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

[zulqar]

@DoiX

 

I updated bios to A09_V3 (A06 wont work for me at least) and but A09 dose the trick for PEG option, also set the

 

_PS0

 

then

 

_ON

 

_PS0

 

even in PINI

 

also added both card ids in AGPM so i can identify shows correctly while booting and whenever i use PciRoot=2 it always select nvidia 10de first and put intel on second but it wont go to desktop and hang right after AGPM Controller and in -v mode dose lower the screen resolution before hanging..

 

Just want to add my inputs from my testing..

[DoiX]

Does AGPM report unkownPlatform ? It does on my system, and using the modded DSDT files blocks the nvidia kext loading for some reason, need to debug it.

[zulqar]

Not anymore how i do it, i replace 8,2 section in AGPM.kext with

 

   <key>MacBookPro8,2</key>
   <dict>
 <key>Vendor8086Device0116</key>
 <dict>
  <key>Heuristic</key>
  <dict>
   <key>BusyDownThresholdPercent</key>
   <integer>70</integer>
   <key>BusyUpThresholdPercent</key>
   <integer>90</integer>
   <key>DiagnosticModeDefault</key>
   <integer>0</integer>
   <key>EvaluateDownInterval</key>
   <integer>350000</integer>
   <key>EvaluateUpInterval</key>
   <integer>66000</integer>
   <key>ID</key>
   <integer>2</integer>
   <key>SensorOption</key>
   <integer>1</integer>
  </dict>
  <key>control-id</key>
  <integer>16</integer>
  <key>max-power-state</key>
  <integer>15</integer>
  <key>min-power-state</key>
  <integer>0</integer>
 </dict>
 <key>Vendor10deDevice0df4</key>
 <dict>
  <key>BoostPState</key>
  <array>
   <integer>0</integer>
   <integer>1</integer>
   <integer>2</integer>
   <integer>3</integer>
  </array>
  <key>BoostTime</key>
  <array>
   <integer>3</integer>
   <integer>3</integer>
   <integer>3</integer>
   <integer>3</integer>
  </array>
  <key>Heuristic</key>
  <dict>
   <key>ID</key>
   <integer>0</integer>
   <key>IdleInterval</key>
   <integer>100</integer>
   <key>TargetCount</key>
   <integer>5</integer>
   <key>Threshold_High</key>
   <array>
    <integer>80</integer>
    <integer>80</integer>
    <integer>80</integer>
    <integer>100</integer>
   </array>
   <key>Threshold_Low</key>
   <array>
    <integer>0</integer>
    <integer>90</integer>
    <integer>90</integer>
    <integer>90</integer>
   </array>
  </dict>
  <key>control-id</key>
  <integer>17</integer>
  <key>LogControl</key>
  <integer>0</integer>
 </dict>
   </dict>

 

Now it shows both card names correctly and with PciRoot=2 it always selecting Nvidia but wont go to desktop..

[adeebm]

Don't know if you guys get this, but I KP with the A11 bios. AppleIntelCPUPM doesn't like some change in the power states with that bios. Using the unlocked A06 got me booting again. Also, DoiX, you might want to try testing the nvidia gpu on the A06 as well for several reasons. For one, when I boot A06, chameleon boots 1920x1080 like it should, but on A11, it boots with 1366x768 or some such resolution. I'm guessing the later bios changed some video settings. Also, on A11, the default selected card was IGD, which kind of doesn't make sense as that would be disabling optimus. On A06, the default card is Auto, which would be optimus switching. My guess is that the video card setting isn't working properly in A11, or was disabled by Dell. Just a thought.

 

--Adeeb

[DoiX]

@zulqar, how can you tell it's selecting Nvidia? I couldn't see any text line saying that in verbose mode. Also, what DSDT are you using to test the nvidia card?

 

@adeeb, i noticed that too(IGD), i'm using 06 v3 bios at the moment. The resolution thing is nonsense, dell made a really {censored} bios imo. In the graphics section you could change the boot resolution but several "stock" resolutions are missing.

[zulqar]

@DoiX

 

It only shows when we provide PciRoot 1 or 2 via boot.plist otherwise it wont show!

 

<key>PciRoot</key>
<string>1 or 2</string>

 

When i provide PciRoot=1

 

[AGPM Controller] Build GPUDict by Vendor8086Device0116

[AGPM Controller] Build GPUDict by Vendor10deDevice0df4

 

When i use PciRoot=2 (with re-install nvidia kext)

[AGPM Controller] Build GPUDict by Vendor10deDevice0df4

[AGPM Controller] Build GPUDict by Vendor8086Device0116

But then it lower the brightness and hang..

 

Also now i am using A06_V3 today i got also vga is always set to PEG whatever PciRoot i chose later..

[DoiX]

Oh, you meant the AGPM verbose. Please tell me what DSDT you're using.

 

Forgot to mention something: when i use 8,x smbios, the system hangs on the verbose output (the grey screen doesn't appear) when i use 9,1 the grey screen appears.

 

Edit: Now with this bios we can change the backlight properties and fix the lesser brightness or the total dark out. Go in SA configuration > Graphics > IGD Configuration > the array with BLC name in it, simply change it to inverted.

[jkbuha]

Hey DoiX!

 

Good to hear you're using the modded BIOS. Have you tried the fast strings option + faster mem speed combo? I found it increases performance in CPU intensive routines. Do you have any good combo options to use?

 

What lesser brightness fix are you referring to? I still boot OSX on a lower brightness and have to make it sleep or switch off display in order to achieve full brightness. Changing the BLC option to inverted (both options) didn't change the brightness on bootup unfortunately. Or were you referring to another mod?

 

I need your help on another matter. My OSX HDD access is notably slower on NTFS partitions than Win64. Is this due to tuxera ntfs or IO kexts?

 

Am busy trying to unlock CPU overclocking + voltage options at the moment. Will keep you posted as usual

[DoiX]

Check Clover for CPU overclocking, it's working "natively" there. Check this http://imgur.com/a/HfbK6 i posted it around 3 months ago here.

 

I tried the fast strings but any change i make to the mem part are not saved, on my machine at least. Probably because i have 4gb in one slot and 2gb in the other, different vendors(this is how the laptop came).

 

Well in my case, when i select PW-Inverted, the brightness keys are inverted, fn+F4 raises the brightness by an additional "layer" compared to PW-Normal and fn+F5 lowers the brightness, although not as much as PW-Normal does.

 

About the HDD thing, are you using a SSD, because if you are, it may be the IO Kexts. For NTFS access i'm using Paragon NTFS for Mac, the speed is fairly good.

[zulqar]

@DoiX

 

I am using your DSDT from 1.4, just changed my System IDS so it can boot and also

 

_ON..

 

_PS..

 

I did tried smbios but didn't work for me but i am happy and realizing there are zero graphics glitch since i added my both card ids in AGPM and did see the image improvements and fast loading etc.

[Monkeys]

@Zulqar - How would I go about adding my device id's to AGPM to fix graphics glitches?

[zulqar]

very easy in info.plist:

search and do below in 8,1, 8,2, 8,3 sectoins:

<key>IGPU OR GFX0</key> replace it with <key>Vendor8086Device0116</key>

 

then replace the file in s/l/e/

 

run these as well after that:

sudo rm -R /System/Library/Caches/
sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions

 

dont fix disk permissoins right away just use for few hours and reply..

[jkbuha]

Hey DoiX - sorry for not replying, was quite busy this week. I don't have an SSD (yet) so I swapped Paragon for Tuxera and the disk access was significantly improved. Let's see if that remains for the time being.

 

PW-inverted still left my display at semi-bright on startup, had to sleep/switch screen off to restore full brightness. Am convinced now that this is most likely a hardware(EDID) issue - i'll try and play around to see if anything changes.

 

Any progress on the Nvidia DSDT?

[DoiX]

No progress at all. I came to the conclusion that ACPI handles brute actions only, such as powering. The more complex part like the framebuffer is handled by the bios itself, sure the DSDT can afflict the drivers but i couldn't find the exact reason, it may be a BIOS conflict.

 

TimeWalker suggested that the bios may use EDID to detect what to activate, optimus or Nvidia3D, in this case swapping the EDID with a 3D screen one may do the trick, problem is it requires an EFI driver, which to my knowledge... won't work, because the bios has the last word in this case, so simply loading the EFI driver in, say, Clover/XPC will bring us nowhere.

[jkbuha]

If that's the case then we may need to patch the EDID detection in BIOS. I've seen it done before. But I'd rather we determine if this is indeed the case (Linux dump?) before we try this approach - it's quite risky as it involves multiple patches to BIOS checks. However on a more positive note we're making inroads towards bios recovery - seems like we have found the way to activate the process on Dell machines, now just a case of finding the right files to patch.

[DoiX]

Speaking of Linux, something i noticed: BackTrack 5 Live CD can't display anything with the patched BIOS installed, specifically the PEG settings activated, even if i restore to default settings it's still a blackscreen. However when i install the stock BIOS everything is fine. I'm not speaking of some complex GUI, but the basic command line interface.

 

I'll try other distros as soon as they're done downloading.

 

Good luck on the bios recovery, i've been keeping track on the bios-mods forums for quite some time now.

Related to what TimeWalker described there, the accidental recovery activation: it happened to me several times when the laptop's AC cord disconnected while the battery was out of the laptop and i was typing. One time i had my flash stick connected, that contained a clone of the L502x Driver DVD which the laptop used to boot in it at the press of the power button, then i learned there's a recovery application on the dvd. The rest of the times some diagnostic screen appeared "System Build Assessment" i believe it was called.

[jkbuha]

That's interesting. I've used BT5 before (on a different laptop) and I know the display driver on the live dvd accesses the VESA interface directly, as opposed to the 'proper driver'. However that also means that enabling the suppressed menus in the BIOS (even in default settings) automatically sets some different values to the BIOS than with the normal menu settings.

 

You've got me thinking about something now - what if the recovery dvd of the 15/15z actually contains the flash bios? If that's the case then we just need to trigger the recovery capsule (fvrecovery.fd) and then it should run from the dvd. Let me check on the bios forums to see if someone still has the recovery dvd from the default set...

[DoiX]

This is the content of the before mentioned DVD. I'll boot it and take some pictures.

[TimeWalker75a]

Could you upload the DELLBIO.bin somewhere, DoiX ? This file has got me thinking ...

[DoiX]

Of course, http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/16173714/BOOT.IMG it's inside this img.

[TimeWalker75a]

Bah, it's only a kernel of some sort to initiate the ramdisk ...

Anyway now that we have a key to trigger the recovery process it's only left to uncover what are the files need on the external media to actually do the recovery...

judging by the screenshot you had posted there isn't anything winflash related. Considering UEFI mode is locked from the factory one could assume that there might be regular DOS executables involved in the process of recovery. But then again.. according to Phoenix and Intel's EDK it should be done through DXE/PEI/PPI usage ..

[DoiX]

From what i gathered, DELL isn't the one to stick to standards... so anything is possible.

[lumenmundi]

Trying to install OS X ML on my l502x.

I have prepared an installation usb as it was described in post #218 (Simple method) but the boot from it stops at

SuperIODevice: [Warning] found unsupported ship ID=0x8518

 

Please see the image below

 

 

 

Does anyone have an idea how to deal with it?

[adeebm]

I'd guess the timeout on AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement is your problem. Might need that or SMC patched. What are your boot args?

 

--Adeeb

[lumenmundi]

Actually I tried different boot args (GraphicsEnabler=n, y, PCIRootUID=0, 1,) as well as BIOS speed step option - enabled and disabled. But nothing helped.

 

1. I changed FakeSCM.kext in S/L/E on installation USB for the one from another hackintosh

2. On another hackintosh I created smbios.plist (with the help of Champlist app) and put it to Extra folder on my installation USB

 

It helped me to boot and now I have a setup screen like this

 

I read in manual from DoiX (post #218) that it's normal to have such a fuzzy and pinkish screen on full HD displays on l502x and I need to pass the setup process to get to the desktop for the proper patch. But at this initial setup screen neither touchpad nor usb mouse is able to move the cursor...

 

Is it normal or I do something wrong again?

 

Thanks guys in advance for your clever thoughts on this matter.