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

wen1

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newpain01
newpain01
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Hi Everyone, I am very happy to find this topic. I have installed iATKOS L2 on my Dell XPS L502X system, configuration:

 

CPU: Intel Core i7 2630QM

GPU: Nvidia 525m

RAM: 8GB

Monitor: 1920x1080 RG+B

HDD: 750GB

WIFI: Intel Centrino Wireless-n 1030 (not working, but will replace it with DW1510, I've read that this card works perfectly)

BIOS: A07 (I've read that sleep workn on A06, how do I downgrade it?)

triple boot, Windows7, Xubuntu, iATKOS L2

 

The system is working fine, except for wifi, sleep and restart doesn't work too, when I restart the system the screen goes off and the system stays on, it doesn't restart, I have to press the power button to turn it off and start it again, can anyone please tell me what is the problem? Also, the system sometimes freezes, it happend twice in two days(that's how long I have it installed).

Thanks for your help,

really appreciate it

keep up the good work!

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Rockball73
Rockball73
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Hi Everyone, I am very happy to find this topic. I have installed iATKOS L2 on my Dell XPS L502X system, configuration:

 

CPU: Intel Core i7 2630QM

GPU: Nvidia 525m

RAM: 8GB

Monitor: 1920x1080 RG+B

HDD: 750GB

WIFI: Intel Centrino Wireless-n 1030 (not working, but will replace it with DW1510, I've read that this card works perfectly)

BIOS: A07 (I've read that sleep workn on A06, how do I downgrade it?)

triple boot, Windows7, Xubuntu, iATKOS L2

 

The system is working fine, except for wifi, sleep and restart doesn't work too, when I restart the system the screen goes off and the system stays on, it doesn't restart, I have to press the power button to turn it off and start it again, can anyone please tell me what is the problem? Also, the system sometimes freezes, it happend twice in two days(that's how long I have it installed).

Thanks for your help,

really appreciate it

keep up the good work!

Concerning your BIOS, to downgrade it to A06, you only have to flash the A06... It will erase the A07 and then install the A06, so no manipulation to do for it.

 

Restart bug is a wellknow problem of DoiX since he modded the DSDT to unpower the nVidia GPU and then increase battery life... There's no fix at the moment, but DoiX made a script for it, see a few pages earlier :) If you're lazy, you can use it, but it's not a big deal since you can Shutdown then reboot manually...

 

WiFi : You have to change the wireless card for a compatible one.

Sleep : Install A06 BIOS and everything will work fine (if you enabled SpeedStep, of course).

 

And concerning the freezes, when does it happen? Explain a little more the moment it happened and what were you running (apps, Safari, videos, ...) so that someone can help you :)

 

Have a good day/night/evening/...

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newpain01
newpain01
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Thanks for the answer,

 

btw what is SpeedStep? I don't remember enabling it, how can I?

it froze twice, once using Photo Booth, I took 3 photos and was looking around the effects and the system froze, and the other time I was surfing using FireFox and it froze, sometimes I can see horizontal lines on my screen too, but It's not a problem for now.

 

Thanks for the help,

Have a good day

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DoiX
DoiX
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Thanks for the answer,

 

btw what is SpeedStep? I don't remember enabling it, how can I?

it froze twice, once using Photo Booth, I took 3 photos and was looking around the effects and the system froze, and the other time I was surfing using FireFox and it froze, sometimes I can see horizontal lines on my screen too, but It's not a problem for now.

 

Thanks for the help,

Have a good day

 

Can't tell what caused the freezes... since you didn't get Kernel Panic i assume it's related to the IGPU but i'm not sure.

 

SpeedStepping is CPU Throttle, or "Turbo Boost up to 2.9Ghz" this may ring a bell. Essentially a type of on-need-overclock

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DoiX
DoiX
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3TS-SSDT = Up to 2.4-2.6 GHZ

9TS-SSDT = Up to 2.9 GHz

 

If you want more power, just select the 9 TS.

 

So far the only proper working bios is the A06, the rest mess something up (sleep, resolution) and they don't really fix/improve anything... at least not on my system.

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Rockball73
Rockball73
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To see if SpeedStep is activated on your L502x :

 

- Download MSRDumper.kext ;

- Open Terminal and type :

sudo kextload [DRAG & DROP MSRDumper.kext HERE]

- Enter your password ;

- Go to Utilities > Console ;

- Look at the lines with something like "Pstates" and "Pstates reached" ;

- If you see more than 2 values (8 and 24), then it's working. If you only see 2 values, Speedstep isn't activated.

 

Hope it helps

 

PS: To install Speedstep, use the link to Speedstep in DoiX's Tuto, or install the "Patched AICPUPM.kext" from DoiX's package... If you have an i7, then use AICPUPM from DoiX's package. If you have an i5, then I'll upload you my own AICPUPM (AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext) as I have one.

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DoiX
DoiX
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OS X Lion 10.7.4 Update is now officially released!

 

Installing procedure is the same as before, use combo update > install don't reset > reinstall necessary kexts & rebuild kext cache > restart.

For speed stepping, use AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext from the previous version you had (10.7.2 or 10.7.3) untill 10.7.4 patcher is released.

 

http://support.apple...US&locale=en_US

 

DON'T FORGET TO BACKUP YOUR WORKING INSTALL, in case something goes horribly wrong!

 

@JKBuha, i see you guys over at bios-mods reached the same dead end as i did... it's impossible to find out what each byte does without a proper reference.. or at least without a huge stroke of luck.

 

I'll join you guys with the bios-modding in june when i'm done with work and exams but i do hope you guys have a breakthrough till then.

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maxey
maxey
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Yes, that's the one. But you can get it much cheaper, I think. I bought it for half the price in China and it arrived in 10 working days... I'm living in Belgium, and it was supposed to take about 20 working days so, pretty fast :)

If I can get the link I will give it to you.

And it's very simple to install. Just take off the back panel (with 4 screws) and it right there. Pull it off, insert the DW1510 and... MIRACLE... you have WiFi :)

 

Hey btw, it worked JUST as you said ! ;) quite easy too.... :) Since it is the "maintenance" cover under which it was , will dell refuse to grant me my warranty if they see the new card?

The point is that i will have a dell guy coming to my place replace the display and some of the cpu cooling paste and housing. Should i insert the Intel Card before that again?

(Don't have the original ram though :D)

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Rockball73
Rockball73
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Hey btw, it worked JUST as you said ! ;) quite easy too.... :) Since it is the "maintenance" cover under which it was , will dell refuse to grant me my warranty if they see the new card?

The point is that i will have a dell guy coming to my place replace the display and some of the cpu cooling paste and housing. Should i insert the Intel Card before that again?

(Don't have the original ram though :D)

Glad to hear it! :)

I don't think they can refuse your warranty for that, but as DoiX said, you never know... So put the Intel back before the dell guy come.

You have problem with your screen and your CPU?

And how about the RAM, what brand did you buy? Haven't met any problem since you changed it?

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maxey
maxey
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Glad to hear it! :)

I don't think they can refuse your warranty for that, but as DoiX said, you never know... So put the Intel back before the dell guy come.

You have problem with your screen and your CPU?

And how about the RAM, what brand did you buy? Haven't met any problem since you changed it?

Ok will do that.

Well no the ram i changed at the very beginning already, about a year ago when the laptop was delivered to me. Sold the old 4GB stick and have 8 GB running in it.

At that time, still on WIN7, i let run several memory checks, they all said its fine, so don't think the ram makes any problem :)

And well yeah my screen, the joint is broken.

My CPU, i noticed it being quite loud , the cooling fan, and the dell guy said they just change that as well..good for me :)

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newpain01
newpain01
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To see if SpeedStep is activated on your L502x :

 

- Download MSRDumper.kext ;

- Open Terminal and type :

sudo kextload [DRAG & DROP MSRDumper.kext HERE]

- Enter your password ;

- Go to Utilities > Console ;

- Look at the lines with something like "Pstates" and "Pstates reached" ;

- If you see more than 2 values (8 and 24), then it's working. If you only see 2 values, Speedstep isn't activated.

 

Hope it helps

 

PS: To install Speedstep, use the link to Speedstep in DoiX's Tuto, or install the "Patched AICPUPM.kext" from DoiX's package... If you have an i7, then use AICPUPM from DoiX's package. If you have an i5, then I'll upload you my own AICPUPM (AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext) as I have one.

 

I downgraded the bios to A06 and sleep is working, but when I wake up I have to unplug the mouse and lan cable and replug them, they are not working if I don't.

Also, I cant run the command, it says "failed to load - (libkern/kext) authentication failure (file ownership/permissions); check the system/kernel logs for errors or try kextutil(8)" but I changed the permitions on the kext file I downloaded to read & write for all users. Anyways when I installed iATKOS I used the DoiX's package and selected AICPUPM 10.7.2 (because it was iATKOS L2) and choose the 8,2 because I have i7. I think I am good, do I have to do anything else? btw my battery meter is not working, it has x all the time, how do I fix that? I have 10.7.2, do I need to update and if I update do I have to install all the kexts again(run the package and ###### again, or just kext utility and repair permissions?)

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jkbuha
jkbuha
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10.7.4 upgrade went smoothly. Here's how to do it, further to what DoiX said:

 

1) Download complete 10.7.4 client update (not partial)

2) Back up specific kexts (in my case: AICPUPM, IOAudioFamily, VoodooHDA, ApplePS2Controller)

3) Deploy NullCPUPM.kext

4) Run upgrade

5) Reboot, replace kexts

6) Patch AISNBFB.kext to work with multi-monitors on MBP8,3

 

On 10.7.4 now - not sure what's changed but feels smoother. If anyone needs any specific help on any of the above steps let me know.

 

@DoiX - there's a minor step ahead with bios modding - if we manage to enable NT32/NT64 debugging on the PXE module (and thus enable emulation). I'm encouraging everyone to focus efforts on that, instead of blind BIOS patching. Any extra pair of hands earns lots of respect :)

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DoiX
DoiX
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@jkbuha Have you tried contacting RevoGirl (http://revogirl.wordpress.com) they unlocked the Asus UEFI bios recently.

 

Also, http://sourceforge.net/projects/cloverefiboot/ this seems to use efi modules and has a sort of efi shell terminal at boot (not exactly sure whats the purpose of that) anyway it's based on this http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/tianocore/index.php?title=EDK

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Rockball73
Rockball73
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10.7.4 upgrade went smoothly. Here's how to do it, further to what DoiX said:

 

1) Download complete 10.7.4 client update (not partial)

2) Back up specific kexts (in my case: AICPUPM, IOAudioFamily, VoodooHDA, ApplePS2Controller)

3) Deploy NullCPUPM.kext

4) Run upgrade

5) Reboot, replace kexts

6) Patch AISNBFB.kext to work with multi-monitors on MBP8,3

 

On 10.7.4 now - not sure what's changed but feels smoother. If anyone needs any specific help on any of the above steps let me know.

 

@DoiX - there's a minor step ahead with bios modding - if we manage to enable NT32/NT64 debugging on the PXE module (and thus enable emulation). I'm encouraging everyone to focus efforts on that, instead of blind BIOS patching. Any extra pair of hands earns lots of respect :)

I'll try again later, but about now, it failed.

I'll make a fresh install this weekend and then try again. Did you install iAtkos L1 or iAtkos L2 at the very beginning?

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jkbuha
jkbuha
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I'll try again later, but about now, it failed.

I'll make a fresh install this weekend and then try again. Did you install iAtkos L1 or iAtkos L2 at the very beginning?

 

Yep. But it worked on vanilla as well. I usually ghost the entire partition before any upgrades just in case. I also had to remove AppleHDA but that is because my card only works with VoodooHDA (ie: I've been too busy to bother patching the AppleHDA layouts for my 0269).

 

@jkbuha Have you tried contacting RevoGirl (http://revogirl.wordpress.com) they unlocked the Asus UEFI bios recently.

 

Also, http://sourceforge.n.../cloverefiboot/ this seems to use efi modules and has a sort of efi shell terminal at boot (not exactly sure whats the purpose of that) anyway it's based on this http://sourceforge.n...x.php?title=EDK

 

I follow revogirl quite often - not sure if that project has gone beyond what we've done for Dell. The main difference seems to be that their bios does not use a bitmap to display menus, but conditional jumps (like older bioses). Still let me touch base with her and see.

 

CloverEFI sounds interesting - if we can find a way to port our bios to the project we can in theory support emulation. Maybe we should look into this further.

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Rockball73
Rockball73
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Yep. But it worked on vanilla as well. I usually ghost the entire partition before any upgrades just in case. I also had to remove AppleHDA but that is because my card only works with VoodooHDA (ie: I've been too busy to bother patching the AppleHDA layouts for my 0269).

I did it too, but I think that the installation has something wrong, so I'll make a fresh one =)

 

Anyway, thanks for the answer.

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Kirky
Kirky
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I just installed 10.7.4, but ran into a restart loop? managed to bypass that with UseKernelCache=No, but now I can't get the Audio or Battery Working?

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DoiX
DoiX
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@Kirky, restore your kexts... also 10.7.4 presents itself with a stupid bug, restart loop if you don't boot with -v (beside UseKernelCache)

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Kirky
Kirky
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@Doix I've got the audio and battery working now using dropbox.app, I don't need to boot with -v, but still using UseKernelCache=No does that make much difference though as my system seems very stable with no graphics glitches and I'm back with 8gb ram

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