Compaq Presario C700 Series C769US - Finally, it's working!

[arshmenarnar]

Ok, I well I wanted to write this post simply because it may save someone else a couple minutes here or there. Regarding the Compaq Presario 700 series, specifically the one I purchased which is a 769US model. First of all; it WORKS; so if you are considering this computer, I am quite pleased in terms of the large hard drive space; and fast speed under Leopard, especially compared to my other dual-core laptop a Satellite A205 series. Don't install any version of Leopard under 10.5.2, and if you install 10.5.2 I highly suggest that when the installation finishes, you re-run the Leopard Graphics Updater. I must have played with a million different Leopard installations; each with complications particularly regarding the X3100 video; it would garble up a lot on reboots, etc, there are power management complications with some Leopard releases too. Some of the installation discs did not properly initialize the video card either; and I would either get stuck at a blank blue screen usually, or I had to boot with -x -f. The best installation experience I had was with the iAtkos 4 DVD which has 10.5.4 by default installation; this proved to be the most stable in terms of the power management, ps2 issues as well. But the #1 tip I have in terms of getting this laptop to work correctly - GO INTO YOUR BIOS AND DISABLE THE SATA LEGACY OPTION. This laptop just would not work correctly until I disabled this function in the BIOS. Once I did this, every restart was smooth as butter, with the exception of the first two after the initial first time it rebooted correctly. I did not think it was working properly until I rebooted like twice. Then it all came up working, audio, lan, graphics, etc. The only thing that I have not gotten to work correctly for now is the Wireless, Atheros A5007 series, and for some reason; OS X does detect some kind of airport card installed but it won't function. So for now, I'm going to just replace the mini PCI-E card; you could also get a USB dongle like the Realtek USB ones at any store. Anyway, I'm pretty impressed in terms of the laptop's performance, and especially compared to a genuine Mac - I think it's a load faster than the MacBook, You don't pay extra to get one in Black, and you can upgrade the CPU and innards without the Mac's complicated chassis disassembly process which frustrates me. I wish Apple would either license OS X for x86 platforms or else decide to make a computer under $2500 that doesnt have a monitor stuck to a laptop hard drive for your desktop. Some of us out there like to be able to upgrade our computers and fix them easily. I refuse to spend double on something when I can get the same thing for market price. I'll support Apple products in any way I can, I think OS X is far better than Windows, most of the Third Party drivers are now widely available and even if they were to loose hardware sales; Bill Gates is still the pretty rich and I think he's doing OK last time I checked!

 

Oh and also - turn off all sleep or suspend options in the System Pref. Let your BIOS turn off your screen instead - the screen won't come back on if OS X does it.

[LatinMcG]

Best install method as of july 09 RETAIL 10.5.6 with sata Native ENABLED !!

Almost EVERYTHING WORKS 99% original wireless is Atheros AR2525 aka 5007GS (no good). replace with BCM94311MCG alternate Atheros is AR5BXB61 ?

audio, Battery (gets lost after sleep but sleep resumes IF u check the option to automaticaly restart on power failure), wireless was changed to the Broadcom BCM94311MCG Mini PCIe Card AKA Dell DW139 from an HP machine (part number coming soon)

 

I use grub-dfe.iso booted with F12 on Compaq screen, switched cd to retail 10.5.6 dvd typed 90 (cd/dvdrom hardware address)

typed -v for dvd retail install bootup

in utilities, disk utility> partitiontab> click current on the dropdown arrows and select 2 partitions named OSX and OSXRESTORE in advanced set to GUID !!!

customized install by removing other languages and printer drivers.

finished and rebooted to _ black screen.

 

inserted grub-dfe.iso cd and rebooted (reboot is to hold power button off and press it again to turn laptop back ON)

pres F12 to boot from CD, hit esc after it finishes loading (says Boot: ) type 80 then selected OSX on screen and typed -v P.S. press enter

booted to fresh 10.5.6.. inserted usb thumbdrive (storage device that is small not a thumb from a human ) with a few kexts from Superhai VoodooBattery.kext , VoodooPower Kext , GenericCPUPowerManagement Application from his "darwin.html" page.

i also got VooDooHDA from googlesource!. OSX86Tools and universalinstaller from ###### for the "essentials package" , Chameleon 2 RC1 i do standard install but in extras i unchecked IntelPIIXATA (this laptop is SATA not ATA) burn support says unsupported but it works!

 

NEED USB keyboard and mouse untill you install VooDooPs2Controler-0.98-installer.pkg (looses mouse settings in preference panel) also REMOVE ApplePs2controler.kext if present or u will see yellow line saying IRQ 0,1 bla bla! in -v booting (p.s. dont forget to clear Extensions Cache and then repair permissions in OSX86 Tools before running chameleon 2 at end)

mouse is a little sensitive but works ok !

 

i had done a similar laptop c712nr and used a special ps2nub but lost it, but in process i did find a keyboard prefpane replacement that enabled mouse settings. (not done yet to current install, i have to re find it! ) double tap touchpad to work is my only issue so far!