Lenovo ThinkPad T420 with UEFI Only

[Codinger]

Thnx, vusun123, but W520 is a 15,6" laptop.

2 Fans 4 RAM slots

[trifero]

Thanx. It was just curiosity. There´s no way I change the T420. It´s perfect now, with the incredible work of tluck.

[tluck]

thanks Tetonne - I changed the name to show proper date on the file! I hope all is well with you in France. My wife and I enjoyed our trip to Paris, Angouleme and Bordeaux in October.

[Tetonne]

Hi tluck

please to ear you've enjoyed your trip in France

If you need admises for your next trip, remember my name ;-)

[gromalle]

Which WiFi card should be the best? Is there any difference between the Broadcom BCM94322HM8L and the Atheros AR5BHB92?

By difference I mean easier installation, or features like AirDrop not working, etc. If you cold point me to a guide, list, wiki or topic where I can find the answer that would be great.

 

 

Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 also works fine, I can see my display on brother's Apple TV (through Air Drop i assume?):

 

[Somez]

Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 also works fine, I can see my display on brother's Apple TV (through Air Drop i assume?):

 

That should be Airplay. Airdrop is for sending files while Airplay is to beam content (music, video, photo slideshow, etc.) to your Apple TV device to be displayed on your TV for example.

 

By the way, I have bought my T420 already and right now looking for an alternative to obtain an El Capitan install dmg and make a bootable usb drive under Linux because my brother lives far away and it's not easy to get a hold of his Mac

 

Regarding the WLAN card, I'll probably buy a Dell 1015 first.

[marcocontra]

Tluck, thank you for sharing your hard work. All is working on my T420 

[plympton]

Anyone get usb 3 to work in el capitan? It's not really working on my desktop hack, so not expecting much. Everything I've tried driver wise doesn't work. Haven't found any clear way of doing patching - I've read all this dsdt stuff, but can't follow it.

[tluck]

@plympton - what system? perhaps add your systems to the signature. if the USB3 chipset is intel based you have a great chance to get it working. T420 does not have built-in USB3. However, i have a FL1100 4-port PCI card that works great OOB with OS X native kexts.  On my Gigabyte system it has a FL1009 which was able to get working. Renasas chips/cards may be SOL for awhile. However, I did read some reports that the older GenericUSB3 kext may be working again (10.11.2+?) to get USB3 working on el Cap but since i don't use it didn't pay close attention. 

 

@marcocontra - welcome to our group!

[marcocontra]

Meanwhile, maybe some other one is interested on this. I had tried with some PCMCIA cards to USB 3.0, patched, and the performance was very poor. I have just received and tried this one, works out of the box, no patches.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/350600627667?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_sacat%3D0%26_nkw%3D350600627667%26_rdc%3D1

 

and these are the results, on the the native USB 2.0 and with this card. Tried on my TDK USB 3.0 external SSD. For a few bucks, I think it´s worth.

 

Hope it helps.

 

Hi guys, I've a little problem with this card.

Everything is recognized like usb3, native kext are loaded, but card is slow in writing, like usb2.

Tested with external hdd WD MyPassport Ultra 1tb usb3 and Sony 16gb usb3.

With hdd only 50mb/s max on writing, sometimes 110mb/s on reading, but often only 60 mb/s max.

I've use Disk Speed Test.

 

can someone help to fix?

[tluck]

why do think you have a problem? usb2 for me maxes out at out around reading at 27 MB/s on a 2.5 drive. so anything over that for USB3 is good!

 

perhaps your numbers are the device-limits -  not channel limited.

 

i have the same FL1100 card. i ran this non-destructive read test to read large blocks from the raw devices vs filesystem/buffers

 

dd if=/dev/rdiskN of=/dev/null bs=128k

 

where N=0,1,2,3,4

 

0 = internal SSD

1 = eSATA Momentus XT 7200rpm 2.5

 

2 = USB3 seagate 7200rpm 3.5

3 = USB3 hitachi 5400rpm  2.5

 

4 = USB2 hitachi 5400rpm 2.5

 

and then watched the output via iostat

 

$ iostat -dw 2 -n 5

          disk0           disk1           disk2           disk3           disk4

    KB/t tps  MB/s     KB/t tps  MB/s     KB/t tps  MB/s     KB/t tps  MB/s     KB/t tps  MB/s

  127.30 2778 345.36     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00

  127.87 2771 345.98     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00

  128.00 2791 348.85     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00

    0.00   0  0.00   128.00 908 113.48     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00

    0.00   0  0.00   128.00 913 114.08     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00

    6.51  25  0.16   128.00 907 113.32     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00

    0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00   128.00 1246 155.75     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00

    4.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00   128.00 1249 156.18     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00

    0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00   128.00 1222 152.70     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00

    0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00   128.00 806 100.77     0.00   0  0.00

    0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00   128.00 799 99.86     0.00   0  0.00

    0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00   128.00 799 99.89     0.00   0  0.00

    0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00   128.00 220 27.55

    0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00   128.00 222 27.75

    8.00   3  0.02     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00     0.00   0  0.00   128.00 221 27.67

[marcocontra]

Of course, this is not a "real problem"  I would just try to understand why my results are too different than Trifero's speeds.. I asked him, he have exactly the same card.

I did not expect miracles from an express card, but I see that you have 100-150m/s average with usb3 devices.

Maybe my test is not reliable.. I want to try iostat way.

I just wanted to be sure there was not some flag to be added on clover, or something else to do to enable the real usb3 speed.

 

Attach my system informations:

 

PCI selection:

 

ExpressCard:

 

  Tipo: XHCI

  Driver installato: Sì

  MSI: Sì

  Bus: PCI

  ID fornitore: 0x1b73

  ID dispositivo: 0x1100

  ID fornitore sottosistema: 0x1b73

  ID sottosistema: 0x1100

  ID revisione: 0x0010

  Ampiezza link: x1

  Velocità collegamento: 5.0 GT/s

 

USB3 selection:

 

Bus USB 3.0:

 

  Driver controller host: AppleUSBXHCIFL1100

  ID dispositivo PCI: 0x1100 

  ID revisione PCI: 0x0010 

  ID fornitore PCI: 0x1b73 

 

thanks for the reply, I apologize if I make you waste time on stupid things, but I'm curious to understand 

 

PS: Sorry for my bad English

[karlamba]

Hi tluck and all,

 

Big thx for making T420 working so good as hackintosh. Apologies if I've missed something but after installation and few successful boot from HD after installing custom kexts by _kext-install.bash good I'm stuck on "Missing Bluetooth Controller Transport".

 

Can you tell me please how to fix this as right now I don't know hot to successfully boot even from HD or USB clover?

Should I boot into USB installer and fix this bluetooth kext somehow or maybe it is simpler solution?

[tluck]

@karlamba - well i am not sure i understand. you saying it won't complete the startup and gets stuck on the console show missing bluetooth? ... hmm i don't know ... i might just reinstall over your installation?

[karlamba]

Exactly... Using _kext-install.bash reboot caused that I can't start OSX at any way right now and in verbose mode it says "Missing Bluetooth Controller Transport".

This looks the same as mentioned in this post before but I don't see the resolution for this...

 

okcakep, on 29 Oct 2013 - 12:20 PM, said:

i get stuck

 

stuck on IOBluetoothHCIController Missing Bluetooth Controller Transport

 

upgrade on 10.9

[fenixke]

Hello Everyone!

 

First of all, I want to thank you for all your work and effort. I have successfully installed El Capitan on my T420 and it works pretty good.

 

Altough I have a problem you maybe encountered with. I wanted to install Windows 10 also to the other partition of my HD. I have created an USB with GPT UEFI and Win10. It boots up, but when I try to install it on the MS-DOS partition it says that my drives partition is MBR thats why it cannot install.

 

Now I'm trying to do it vica versa and partitioning from Windows and installing Win first. Lets see if it works. But until then:

 

Have anyone encountered with this before? How can I solve this?

 

Thanks, Daniel

[Tetonne]

Hello Everyone!

 

First of all, I want to thank you for all your work and effort. I have successfully installed El Capitan on my T420 and it works pretty good.

 

Altough I have a problem you maybe encountered with. I wanted to install Windows 10 also to the other partition of my HD. I have created an USB with GPT UEFI and Win10. It boots up, but when I try to install it on the MS-DOS partition it says that my drives partition is MBR thats why it cannot install.

 

Now I'm trying to do it vica versa and partitioning from Windows and installing Win first. Lets see if it works. But until then:

 

Have anyone encountered with this before? How can I solve this?

 

Thanks, Daniel

let's have a look here http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/305225-using-easybcd-to-chainload-chameleon-or-clover-from-the-legacy-windows-bootloader/?do=findComment&comment=2154078

in fact i did not success to install win 10 on  a and partition of my same HD, but some guys did...

may be beacuase i use EasyBCD 2.3 vs EasyBCD 2.2

Installation is ok but error while rebut (during win 10 install)

clover is before winbootloader

[marcocontra]

Exactly... Using _kext-install.bash reboot caused that I can't start OSX at any way right now and in verbose mode it says "Missing Bluetooth Controller Transport".

This looks the same as mentioned in this post before but I don't see the resolution for this...

 

okcakep, on 29 Oct 2013 - 12:20 PM, said:

 

Uhm.. I had similar problem using _kext-install.bash

 

I fixed installing all kexts manually to /Library/Extensions:

copy all kexts, open terminal and write:

 

cd /Library/Extensions/

 

sudo chmod -R 755 "nameofkext"

 

sudo chown -R root:wheel "nameofkext"

 

use these commands for each installed kext, changing "nameofkext" with the real name (for example sudo chmod -R 755 VoodooPS2Controller.kext)

When you're done write:

 

 

sudo touch /Library/Extensions/

 

This way worked for me.

I hope this helps

[Qeeet]

Good day there,

I have shutdown problem. T420 restarts instead.

I downloaded this new archive and replaced my old DSDT.aml (I installed hackintosh like 4 months ago) witn new one.

Could anybody help me?

 

Lenovo T420, Clover 3330, MacBookPro 8.1

 

It seemed to work fine, until I dont know exactly why it got broken. Maybe updating clover via its updater?

After a while I figured out the cause of that reboot instead of shutdown. The reason was a USB wireless dongle.

If to unplug it, shutdown operation succeed.

But anyway, is there any solution, so that is shutdown even with usb dongle plugged?

UPDATE, also I had to say, I have installed USB Overdrive. If I unplug usb dongle while T420 is turned off. Hackintosh wont start: kernel panic.

But it starts if I plug USB dongle

[marcocontra]

Good day there,

I have shutdown problem. T420 restarts instead.

I downloaded this new archive and replaced my old DSDT.aml (I installed hackintosh like 4 months ago) witn new one.

Could anybody help me?

 

Lenovo T420, Clover 3330, MacBookPro 8.1

 

It seemed to work fine, until I dont know exactly why it got broken. Maybe updating clover via its updater?

After a while I figured out the cause of that reboot instead of shutdown. The reason was a USB wireless dongle.

If to unplug it, shutdown operation succeed.

But anyway, is there any solution, so that is shutdown even with usb dongle plugged?

 

Try keeping always on your wifi usb adapter.

I've temporarily fix in this way. If it's not enough plug it into another usb port (sometimes rear yellow port worked bad with wifi adapter).

All problems disappeared replacing it with internal wi-fi card compatible.

[fenixke]

let's have a look here http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/305225-using-easybcd-to-chainload-chameleon-or-clover-from-the-legacy-windows-bootloader/?do=findComment&comment=2154078

in fact i did not success to install win 10 on  a and partition of my same HD, but some guys did...

may be beacuase i use EasyBCD 2.3 vs EasyBCD 2.2

Installation is ok but error while rebut (during win 10 install)

clover is before winbootloader

Thanks man.

 

I have read that, but in the meanwhile I have successfully managed to install OS X without EasyBCD.

 

Still testing the dual boot and features. The problem was that OS X needed 200MB EFI partition or higher, while Win only creates 100MB. Thats why I couldn't format that partition in the Disk Utility.

 

That topic helped me, in case anyone needs the instructions: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/305225-using-easybcd-to-chainload-chameleon-or-clover-from-the-legacy-windows-bootloader/?do=findComment&comment=2154078

[tluck]

@fenixke - i glad you got it fixed and working.  i installed windows on the same HD that was formatted on OS X that has a 200 MB EFI. so maybe that was not exact issue.

I recall this same thing happening when i went to install windows. if you see can't install win because MBR (on a GPT disk) it usually means you made the 2nd partition with Disk Utility ExFAt or NTFS which converts your GPT drive with a PMBR (normal) into Hybrid disk with MBR instead. i may add some more explicit instructions on how to dual boot with GPT so both OS boot UEFI. I am curious if your partition windows is booting UEFI or MBR?

 

@qeeet (and others with reboot when shutdown issue)... so the system will shutdown properly when there are no external USB items (wifi or BT)... just trying to see what is different as it seems only a few have this issue.   it seems like your issues may be coming from the USB-WiFi? I don't use one with my T420 but I use a USB-WiFi (RTL8192) on a different system and had to create sleep watcher script to turn it off before sleep and then re-enable after sleep.   

 

@karlamba - are you able to boot up in single user mode (hit spacebar from clover ) and the remove some kexts from /Library/Extensions... i have not worked with 10.9 in awhile or tested the new stuff on the old rev ... 

can you use the OS X installer on the usb to boot up to re-install or use the utilities?

[karlamba]

@tluck - I was not able to boot in save mode or any other mode but... Finally I've done exactly what you have suggested - I've run USB installer again and I did the reinstallation what totally fixed the problem and it was even not needed to do anything else - installation has ended and I could use my hackintosh from the point in time where I've started to have issue (open programs before last successful reboot)...

 

What exactly wifi internal card you could recommend to use? and where I can find modded BIOS if it will be needed to use because of the 'blacklist' of wifi adapters?

 

 

@marcocontra - thx for you tip - probably it was the problem and it was finally fixed by reinstallation. Next time I will check your solution.

 

One more thing - should I have correctly working Bluetooth or anything else is needed? is there needed to boot in Ubuntu or Windows and turn on bluetooth from those OS first to have it working on hackintosh?

 

BTW - I have installed El Capitane so 10.11 the newest one...

[tluck]

@karlamba -

well good - something must have gotten corrupted and the install fixed it. 

 

1) WiFi - search this thread for ideas on wifi card - there are atheros and broadcom options for about $10-20 on eBay etc ... and then install the modded bios (should be a link in here too)

2) BT - if enabled in bios and little switch on right side is on ... you should see a green light on the bezel with BT icon. If no light then turn on BT on via windows (or other) 

[Somez]

Hi All!

 

I have to say, this guide is pretty impressive. I managed to install El Capitan on my recently bought T420 quite fast and with very little hassle.

There is a section in the guide where the HD's ESP must be overwritten with the ESP of the USB. Now in my case the Clover installer did not mount any of these partitions so I had to do them manually. I would try make this this part of the guide much easier to understand as it was not straightforward to me.

 

Right now I'm still waiting for my Dell DW1510 wifi card to arrive so I cannot confirm that one to be working.

I also noticed that the CPU fan is running on 3200 RPM and does not want go slow down below this point despite the good temperatures. Here is how it looks like.

 

 

 

Any suggestions how to make this work?

 

Should I "trust" in OS X updates and install them without worrying about breaking my existing install?

Thanks a lot.