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

[DoiX]

@Monkeys #718 and this #720

[Monkeys]

So, I have an update on my progress. Almost there I think!

 

I have fixed the following issues, with the following explanations:

 

1. Battery display in menubar.

 

- Needed to install both VoodooBattery and ACPIMonitor to /Extra/Extensions and build Extensions.mkext to get it working (see bottom of this post for explanation on how to build mkext)

 

2. 2 Finger scrolling.

 

- Couldn't get it working using ApplePS2Controller and ApplePS2Nub. So am using VoodooPS2controller and VoodooPS2Trackpad. Now 2-Finger scrolling works ok, not perfect, and also Trackpad prefpane in preferences detects trackpad and gives options for increasing/decreasing scrolling speed etc.

 

3. Keyboard mouse wake after sleep.

 

- Honestly not sure how I fixed this one. It just started working. I think it might have just been a coincidence that the first time I put the machine to sleep it didn't work, but now it does? Or, it MIGHT have been because I have started using VoodooPS2controller and VoodooPS2 trackpad and that it works with these instead of ApplePS2 and Nub?

 

4. Audio (Heavy bass)

 

- Again, installed Dell_XPS_ALC665 and IOAudioFamily to Extra/Extensions and it seems to be working now after using the modified info.plist, the bass from the internal speaker is still a little loud but better than it was and I can live with it. All other outputs seem normal, which is important for me as I will be using this laptop for music production and performing. Leave AppleHDA in S/L/E, it has dependencies that mean it needs to be loaded from there.

 

5. Function keys for Brightness and Sleep.

 

- Fixed with BetterTouchTool.

 

Detailed guide for fixing these issues:

 

(With all due respect to DoiX, I'm not saying that your method is wrong. But the v5 package didn't really work for me, the kexts were copied to S/L/E but just didn't seem to work, even after repairing permissions etc.. This is what worked for me) I have also included a .zip of the kexts that I used for this tutorial at the bottom of this post, most of which are from DoiX's pack, so the credit must go to him, I have merely extracted them from the v5 package.

 

1. Copy the VoodooBattery and ACPIMonitor to /Extra/Extensions (create this folder if it does not exist), and delete them from S/L/E if you have already copied them there. Build/Rebuild Extensions.mkext with the following commands in terminal:

 

sudo chown -R 0:0 /Extra

 

sudo chmod -R 755 /Extra

 

sudo kextcache -v 1 -a i386 -a x86_64 -m /Extra/Extensions.mkext /Extra/Extensions

 

NOTE: This needs to be done after updating or installing any kexts in /Extra/Extensions

 

2. Run the VooDooPS2 controller installer pkg included in the zip. After installing go to system preferences and delete the VoodooPS2 prefpane (right click to remove). Then install the one included in the pack (it is for 64bit Lion). Also delete the VoodooPS2Controller from S/L/E. Copy VoodooPS2Controller and VoodooPS2trackpad kexts from the zip to E/E and rebuild mkext. Finally copy the org.voodoo.trackpad.configurationloader.plist from my zip to /Library/LaunchAgents (this allows setting from the prefpane to save upon reboot)

 

3. Maybe try Step 2?

 

4. Copy Dell_XPS_ALC665.kext and IOAudioFamily.kext from zip to Extra/Extensions, and of course, rebuild mkext

 

5. Install and configure BetterTouchTool (it's Free!)

 

That's it! I personally recommend using E/E for installing most kexts, as it is easier to manage and remember which kexts you have installed. And it is also much quicker to rebuild the mkext for E/E, than it is to repair permissions and rebuild caches for S/L/E. All the files I have included in the zip can be removed from S/L/E and added to E/E and will function perfectly fine. Just my $0.02

 

One thing I am still having issues with is battery life, it only lasts around 2 hours. I suspect it might be my SSDT table is not quite right (which is why I haven't included it in the zip). But I will keep experimenting and report back with my findings.

 

I hope this helps some people! And again, much credit goes to DoiX! This wouldn't have been possible if not for his help and wisdom.

 

Here's the Zip:

 

https://rapidshare.com/files/1572244947/L502x_pack.zip

[DoiX]

No... E/E is instant failure in Lion using UseKernelCache flag.... all kexts must be installed in S/L/E if you want to boot like normal people (as in not waiting the extra 30 secs to load each individual kext) from what you explained, your problems were caused by not using the before mentioned flag or extensions folder not being touched (permission fixed by whatever utility you have used)

[Monkeys]

It works fine as long as you use an Extensions.mkext. Try it?

 

As I understand, the Extensions.mkext functions as a separate cache for the additional kexts in the E/E folder, similar to the cache used for kexts in S/L/E.

 

My total boot time from the OS selection screen is only around 45 seconds using this method.

 

I suspect that the reason I, and others here such as AKennedy_4, have had issues when using your installer package would be something to do with the way it installs the kexts. It seems to copy the to the S/L/E folder but even after reparing permissions and deleting and rebuilding caches, they still dont seem to load correctly.

 

Like I said, all due respect to the work you have done here, I'm not saying that the way you have done things is wrong in any way. Just that this is what worked for me, and I think it might help others who have similar issues.

 

I personally have always used E/E for kexts that dont have dependencies on others in S/L/E just because it is easier for me to keep track of them and faster to install or change kexts. That doesn't mean they wont work in S/L/E though.

[DoiX]

I'm just stating the facts, in Lion, kexts installed in E/E won't get loaded by the system if you boot with UseKernelCache=Yes ... and the ones from S/L/E could get skipped.... (info taken from the al mighty wiki of osx86)

[Monkeys]

Ok... Have you tried it?

 

Kexts in E/E will work with the flag UseKernelCache=Yes, as long as you build an Extensions.mkext for the kexts in E/E with the commands:

 

sudo chown -R 0:0 /Extra

 

sudo chmod -R 755 /Extra

 

sudo kextcache -v 1 -a i386 -a x86_64 -m /Extra/Extensions.mkext /Extra/Extensions

 

Try it. Then tell me it doesn't work..

[DoiX]

Of course i've tried it http://www.tonymacx8...hp/Kernel_cache the whole point of this is that Lion uses a unified kext file... the extra mkext isn't really compatible with the cache Lion creates, and only one will have priority (which is random from what i've observed, yet i didn't analyze every single scenario so it may depend on the signature of the cache)

 

You're using the "custom" kernel, aren't you? (should specify in org.chameleon.boot.plist file if yes or no)

Edited January 15, 2012 by DoiX

[Monkeys]

Well it seems to work for me. I'll try the UseKernelCache=Yes method and see if it improves my boot times though

 

And yes, I'm using the 'custom' kernel according to my boot.plist. Why do you ask?

[DoiX]

Mystery solved! If my memory serves, that kernel is modified by navcom. He reintroduced the Extra mkext function/linking ... vanilla kernels don't have that anymore in Lion.

[Monkeys]

Well there you go. Everyone's a winner

 

So I guess to anyone who's been watching. If you want to use E/E for your non-apple kexts. Use the custom kernel, and appropriate flag in your boot.plist!

 

Anyway, so DoiX do you have the issue where the lowest brightness level causes the screen to turn off completely?

 

If so any ideas on how to fix it? I presume it will be a DSDT fix, which is definitely not my specialty...

 

Hmm, strange. I just noticed an issue with the latest chimera also. I upgraded to see if it would make any difference and what did I see? Graphics artifacts!? Lots of them (well some, squares in terminal windows and installer windows) downgraded back to chimera 1.5.4 and the artifacts are gone!

 

Any thoughts?

 

This was using the latest version 1.7 BTW

 

Anyways, I'm out for the night. I'll report back tomorrow and see if I can't figure out this battery life business, or it could be just that my second hand laptop battery is old and need replacing =P

[DoiX]

Nope, been using 1.7 since it got released, no increase/decrease in artifacts... and about the screen brightness, can't say if it's a DSDT fix, i did not really look into it as it doesn't bother me.

 

Back to chimera, as far as i remember the last couple of updates were related to adding missing graphic card IDs... nothing about Intel GPU. But i could be wrong, best just to check the change log.

[Monkeys]

Well I have absolutely no artifacts whatsoever with 1.5.4. No lines, squares, nothing. So there must be something that is causing the artifacts with 1.7?

 

I tried it again just to be sure, updated to 1.7, artifacts.. Downgrade back to 1.5.4, fixed?

[owen77]

Hi everyone,

 

I have an issue. When I install the iAtkos system like it is said in the (updated) tutorial with the kexts (first Dioxs then from the package) the OSX stucks at the booting point where you can see the Apple Booting Logo. Once again: I choose iAtkos1 in the Bootloader (it's the only one because I haven't installed Windows) and the system begins to boot correctly. After a while the booting circle icon stops moving and the whole picture stucks. The funny thing is that when I press some buttons I hear that the system has booted because I get sounds even when I press the volume buttons. But all I see is the stucked booting screen. I can even shut the system down by pressing the power button and return after that.

 

What can it be? Something with the graphic driver?

 

I have the a07 Bios and my specs are:

 

XPS 502x : 2nd generation Intel Core i7-2670QM processor 2.20 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.10 GHz 1 SR

N11X5M06 1 SR

Display : 15.6" HD WLED True-Life (1366x768) with 2.0 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera 1 SR

LCD Back Cover : Metalloid Aluminum (WLAN) L501X 1 SR

Resource DVD : XPS L502x Diagnostics and Drivers 1 SR

Ship Accessory : German Docs 1 SR

RAM : 8.192MB (2x4.096) 1.333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel 1 SR

HDD : 750GB Serial ATA (7.200 1/min) 1 SR

Optical Drive : 8x DVD+/-RW Optical Drive 1 SR

Battery : 9 cell 90Wh LI-ION 1 SR

Graphics : 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M Graphics card 1 SR

Wireless : European Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000 1 SR

Keyboard : Internal US/International Qwerty Keyboard 1 SR

 

Does someone know what it is?

[Monkeys]

@Owen77

 

So you have just installed? Now you can't boot?

 

And OSX is your only system?

 

If that is the case then I would recommend installing windows to a second partition, and using the program MacDrive (free 15 day trial) to access the Mac partition, then copy the Non-HD DSDT.aml from doix's pack as well as the SMBIOS.plist for your system Probably MBP 8,2, to the /Extra folder on the mac partition.

 

Also do a verbose boot using -v to see where it hangs, if it does. But this should work.

 

I always recommend dual-booting with windows. It is very easy to do now, and adds flexibility to the system, and with MacDrive is useful for fixing issues on the Mac partition when you cant bot into it directly.

 

Let us know how you go!

[AKennedy_4]

Now that I think about it Owen. Your issue seems to be a system definition issue. Try the 8,1 system definition first. Then 8,2 after that. One of those should pic up the intel graphics

[adv392]

I tried to do a dual boot from scratch.

1.Installed windows7 (didnt update, old version, no SP1)

2.Installed mac lion 10.7.2 updated and worked correctly with dual boot into both OSs

3.updated win7 installed SP1 and did full update, and made a 5th partition for data for both OSs

my partitions

1.SYSTEM (created by win7 while installing)-100MB

2.WIN7(actual win7)-100GB NTFS

3.MAC(10.7.2)-100GB HFS+ J

4.BLANK(kept for linux)-20GB BLANK

5.DATA-250GB NTFS (while creating this, it made my harddisk dynamic)

 

Now unable to boot into Mac, any solutions? I will be needing to boot into all 3 OS in the future

Win7, mac, linux And I need 3 partitions at least which are primary for the respective OSs but win7 creares 4th one called SYSTEM and need another one DATA partiton which makes my harddisk DYNAMIC which breaks the mac bootloader.

Any solutions you can think of? I dont want to go through the pain of installing everything as I have configured my win7 and also mac(with great difficulty )

Again a huge thanks to all the people making such an effort in this! Kudos to you guys!

Thanks

[Rockball73]

2. 2 Finger scrolling.

 

- Couldn't get it working using ApplePS2Controller and ApplePS2Nub. So am using VoodooPS2controller and VoodooPS2Trackpad. Now 2-Finger scrolling works ok, not perfect, and also Trackpad prefpane in preferences detects trackpad and gives options for increasing/decreasing scrolling speed etc.

 

3. Keyboard mouse wake after sleep.

 

- Honestly not sure how I fixed this one. It just started working. I think it might have just been a coincidence that the first time I put the machine to sleep it didn't work, but now it does? Or, it MIGHT have been because I have started using VoodooPS2controller and VoodooPS2 trackpad and that it works with these instead of ApplePS2 and Nub?

I've done what you said about the VoodooPS2 controller and it does enable sleep. Now I can wake from it, but it has many bugs... I can't get good cursor speed and it's really annoying, because even when set at the maximum, it's very slow.

So I went back to ApplePS2Controller and it doesn't support wake from sleep anymore... Strange, because it's working perfectly for DoiX, if I do understand him ...

 

@ DoiX:

I did patch the AICPUPM.kext myself, with the SpeedStepper command tool and it does the same than with yours. SpeedStep working, wake up from sleep is good but no trackpad or keyboard enabler after it. So I don't know how to fix it, except with the VoodooPS2 (but I don't like it anyway).

And about 3-finger capability, I'll post you a capture of the config.-screen I've under Win7 on my XPS15, and, as far as I remember, there's an option for "3 fingers gesture"... :-)

 

EDIT :

Here's the print screen (Sorry, but Synaptics software is in French) :

[scrappy_coco]

Guys please i need your help. please........

 

I recently installed mac os x snow leopard 10.6.3 by USB drive (Created the USB installation drive from my laptop running Snow leopard 10.6.7 in Vmware workstation 8).

then i booted with '[url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url]' into Snow leopard. now i wanted to install ********. but to do that how do i transfer ####### into the laptop to install it ?? i know USB is not working. i don't have wired network connection. i connect to internet using a USB modem stick.

 

previously before snow leopard installation, i burned ######## into a CD with windows 7. Now when i insert the [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] CD in snow leopard, it doesn't show anything.

Now HOW WILL I TRANSFER [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] IN MY LAPTOP RUNNING SNOW LEOPARD FOR DRIVERS INSTALLATION.........??????

please someone help......

[scrappy_coco]

come on somebody please reply. please help me

[DoiX]

Guys please i need your help. please........

 

I recently installed mac os x snow leopard 10.6.3 by USB drive (Created the USB installation drive from my laptop running Snow leopard 10.6.7 in Vmware workstation 8).

then i booted with ###### into Snow leopard. now i wanted to install ######. but to do that how do i transfer ####### into the laptop to install it ?? i know USB is not working. i don't have wired network connection. i connect to internet using a USB modem stick.

 

previously before snow leopard installation, i burned ####### into a CD with windows 7. Now when i insert the ###### CD in snow leopard, it doesn't show anything.

Now HOW WILL I TRANSFER ####### IN MY LAPTOP RUNNING SNOW LEOPARD FOR DRIVERS INSTALLATION.........??????

please someone help......

 

Sorry i don't support Snow Leopard as it's problematic. About the ####### CD... don't burn it using windows program, use imgburn (it has data burning as well) and make sure it's not burned specifically for windows machines. It has to be a universal CD so it can be read by OS X too.

[toroloar]

Hi everyone,

 

I have an issue. When I install the iAtkos system like it is said in the (updated) tutorial with the kexts (first Dioxs then from the package) the OSX stucks at the booting point where you can see the Apple Booting Logo. Once again: I choose iAtkos1 in the Bootloader (it's the only one because I haven't installed Windows) and the system begins to boot correctly. After a while the booting circle icon stops moving and the whole picture stucks. The funny thing is that when I press some buttons I hear that the system has booted because I get sounds even when I press the volume buttons. But all I see is the stucked booting screen. I can even shut the system down by pressing the power button and return after that.

 

What can it be? Something with the graphic driver?

 

I have the a07 Bios and my specs are:

 

XPS 502x : 2nd generation Intel Core i7-2670QM processor 2.20 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.10 GHz 1 SR

N11X5M06 1 SR

Display : 15.6" HD WLED True-Life (1366x768) with 2.0 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera 1 SR

LCD Back Cover : Metalloid Aluminum (WLAN) L501X 1 SR

Resource DVD : XPS L502x Diagnostics and Drivers 1 SR

Ship Accessory : German Docs 1 SR

RAM : 8.192MB (2x4.096) 1.333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel 1 SR

HDD : 750GB Serial ATA (7.200 1/min) 1 SR

Optical Drive : 8x DVD+/-RW Optical Drive 1 SR

Battery : 9 cell 90Wh LI-ION 1 SR

Graphics : 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M Graphics card 1 SR

Wireless : European Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000 1 SR

Keyboard : Internal US/International Qwerty Keyboard 1 SR

 

Does someone know what it is?

@owen77

 

 

 

Hi!

 

 

 

I have the same computer and features, ram, hd, graphics....

 

You can boot with r-boot-le cd but when you try to boot with the cd something happens and you can't see de desktop, don't you?

 

I think i had the same problem. Thanks DOIX, in the other forum.:

 

" that's deff a System Definition problem, use [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] and install MACBookPro 8.X system definition. You will boot fine then."

 

 

 

 

http://www.insanelym...dpost&p=1782718

 

 

For me, it worked

 

Luck!

[scrappy_coco]

Sorry i don't support Snow Leopard as it's problematic. About the [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] CD... don't burn it using windows program, use imgburn (it has data burning as well) and make sure it's not burned specifically for windows machines. It has to be a universal CD so it can be read by OS X too.

 

thanks man for your reply. so that means i have to burn the [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] in Universal CD so it can be read by mac os x. ok let me try.

[DoiX]

Found a nifty tool for you guys, http://tools.inmac.org/ it's helpful.

[AKennedy_4]

Here's the print screen (Sorry, but Synaptics software is in French) :

 

Not in my version of the software. Same version. No option for 3 fingers

[Rockball73]

Not in my version of the software. Same version. No option for 3 fingers

That's weird, don't you think? And it's functionnal, because when I slide 3fingers from the top to the bottom of my touchpad, it's like I'd press the END key, and when I slide from the bottom to the top, it's like the HOME key. In iTunes, it's like pressing the play/pause button...

Do you think it's because I bought my XPS15 1 month ago?

AKennedy, do you also have a Synaptics TouchPad v7.4 on your Dell XPS?

 

Does some software exist to test the "mutitouch capability" of a touchpad? A software that could display the place we put fingers on the touchpad, and the numbers of them... To test if it's really 2-fingers hardware limited or not...