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[Guide] Dell XPS 15 L502X (Early 2011) Snow Leopard Install (possibly L702x too)

wen1

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Kirky
Kirky
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Thanks, i'm a designer i don't want my workflow to be interrupted by sluggish performances from the intel HD card...also changing cities this fall, it's the main reason i'm getting a laptop because i don't know how much space i'll have and such.

 

As long as the cpu graphics can handle some heavy duty graphics and rendering (AE/Photoshop/Premiere) and remain cool enough to not damage it i will be happy, though no monitor out is a big downside for me. Maybe i'm better off finding an ATI powered lappy? I'm not exactly too fond of wasting money on a thing that will run at the performance of a cheaper thing.

 

Thanks again.

 

I think this laptops great. I use Final Cut Studio 3, Final Cut Pro X (which is very fast indeed), Photoshop and Aperture. I did upgrade the ram to 8gb, which gave me 512mb on the onboard graphics chip, but for the £630 I paid with a 1920x1080 screen it was a cheap alternative compared to the price of the Macbook Pro

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Alex DeWolf
Alex DeWolf
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I am running Ubuntu 11.04 with Bumblebee (allows using the Nvidia card with specific applications with hardware acceleration while the rest of the desktop uses the Intel video). I would love to install OSX on this but until I can get use of the Nvidia GPU I will stay with Ubuntu.

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iMac2009
iMac2009
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I am a bit confused, do we need to follow the guide at the beginning of this post to install to 10.6.8 first and then go to lion or can we go directly to lion from the short guide from like 12-13 posts back?

 

You can install Lion directly.

You'll need the basics from post #1 to to prepare your USB installstick and then go ahead to the Lion How-To.

 

 

Maybe i'm going to write an full how-to for 10.7 on the L502x, as soon as my HD3000 runs on native 1080p.

It didn't worked for me with the attached kext.

 

Tomorrow I'll try again on a clean install, patching the DSDT as I guess my Problem belongs to a differ HwID which is 0116 instead of 01112

also going to try this fix http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=28851

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crdnilfan
crdnilfan
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You can install Lion directly.

You'll need the basics from post #1 to to prepare your USB installstick and then go ahead to the Lion How-To.

 

 

Maybe i'm going to write an full how-to for 10.7 on the L502x, as soon as my HD3000 runs on native 1080p.

It didn't worked for me with the attached kext.

 

Tomorrow I'll try again on a clean install, patching the DSDT as I guess my Problem belongs to a differ HwID which is 0116 instead of 01112

also going to try this fix http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=28851

 

If you were to do a full write up for installing Lion on the L502X I would be so grateful. The OP on this thread is from back in may, and there have been some improvements throughout the thread that aren't reflected in the OP.

 

Would your write up be a 10.6.8 -> 10.7 guide, or a unpartitioned windows only system to 10.7 guide? Or somewhere in between?

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JasonSznol
JasonSznol
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I would absolutely love a full write up for an l502x clean install to 10.7. I had tried a bit on friday and I could not get it to work for the life of me, I was clearly missing something. I would be more than happy to make a small donation for your time if it works because this will allow me to work remotely on my laptop if I have access to OS X on it.

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koundinya_avk
koundinya_avk
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Hi

I installed 10.6.8 using this guide and now I see high resolution mac osx. Thank you. I have few problems. My audio doesn't work properly and the mouse pointer is very slow. I think my i7 processor is not properly recognized. In the about dialog, I see different processor speed every time I login and processor as unknown. Please suggest.

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iMac2009
iMac2009
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Would your write up be a 10.6.8 -> 10.7 guide, or a unpartitioned windows only system to 10.7 guide? Or somewhere in between?

 

Actually it'll be a conclusion of the original steps which where mentioned before to install to a "windows only" system with the need of an working Mac somewhere to prepare an working install stick.

 

But first i'm looking for an proper working fix to get my HD3000 running on full res.

Maybe today I'm able to spend an hour or two... so i hope :)

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Paul A
Paul A
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You can install Lion directly.

You'll need the basics from post #1 to to prepare your USB installstick and then go ahead to the Lion How-To.

 

 

Maybe i'm going to write an full how-to for 10.7 on the L502x, as soon as my HD3000 runs on native 1080p.

It didn't worked for me with the attached kext.

 

Tomorrow I'll try again on a clean install, patching the DSDT as I guess my Problem belongs to a differ HwID which is 0116 instead of 01112

also going to try this fix http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=28851

 

 

I tried the fix you linked to and can confirm it enabled native resolution with QE/CI in Lion with my HD3000. You have to re install the original AppleIntelSNBGraphicsFB.kext from the Lion app if you removed it from your USB install stick. My HwID is 0116 as well. Also I have 4GB ram and there are no graphics artifacts problems.

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Kirky
Kirky
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Has anyone had any luck with a working audio solution in Lion on the Dell XPS 15 L502?

 

I've got 10.7.1 installed but whenever I use an AppleHDA.kext driver the system locks up on reboot. I've tried various AppleHDA.kext drivers, even the 10.6.2 rollback driver locks up on boot? This is odd as it works perfectly on my Gigabyte X58A-UDR3 tower system???

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one9092002
one9092002
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Has anyone had any luck with a working audio solution in Lion on the Dell XPS 15 L502?

 

I've got 10.7.1 installed but whenever I use an AppleHDA.kext driver the system locks up on reboot. I've tried various AppleHDA.kext drivers, even the 10.6.2 rollback driver locks up on boot? This is odd as it works perfectly on my Gigabyte X58A-UDR3 tower system???

 

can you tell me what steps you took to update to 10.7.1?

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Kirky
Kirky
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can you tell me what steps you took to update to 10.7.1?

 

Installing the 10.7.1 update was very easy, I just installed using Apple's Software Update and rebooted :blink: . I usually download the combo update, but didn't need to with the 10.7.1 update on the Dell L502

 

AUDIO - I've had limited success with the VoodooHDA 0.2.72 kext within [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url]. I can get audio working, but it seems to have a large amount of gain and hiss, this can be corrected in the VoodooHDA prefplane in System Preferences but then the audio stops working properly?

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mmvie
mmvie
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Not to bad. But their seems to be a Problem with the Intel HD 3000 Graphics, works out of the box with QE/CI but the Screen is all green and have interlacing Lines and is far to wide. I read other Laptop Users with other Model from other brands but with Intel HD 3000 have the same Problem. USB Works, Keyboard Works, Touchpad Works, Bluetooth works, Ethernet works. No Sound and QE/CI yet ( when i delete SNB Framebuffer kext, Intel HD 3000 will not get regoqnised, Resolution is 1024x768 but colors etc are fine)

 

 

I don't know if it is fixed in the meantime, but this DSDT correction worked for me: http://tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=28851

No need to delete AppleIntelSNBGraphicsFB.kext at all..

 

Good luck ;)

 

ps: this DSDT correction is also needed with the new Chimera that's posted a few posts earlier (at least for me it is)

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one9092002
one9092002
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I don't know if it is fixed in the meantime, but this DSDT correction worked for me: http://tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=28851

No need to delete AppleIntelSNBGraphicsFB.kext at all..

 

Good luck :D

 

ps: this DSDT correction is also needed with the new Chimera that's posted a few posts earlier (at least for me it is)

 

 

 

can you post the dsdt file? and give me directions what you did please

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one9092002
one9092002
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WORKING BATTERY STATUS METER READING IN LION 10.7.1

 

This VoodooBattery kext worked for me to get the Dell battery reading correctly in Lion. Just install both files and repair permissions.

 

 

 

where do i install in the extra or system/library/extensions?

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Kirky
Kirky
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where do i install in the extra or system/library/extensions?

 

Whatever works best for you. Just remember to repair permissions before you reboot!

 

If you install any kexts in the /Extra folder then repair permissions you can always get back into the operating system with your boot CD/USB Stick if your system KP's on reboot. The files in /Extra also override the files in the S/L/E folder as far as I'm aware, so that when Apple releases a new update you would never have your files overwritten if they are in /Extra.

 

If you install in S/L/E and your system KP's on reboot, you might not be able to get back into the system via a boot disc, you would need to remove your harddrive and plug into another Mac system to delete the defective kext in S/L/E, then plug back into the laptop.

 

Thats my experience anyway!

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bryan Rowe
bryan Rowe
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Whatever works best for you. Just remember to repair permissions before you reboot!

 

If you install any kexts in the /Extra folder then repair permissions you can always get back into the operating system with your boot CD/USB Stick if your system KP's on reboot. The files in /Extra also override the files in the S/L/E folder as far as I'm aware, so that when Apple releases a new update you would never have your files overwritten if they are in /Extra.

 

If you install in S/L/E and your system KP's on reboot, you might not be able to get back into the system via a boot disc, you would need to remove your harddrive and plug into another Mac system to delete the defective kext in S/L/E, then plug back into the laptop.

 

Thats my experience anyway!

 

Is anyone using a usb wifi adapter? If so, which? I am having a hell of a trouble getting this one to work: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003X26PMO despite the fact that others have been successful and it has an OSX installer on their website.

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bastisk8
bastisk8
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Hey,

 

I see that there is some progress in getting 10.7 Lion to work properly with the Dell XPS l502x.

 

Yet, I find the different tutorials in this thread a bit confusing and would really appreciate if someone could gather all the valid information and create a guide for a fresh 10.7 install with all relevant Kexts and DSDT + information on how to proceed with future updates.

 

Since a new version of Chimera with full Intel 3000 support was released just now, shouldnt this help us to speed up the installation procedure a lot?

 

I am really looking forward to creating a fresh Lion installation on my XPS.

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Kirky
Kirky
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Hey,

 

I see that there is some progress in getting 10.7 Lion to work properly with the Dell XPS l502x.

 

Yet, I find the different tutorials in this thread a bit confusing and would really appreciate if someone could gather all the valid information and create a guide for a fresh 10.7 install with all relevant Kexts and DSDT + information on how to proceed with future updates.

 

Since a new version of Chimera with full Intel 3000 support was released just now, shouldnt this help us to speed up the installation procedure a lot?

 

I am really looking forward to creating a fresh Lion installation on my XPS.

 

A tutorial is fine, but we still can't get fully working audio yet? everything else works in Lion (except the Nivida card), but audio is still a big problem.

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Kirky
Kirky
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Is there support for the Nvidia GPU? Is there GPU acceleration?

 

No, Apple don't support the Nvidia 5xx cards in laptops. You have to use the Intel HD3000 graphics built on the processor. 8gb of ram assigns 512mb to the graphics, which isn't bad actually as I can edit on FCPX very fast with that at 1920x1080

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