AOD250 10.5.8 iDeneb 1.6 install

This is a short tutorial for installing iDeneb 1.6 on an AOD250. The full model number of my machine is D250-1042.

Before you start with OS X on a D250, you should replace the internal wifi card. Seriously. I spent weeks trying to get the Atheros to work with iAtkos and iDeneb. It will not work.

I purchased a DW1510 from eBay for under $20, replacing it took about 15 minutes. I've read horror stories about taking the AOD apart, it's actually super easy, easier than other notebooks I worked on before. You can find the service manual on this forum, it has great step by step illustrated information.

Do not buy a DW1390, it will not fit in the D250. You need a half minicard. The DW1510 also supports 802.11n, which is a nice speed upgrade anyway. The DW1510 works "out of the box" under iDeneb 1.6.

From here on we assume that you have a DW Wifi card.

I have also replaced the hardrive (320gb seagate 7200rpm) and upgraded the memory to 2gb. OS X is a freaking memory hog, I definitely suggest the 2gb upgrade.

I tried iAtkos, but I had several problems (audio choppy, USB running at 1.0 speed and some others I forget now that I have a perfectly running system ).

Here's what works:

• OS X 10.5.8![/*:m:257frlss]
• trackpad with multi finger scroll[/*:m:257frlss]
• audio (did not test microphone)[/*:m:257frlss]
• WiFi perfectly, out of the box[/*:m:257frlss]
• Broadcom bluetooth (I have a RocketFish Micro USB dongle)[/*:m:257frlss]
• hyperthreading[/*:m:257frlss]
• camera, out of the box[/*:m:257frlss]
• shutdown and restart[/*:m:257frlss]
• USB at 2.0 speed, no glitches[/*:m:257frlss]

Here's what doesn't work:

• sleep[/*:m:257frlss]
• ethernet[/*:m:257frlss]

I dual boot with XP. I won't go into great detail on the dual boot setup, but here are the basic steps to get ready for the installation:

• on a windows machine slipstream the SATA windows driver into an XP installation image and put the installer on a 1Gb usb stick (google will tell you how to do it)[/*:m:257frlss]
• get an 8Gb usb stick, make it bootable on a Mac, install a bootloader (like Chameleon) and restore the iDeneb 1.6 Lite image on it (again, google will find lots of info on it)[/*:m:257frlss]
• back up your XP stuff unless you start with a new HDD like I did[/*:m:257frlss]
• boot up iDeneb, delete all partitions using the disk utility, then create two partitions, using MBR: the first one will be used by XP, mark this unused; make a Mac Journaled file system on the second one for OS X[/*:m:257frlss]
• install iDeneb (more on this below)[/*:m:257frlss]
• boot from your XP installation USB stick, install XP[/*:m:257frlss]
• boot from your iDeneb USB stick and reinstall Chameleon; to do this deselect everything from the installation options and have only Chameleon 2 selected (you will get a message saying that your OS X installation failed, but Chameleon will be reinstalled correctly)[/*:m:257frlss]

During the iDeneb install select Customize and check these options (everything else should be unchecked). (x) means selected, (-) is partially selected:

_(x) iDeneb Main System
_(-) iDeneb OS X Components 10.5.8 Ready
__(-) Bootloader
___(x) Chameleon 2
__(-) Kernel
___(x) 9.8.0 Kernel Qoopz
__(-) iDeneb x86 Essential Patches
___(x) AppleDecrypt
___(x) Disabler
___(x) DSDT Patcher
___(x) TimeMachine fix
___(x) OpenHaltRestart
___(-) PS/2 Drivers
____(x) VoodooPS2 Trackpad
___(x) AboutThisMac fix
___(x) SystemProfiler fix
__(-) Fix
___(x) CPUS=1_Fix (I'll show you how to remove this later to get hyperthreading to work, but let's check it for now)
__(-) Drivers
___(-) Audio
____(x) VoodooHDA
___(-) Chipset
____(x) AHCI SATA/IDE
___(-) System Management
____(x) SpeedStep
____(x) VoodooBatteryManager
___(-) Video
____(-) Intel
_____(x) GMA950
_(x) Cleanup

The Wifi card will be recognized during the install process. On the registration screen after typing your first and last name you might want to hit Alt-Q and then Skip. You will even be able to take your photo during install with the built in camera!

Let's look at the hyperthreading stuff (next post...)

 

To turn hyperthreading on, you need to take the cpus=1 fix out of the bootloader config.

Open Terminal and type:

Code:

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

Type your password so nano opens. Delete cpus=1 -f from under Kernel Flags. I also added Default Partition to automatically boot to XP (contrary to common misbelief, XP still runs faster and uses less memory) and reduced Timeout to 2 seconds. Here's my Boot.plist file:

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs$
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
        <key>Kernel</key>
        <string>mach_kernel</string>
        <key>Kernel Flags</key>
        <string></string>
        <key>Default Partition</key>
        <string>hd(0,1)</string>
        <key>Timeout</key>
        <string>2</string>
        <key>device-properties</key>
        <string></string>
</dict>
</plist>

To save your changes, hit F3 and then F2 in nano.

Now reboot, and hyperthreading should be working. You can check it with GenericCPUPMControl, which you can find in Applications/iDeneb App.

 

Some screenshots:

 

link using imageshack?

 

so some d150/250's have gma950??

 

yessssir

 

I was looking for a 1/2 size hackintosh-compatible wireless card! Thanks! You've been quoted in my tutorial >- viewtopic.php?f=14&t=18111

 

Great tutorial - thanks. I moved on to this one after failing the 10.5.8 upgrade published by bigplrbear. The switch of wifi card to the DW1510 was easy and worthwhile.

I followed your instructions to installl, except for the Chameleon install (as I was already running iatkos 10.5.7 under RC3). Slighly to my suprise, my original OSX install remained in place, so my user files were still there. Only issue was that my account lost "admin" status, so I had to reboot -s and change the root password so that I could set up a new admin user.

My only real problem now is from your second post - enabling hyperthreading. Removing the CPUS=1 and -f flags results in a boot with no keyboard support - occasionally dead and occsionally behaing as if a key is permanently pressed. Manually booting with cpus=1 and -f leads to a sweet boot. I've tried running OSXTools.

Any ideas?

 

You selected the VodooPs2 Trackpad driver, right?

I think some kernels are not compatible with the VoodooPs2 driver. Are you running 9.8.0 Kernel Qoopz?

The only other issue might be some leftover kexts from your iAtkos install since you did not do a clean install (which you can do if you erase the OS X partition from the installer's Disk Utility). If I remember correctly, the ACPI patch for example breaks VoodooPs2. You can see warnings for that on the customize screen in the installer.

My suggestion would be to:

• do a clean install or[/*:m:1vsabobi]
• find and remove the conflicting kext or [/*:m:1vsabobi]
• use the appple PS2 driver (although i'm not sure how well that works with the AOD250) or[/*:m:1vsabobi]
• keep cpus=1 (as speed gain is minimal at best)[/*:m:1vsabobi]

If you PM me I can send you a dump of my Extensions folder.

 

Yes, I am using the selections as per your instructions, and I wonder if it is a left-over from the previous install.

I'll PM you - thanks for the offer.

Mind you, I reckon I'll be having a go a Snow Leo soon ...

 

Great guide easy to follow. Thank you.

Quick Question: Is it safe to Software update?

 

I've had some serious issues with the VoodooPS2Controller- my keyboard outputs a bunch of 7's in the terminal and my trackpad doesn't work :/

 

@hazard34sc: I turned Software Updates off, so I'm not sure if/how it works. My OSX install works really well now, so don't want SU to mess it up

@bigplrbear: I didn't have any issues wit the VoodooPS2 driver other than having to adjust the keyboard layout so the `/~ types the correct character (I posted the solution in another thread). You might have a kernel or kext that's incompatible with VoodooPS2. I suggest doing a clean install (erase disk before install) to make sure that there are no leftover conflicts.

 

I upgraded XP to Windows 7 and found that Chameleon2 is not working with the Windows7 bootloader.

I fixed this by installing the easyBCDbootloader in Windows 7 and adding a generic x86 OS X boot option.

I've heard that Chameleon1 also works, but easyBCD is what solved the issue for me.

 

I tried the Software update and its still working great. nothing seems to lag or freeze. the software updates safari, itunes, security, java and some other stuff.

 

Dual booting windows 7 and os x should work with chameleon2. The problem is windows 7 creates another partition about the size of 100 mb and calls it system reserve. On this partition is the bootmgr files... so you select this to boot into your windows, not the windows 7 partition itself.

 

yep your right thats how i boot up on windows 7. My problem with chameleon2 was that it would hang with a black screen and a dash at the top right. Chameleon1 fixed it for me.

 

I got everything working (dual boot windows 7 an iDeneb v1.6 using easyBCD), but the audio is choppy. Any ideas? I'm thinking trying the apple azalia driver.

 

awesome write up. thanks!!

 

Has anyone updated to Mac OSX 10.6.2 Combo Update after using this install method? please share... Thanks.