The Complete Dell XPS m1210 Installation + Dual Boot Tutorial

[seaDonkey]

Foreword/disclaimer:

The following is a step by step tutorial for installing osx on a Dell XPS m1210 laptop. Note that it is illegal to download or obtain an x86 Intel OSX image from any source including torrent sites. It is also a breach of the EULA to make your own. The information presented here was collected from various online sources. Also note that I am not responsible for any problems with your computer that may occur because of this guide.

 

See my sig for specs on my XPS m1210.

Tools you will need!

• Partition Magic
  
• All the files attached below (download and place these on a FAT32 jump drive)
  
• natit 1.0 universal installer from here
  
• XP installation CD (not required, but recommended)
  
• The obvious DVD
  

Preparing the Dell (getting rid of preinstalled junk and partitions, reinstalling XP)

This is not a necessary step, but after reinstalling XP and getting rid of all the dell-ware, everything was a ton faster, also the built-in media center is useless as it supports almost no formats. You can skip this if you choose.

 

As with most new PCs, the XPS 1210 comes preinstalled with windows XP, as well as a bunch of {censored} you'll never need. Dell also puts 2 extra partitions on the hard drive: one for the Ctrl+F12 Recovery tool and the other is for the media center. For simplicity, control and a bit of extra space, I decided to get rid of the extra partitions and dellware and reinstall XP.

 

1. Back up your files, you will lose all info on the hard drive

 

2. Restart computer, at the dell screen press F2 to enter the Bios. Go under system > Boot Sequence and set cd/dvd above the internal HDD. Put in your windows XP installation disc. Hit escape to exit the bios and save changes.

3. Once windows setup is loaded, hit enter to install XP. Delete all partitions (this will delete your data). Create a new partition, set the size you'd like the windows partition to be (you may also use all of the space, we'll resize the partition later on if that's what you chose). Now install windows, reinstall drivers, and once Windows is in tiptop shape, go to the next step.

 

Partitioning with partition magic

4. Download and install partition magic 8 or newer.

 

5. Using partition magic, we're going to create a FAT32 Primary (not logical) partition AFTER the Windows NTFS partition.

 

If you specified the size of your XP installation in step 3 to some extra allow unallocated space for OSX, create a FAT32 partition by right clicking on the unallocated space and clicking create. Select Primary, make sure it is created after the NTFS partion

If the XP partition takes up the entire hard drive, right click on the NTFS partition, choose resize and type in the size you want XP to be. Create a FAT32 primary partition following the instructions in the previous paragraph.

 

Click apply, let the computer restart and let partition magic do its thing.

Installing OSX

At this point, many people think it is necessary to change the new partition's ID to AF (osx journaled), this is not needed as the osX installer will do the work for us. So on to the next step.

 

6. Restart your system, at the dell screen press F2 to enter the bios…again. This time we need to disable the multicore support temporarily so we can properly install and boot into OSX.

 

-Go to Performance -> Multi Core Support -> set to off.

-Place the JAS OSX 10.4.8 SSE3 Only DVD in the drive

-Hit escape and save changes and let the computer reboot.

 

Note: after installation (the next step), the OSX installer makes the new OSX partition active and therefore, you temporarily will not be able to boot into windows. OSX will be the default operating system.

 

7. The installer will start and after a few minutes you'll be presented with a language chooser. Choose English, click accept on the agreement. Now we can choose a drive/partition to install OSX on, but there is nothing to choose! Fear not.

 

8. Go to utilities -> Disk utility.

 

-On the left select the OSX partition you made, choose erase and make sure "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" is selected. Now erase it.

-Now exit Disk utility and select the newly listed partition. Click continue.

 

VERY IMPORTANT: Be sure to click customize instead of install

 

9. Select the following options:

 

(I used Mifkis Kernel)

• 10.4.8 combo update
  
• Intel SSE3 patch(do not select SSE2)
  
• Sigmatel 9220 patch (We will need to download an additional patch later for sound out of the speakers)
  

Note: do not select the usb 2.0 patch as it will render your usb unusable and you will have to reinstall

You may choose whether or not to install alternative languages, X11 and/or printer drivers. After selecting your options, click install. This will take 15-30mins depending on the packages you selected. Once the installation is complete, the computer will reboot into OSX! Go through the initial setup, setup a user account and password and you'll eventually get to the desktop. Congrats, but you're not done yet…

 

Re-enabling dual-core without freezing OSX:

In OSX, open finder -> applications -> utilities -> terminal (drag terminal icon to the dock for easy future access)

 

Open terminal and type the following:

sudo  –s

*enter password*

nano  /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist

Type in your password at the prompt. This opens the boot config file where we can add kernel boot flags.

 

Add the following under the <key>Kernel Flags</key> section (add this section if it doesn't exist):

<string>cpus=1 platform=X86PC</string>

 

It should look like this:

<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>cpus=1 platform=X86PC</string>

-Hit ctrl-o to save and enter to keep the filename.

-Press ctrl-x to exit nano.

-Exit terminal and reboot into the bios settings and re-enable multi-core threading.

 

 

Setting up Dual boot through Darwin or Chain0

There are two easy methods for dual booting without having to install slow, annoying bootloaders like Acronis OS selector: You can either OSX's built in Darwin boot loader or Windows XP loader (the chain0 method)

 

Method 1: Darwin boot loader method (easiest)

Open terminal, type the following:

sudo  –s

*enter password*

nano  /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist

Type your password at the prompt. Then add the following under the <dict> tag:

<key>Timeout</key>
<string>8</string>

Where "8" is the # of seconds the Darwin bootloader will pause for. Now when you reset your computer, you'll be presented with the Darwin bootloader and if you hit f8, you'll see your XP partition! By default, OSX is loaded.

 

OR Method 2: Chain0 method (XP) (only slightly harder to set up, but my personal preference)

 

-Reboot the computer and begin hitting F8 continuously (before the gray apple screen) The Darwin bootloader will appear (even if you didn't follow method 1).

-Select your XP partition and hit enter.

-Google "chain0" and download the file from the wiki (first result)

-Place this file in your c:\ (your root)

-Right click on my computer -> properties -> advanced tab -> settings (under startup and recovery) click edit to open your boot.ini file

-Add the following line to the bottom of the file:

C:\chain0="Mac OS X86"

Click save and close the file. Before we set the XP partition as the active partition, we should test the chain0 method first. Restart the computer, press F8 like before to get into the Darwin bootloader, select the NTFS partition, now the windows OS selection menu will open, select Mac OS X86 and if it boots to Darwin again, you've got it!

 

You can set your XP partition to active and remove the active status of the OSX partition now.

 

Ethernet Broadcom 440x

1.)Download the IONetworkingFamily.kext.zip file (see files near the bottom of this post)

2.) Unpack to a FAT32 thumbdrive and rename the .kext to something else.

3.) Make a copy of the current IONetworkingFamily.kext (in System/Library/Extensions) Copy it to the desktop

4.) Browse within the downloaded .kext file to ...\Contents\PlugIns\... and copy the AppleBCM440xEthernet.kext.

5.) Browse to the COPY of your current IONetworkingFamily.kext to \Contents\PlugIns\, and paste the .kext (within WinXP, .kext files appear as folders), answering yes to all prompts about overwriting objects.

6.) Transfer the updated IONetworkingFamily.kext back to your System/Library/Extensions folder, replacing the current one.

7.) You will be prompted to authenticate. Hit yes, type in your password to authenticate.

8.) Launch terminal.app, perform the following commands:

sudo -s

*give password*

cd /System/Library/Extensions

rm Extensions.mkext Extensions.kextcache

*no problem if one or both files don't  exist*

chown -R root:wheel *.kext

kextcache -k /System/Library/Extensions

 

(exit terminal)

 

Go to applications > Disk Utility > select your volume and repair permissions. Quit and reboot.

 

9.) Reboot, plug in an ethernet cable, launch Safari to see if you've got it working.

 

 

 

Dell 1390 wireless:

This worked perfect for me after replacing my Intel 3945 wireless. I did not have to install or modify any drivers!

 

 

 

Installing Natit (Nvidia GO7400 QI/CE)

Download the Natit Universal installer from here and run it. Restart, my display gradually fades to white after the gray apple screen for a few seconds (mine has vertical lines), but OSX will boot up shortly. You now have QE/CI enabled and full resolution support. I've successfully used QE programs like Aperture as well as the Monaco Eye-One calibration system and openGL games like Halo.

 

Full audio (sigmatel 9220, speakers NOW WORKING, 1^st headphone + mic support)

Download the AppleHDAPatcher_v1.12.zip patch AND the sigmatel9221.txt file. Upzip, then drag the sigmatel9221.txt file into the AppleHDAPatcher icon, authenticate, patch and restart. Voila!

 

 

 

Power management

To get proper battery info and the icon on the menu bar:

 

1) Download the PowerManagement.tar.gz file below

2) Un-archive the files.

3) This will leave you with a PowerManagement.bundle

4) Navigate to: /System/Library/SystemConfiguration

5) Backup your old PowerManagement.bundle

6) Copy (drag-n-drop) the new bundle into the SystemConfiguration folder

7) Authenticate and type your admin password

8) Reboot

 

Clock synchronization between OSX and XP

Set the correct time in Windows, restart, then just uncheck 'Set date & time automatically' (in OS X) and set the time zone so it will match the real time and date. Your time zone will be wrong, but the date and time will be correct.

 

For 667mhz ram ONLY! Do not do this next step if you have 533MHZ ram:

Add the following to your com.apple.Boot.plist file in your kernel flags: fsb=166 (this will also fix your timing and choppy audio)

 

 

 

Fixing profiler (error gathering hardware):

Download Colonel_System_Profiler_Patch_1.2.zip, unzip and install. Reboot and check your newly fixed system profiler!

 

Enable trackpad tapping:

System preferences -> Keyboard and mouse -> trackpad -> check clicking under "trackpad Gestures"

 

Make modifier keys more like windows

System preferences -> Keyboard and mouse -> Modifier keys -> switch control and command keys. Now ctrl acts like it does in windows (eg. Cutting and pasting)

 

Unresolved issues:

-My display won't recover from sleep if it is set to sleep in power management. It WILL, however, recover from sleep exactly once if I choose sleep from the apple menu. After that, the computer refuses to go back to sleep until I restart.

 

-No two finger scrolling (haven't tried any drivers)

 

-No webcam (tried logitech drivers and macam)

 

-No built in card reader support

 

 

Credits:

All of the info above was collected from various sources (mostly threads here). I did not create or author any of the attached files. If you are an author of one of the files and would like me to remove the attachment from this thread, please PM me.

 

 

If anyone notices any mistakes, or would like me to add something, please PM me.

AppleHDAPatcher_v1.12.zip

Colonel_System_Profiler_Patch_1.2.zip

IONetworkingFamily.kext.zip

PowerManagement.tar.gz

sigmatel9221.txt

Edited February 10, 2007 by seaDonkey

[Cain]

Nice guide seaDonkey. I've just used it to get OS X running on my new M1210. The only problem I have is that when I run the Natit installer downloaded from the link you gave, it doesn't seem to do anything. The installer shows up in the dock for about a second and then disappears but nothing else happens and if I reboot I still don't have QE/CI. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks.

[seaDonkey]

I seem to remember that mine did the same thing at first. I now remember that the apple installer program app would just open for a second and then close. So I searched around online and found a mirror of the file and it worked. I thought it was just me. I'll try and find out where I got the file. You CAN install natit without the universal installer. Follow the directions here.

 

EDIT: just change the file extension to .zip and it should work.

Edited February 13, 2007 by seaDonkey

[Cain]

Thanks for the quick answer . Unfortunately, while it installed fine this time, I got a blank screen when I boot . I've uninstalled natit now, and I'm going to try again installing manually.

 

One other thing I've come across since my previous post though - does your computer have one of those MediaDirect buttons just next to the power button? If so, make sure you don't press it (while the computer is off at least). I accidentally did and it tried to recover the MediaDirect partition (deleted while making room for OS X and Ubuntu) and while recovering that it deleted my Windows partition. I was able to recover the Windows partition and put everything back how it was supposed to be, but I'm trying to find a way to disable that button or at least change what it does so that I don't do it again.

[cs_lyxaa]

Why I cannot I cannot use the above method to get the speakers to work on my XPS M1210??

Edited February 14, 2007 by cs_lyxaa

[postaldave]

seadonkey, why did you need to use partition magic?

 

you used the xp install disc to partition for xp, a standard xp can partition fat32 as well.

 

what am i missing that osx86 needs that an xpinstall disc can't partition for.

[seaDonkey]

Why I cannot I cannot use the above method to get the speakers to work on my XPS M1210??

 

Are you running 10.4.8? If so, have you dragging the .txt file to the patch icon? How far are you getting?

 

seadonkey, why did you need to use partition magic?

 

you used the xp install disc to partition for xp, a standard xp can partition fat32 as well.

 

what am i missing that osx86 needs that an xpinstall disc can't partition for.

 

Dave, you are correct. Anyone who is doing a fresh XP install can simply delete all the extra dell partitions and create a 2nd fat32 partition right from the XP installation CD.

 

When I decided to install OSX, I had already deleted the extra partitions and had XP installed on a sole partition. Therefore, the ideal solution for me was to use partition magic instead of reinstalling everything. I'm assuming that most people won't want to reinstall everything, which is why I included the partition magic instructions and screenshot. It is important that people understand what type of partition the OSX installer can use and where it must be located. (Primary, not logical)

Edited February 15, 2007 by seaDonkey

[cs_lyxaa]

Are you running 10.4.8? If so, have you dragging the .txt file to the patch icon? How far are you getting?

 

Yes, I'm using Jas 10.4.8. When I dragged the sigmatel9221.txt to the patch icon, The only thing I saw is the authenticating window and then a blank main window with a quit button. I think this patch has actually replaced some of my files in the system, since after the patch, XLD (ape player) renders the .ape files to noises when playing them. Luckily, other applications still go well. However, The speakers still don't work.

 

Really appreciate someone who can help me solve this problem.

[seaDonkey]

Yes, I'm using Jas 10.4.8. When I dragged the sigmatel9221.txt to the patch icon, The only thing I saw is the authenticating window and then a blank main window with a quit button. I think this patch has actually replaced some of my files in the system, since after the patch, XLD (ape player) renders the .ape files to noises when playing them. Luckily, other applications still go well. However, The speakers still don't work.

 

Really appreciate someone who can help me solve this problem.

 

Upon your initial installation, did you choose the sigmatel patch under customize? I personally chose that (see my guide above). That is the only thing that I can think of. Perhaps someone else has an idea. There have been 3-4 newer appleHDA patches since I originally posted, read this thread for details.

[cs_lyxaa]

Upon your initial installation, did you choose the sigmatel patch under customize? I personally chose that (see my guide above). That is the only thing that I can think of. Perhaps someone else has an idea. There have been 3-4 newer appleHDA patches since I originally posted, read this thread for details.

 

I've solved this problem myself. The problem occurred because I used dual core to install my OSX, after reinstall the system with single core, I've successfully run the AppleHDAPatcher.

 

PS: Does the mic work in OSX? The output device in the system preference on my machine are "Internal Speakers" and "Digital Out". The input device is "Unknown". It seems that this core dump method renders the mic unusable, and I remembered that before this patch, there is a "mic" device shown in the input device tab.

[seaDonkey]

I've solved this problem myself. The problem occurred because I used dual core to install my OSX, after reinstall the system with single core, I've successfully run the AppleHDAPatcher.

 

PS: Does the mic work in OSX? The output device in the system preference on my machine are "Internal Speakers" and "Digital Out". The input device is "Unknown". It seems that this core dump method renders the mic unusable, and I remembered that before this patch, there is a "mic" device shown in the input device tab.

 

Yes, the mic works on mine. However, I installed by disabling the multicore support in my bios, then later added the cpus=1 to my kernel flags, then re-enabling the multicore support. I fail to see why this would matter.

 

When I go to system prefs, under input, there are two unknown devices:

Unknown

Unknown usb Audio Device <-- I can see the input level adjusting when I speak into the mic.

Edited February 16, 2007 by seaDonkey

[seaDonkey]

After further testing, I realized that the input level changing is my built-in mic (I have the internal webcam package) and the mic port doesn't work for me either I would edit my original post, but the mods seem to think it is a good idea to disallow editing after 12 hours.

Edited February 16, 2007 by seaDonkey

[postaldave]

I'm assuming that most people won't want to reinstall everything, which is why I included the partition magic instructions and screenshot

i end up reinstalling XP so often i assumed they would want to.

 

glad you cleared that up.

[dublued]

Hey,

 

Very nice writeup!  I've got it almost up and running but I am having a few issues.

 

I was just about to write that I couldn't get my speakers to work.  When I played an MP3 file I wouldn't hear anything.  So I tried the headphone jack and it worked.  Then I pulled out the headphones and the speakers started working.  Weird.

 

Also, I have the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945a/g.  How can I get that to work as an AirPort?

 

Thanks in advanced!

[dublued]

Oh and a couple other things.

 

Will I be able to change screen resolutions?  I don't have the upgraded video card.

 

How can I make Windows be the default operation system and have OS X come as an option at boot up.

[seaDonkey]

Hey,

 

Very nice writeup! I've got it almost up and running but I am having a few issues.

 

I was just about to write that I couldn't get my speakers to work. When I played an MP3 file I wouldn't hear anything. So I tried the headphone jack and it worked. Then I pulled out the headphones and the speakers started working. Weird.

 

Also, I have the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945a/g. How can I get that to work as an AirPort?

 

Thanks in advanced!

 

 

Oh and a couple other things.

 

Will I be able to change screen resolutions? I don't have the upgraded video card.

 

How can I make Windows be the default operation system and have OS X come as an option at boot up.

 

The intel 3495 will not work at all unfortunantly. I bought a dell 1390 card to replace it on ebay for 6.00 and it works just as well (no 802.11a support, but WPA2 compat and all that). It is really easy to replace and works flawlessly in OS X as airport express. Make sure to uninstall the drivers in windows, and download the new drivers from Dell.

 

If you do not have the upgraded graphics card, that means you have intel 950 integrated graphics which I believe should work with QI/CE and resolution change natively.

 

Have you restarted since you got the audio working out of the speakers?

Edited February 19, 2007 by seaDonkey

[idlehand]

Im having the exact same problem with Video. I cant change my resolution from 1024x786. I have the Intel 945 onboard Graphics. I have looked for a solution but nothing. Any help would be great.

 

Also im looking for that Dell Wireless card now since I have the Intel.

 

Thanks

[dublued]

Ok, I'm back. My Windows installation got corrupted somehow. There was a problem with HAL.DLL. I ended up formatting the entire drive and doing clean installs for both XP and OS X.

 

I followed your guide but the speakers don't work. The headphones are working fine.

 

I'll be ordering the 1390 card aswell. I have a 1390 express card, but it would be nice to have an internal one.

 

Please let me know if there is any news for the video resolution.

 

Thanks

[seaDonkey]

For those with the intel GMA950 graphics, do you have QE/CI enabled? You can check in system profiler. If not, there is a jas GMA950 patch (I believe it was an option in the installer). Look here for instructions. This may also help the resolution changing problem. I will look more into this after work today.

[dublued]

I did another clean install and this time I chose the additional support for gma950.  I have 1280x800 resolution now but QE/CI still is not supported.  I also get an error at startup.  Something about 915  kext files.

 

Has anyone tried this for Intel 3945.  http://code.google.com/p/iwidarwin/downloads/list

 

I installed v3 using the installation instructions.  Just replace iwi2200 in the instructions with iwi3945.

 

OS X now shows the airport icon on the menu bar and says that it is powered on.  But the signal meter doesn't show anything.  Also, everytime I enter in the name of a network, it crashes.

 

Speakers still not working with this new install.  Infact, everytime I drag the txt file into the loader file, it crashes.  It didn't do that before

 

One other detail that I forgot to mention.  The "wifi" light on the XPS remains off throughout the whole thing.  So I don't think it ever turns on.  Bluetooth is ok and working great.

[JoeKim]

HI SEE DONKEY

WHAT KIND VERSION OSX FOR YOUR XPS?

THANK YOU

[Jami Ortiz]

I have tried it and I got an icon but no ability to control the Wireless card.

[aSIn]

i have speakers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

thank you so much!! today my dell wireless 1490 from ebay arrived so i also have wifi just install and it works

 

 

have you managed to get dual monitor display work??

 

 

pd: sorry for my terrible english

[seaDonkey]

I have tried it and I got an icon but no ability to control the Wireless card.

 

Which wireless card do you have? If it is the Intel 3945PRO a/b/g it will not work. You can replace this with the dell 1390 which is also internal and should work out of the box with 10.4.8.

 

i have speakers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thank you so much!! today my dell wireless 1490 from ebay arrived so i also have wifi just install and it works

have you managed to get dual monitor display work??

pd: sorry for my terrible english

 

Glad to hear everything is working OK. No, I have not tried the dual monitor Natit yet. Please let me know if it works for you.

[dublued]

yesssss! got the 1390 today!

 

installed and fired her up. detected and connected with no problems at all.

 

i've attached a vga monitor and it works perfectly fine as an extended display.

 

now only the speakers are a problem. any suggestions?

 

everytime i drag the file into apploader it crashes my system and i have to restart.