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[Guide] OS X iAtkos 1.0i Leopard Install on Dell Vostro 1400, 1500, 1700 / Inspiron 1420, 1520, 1720 with GMA X3100


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Dell Vostro 1700 / Inspiron 1720 X3100 OS X iAtkos 1.0i Leopard Install GUIDE! Please post any questions, advice, or successes you have here!

 

Last Updated: 4/2/2008

 

After much tweaking and playing with my iPhone timer (more on that in a minute), I have successfully installed iAtkos 1.0i Leopard 10.5.1 on my Dell Vostro 1700. Much of what I have here should apply to the Inspiron 1720, and probably other Vostro and Inspiron models with this chipset. I encountered problems with the screen blacking out during install, and tried many different timings before getting it right. So I thought I should share! I am almost certain that this is specific only to the x3100 chipset, but please correct me if I am wrong.

 

Note: this guide is for iAtkos 1.0i, but not r2. I tried installation with the r2 revision, which did not black out during installation, but ended up with an unbootable system. I recommend using 1.0i for now, until 10.5.2 iATKOS is released. Please post your experiences related to this.

 

Again, this guide is mainly meant for Inspiron and Vostro users with Intel GMA x3100 graphics - but much of what is written here can be used in models with other chipsets as well.

 

 

So! Here are the specs of my Vostro 1700:

 

x3100 Intel Integrated Graphics

Dual SATA 120gb Hard Drives

Dell TrueMobile 1390 Wireless Card

1.6 ghz Core 2 Duo Intel Processor

1440x900 WXGA LCD

2 GB 667mhz RAM

Combo Drive

 

- in other words, a pretty basic model. These are often very cheap (< $600) from Dell refurbished (outlet.dell.com), which is the main reason I chose this over other 17" models. They can handle all but the most demanding games and graphics applications. Prices fluctuate a lot, and there are often deals going on, so look around a bit before buying one.

 

TO START: grab iATKOS 1.0i DVD from one of the usual sources. If you get the .zip version, use OS X to unzip it, then Disk Utility to burn it at 1x speed on quality media. Also download gParted, the linux live CD disk partitioner, and burn it.

 

THEN, pop the dvd in and power on your machine.

Press F2 to enter BIOS

Go to Onboard Devices -> make sure the hard drive is set to AHCI, and that the Flash Cache Module is Off.

 

NOTE: IF YOU ALREADY HAVE WINDOWS XP INSTALLED OR ARE PLANNING TO INSTALL IT, BE SURE TO SWITCH FROM AHCI TO ATA AFTER INSTALLATION, OTHERWISE, WINDOWS XP MAY BECOME UNBOOTABLE.

 

Save and Exit BIOS

 

Now hold F12 when restarting, then select the DVD drive to boot off of. Let the iATKOS install disc boot normally,without any options.

 

Now for the funny part!

 

WAIT until the screen goes black. Pull out the power cord. Set a timer to 5 minutes and 20 seconds. Make some tea. When the timer finishes, press any button. Other times may work. From what I gather, the display dims itself around this point, and then when you touch it, it brightens, but since it was actually off, you are essentially turning the backlight on with this approach. You can now plug the computer back in. Note: you don't actually need to make tea for this to work!

 

OPEN Disk Utility, erase the hard drive as Master Boot Record. Make sure that the description of the drive says Master Boot Record (bottom right corner of the window), if not, go to Partitions, and Partition it as master boot record.

 

If you are just leaving OS X on the machine, without any other system, go ahead and partition it as HFS+ OS X Extended Journaled. Skip this next little section.

 

---------------

If you are Dual Booting with Windows XP, follow these steps. I HIGHLY recommend XP over Vista for this system, as Vista is quite sluggish, demanding, and painful in comparison. XP flies on this machine! If you are going to dual boot with Vista, scroll down for WaxTrax's comments.

 

- When you go to partition your drive under Disk Utility on the install disc, add a second partition, and format it as MS-DOS/Fat32. Place the FAT32 / MS DOS partition after the one for OS X. Give it at least 10GB. Once finished with the remaining OS X steps below, install windows XP on the second partition as you normally would, and then reboot with G Parted and flag the OS X Partition as bootable, so that you have access to the Darwin Boot Loader. Voila!

------------------

 

QUIT Disk Utility.

 

OPEN Darwin Boot, and follow the instructions, answer yes. Both the drive number and the partition number should be 1. QUIT Terminal.

 

CONTINUE installation, select Customize. ADD EFI Emulation (both boxes under it), and Intel GMA X3100. Leave out Intel Speedstep. ADD NTFS 3g if you like, as you will probably be working with Windows disks at some point. Go ahead and add the Broadcom driver. You may need other drivers depending on your graphics and wireless. Dell 1390 wireless is automatically recognized under OS X.

 

CONTINUE Installation. Let it finish, then restart. Eject the DVD.

 

START UP again, holding F12. Insert the gParted Live CD, press enter for all options. Once you are booted in, select the hard drive, go to Flags, mark it as bootable. Exit and restart.

 

WAIT until you pass the Apple logo, followed by a brief blue screen, then BLACKNESS.

 

UNPLUG the computer. SET A TIMER for 11 Minutes and 20 seconds exactly. I tried everything from 2-15 minutes, and this is what works. It's the sweet spot right in between when the display shuts off and your computer goes to sleep forever.

 

Now, go ahead and fill out the information for Apple (random key strokes should work fine), and make sure to select "Other Network Setup" -> "My computer does not connect to the Internet."

 

Once you are inside OS X (bliss!!!), go to System Preferences / Hot Corners, and set one of the corners to put the display to sleep, then go to Energy Saver, and make sure your computer is set to never sleep.

 

Next, get this program:

 

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/32332

 

- then add it to your login items under "Accounts" in System Preferences. It will put your display to sleep whenever you log in, so you just have to touch any button to get it working! Also - add the option under Hot Corners to put your display to sleep, in case the SleepDisplay app does not work, or in any other situation where you need to get your display back - i.e., when you play a video game and the resolution changes.

 

Firewire (1394): Working. A lot of people don't know that 1394 = Firewire 400, and assume that the little port on the side is for cameras. It's actually unpowered Firewire!

All USB ports: Working

DVD/CD Burner: Working

GMA X3100: Working, QE and CI enabled

Core 2 Duo: Working

Monitor Out: Working, use Hot Corners to sleep/activate the display.

Sound [sigmatel 9205 STAC]: Fully working, aside from gain control on mic input.

Sleep: Working, see below.

 

FOR SOUND:

 

1) Get this:

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?act...st&id=19438

 

- save the file as : Sigmatel_9205_Codec_5.txt

2) Get this:

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?act...st&id=18277

 

3) Get this:

 

http://www.zshare.net/download/621698666c9cfe/

 

3) Delete this file:

 

AppleAzaliaAudio.kext in the /System/Library/Extensions folder.

 

4) Copy AppleHDA.kext into the /System/Library/Extensions folder and replace the old one.

 

5) Drag the the Sigmatel_9205_Codec_5.txt onto HDAPatcher

 

6) Open Disk Utility and Repair Permissions.

 

7) Reboot.

 

8) If it does not work, trying copying AppleHDA.kext into the System folder again, then repair permission and reboot.

 

SLEEP:

 

Download this file:

 

http://home.broadpark.no/~ared/USBEHCI%20Updater.pkg

 

Then run it and reboot! THANKS TO SUPERHAI!

 

Cheers! :censored2:

 

For Dual Booting Windows Vista:

 

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...rt=#entry569636

 

(WaxTrax! comments)

 

In addition, I have Windows installed in a dual-boot configuration (single 320 gig drive). I erased the hard drive and installed Leopard first, using this guide. The only thing I did differently was when I used the Disk Utility to partition the drive, I made two partitions -- the first being my main OSX partition, the second formatted as MS-DOS (Fat32) for Windows. Of course Windows needs NTFS, but just think of this as kind of a "place holder" for now. Then I finished installing OSX using this guide. After OSX was all set up to my liking, here's how I finished installing Windows and setting up dual boot: (this is using the Vista and Drivers discs that came with my 1720. This will work with any Windows disc if you know what you are doing).

 

1. Boot Windows and get to the part where you are setting up your hard drive. Do not do any partition operations, but do format the FAT32 partition as NTFS. In vista, if you try to install from this point, it will say it can't find a suitable partition. Here's how to fix that:

 

2. Reboot into the Gparted disc and set the NTFS partition with the boot flag. Then boot back into the Windows installer disc, and you should be able to install like normal, selecting the NTFS partition in the process.

 

3. After Windows is installed, download EasyBCD (it's free), and configure that for booting into Leopard using the Vista bootloader. This is what worked for me, however, when you go to boot into OSX, on the screen that says "press any key to enter options", you will need to hit a key, and then select your OSX partition to boot into. This is a darwin bootloader problem, and after I write this post, I'm going to do some searching to see how to fix it so that you don't have to do that anymore :-)

 

Hope this helps for anyone looking to dual-boot. I love OSX and I use it as my primary OS, but unfortunately, every now and then a reboot into Windows is needed in order to use the full functionality of the hardware.

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Hi, I have a vostro 1400, still trying to get osx86 on it, but does your laptop only have osx86 installed on it?

 

Because I'm trying to keep windows running on it. I made my partition for osx86 through windows, and the most I can do to the volume on disk utility is erase it and repair it. I've tried both Kalyway and iAtkos, with Kalyway I make it to the installation part but gets to an error saying it can't install some of the files (maybe I burned it too fast?) and with iAtkos I can't even seen the partitions I have to choose where to install, let alone get the darwin boot to work. So I'm wondering if I'm supposed to make my partition through disk utility? But I can't find a way to do it without losing my current OS (vista).

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Yes, I chose to only install OSX86 on the hard drive, to avoid additional complications, and because this notebook has 2 hard drives. I haven't added the second one, but I will in the near future, and run Windows XP on it. It is already hard enough to get this hackintosh working right, without worrying about partitioning. This thread is mainly for the Vostro 1700, not 1400 - but feel free to ask for help. Thanks.

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OK, got it working -- thanks! -- but, does this mean that there will be no internet [ethernet or airport], ever?

Sorry, why would there be no internet? Both the built-in ethernet and wireless card should work. Which card do you have?

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I've got the basic integrated wireless [running an Inspiron 1520, though], probably the same as you used. But when booting into Leo for the first time, I said 'my comp does not connect to the internet' as you said, and now in Network Preferences there's Bluetooth and Firewire [both not connected].

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I've got the basic integrated wireless [running an Inspiron 1520, though], probably the same as you used. But when booting into Leo for the first time, I said 'my comp does not connect to the internet' as you said, and now in Network Preferences there's Bluetooth and Firewire [both not connected].

You should double-check to see what card you have - that actually makes a big difference. It should be in your order details. There should also be a switch on the side of the laptop which turns the wireless on and off - I had accidentally shut it off on mine, making me thinking it wasn't working at first. There should be a driver under Customize, on the install dvd, somewhere under "Packages" (I forget the exact location, and I don't have the dvd with me).

 

Firewire should work when connected to a powered device; it is 4-pin firewire, not 6-pin, meaning that it does not supply power to any devices - they have to be plugged in to another source for power.

 

As for bluetooth, I couldn't say, as I do not have bluetooth on my laptop. Let me know if / how you get that working, I'll add it to the guide. Thanks.

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Double checked --yep, got 1390 as well --so what did i do wrong?

 

cause as much as i'd love to do another annoying timer-setting install.. hope i can fix this! :unsure:

Hm, it should really be working out-of-the-box, then. Are you sure that there isn't a switch on the side of your notebook that turns airport on and off? I would double check that, and make sure you actually click on the airport icon in the menubar to turn it on, too :P

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I have checked the switch on the side a couple of times, switching it on and off and even in that super-on mode that I don't really get the point of, if you know what im talking about.

 

Anyway--i wish i could click on the airport in the menu bar, but my problem stems from the fact that it is not in the menu bar or even in the network prefs.

 

I've got my 10.4.9 uphuck DVD, since when I installed that my airport worked natively. I'll try to find the wireless package from there [i'd get it from the Leo DVD, but all that's in there is "install mac os X"] and see what happens.

 

Edit: nevermind--you mean during the actual install, check off a driver? Yeah, i did that the first time... I'll try again. Thanks!

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I have checked the switch on the side a couple of times, switching it on and off and even in that super-on mode that I don't really get the point of, if you know what im talking about.

 

Anyway--i wish i could click on the airport in the menu bar, but my problem stems from the fact that it is not in the menu bar or even in the network prefs.

 

I've got my 10.4.9 uphuck DVD, since when I installed that my airport worked natively. I'll try to find the wireless package from there [i'd get it from the Leo DVD, but all that's in there is "install mac os X"] and see what happens.

 

Edit: nevermind--you mean during the actual install, check off a driver? Yeah, i did that the first time... I'll try again. Thanks!

No - do not check any wireless drivers during install if you have 1390, that could actually stop it from working. I did not install any drivers from the wireless / network section under Customize.

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Oh man, guess we've found the problem. Looks like I've got a fresh install ahead of me. But--

 

oh, yeah, you said you may need other options for wireless...but what i didnt read was...

 

"Dell 1390 wireless is automatically recognized under OS X"

 

Oops. I'll get back to you in like a year when the install finishes...

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Monitor Out: Working, have to wait 2 minutes after plugging screen in to regain display on laptop.

You know you don´t need to wait those 2 minutes, you can set one or more "hot corners" in the screen saver or the Exposé & Spaces pref panes to "Sleep Display" so you can move your mouse/trackpad to that corner and back again almost instantly.

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You know you don´t need to wait those 2 minutes, you can set one or more "hot corners" in the screen saver or the Exposé & Spaces pref panes to "Sleep Display" so you can move your mouse/trackpad to that corner and back again almost instantly.
Thanks. You rule! I'll add it to the guide.
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I've been meaning to write this reply for a couple of days now :-) Thank you SO much for figuring this out and writing this guide. I just got this computer last Friday specifically with the intention of installing Leopard on it, and I don't think I would have been able to do it were it not for your guide due to the very specific timings (5 mins and 11 mins) while installing. I can't imagine how long it took and how frustrating it must have been to figure out those timings!

 

And thank you MacGirl for offering the hot corner tip.

 

I still don't have my sound working, but in the mean time I have an M-Audio Fast Track USB that I'm using. Also, if anyone is interested, one of the reasons I got the specific 1720 that I did was because it contained the Dell 1505 Wireless-N card, and I am happy to report that it does indeed work right out of the box with no problems.

 

In addition, I have Windows installed in a dual-boot configuration (single 320 gig drive). I erased the hard drive and installed Leopard first, using this guide. The only thing I did differently was when I used the Disk Utility to partition the drive, I made two partitions -- the first being my main OSX partition, the second formatted as MS-DOS (Fat32) for Windows. Of course Windows needs NTFS, but just think of this as kind of a "place holder" for now. Then I finished installing OSX using this guide. After OSX was all set up to my liking, here's how I finished installing Windows and setting up dual boot: (this is using the Vista and Drivers discs that came with my 1720. This will work with any Windows disc if you know what you are doing).

 

1. Boot Windows and get to the part where you are setting up your hard drive. Do not do any partition operations, but do format the FAT32 partition as NTFS. In vista, if you try to install from this point, it will say it can't find a suitable partition. Here's how to fix that:

 

2. Reboot into the Gparted disc and set the NTFS partition with the boot flag. Then boot back into the Windows installer disc, and you should be able to install like normal, selecting the NTFS partition in the process.

 

3. After Windows is installed, download EasyBCD (it's free), and configure that for booting into Leopard using the Vista bootloader. This is what worked for me, however, when you go to boot into OSX, on the screen that says "press any key to enter options", you will need to hit a key, and then select your OSX partition to boot into. This is a darwin bootloader problem, and after I write this post, I'm going to do some searching to see how to fix it so that you don't have to do that anymore :-)

 

Hope this helps for anyone looking to dual-boot. I love OSX and I use it as my primary OS, but unfortunately, every now and then a reboot into Windows is needed in order to use the full functionality of the hardware.

 

Oh yeah, and one more tip that may help someone. The restore discs that came with my Inspiron 1720 were not your typical image-based restore discs where all the unnecessary {censored} that originally comes with your computer gets reinstalled. It's a true standalone Windows Vista disc, plus a disc with drivers on it. Well, it doesn't say this anywhere in the owner's manual, but when your BIOS is set so that the hard drive is in AHCI mode, when you go to install Vista, it will hang every time at the "completing installation" screen. What you have to do to get around this is when you are at the screen where you choose the partition where you want to install Windows, insert the Drivers disc that came with the computer, and select "Load Driver", and it should automatically find that SATA AHCI driver for you. After you load that driver, then Windows will be able to complete the installation. If you don't have the driver disc, you could probably get by with going into the BIOS and changing modes from AHCI to SATA. I didn't try this, and my computer originally came with AHCI mode on by default anyway. Like I said, it doesn't say this anywhere in the documentation that comes with the computer. Luckily, my wife's computer was still working and I was able to look up this information while my computer was in flux, LOL :-)

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Nice Work, WaxTrax! I was thinking that the next step might be to make this a dual-boot guide. I will soon be purchasing a second hard drive for this computer, so it might not be necessary for me - but it could also be nice to have one hard drive for the operating systems, programs, etc. and the other for storage. If you don't mind, I'll include your comments on dual-booting in the original section? We could make this a collaborative thread, maybe? Although I guess all threads are hopefully collaborative in some way? This post is getting a lot of reads, so maybe we can keep all of the main information for this model here.

 

As for the timing, yes, it was a real pain, and I honestly thought that hope was lost until I found that 11-minute mark! I just kept resetting my iPhone timer while watching TV for an hour or two! Even after I found it, I thought that it might be specific to my computer, or that I had messed something up, but after reinstalling another 2 times (I didn't have the packages right), I realized that it was actually a chronic problem. And apparently, it is more widespread than I thought, since several people have now used the timing with the iAtkos 1.0i DVD!

 

I have to say that I am really happy with this computer. The large screen is great for working in Garageband, watching movies, or just about anything. And the fact that it is all black gives it that mysterious look that I like. :)

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Thanks for the guides guys, on my Vostro 1400 I finally got a dual boot leopard and vista running! The only driver that I think I have working though is my video, sound doesn't work, but I'll put more effort when I have time. Also did your guys' wireless work right away? I don't think it even recognized my Intel Pro at all.

 

I also installed Kalyway, but how do I tell if the Intelspeedstep is working?

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  • 2 weeks later...
-- quoted instructions ---

WAIT until you pass the Apple logo, followed by a brief blue screen, then BLACKNESS.

 

I am having some difficulty completing this install on a Vostro 1500 with a nearly identical build to the one described in the original post. I have tried Atkos 1.0 and also 1.2 and had the same result with both install attempts. In both instances, I get stuck on the reboot stage after the OSX install completes. I successfully set the drive to the boot drive using the Linux partition tool. Following that step, on the restart attempt, I get a black screen with only the flashing cursor in the top left corner. I never seen the Apple logo as described in the original post.

 

The install for Atkos 1.2 worked a bit differently but the end result was identical. Flashing cursor on a black screen following the install.

 

Any ideas for what I could be doing wrong?

 

thanks!

 

** EDIT **

I figured this issue out on my own. I figured the note may be useful for others in the future. My error was that I had partitioned using OSX. As a result, the boot loader was setup incorrectly. I went back to the linux partition tool and reformatted the drive to FAT32. I then went back through the OSX install completing the erase/format step without recreating the partition. OSX seems to be running fine now.

 

I haven't used a Mac in about 15 years and figured I'd try the install to see if I could do it. If I like it, I will probably purchase a real mac and revert back to vista.

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I haven't used a Mac in about 15 years and figured I'd try the install to see if I could do it. If I like it, I will probably purchase a real mac and revert back to vista.

What's the point? Purchase a Mac only to run Vista. Might as well buy a real PC and run Vista, for that price you can have money leftover for a 8800GT card. I'm running my iMac on Vista right now only because after the iMac, I've gone cup-ramen-poor, so I can hardly afford an Xbox360, which was the original plan. At least with Vista I get to play games like Crysis and Bioshock. I would give Vista up and switch back to OS X in a heartbeat if I had a console. OS X just feels so much better. Get a Mac and run Vista will just make you hate life and want to do a mall shooting. Take it from someone who's there.

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