Install Mac OS X to Acer Aspire One A150 from version 10.5.2 – 10.5.5

[MacTech84]

First and foremost... Merry Christmas....

 

And just to let everyone know, if you have an account with the "Green Demon" than the newly released XxX10.5.6 Disc has been released to us as a Christmas Present. I am now downloading and will let everyone know how this goes!

 

~Stephen

[skyscorcher]

OK so please let us know how it goes, I am very interested in this too.

 

Also if it will be available...somewhere, I looked in the usual places but no luck yet.

[Himerz]

Hello All. I my self have tried several times to dual boot with no success. I am in the same boat as Greg was. I did everything that the guide said and had the same Windows XP restart. I tried to go with the setting the partition to active in both Terminal and Diskpart, but that doesn't work. I also tried to change the boot.ini. to C:\chain0"OS X"... and that doesn't work. When the machine boots up, it takes me to a dual boot, but when I choose "OS X" I get an error message saying that I have to Reinstall system32\hal.dll.

 

 

Can anyone help?

[brgroup]

Hello All. I my self have tried several times to dual boot with no success. I am in the same boat as Greg was. I did everything that the guide said and had the same Windows XP restart. I tried to go with the setting the partition to active in both Terminal and Diskpart, but that doesn't work. I also tried to change the boot.ini. to C:\chain0"OS X"... and that doesn't work. When the machine boots up, it takes me to a dual boot, but when I choose "OS X" I get an error message saying that I have to Reinstall system32\hal.dll.

 

 

Can anyone help?

 

Hi, Many times that error can be traced to a bad entry in boot.ini..Did you enter the chain0 exactly as above? If so, check to make sure there's an "=" between the chain0 and OSX..like this: c:\chain0="OSX86" restart, then report back..

 

Here's one of the best dual boot topics:

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=39253

[Himerz]

Yes it does say C;\Chain0="OS X" but I still get the same result.

[id7222-Mac]

I want to thank everyone here for the help. I have been lurking here for over a two weeks, And with the help of this tutorial, I have gotten Mac OS X 10.5.5 running on my new AAO 150. I have WiFi working, and Duel boot with XP Home. I have also had Ubuntu Netbook Remix installed for about 2 days before reinstalling XP, Attempting to install OS X.

 

I installed the XxX 10.5.5 install disk with all 3 PPFs, following Aztec_Knight's instructions (http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=129774&st=400#).

Its been a long time since i have done any serious tinkering like this. I had a blast doing this. I'll hopefully be able to contribute some thing in the future.

 

 

 

I had been researching Netbooks for weeks before hand. Out of all the choices, I chose the Acer Aspire One because of the feel of the casing, the dual SDHC slots, and its overall fit and finish. The case feels solid. It performs very nicely; Windows XP is responsive and feels snappy. I have ordered the bigger 6 Cell battery form Acer (should have looked harder for a 9 cell). The LCD is crisp and bright. Even being glossy, it is easy to read and glare is not an issue. The track pad takes a little getting use to due to the button placement. The keyboard feels nice and the key size is nice for touch typing. When buying a Netbook you need to consider the its designed for word processing, email, and surfing the internet. This AAO is superb at those tasks. Its not a digital video powerhouse, it's ludicrous to expect that. I'll be using mine for class notes, and as a secondary laptop for traveling and around the house. The Aspire One much more convenient then toting around a 17'' Macbook Pro that is my main laptop computer.

[MacTech84]

OK so please let us know how it goes, I am very interested in this too.

 

Also if it will be available...somewhere, I looked in the usual places but no luck yet.

 

Still waiting for the DL to finish, you just need to try the "Green Demon" and you will find the download...

~Stephen

[Blue-K]

I did it

 

In short

 

Requirements

8Gb USB drive or larger

Installation DVD image

Intel Mac

Chameleon Installer (google it)

• Plug in your USB drive
  
• Open Disk Utility
  
• Partition your USB drive, 1 partition --> Mac OS X Extended (Journaled). Under advanced choose Master Boot Record
  
• Open image in Disk Utility
  
• Restore Image to USB Drive
  
• Unmount, unplug, plug in you USB drive
  
• Run Chameleon
  
• Choose Change Install Location
  
• Install it on your USB drive
  
• Now your USB drive is ready
  
• Boot your AAO from the USB drive and install OS X
  

Mhm..sounds awesome...but a few questions are left...

 

Installation DVD image

 

.iso or .dmg?

 

-And why are you talking about that the Stick must be 8 Gig or more? Installation Discs are only 4.7 GB..not more...

[brgroup]

Yes it does say C;\Chain0="OS X" but I still get the same result.

 

Hey sorry to be so particular, but I keep noticing above that there's an error with your entry. Are you hand typing or copy/pasting from the boot.ini to the above?..It's hard to get a sense of what the actual entry is..Also, what OSX distro are you using?

 

tips:

1) Double check if you are using a semicolon or not ( ; ) You shouldn't be.

2) Check your root drive to see whether not the chain0 file is uppercase..On my machine, the file I downloaded is in lower case like this: chain0 (But on your machine it could be capitalized I dunno) Just make sure they match exactly.

 

c:\chain0="OSX"

 

Failing that, if you have a good XP installation and it works properly, then my suggestion if you haven't already done so, is to try reinstalling with xXx 10.5.5 + PPF's 1,2,3 added and follow my or Aztec_Knights format in previous posts for installing..It has the most up to date Darwin and Chameleon bootloaders, including a good AAO driver set. I wouldn't mess around with the xXx 10.5.6 yet as I haven't seen anybody's results with this on AAO.

 

Others may chime in too with better suggestions..good luck

[Blue-K]

OMG, this is awesome...just came back from a fresh install...from an USB-HD!!!

 

I had:

-An USB-HD

-A Latop with Mac installed (not an AAO)

 

I booted in the "Mac", pluged in my USB-HD, restored the xXx-Iso to a Mac Os Journaled Partition on the USB-HD, and booted from it..no Chameleon, nothing..and it worked fawlessly!! Never saw such a fast booting and Install...amazing!!! This is so great!!! No need anymore for burning DVDs, or an external DVD-Drive for an Installation..I love it!!

[muffrat]

Hi all

 

I have been struggling now for a couple of weeks to get OS X to install and boot on my A150, as a dual boot with windows xp which is running fine. I have 70gb of the HD partitioned and formatted appropriately for os X.

 

I have tried Kalyway, iAtkos and xXx, all good verified downloads and burns, and each time i have the same problem.

 

The installation starts fine, i can use all of the applets in installer (Terminal, disk utility etc) and customize my install per the instructions above. The installation continues ok - but when it reaches 100% and goes to restart - nothing.

 

I have tried booting it by chain0, but when you select os X it just reboots. If i set the OS X partition as primary boot partition in either DOS or from the terminal, then it just boots into a black screen with a flashing cursor (not a prompt, you cant type anything at it.), and i have to boot from a usb recovery drive to reset xp as the primary partition.

 

It would appear that there is something that i'm not doing - hopefully something simple, and you guys might be able to point me in the right direction. It seems every time as if the installation has been succesful, but my a150 for some reason just will not boot into OS X. I'm usually pretty competent with stuff like this, and any advice would be warmly appreciated.

 

For the record, My A150 has 1Gb ram, and the stock wireless card swapped out for a dell 1390 (in anticipation of getting os x up and running!) - this is correctly installed and working in xp. I am running the most recent bios 3309.

 

I supplicate myself in anticipation of your wisdom!

 

Cheers, MUFFRAT

[Blue-K]

I'm not quite shure why It doesn't work for you, but did you realy select all the Drivers? Especially the Chipset-Driver ICHx? Maybe that's the fault...otherwise I wouldn't know what's wrong...

 

Just as a reminder: Things you should realy select in the xXx-DVD:

 

Check - Essential System Software

Check - PC_EFI9 (needed to update to 10.5.6 next week)

Check - Essential Kexts

Check - Kernel = Voodoo 9.5 v1.0 (you can choose whichever you'd like or no choice for default)

Check - Chipset = ICHx

Check - Video = GMA950 0x27 AAO version

Check - Network = Realtek1000 (you'll probably need an ethernet connection to get through the setup routine)

Check - Audio = ALC268 AAO version

Check - Power = ACPIBatteryManager Chun Nan version

Check - Others = Boot Prompt (for some reason Darwin boot options weren't showing up without this)

[muffrat]

Thanks for your quick reply Blue-k

 

In reply - yes, i sure have made sure i ticked all the right boxes in the customize process. Have probably tried fifteen or twenty full installations now, tweaking the settings this way and that, but with the same result every time.

 

I have found this past couple of hours that i can get the A150 to boot into osx if i keep the install disk in the dvd drive, but this only works erratically at best. I am still entirely unable to get OS X to boot on its own.

 

Any more ideas anyone?

[id7222-Mac]

Thanks for your quick reply Blue-k

 

In reply - yes, i sure have made sure i ticked all the right boxes in the customize process. Have probably tried fifteen or twenty full installations now, tweaking the settings this way and that, but with the same result every time.

 

I have found this past couple of hours that i can get the A150 to boot into osx if i keep the install disk in the dvd drive, but this only works erratically at best. I am still entirely unable to get OS X to boot on its own.

 

Any more ideas anyone?

 

you edited the boot.ini and added c:\chain0="OSX"

 

-AND-

 

placed the Chain0 file on the root level of the C:\ drive?

 

sorry if i missed it in your post.

[dead_evangel]

Hi all

 

I have been struggling now for a couple of weeks to get OS X to install and boot on my A150, as a dual boot with windows xp which is running fine. I have 70gb of the HD partitioned and formatted appropriately for os X.

 

I have tried Kalyway, iAtkos and xXx, all good verified downloads and burns, and each time i have the same problem.

 

The installation starts fine, i can use all of the applets in installer (Terminal, disk utility etc) and customize my install per the instructions above. The installation continues ok - but when it reaches 100% and goes to restart - nothing.

 

I have tried booting it by chain0, but when you select os X it just reboots. If i set the OS X partition as primary boot partition in either DOS or from the terminal, then it just boots into a black screen with a flashing cursor (not a prompt, you cant type anything at it.), and i have to boot from a usb recovery drive to reset xp as the primary partition.

 

It would appear that there is something that i'm not doing - hopefully something simple, and you guys might be able to point me in the right direction. It seems every time as if the installation has been succesful, but my a150 for some reason just will not boot into OS X. I'm usually pretty competent with stuff like this, and any advice would be warmly appreciated.

 

For the record, My A150 has 1Gb ram, and the stock wireless card swapped out for a dell 1390 (in anticipation of getting os x up and running!) - this is correctly installed and working in xp. I am running the most recent bios 3309.

 

I supplicate myself in anticipation of your wisdom!

 

Cheers, MUFFRAT

 

Hi muffrat, what kind of partition scheme are you using MBR or GUI? I'm asking this to you because when i tried to installed in GUI partition scheme I got the same error that you have.

 

This is what i did maybe it work for you too...

 

1.make a back up of all your stuff.

2.boot with xXx 10.5.5 install disk (I've tried a lot of distros and this is the one i prefer because you don't have to update anything unless you want 10.5.6).

3.Open Utility Disk select your HDD then in options select MBR partition scheme, select the number of partitions and sizes you want and then continue with the process...

4.follow the aztek_knight instructions for the install of xXx distro.

5.at this point hopefully you now have OS X

 

and for dualboot do this

 

1.boot your AAO with your Win XP disc

2.select the partition you want to use

3.continue the install process

4.once you get to your desktop (yeah i mean when you already finished your install) go to start>run> and type cmd.

5.a command window will show up, then type the next things for activate your OS X partition... (only type the bold text)

diskpart (intro)

list disk (intro)(once you do this the disks will be showed select the one your using for example:)

select disk 0 (intro) (all your partitions will be showed, select the Mac OS X partition for example:)

select partition 2 (intro) (then for activate the partition type this:)

active (intro) (once you do this a message sayoing "the selected partion is now active")

6.close the windows and reboot

 

i hope this works for you (sorry for my english i now it's so rusty)

[Himerz]

Hey sorry to be so particular, but I keep noticing above that there's an error with your entry. Are you hand typing or copy/pasting from the boot.ini to the above?..It's hard to get a sense of what the actual entry is..Also, what OSX distro are you using?

 

tips:

1) Double check if you are using a semicolon or not ( ; ) You shouldn't be.

2) Check your root drive to see whether not the chain0 file is uppercase..On my machine, the file I downloaded is in lower case like this: chain0 (But on your machine it could be capitalized I dunno) Just make sure they match exactly.

 

c:\chain0="OSX"

 

Failing that, if you have a good XP installation and it works properly, then my suggestion if you haven't already done so, is to try reinstalling with xXx 10.5.5 + PPF's 1,2,3 added and follow my or Aztec_Knights format in previous posts for installing..It has the most up to date Darwin and Chameleon bootloaders, including a good AAO driver set. I wouldn't mess around with the xXx 10.5.6 yet as I haven't seen anybody's results with this on AAO.

 

Others may chime in too with better suggestions..good luck

 

Yes id od have it as you say(sorry about the typing) and still no work. I am surprised to see this. I have been working on computers for more than ten years and this is the only time that I could not get a software mod to work. Imagine my frustration and anger trying to do this for the last 4 days. I will go with the xXx method and see how that works. I did get mac to work but I had to use the disk to enter the os....I dont want to keep doing that.

[muffrat]

you edited the boot.ini and added c:\chain0="OSX"

 

-AND-

 

placed the Chain0 file on the root level of the C:\ drive?

 

sorry if i missed it in your post.

 

 

I certainly have. The chain0 boot selector menu loads fine - its just that when i selext osx, the machine reboots. It's incredibly annoying - I'm certain i've tried almost every walkthrough and workaround pertaining to this topic, yet my machine simply wont boot into OS X direct from the hard drive. As i mentioned in a previous post, i have tried three different BIOS updates and three different OS X builds, all with the same end result. I'm struggling for ideas to try next - it's particularly frustrating knowing that the a150 is more than capable of running Leopard, and that so many people have installed it without serious problems. What am i doing wrong that everyone else is doing right? Aaargh!

[Unw1red]

The Dell 1390 came in today and I decided to install it and the RAM at the same time. Thanks to my son and YouTube, I successfully upgraded the wireless card and am now using it in Mac OS X without any changes.

 

I didn't realize that the RAM slot was populated with a 512Mb chip. I had ordered a 512Mb chip to upgrade to 1.5Gb. I will send it back and get a 1Gb chip instead. This only means that I have to crack the case one more time and remove the 13,000 screws inside.

 

Oh well, chalk it up to a learning experience.

[dead_evangel]

I certainly have. The chain0 boot selector menu loads fine - its just that when i selext osx, the machine reboots. It's incredibly annoying - I'm certain i've tried almost every walkthrough and workaround pertaining to this topic, yet my machine simply wont boot into OS X direct from the hard drive. As i mentioned in a previous post, i have tried three different BIOS updates and three different OS X builds, all with the same end result. I'm struggling for ideas to try next - it's particularly frustrating knowing that the a150 is more than capable of running Leopard, and that so many people have installed it without serious problems. What am i doing wrong that everyone else is doing right? Aaargh!

 

install Leopard first, i was having the same problem because i first installed Windows XP. i don't know why the chain0 way doesn't work sometimes...

[brgroup]

Yes id od have it as you say(sorry about the typing) and still no work. I am surprised to see this. I have been working on computers for more than ten years and this is the only time that I could not get a software mod to work. Imagine my frustration and anger trying to do this for the last 4 days. I will go with the xXx method and see how that works. I did get mac to work but I had to use the disk to enter the os....I dont want to keep doing that.

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

QUOTE(muffrat @ Dec 26 2008, 01:12 PM)

I have been struggling now for a couple of weeks to get OS X to install and boot on my A150, as a dual boot with windows xp which is running fine. I have 70gb of the HD partitioned and formatted appropriately for os X.

 

I have tried Kalyway, iAtkos and xXx, all good verified downloads and burns, and each time i have the same problem.

 

The installation starts fine, i can use all of the applets in installer (Terminal, disk utility etc) and customize my install per the instructions above. The installation continues ok - but when it reaches 100% and goes to restart - nothing.

 

I have tried booting it by chain0, but when you select os X it just reboots. If i set the OS X partition as primary boot partition in either DOS or from the terminal, then it just boots into a black screen with a flashing cursor (not a prompt, you cant type anything at it.), and i have to boot from a usb recovery drive to reset xp as the primary partition.

 

Seems this is happening to a couple of people..Looks more and more like the Bootloader may be corrupt...but, here's something you can try real quick..Please check the format of the Hard Disk Name for your OSX partition in Disk Utility..If you have any spaces, ie; Mac OSX or Untitled 1 etc, try renaming that partition using only ONE word, ie; macosx or hackintosh or Mac_OSX or Leopard_1 etc..

 

If you can't rename, then you'll probably have to get a fresh bootloader on the machine. There are tutorials about replacing Chameleon or EFI on this forum, just do a search, but for me the easiest way has always been to start from the very beginning. I don't like messing around with crazy comands too much in terminal, especially when it comes to UUID's and DD'ing from a usb drive.. If you do choose to try replacing your bootloader, here's an OLD way to do it to get you started: Fix Bootloader problems

 

I like to start from the beginning if I haven't locked in my installation with applications and documents.

 

If you do choose to go way back, here's a way you can start from the very very beginning. This method steps you a bit outside of the Windows partition scheme and allows Disk Utility to create the partition out of unformatted space rather than converting a FAT32 partition...I got this from section 2 of an EEPC Installation site:

 

Boot into XP.

Erase the c:\chain0="osx" entry in boot.ini (make sure you save it as boot.ini NOT boot.txt!!)

 

Create unformatted Partition space..

• Right click on "My Computer" on your desktop and select "Manage"
  
• Then click on "Disk Management"
  

 

• Delete the second partition (YOUR OSX) by right clicking on the second or third partition of Disk0 and selecting "Delete Partition".
  

 

• Create a new unformatted primary (Primary Partition, Unformatted, NO drive letter VERY IMPORTANT!!)
  

 

 

 

 

• Close everything out and restart.
  

• Put your osx86 DVD in your external DVD drive and boot from it (Hit ESC at the gray boot screen and select your DVD drive in the blue/yellow list)
  
• The boot may take a while (5-10 minutes depending on your DVD drive)
  

 

• Just click through until you come to this screen
  

 

• Run "Disk Utility"
  

 

• Select the second partition that you have created in step 1 and format it by selecting "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)", naming it (One word MACOSX in my case) and hit "Erase"
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Just to be sure you can select the drive and select "Partition". Press Options and you should see that the drive is partitioned as MBR$
  

 

• If you go back now you should see something like this.
  
• Select the drive and click "continue"
  

 

• On the "Install Summary" Screen click "Customize"
  

• Choose your install options and install.
  

Hate to harp on this, but if you aren't using the xXx Distro, you really are missing out on very very important bootloader updates. PCEFI_9 with DSDT patch..

 

Anyway good luck again..Sorry about the long post but hopefully something will click..

[Himerz]

• Just to be sure you can select the drive and select "Partition". Press Options and you should see that the drive is partitioned as MBR$
  

 

• If you go back now you should see something like this.
  
• Select the drive and click "continue"
  

 

• On the "Install Summary" Screen click "Customize"
  

• Choose your install options and install.
  

Hate to harp on this, but if you aren't using the xXx Distro, you really are missing out on very very important bootloader updates. PCEFI_9 with DSDT patch..

 

Anyway good luck again..Sorry about the long post but hopefully something will click..

 

Excellent guide. I did exactly as you mentioned except the step to check to see if it is the master boot file. I do have one question thou, when I search for the recommended xXx distribution, which one should I get? I do not know who is the author and none of my search results come up with anything recent....i.e. as of October of 2008

Thanks you have been a great help.

[muffrat]

If you do choose to go way back, here's a way you can start from the very very beginning. This method steps you a bit outside of the Windows partition scheme and allows Disk Utility to create the partition out of unformatted space rather than converting a FAT32 partition...I got this from section 2 of an EEPC Installation site:

 

Anyway good luck again..Sorry about the long post but hopefully something will click..

 

Thanks for the suggestion - will try this straight away. If this doesn't work, i've run out of ideas.

 

Having said that, i've yet to try the acronis os selector, and failing that i'll try starting again from scratch with osx as the primary os with xp installed on the second partition. I know this is liable to cause a bunch more problems with XP - but i'll keep y'all posted...

 

Thanks again for the advice and i'll let you know how it all rolls out...

[brgroup]

I'm with you, I've hosed many an install messing around with flagging, partition marking, MBR's and bootloaders..

 

BTW - XP plays fairly well with OSX. Just don't use NTFS on the osx side if you are converting the partition made in windows. But, you may not have as many problems as you think if you decide to reinstall in either order...It's the Vista/OSX combo that can get really goofy with osx darwin overwriting the vista partition flag and sometimes creating the hfs+/winload error..

 

Check the AAO User Forum's drivers section if you need a clean winxp restore disk with drivers..You can use the serial on the bottom of your netbook..If you need to start over, personally I say wipe the restore partition, free up that space and install MBR with the OS's pushed up against the first bits on the drive..2 partitions..no confusion..disk0, disk1 -

 

I do have one question thou, when I search for the recommended xXx distribution, which one should I get? I do not know who is the author and none of my search results come up with anything recent....i.e. as of October of 2008

 

1) Search pbay for XxX_x86_10.5.5_Leo_Install_Disc - "applications" filter checked..Download Main distro - 10/29 - 3.2gb + PPF 1, PPF 2 and PPF 3 respectively...

20 Find PPF-O-Matic in one of the previous posts and step apply the patches in order to each newly patched iso, creating a master iso fully patched at ppf3...

30 Little green demon has the main iso with ppf1 pre-patched - you can then get the other PPF's and go from there..

 

K..I'm done..

[danimal99]

I had a perfect 10.5.5 install on my AAO, but I appear to have just screwed it up. I wanted to try VMWare Fusion as a way to run a couple of my windows apps from my XP partition (I split the drive into 1/2 XP, 1/2 OSX, with the chain0 dual booting method). When I installed Fusion, it said hold down to power button to restart. When I do restart it now, it just gets stuck on the blue screen. A -v boot shows it running the Login Window Application as the last thing it does before getting stuck.

 

Is there anything I can do? Or will I have to format the partition and start over?

 

Thanks for any help!

[muffrat]

I'm with you, I've hosed many an install messing around with flagging, partition marking, MBR's and bootloaders..

 

Genius, Genius, Genius.

 

Tried the method you outlined above - worked like a charm. My diary showed that this was in fact my fourteenth install attempt - everything appears to be working ok, and i'm typing this from a safari window!

 

Thanks to you and indeed everyone for your help and suggestions. Look forward to lurking here for tips and advice in the future.