control capability and it appears to work fine. Power Management information updated. Updated credits below.

 

Credits: FreakyMac for his tutorial on the "switch trick". Taruga for his AppleHDA Patcher application. arsenalsam7 for posting the IONetworkingFamily.kext file that I needed to get my ethernet adapter working. kiethpk for creating the PowerManagement.bundle file that allows my laptop to have proper battery management. mac.nub for the excellent tutorial on how to enable wireless n and for the patch that allows for its installation and for the creation of the ACPICPUThrottle package. devilhood for his excellent guide on getting Mac OS X running on the Dell E1x05 and equivelents. None of this would of been possible if it wasn't for these contributors. Thanks!

 

My System Configuration:

Inspiron E1705

2GB DDR 667Mhz

Nvidia 7900GS (dual monitor setup -- yes it works)

Sigmatel 9200 Audio

Dell 1500 Wireless N Mini-PCIe adapter (broadcom chipset identical to one supplied in most Apple produced laptops and known compatible with Wireless N enabler update)

NEC/Optiarc AD-5540A DVD Burner (3rd party -- not stock)

Broadcom 440x ethernet adapter

[Oracle67]

Go to: System Preferences> Keybord&Mouse Fix whatever is neaded to be fixed.

Click on the left top corner on apple symbol, click About This Mac, click More Info...

Press "Alt+Shift+3" and you have a "print screen" of what you want.

[shinji257]

I tried a possible fix for the keyboard issues. I used a Mac application called Ukelele that can remap keyboard layouts but it won't do anything with the apple key at all. I did get the sound to work though and I modified the above post appropriately. The AppleHDA Patcher worked!

[shinji257]

Go to: System Preferences> Keybord&Mouse Fix whatever is neaded to be fixed.

Click on the left top corner on apple symbol, click About This Mac, click More Info...

Press "Alt+Shift+3" and you have a "print screen" of what you want.

 

 

Thanks. I kinda missed that. I got my mouse stuff taken care of but the apple key and option key are still an issue. I would have to practically redo practically every shortcut in order to avoid their use. If you were talking about the keyboard section in there then it only allows to remap between each other. I'd rather keep them as is because I am trying to learn native Mac OS X use. The Fn and Windows keys may be remappable but I'm not sure.

[Oracle67]

Your topic is complete and well managed about 10.4.9 installation and Inspirion E1705.

I belive that you gonna solve problem after problem the way you work.

 

Well Done so far.

[shinji257]

Thanks for the compliment. I honestly couldn't of gotten this far if it wasn't for the input that many of the users here have already done for others on the forum. I hope to get the keyboard part fixed and getting the dialup modem working. Those are my priorities. The shutdown issue isn't a major one and I get the occasional lockup from a program for no reason but other than that it is going well for me. Also the power management stuff isn't functioning and I lacked to mention that one but it will once I am through with it. I had run across a post earlier today that had a beta level fix for that so that the power management can work as expected... or close to it anyways.

[shinji257]

I fixed the keyboard bit. Didn't have to do anything at all. The following keyboard mappings are effective.

 

Windows Key = Options Key

Alt Key = Apple Key

[shinji257]

Grr... I just messed up my install. I will be starting over using a certain set of switches to see if I can do this without having to turn off multi-processor support. I will also be using the platform=X86PC option to see if it works out any better. I have all the notes here. Oh and this is also a bump for my post. If anyone knows what to do about the Power Management bit then please let me know. Right now I run the laptop on AC each time I boot into Mac OS X.

[shinji257]

I'm reviving this thread a bit. There are a couple updates since I just reinstalled the OS today for a continuation run. One is a note about installing the cups daemon. The second is what options I used on the 10.4.8 disc. The last one is about a possible fix to correct the issue I have with my DVD burner and why it doesn't currently work.

 

BTW if anyone knows of a safe way to resize the install partition... I made it 10GB like an idiot. My system is shrinking down the data partition that I use in windows right now but I don't have a way to actually make mac os x install partition bigger.

[shinji257]

I just installed the 10.4.10 update from pascalw. The following items stopped working properly after installation. I did not check my dvd burner but assume it is still working since the burner profiles are not affected. I did not install the video package (you had to use customize then check it if you wanted it).

 

Audio -- Corrected it by running AppleHDA again. Started working again after a reboot.

Power Management -- The PowerManagement.bundle file does not appear to be compatible. Reinstalled the bundle and continued to not function.

 

I am going to download and try the Koolkal version of it next and see what does and does not function. I imaged the drive prior to doing this so it should restore without issue.

 

BTW, Don't try to restore the AppleACPIPlatform.kext file from 10.4.9. I did that and the OS gave me a kernel panic on the next reboot so the installed is messed up now. The backup image failed to restore properly too which would of reverted the whole OS to 10.4.9. I will try this again and use the same update because someone indicated in the power management thread that I have in the main post here that the Bundle file is not compatible with 10.4.10 right now.