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

[The_OTTO]

Hi at all

 

Yes I know at the moment I'm a noob!!!!! But pleas help me!

 

I'm trying to install OS X on my L502X. I tried to use iAtkos ML2 and L2 but nothing work....

 

Have I to change something before installing? Have I to use a modded Bios? (I flashed my Bios to A12 yesterday)

 

could anyone tell me what I have to do to install Mountain Lion or Mavericks on my L502X?

 

 

I know that you hate noobs like me..... but I tried all and I don't know what I did wrong.....

 

 

I'll be very lucky if someone helps me!!!

 

The_OTTO

[t65902]

read the thread for the last say 10 pages timewalker addresses this in detail and experience.

[The_OTTO]

Ok thanks

 

I'm a bit confused. I have to change some parts of the installer. Did I understand it right?

 

sorry as I said at the moment I'm a bit confused..... could you say me what exactly I have to change to disable the optimus or the graphic card?

 

The_OTTO

[youngwake]

 

 

Ok thanks

 

I'm a bit confused. I have to change some parts of the installer. Did I understand it right?

 

sorry as I said at the moment I'm a bit confused..... could you say me what exactly I have to change to disable the optimus or the graphic card?

 

The_OTTO

don't be afraid, we are all noobs in something. for starter, do you have an osx operating you could use before hand? if so, then I recommend you go to the app store and get mavericks or ML. Mavericks is free. Then from there, google a small app called myhack and you should be installed in no time. I'm sure there are other means to get a good ML or Mav installer if you don't have a spare mac laying around.  

[The_OTTO]

don't be afraid, we are all noobs in something.

 

Thanks nice to hear things like that!

 

Ok the problemis taht I can't use myhack because I can't open it in safe mode. If I would boot without -x ist will stop at System uptime in Nanoseconds. A view lines before I could read that the problem is the IOPciFamily kext.

 

I tried to replace the kext withma newer version but it didn't worked.

 

Also I don't have sound..

 

Could someone help me?

 

The_OTTO

[Kgraphic]

I'm running mavericks on l502x i7 and boot with clover or chameleon is ok.

But get artifact after high CPU usage (about 15-20%). When i logout an login, system is running normal and not have artifact. But get artifact again when CPU usage around 15%.

Can anyone help me. Plz!

Edit:

I fixed freezes and artifact after i change fakesmc kext from kozlek and install patch intelCPUpowermanagement kext from [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url]. Speedstep work perfect.

One solved with USB, system run slow and lag if i plugin any usb slot. I eject all usb slot. My system is working correctly.

[ik_ben_Mark]

I tried making the image like this (using a MacBook Air '13)

 

Here it is: The Osx86 RetailDisk KitGen v1.0

It's a simple app that prompts the user to select a OS X Retail Disk Image then does the nasty, somewhat time consuming, job of making hidden files visible, mounting BaseSystem.dmg, restoring, copying packages and so on into a simple 3 click one!

It will even download and install FakeSMC.kext, NullCPUPowerManagement.kext, ApplePS2Controller/AppleACPIPS2Nub.kext and Enoch bootloader. All that's left for the user to do is restore the newly created image to the partition/thumb drive of choice or burn it on a dual Layer DVD!

Updated: included ApplePS2Controller.kexts (forgot the first time, my bad)
DOWNLOAD:
 Osx86 RetailDisk KitGen v1.1.zip

 

But I get this error:

 

What to do now? I keep getting this error. (I do have internet connection on the mac)

[Kgraphic]

Hello! Anyone update 10.9.2 ?

[ik_ben_Mark]

And iAtkos L1 get stuck on VoodooPS2Trackpad. I tried both bios A12 and A06. Have Achi enabled. 

I use rBoot to start iAtkos from USB

 

I got SSD on main drive and old harddisk in a Caddy

I use a USB DVD-player (1 usb for power and one for data, both in the USB3.0 slot)

I use a flashdrive with iAtkos restored to it

[ik_ben_Mark]

Oke I tried the method described by PCWIZ13: #1824

 

I made a USB installer with no problems, but the part with installing the OSX gives problems. When I boot the USB installer, it keep getting stuck on NVClockX: registering frequency sensors

(click for larger image)

No matter what flags I use: I tried these:

-v
-v -f
-v -x
-v GraphicsEnabler=No
-v GraphicsEnabler=No busratio=20 cpus=1
-v -f GraphicsEnabler=No busratio=20 cpus=1
-v busratio=20 cpus=1
-v -f busratio=20 cpus=1

And also tried to boot with rBootLE with -v and -v -x but that gave me this kernel error:

(click for larger image)

 

What can I do about this?

 

Specs:

L502x

FHD

6GB

525M

SSD main drive, HDD in caddy

[ik_ben_Mark]

_{1. Yeah I've built it myself. There is A REPO with just the binaries but it's not up to date as of now.}

_{2. Been waiting for 8.1 as well, but thought it is released later this fall. ohh the RTM}

3. The config that is named full_brightness is the same as the main one, except if you use it you will have full brightness right at boot without the need to sleep the display or any other tricks. For my LVDS panel this is a as bad as it's good. Minimum brightness level becomes WHAY TOO BRIGHT when working in low light conditions, so I've opted for another approach in regards to the framebuffer. See the KextPatch that has a Comment about HDMI+VGA+Brightness and pay attention to first series of bytes in each of the configs for this KextPatch.

I don't really understand what you are referring to here. How can I make my iAtkos L1 installation be able to get full brightness?

[ik_ben_Mark]

Oké I finally managed to install Mountain Lion with MyHack. I will post a short en simple guide for those who can't get it to work later (I think tomorrow) But I first want to make the Mavericks installation to work.

 

I made a install usb with MyHack and I used 10.9.1 from the app store (downloaded through torrents)

I copied the following files from the /Extra folder in the root of my working Mountain Lion to the /Extra folder on the myHack OS X 10.9.1 Install Disk.

- DSDT.aml

- org.chameleon.Boot.plist

- SSDT.aml

- /modules map (with the following 3 files: klibc.dylib, Resolution.dylib, uClibcxx.dylib)

 

I get to the install screen and have to push space twice to remove the message of the mouse and keyboard. After that I can choose the language and continue. But when I continue, the installations stops, shows me the error log file and gives me the option to shut down or restart.

 

These are the log files the system made when I tried to install 10.9.1:

Booted with -v -f and dutch language:

http://goo.gl/V3IDFW

 

Booted with -v -x and english language:

http://goo.gl/VOztOH

 

I tried everything in both languages (NL and EN) but I guess all the errors are the same. I tried these flags (so both with NL and EN)

-v

-v -f

-v -x

-v -f -x

 

What goes wrong? How can I fix this?

[CaduTo]

Hello Everyone,

 

This is my first post here (after a long time), i am trying to install ML on a DELL XPS15 L502X with no sucess.

I will briefly explain what do I had made and what do I got by now.

 

Basically, I followed the instructions from PCWI13 http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/257950-guide-dell-xps-15-l502x-early-2011-snow-leopard-install-possibly-l702x-too/page-92?do=findComment&comment=1838169, with small changes.

As I do not have an Apple machine, I was forced to use Virtualbox with L2. Virtualbox does not have guest additions to osx, so I created a new virtual drive with 8GB and used it like it was a USB Stick.

Next, I used VBoxManage to convert the virtual disk (.vdi) file to a raw image (lets say, convert USB.vdi to USB.raw), so I could write this image on a external USB hard drive (using dd on linux)

 

The USB hard drive worked great, but then got stuck with the message "still waiting for root device". I think I solved this installing the GenericUSBXCI.kext to /S/L/E and recreate the image to rewrite on the USB hard drive.

By now, I got another problem that I can't find a working solution. The system get pass the point of the previous error, but halts with a message  "FakeSMC: key not found BEMB, length -1".

 

Screen Picture: http://fr.tinypic.com/r/e7axqw/8

 

Thank 

[CaduTo]

Hello,

 

I had seen the last post of ik_ben_Mark on the XPS15 laptop, then I got some success installing ML with MyHack. Thank you man. Sadly I can not help you with Mavericks, at least for this moment.

Anyway, I got some problems and I would like to ask.

This is Not working:

-> WiFi (no support, sadly)

-> Sound Realtek HD audio

-> Only boot in safe mode, video gets 1024x768

 

This is My Hardware

-> L502X Dell XPS15, core i5 2430M

-> 16GB RAM

-> 1TB HSDD

-> HD3000 Intel video (I dont care for the optimus Nvidia GT525M), able to do 1920x1080

-> Only USB3.0 ports

 

This is what I had done:

To get the installer working, I had to put the GenericUSB and a patched version of HD3000 kexts, So the Installer boots and the video does not get "noisy"  and out of screen resolution. According to MyHack page, ML will not boot with GraphicsEnabler=No.

After the instalation, I had to reinstall GenericUSB and patched HD3000 kexts, and also another kext for the Ethernet  RT8111D. 

 

So, I would like to ask, anyone here got sound and normal boot (without -x flag) and full resolution? Do you have some suggestions?

 

Thank you

[ik_ben_Mark]

Guide: Installing Mountain Lion 10.8.#

 

 

I'll post my experience and ways how I installed Mountain Lion 10.8.5. If you don't have this image, you can find them on the known torrent places. (Mine was a torrent what didn't work directly with MyHack, I had to mount the .dmg first and could select the installer inside this .dmg to get it working with MyHack)

 

Credits:

I used several sources for this guide. Mainly the files given by DoiX. And for the guide layout I used pepto guide for his Mavericks on a Dell Latitude E6320

 

1. My specifications:

• Dell XPS 15 L502x
• i7-2630QM
• FHD
• 6GB memory
• SSD harddisk location (Windows 7)
• HDD caddy location (Data + OSX)

 

2. Requirements:

• Dell XPS L502x - L702x and 15z will probably also work
• A working Mac OS X installation - original or hackintosh. You can use iAtkos L1 to make your L502x a hackintosh on a simple way if you don't have access to one
• A copy of Mountain Lion - I guess all version will work, I used 10.8.5
• MyHack - you can use the latest one from their site or the one in the package
• A USB flash drive of 8GB (or larger)
• My zip file - This files contains all the files I used

 

3. Preparing your SSD or HDD for install on a MBR-partitioned drive:

If you intent to install Mountain Lion on the same Hard disk as your windows follow the steps below. I also followed these steps to install Mountain Lion on my second harddrive together with my NTFS data partition.

For a clean full install on a new formatted hard disk go to Chapter 5.

If you’re in Windows 7, you can easily make a new partition on an SSD or HDD via the Disk Management program.

1. Start>Run (or Windows key on your keyboard plus R).
2. diskmgmt.msc (press enter after typing that)
3. Find your drive, right-click on it, and go to Shrink Volume.
4. Wait for it to calculate the amount of space you can make your partition, and enter in your amount.
5. Let it make your partition. It will show up as unallocated space.
6. Format the new unallocated space as exFAT and give it a label (I called it OSX). You can probably also format it as NTFS or FAT32 because you are going to format it anyway.

 

4. Create OS X 10.8.# Install Disk (USB)

Start OSX Mavericks, (Mountain) Lion or Snow Leopard to prepare your USB Flash drive

Make sure to backup the files that are already on your USB flash drive.

1. Extract the zip file L502x_ML10.8.zip to your Mac OS X desktop
2. If you don't have already installed myHack then install MyHack from the Utility folder and follow the steps.
3. Plug your USB Drive into your computer, and start myHack.
4. Enter your Mac OS X password when the app begins, and setup process will begin.
5. When myHack prompts you, select “Create OS X Installer” and Create OS X 10.8 Install Disk”.
6. Select your USB Drive as the installation destination.
7. myHack will ask you for the location of your copy of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. Use 'Browse Manually' and locate and select you 10.8.# image.
8. myHack will begin to set up your installer USB Drive. Click “Ok” when myHack asks to erase your USB Drive, so that it can begin the setup process.
9. From here, the setup process is pretty automatic. myHack will erase your USB Drive, copy the contents of the Mavericks installer app onto it, and then modify those contents to be bootable on a PC.
10. Near the end of the process, myHack will ask you whether you want to apply the MBR patch to the USB Drive.
11. Click “Yes” if you plan on installing Mac OS X on a hard drive where windows is already installed or “No” if you wanna installing Mac OS X on the entire hard drive.
12. This entire process should take about 10 – 15 minute, though it may take up an hour if your USB Drive is slow.

 

5. Adding the Extra folder to your USB drive:

Now, we need to put the Extra directory for the L502x on the USB Drive so that it will properly bootup on your PC.

1. Start myHack, Enter your Mac OS X password when the app begins.
2. When myHack prompts you, select “Install Extra”.
3. myHack will ask you “Select target volume to run myHack on…”, choose your “myHack OS X 10.8(.#) Install Disk” and choose “Ok”.
4. myHack will prompt you “Do you want to use the generic Extra that comes with myHack or specify tour own?” choose “Use My Own” and press “Ok”.
5. Browse to your early extracted “L502x_ML10.8 – Extra” folder on your desktop and choose “Open”.
6. myHack will copy the Extra folder to your “myHack OS X 10.8 Install Disk”.
7. When finished you will see the message "myHack Finished" press ok and Quit to close myHack.

 

6. Installing OSX Mountain Lion from your USB drive:

1. Boot from your USB drive. If everything goes right you can boot without flags or use -v if you want to see what happens. If it doesn't boot, you can try one or more of these flags:
   • -f
   • -x
   • GraphicsEnabler=No
   • busratio=20    (depends on your type of CPU)
   • cpus=1 
2. Once you get into the installer (assuming your computer didn’t freeze, restart itself, or get a kernel panic), choose your partition or Hard Disk to install OSX Mountain Lion to.
3. NOTE : when you install it on a partition skip step 5 - 10 see Chapter 4.
4. (If you install Mountain Lion on the entire Hard disk follow the steps below )
5. In the installer open up Disk Utility.
6. Click on your Hard Drive in the left sidebar.
7. Click on the Erase tab in the middle.
8. Choose “Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)” as the format, and give your drive a label (like “OSX”).
9. Click on the Erase… button.
10. Done close Disk Utility and go further with the installation process.
11. Choose your HDD or Partition to install Mountain Lion to.
12. The installation process will take about 23 minutes, depending on the speed of both your USB drive and your SSD or HDD.
13. myHack will then ask to remove a couple of unnecessary kext files—click “Yes” for all of them.
14. myHack will also prompt you to install an “Extra” folder.
15. Choose the second option, which lets you install your “Extra” folder.
16. Select the “Extra” folder from your USB Drive, and wait for the installer to finish.
17. When finished let the system reboot and use your USB again to boot into the Mountain Lion installation.

 

7. Booting OSX Mountain Lion:

1. In my case, OSX doesn't boot without help, so you need to boot from USB again.
2. Choose the partition you installed Mountain Lion to. You can start it without flags or use -v to see what happens.
3. You’ll eventually get to the setup screens for OSX Mountain Lion. Go through that process to setup OSX Mountain Lion.
4. Choose by "How Do You Connect" for "My Computer Does Not Connect to the Internet".
5. The installation process will take about 3 minutes.

 

8. Post installation Mountain Lion:

1. Open the Lx02XMountainLion_V1.4.zip from the L502x_ML10.8.zip and run the installer. And choose the following option to install. (Some are probably not needed, but I didn't know for sure)
   • Sensor Modules
   • Keyboard & Trackpad
   • Disk
     • USB3
   • [important!] System
     • System Definations
       • MacBookPro 8.2 (use this if you have an i7)
     • Display
       • FullHD Screen (of course take the other one if you don't have a FHD screen)
     • DSDT
       • L502x/15z
     • SSDT
       • i7
         • 2630QM
2. After finishing this installation you will probably get the an error. Just ignore this.
3. Open MultBeas from the utility folder and choose the following options:
   • Drivers & Bootloaders
     • Drivers
       • Miscellaneaus
         • PS/2 Keyboard/Mice and Trackpad
         • USB 3.0 Universal
       • Network
         • Realtek - Lnx2Mac's
4. Again you will probably get an error after finishing your installation. Again ignore this.
5. Drag all the Kext files from the kext folder over "Kext utility.app" (contained in folder “Utility") and release the mouse.
6. Type your root password and the Kext files will be installed on your Hard disk.
7. Open Disk Utility and repair the permissions of the Mountain Lion partition.

 

Now you can reboot the system and use the USB installer to boot the Mountain Lion installation. If things went right, you can still boot without flags.

I don't know yet if there are problems with this installation using 10.8.5 because I made this guide directly after it. It seems good for so far.

 

 

The only problem I got is how to make this system bootable. To be clear, I got a SSD on my original harddisk location. And places the old HDD in the caddy. And the HDD has 2 partitions:

1. DATA

2. OSX

What do I have to do to make OSX bootable? I want to keep Windows 7 as only OS on my SSD and in the original HDD location. So how can I make my laptop to boot my SSD (my Bios can only boot into that drive) but give me the option to boot or Windows 7 of my first disk (SSD) or OSX from my second disk (HDD)

[Air]

On 10.9 has anyone else had the problem where they can't repair permissions because "no installer packages were found"? I read one fix was to install the BSD package from the install disk which I did, and while disk utility no longer gives an error message, it also "repairs" permissions in seconds. Therefore, I'm pretty sure it didn't repair anything and that the underlying problem still exists.

[one9092002]

On 10.9 has anyone else had the problem where they can't repair permissions because "no installer packages were found"? I read one fix was to install the BSD package from the install disk which I did, and while disk utility no longer gives an error message, it also "repairs" permissions in seconds. Therefore, I'm pretty sure it didn't repair anything and that the underlying problem still exists.

no problems here, running 10.9.2 flawless lol 

[youngwake]

With respect to everyone and those who have emailed me, if you scroll through the first 20 or so pages, you will be able to install on an Xps 15 or 17. 15z gave me some issues, but I got it working with the MyHack install method. Keep in mind that my 15z has intel i5 with 108p FHD display. Also I can provide anyone with my install extensions. I'm currently 10.9.1 I believe. Happy hacking everyone. Good Luck 

 

if anyone with the 15z has any specific questions, feel free to ask. INTEL WIFI DOES NOT WORK! YOU HAVE TO GET A DELL OR ATHEROS.  I havent had any issues other than SDCARD not working and Nvidia.

[gladia2r]

@youngwake

I'm running the L502x ccore i5, 720p version, and Mavericks 10.9.1.

 

I have Wifi working with Atheros, Battery status ok, USB Ports, HD 3000, Audio output working.

 

If you can lead me to some info to make the following working I would greatly appreciate:

 - Booting still does not works, I've tried with Chameleon-2.2svn-r2344.pkg (I get: "Operatin system not found")

 - Audio input (Mic) does not works, I'm running the VoodooHDA-v284, and sound except mic is ok

- Sleep/Standby (Power management)

 

Thanks!

[t65902]

@gladia2r chameleon doesn't work on our systems. your options are 

1. run chameleon from usb

2. run clover efi instead which is an alternate booter that can boot guid partition schemes.

 

we don't typically use voodoo we use a patched appleHDA, look back a few pages a user names "timewalker" has posted a link to how to install and fix post install issues on your laptop type, plus kexts included. some work in reading is required on your part . the hard work is already done.

[gladia2r]

Thanks @t65902 - however I went through a few times of past pages, but its pretty much mess - and I've also tried those AppleHDA kexts without success.

I'm ready to make a full archive of all kexts that L502x needs, but for that I would need the missing kexts.

 

Why can't we have a Kext Pack as the L702x guys have here: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/273500-os-x-mountain-lion-install-guide-for-dell-xps-17-l702x-optimus/ -

[webcivilian]

@gladia2r - You can use my kexts from the L702X package - http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/273500-os-x-mountain-lion-install-guide-for-dell-xps-17-l702x-optimus/?p=2009722

 

They are for Clover but they do fix the issues with Mic. 

 

With respect to sleep/standby issues, what bios version are you using?

[gladia2r]

Sounds great @webcivilian! Thanks, I'll try them out soon and report back. I'm using the stock A12 version Bios - if I read your post, I would 'need modded A19 BIOS' for that right? - need to look for some docs about that.

Edited April 19, 2014 by gladia2r

[webcivilian]

If you have a L502X system then the first thing you will need is a modded BIOS available here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/635536-l502x-modded-bioses-download-gpu-voltages-more.html

There are a lot of versions in the above link. I have attached the tested and recommended version in this post for nvidia GT540m. (extract all files and run the file "FLASH_the_modded_bios.bat")

 

The A19 BIOS is for L702X only and is also modded. Basically the modded BIOS unlocks the speedstep for CPU, fixes sleep/wake issues and also allows us to boot UEFI bootloaders so we can use Clover. It has been tested and in used by Doix and others and is safe. It is the only way you can have a fully working OS X.

 

Once you have the modded BIOS installed you can use a L502X DSDT and install OS X. The DSDT in my package is for L702X. It may or may not work with L502X. Also, you need to update the config.plist file to have a SMBIOS that is compatible with L502X. Everything else should be the same.

L502X_A12_540m_83_85_Unlocked_Menus_v5.rar

[ik_ben_Mark]

Okay I'm going to fully reinstall my XPS. I'm going to use the custom bios with uefi support. Can someone help me or provide me info and the right files to make it dual boot with Mavericks?

 

This is my configuration:

Dell L502x

i7-2630QM

525M

6GB

120 GB SSD in main location (only for Windows 7)

500GB HDD in caddy (for OSX and data)

FullHD screen

 

I want to make it dual boot with Windows 7 and OSX but I want to run OSX from the HDD in the caddy.

 

(I can't install Mavericks with the "MyHack Guide" I posted a few posts back. And can't boot OSX without an USB stick)