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

[marcassin]

@marcassin, USB3 ports are problematic, get a usb hub and plug it in the USB2 port (right side USB/E-Sata).

 

I also have a wifi stick, which is supported... in theory that is. It only works in 32bit mode, maybe it's the same case for you? Afaik most manufacturers provide drivers only for 32bit mode...

 

Plugging my wifi stick in the USB2 port worked.

And my drivers seem to work fine in 64bit mode.

 

@ Marcassin :

I found an app in the Launchpad (I don't remember the exact name, but the logo was something like "Wireless", you know?) So I launched it and there my dongle was supported, showing the differents networks available : You have to launch this app' at every boot to get WiFi working, and let it run all the time. It replaces the network prefpane...

 

I found the app. You're right, I need to launch it to connect to any network.

The WiFi card is visible in he network prefpane, but the settings reside in this proprietary app.

 

@DoiX @Rockball73

Thanks for your great advices, I now have fully functional wifi in my xps, that's great!

[Rockball73]

Plugging my wifi stick in the USB2 port worked.

And my drivers seem to work fine in 64bit mode.

 

 

 

I found the app. You're right, I need to launch it to connect to any network.

The WiFi card is visible in he network prefpane, but the settings reside in this proprietary app.

 

@DoiX @Rockball73

Thanks for your great advices, I now have fully functional wifi in my xps, that's great!

You're welcome. If I can help, I'm happy, as others helped/are helping me when I'm in trouble with OS X

I'm new in the (wonderful) Hackintosh world, but I can help with the problems I resolved earlier on my install...

[DoiX]

@Rockball, Mountain Lion does seem snappier but i think it's related to it being still "newly" installed. OS X like windows gets sluggish as one installs apps. Geekbench score wise... no noticeable improvements.

[Rockball73]

@Rockball, Mountain Lion does seem snappier but i think it's related to it being still "newly" installed. OS X like windows gets sluggish as one installs apps. Geekbench score wise... no noticeable improvements.

Yes of course. It's always fast and good when fresh...

 

Wait and see, as some says. Maybe we'll get some good surprise about the nVidia graphic card (hope keeps us alive...).

[DoiX]

Apparently the next mbp model will be released this month... in the mean time i checked the SMBoardProducts i found in ML, they all boot... but none of them activates the screen, and due to kernelcache error i can't use VNC to get a debug from the laptop. I'll do a fresh install next week and test again.

[Rockball73]

Apparently the next mbp model will be released this month... in the mean time i checked the SMBoardProducts i found in ML, they all boot... but none of them activates the screen, and due to kernelcache error i can't use VNC to get a debug from the laptop. I'll do a fresh install next week and test again.

Great to hear you're still on it...

If there's any way I can help you...

[DoiX]

Turbo State Toggler utility updated to work with all processor models.

Source code is available by opening the app with AppleScript Editor.

Turbo State Toggle.zip

[Rockball73]

Turbo State Toggler utility updated to work with all processor models.

Source code is available by opening the app with AppleScript Editor.

Turbo State Toggle.zip

Great work DoiX. And how is it working? It replaces the SSDT.aml file in the root, then when only have to reboot and it's ok? Or does it load the SSDT tables instantly, without reboot?

Anyway, thanks for sharing your work! I'll try this tonight...

[DoiX]

OS X doesn't allow us to modify tables on the fly, unfortunately. This is just a simple script that checks for i7 users if they have those 2 SSDT files in / partition and changes the names 3TS to SSDT.aml /9TS to SSDT.aml and viceversa. If there is no SSDT.aml then it assumes you only need to use GeneratePStates=Yes and DropSSDT=Yes, and it changes the boot.plist values from No to Yes and Yes to No.

 

It may still need some changes depending on what people report back.

 

Right now i suggest only using DropSSDT=Yes and GeneratePStates=Yes if it does the job for your system. It's more "vanilla" then messing with custom SSDTs

 

Question: What are the most common actions related to your osx86 installation you do?

Example in my case: fix extension folder permissions, rebuild kernel cache, activating/deactivating pstates...

Edited April 3, 2012 by DoiX

[ik_ben_Mark]

I bought an USB WiFi dongle, this one: http://www.buyincoin...oduct-2464.html

I want to use it on Lion, but I dont know how that works. I inserted the dongle and I get these screens in Lion:

 

How do I configure my WiFi?

 

Some information about the donge:

Realtek RTL8188CU Wireless LAN 802.11n USB 2.0 Network Adapter

 

I attached the OSX and Linux drivers that were included

MacOS 10.6.rar

MacOS 10.5.rar

MacOS 10.4.rar

Linux.rar

[DoiX]

@ik_ben_Mark... these answers may serve you as well... ignore the USB part.

 

Hello,

 

I used the great guide written by Mahesh for l702x to install 10.7.2. (http://www.insanelym...howtopic=273500).

Everything was working, except an issue which my be related to USB.

 

Mahesh told me to replace my DSDT by the one included in l502x V6 pack, and redirected me here.

That's what I did but it didn't fix the issues.

 

I already gave some details about my problem in the other thread, but I'll repeat them here:

 

My WiFi dongle is a DLINK DWA-121, which is supposed to work with Realtek Lion drivers (chipset RTL8188) according to HCL 10.7.3.

Unfortunately I can't get it to work, WiFi stays unavailable (not visible in Preferences / Network pane), it looks like the dongle is not detected at all.

I tried a few different drivers with no luck.

Sometimes it hangs on startup and I have to remove the dongle and reboot, sometimes nothing happens at all.

 

The second issue is that my iPhone is not showing up either when I plug it.

I can tell that something happens when I connect it on USB, because iTunes freezes and the whole system becomes really sluggish.

 

The WiFi dongle and the iPhone being both connected on USB, I was wondering if these two issues might be related to a more generic USB driver issue?

 

Has anyone encountered issues when plugging an iPhone or other USB devices?

I tried with a simple USB key and it worked perfectly, so this might be a wrong lead...

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

Oh ok. I tried with Enable P/C States options ticked and DropSSDT disabled, with SSDT.aml in the root of my partition and the score dropped down to 5100...

Maybe I'm the only one experiencing it, I really don't know.

 

@ Marcassin :

About the USB WiFi stick : I bought a DWA-131 before I bought a Dell 1510 Wifi card. I found drivers on the internet and I thought it wasn't working because I had nothing in the Networ prefpane... I was very sad because it cost me 25€ but the day after that, I found an app in the Launchpad (I don't remember the exact name, but the logo was something like "Wireless", you know?) So I launched it and there my dongle was supported, showing the differents networks available : You have to launch this app' at every boot to get WiFi working, and let it run all the time. It replaces the network prefpane...

Maybe there is something like this for you.

 

About the hang on boot while dongle connected : Go to your BIOS settings and disable "USB Virtualization". It fixed the problem for me, with a bluetooth dongle...

 

Like DoiX said, for the USB3 ports, they are a little bit problematic. I haven't exerienced KP when hot unplugging something from them for a while, but the best way to avoid it is to buy a USB hub (I bought a 12ports USB HUB with a sector adaptator for 10€ and it's working perfectly with 2 external HDD of 2To and my bluetooth dongle, my printer, and some extra things, all plugged at the same time).

Plugging my wifi stick in the USB2 port worked.

And my drivers seem to work fine in 64bit mode.

 

 

 

I found the app. You're right, I need to launch it to connect to any network.

The WiFi card is visible in he network prefpane, but the settings reside in this proprietary app.

 

@DoiX @Rockball73

Thanks for your great advices, I now have fully functional wifi in my xps, that's great!

[Rockball73]

OS X doesn't allow us to modify tables on the fly, unfortunately. This is just a simple script that checks for i7 users if they have those 2 SSDT files in / partition and changes the names 3TS to SSDT.aml /9TS to SSDT.aml and viceversa. If there is no SSDT.aml then it assumes you only need to use GeneratePStates=Yes and DropSSDT=Yes, and it changes the boot.plist values from No to Yes and Yes to No.

 

It may still need some changes depending on what people report back.

 

Right now i suggest only using DropSSDT=Yes and GeneratePStates=Yes if it does the job for your system. It's more "vanilla" then messing with custom SSDTs

 

Question: What are the most common actions related to your osx86 installation you do?

Example in my case: fix extension folder permissions, rebuild kernel cache, activating/deactivating pstates...

Answer to your question in my case :

The exact same thing...

 

PS: I tried to install 10.7.4 yesterday but I failed... Impossible to boot after I installed it and replace kexts!

How I did :

- Install 10.7.4 (the build you provided me) ;

- When install done, didn't restart ;

- Reinstalled the kext from 10.7.2 installation (AppleHDA, ACPIPlatform, IOAudio, AICPUPM, ...) ;

- Rebuild cache and repaired permissions (with KextWizard) ;

- Pressed the "Restart" button from the 10.7.4 installation box ;

- Had to long press the power button of the XPS because of the restart bug ;

- Booted into OS X (supposed to be 10.7.4) : hangs after the lines "MiniMute .... blablabla" and shows (as last line) : "SNBFramebuffer did not show..."

 

Any suggestion/idea is welcome

 

 

EDIT :

I have maybe a clue concerning the SSDT tables of a Dell L502x/702x display... I was searching informations on overclocking the GT540M on the web and I found a french (unofficial) Dell forum. I was reading threads when I saw in a sig that a man was owning a L502x with 3D display.

It's when I woke up this worning that I thought I could ask in this forum to get the SSDT table. As I speak french (it's my first language) a lot lot better than English, it will be easier for me to get understood in that language.

@ DoiX : can you resume me what you need and how I can get it (a lil' tuto maybe) because if they need explanations, I need to be able to answer them on how to get the tables you need to (maybe) get it working

 

As far as I have all the informations I need, I'll post on this forum, expecting a fast and hopeful answer.

Edited April 4, 2012 by Rockball73

[DoiX]

@Rockball, MiniMute shows the system is fully loaded, problem being the graphic kexts. Boot with -v UseKernelCache=No for starters, and rebuild it after.

 

I require full SSDT dump from windows...

How to dump SSDT's on windows:

1. download AIDA64 - Downloads | AIDA64

2. right click on the bottom bar > ACPI Tool > Save Table > SSDT (one at a time)

 

Related to my question: Any other actions? I'm building a menubar app and i'd like to implement as many useful functions that i can!

[ik_ben_Mark]

@ik_ben_Mark... these answers may serve you as well... ignore the USB part.

Thnx, but I dont know if it works for me.

Do you, or someone else, know if this is the program he is reffering to:

 

When I open that app I get this message:

 

 

It says: can't find any wireless airport-device. Be sure the airport-device is connected to an outlet and is near of you. Then click 'search again'

 

edit: I use the eSATA usb port on the right side

[Rockball73]

@Rockball, MiniMute shows the system is fully loaded, problem being the graphic kexts. Boot with -v UseKernelCache=No for starters, and rebuild it after.

 

I require full SSDT dump from windows...

 

 

Related to my question: Any other actions? I'm building a menubar app and i'd like to implement as many useful functions that i can!

For the boot with -v UseKernelCache=No, is it the same as -v -f??

Because with only -v (and of course (UseKernelCache=Yes as it's in my boot.plist) it doesn't boot. It crashes on apple grey logo and then automatically restarts. With -v -f it boots right and hangs on SNBFramebuffer did not show up

I'll try tonight to see if I can boot with -v UseKernelCache=No... But I already did re-clone my functionnal 10.7.2 on 10.7.4 so I'll re-install it tonight.

 

@ Ik_Ben_Mark : Hoe gaat het met jou? Ik zal proberen je te helpen, maar ik weet niet of dat zal werken. (sorry voor de fauten, ik spreek alleen maar een beetje ndls).

The application I was talking about previously was an app installed with the drivers for my D-Link DWA-131, so I don't know if it will be helpful in your case. It was a thrid party app' (the icon was yellow but seemed like the one you showed) that replaced the integrated netword prefpane...

Maybe you can try drivers for DWA-121/131, but only to get the app', then try to get WiFi via the app' I'm talkin about.

 

@DoiX : I'll post on the forum I mentionned this evening because my boss gave me some (very very boring) work for a whole week...

 

And for the app', what I often do is a backup with CCC, but I can't say it's directly related to my OSX86 install. Only a way to back it up before I try some new kext/DP/...

Concerning the screen brightness, I made an Automator task to make the screen go to sleep and wake up directly after boot so that you have maximum brightness without having to do it yourself (even if I only have one key to press to make it go to sleep).

[DoiX]

-f is force load, but i noticed that if i use -f several kexts are skipped for some reason. UseKernelCache=No tells the system to load every kext it finds in the folder.

[Rockball73]

Thought -f was 'ignore caches'... Ok, so i'll try to boot using UseKernelCache=No. And you're right, some are skipped with -f because now that you tell me :

A while back I couldn't boot using -f but with UseCache=No, it worked...

[DoiX]

Another thing, i've read that for some users, 10.7.4 forces them to boot with -v else they enter a restart loop. Apparently caused by the bootloader... when i have time i'll look into it if you experience this.

 

Got to run now.

 

Users, please post what functions you'd like my app to have (so far: restart fix/rebuild kext cache/turbo state toggler/repair kext permissions)

[Rockball73]

That's in faact what I experienced yesterday, but with or without "-v". The only thing "breaking" the loop was when I tried "-v -f" but there I had the "SNBFramebuffer did not show up" line...

Tonight, I reinstall it, then try the "-v UserKernelCache=no"... I'll let you know

 

And what icon will you app have in the menu bar? Something like your contact icon in your portfolio?

And another question : with what soft do you build your OS X apps?

[DoiX]

It will have the same icon as the turbo state toggler, a lightning and it's called Aergia (roman/greek goddess of indolence/laziness). For a bit of irony! I use XCODE objC and applescript...

[Rockball73]

Sounds great!! And I like the name : so ... ... TRUE

But it's so good to be a bit lazy...

[ik_ben_Mark]

@ Ik_Ben_Mark : Hoe gaat het met jou? Ik zal proberen je te helpen, maar ik weet niet of dat zal werken. (sorry voor de fauten, ik spreek alleen maar een beetje ndls).

The application I was talking about previously was an app installed with the drivers for my D-Link DWA-131, so I don't know if it will be helpful in your case. It was a thrid party app' (the icon was yellow but seemed like the one you showed) that replaced the integrated netword prefpane...

Maybe you can try drivers for DWA-121/131, but only to get the app', then try to get WiFi via the app' I'm talkin about.

Wow een Fransman die Engels en Nederlands spreekt (Of belg?)

edit: Ik ben blind, er staat gewoon België bij

 

 

I installed the driver for the DWA-131 but no new icon appeared. I forgot to mention another program that was there the last time, so I'll include it this time. I also have this app in the Launchpad:

But I dont think that is it either?

How do you normally search and add Wireless networks in OSX/Lion? I can't find it.

 

Or am I just blind and overlooking the app? This are the contents of my Launchpad:

 

 

 

Another strange thing I noticed. Not related to the WiFi problem, but when I hybernate Windows, go into Lion and make some new files (screenshots in my case) I cant find them after booting windows again. What I did was, making 3 screenshots. These will be dropped on the desktop in OSX, copy these to the NTFS data partition. Reboot the XPS and resume hybernation. And when I look into the data partition or the OSX partition, the files cant be found. Even when I refresh or re-assign a drive letter for the OSX partition. I have to reboot in order to be able to find the new files..

[Rockball73]

Ja, ik ben Belg. Ik spreek geen vlot nederlands maar genoeg om een beetje te spreken (schrijven)... Waar kom je vandaan?

 

So, about the program I had when installing DWA-131 driver, it's nearly the same as Airport configuration, but in yellow in place of blue and with no circle in the back...

Maybe you can try those drivers. This is the one I installed when I bought my DWA-131, now I have a Dell DW1510 wifi card so I think to sell it.

The mentioned package : https://rapidshare.com/files/3854192307/Installer.pkg

 

You'll see a new app' (with the icon I described before), launch it and see if it works with your WiFi dongle... I cross my fingers

 

 

Concerning your reboot problem, with the disappearing files, I really don't know what it could be related to. Maybe can DoiX light us...

 

@DoiX :

I posted the request on the Dell Forum I mentioned some posts ago. I hope somebody will answer... I let you know! It has already been read 20 times, still no answer.

[ik_ben_Mark]

Ik kom uit Brabant, dus nog redelijk richting België Woon je in het zuiden van België? Daar krijg je niet altijd Nederlands geleerd toch?

 

I installed the package you linked but I still dont get any new icon. How does it normally work in Lion to search for a Wireless device when you use an USB WiFi dongle? The dongle does work in Windows and it should be supported in OSX (I got the drivers for 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6) I guess there should be a standard routine to search and connect to a WiFi acces point?

 

 

Another strange thing is that this mini USB WiFi dongle is faster then the Advanced-N 6230 which is build in. I did 4 speedtests from which the first two were made with the N6230 and the last two with the USB WiFi (so the advantage is for the N6230. The more speedtest you do after each other, the slower it gets. When I do it in the opposite order, the difference is even larger) I would expect that the Advanced-N 6230 should be at least as fast or even faster then the cheap USB dongle. It also has 2 antennas

Speedtests Advanced-N 6230:

http://i44.tinypic.com/2m67hu1.png

http://i39.tinypic.com/25jjksn.png

Speedtests cheap mini USB WiFi dongle:

http://i39.tinypic.com/33eiez5.png

http://i40.tinypic.com/30urcc4.png

[Rockball73]

Ik kom uit Zinnik, een stad naast Bergen (de stad van ons geliefd Premier, Elio Di Rupo). Dus, ik leer Nederlands op school sinds ik 11ben, maar ik denk niet dat ik vlot Nederlands spreek. Ik spreek, volgens mij, beter Engels dan Nederlands.

 

Concerning the speed of your WiFi dongle/card, I can't help you. Maybe you'll find some infos on the internet.

 

About the drivers I gave you and the way to connect to a network, it's all related to the app' I mentioned before and that you would get with the package I uploaded.

It's strange you don't get it, because it's the one I used before. When installed, this should give you an app' (not and Utility) that allows you to connect to a network. It replaces the Airport Utility since the dongle isn't recognized directly by OS X.

Can you, once again post some screenshot of you Applications folder? And when you launch the package, are there some boxes to tick/untick? Didi you tick everything?

If it doesn't work, we can PM to find a solution... If you want, I can sell you my DWA-131 since I don't use it. It cost me €30, so for €20, I can let it go.

 

@ DoiX :

I got an answer some hours ago from a guy on the forum. I thought it would be helpfull since his signature on the forum mentioned a 3D display, but (there's always a f*c*i*g "but") it was his previous configuration (because it crashed, so he contacted Dell for an exchange and he asked a Dell L702x without 3D in replacement...).

I'll get back to you as far as I have some positive answer. I PMed every member I found with a 3D display... I'm waiting, crossing my fingers.