Dell Inspiron 1525 Snow Leopard Hackintosh/Hackbook Pro Installation Guide!

Many thanks to John Demented for his assistance in writing this guide

Snow Leopard, Apple’s next OS in their lineup after Leopard, was recently released. Thanks to the widespread hackintosh development of Leopard, Snow Leopard can also be installed on your PC. Fortunately, this OS is quite easy to install (much easier than Leopard) and, for the first time on the 1525, we will be booting a retail copy of OS X. This means better overall stability and easier software updates.

We will be running Snow Leopard in 32-bit. The following chart details the working status of Inspiron 1525 hardware in Snow Leopard. Just remember that you need a working Leopard install prior to installing Snow Leopard.

1. For installation, we need a .DMG of the install disc. You can learn how to make one from your Snow Leopard Install DVD here.

a) 10.6 install disk ONLY- If you want to install Snow Leopard onto a HDD formated as MBR Disk, download this (thanks to The Edge3000) and place it in /Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Installation/Packages (Source: Infinitemac.com).

2. Launch Terminal and type

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE

killall Finder

3. Mount the Snow Leopard DMG from step 1.

4. From the mounted DMG, go to System –> Installation –> Packages and double click on OSInstall.mpkg. If you receive a message telling you your computer is incompatible, simply close the Installer and launch it again.

5. Click continue through the License Agreement until you arrive at the install options. Then click “Change Install Location” and select the drive you want to install Snow Leopard on (It cannot be the drive/partition you’re currently booted to).

6. Click on Customize and select which components you would like to install. Then complete the install, but don’t restart yet.

7. Download the kexts pack and unzip it to your desktop. Note: if you are installing a version of Snow Leopard other than 10.6 (no updates) then do not install SleepEnabler.kext.

8. Open the unzipped folder and go to the Needed Kexts folder. Copy the 5 kexts from the folder to /System/Library/Extensions/ located in your Snow Leopard partition.

9. Follow this guide to install the Chameleon Bootloader so that you can boot Snow Leopard.

10. Copy the dsdt.aml from your Leopard partition to the root of your Snow Leopard partition. If you do not already have a dsdt.aml, you can make one with DSDT Patcher GUI. Just check “Darwin/ Mac OS X” and hit Run DSDT Patcher.

11. Create a folder named Extra in the root of your Snow Leopard partition and, inside that folder, create another folder named Extensions. Then copy the kexts from “Extra Folder” to the new Extensions folder.

12. Open the unzipped folder from step 9 and unzip VoodooPS2Controller-0.98-installer.pkg.zip. Then run the .pkg and check the Trackpad option on the Installation Type step. Change the Install Location to your Snow Leopard partition and install.

13. Now you can boot to your Snow Leopard partition. Boot with the -f arch=i386 flags and go through the process of setting up your User Account. When you get to your desktop, WiFi should already be working (if you have the Broadcom 1395 chipset).

14. Copy the Kexts folder in step 7 from your Leopard partition to your Snow Leopard Desktop.

15. Download and run Kext Helper from your Snow Leopard partition. Drag and drop the kexts in the “Kext Helper” folder onto the Kext Helper screen and install them. Upon rebooting, Audio, Battery Meter, and SD Card Reader should now be working.

16. Unzip the Trackpad Preference Pane (also found in the Kexts folder) and install it with the included instructions.

17. Mount your Snow Leopard Install DVD DMG and navigate to /System/Installation/Packages/ (run the two terminal commands from step 2 if you don’t see the folder). Then run BSD.pkg and install it to your Snow Leopard partition (while booted to your Snow Leopard Partition). 9 times out of 10 you will get a Kernel Panic during the install process and will be forced to restart. This is OK. I had to install BSD.pkg 8 times before it had one successful install. Eventually, the package will install without a KP. When it does, hit OK on the install screen and then restart. Boot back to Snow Leopard and you will notice two things: 1) The system will be much more stable and you should stop receiving those damn Kernel Panics and 2) you can now repair permission in Disk Utility without getting an error.

18. Update to 10.6.1! (Just install the update and reboot)

19. Update to 10.6.2!

20. Update to 10.6.3!

21. Update to 10.6.4!

22. Update to 10.6.5!

23. Update to 10.6.6!

25. Update to 10.6.7!

24. Enable your Media Keys for iTunes control!

Upon completion of this guide, you will be running Snow Leopard 10.6.7 and will have a nearly perfect system. If you found this guide useful then feel free to make a donation. Any amount truly does help.

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About Thomas

Thomas is a self-proclaimed guru (just ask him). He enjoys long walks on the beach, running Mac OS X on his Inspiron 1525, and tweeting about nonsensical life happenings. You can follow Thomas on twitter, email him, or search the interwebs for all his personal information. Neither should be too difficult.

View all posts by Thomas

1,142 Responses to “Dell Inspiron 1525 Snow Leopard Hackintosh/Hackbook Pro Installation Guide!”

  1. Kristen

    Hi, so I’m trying to get os x on my pc (obviously). but isn’t it true that you have to have Leopard and then update to snow leopard for this to work? I’m trying to use the previous guide to do that first (i’m posting this comment on this page so some one will more likely see it). So what I did was i downloaded the Kalyway 10.5.3 thing using my other computer that is actually a mac, and I burned the iso to a dvd. and right now, im trying to boot my pc from that disc and i don’t think it is working. It’s has about 5 lines that say theyre loading different HFS+ files and one that says loading darwin/x86 and one that says loaddrivers:… but below all that it just keeps blinking between / – \ : and it won’t do anything else.

    Alright and then i left it like that to go eat dinner and when i came back and it was on my normal windows desktop screen. so i tried booting from the disc again and now it just says “system config file not found”

  2. andrey

    Hi, I just installed the Snow Leopard in my Dell, but I’m facing a KP about the HDAEnabler.kext as you guys can see in the picture.

    http://tinypic.com/r/m781le/6

    I tried to remove this kext from the System.Library.Extensions folder and reboot, but it didn’t work.

    Do you guys have any idea about how can I get it to work?
    Thanks in advance!

    P.S.: I’ve seen many posts on some blogs of people that had this same problem, but none of their advice worked for me.

  3. Josh

    @Nathan

    Because im following the guide which doesnt say anything about a clean install. i want everything to work exactly hence why im following this guide also my specs are:

    2GB RAM
    120GB HDD
    Intel celron dual core 1.87ghz
    Intel chipset GMA X3100

    need anymore info just ask

  4. Josh

    Hey i know this is an old post but when i click OSInstall.pkg and it gets about 80% finished and says “The installer could not install some files in “/Volumes/SnowLeopard HD”. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance. Please help me i want to get this up and running ASAP!!

    • Josh

      OSInstall.mpkg**

      • Josh

        nevermind about that but i have another question, is it possible to get rid of the leopard partition and just have the one snow leopard partition??

        • Josh

          right new problem, i followed all the instructions exactly however when i reboot to load snow leopard i get kernel panic :( so i tried with -v -f arch=i386 and then it just hangs, can anyone help me at all?? :(

          • Thomas

            You can use GParted to erase your Leopard partition and expand your Snow Leopard partition to the blank space. Just be sure to disable journaling on both partitions first. As for your kernel panic, which version of Snow Leopard are you running? My initial thoughts are that the KP is caused by SleepEnabler.kext and you need to include the pmVersion boot flag.

            • Josh

              okay thanks, im a bit of a noob to mac as im a windows guy so how would i disable journaling?

              • Josh

                im also running 10.6.0 i tried to get everything exactly for this guide

                • Josh

                  my plan is to do a clean install of leopard and then install snow leopard after i’ve done the basic updates on leopard, hopefully it will work

                  • Josh

                    okay made sure i followed the whole guide word for word and when i boot SL with -f arch=i386 for the first time it comes onto the apple loading screen then just get a kernel panic, im stumped for ideas any help please?

  5. SSn

    Hi Thomas,

    I know this post is old, but I was wondering if you had any idea what’s happening here. I followed you walkthough (thanks a lot for this by the way) with a 10.6.3 retail disk. I used a OSInstall/OSInstall.mpgk for 10.6.3 (found here: http://www.osx86.net/downloads.php?do=file&id=360).

    Snow Leopard installed fine, but when I try to boot from Darwin with the -f arch=i386 flag, I just get a blinking cursor. I did an attempt with “-v -f arch=i386”, and this is what I got:

    —-
    Loading kernel mach_kernel
    Loading HFS+ file: [mach_kernel] from 422d700
    Loading HFS+ file: [mach_kernel] from 422d700
    —-

    On the next line is the blinking cursor and everything freezes. No keyboard.

    Any ideas as to what might be happening here? I’d greatly appreciate any input you could provide.

    (P.S. I’m not sure if it’s relevant, but the Chameleon bootloader stuff didn’t work for me. When I rebooted at setp 13, I couldn’t boot into anything. I was getting a “..failed to start.. File: \NST\nst_mac.mbr” error. The info section said “could not be loaded because the application is missing or corrupt.” I had to use Windows 7 with the bcdedit command to get into Windows. I then used EasyBCD to allow myself back into Leopard, but Snow Leopard still doesn’t work.)

    Great guide though, and thank you so much for all of this! I know you’re likely very busy, but if you have any ideas at all on what might be the problem with loading SL from darwin, it would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks

  6. Ronald

    Hi,

    I purchased a retail 10.6.3 disk. Will this guide work with 10.6.3, or do I need 10.6.0?

    Is there anything I should watch out for when installing from 10.6.3 (if it will work)?

    Thanks,
    Ron

  7. Doug

    Hi, First off I’d like to thank you for this guide, it has brought life to my dell! I had followed your guide and all was working great until I installed the wrong thing and ruined the system, I ended up re-installing everything from scratch. I followed the guide all the way through installing the 10.6.7 update also using the legacy kernel. inserted the “-v -f pmVersion=21 arch=i386” into the com.apple.boot.plist in both locations. all is working well except for the sleep. with the charger unplugged, it will go to sleep just fine with the power led blinking, but when I press the power button it wont wake up! the power led comes on and the hdd led blinks but the screen stays black. holding down the power button to restart, brings up a message on boot that there is a sleep image that can’t load, says press any key to boot normally! what did I do wrong?

  8. Neal Coope

    Hello, has any one come across a fix for the VGA port yet. I do quite a bit of photoshop work and would like to get my 1525 displaying on an external monitor as opposed to the 15inch screen. I would like it to mirror the laptop screen and not just extend the screen. Thanks Neal

  9. Nathan

    So, I’ve got a good one for ya. I disabled Auto-login and before I could apply the fix I shut down my laptop….sigh… Is there a way to enable auto-login from Terminal or su mode?

  10. Nathan

    Alright guys/gals,

    Found an easier way to update to S.L. 10.6.8…

    First, you’ll need to download the update independently of the Update Software Server, So I would go to Apple’s website, and download it from there… There is varied successes with either the Combo Update or the standard update (non-combo)… I used the standard update, simply because I thought it would add items from previous updates that weren’t compatible with the 1525… I just wanted the package from 10.6.8, and nothing else.

    You’ll need a Chameleon installer package, because this update reconfigures the boot package. I used RC5

    And you’ll need to save certain kexts from 10.6.7… I would just copy the entire file (System/Library/Extensions) to a Flash-Drive or another partition.

    Now, once you have all of these in order, go ahead and update BUT DO NOT RESTART!!!!
    Once the update is finished just minimize the Installer Window.

    Now reinstall Chameleon and close Chameleon Installer window.

    Now reinstall the following Kexts with KextHelper or some other program.
    These must be from a previously working (10.6.7) Snow Leopard install:

    AppleHPET.kext
    AppleACPIPlatfrom.kext
    IOVideoFamily.kext
    IOUSBMassStorageClass.kext
    IOUSBFamily.kext
    IOPCIFamily.kext

    You may not need all of these but installing EVERYONE of these kexts led me to a successful install.

    Now restart, and if you don’t see the booting wheel within 6-8 seconds, you went wrong somewhere…

    Good luck, everyone and I hope you have the same outcome I did… 99% working install. :) Minus HDMI

    Edit: And don’t forget your IO80211Family.kext for AirPort… Of course from your previously working OS X.

    • Thomas

      I’ll try this out later today and let you know how it works for me. Thanks!

      • Nathan

        Any luck? One issue I’ve had so far is that the CPU fan seems to operate at too low of a speed. I left my laptop on over night and found it REALLY warm this morning.

        I know there is an app out there that lets you control the fan speed but it concerns me. Could the 1525 have a CPU temp chip that the OS isn’t seeing?

        • Thomas

          I followed your instructions and it worked flawlessly. Unfortunately, 10.6.8 seems to be a bit slower than 10.6.7, though it does boot quicker. I’m going to post the update guide shortly, giving you full credit for the instructions. Thanks so much for your help!

          For accurate temperature readings, install Temperature Monitor. I don’t believe there are any applications that allow you to control the 1525’s fan speed as it is not supported by the kexts we use. 10.6.8 also shouldn’t affect fan speed and cause it to run slower than 10.6.7 did.

          Edit: My WLAN card isn’t working in 10.6.8, even though it has native support in OS X (it’s the same card used in the older macbooks). I tried installing the 10.6.7 IO80211Family.kext, though that didn’t fix it.

          • Nathan

            Interesting…. if you wana try mine, lmk. Or you can check out http://www.kexts.com

            I know that if I have the WLAN turned off and switch WLAN back to “on”, it requires a reboot to turn it on…

            • Thomas

              I’m going to reinstall 10.6.8 now and see if that helps. Changing the state of the switch from off to on does require a reboot, though mine is on. Besides, I changed my BIOS settings so that the switch doesn’t control the WLAN card.

            • Thomas

              After reinstalling, WiFi still isn’t working (WLAN card isn’t even recognized) and 10.6.8 is extremely slow. How’s the speed for you compared to 10.6.7?

              • Nathan

                I haven’t noticed a decrease in performance. I’m curious, though, as to why this update is a necessity for Lion, as claimed by the rumor mills.

                And one thing I was thinking of is the if your OS isn’t seeing your card after reinstalling the working wifi kext, you may have to change the IOPCIFamily.kext as well, from a previous version. Alot of patch work for this update… Sigh.

                But check this out. I found it while browsing. Worth a shot, I guess.
                http://www.kexts.com/view/892-iopcifamily_for_broadcom_wireless_10.6.6.html

              • Nathan

                And now that you mention it, I am noticing intermittent performance drops. I’ve been paying attention to a few things and they’re seems to be some sort of Process that kicks on every now and then and eats up a ton of Ram, which would explain the laggy performance.

                • Thomas

                  I face performance issues directly after boot. It takes ~15 seconds from when the Chameleon boot screen disappears for the login screen to appear. After logging in, it takes another ~25 seconds before my desktop loads. I’ll try the kext you linked to, though I’m baffled that the card is having any trouble given its native support.

                  • Nathan

                    Meh… My boot times have always been lengthy… and even worse because I was still using the old sleep hack. Was just able to extract and use a DSDT last night, so at least now I don’t have to wait for “sleep”

                    • Thomas

                      Booting usually takes just over a minute for me, though on 10.6.8 it takes ~2 minutes.

                    • Nathan

                      Have you checked your boot logs? I just noticed that there is a process that is crashing repeatedly name “(ipo/mig)” and its causing massive CPU draw… I tailed it for a bit but the logs weren’t showing anything which was confusing.

                      And another thing. I noticed that I had saved my DSDT file while my wifi was switched to off. While 10.6.7 didn’t seem to mind this, 10.6.8 does.

                    • Nathan

                      And I assume you’ve seen this link concerning Broadcom wifi cards… But if you haven’t…

                      http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=51725

  11. Hussain

    I installed iAtkos V7 on my Dell 1525. It installed iOS 10.5.7. After the install and first boot, the laptop’s display was black. I had plugged in a regular LCD monitor which worked fine; I could see the wallpaper and cursor. This indicates that there is something slightly wrong with the display driver. I mean slightly, as if the driver was totally bad, the external monitor wouldn’t work. So what could be wrong with the built-in monitor? Incorrect or out of bounds resolution?
    /System/Library/Preferences has all the kext’s. Deleting AppleIntelGMA950* has no effect as the Dell 1525 has a X3100 chipset. Deleting / moving AppleIntelGMAX3100* let’s me boot to VESA mode but in low res only without external monitor support.
    I’ve downloaded a bunch of kext’s for the X3100 but all of them give a blank screen. Actually, one kext fixed everything but I had f***ed up the system and had to reinstall and now can’t find that one again.
    Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    • Thomas

      My suggestion: actually follow the guide you’re posting on.

    • Nathan

      And one thing I found out was that the OS will support the Graphics Driver, natively. You can’t have ANY of the additional support kexts installed or you’ll have errors, like the one you’re describing…

  12. Nathan

    Hey Thomas. So Apple just released their latest (last?) update 10.6.8. I backed up my OS and all of my kexts, and proceeded to update.

    First issue thus far: Upon boot, the boot sequence stalls at the Apple loading screen…

    Any ideas? Have you attempted this update yet?

    Thanks again for all your hard work.

  13. Shona

    Hi, I desperately need some help! I’ve got Leopard installed on Disk 2 and using this guide I have Snow Leopard installed on disk 3. Everything was going smoothly until it came to the chameleon terminal commands. The first 2 commands are find, but when it comes to the “sudo fdisk -f boot0 -u -y /dev/rdiskX” part it all goes wrong! I get a message saying “No such file or directory” or “Could not open MBR boot0” (link to a pic – http://i54.tinypic.com/148hovn.jpg) I’ve tried putting rdiskX, ridsk3, rdisk0s3 but it doesn’t work.

    To clarify as much as possible, I’ve got the Chameleon folder on the Leopard partition desktop, using terminal in Leopard.

    Please help! Thanks!

  14. mbebop

    So I still can’t get the firewire to work; shows up fine in system profiler, but plugging the camera in does nothing. Now, I’ve only actually tried it with one firewire device/cable, so if someone else could plug a device or two into theirs to check functionality, that might be helpful (I only have the one device).

    I’m expecting firewire won’t work even though system profiler says it will. I’ve been skimming forums for awhile now, and it seems like a lot of the RICOH chips are combos of SD card readers, firewire chips, and ethernet,so the issue could relate to several pieces of hardware, not just the IEEE port. Not sure I feel like breaking things to test out possible solutions, but I can’t find any posts that suggest great success or failure with getting this to work. I’ve even run across some forums describing problems with RICOH firewire in windows, so I’m not sure what hope we actually have. Might just buy something cheap for the express card slot and use that instead.

    • mbebop

      So I’ve not reported back in awhile, but this is kind of a funny story. I bought a Firewire ExpressCard off amazon, computer detected it just fine (so the ExpressCard Slot works). But anyway, it turns out that the microscope camera I was testing the built-in Firewire port on has an on/off switch on the power adapter… After turning it on, the computer recognized the camera attached to the firewire (built in IEEE works). I’ve not been able to calibrate the camera for my computer yet (it’s a complicated piece of equipment, no jokes about my previous *cough* stupid mistake), so I can’t confirm whether built in firewire is fully functional just yet. Anyone else want to investigate this a bit further, and plug up some other IEEE devices?

      • Thomas

        Lol wow, sounds like you’ve been through hell trying to get that thing working! Thanks for confirming that the Firewire port and ExpressCard slot work. I wish I had a firewire device to test.

  15. Jason

    Helllo everyone, i’ve had many many many issues when trying try install 10.6.2 so i just gave up because i got tired of starting all over again, but now some software requires 10.6.5, so im thinking about trying again…. so my question before i try this AGAIN, should i do one update at a time or go all the way with a combo, also if it does screw everything up and i able to restore with my Timemachine back-ups i’ve been doing since a clean 10.6.1. thanks for your help

    • Thomas

      Many have reported that combo updates work fine, though for a fool proof method simply install each update. Each of our guides has the link to download the update from apple.com. In the unlikely case that you run into an issue when updating, you would not be able to restore from your Time Machine backups. To create a backup you can restore from, read our backup guide.

  16. Jason

    I feel like im just spinning around and around and not getting anywhere! i have a dell inspiron 1525 Out of Box specs that i had running 10.6.7 and have had 10.6 running since the first guide a few years ago. Last week i had bought a new Blue Snowball for pod casting and went into system preferences like i have a hundred times before, now i get an error and system pref wont even open, so i decide (like and idiot now) i will just use my old boot-132 erase the partion and reinstall the 10.6 i started with. I used the directions on the boot-132v3 post-install and when that didnt work i followed every tutorial available about the dell 1525… not a single one had worked.. i can boot the first time with boot-132 with -v -x flag and access 10.6 but as soon as i start messing with any kexts im not longer able to boot with -v -x, id rater not boot in safe at all… i’ve reinstalled 10.6 at least 50 times and that is no joke! please i know there are alot of smart people out there that can point me in the right direction. thanks in advance.

    • Thomas

      Why not just try this guide?

      • Jason

        Hello Thomas, thanks for your response and i must say i’ve tried this guide three, or maybe four times following each direction line by line making sure i didnt mess anything up and when i say i’ve tried every guide on the internet i really truelly have and some more than once. with this guide i installed using a 10.6.3 retail, and i believe is why this guide isnt working… do you think with this guide to be successful i must have a 10.6 retail? i do also have a “hazard 10.6” (i know, not cool to use those but i did buy a copy of 10.6.3 and when that wouldnt install i downloaded hazard) that i’ve used that always installs and boots with -v -x…

  17. mbebop

    Long time no see all–what’s the word on the 10.6.7 update? Awaiting your most trusted instruction before taking the leap.

    • Thomas

      The guide went up the same day the 10.6.7 update was released ;)

      You can check it out here.

      • mbebop

        Thanks for the redirect. Just out of curiosity, has anyone been able to get the IEEE 1394a port (the weird thing next to the HDMI) to work? There’s a special high resolution camera on one of the microscopes at school that uses that type of connector, and I’d like to be able to use it in OSX if possible.

        On that note, would it be too much trouble to add a table-esc item to the Pro Install guide that shows what works/doesn’t work with this setup? I think that’d make it pretty easy for people to gauge what to expect from this install at a glance (of course, they will discover the limitations on their own anyway). Also, what’s wrong with your internal microphone? Mine seems to be working fine :)

        • Thomas

          I have not yet tried the firewire port, though I doubt it works. If it’s not too much trouble, try it out and report back!

          The internal microphone issue has long been resolved, though I must have missed it when updating the guide. The guide has been updated. Thanks!

          I like that table idea; I’ll look into adding one to the guide. Would would you like the table to include? I currently have:
          QE/CI (Quartz Extreme)
          DVD Burning
          Sleep on battery, but for some also when plugged in (rare)
          Audio- internal speaker, internal microphone, both headphone jacks (not simultaneously), line-in jack
          Battery Meter
          Webcam (albeit with a low framerate)
          WiFi
          VGA port (Extended display only)

          • mbebop

            Only things I can think to add to the working list are the SD card reader, wired ethernet (there is a kext, but I typically don’t load it because it slows boot down a bit) and USB ports… Softkeys might go into that list too (but only for iTunes).

            As far as things that are NOT working, I’ve got;
            HDMI
            VGA (mirrored display only)
            Firewire (will look into this when I have some free time)
            S-Video Out

            I’m also still having issues with the edges of my track pad warping the cursor all over the place, but I don’t think others typically have that issue. My sleep on power adapter also works fine; not entirely sure why.

            • Thomas

              Thanks for the suggestions! I can also add Bluetooth to the list of working components. I’ll look into the best method of doing this and should have it up sometime this weekend.

              I don’t face the trackpad issue you described, though it’s strange that you continue to do so even after reinstalling the PS2 kexts. Is it possible that your trackpad is physically damaged and is causing the warping?

              I’m still trying to figure out why some users are able to sleep while plugged in to the power adapter, while others are unable to (myself included). Which version of Snow Leopard are you running and what sleep kext(s) are you using?

            • Thomas

              The post has been updated with the new table. Let me know what you think!

              • mbebop

                Looks great Thomas! Should be very helpful for newcomers and hackintosh vets alike. I’ll try to look into the firewire issue when I have some extra time, but it might be awhile.

                Don’t think the trackpad is damaged (works fine in Windows), and honestly I’m a bit tired of trying to figure out what’s wrong with it. I use a mouse for most serious tasks anyway, so I’m not too concerned about it.

                Regarding the sleep issue; I’m still running 10.6.6 (will upgrade soon), and I’m pretty sure I’m just using the universal SleepEnabler.kext from the 10.6.4 guide. I think I’ve mostly used the kexts from these guides, but I may be running an alternate battery kext from somewhere else or something like that. I’ll try to look into that soon, but I’ve not been keeping good notes on where I get all my kexts these days, so it might be difficult to figure that out.

  18. Chris

    You say you need a prior Leopard install running before you attempt this, do you know where I can find a guide for that? I had it working a few days ago but once I tried to do this my HDD gave me a error and I could never start it up from there so I reinstalled Win 7 and will start from the beginning.

  19. Joey

    My audio worked out of the box, but when I tried to install the AppleHDA in your kexts it stopped working, and when I reinstalled the one that was there before (apple’s version) I got a KP on bootup. HELP

    Joey

    • Joey

      So, I fixed that and it was permission repair that was the culprit, I am now up and running at 10.6.5 (installed 10.6.6, rebooting now, lets hope) and then I will do the media key thing, install iLife, do updates, and start toying around with lion beta hackintoshing.

      Joey

      • Thomas

        Great! Let me know if you have any more issues if you don’t first solve them yourself ;)

        • Joey

          Thanks, I have it all working

          Do you know anything about the lion beta. Is it similar to snow leopard? Just wondering, I’m a developer so I get the seeds, and I can test them on the hackintosh (PS I can “Lend” you apple software that is “under NDA” if you want, 10.6.7 (beta), 10.7 (beta), for pre-testing)

          Joey

          • Thomas

            I haven’t tested the Lion beta yet, though I am currently downloading build A390 and plan to test it soon. I appreciate your offer for the beta software and would love access the 10.6.7 beta, if you don’t mind. Thanks!

  20. Bob

    Thomas,
    Maybe you can help. I had a near perfect install of SL 10.6.6 then I had hardware problems with my 1525, I ended up buying a used one. I pulled the hard drive and installed in “new 1525” but I just get a black screen. I have rebooted and hot FN+F* and it will switch to the external display and eventually I just get the default background but no tool bars or desktop items.. what do I need to do to fix this?
    BTW- the “new one” has a x3100 1440×900 and first one had the 1280×800 resolution.

    I have read for an entire day and tried a few things to no avail.

    • Thomas

      The issue definitely sounds like it stems from the resolution change. Users with the higher resolution screen have a lot of issues and I believe are even stuck without Quartz Extreme. You may be able to get your screen to a functional state (albeit without QE/CI) by installing Leopard- which seemed to work with the higher resolution screen- and generating a new dsdt.aml for your new hardware. Though a more advanced solution, if you still have your old, troublesome 1525 you can swap out the screen with the new one. Best of luck!

  21. Sahand Porkar

    and when after when i’ve installed SL, when it boots i can only hear the intro sound .. nothing else.

  22. John

    So the Iboot and straight to Snow Leopard method will not work with an inspiron 1525?
    I am far from a computer dummy, just Mac ignorant, and some of the terminology here may as well be in Chinese, I would understand it any less. Not complaining, and I do appreciate the reply.

    • Thomas Piccirello

      That method should work, though I’ll have to look into it a little more to confirm. If you don’t mind waiting a few days, I’ll test it out and let you know how it goes (I may even be able to test it tonight).

      • John

        No Thomas, I don’t want to wait! I want it now! lol
        Of course I will wait, and I appreciate any help you are willing yo give. I have a spare hard drive, maybe I will get it out and start seeing what kind of trouble I can get myself into. Maybe at least get familiar with some of the terminology and procedures. Thanks again

  23. Sahand Porkar

    why doesn’t my DSDT patch get applied? not in leopard when i install it, neither snow leopard .. is it becase i install leopard first on my 2nd partition or? it’s really strange ..

    it did fine, in the beginning?

    • Thomas Piccirello

      What makes you think that your DSDT isn’t being patched?

      • Sahand Porkar

        because that it doesn’t fix the sleep bug.

        AND because when i install Leopard with iPC 10.5.6 (used guide from ihackintosh)
        i choose the DSDT Patch from the installation, but when i boot into the OS and go to my leopard root, it’s still not there! (hidden files showed) i don’t get it ..

  24. John

    I have an Inspiron 1525, I am confused. I Have read several times.Is this correct? I need to install leopard first, then update it several times, then install snow leopard and update it several times? Where do I find all of these files?
    I cannot just install one version of leopard, then install the latest version of snow leopard. I am not computer illiterate, but it seems you need to have done this before in order to understand this guide. Am I missing something?

    • Thomas Piccirello

      You can do exactly as you said: install any version of Leopard and then install the latest version of Snow Leopard. The Leopard version doesn’t matter, though if installing the latest version of Snow Leopard, you’ll want to skip the included SleepEnabler.kext. Instead, add pmVersion=21 to your Kernel Flags in com.apple.Boot.plist and use the SleepEnabler.kext in the 10.6.4 guide.

  25. Jawcl

    When will this guide be updated for 10.6.6?

  26. Peter

    Hi,
    I also have a 1525 with core2duo and 2gb RAM. I am wondering if there is any way of installing 10.6 directly, or do I first have to istall the 10.5.2 and then to 10.5.3 and so on…

    • Thomas

      Unfortunately you will have to first install Leopard. It is a pain, though it is worth the hassle. There are methods outlined on other websites that will let you install Snow Leopard without first having Leopard installed, though they use outdated kexts and are not updated for the latest version of Snow Leopard.

      • Peter

        Okay, so I might try it out. How does the computer “feel” after loading SL? Hoter, louder, better? Some people say it starts giving KP’s. Is it usable or do you guys just do it because you can?

        • Thomas

          Snow Leopard is extremely usable and stable. In the early days of Snow Leopard, people installed it simply because they could. Now, all the kinks have been worked it and I can recommend Snow Leopard over any other Operating System. I also believe it to be the fastest OS (even faster than Leopard), without getting into Linux, of course. I do have to admit that Snow Leopard does cause the computer’s fans to run a bit louder, but the slightly increased noise is a fair trade off for a speedier OS.

          • Peter

            Okay, so it is not like the computer will overheat and/or spin the fans all the time? How is it with “sleep mode”? Is it as good as with W7?

            • Thomas

              The computer won’t overheat, though the fans may spin fairly frequently. Sleep is one of the few features that doesn’t work as well as it does in Windows. Sleep is very spotty and only works when on battery power.

  27. Bob

    Hi,
    I have a Dell 1525 with Core 2 Duo 2Gz and 2 GB RAM. I have a SL install running but after it is up a while and has no activity it goes black and appears the power is off.

    I would like to start from scratch with your install method, but I don’t understand what exactly I am supposed to do with Step 1 – 4

    I have a Snow Leopard Install DVD 10.6 (10a432) and I have a dmg of 10.6.0 as well..
    For step 2. Is that necessary if I am using GUID partition type?

    From Step 5 and on I am good, have installed OSX many times, just need some guidance to get things going.

    Thanks!

    • Thomas

      I don’t think I quite understand the confusion you’re facing. Steps 1-4 are very direct and you shouldn’t have any trouble with them. Simply mount the 10.6.0 dmg, run the terminal commands from step 2, and then launch OSInstall.mpkg at /System/Installation/Packages/ on the mounted dmg. For the dsdt.aml, follow the second sentence of step 10.

      • Bob

        I am not sure how to start off. If I have a empty/blank hard drive with no OS on it, how can I mount the dmg?

        And wrt to running the custom OSInstall.mpkg, is that for installs on MBR partitions only, or for GUID installs as well.

        I am very eager to get this installed and if I have these two points clarified I think I will be on my way.

        One other question, since I currently have a albeit imperfect install of SL installed on my 1525, could I just re-run the install locally with the dmg or is that not possible. At any rate, if you could just get me past these few hurdles I am having, that would be great and appreciated!

        Thanks!

        • Thomas

          You can re-run the install from within Snow Leopard with the original OSInstall.mpkg (don’t download the one in step 1a).

          • Bob

            Thank you Thomas!!

          • Bob

            Just want to clarify a few things. I can boot from my current SL install on internal HD and still run the OSInstall.mpkg ?

            I am guessing I should remove whichever kexts I have in /Extra/Extensions and replace with yours?

            Thanks for your patience.

            Bob

            • Thomas

              You can run it from your current Snow Leopard install, though you’ll have to install it to another partition. You also don’t have to (and probably shouldn’t) remove /Extra/Extensions/ on your current install.

  28. cedyc

    I’m sure Thomas will respond but my suggestion would be to back up your data and use this guide, then copy all of your data back. It literally takes about 45 mins at the most to complete using this method. It’s so easy and chances of you getting or at least maintaining KP’s are slim to none. I have many (too many to count) installs using this guide and they are all KP free.

  29. Locutus

    Is there any way to do this with Snow Leopard already installed on the machine? I have an already-hackintoshed Dell 1525, but the method I use that doesn’t require having a previous install kernel panics at 10.6.3 and up.

    Alternatively, any way to stop the kernel panicking?

  30. cedyc

    Thomas on step 9 how do you get it to boot automatically without coming up with the “option” screen first?

  31. Matt

    It still goes black but I’ve found that when it goes black, if I close the screen and wait till one of the lights flashes that it’ll work. Any idea to get rid of this?

  32. cedyc

    Hey Thomas, I got another 1525 and I’m doing the install. Got it all done but on the reboot it’s getting hung on “still waiting on root device”. I think I messed up on step 9. I sent you a screen shot to your email. In the meantime I’m going to redo step 9.

    • cedyc

      Well I re-did everything and I’m getting the same thing.. “still waiting on root device”.
      At least I know I did step 9 right this time because I can boot from the hard drive. Before I had to boot from a boot disk.

      • cedyc

        I figured it out. I used the dsdt patch instead of copying the one from my other install. I just over-rode that with the one from my other 1525 and it’s working so far. I got it to boot up and I’m into the system.

        • Thomas

          Glad you were able to get your issue resolved before I even saw that you had posted it! ;)

          • cedyc

            No problem. Everything is working fine except the mouse (Trackpad) and keyboard. I have reinstalled the trackpad preference pane and the voodooPs2Contoller and nothing. I’m using a usb keyboard and mouse at the moment.

            • Thomas

              What boot flags are you booting with? 64-bit does not support the included version of VoodooPS2Controller.

              • cedyc

                I’m using -v -f arch=i386 pmVersion=20

                I got the mouse and keyboard working but it only works after it boots up. When I turn the laptop on I get the Chameleon boot screen, at that point the keyboard on the laptop doesn’t work. I have to plug in a usb keyboard and hit enter. After it boots the keyboard on the laptop works fine. What I want to do is change my boot option so it just boots automatically and not stop at the Chameleon boot screen.

  33. Macmav

    Btw merry Christmas from my part of the world :D

  34. JOE

    THANK YOU THIS WORKED GREAT

  35. Sebass

    Thomas,

    I’m hoping you can help me here. I’ve combined your guide with the macyourpc guide and after basically doing all of your steps (and kind of figuring out some things because I have the 10.6.3 disc) I’ve finally been able to boot into OSX normally but unfortunately I cannot get the mouse and keyboard to work. Any suggestions on a step that I need to skip or an updated file (kext) I need to use?

    Thx.

  36. Macmav

    i updated it till 10.6.4 , ill try the 10.6.5 one later . Btw is it necessary to keep sleepenabler.kext or i could do without it ?

    • Thomas

      SleepEnabler.kext enables sleep, though you can remove it if you’d like.

      • Macmav

        Ok I got it updated to 10.6.5 “pats himself on the back” :D though I wish to have sleep enabler but it isn’t functioning properly cause once I put it to sleep it doesn’t wake up after numerous amounts of mouse shaking and button smashing :/ or there is a sleep wakeup kept that I forgot to place : p. ?

        • Thomas

          SleepEnabler.kext is the only kext you need to enable sleep, though it most likely isn’t working due to a conflict with the sleep kext(s) originally used in the install guide you followed.

  37. Macmav

    Is it a bad sign that I don’t get any kernel panic while executing the bsd.pkg part in your guide ? I at least reinstalled osx a dozen times and I seem to ace that part every time without any panic errors . Please advice :D

    • Thomas

      Not necessarily, though it does seem a little implausible. To check if BSD.pkg was installed correctly, try repair permissions through Disk Utility.

      • Macmav

        Thanks for the reply, let me tell you that i have followed the SL boot132 method and got up to 10.6.1 after innumerable amounts of errors and kernel panics and re installations. To be honest i was ready to give up but to be able to feel and use mac for the first time ( yes i am a mac virgin !!!!!!) got me going. I will now see if i can update to 10.6.2 with the help of your guide from SL boot132 10.6.1. If it goes well then ill post it here. With no disrespect to your 10.6.0 guide i found SL boot132 to be the easiest installation. But i got some info of how to do few stuff from your guides as well :D thanks. Oh one thing i wanted to know is how should i check which key is “command” or “option” on my dell 1525 keyboard ? i figured that spacebar= alt key but what about others ?

        • Macmav

          ok i have finally got 10.6.2 update :D

          • Macmav

            And all gone to hell :( on updating to10.6.3 , guess I’ll have to run a clean install again with your guide.

            • Thomas

              There are many differences between the two guides and thus my update guides can cause some issues when used in conjunction with the Boot-132 guide. Though I do agree that my guide is a bit more difficult, it leads to an overall more stable system with newer kexts, update guides for the latest version of Snow Leopard, and support for issues. If you’d like to attempt the upgrade again, ignore steps 7 & 8 which reference SleepEnabler.kext.

              • Macmav

                Thanks :) I will do what you say and let you know. To be honest I was a bit afraid that you would say ” I dont provide support to those who don’t follow my guide” as you did to some other guy in this forum.

                • Thomas

                  I feel like there’s a bit of a misunderstanding as to what I mean when I say that. After all, text lacks tone. When I tell people I can’t provide support, I’m not doing it out of spite but rather I’m not familiar with other guides and the kexts used in them. Nearly every guide uses a different set of Kexts and fixes, and even attempting to provide support for every guide would be insane. For example, I know from user’s comments that the Boot-132 method at macyourpc uses an outdated audio kext and sleep kext, to name a few. Thus, if a user has a problem with his/her audio, I’d be unable to help him/her as I am familiar with AppleHDA.kext, not VoodooHDA.kext.

                  • Macmav

                    Yeah i know that boot method has outdated kexts , the uploader didnt update it and told us to simply stay put with 10.6.1 update unless we know what we are doing. So naturally people who went for that method got a very unpleasant cliffhanger and had to resort to other means to move past the 10.6.1 so hence some of them have ended up on your site. Furthermore i think after macyourpc your site comes next in google search :D so yeah . Oh i wanted to tell you that i got my mac running once more without the need for reinstallation cause i had to go delete sleepenabler from the system/library/extension also. I thought i had deleted it from extra folder but still i got the kernel panic so i went to my windows partition and installed “Macdrive” which is really good software by the way and browsed through my mac hd from windows and deleted sleepenabler from system folder as well as from the extra folder. Thought to let you know :)

  38. Steven

    My father bought a new Macbook Air and it comes with a USB restore drive with iLife and OSX (I’m assuming 10.6.5 since it’s how the Air comes). Any way to use this (I have a running mac machine and a 16GB usb drive on hand) to install Snow on my 1525? I currently have 10.6.1 on it but used a different method than DailyBlogged’s so I can’t update to 10.6.5

  39. Deesha

    Thanks for replying Thomas. I’m going to try reinstalling the kexts, just to avoid the message popping up.

  40. Deesha

    Ok, I’m back again, hopefully for the final time.

    I can boot into my Snow Leopard partition, but I can only boot into it using -f arch=i386, I can’t boot into it without the flag because I get the screen saying I need to restart, and no matter how many times I reboot it starts to load at the Grey apple screen and then prompts me to restart again.

    Also the kexts that were installed from the Kext folder (The ones that I copied to System/Library/Extensions from Step 7, I get an error saying: System extension cannot be used
    The system extension “/System/Library/Extensions/XXX.kext” (where XXX is the name of the kext file) was installed improperly and cannot be used. Please try reinstalling it, or contact the product’s vendor for an update.

    And last problem every time I try to open System Preferences, it won’t allow me, it says it closed unexpectedly.

    Any help with this would be greatly appreciated, I tried Repair Disk Permissions, and that didn’t help.

    • Thomas

      The -f arch=i386 boot flags must be used at every boot. The error message about an improperly installed kext can be ignored. Though not necessary, you can prevent the error message from appearing by reinstalling the listed kext. The System Preferences issue is one I’ve yet to encounter and is likely due to a third party preference pane or software you’ve installed.

  41. Deesha

    Sorry, let me be more clearer. I downloaded the Chameleon Bootloader 2 RC 3 installer from Insanely Mac. Should I be installing this to my Snow Leopard partition on the external drive. And then doing steps 4-6 from the bootloader tutorial that you posted while booted from my Leopard partition?

  42. Deesha

    Hi again Thomas,

    Ok so I ended up reinstalling everything and before installing the bootloader I wanted to make sure I was doing it correctly this time.

    Here is a picture of my terminal screen: http://i53.tinypic.com/333k274.jpg

    If I’m reading it right, I should now be using rdisk1 and rdisk1s2, correct?

    And from your previous message, you said install Chameleon to my Snow Leopard partition, so do I just open the folder on my desktop and follow the steps again using: rdisk1 and rdisk1s2?

    Sorry if my question has already been answered, I’m just trying to make sure I understand this time around.

  43. Deesha

    Hi Thomas,

    Great guide, I finally have been able to attempt to install Snow Leopard, but I think I may have killed my system.

    I got to step 13, on reboot, I get a screen that says:

    boot0: MBR
    boot0: done
    boot1: /boot

    And then it goes black and restarts itself, and it continues to do this over and over, I’m not sure if I did a step incorrectly, and I’m hoping my system isn’t toast.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    • Deesha

      I think I installed the Bootloader incorrectly.

      I’m using an external hd, and I’ve attached a picture of my terminal screen.

      http://i54.tinypic.com/2128vp4.jpg

      For the steps in the bootloader tutorial I put:

      sudo fdisk -f boot0 -u -y /dev/rdiskX – (I put rdisk2)
      sudo dd if=boot1h of=/dev/rdiskXsX – (I put rdisk1s2)
      sudo cp boot /

      I’m such a noob at this, but I’m hoping there will be some way I can get my system running again.

      Thanks.

      • Thomas

        In the first step you run the command on disk2, but then in the second step you run it on disk1. I suggest installing Chameleon to the Snow Leopard partition, so you should be using rdisk2 and rdisk2s2.

        • Deesha

          Thanks for responding Thomas. Ok, such a noob question, how do I go about installing Chameleon on my Snow Leopard partition? I can’t even boot into my Leopard partition. I can boot from the DVD.

          • Deesha

            Nevermind, I’m pretty sure I installed Chameleon to my Snow Leo partition. My question is how do I get the computer to boot so I can change the rdisk2 to rdisk2s2.

  44. frog24

    Sorry to bug you but what about the pentium dual core model? I assume yo have the core 2 duo (like alomost everyone else).

    Thanks,
    Frog24

  45. frog24

    Can you do this without leopard?

    Thanks,
    Frog24

  46. Mrtk

    Hey Thomas,

    I’ve followed your steps but I got stuck at step 13, I’ve got this kernel panic:
    http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/9284/nieuweafbeeldingb.png
    (booted with: -v -f -x arch=i386)

    I hope that you can help me solving this.
    And sorry for my bad English.

    Mrtk

  47. Sosa

    I can install snow leopard on a Celeron D 560?

  48. Michael

    Thank you so much for all your help! I was about to buy a MacBook Pro for my mobile DJ business when I found your blog…you literally saved me $2,000. Do you have a PayPal I could donate to? The least I could do is give you a few bucks for your trouble.

    • Thomas

      Donations are completely optional though greatly appreciated. You can find a donation link on the very bottom of the sidebar; it’s the big Paypal donate button.

  49. Michael

    Hey Thomas, thanks for all your help so far and the excellent guides. I’m just having one small problem, bluetooth. I don’t have the Dell chipsets I just have a little usb adapter, if you can help me that would be great, if not no big deal, I hardly used it anyway.

    • Thomas

      With the bluetooth USB adapter plugged in to the computer, launch System Profiler and clicnk on the Bluetooth option. Then take a screenshot and upload to an image hosting site.

      • Michael

        Is that a joke because I don’t quite see how that would help…

        • Thomas

          No, that isn’t a joke. I want to see if the adapter is recognized by OS X and what information it reads if it is recognized. This is not a solution but simply the first step of troubleshooting.

  50. Wicksy

    I’m having problems installing … when i mount the mac os x install dvd it opens up a windows with … “Install mac os x” “optional installs” “instructions” When i run the install it says i have to run it from a disk … and i don’t have big enough dvd’s What can i do? Thanks in advanced.

  51. George Veith

    Thanks for the work around regarding getting the trackpad to work with a hackintosh. However, is there any way to have 10.6 system preferences recognize the chinese handwriting? The trackpad works but the settings for chinese handwriting don’t even show up in the system preferences pane so you can’t write Chinese. Everything else works. Any suggestions?

  52. Brian

    So i’m sure this is a Kext issue as some other issues ive had before, but i’m afraid to try too much without knowing for sure what does what in fear that I will break something that won’t be too easy to fix… do those of you with a 1525 get a critical battery warning/the ability for the computer to sleep when the battery is critically low, rather than just shut off, as i occasionally will forget that it is getting low and the entire computer just turns off completely. I felt like i was able to see those warning/options in energy save with 10.5, but I could be wrong… also I see many posts about two finger scrolling working and stuff, Thomas is that something you have got working in some stable manner, using a kext or something that is already out there some info i’ve seen previously when initially installing os x on my dell it seemed at that time that there was no sure thing, and that getting it to actually work was hit or miss… i have the voodoo pref pane but it never seemed to work right, even for something as basic as tap to click, which i would rather have much more than two finger scrolling, but anyway… thanks in advance…

    • Thomas

      In response to the issue of two finer scrolling, I have been able to get it working properly on my 1525. I encourage anyone with functional two finger scrolling to post how they were able to get it working.

      • Brian

        I am seeing many different things on what should and shouldnt be in the extensions folder for the trackpad clicking and scrolling to work, I was wondering if you could just tell me if maybe i’m missing something. I have voodoops2 98 installed but some people are mentioning appleps2controller and i only have appleps2TRACKPAD…. also should appleACPIPlatform be in my extensions folder? I thought that got removed prior to installing the voodoo kext…

        also does your computer go to sleep when the battery gets too low? mine battery meter turns red but if i don’t plug in right away it will just shut down without pop-up or even trying to sleep… i was wondering if that is something that could/should be working.

        • Brian

          So I made some progress and finally got tap to click and the scoll “bar” working, but still not two finger, but i’m not too concerned with that… i still get error saying ApplePS2SynapticsTouchpad not found when clicking on the VoodooPS2 pref pane… it will work for a moment and then says it unexpectedly quit… after changing any settings there is a small maybe 5 second delay and quits… also does everyone get the message that system pref. must be reloaded when clicking the voodoo or the “regular” trackpad pref pane?
          I ended up removing ApplePS2Trackpad from extensions because i found in the log that it wasn’t loading because of no dependencies… but anywho… it seems that voodoo can’t find the file org.voodoo.trackpad.configurationload.plist in LaunchAgent… but i also cannot seem to find that file to put it there myself… any help would be greatly appreciated… also i seem to be noticing that the movement of pointer seems to jump occasionally and then stick which it rarely ever did previously… i’m sure this is all from some stupid mistake i made when initially setting this up but hopefully i can get it sorted out…

  53. doian

    Hi. I have find a 10.6 retail dvd and reinstall the snow and with all the steps from here now I run on Snow Leopard 10.6.4, thanks for all your help, I think that 10.6.3 dvd retail has now good

  54. Bill

    For step 5 it indicates that 10.6 must be installed to another partition. I currently have 10.5.4 installed and running but the hard drive is not partitioned. Do i need to reinstall 10.5 onto a separate partition to install 10.6 onto it’s partition? Is there no way to have 10.6 installed to the entire drive? Or can I simply install 10.6 over 10.5?

    Thanks

    • Thomas

      You can partition your current drive without losing any data by following this guide. Though I don’t recommend it, once Snow Leopard is installed and boots, you can use GParted to delete your Leopard partition and combine the two partitions.

      • Andrew

        I do have my drive partitioned in two partitions, but I am getting the error: “You cannot install Mac OS X on this volume. To enable installation on this volume open Disk Utility from the Utilities menu and repartition this disk as ‘GUID Partition Table’. Note: you will lose all data on this disk by repartitioning it.”

        I have tried mounting the dmg locally and on a usb drive. Am I missing something?

        • Thomas

          You’re trying to install to a disk with an MBR, though the Snow Leopard disc requires a GPT. Follow step 1a to force the Snow Leopard disk to install to your MBR-formatted disk.

  55. enochpc

    I was wondering if you have had any issues with the Broadcom 1395 wireless. I currently have to reset my router about everyday to get it to connect to the wireless network. I have the same issue with Ubuntu, but on my wife’s XPS m1530, it will stay connected for weeks, no issues. Is this just a kext issue, possibly my router, or are there some adjustments I can make to improve this? Not a huge deal, but currently the biggest issue I have with my 1525. For what it’s worth, I have it updated to 10.6.5.

  56. doian

    This is what I do:

    -Replace the OSInstall.mpkg for MBR partition.
    -Install the Mac Snow Leopard 10.6.3 retail
    -Then after install is over I copy the: AppleIntelPIIXATA.kext, IOATAFamily.kext, NullCPUPowerManagement.kext, OpenHaltRestart.kext and PlatformUUID.kext in System/library/Extensions
    -Make the folder Extra in the root on snow leopard partition and the Extensions folder in the Extra folder and copy the: fakesmc.kext, HDAEnabler.kext, IO80211Family.kext, LegacyHDA.kext, OpenHaltRestart.kext, SleepEnabler.kext(vs 10.6.3)
    -After that I install the VoodooPS2Controller-0.98-installer.pkg
    -Reboot with -v arch=i386 first and from that I try all flags I thing

    I’ff I miss something don’t know.

  57. doian

    Just recheck all the kext are in place and same KP.

    • Thomas

      You’re missing something or it wouldn’t be getting a Kernel Panic. I’m not sure what the issue is as you say you’ve done everything right.

  58. doian

    Just did that and nothing the same KP

  59. doian

    Core2Duo 2 Gh, version Mac OS X Snow Leopard Install DVD 10.6.3 Retail Untouched

  60. doian

    I boot with that flag and that is the image http://b.imagehost.org/view/0580/ABCD0001 I hope you know what to do?

  61. doian

    I’ll try agan with 10.6 retail if works, but from tomorow I’ll be gone for 2 weeks with my job and there I have no signal to my mobile internet and so when I’m back I tell you what I do, thank for your help and hope will be workining.
    I check tomorow befor I go if you right me back.

    • Thomas

      Assuming you followed all directions, you won’t have to reinstall. Please boot with -v -f arch=i386 and take a picture of the screen it stops at.

  62. doian

    I try that and nothging. I can’t start snow leopard only KP all the time.

  63. doian

    Sorry for the trouble but I can’t getting to work, I have installed Snow Leopard 10.6.3, and I can’t get start with any flags I try with -v -f arch=i386 I get this http://d.imagehost.org/0899/ABCD0001.jpg , please help me

  64. swampf0etus

    Just wondering; is it possible to use Boot Camp to install Windows 7 on our Hackbooks? I had Windows 7 working with my Leopard install, but since I upgraded to Snow Leopard the Windows installer doesn’t like the partitioning style on the disk (GPT but needs to be MBR).

    This may explain why hibernation didn’t work on Leopard but does on Snow Leopard, but that’s another story…

    Anyway, I thought Boot Camp may be able to sort out this issue and was wondering if anyone has managed it before I try it? If I do manage to get Windows 7 onto it, I’m expecting things to fail at boot, as I imagine Chameleon will get trashed, but I was hoping a re-install of Chameleon would fix that. I had to do this when I installed Windows 7 on Leopard.

  65. mbebop

    Hey,
    So I did some fiddling with the trackpad, tried a new VoodooPS2Controller.kext and lost the trackpad completely. I’ve reinstalled using the original .pkg (simply dragging VoodooPS2Controller.kext to the extension folder does not install it properly, despite the conflicting .kext’s already being deleted), so my trackpad works again, but I’m still getting cursor warping when not on a mouse. Vertical scrolling on the side and horizontal scrolling on the bottom of my trackpad work, but are finicky. Also, I’ve deleted the VoodooPS2 pref pane, since it encounters an error on loading anyway (says no synaptic trackpad detected or some such thing), so I’m pretty sure it didn’t do anything for me.

    Still looking for a fix for my jumpy trackpad–if any of you have messed around with your PS2 kexts and gotten things to work successfully, let me know what I should try.

    Thanks!

    • Thomas

      This method requires access to a USB keyboard and mouse, though it should resolve your issue. Delete all Voodoo* kexts from /Extra/Extensions/ and /System/Library/Extensions/ (with the exception of VoodooBattery.kext and VoodooSDHC.kext) and reboot. Then, using your USB keyboard and mouse, re-run the Voodoo pkg, making sure to check the option for the trackpad. Finally, reboot again and your keyboard and trackpad should be working normally without the jumpiness. This method will disable the horizontal and vertical scrolling, though it’ll fix your issue.

  66. Brian

    Wow… well either I’m crazy or was working and since broke, so no it’s not seeing the cd/dvd drive at all no devices under ATA in system profiler, works just lovely in 10.5 but 10.6.4 nothing, in system profiler it doesn’t seem that it is listing all the same kexts/extensions (the ones that i am thinking might be applicable) in 10.6 as it is in 10.5 so even after making sure the kexts i thought would matter were in my 10.6 extension folder, still no dice… i’m sure it’s some ridiculously stupid step that i missed somewhere along the line… any help would be greatly appreciated… is there a certain updated kext or anything or just the included IOATAFamily that i should be really expecting to be the pertinent one..

    • Thomas

      What flags are you booting with? Also, is Onboard Devices -> SATA Operation set to ATA or AHCI?

      • Brian

        Flags are -f arch=i386 pmVersion=20 and checking bios sata setting now… just wanted to tell you that part first…

        • Brian

          lol.. i guess i should have asked what it SHOULD be on first. it is currently on ACHI i guess that may explain why IOATAFamily isn’t even showing in loaded extensions in system profiler let alone helping… please advise what i missed… and what i should have it set to and if i need a different/another kext or anything once changing Onboard devices setting (if i need to) scared to just try switching it because of bios warning about not booting OS :) i’m rusty and don’t have nearly enough free time to fiddle with fixing if i broke it too bad.. i love my hackintosh… :)

          • Soule

            Well Brian,
            based on what I’ve done…

            my hackintosh was set to ATA by default all along.
            But in snow leopard i got IOATAFamily.kext issues.
            So i changed the hard drive mode or whatever it is in the BIOS to AHCI.
            And My CD drive, and all of that stuff worked.

            I forgot to change back BIOS mode back to ATA when i installed Windows 7
            it’s still working FINE.

            Just my 2 cents.

          • Thomas

            As Soule indicated, it should be set to AHCI (as you had). You may want to reinstall AppleIntelPIIXATA.kext and IOATAFamily.kext from the Needed Kexts folder from step 7.

            • Brian

              Thanks so much guys… Reinstalled those two kexts with kext helper and before i even had a chance to go to restart the disc in my drive popped up on my desktop :) And system profiler lists all the correct burning capabilities.. you guys rock :) Thanks…

  67. Brian

    I’m having trouble searching the comments to find the answer myself… but has anyone had any luck getting their cd/dvd burner to be recognized? The drive is working fine as a plain cd/dvd reader but the writing capabilities are not recognized…

  68. James

    Hi,

    I have tried installing Snow Leopard from the image file I created and I got the message ‘You cannot install Mac OS X on this volume. To enable installation on this volume open Disk Utility from the Utilities menu and repartition this disk as ‘GUID Partition Table’. Note: you will lose all data on this disk by repartitioning it.’ I didn’t really want to re-partition my drive as I would lose my Leopard install as well.

    Next I tried creating a USB install from the image file and I copied over the file required as detailed in your guide. I deselect everything apart from the essential files but when I authenticate and apply the install I get the message ‘Install Failed’ The installer could not install the software because the software wasn’t found to install’.

    Any advice regarding this would be much appreciated!

    Thanks,
    James.

    • mbebop

      You need to use the custom OSInstall.mpkg to install to a MBR formatted disk; check step 1a above for the download link. I’m not sure if you’re trying to install from the 10.6 disk image (that’s what the linked .mpkg above is for), or from the newer 10.6.3 disk image (if you bought your disk from the store recently, that’s probably what you have). The .mpkg above probably won’t work for that latter; I know there’s a 10.6.3 compatible OSInstall.mpkg floating around the net somewhere, but I’ve not tried it myself. If this is in fact what you need, you should be able to find the download link on the page below:

      http://osx86.sojugarden.com/downloads/

      Good luck!

    • Thomas

      What mbebop said. ;)

  69. mbebop

    So, trackpad is still jumpy, but I haven’t really tried fixing it yet; will let you guys know how that goes when I get to it (hopefully I’ll be able to get 2 finger scroll to work).

    Also, saw in the instructions that you’ve listed the internal microphone as not working? This seems odd to me; everything audio is working properly on my computer (internal mic, 2 headphone jacks, speakers, and line in mic plug) and I think I’m using the audio kext included in your initial install package. Let me know if this stuff is working for everyone now…

    • Thomas

      The microphone works fine and I must have missed that line when updating the guide. Thanks for pointing it out.

      • mbebop

        also, an aside; clamshell sleep recently stopped working on my laptop recently when it’s plugged into the power adapter (still works on battery). While this doesn’t present any real problem, I’m curious to know what might have caused this to happen. Comment if you’ve got any ideas…I may just try to uninstall/reinstall the driver and see if that doesn’t fix it.

  70. Joshua

    Thomas, It KP’ed :(.

    (this is after following steps 14, and 15)

    Here is the screenshot:

    http://i56.tinypic.com/24pe1k8.jpg

    • Thomas

      Reinstall all the Needed Kexts from the drivers pack in step 7.

      • Joshua

        Thomas, It booted. Should I redo steps 14 and 15? My trackpad is not working and my display is not the correct resolution. Thanks again!!! :D

        • Thomas

          For the trackpad you need to redo step 12. The resolution will be 1280×800 as long as you booth with arch=i386 which you said that you are.

          • Joshua

            Ah ha! I thought I only had to boot with arch=i386 the first boot. Thanks for pointing that out. It also fixed my trackpad issue. Hopefully I can get through the rest of the guide! Thanks again!!!!!

            • Joshua

              And one more question, When I finish all the software updates, is it safe to install the security updates? Thanks

              • Thomas

                Make sure you use that for every boot. If you’d like, you can add it to your com.apple.Boot.plist so that your system automatically boots with that flag. And yes, the security updates are safe. I currently have have every update installed on my system without issue.

                • Joshua

                  Aright, I am running 10.6.4. The only issue is sound does not work. Should I reinstall the drivers for sound? What do you think I should do? Thanks!!!

  71. Soule

    Hey!

    Well In response to your twitter message:
    I have a jailbroken iPad. (well a friends)
    I can test your app for you, if you like!

    (my twitter is souleben)

    Also,

    Can i make a backup of my current Snow Leopard install, and put it on an external HDD.
    Is it possible to keep all of my files on the HDD or do i have to format.
    I have the iPhone SDK nicely running. (Sort of, it sucks to have no trackpad. grrr)

    I guess tonight i will do the following:

    Backup to external HDD
    Install iPC 10.5.6
    install Snow leopard
    upgrade

    I think i can test your app within the next couple of days althought not imeediately.
    (or maybe 2night)

    thanks!

    • Thomas

      I appreciate the offer of testing the app though I have indefinitely abandoned development. The app is a waste of time as no one actually uses it. I need to purchase some software to get the app working properly (which I don’t mind), though I don’t believe it’s worth it as there isn’t any interest in a Daily Blogged app.

      You can backup your entire install/partition to an external drive by following page 4 of the backup guide.

      • Soule

        Thanks!

        The backup using CCC is bootable, right?

        Hey,
        atleast i use your app :)
        i can maintain – i know objetive C and iPhone language which i hate.
        btw, you can host the app on ModMyI for free.

        I just upgraded my Touch2G to 4.1 and JB’d via greenpoison.
        Lookin’ good.

        thanks, again!

        • Thomas

          The backup made with CCC is bootable after you install Chameleon onto the partition/disk.

          The issue with the app isn’t developing or hosting; I can do both of those things. The issue is purchasing software to make something that barely anyone will use.

          • Soule

            Purchasing software..

            AFAIK,
            All you have to purchase is the Apple iPhone SDK which is free
            then if you are a good person, buy the yearly dev fee.
            Or fake your own dev certificates. (bad person, aka me, Mr. Illegal)

            If you want something more people will use,
            Just make something that is like your DailyBlogged app but works with any site.
            Then you can work with other people and customize your app slightly so it can work with their blogs.

            With like 10 users from this site
            20 users from this site
            5 users from here
            eh

            not bad

            Plus you can charge them developer fees (hehe)

            Just an idea. But If you are making money then you should definetely buy the yearly Apple Dev fee, you could get in trouble..

            • Thomas

              The thing that must be purchased is a WordPress plugin to provide the mobile site to a browser that meets certain criteria (not useragent based) so that only the app receives the mobile version and not Mobile Safari. I already have a fake certificate so my app can be distributed through Cydia. Having my app work with other sites would defeat the purpose of a Daily Blogged app and then people might as well just use Mobile Safari. Thanks for all the suggestions.

  72. Joshua

    For some reason, I cannot get past the install. Every time I try to install it says “Install Failed”. Not sure if I am doing something wrong. I am partitioning with a GUID partition Table. I don’t select any other options in the install. I am just stumped, and hoping you might be able to help. Thanks!

  73. Soule

    Also,
    im gonna make a backup using CCC – but what does journaling do?

    thanks
    (also is it just me or is this site in mobile mode even on my laptop… annoying!)

  74. Soule

    Hmm..

    I really don’t know!

    When i get the time later this week I’ll probably reinstall via your guide again.

    thanks for all the help!

  75. Soule

    Woohoo!

    I got WiFi to work by using the IO8211Family.kext in your drivers pack!

    Sadly neither Wi-Fi or my keyboard work if i don’t boot with -v -f arch=i386..

    Do you think that by installing some other kexts i could fix my power management (battery meter) and my sound?

    Trackpad still doesn’t work, though.

    thanks.

    • Thomas

      You must boot with -f arch=i386 every time, though the -v isn’t necessary. You can fix Sound with the instructions I previously sent you. And did you ever re-run the VoodooPS2 pkg?

      • Soule

        Hmm.

        I re-ran VoodooPS2
        Whenever I install
        i get an error;
        System is unable to use the kernel extention VoodooTrackpad please contact your manufacturer for help.
        (Not exaactly like that but pretty similar)

        thanks for instant response! wow!

        • Thomas

          What kext’s do you have in /System/Library/Extensions/ that start with “Voodoo”?

          • Soule

            VoodooHDA
            VoodooPower
            VoodooPS2Controller.kext
            VoodooPS2Trackpad.kext
            VoodooSDHC.kext

            thx

            i think VoodooPS2Trackpad.kext is the culprit here.
            I had a strange idea that copying your VoodooPS2Trackpad.kext into mine replacing my buggy one just might fix it. You coould put it on mediafire or something..
            Just an idea

            thx

            • Thomas

              VoodooPS2Trackpad.kext is indeed the culprit, but only becuase it should not be there. You must have installed in from the guide you followed, but it interferes with the pkg I provide. Delete VoodooPS2Trackpad.kext and restart with -v -f arch=i386.

              • Soule

                Okay removed,
                restarted with -v -f arch=i386.
                No luck.

                I must note that when i go to System Preferences and click VoodooPS2, I get an error:
                ApplePS2SynapticsTouchPad not found
                Error

                I press OK and i get a bunch of settings that dont do anything for my trackpad although they change my mouse settings for my USB mouse.
                Do u think reinstalling the PKG would help?

                sorry for wasting your time.

  76. Soule

    Voodoops2 kexts from ur pack fixed my keyboard
    when i booted with -v -f -x arch=i386
    trackpad doesnt work still do u think i should reinstall?
    thanks

    • Thomas

      Try booting with -v arch=i386. If the trackpad still doesn’t work then I’m really unable to offer anymore help as the pkg I provide works fine with my guide.

      • Soule

        Okay thanks.
        Do u think its safe to reinstall the kext?
        There is a slight possibility i forgot to check off “Trackpad” :)
        Also are there any kexts for WiFi?
        I think installing some Sound kexts should fix sound. I already have VoodooHDA installed, just sound isnt outputting.

        thanks,again.

        • Thomas

          You should be fine re-running the pkg. The WiFi kext/instructions for 10.6.4 can be found in my 10.6.4 upgrade guide, though those instructions are specific to my guide.
          For audio, you probably just have to set the output to the speakers in System Preferences. For better audio, microphone support, and working audio after sleep, you can find AppleHDA.kext + LegacyHDA.kext + HDAEnabler.kext here.

          • Soule

            Okay, will try that, thanks

            (BTW your repo isnt working on cydia)

            • Soule

              Wait,
              buu WiFi kexts do you mean removing IO811Family.kext?

              gonna try that atm.

              • Thomas

                Yeah, I meant the step about removing IO80211Family.kext. And the repo is working fine for me. What does it say when you try to add it?

                • Soule

                  I added your repo a few months back.

                  Never worked. I forget the error it displayed when i added it, but it says every time i start cydia (wicked annoying)
                  GPG error:
                  http://repo.dailyblogged.com ./
                  RElease: The following signatures were invalid: NODATA 1 NODATA 2

                  Failed to fetch
                  http://repo.dailyblogged.com/.Packages.bz2 Sub-process /bin/bzip returned an error code (2)

                  Some index files failed to download, or old ones used instead.

                  Its just a popup, fortunately.
                  But when i search for dailyblogged in cydia app search i cant find it.

                  On an iPod touch 2g on 4.0 firmware
                  (gonna update to 4.1 thanks to geohot the moron)

                  Secondly,
                  Removing IO8211Family.kext didnt make a change.
                  was i supposed to do that before the update?

                  Thirdly,
                  I have a theory why using your guide to get snow leopard failed on me:

                  When i went to TransMac to burn my pirated Snow Leopard DMG, (gonna purchase once this is all said & done, dont want to waste my money) it said before i could burn that “this dmg is compressed, please uncompress it” uncompressing took about 25 minutes) then i could burn the DVD.

                  I still have the uncompressed DMG, do you think that the compressed DMG might’ve been causing me all these problems?

                  Fourthly in your guides for updating you say in Step 4a to install legacy kernel. Well make sure that 4a comes first because once you have that update installer running, waiting for you to restart you cant open another installer for legacy kernel. (Learned that the hard way..)
                  Just a little nitpick.

                  thanks!

                  • Thomas

                    1) Remove the repo, restart Cydia, and then add “repo.dailyblogged.com” w/o quotes. It should then work for you.
                    2) That step is specific to how the kexts are set up in my guide. What you can try doing is to place IO80211Family.kext from my Drivers pack in /Extra/Extensions/ and then remove then one in /S/L/E/ and restart.
                    3) You need to purchase it BEFORE you install so that you get a working, unmodified disc. I mean, it’s $29. I don’t understand why people can’t just buy it. If you purchase a copy, there’s a strong change you can install with my guide.
                    4) The steps are in the correct order as the 10.6.4 update replaces the current mach_kernel and would thus replace the newly installed legacy kernel. You have to quit the Installer requiring you to restart and then you can install the legacy kernel.

                    • Soule

                      1) Ahah! Nice app. Real cool! How’d you make it? mind making it open source :D? In fact, what i had to do to fix it is I went to cydia, Manage, sources, and added repo.dailyblogged. I got the same error but it passed this time. Restarted cydia, and bingo it installed.

                      2) I can’t really purchase it at the moment for reasons well, private. :S I probably will just use my retail DVD i used to install via MacYourPC.
                      3) I’m such a noob, what’s S/L/E? Is it when you boot with -s in single user mode to get to the command line?
                      4) When you say “Quit the installer”, do you mean going to Force Quit and quit the installer, right? Just clarifying so i dont run into issues later on.

                      Thanks!

                    • Thomas

                      1) The app is getting a high resolution icon for the retina display, multitasking, and a bug fix so look forward to that probably later today. The app is closed source though you can easily find tutorials on how to make similar apps using UIViewController.
                      3) /System/Library/Extensions/
                      4) You can try quitting from the menu and if that doesn’t work then you can Force Quit.

  77. clubbz

    Help Just updatd to 10.6.1 and it just wont boot it just restarts over and over again.

    i just updated from the software update.

    What do i do?

    will i have to reinstall

    Thanks in advance

  78. mbebop

    Is anyone else experiencing the incredibly irritating mouse warping I’m seeing with the trackpad? If so, how do can I fix this.

    Also, I’m tired of not being able to run things like Google Earth without tremendous amounts of lag. Has anyone else looked into a possible graphics upgrade for the 1525? I’ve read a bit about USB and PCMCIA graphics expansions, but various forums indicate that they’re shit, don’t exist anymore, or are just expansions for adding external displays (which isn’t what I’m looking for). Just wondering if anyone else has found a magical fix for our poor integrated graphics.

    • mbebop

      Also, I recall someone was having issues with their softkeys further down in the comments (play/pause I assume, forward/back were working for me without any tweaks). I suggested before using gimmesometune to get this working instead of butler (you guys claimed butler doesn’t work in 10.6.4?). After testing gimmesometune in SL, I can confirm that play/pause works; just install, head to the preferences menu, and bind the softkey as the keyboard shortcut. Easy as that!

      Note, however, that this functionality will be exclusive to iTunes, and you’ll need to configure gimmesometune to load whenever iTunes starts. Anyway, if anyone else is having problems with this, I suggest checking out the application; it’s fairly lightweight, and should be due for a major update soon, so imo it’s worth checking out. Also, if you use last.fm (I don’t, but whatever) it integrates with that and will let you scrobble out of iTunes.

      • Thomas

        Wow, I gladly stand corrected! I simply assumed the hotkeys didn’t work in Snow Leopard as they required a special kext in Leopard. I will post a new guide with these instructions and will of course give you credit. Thank you so much.

        Btw, did you test gimmesometune on any pre-10.6.4 versions of Snow Leopard?

        • mbebop

          na-wanted to get the system up to date before I started loading on extra software. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work; I haven’t changed the keyboard kext’s since updating to 10.6.4.

          • mbebop

            So after a bit of fiddling with the trackpad, I noticed that the trackpad pref.pane settings reset themselves each time I close System Prefs (Sys Prefs must be restarted to load the pref pane each time). Disabling gestures appears to fix my cursor warping problem (not 100% sure of this, I haven’t been able to spend much time on my computer to evaluate the settings). This is no big deal as gestures don’t work on my setup anyway, but I’d like to know if there’s a way to load the pref.pane properly, and have it retain the settings.

            I recall Zulu was having a similar problem, and you suggested reinstalling the pref.pane (haven’t tried yet), but don’t remember if it fixed the problem or not. If that doesn’t actually work, is there a .plist file I can make some edits to to permanently fix the settings? Also, if anyone has gotten scrolling to work (without making the trackpad finicky), I’d like to know how.

            • Thomas

              I don’t know of a way to have the system retain the prefPane preferences, but I also haven’t really looked into it. Reinstalling the prefPane won’t fix the issue; it was stupid of me to originally suggest that. I also know that several people do have two finger scrolling working, though I personally do not and have been unable to get it working on my system.

  79. Soule

    Hey thomas!
    Quick question.

    I used the guide at macyourpc till 10.6.1 and it worked great.
    Now upgraded to 10.6.4
    I’m getting this:
    ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin::start – waitForService(resourceMatching(AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement) timed out

    ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin::registerLPCDriver – WARNING – LPC device initialization failed: C-state power management not initialized

    I’m pretty sure that has to do with fakesmc.kext
    I know you dont offer support for other guides,
    but i have a feeling this is a rather generic error.
    (MacYourPC support is a pile of crap :(
    the only comments i see there are mine and some other absolute n00bs)

    I have FakeSMC that came from macyourpc in my Macintosh HD/Extra/KextStore,
    but im not sure that FakeSMC is loading from there.
    I used to get IOATAFamily.kext Kernel Panics, but since im on AHCI i removed it and got past that.

    thanks!

    -sou

    • Thomas

      It’s likely to be a FakeSMC.kext as you indicated. Delete the FakeSMC.kext you currently have and copy the one from here to /Extra/Extensions/. If that still doesn’t work, you can try deleting AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext altogether, though be sure to back it up before doing so.

      • Soule

        All righty!
        In a nutshell, my keyboard and mouse dont work, USB ones do tho, and the 10.6.2 update worked :)
        they dont work in safemode either.
        But if i boot from the Boot-132 CD, they work. I think it has to do with the FakeSMC kext.
        Reinstalled, upgraded to 10.6.1
        Installed Legacy kernel for 10.6.2
        Installed 10.6.2 Upgrade,
        then rebooted with -v -f
        got this

        ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin::start – waitForService(resourceMatching(AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement) timed out

        ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin::registerLPCDriver – WARNING – LPC device initialization failed: C-state power management not initialized

        so i rebooted with -s
        removed FakeSMC from Macintosh HD/Extras/BootCache
        rebooted from boot-132 disk with -v -x
        worked, yippee! although i’m in safemode
        copied the fakesmc from your driver pack to /Extras/Extensions
        rebooted with -v -f,
        got in without a hitch
        although i noticed that just before it loaded
        ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin::start – waitForService(resourceMatching(AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement) timed out

        ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin::registerLPCDriver – WARNING – LPC device initialization failed: C-state power management not initialized

        i got that – but this time it got past that

        but now my keyboard and mouse do not work.. if i connect a USB keyboard and mouse however, they work fine & dandy.
        this also happened when i rebooted without any bootflags, and also happened when I booted with safemode.

        Kudos to Jordan for his help, although i just noticed his comment while i was writing mine :D.
        @Jordan im using the MacYourPC guide, i think the only ones are this one and the one there.

        • Soule

          Oh yeah, and i already tried -f arch=i386

          • Thomas

            Glad the updated FakeSMC.kext fixed the issue, though I’m unable to fully help with the Keyboard/Trackpad error. I do recommend running the VoodooPS2 install package in the driver pack, though I believe I use a different PS/2 kext than the other guide so I’m not sure what issues it may cause. You’re welcome to give it a shot, but just note that it’s untested and there is the potential for problems.

            • Soule

              All right will try that

              Doesnt the Boot-132 Disk load some kexts?
              apparently those kexts are working.
              Anyways, do u think it would affect my install If i upgraded to 10.6.3 while in Safe Mode and booting off the boot-132 disk?

              will try your Vooodoo PS2, will write back, thanks!

              • Thomas

                Yes, when booting off the Boot-132 it will load the kexts on the disk. You did say the kexts on the Boot-132 work for you so you can try copying the PS/2 kexts from the disk and use those. You should be fine if upgrading to 10.6.3 in safe mode, though it would be best if you could boot without safemode and just use an external mouse and keyboard to update.

                • Soule

                  Oh, finally!
                  I’m running 10.6.4
                  Unfortunately with a couple of hitches.
                  Firstly, WiFi doesnt work.
                  Secondly, Sound doesnt work
                  Thirdly, sleep aint working, but I never installed SleepEnabler because i feared it would cause dumb errors.
                  I’ve been waiting till 10.6.4 (my final destination) to install it. Do you think i can just Kext Helper the SleepEnabler found in the 10.6.4 update guide? Or should i Drag+drop it into System/Library/Extensions?
                  Fourthly, my internal keyboard & trackpad do not work, although i admit i have not transferred the voodoops2 kexts from my Boot-132 cd yet. Should I Kext Helper those kexts, or should I drag & drop them into /Extra/Extensions or into /System/Library/Extensions?
                  Probably some other knick-nacks aren’t working either, but I’m sure that i can dig up some kexts.

                  Also, a side-question: What does Kext Helpering do VS. Dragging+Dropping?
                  Is there some difference. My guess is that it rebuilds the kext cache, right?

                  Apart from that, I must say THANK YOU THOMAS.
                  I probably will be chipping in some donations later this week.
                  (would 10-15 dollars help at all? or is that too little?)
                  Sorry for firing all those questions even tho i did not use your guide, but as you know (in much detail) you’re guide was unsuccessful on my hardware config. I have the cheapest possible 1525 with No bluetooth, 4-cell battery, 1GB ram, and a single-core 2.0ghz celeron. :( Atleast i have a nice (faded) red matte lid.

                  thanks thomas, please help me top off my hackintosh. This laptop mostly will be either on my desk or hopping around from room to room in my house. thanks!
                  (sorry for my overlength comments, i try to be as descriptive as possible)

                  • Thomas

                    What boot flags are you using now to boot to 10.6.4? For sleepenabler.kext, simply place the one from the 10.6.4 guide in /Extra/Extensions/ and add the pmVersion=20 boot flag to your com.apple.Boot.plist (in addition to whatever other flags you’re using).

                    For the keyboard and trackpad, you can either Kext Helper the boot-132 kexts or run the pkg in my download. The benefit to Kext Helper is that it sets the kext permissions to avoid errors as well as giving you easy access to rebuild the kext cache and other cool features.

                    As for donations, any amount truly does help. I don’t want you to feel obligated to donate as I truly enjoy helping users out with getting OS X running properly and a donation is unnecessary. If you do want to donate though, who am I to object? :P

                    As one last note, I would definitely recommend that you backup your system before making these major kext changes. If you don’t have access to another hard drive, you can follow this guide to partition your drive without losing any data so that you have a separate partition on your current hard drive to backup to. You should also see this guide for complete information on performing a backup in OS X and what your options are.

                    • Soule

                      Well, thanks

                      firstly, i already added the pmVersion=20 bootflag.
                      secondarily, the Boot-132 CD kernel panics now, with a bunch of binary and (double panic)
                      So, I think I will go with your drivers.
                      But pmVersion=20 did not fix my WiFi.
                      Sound does not work either. (but that never worked)
                      How long does taking a backup take?
                      if its 1 hour or less i guess i will.
                      If its longer than that, i may not bother however.
                      I guess i will use CCC. I already read your back up article while waiting for the downloads to finish :)

                      Who knows? Maybe that giant (and slightly obtrusive 4 inch) apple logo on my lid may be worthy?

                      thanks.

                    • Thomas

                      pmVersion=20 is solely for SleepEnabler.kext, nothing else. What boot flags do you use to boot? And backup time will vary based on the amount of data you have and the speed of the device you’re backing up to, though it shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes since you do not have a lot of data on your system yet.

                    • Soule

                      (oh yeah, and there is absolutely no important data on my hard drive. Just that i would like to not have to reinstall all over again. thanks)

    • Jordan

      Hey

      I am not sure how you can fix your problem..
      but it would be much easier from your operating system :)
      so incase you are not able to boot into snow leopard try out these bootflags at the chameleon boot loader

      v -x -f -legacy cpus=1 arch=i386

      that should get you booted in. then check over the guide you was using for kexts for the cpu. if you find any delete them and use any that you find in this one.

      also make sure you delete fakesmc.kext and replace it with the one in this guide

      (im a noob myself, just trying to help if i can)

  80. Jordan

    Hi,
    i have followed your guide all the way through.
    i am now on 10.6.4 and i have to boot with the -f flag on every boot, if i dont then my cd drive and wireless arnt recognised,
    my sound was working up until i updated from 10.6.3 then it stopped working.

    however i followed your install of the trackpad and neither my trackpad or my keyboard are working
    im currently using an external keyboard.

    any help would be very much apreciated.

    when i get this up and running i will make 100% sure to donate to the guide
    if you want to add me on msn or talk here that would be great, either is fine.

    Thanks again! EXCELLENT GUIDE – ive tried many for the inspiron 1525 and this is the only sucessful one :)

    • Thomas

      You must boot with -f arch=i386 else your sound and keyboard/trackpad, as you have experienced, will not work.

      • Jordan

        the -f bootlfag seems to make the OS takes ages to boot? doesnt it reinstall the kexts on each boot or something?

        thanks thomas :)

        • Jordan

          if i want to add -f arch=i386 so it boots each time where in the boot.plist do i place it?

          thanks again

          • Thomas

            If -f takes longer to boot then also try using the -v flag (so -v -f arch=i386). To automate the use of the flags, add the flags below Kernel Flags, as seen in this example.

            • Jordan

              ok. thanks again
              but how would the -v flag help in speeding up the boot process?
              also my touchpad is kind of jumpy with the install instructions from here is it just me or did you get that to?

              thanks dude <3

  81. mbebop

    Hey,

    So I finally got SL installed and updated to the latest version, and all my stuff (at least the stuff I want to keep) migrated to the new install. I am having a problem with the sleep function however; whenever I try to sleep the computer, it restarts instead, but with the keyboard/trackpad disabled. I’ve tried putting the kernel independent SleepEnabler.kext in the Extra folder in root, and in the Extensions folder in Library with the same result. Also, every time I boot the system, chameleon returns an error message (paraphrased below, don’t remember the exact message) prior to loading snow leo:

    ‘Hibernate image is too old by _________seconds. Use ForceWake=y to override’

    I remember having a similar problem before (I think it ended up being related to PS2Controller, but I’m not sure of this). Thoughts/solutions?

    Also, do you always have to boot SL with ‘-f arch=i386’ ? My install usually crashes if I don’t, so I just added these flags to com.apple.boot.plist, which allows me to boot ok. But I guess this would mean I’m stuck with the 32 bit kernel?

    • mbebop

      False alarm on the sleep issue–The apple menu sleep option restarts the computer (I don’t usually sleep the computer from here), but clamshell sleep works fine. So that arrangement works fine for me.

      (I’d still like to know about the boot flags question above)

      I guess the next thing for me to look into is voodoo speedstep for SL…

      Also, have you guys ever tried the chameleon pref pane? Semi-useful, lets you add boot flags, adjust timeout, and change the active partition to boot from within OSX System Prefs.

      • Thomas

        Hey, mbebop. You are stuck with the 32-bit Kernel, but that’s not so bad. What other boot flags do you have in your com.apple.Boot.plist?

        The Hibernate Image message can just be ignored as it doesn’t affect anything. You can remove the message by adding ForceWake=y to your com.apple.Boot.plist, though I believe two other messages will instead show at startup as a result of the boot flag.

        I believe I did once try out the Chameleon Pref pane, though I seldom ever update my com.apple.Boot.plist so the prefpane is unnecessary.

        • mbebop

          My boot flags in com.apple.Boot.plist are as follows: (the format here might also help Jordan with his issue from the above comment)

          Kernel Flags
          -f arch=i386 pmVersion=20

          The pmVersion flag is there because the 10.6.4 upgrade guide said to use it, but I don’t really know what it does (explanation?). If it’s unnecessary I’d like to remove it, as the idea that “less is more” often tends to be true when tweaking an OS. Things seem to be working fine at the moment (only issue I have left to address is the play/pause soft key, but that can wait…also Sapiens doesn’t work in SL–shame)

          Good to know the hibernate image error isn’t a big deal, as I was a bit concerned by it. No point in adding more kernel flags if they don’t do anything, so I likely will just leave it.

          Since tweaks are easy enough to make in the Boot.plist (and are needed fairly infrequently), I can see why you’d skip over using it. However, its great if you prefer an OK GUI, and don’t like making edits to text files (might appeal to some people here, but if you’re comfortable working with the terminal I expect you have no problem with manual edits). I find it’s been really useful in hiding partitions in the boot menu (such as page file or storage partitions, or external disks) that you don’t really want to see when choosing which OS to boot. I can’t remember how difficult it was to do this without the GUI’s freeze partition list function, but I opted to do things the easy way and use the pref pane.

          Also, VoodooPower speedstep appears to be working fine; if you want to cut your power consumption by a bit, and save some battery, head over to Superhai.com and follow the links. Use at your own risk, of course. (To anyone using voodoopower, what’s the best way to check the speedstep/kext activity these days? In the past I’ve used the “Generic CPU Power Management Control” applet, but it doesn’t appear to work now. This might be because I’m using the miniVoodooPower.kext though, haven’t tried the full size one in SL yet).

          Cheers!

          • Thomas

            The pmVersion=20 flag basically tells SleepEnabler.kext that you are running 10.6.4 so that it knows what to do and doesn’t KP. If you’d like, you can remove the flag from com.apple.Boot.plist and instead use the 10.6.4-specific SleepEnabler found here.

            • mbebop

              Na, kernel flag is fine, I’d rather have the universal kext. Will we need to change pmVersion=20 to something else when 10.6.5 roles out to avoid KP, or are we all set for the next release?

              (just curious)

          • Jordan

            Hey

            Thanks mbebop that string did work. did you try adding the forcewake=y string? as i to have the hibernate message, its no big deal for me but if i can use the string and it doesnt show up any more messages than i feel it would be cleaner :)

            Also where is this chameleon.prefpane? i cant find it on the internet.. i would like to hide some partitions with it from chameleon

            Thanks alot to both of you.
            you really have helped me so much

          • Jordan

            also… does the chameleon prefpane only work with rc4?
            and… i believe the ability to hide partitions in chameleon came in rc4… does the hide partitions in prefpane work in rc3?

            what chameleon version are you running?

            Thanks

            • mbebop

              Nope, never tried the forcewake=y string; let me know how it works if you decide to give it a shot, I’d be interested to know.

              I believe I got chameleon prefpane from here (at least, that’s the site I’ve got in my bookmarks:
              http://forge.voodooprojects.org/p/chameleonApplications/source/tree/HEAD/tags/stable
              Make sure you have a look at the readme, as I’m sure there are a few pitfalls to watch out for. It may work with RC3, but I’m not really sure. I’m using RC4 so it functions with my setup. I’m not really sure what the stigma against RC4 is; I’ve been using it with my SL install without any problems, but perhaps I’m setting myself up for problems later. :)

              • Thomas

                RC4 has been known to have some issues with booting Snow Leopard. I experienced this issue and thus felt it would be safer to use the version that always works.

  82. mbebop

    So my last post was about a week ago; been on a field trip all weekend (see below ~somewhere for earlier convo regarding my setup). Anyway, I’ve deleted my windows installation and have tried installing Snow Leo onto that partition using the directions + kexts here, with no success (described what I was trying earlier). I have also been unable to create a bootable USB install disk; not sure if I’m using bad kexts, dsdt.aml, or what (I can select the USB drive with Snow Leo restored to it, but usually get KP or hangs when trying to boot).
    Interesting note, I found that the OSInstall.mpkg (downloadable on this page) may not be compatible with the 10.6.3 image I’m trying to install from; I found a different one here (http://osx86.sojugarden.com/downloads/) that I’m trying to use. I’ve gotten this .mpkg file to load, but I get the same install fail error after authentication.
    Anyway, at this point I’m not too sure what to try; it’s seeming like I may not be able to do this easily on my own, and I really don’t have too much time to fiddle with things. Creating an install USB might still work, but so far I’ve had no luck in getting the installer to work from within my Leo Installation. I may just need to donate and get some direct IM support from you guys to get this working (which I’m willing to do, I’ve used this site enough to merit throwing some money this way).

    Question: When putting the OSInstall.mpkg and associated framework file into an install disk image, can I simply drag/drop it where it needs to go through finder, or do I need to go through the terminal? If doing it in Finder causes things to not work properly, that’s probably my entire problem.

    • Thomas

      You can copy OSInstall.mpkg to the disk image through finder; using Terminal isn’t necessary. You may want to format your Hard Drive with GPT and then attempt to install Snow Leopard with the unmodified OSInstall.mpkg. While I do appreciate the offer of a donation for IM support, things have been very hectic lately and it would be hard for me to find some time to devote to IMing. My apologies for this, and I will do my best to help you out through comments.

      • mbebop

        I’m trying to avoid reformatting to GPT, as this would require me to reformat my entire disk. This would force me to scrap my current (working) Leo installation, and would leave me pretty screwed for school if I can’t get the Snow Leopard installation to work. Since I’m not sure why the installer won’t run to completion from within Leopard, I’m thinking getting a USB install drive working is my best option. What kexts/dsdt need to go into the root of the USB drive to get it to boot right? I’ve sort of been using a hodgepodge; keep in mind we’re trying to boot into 10.6.3, not 10.6.

        Also, is it possible that the original install image I made from my friend’s DVD is bad, and that’s what’s giving me such a headache? If so, it might be time to drop by the bookstore and pick up my own (of course, this would be the most ethical course of action, but I just want things to work at this point).

        • Thomas

          It’s very, very likely that the disk image is bad and is causing your problems. That would explain every issue you’ve faced with installing Snow Leopard. I don’t provide a method for booting from the Snow Leopard disc and therefore cannot provide guidance on that. Sorry.

          • mbebop

            I was more thinking along the lines of buying my own disk in order to make a new, working image. I know there is a boot-132 method that’s pretty easy to do that allows booting from the original DVD, but it also requires installing to GPT so I likely won’t try it.

            • Thomas

              In that case you should definitely pick up a copy and make a new image (if you don’t have access to your friend’s copy). Once you purchase it, and only if you purchase it, it wouldn’t be so wrong to save yourself the trouble and just download the 10.6 dmg. I mean, if you purchase a retail copy, what’s the harm in downloading a backup, right? It’s not like they’re losing any money.

  83. Soule

    Okay,
    Reinstalled.

    Kernel Panic (Huge surprise!)

    Do you think that removing SleepEnabler.Kext would help?

    Slightly different KP this time though, but hangs in the same place as last time:
    http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/3798/1011356.jpg

    I am gonna try and get five bucks in my PayPal.

    I think it would be very helpful!

    Oh, and i reply so quickly since i have Gmail notifier which gives me a little notification in the bottom right when i get new mail, and since I’m subscribed, i get notified within seconds you reply :).

    thanks

    • Thomas

      This doesn’t seem to be a SleepEnabler.kext related issue. Delete HDAEnabler.kext, LegacyHDA.kext, and SleepEnabler.kext in /Extra/Extensions/ and AppleHDA.kext, VoodooBattery.kext, and VoodooSDHC.kext in /System/Library/Extensions/. Then reboot with -v -f -x arch=i386.

      • Soule

        First and foremost; Got an IDENTICAL KP to the previous one.\
        I removed the kexts, but I did not have a VoodooBattery,kext OR a VoodooSDHC oddly enough… But i removed AppleHDA anyways.

        Rebooting got me stuck on the same loop.

        Do you by any chance have Skype support so i can show you what & how it boots…?

        • Soule

          (I’m gonna donate obviously)

          • Thomas

            Thank you, I really do appreciate it, though it isn’t necessary. I don’t use Skype, though that shouldn’t matter too much as the boot process is the same for everyone. How long do you wait before finally deciding the system is frozen and powering down.

            • Soule

              Well, I wait about 20 minutes, before shuting down.

              np. (just need to stock up on cash in my paypal)

              • Thomas

                Yep, it’s definitely frozen if it doesn’t move after 20 minutes. When using the boot flags, are you typing them manually or have you added them to the com.apple.Boot.plist?

                • Soule

                  I type them manually..

                  Does it make much of a difference?

                  • Thomas

                    Not at all. I was going to suggest typing them manually if you had added them to your com.apple.Boot.plist. In the BIOS, is Onboard Devices -> SATA Operation set to ATA or AHCI? Besides for this final step, I believe all methods to fix this have been exhausted.

  84. Soule

    Aagh, that did not work!
    SleepEnabler.kext or not , KP :(
    Here’s the latest KP i got
    http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/2203/1011343.jpg

    I’m fairly sure I’m running 10.6.0, its 10a432. (downloaded, plan to purchase it once i get everything running)

    thanks.

  85. Soule

    Ahah!
    Selected only the Essential Base System, and yay – it passed the install.

    After adding kexts and patches, however, when I rebooted i got a kernel panic :(

    Picture of kernel panic. (Osx is a huge fan of panicking..)
    http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/539/1011336.jpg (very hi-rez, sorry)

    Please help me out, hope this clarified. (BTW i left a comment bout a Internal mic patch on the leopard tut)

  86. Soule

    (In continuation to my previous series of comments, oddly won’t let me reply to your latest message)

    Well, In installating if you mean what i picked in Customized, i selected the printer support driver and x11.

    Obviously, Essential Base System.

    Please give me an idea?

    thanks

    • Soule

      Oh, and BTW, I also tried without customizing anything – to the same dreaded
      “Could not install some files in /Volumes/Snow Leopard Please contact your software manufacturer for more information”
      (Snow Leopard is my partition)

      just to save some confusion,
      thanks

  87. Soule

    Back again,
    Thanks for pointing out Step 2, i actually did it, but this time i copy + pasted the command and it worked :P.

    Anyway, while running the Installer(OSInstall.mpkg) when it gets to the HDD selection, i pick the Snow Leopard partition (HFS+, made in Gparted) but it doesnt let me use it and says:

    “You cannot install Mac OS X on this volume. To enable installation on this volume open Disk Utility from the Utilities menu and repartition this disk as ‘GUID Partition Table’. Note: you will lose all data on this disk by repartitioning it.”

    So, I went to Disk Utility, selected my drive, then went to the Partition tab, but when i select the Snow Leopard Partition, it greys out all the buttons.
    Screenshot of Disk Utility greyed out:
    http://img186.imageshack.us/i/picture3hd.png/
    And here is a picture of the error it gives me when i pick my Snow Leopard partition in Installer:
    http://img829.imageshack.us/i/picture2xk.png/

    Thanks, I’m about half way to my beautiful HackBook!

      • Soule

        Ahah,
        sorry!

        Well yet another problem ( i do not think it is my laptop, i think it is me who is not reading properly.)

        Anyway, when I Drag the downloaded OSInstall.mkpg into the Packages folder in the OSX install disk, it says:

        The package OSXInstall.mkpg could not be mood because “Packages” cannot be modified.

        Ugh, i seem to falling into stupid errors like mousetraps. Fortunately you keep pulling me out of them, as a thank you I will donate as soon as my Snow leopard machine is up and kicking!

        • Thomas

          Try deleting the old OSXInstall.mpkg first and then place the new one in the folder. If it still does not allow you to do this, it is likely that you do not have the rights to write to the volume. Let me know what happens and we’ll take it from there.

          • Soule

            Yep same error;
            Don’t have rights, should’ve said that in my post.

            also this is irrelevant,
            but now my laptop doesnt want to boot; When chameleon is loading it stalls once the bar finishes – I also cant get into BIOS. This happened to me before – waiting it out helped – but I just want your feedback.

            My theory is that Chameleon refuses to boot if there is no keyboard connected…

            Regardless, thanks, please write back.

            • Soule

              I fixed the keyboard error/booting error by connecting an external USB cable – worked nicely.

              Oddly enough, i disconnected the USB keyboard, rebooted, and i could get into the BIOS & Boot.

              Very mysterious!

              But please answer my previous question that is how can i fix the rights of the Install DVD so i can delete/copy OSInstall.mkpg

              thanks!

              • Thomas

                To gain Write access to the Image, you will need to restore it to a flash drive/partition.

                • Soule

                  How can I go about restoring to flashdrive?

                  I have an 8GB USB flash drive, ( that i am willing to format)
                  Should I copy the contents of the Install DVD to that or something?
                  then copy them back?
                  please explain, i’ve checked online, but the results are confusing..
                  sorry for my n00bishness.

                  thanks!

                  • Thomas

                    You can find how to do so in the link from step 1. When you follow the link, scroll down to the part labeled “Install Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard from an external Firewire or USB drive.” Follow those steps, but do ignore the final steps that tell you to restart. Once the Snow Leopard Installer is restored to the flash drive, you can replace the OSInstall.mpkg with the modded one and then install Snow Leopard.

                    • Soule

                      Worked a treat!
                      (for the most part …)

                      Well, it installed A-OK on my 80GB USB hdd, (8GB did not want to work) and i patched the OSInstall.mkpg and all, but finally after installign all the stuff, i watched, it says Install Failed. Did not install some stuff from /Volumes/Snow Leopard(Which is my partition) :(

                      I installed all the kexts, and installed voodoo ps2 and all, but when I rebooted into my Snow Leopard Partition i got a kernel panic. (ahh!)

                      I did all the steps over again atleast three times to the same result.

                      Please help me fix, thanks soo much!

                    • Thomas

                      What are you checking on the Snow Leopard install screen?

  88. Soule

    Hello,
    I have my harddrive formateed and all,
    but when i mount the DMG file by double clicking, i get the little Install mac osx snow leopard window – i only see three options: Install mac osx, optional installs, and Instructions.

    If i look at the toolbar on the top it just shows me information in finder.

    I can’t find step 4:
    System –> Installation –> Packages and double click on OSInstall.mpkg

    Link: https://dailyblogged.com/retail-snow-leopard-installation-guide/#ixzz0zY4hBJH5

    Please help me out, a screenshot would be best, would help noobs like me!

    Thanks for your many quick responses and patience.

    • Thomas

      Sounds like you skipped step 2 which shows hidden files and folders. Redo step 2 and then you should be able to find the file in the specified folder.

  89. Kyle

    GUID… having problems resizing my partition to consume the empty Leopard partition. Gonna start over again to make SL in front of Leopard which should allow Disk Utility to resize.

    • Kyle

      Minor follow-up: the 2 kexts fixed the dvd issue. Couple questions:

      (1) Media keys still work in SL using Butler?
      (2) Is there a different trackpad pane that has tapping included?

      • Thomas

        The Butler method won’t work in Snow Leopard since the included kext is Leopard-specific. Also, I have yet to find an updated trackpad prefpane with tapping.

        • mbebop

          If Butler doesn’t work, you might try GimmeSomeTune (don’t know if depends on the same kext, only used it in Leo). I use it for media keys for iTunes, not sure if it works with anything else though. It’s a menu bar program that works much the same way, but isn’t as customizable/feature filled.

  90. mbebop

    Hey all,

    I have a bit of a favor to ask. I’ve peaked in here every now and again, and have used the information offered on this site to get my Inspiron up to Leo 10.5.7 (you guys are the best unofficial tech support a guy could want, btw). I’d like to update to 10.6 in the near future (especially for the new pdf features); got the install dvd and made my .dmg already, just a matter of getting down and doing it. Problem is, I just started graduate school, and don’t have time fiddle with things to get stuff working, and I can’t afford any computer downtime right now.
    So, I need a more or less flawless methodology for getting things updated, if that were possible. The dvd I made my .dmg from is the 10.6.3 version (if that matters); I installed snow leo on my buddy’s 10.4 mac this summer, and things went smoothly, it automatically migrated his apps and settings (kudos to apple for an easy update). I’m hoping the install can migrate my apps and settings just as easily if I try installing snow leo directly onto my leo partition, but I’m not sure if it’s going to transfer kexts that will brick the new installation. So far I’ve tried booting into the installer from an external HD (got to the language select screen and hung), and am now trying to boot into it from a flash drive (hangs on loading screen). I’m fairly certain this method will work, so long as I can install chameleon from within the snow leo installer (not sure about this, suggestions?). Any advice is welcome, I just need to make sure I do this right the first time. If installing directly over my current leo partition is a terrible idea, I suppose I could try migrating my settings/apps from time machine after a clean install (again, not sure if this will transfer bad kexts or not).

    Thanks for any response, and sorry about tl;dr wall of text.

    • Thomas

      You unfortunately cannot install Snow Leopard over your Leopard partition. You also cannot use Migration Assistant as it will migrate Leopard-specific kexts. The best possible method would be to follow this guide exactly using your 10.6.3 Install DVD, but don’t use the SleepEnabler.kext. Then follow the 10.6.4 upgrade guide and that’ll supply you with the proper SleepEnabler.kext. You’ll have to manually reinstall your Applications and copy over your documents, but the extra time spent is worth running the new Operating System. Good luck, and let me know if you run into any issues along the way, or if you have any questions.

      • mbebop

        In that case, I’ll need to install over Windows in the 1st partition of my disk. This raises two new concerns: First, I remember windows doesn’t like to be on the 2nd partition of the disk, so I may run into issues if I try to put Win7 back on my computer (over my current Leo install, on the 2nd partition). Second, my current partition scheme has partition 1 with 40 gigs, and partition 2 (where Leo is now) with 70 gigs, as I use it more. I’d want to have a larger partition for Snow Leo, so I was wondering if it were possible to shrink my current Leo partition (without damaging it), and allocate that space towards the Snow Leo install (I seem to remember there being a way to do this through terminal, but have since lost the instructions).

        If neither of these are possible, I’d imagine I’ll have to install Snow Leo over windows, then install it again onto the partition where my current Leo install is (a bit of a hassle to say the least; I really should have done this over the summer).

        I know all this is confusing, so to paint a picture of what I have, here’s my partition scheme (if that helps):
        0,1–Windows 7 x64, 40 gigs
        0,2–Leopard, 70 gigs
        0,3–Windows page file partition, ~4 gigs (not sure if this is even needed with windows 7, I read it was a good idea back in XP days. If not, I might be able to install leo or snow leo here, boot, and install to the 70 gig partition from there)
        0,4–Attic (documents, files, music, video. Basically everything that’s not OS specific), 183 gigs

        Again, thanks for the help, and apologies for not doing more research into the issue on my own. If this becomes too much trouble, it might just be time to hassle the school for some money for a real mac; surely they can afford it!

        • Thomas

          You can change partition sizes and create new partitions without having to format anything with this guide.

          • mbebop

            Alright then, looks like I’ll be installing over windows and putting win7 on the second partition (needs a reinstall anyway, been crashing). Last question: if installing from the 10.6.3 dvd, will I still need to run the BSD.pkg as described in step 17 here after initial install, or is this no longer needed?

            • Thomas

              The BSD.pkg installation is not required if you boot from the Snow Leopard DVD and install through that method.

              • mbebop

                The custom OSInstall.mpkg won’t load on my computer…

                • Thomas

                  I’m going to need a lot more information than that. What do you mean it won’t load?

                  • mbebop

                    I show hidden files in finder and navigate to the downloaded OSInstall.mpkg on my mounted Snow Leo install .dmg as described above. I try to open the file, but Installer pops up in the dock and immediately closes. Not sure why it won’t run properly.

                    Using the original OSInstall.mpkg I can get all the way to the end of the installer, but then it fails (I assume this is normal, as original isn’t for MBR disks).

                    • Thomas

                      If you attempt to install Snow Leopard onto a MBR disk using the original OSInstall.mpkg, it’ll get to the screen where you select the disk to install to and then tell you there aren’t any available disks. If the installer does let you select a disk to install to with the original OSInstall.mpkg, you are using a GPT formatted disk and do not need the modded OSInstall.mpkg.

                    • mbebop

                      The original OSInstall.mpkg allows me to select a partition to install Snow Leopard, but after I authenticate I get an install failed message. It reads:
                      “The Installer could not locate the data it needed to install the software. Check your install media or internet connection and try again or contact the software manufacturer for assistance.”
                      blahblahblah…
                      Anyway, I’m certain my HD is formatted as MBR (confirmed by diskutility), so I’m not sure what’s wrong. Perhaps I should try restoring the original, unmodified Install.dmg to my flash drive, then add the modified OSInstall.mpkg, as Soule is attempting?

                    • Thomas

                      Good idea. Give that a shot and then see how the install turns out.

  91. Kyle

    My DVD drive isn’t working, just like some posts below… any help? I’m booting “-f arch=i386” each time.

    • Thomas

      When you insert a DVD in Snow Leopard, is it recognized at all? If you can, take a screenshot of the Disc Burning option in System Profiler so that I can see what is listed.

      • Kyle

        I can hear the disk spinning but the drive is never mounted on the desktop. I know it worked at some point before upgrading to 10.6.4. I was wonder if something broke after I erased the Leopard partition also.

        This is what system profiler says: No disc burning device was found. If the device is external, make sure it’s connected and turned on.

        • Thomas

          Hmm. What extensions do you have in /Extra/Extensions/?

          • Kyle

            The same ones per the instructions… forget it, I’ll start over again as GUID and see where it fails. :-(

            • Thomas

              Would you mind providing a list or screenshot? Simply telling me that you’re using the ones in the guide doesn’t help anything.

              • Kyle

                Here’s what’s in my /Extra/Extensions/ directory:

                fakesmc.kext
                HDAEnabler.kext
                IO80211Family.kext
                LegacyHDA.kext
                OpenHaltRestart.kext
                SleepEnabler.kext

                Sorry about the prior crappy response…

                • Thomas

                  No problem at all. Re-Kext Helper IOATAFamily.kext and AppleIntelPIIXATA.kext found in the Needed Kexts folder of the drivers pack. Then make sure to use the -f flag on your next boot.

                  • Kyle

                    I ended up reloading Snow Leopard and my cd drive is working fine. I’m still on 10.6 though so I’m a bit worried that one of the updates will kill it.

                    Funny you should mention those kexts because I got a random error a couple times saying there was a problem with AppleIntelPIIXATA.kext, IOATAFamily.kext, NullCPUPowerManagement.kext and OpenHaltRestart.kext. I just re-kext helper these files and everything seems better.

    • Thomas

      If you can get back into OS X, run the commands for installing Chameleon in terminal and then upload a screenshot of the commands after they have been run.

    • Kyle

      I installed Chameleon to my Leopard disk and now everything is working… good news!

      I need to erase the Leopard partition at some point cause I need the space for my SL drive. Hopefully Chameleon will still work at that point.

      Thomas – Thanks again for your responses and help. It seems that MBR partitions and installing Chameleon to Leopard vs. SL did the trick.

  92. Kyle

    Apparently, installing SL isn’t as easy as I thought. After I get through step #12, I reboot my computer and I hit an endless loop after the Dell bios screen. It seems to be a problem with chameleon install, except I’m following each of the 3 commands exactly, one by one. My SL partition is on disk0s3…

    Do I need the chameleon folder on my newly created SL desktop? I’ve been leaving it on my current Leopard desktop which is where I’m installing everything else?

    • Thomas

      The Chameleon folder wouldn’t make a difference. In the second step on the Chameleon install, make sure you’re typing rdisk0s3.

      • Kyle

        Yes I always put “r” in front, this is what I’ve been typing from the terminal per step #9:

        cd /Users/Kyle/Desktop/Chameleon-2.0-RC3-r658.bin/i386
        sudo fdisk -f boot0 -u -y /dev/rdisk0
        sudo dd if=boot1h of=/dev/rdisk0s3
        sudo cp boot /

        I’ve tried numerous times, but I always get the endless Dell bios loop after reboot.

        • Kyle

          My partitions are GUID by the way (both Leopard & SL)…

          • Thomas

            You are only supposed to use an r on that second sudo command. You should be typing:

            cd /Users/Kyle/Desktop/Chameleon-2.0-RC3-r658.bin/i386
            sudo fdisk -f boot0 -u -y /dev/disk0
            sudo dd if=boot1h of=/dev/rdisk0s3
            sudo cp boot /

            • Kyle

              Thanks so much for the correction, I was following the instructions on your website exactly! I’ll try again…

              • Thomas

                Holy brain fart, Batman. The instructions in the post as well as what you were typing are correct; my previous comment to you was not. You should include the r in both steps. Sorry about the confusion. Since that isn’t working, try installing Chameleon to all HFS+ partition on your HDD.

              • Kyle

                Alright, tried again but the same result… here’s the error message after the Dell bios loads:

                boot0: GPT
                boot0: testing
                boot0: testing
                boot0: done
                boot1: error

                Also, I booted gparted to ensure the boot flag was set to the SL partition, but ended up with the same error as above.

                • Thomas

                  Since you’re using a GPT disk, make sure there aren’t any partitions checked with the boot flag in GParted.

                  • Kyle

                    No, I’ve tried the EFI partition, Leopard and SL partitions with the same result.

                    Would starting over with MBR partitions make a difference? Also, your comment above about installing chameleon to all drives, does that involve just running the last two commands for each drive identifier?

                    • Kyle

                      Just another late night update… reinstalled everything using MBR partitions and still stuck in an endless loop with the boot1: error message. I tried setting both SL and Leopard partitions with the boot flag, but still same result.

                      This is pretty frustrating since I’ve been using my 1525 for over 2 years and nothing seems to work!

                    • Thomas

                      Just out of curiosity, in the BIOS, is Onboard Devices -> SATA Operation set to ATA or AHCI?

  93. Wolfer

    So, everyone installed and tested this ‘Snow Leopard Graphics Update’? Is all okay with it? Ready to load up?

    Let me know. I’d appreciate it.

    Thanks!

  94. Paul Custance

    Hi,

    Has anyone had an issue with sleeping the laptop whereby it goes to sleep but instantly jumps out of it again? I did fix it with a sleep fix which was a patched IOUSBFAMILY.Kext but that then also killed the webcam from working!

    I would disable Legacy USB but seemingly there is now option for this in the Dell 1525 Bios.

    Any suggestions greatly received.

    Thanks

    Paul

  95. John

    Hey Thomas,

    I have a problem with getting the X3100 to work on Snow Leopard. I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 with a Core 2 Duo and a resolution of 1280×800 to not confuse with the 1440 resolution one. I’ve tried all DSDT’s and all possible kexts to try to get full QE/CI. Many have reported they have the display working on many websites. I’ve even tried the expose hotspot tricks and the sleep tricks but no luck with that. The X3100 worked flawlessly on Leopard but ever since Snow came out, it hasnt been able to recognize the chip. Any help? Thanks a lot!

  96. turningitred

    Thomas,

    I hope you can help me. I’ve been trying to get SL on my partners Inspiron 1525 and you guide worked great up until this point. I’m just wondering, you say that BSD will cause kernel panics a bunch and eventually work, do these KPs happen during the install or at the reboot afterwords? When I install BSD it completes no problems, then I reboot and get a KP. Is this what you’re talking about and I need to keep trying to install in safe mode, or do I have a different problem?

    • turningitred

      ok, now i really don’t know what to do. The keyboard has become completely non-responsive. I can’t even get the BIOS or boot menu?!? I’m at a loss here. I’m at the point of looking for any good combination of restart, let sit, restart right away type of voodoo. Any ideas? It’s one thing to not be able to get SL installed, it’s another thing to completely brick the thing :-<

      • turningitred

        the voodoo worked! That was scary..

        • Thomas

          Since you’ve posted three times now referencing different things, I’m getting a little confused. What are the issues you’re currently facing?

          • turningitred

            I do apologize, the keyboard not responding even at the Dell boot screen really had me worried. At the moment, I can only boot into SL in safe mode. I can install BSD fine, and when I go to reboot afterwords, I get a KP. I think that’s about where I’m at right now.

            • turningitred

              I’m sorry, I have to add to that. I’ve been going through some of the previous steps, and I’m reminded that when I get to step 15, the kexts seem to install fine, but after a few seconds I get a “System extension cannot be used” error for each of them. My wireless also is not working.

              • Thomas

                What flags are you using to boot into Snow Leopard when you receive a KP? The “System Extension cannot but used” error can be fixed by reinstalling that kext, though the error doesn’t actually have any significance.

                • turningitred

                  Ok, here’s an update.. I started over and followed your guide exactly. Upon installing BSD I get KPs just as you said, although, I do have to ask, how many times should I keep trying until it doesn’t work? Other than that, at this point, the built in keyboard and trackpad do not work. If I try it, SL tells me it needs to be identified, but the identification process does not work. I’m using an external keyboard and mouse at the moment. The DVD drive is also not recognized even in disk utility and all of the partitions have strange icons. In Finder, they have the icon usually used for a time machine disk, and in disk utility they have regular folder icons. I have not tested the memory card reader, also, screen resolution is limited to only one choice. Any thoughts for me?

                  • Thomas

                    I suspect that you aren’t using the correct boot flags. You should boot with -f arch=i386 on every boot. Try booting with those flags and then let me know how many of those issues remain.

                    • turningitred

                      -f arch=i386 boot flag causes KP every time whether by itself, or combined with -x and/or -v. I can boot without any flags sometimes, and I can always boot with -x flag and -f -x flag, and of course all of these with -v flag. As I’ve been trying to install BSD I’ve been using -f -v -x flags to boot each time. Any reason why -f arch=i386 might be causing a KP each time?

                    • Thomas

                      Try -v -x arch=i386 and, if it KP’s, send me a picture of the KP screen.

                    • Thomas

                      I just received your email with the picture. Boot into the system using whichever flags work for you and remove any traces of SleepEnabler.kext. Then boot with -v -f arch=i386 and report back.

                    • turningitred

                      I just sent another picture via email. Still getting a KP.

                    • Thomas

                      Which version of Chameleon are you using?

                    • turningitred

                      The Chameleon boot screen says at the top:
                      Darwin/x86 boot v5.0.132 – Chameleon v2.0-RC1 r

                    • Thomas

                      That may be your problem. Boot to Snow Leopard and install Chameleon RC3 from this post.

  97. aszfalt

    Hi,
    thanks for the guide. I’m stuck at the step 12, I’m unable to launch my new system, I got always only a black screen after the gray background with the apple (but I’m hearing the music of the welcome video).
    I was following the steps in a vmware Leopard, so in the step 10 I used a dsdt.aml found on the web. After the reboot I was able to start my system in console mode (-s flag), and I recreated my dsdt.aml file in console, and replaced the old one, so I think it should be fine.
    I tried also the sleep and wake trick, but my system instantly wakes up after pressing Fn+Esc.
    I’ve got a 1440×900 lcd, and I dont know if it makes any difference, but the filesystem is case sensitive (the name of the dsdt file should be lowercase characters?)
    Any hints?

  98. euclides

    Hello! I followed Your excellent tutorial, Everything seems to be ok but… When I get the step 13: “13. Now you can boot to your Snow Leopard partition. Boot with the -f arch=i386 ” It doesn’t boot! My dell shows e message like:
    boot0:GPT
    boot0:testing
    boot0:testing
    boot0:error_
    for just milliseconds and then automatically reboot, and so on.
    Any idea?
    Thanks!!!

    • Thomas

      Sounds like you messed up when installing Chameleon. Reinstall Chameleon but make sure you use the correct values.

      • euclides

        Thomas, I installed Chameleon right like it says in your guide, What do You mean with correct values? I executed:
        sudo fdisk -f boot0 -u -y /dev/rdisk0
        sudo dd if=boot1h of=/dev/rdisk0s3
        sudo cp boot /

        Is the last line completed?
        What can I do???
        Thanks!!!!!

        • Thomas

          You correctly installed Chameleon to disk0s3, though that partition may not be set as the active/boot partition. Verify that it is with GParted or some other partition managing software.

          • euclides

            You were right, The Snow Leopard Partition were not set as “boot”. I changed the flag with GParted and now It says “boot”….. But It still doesn’t boot… :(
            I have 3 partitions, The Leopard one (No boot), the Snow Leopard one (boot) and a small partition named Efi, that is set to be boot too….
            Right now, I can boot 10.5.6 using the installation DVD.
            Thanks!

            • Thomas

              Now that you’ve set the Snow Leopard partition as the boot partition, reinstall Chameleon to it. Also, are you using an MBR formatted disk or a GPT formatted disk.

              • euclides

                Thanks a lot for Your support!
                I deleted the EFI partition using GParted, and the Snow leopard partition suddenly dissapear…. so, I will restart the entire process from scratch…
                I Don’t know about to MBR or GTP… Where can I check it? Which one is better?
                I will try again now, any advice?
                Regards

                • euclides

                  I found It. Is GPT (GUID Partition Table).

                  • euclides

                    Step 5 says: “5. Click continue through the License Agreement until you arrive at the install options. Then click “Change Install Location” and select the drive you want to install Snow Leopard on (It cannot be the drive/partition you’re currently booted to).”

                    I am using the same drive but different partition, is it OK?
                    Tks,

          • euclides

            Hello, I started the process again, But there is an Issue:
            1) Create the Snow partition using “Disk Utility”
            2) by using GParted, set the Snow partition to “boot”
            3) When I reboot in my 10.5.6 Leopard, Snow partition is not visible:
            Can’t see it in Finder, and can’t see it in Disk Utility
            4) Again run GParted and uncheck the “boot” flag
            5) Partition Snow is again alive!
            So… How can I set it to be a “boot” partition?
            Thanks!!

            • Thomas

              It’s a bit different for GPT formatted disks. As you noticed, setting a partition on a GPT disk as the boot partition using GParted will make that partition invisible. To boot from your Snow Leopard partition, simply install Chameleon to it. As you’ve already tried this without success, it may be best to reformat the entire disk as MBR and start over.

  99. Kyle

    Looks like I’ll finally be taking the plunge into Snow Leopard. One question, is there a way to combine my partitions after I install SL? I won’t be using Leopard anymore so I would like to have a single partition. Does anyone actually boot into Leopard anymore?

    Thanks!

  100. Chunkeh

    woohoo! running on 10.6.1 right now…no sound though but got everything else =D

  101. Chunkeh

    Ok will keep trying the kernel panics are so random at the moment

  102. Chunkeh

    Ah, thats a shame. Can it be installed in safe mode? I’m getting Kernel Panics all the time and its so damn frustrating lol

    Yeah it’s:

    http://osx86.net/f57/dell-inspiron-1525-t3860/

    • Thomas

      I’m not sure if it’ll install in safe mode, though it’s definitely worth trying. You can verify it installed properly by successfully repairing permissions in Disk Utility.

      Edit: I just checked out the link and all it is i is the Chameleon boot file. It seems as if you weren’t installing Chameleon correctly (or to the right partition).

  103. Chunkeh

    Yeh no probem, here is the link:

    http://osx86.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=568&d=1252006079 (you need to be registered to download)

    it’s not too much of an issue because it works fine for me on Leopard so I can just transfer anything i need that way…

    Where does the BSD.pkg instal to on the hard drive? (If you know the location I think there could be a work around to all the failed installations by just installing it through Leopard and changing where it should be installed)

    • Thomas

      Installing BSD.pkg to Snow Leopard from Leopard doesn’t have any affect; it has to be installed from Snow Leopard. Do you have the original forum post link (instead of the direct download link)?

  104. Chunkeh

    Ok, just done that and now it’s frozen at Airport: Link Down on en1. Reason 4 (Disassociated due to inactivity).

    Sorry for bugging you…Lol, you’ve been a great help, thank you

    • Thomas

      It’s no problem at all. The link down message is normal and isn’t causing the error. What processor do you have in your system? Also, what version on Snow Leopard are you installing?

      • Chunkeh

        10.6 retail

        and processor is 1.92GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

        • Thomas

          That rules out any processor issues. When booting with arch=i386, do you type it at boot or have you added it to your com.apple.Boot.plist.

          • Chunkeh

            I type it at boot with the -f flag just before. so… -f arch=i386

            should I be running repair permissions after sticking the kexts in the relevant folders?

            • Thomas

              It’s worth a shot. After that, I’m all out of ideas. Sorry. I just can’t think of anything else that would be causing the issue. You are using an Insprion 1525, right?

              • Chunkeh

                Yeah, using inspiron 1525 and Leopard runs like a dream.

                WIll try that now, thanks for all your help

                • Thomas

                  Let me know if that helps at all. Sorry I couldn’t be more help, but I tried everything I know of.

                  • Chunkeh

                    Ok so I am actually on snow leopard as we speak! i found a forum that was having the same difficulty and I downloaded the boot file they used and it’s working….however, I dont have wifi or sound.

                    Sound I just try sticking the relevant kexts from here in the extensions folder as well?

                    • Chunkeh

                      Scratch the previous comment, re did it again! now I have sound and wi-fi! just getting random kernel panics but i havent installed the BSD package yet, will do shortly.

                      My only issue is snow leopard doesnt detect my dvd drive…any ideas why?

                      and thanks again for all your help

                    • Thomas

                      Installing BSD.pkg should resolve those KP’s. Your DVD Drive should just work for you. I think you’re the first person to report a DVD Drive problem in Snow Leopard. There’s something very different about your system that is causing all of these strange errors, and I have no idea what it is. Do you mind providing the link for that custom boot file you used?

                  • lololo

                    hi, I’m having the same issue with the DVD drive. I have no idea how to solve this.
                    Everything else works just perfect, it even detected correctly the name of the monitor, lol!

                    ____
                    specs: macos X 10.6.4
                    DVD: Smasung SH-S222A/BEBE (PATA)

                    • lololo

                      I think I found a workaround:
                      I booted with iBoot CD and it saw the DVD ok.

                      Seems like there is problem with kexts or whatever, because it is not detecting correctly the RAM and Processor when ibooted.

  105. Chunkeh

    Ok so I followed your guide down to the letter, and the first time I tried to boot it up it panicked. Restarted in verbose mode and it’s gone passed the previous issue and seems to have frozen on:

    Sound assertion “0 != pathMap_aDriverInstance” failed in “/SourceCache/AppleHDA/AppleHDA-174.1.1/AppleHDA/AppleHDADriver.cpp” at line 1459 goto exit.

    And there’s the same thing just beneath this line for createAudioEngines

  106. Chunkeh

    Just tried that new kext now and got back the same:

    FakeSMC: key not found RPlt, length – 8
    FakeSMC: key not found EPCI, length – 4

    I’m going to delete snow leopard and start over and just hope for the best lol

    • Thomas

      Yeah, I think it would be wise to reinstall. Make sure to follow the guide exactly so as not to face any problems this time. Good luck!

  107. Chunkeh

    ok so I did what you suggested, got the same timeout issue and just before that message it says the fakesmc not found on two separate lines

    • Thomas

      The last thing I can think of before reinstalling would be to try one last FakeSMC.kext. Download this and copy the fakesmc.kext in “Needed Kext” to /S/L/E/, replacing your other FakeSMC.kext. Finally, reboot with -v -x -f arch=i386.

  108. Chunkeh

    Ok so now it’s stopped on:

    ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin::start – waitForService(resourceMatching(AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement) timed out

    • Thomas

      Try placing the FakeSMC.kext from step 7 in /System/Library/Extensions/ and then booting with -v -x -f arch=i386 (make sure to first delete the one in /Extra/Extensions/). If that doesn’t work, copy only the fakesmc.kext from the Needed Kexts folder to /System/Library/Extensions/. Make sure that any other FakeSMC.kext is delete and then boot with -v -x -f arch=i386.

      • Chunkeh

        Sorry do you mean fakesmc in the extras file? also when you say ONLY copy the fakesmc from the folder, should I delete all the other kexts I have already copied over?

        • Thomas

          Sorry, I should have been more clear. To make it easier, just copy the FakeSMC.kext from /Extra/Extensions/ to /System/Library/Extensions/. Then delete the FakeSMC.kext in /E/E/. Finally, reboot with -v -x -f arch=i386 and report back how it goes.

  109. Chunkeh

    Ok will do now, i’m using chameleon 2.0 RC3 (the one in the link in this guide)

  110. Chunkeh

    Ok so it’s been running for 30 mins and still nothing.

    Also, the processor light isn’t on at all (don’t know if that makes a difference

  111. Chunkeh

    Haha, your kidding! Well the first time I booted it I waited about 20 minutes. After that basically eveytime I saw that message I just assumed it froze *shakes head in shame*

    I’ll redo it now and let you know either way

  112. enochpc

    I have a quick question, I set this up for a Dual (hopefully triple boot if I get it working) Windows XP and OS X 10.6.4 machine (and hopefully Ubuntu). Currently boots to both great. Do you have a recommendation when it comes to a CMOS reset fix? I’ve tried several on my desktop machine and none have worked, wondered if you had tried one for the 1525.

    • Thomas

      To be honest, I’m not even sure what CMOS Reset is or why it even has to be fixed. I did find this link to be quite helpful though: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=CMOS+reset+fix

      • enochpc

        I have my laptop set to boot XP, SL, and Ubuntu. When I boot to SL, it changes the time forward 6 hours or so in the BIOS, so when I boot to XP the time is now incorrect. My desktop is doing the same thing. I have tried a half a dozen different fixes so far, no luck. One forum claims using AppleRTC.kext from Leopard works, just won’t let you boot 64 bit, which your method doesn’t allow anyway. I’m torn between your no leopard kexts rule and an attempt at this repair. Anyway, I am off to check your link.

        • enochpc

          Oh haha nice link, as if Google isn’t my friend already. Thanks anyway.

          • Thomas

            Sorry, I couldn’t resist :P. Now that you’ve explained it, I actually do know which issue you are referring to. I’m going to look into a fix now and will post back with my findings.

    • Thomas

      I may have found a fix. This fixes something in Windows and not OS X. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation\ in the registry and change the value of RealTimeIsUniversal to 1. If RealTimeIsUniversal does not exist, create a new DWORD with a value of 1.

      • Chunkeh

        Hi Thomas,

        I have followed your guide to the letter and I must admit it has helped me a lot and I will be donating once I have it up and running =D

        I’ve double checked all the kexts and they are where they should be. What I did by mistake though was once I installed chameleon and followed the steps I rebooted into snow leopard instead of leopard which didnt load so I went back into Leopard and moved the kexts into the extra/extensions folder.

        Basically when booting snow leopard with -f arch=i386 it just freezes on the apple logo loading screen. I’ve run it in verbose and it’s saying the lpc device initialization failed.

        Any help would be very appreciated!

        Cheers

        • Thomas

          That shouldn’t be too much of an issue. Just follow steps 7 and 8 again. If you are still unable to boot, boot with -v -f arch=i386 and take a picture of the screen it freezes on. Then upload it to an image site and send me the link.

      • enochpc

        Just tried this on my 1525, rebooting now to see if it worked, any idea if this will work for Windows Vista or Windows 7?

  113. Sahand

    Funny you said, cause i’ve just opened it up and cleaned it up ^_^

    It’s not making so much noise as before.

    Hmm, i found another little problem ..
    Everytime i reboot or start the laoptop up, it disables the touchpad automatically.

    When i go to System Preferences, it’s actually not unchecked. But i have to uncheck it and check it again, to get it working everytime.

    Any ideas?

    • Thomas

      Unfortunately, no. I’ve never experienced this issue or anyone else with this issue and I’m not sure what to tell you. Sorry.

  114. frog

    Is there another way to install the audio? When i use Kext Helper it gives me a kernel panic.

    • Thomas

      Boot with -v -f arch=i386 and then attempt to install the audio kexts again. If it KP’s, it’ll now tell you why. Take a picture of the Kernel Panic screen and send it to me.

  115. Sahand

    Hey thomas,

    So i’ve finally installed the Broadcom WLAN card which i’ve bought from eBay. (The one you recommended)

    And AirPort only detects it, when i boot with -v -f flags .. if i only boot with arch=i386, it can’t find it.

    any solutions?

    • Thomas

      It should be fine as long as you boot with -f arch=i386. Mine doesn’t have this problem, but it could be because I did a fresh install after installing the new card. Anyway, congrats on the upgrade! This means that you can now ignore all steps in future update guides relating to IO80211Family.kext.

      • Sahand

        Thank you, i’ll try to add the -f flag. ^_^.

        Now i also have another minor problem .. my trackpad doesn’t quite work after i upgraded to 10.6.4.

        I can only use my left and right click buttons below the pad. I can’t navigate with the trackpad itself. any ideas?

        Thanks again man!

        • Thomas

          Reinstall VoodooPS2Controller-0.98-installer.pkg from the drivers pack in step 7.

          • Sahand

            Allright, Wifi now works right away thanks man!

            I just tried to reinstall the Voodoo package .. It still doesn’t work. :/
            it’s the only thing i need to fix!

            Only the scroller on my trackpad works. (It also worked before i just installed the voodoo package)

            • Thomas

              What flags are you booting with?

              • Sahand

                -f arch=i386 pmVersion=20

                • Thomas

                  I can’t imagine why your trackpad isn’t working. Try repairing permissions in Disk Utility. Did you make any changes to your system before it stopped working?

                  • Sahand

                    Tbh. i really can’t remember so i don’t know.

                    And i’ve also tried to repair permissions.

                    Anyways, i found out that the laptop goes completely off sometimes when it gets too hot. It’s so annoying. I think it may be the battery, but i’m not sure ..

                    • Sahand

                      Omg thomas .. at some reason, i had disabled the clicking function in the trackpad preferences ..

                      It’s all fixed now. You’re the best!

                    • Thomas

                      Alright, glad that’s fixed now. Your system overheating and shutting down is normal. The system is built with the fail safe that, if the system gets too hot, the computer will shut down to prevent damage to the hardware. This happens regardless of the OS. If you’re feeling up for it, you can follow the service manual to open the computer and remove some of the dust.

  116. bgpmalone

    sorry.me again. now a genuine problem.
    I get messages “system extension cannot be used”. The system extension /system/library/extensions/AppleIntelPIIXATA.kext was installed improperly and cannot be used. Please try reinstalling it, or contact the product’s vendor for an update.

    • bgpmalone

      I think I sorted this myself. used kexthelper and reinstalled the kexts.

      • Thomas

        Glad you were able to fix the issues. It feels good when you resolve an annoying issue, doesn’t it? And for future reference, the “system extensions cannot be used” messages are usually temporarily fixed by reinstalling the kexts, but they do come back. The messages, though they sound bad, don’t actually mean anything. The kexts still function normally, though the system seems to think otherwise. In other words, it’s the system reporting an error when there isn’t any.

  117. bgpmalone

    hi there. getting closer to a solution…
    i can’t seem to boot but in safe mode (-x).
    when booting with -f arch=i386 it does not boot.
    I managed to run bsd.pkg fine
    still in 10.6
    when booting in verbose mode I can’t really see anything

  118. bgpmalone

    could you post a working dsdt.aml please?

    • Thomas

      Most systems are a bit different, even in the slightest ways, and thus my dsdt.aml may not be compatible with your system. Nevertheless, if you’d still like to try my dsdt.aml instead of just as easily making your own (step 10), you can download it here.

  119. Rahul

    Well the Chameleon file link on the tutorial is broken here so I tried to hunt down v2.0 RC3. I downloaded a file named RC3, but it says RC4 at the bootloader menu.

    The dsdt patch is pasted to the root of my SL partition.

    • Thomas

      You should have let me know about the broken link; we just recently switched hosts and in the process a couple files were left out. Anyway, the file is now up again (hopefully along with all the other files).
      Your dsdt.aml is in the correct location, so you may just need a new one. Run the DSDT Patcher application from step 10 inside of Snow Leopard and then use the new dsdt.aml it creates.

      • Rahul

        Sorry man, thought somebody might’ve done it by the time I tried the tutorial. Anyhoo, I redid the dsdt patch. Still the same problem, but it doesn’t bother me much. Am happy it atleast got to the point of being more or less as stable as Leopard :)

        p.s : I haven’t run step 17 yet out of sheer paranoia of losing SL, do you recommend I do it or leave it out?

  120. bgp malone

    Hi there
    i have followed your installation instructions and when I boot the first time the screen is blank. Would the intel GMA3100 driver be the issue please?

    • Thomas

      It seems as if you forgot the dsdt.aml from step 10.

      • bgpmalone

        not really. I have a dsdt.aml, but I wonder whether it is correct. I created it using the dsdt patcher, whilst in the working 10.5.6 partition

        • bgpmalone

          oh…and the dsdt.aml is in the root, not in the extra folder

          • Thomas

            No, really, it does seem that way. Anyway, boot to the black screen and after about a minute, press Fn+Esc. The computer will then either go to sleep, or attempt to go to sleep and wake back up. If it goes to sleep, press the power button to wake it back up. Then, make another dsdt.aml from Snow Leopard and place it in both the root and the Extra folder of your Snow Leopard partition

  121. Rahul

    Alright I have a really wonky wonky installation working.. sort of. Problem is, while installing Chameleon on SL I somehow managed to screw up my Leopard chameleon bootloader (v1.1). I fixed it to some extent but my SL installation is KP’ing on boot :( The version I installed was 10.6.3.

    Could it be due to the SleepEnabler kext? I forgot to use the one from 10.6.3.

    • Thomas

      If you are using the incorrect SleepEnabler.kext then you will have a kernel panic.

      • rahul

        My keyboard and trackpad ain’t working :(

        • rahul

          Should I be worried that the Extensions folder on my SL partition does NOT have an ApplePS2Controller.kext?

          • Thomas

            Your keyboard and trackpad will only work in 32-bit mode. Make sure you are booting with arch=i386 else they will not work. And I’m currently not in OS X so I can’t see if I have that kext, though it doesn’t matter if you have VoodooPS2Controller.kext installed (which you should).

            • rahul

              Booting with -f arch=i386 will make my screen go black :(

              But I do see some activity for a while. And i’ve done every step in the guide. What am I missing? :(

              • Thomas

                Make sure you follow step 10 with the dsdt.aml. Where is your DSDT.aml located? What version of Chameleon are you using?

                • Rahul

                  I did everything perfectly. Now am booted into SL, still ironing out some kinks so not saying anything at the moment.. :)

                  I used Richard’s sleep trick from the original Leopard tutorial. I let the system go to sleep. Am I the only on who got the blank screen btw?

                  Also Thomas thanks a lot for all the quick reply’s. :)

    • rahul

      Update: It seems the keyboard and trackpad only work in 32bit mode. Is this expected?

      I managed to make it boot up somehow but am not getting the picture. If i boot normally I get to the setup screen but then again it asks for a keyboard to be plugged in.

  122. Sahand

    Hey Thomas,

    I have a problem. My Snow Leopard 10.6.4 sometimes reboots at random periods .. and when it does that, my keyboard doesn’t work, so i can’t boot when it starts up again in Chameleon. I have to plug a external keyboard to it, until it starts up. Then i can use the internal keyboard again. it’s so weird. And another thing, when i enter snow leopard after reboot, it says something with unsupported safety image or some shit. I had to turn it off in Security pane which i did. But it still does it.

    Any ideas?

    • Thomas

      It sounds like you have some real instability. Have you installed any extra kexts? Also, try getting a picture or the exact text of the error message so we can try to diagnose it.

  123. Rahul

    Would it make a difference if I used gparted to convert the volume to hfs?

    Or if I tried to shrink the Leopard volume? Have till now managed to free around 23gigs on my Leopard partition.

    Which one would work? :(

  124. Rahul

    K am in a real pickle now :(

    I managed to free around 26gigs of free space from my C,windows partition. I distinctly remember carrying out a similar step when I first installed Leopard. Today, I tried everything but am not able to format that space in Mac extended Journaled :(

    I formatted it as a Simple Volume, NTFS, Free Space.. Nothing works!!

    • Thomas

      What are you using to format the partition, and under what OS?

      • Rahul

        I used Windows Disk Management to shrink my C partition..

        And for formatting I tried to use Disk Utility on Leopard. Of the three possibilities I mentioned earlier, twice it threw up the error “MediaKit… something something.”

        sorry, I forgot what the error actually said :(

        • Thomas

          Try formatting the partition to HFS+ again and record the exact message it gives you.

          • Rahul

            K am booted into Leopard now. It says “MediaKit reports illogical request.”

            p.s: On Windows I created a new simple volume out of the free space. But I did not assign a drive letter or choose a format option.

            • Thomas

              In Windows, format the partition to either NTFS or FAT32. Then try to reformat the partition to HFS+ in OS X.

              • Rahul

                Just tried it. No luck :( Damnit.

                And just to be clear,
                On windows>format to FAT32
                On mac>use disk utility to erase partition as Mac OS Extended Journaled

  125. Rahul

    One last question before I start:

    I already have chameleon on my Leopard -sorry if this is a dumb question but- do I still have to install chameleon again on SL?

    • Thomas

      It’s best to still install Chameleon onto your Snow Leopard partition so that Chameleon loads the correct com.apple.Boot.plist.

  126. Matt

    Sorry am new to the scene but how do I find out if my hdd is formatted as MBR?

    I already have Leopard installed with Windows dual boot. Would I still need to download the file from step 1.a?

    • Thomas

      You can check if your disk is formatted as MBR or GPT in Disk Utility. You have Windows installed so you most likely have MBR, though still check to be sure.

  127. swampf0etus

    Can I just say something; be careful if you plan to use Migration Assistant to copy your applications and data across from your old Leopard installation to your new Snow Leopard. I did this yesterday and it was like firing an antique blunderbuss at my /System/Library/Extensions/ directory. i.e. Kernel Panic city!

    Yes, it copies across all your hacked Leopard kexts, which obviously don’t work on Snow Leopard. Took me hours to sort out. But I do now have my applications and data from my old Leopard. Even my self-compiled Apache server!

    If you are thinking about using Migration Assistant then I suggest you do the following prior to running it;
    1. Terminal
    2. sudo su –
    3. cd /System/Library/
    4. cp -R Extensions Extensions_backup

    After running Migration Assistant and BEFORE YOU REBOOT OR LOGOUT do the following;
    1. Terminal
    2. sudo su –
    3. cd /System/Library/
    4. mv Extensions Extensions_after_migration
    5. mv Extensions_backup Extensions

    In the end, running Migration Assistant was worth it for me, as I had loads of apps and data, but I wish I knew to perform these steps before hand.

    • Thomas

      I received your donation and it is very much appreciated. It’s users like you who give back to both myself and other users (with this helpful comment, for example) that make doing this enjoyable. Thanks so much for your generosity.

  128. Rahul

    Hey Thomas,

    I’ve been mulling over whether to upgrade or not cuz am really afraid to lose what I already have :(

    But here’s the main problem: I do not have any space to spare for a new partition. Can I install SL on my Leopard partition by using a USB as the install disk?

    • Thomas

      I do not support that method of installation. I highly doubt you don’t have a spare ~6GB to install Snow Leopard though. If you really don’t, you need to either delete some files you no longer need or upgrade to a larger HDD. And besides, if you were to install Snow Leopard onto your Leopard partition, you would have to format your Leopard Partition first, erasing everything on that partition anyway.

      • Rahul

        Oh k.. I guess I will just have to try and squeeze some space. Lets say I create a 10gig partition for SL, after successful install I can use SL to install SL again over the Leopard partition right? Could you please tell me if this would work..?

        • Thomas

          What exactly are you trying to accomplish by installing Snow Leopard over Leopard?

          • Rahul

            C partition: 180Gig, Windows 7
            Machintosh partition: Rest of the space, Mac OS Leopard

            I will try to partition some free space from C, install SL and then I will use it in turn to install SL onto Leopard since am pretty sure I won’t be able to free up more than 15gigs of free space from C and you have said I can’t install SL over Leopard right away.

            • Thomas

              I still don’t know what you are trying to accomplish by installing Snow Leopard over your current Leopard partition. Doing so will not upgrade the OS and have all your data and apps automatically installed.

              • Rahul

                Ah well forget what I said.. I think I might be able to partition some 30gigs from my windows partition. Will install SL on that :)

  129. Sahand

    Allright guys, everything works perfect now, except Wi-Fi. Any ideas? I don’t know what my wifi card is .. :/ (Inspiron 1525)

  130. Sahand

    I don’t know why, but everytime i’m trying to install Snow Leopard now, on my newly created partition, it automatically shut’s down. Why? :(

    Dell Inspiron 1525 btw.

  131. dsp

    Thomas ur guide is awesome….btw can you pls post a guide on installing snow leopard using the boot disks like empire efi & boot-132 etc….

    • Thomas

      I may explore that option, though it probably will not happen. The current guide is fine for the vast majority of users due to them previously running Leopard. I appreciate the suggestion.

  132. swampf0etus

    I’ve had my Inspiron 1525 hackbook working for over 18 months now, thanks to these excellent blogs. However, I’m still on 10.5.8 and was thinking it’s time to go for Snow Leopard.

    I came over to this topic, read through it, and thought “first things first; buy a copy of Snow Leopard.”

    So I bagged myself a copy from Amazon for £22.99, but it’s 10.6.3! Can I use this guide to successfully install from retail 10.6.3, or must I get a dodgy download of 10.6.1 from somewhere off the net?

    • Thomas

      Swampf0etus (what a name!)- Your updated install disc will be just fine with this guide, though you’ll want to use the SleepEnabler.kext from the 10.6.3 guide. Using the SleepEnabler.kext from this guide will give you a Kernel Panic.

      • swampf0etus

        Cheers for that, Thomas. I thought as much, but just wanted to check before I kick things off.

        On another note, I’m replacing the disc in my 1525 with a blank 320gb to perform the installation, as it sounds like it’s easier that way. My plan is to install Leopard from XXX disc and create two partitions; 1 x 280gb and 1 x 40gb. I then plan to install Leopard onto the 40gb partition and use it to install Snow Leopard onto the 280gb partition. Will the Leopard installer let me install onto the second partition (40gb), leaving the first one blank? Once it’s all working, I’ll transfer all my data from the old disc to the new one.

        Do you think this sounds like a plan or do you think there’s an easier way? I’ve already bought the new disc (which is better than the old one) and I can’t see a way of doing it with the old disc, as it’s already partitioned 280gb and 40gb with Leopard on 280 and Win7 on 40.

        Cheers for all your hardwork. You are the Hackbook pwnz0r1111!!!!one!!!!el3ven!!111

        • Thomas

          I too have a 320GB HDD, and I think it’s the perfect size. Congrats on the upgrade! To install onto the drive, the first option you listed (XXX to the 2nd partition and then install Snow Leopard) would be fine. And yes, you can install Leopard/Snow Leopard onto any HFS+ formatedd partition, regardless of which partition number it is.

          • swampf0etus

            Cheers Thomas.

            Actually tried the install at the weekend and hit a few problems.

            XXX Leopard install went fine, but didn’t bother getting things like WiFi working, as was only using it to install SL and I’d downloaded everything I needed to USB stick.
            The actual SL install kept on failing with a “failed to copy files to the target location”, which I’ve since read that a lot people get, even on real Macs. I watched it closely up until the point of failure and noticed it was failing on the printer drivers, so did a custom install and unticked the printer drivers. Success!

            However, after I completed all the steps and rebooted, I’m stuck in a boot loop. After the initial Dell screen, it briefly shows boot0, boot1 in the top left then resets back to the Dell screen. Loop, loop, loop…

            I’ve obviously screwed the Chameleon install, so I’m going to have a play with it today (I’m using the XXX disc to get me into Leopard). I’m sure I had a similar problem when I first installed Chameleon for Leopard and resolved it pretty quick. The only thing I did differently from your Chameleon install guide was to cp boot to /Volumes/Snow Leopard instead of /

            My diskutil shows;
            0 GUID
            1 EFI disk0s1
            2 Snow Leopard disk0s2
            3 Leopard disk0s3

            So I performed the dd on /dev/rdisk0s2. Is that correct for the above disk layout? Hopefully I’ll have it all sorted before you get to reply, but I’ll let you know if I succeed.

            Thanks again.

            • Thomas

              That one change you made is probably causing the issue. You are already in the root of the Snow Leopard partition when you run that command, so your change is unnecessary. Also, the command you attempted should have been “sudo cp boot /Snow\ Leopard/.” Regardless, just follow the three lines of code exactly and it’ll allow you to boot. And yes, /dev/rdisk0s2 is correct.

            • swampf0etus

              Ok, I’ve sorted Chameleon and I’m now into Snow Leopard. Yey!
              But my WiFi isn’t working. Boo!

              I fixed the boot by using dd on /dev/rdisk0s3 (Leopard partition). Don’t know what’s going on there, but who cares!

              However, not sure what’s going on with my WiFi, as I have Broadcom 1395, so was expecting it to just work. Any ideas why its not? I’m going to have a look in the broadcom shell script and see if I can get it working. I’m sure the script just hacks about with xml/plist files, so no worries about installing a Leopard kext.

              I’m wondering; is my WiFi not working because I didn’t get it working on my temporary Leopard installation before installing SL? Seems unlikely, I must admit.

              • Thomas

                Your lack of wifi in Leopard will have no effect on Snow Leopard. Just make sure you have all the kexts from step 7 in the correct place. In Snow Leopard, there is no script to get wifi working, only a kext.

              • swampf0etus

                Sorted my WiFi! I achieved it by…

                1. Terminal
                2. sudo su –
                3. cd /System/Library/Extensions/
                4. mv IO80211Family.kext IO80211Family.backup
                5. Dragged and dropped IO80211Family.kext from the step 7 download into KextHelper
                6. Reboot
                7. AirPort win!

                So, I’m now wondering
                1. What is the /Extra/Extensions/ directory for?
                2. What about the other kexts in there; are they also not working? Probably would have had a KP by now if they’re not.

                Oh well, happy days! Now to upgrade to 10.6.4!

                Thanks, Thomas, for all your help

                • Thomas

                  So basically, you Kext Helpered the included IO80211Family.kext :P. Glad it’s working for you now! To answer your questions, /Extra/Extensions/ is a place for kexts to be placed, and is an alternative to /System/Library/Extensions/. It simply exists to make your system more “vanilla” and to have one folder with all your modifications. Not all kexts support loading from /Extra/Extensions/ though, and that is why there are still kexts placed in /System/Library/Extensions/. Chameleon won’t load the IO80211FFamily.kext in /Extra/Extensions/ if the one in /System/Library/Extensions/ has a newer version number (which seems to be the case here).

  133. ffreese

    Hi,
    i can´t get tap-2-click get to work, even though I did activate it on the trackpad prefpane.
    At one of the steps to 10.6.4 I list my internal kbd/mouse, so I had to reinstall some of the kexts. I think, one or some of the kexts might be outdatet. So, which kexts are responsible for the trackpad (and what size/date should they have?
    Reinstalling trackpad didn´t work for me…
    I use a fresh 10.6.4 buildt from scratch step by step from my original 10.6 (.0) osx install dvd. I love it, because all important things work, but no tap-2-click and no 2-finger-scrolling :(
    Thank you in advance. Frank

  134. bgpmalone

    Hi Thomas, I must admit I did not follow 100% your method. I created a few partitions: one called “cham” for the Chameleon bootloader, one called snowleopard, one called win7, one called backup and one called data. I am using RC5 so I can boot both win7 and snowleopard. I followed your install guide for snowleopard (but I did start from 10.6 on the backup partition to install SL on the snowleopard partition using a USB stick image of SL), but used the macyourpc.com boot cd as it is the only one that really works well for me.
    Windows 7 works fine, and I can boot SL on both the snowleopard and backup partitions but only in -x mode. the plist file is in the cham partition, in the extra folder. I hope this all makes sense…I tried using your kexts to get audio etc to work but it doesn’t.

  135. bgpmalone

    Hi Thomas, I ask because the arch=i386 is in my plist file and still I have to put -x in to make it boot without crashing…

  136. bgpmalone

    hi Thomas. when booting, shouldn’t the i=386 flag be loaded from the com.apple.boot.plist?

    • Thomas

      Assuming you mean arch=i386, then yes, that is one possible place to load it from. It is also possible to manually type it in at the Chameleon screen before boot. Why do you ask?

  137. naeratoo

    hey.. what about if i am guid partitioned?

  138. naeratoo

    p.s. oh yeah… i’ve just realized/remembered… is it possible for the kp to occur because when i installed the osinstall.mpkg just before finishing i got an error saying it can’t copy some files….

    uhm…. dope..

  139. naeratoo

    i’ve tried that too… still won’t work.. i’ve learnt from somewhere… once… how to read kp errors.. maybe i’m blind.. maybe it really doesnt say.. but i cant see in the backtrace, which kext is faulty. it just writes a number of hex rows and that’s it… i’m not at home right now so i can’t really take a screenshot.

  140. naeratoo

    hey Thomas! since i’m into having a good hackintosh system i’ve always been using your guides. I’ve installed snow leopard many times on my dell inspiron 1525 but it never felt quite “clean”… if you know the feeling. I’ve used distros… and now i finally turned to your guide, again, for a retail installation. I’ve followed the exact steps one by one, I have a good working Leopard installation but when i get to nr 13. the point when i have to restart and boot in SL.. I always get a kernel panic….. :( i am using -f arch=i386 but still.. kp.. I’ve tried -x arch=i386… i’ve tried to just simply boot.. and still kp…

    So if you please, have any ideeas about this.. share.. Thank you!

  141. Zulu

    Thomas, thanks for the great guide. I followed the steps and have a couple of issues I hope you can help me with:

    1. Step 14 you reference step 9, I think you mean 7

    2. Unless I use -f arch=i386 I get kernel panic, I have 1.6 Ghz dual core, is this normal?

    2. Every time I reboot I lose the touchpad clicking ability, I have to open pref pane (which requires preferences to restart) and then reset settings and it will work again. However, once the laptop goes to sleep, I lose that setting again. Very annoying.

    3. Initially the sound worked, then it stopped with nothing in the sound pref pane, I reinstalled AppleHDA.kext (from your package) twice, but did not work. I finally used voodooHDA.kext and it partially works with crackling sound. Any ideas?

    I almost ready to move to the next 4 updates, but want to fix these issues before. Your help is greatly appreciated.

    • Thomas

      1. I recently rewrote the guide and must have missed that change. Thanks for pointing it out.
      2. This is normal. My system will only boot to 32-bit (arch=i386), and I know the same is true for other user’s systems also.
      3. Try reinstalling the trackpad pkg from step 7.
      4. Update to 10.6.4 and then reinstall the 3 audio kexts. I have a feeling that the audio will fix itself.

  142. Esher

    Oh and to answer your other question. My i7 is a windows box. :D These were MacOS X apps I was looking to run. I s’pose I could VMWare it though.

    Anyway, it seems I was lead to some misinformation reguarding 64 bit vs 32 bit. I found an article that explains it way more in depth and accurately then anything anyone has said to me yet. It’s actually quite neat. We’re technically both right for various reasons. It’s both a hardware and a software limitation, depending on which hardware and which software you use.

    http://www.dansdata.com/askdan00015.htm

    I definately suggest to anyone still confused about the 32 bit stuff to take a look at this. :D It explains everything from the ground up, referencing how it all started even.

    • Thomas

      Great article! I too suggest anyone still confused about the 32-bit vs 64-bit debate go read that article. Nevertheless, I will still continue to receive questions from people asking if they should run 64-bit, even though the answer is outlined here. This is because people don’t read, and want everyone else to do everything for them. I now have a reference to point them to, so thanks.

  143. Esher

    This is what I was told reguarding the 32-bit OS limitation:

    “Any 32-bit operating system can address (the way the operating system “points” the CPU to the piece of memory it wants to use at any given time) 4GB of RAM, though no more then that due to the limitation of the integer values of some variables within the 32-bit instruction set.

    Parts of the computer that must store information, such as video cards, network cards, legacy serial, parallel and PS/2 ports, sound cards, and practically every other component on your motherboard or any add-in card take up some of that 4GB address space.

    The part of that 4GB address space cannot be used to “point” to the physical RAM in your computer, so if you have a fancy Alienware laptop with dual 1GB video cards and a 32bit XP, Vista, Linux, or whatever, you’ve lost 2GB right there and might as well only have 2GB of physical RAM installed.

    This is why many BIOSes will say “4096MB installed, 3347MB addressable” as in the case of my laptop (note that word, addressable, that means 3347MB of the 4GB a 32-bit operating system can address is available, and the rest of the addresses are used for hardware components like the video cards).

    This is also why Alienware prefers to ship 64-bit Vista on their laptops, although you can select 32-bit if you want.”

  144. Esher

    Fair enough, though the 32 bit barrier is not an Operating System dependant limitation. From what I understand from my friend at intel. It’s a hardware limitation of using 32 bit processing instruction set. So while the operating system may support over the 4GB limit even under 32 bit, neither the hardware or the memory assignment functions of most motherboards can handle it.

    But either way I only have 2GB. I just wanted the 64 bit for a couple high CPU intense apps I was planning on making use of that benchmarked a bit better under 64 bit. But there are windows equivilents I can run on my i7 desktop so that’s ok. 32 bit it is. :)

    • Thomas

      32-bit certainly has its own barriers, though a 4GB limit is not one of them. Hardware that supports 64-bit will support over 4GB of RAM on 32-bit. The issue is that it is harder to code the use of and control more memory in 32-bit, so companies like Microsoft will take the easy (and smarter) route of requiring a 64-bit OS for 4GB+ of RAM. Btw, if you have an i7, why are you still using your 1525 for CPU intensive apps? :p

  145. Esher

    Hey guys, been having another issue with my Dell 1525..

    Basically if I don’t boot with the arch=i386 flag, my keyboard and touchpad don’t work. External mouse same thing. I’ve added it to my plist but it would be nice to boot in 64 bit mode since I do have a Core 2 Duo in this thing.

    Any suggestions?

    • Thomas

      There are no benefits to booting 64-bit. The trade off from going to 64-bit is much less application support and lots of unsupported hardware in exchange for the ability to use 32GB+ of RAM. A huge misconception is that Snow Leopard can’t utilize your full 4GB of RAM. Unlike Windows, which is coded to not utilize more than ~3.5GB of RAM in 32-bit, Snow Leopard 32-bit will use the full 4GB of RAM (assuming you have 4GB). Snow Leopard 32-bit can utilize up to 32GB of RAM. To summarize, there is absolutely no reason to use 64-bit, unless you have over 32GB of RAM (which no Mac currently supports).

  146. bgpmalone

    when I don’t use -x, the error message is “C-state power management not initialised”

  147. bgp malone

    oops…the -x flag, booting in safe mode.

    • Thomas

      Try booting with -f arch=i386. If your system is able to boot, which I suspect it will now that you will be booting to 32-bit, go ahead and add those kernel flags to your com.apple.Boot.plist in /Extra/.

  148. bgp malone

    hi. i can only make it work by booting -v
    i did use chameleon r5 because then i can dual boot windows 7
    can you help please?

    • Thomas

      The -v flag won’t affect your ability to boot, as it doesn’t actually do anything to the system. Some other kernel flag is allowing you to boot.

  149. Cam

    This did not work for me.
    Installed fine. Replaced Kexts, Installed bootloader.
    Snow loads kexts and then dumps me at a blank screen and stops hardriving

    • Thomas

      I’m going to need a bit more information than that if you are expecting assistance with your issue. What computer are you using? When do you see this black screen? What do you see when you boot with -v? Stuff like this will help me diagnose your issue; telling me that your computer stops “harddriving” will not.

  150. Rendell

    @Thomas

    Doesn’t work for me. Im trying to update to a newer version of Leopard, to see if it works then, even though I doubt it.

    Let you know how it goes.

  151. Rendell

    Im having problem with starting the installation process. I get a message saying ; ALERT For Mac OS X system requirements, see “Read Before You Install” document on your Mac OS X installation disc.

    The only option I have is to close the installer. I have tried several time, but it doesn’t work.

    My computer is Dell Inspiron 1525, currently running OS X 10.5.5. I have two partition on my hard drive, one with 130 GB of space, and one with 14 GB. I planned to install Snow Leo on the large partition, but Im not able to.

    I also cant upgrade to a higher/newer version of Leopard, because I do not have much space left on my hard drive on which leopard is installed.

    Any ideas to what I can try is appreciated. This is not my main computer, so I can do more or less anything with.

    • Thomas

      You may occasionally see that message when launching the installer. However, after several attempts to run it it should work. Just make sure you’re running the installer with OSInstall.mpkg.

  152. CrispyG

    it’s the one from /extra

  153. CrispyG

    http://www.filedropper.com/comapplebootplist

    and here’s a transcript:

    Kernel
    mach_kernel
    Kernel Flags
    arch=i386
    Graphics Mode
    1280x800x32
    Timeout
    0
    SMBIOSdefaults
    No

  154. CrispyG

    * arch=i386

    my bad

  155. CrispyG

    @Thomas

    no, i’m using the i=386 flag, and even if i type that at the bootloader, it still safe boots.
    might it have something to do with snow leopard reporting that my battery needs servicing?

  156. cedyc

    @whoever.. Okay I’m on to my next project. I’m going to put Snow on my Dell Lat D620. Any references would be nice.. I’m going to try using the 1525 method first to see how it does.

  157. CrispyG

    @Thomas

    I set the boot.plist file to automatically boot the 32 bit kernel, and it is definitely safe mode – i have to type my password to log in, and the log in window says ‘safe boot’ in big red letters :P

  158. CrispyG

    Hi,
    I tried this on my 1525, and everything works, but every time it safe boots, and tells me that my battery needs servicing. Do you guys have any idea how to stop it from booting into safe mode – i can’t use sound in safe mode :'(

    • Thomas

      CrispyG- I don’t believe you’re actually booting into safe mode, as it doesn’t by default; I think you’re booting into 64-bit Snow Leopard, which could appear to be a safe mode as it lacks drivers for certain hardware. Booting with arch=i386 -f should resolve your issues.

  159. flackend

    Sorry the SleepEnabler from my link made you KP by the way! I don’t know why the 10.5.7/8 version is bad, the 10.6.3 works fine for me.

  160. flackend

    Apparently you downloaded a version of SleepEnabler intended for a version of OS X other than the one you’re running. You should use the version provided in the 10.5.8 guide like Thomas indicated.

    If you can’t boot to replace the SleepEnabler.kext you’ll need to do it from the command line or another OS.

  161. Juanski

    Thomas,
    I had installed the 10.5.7 / 10.5.8 version of the SleepEnabler from the link that Flackend provided. On Reboot it KP with the error message “Version mis-match between Kernel and CPU”. I was stuck because I was unable to boot into safe mode from the hard disk. I had to boot off the OSX install DVD and use the Terminal to remove it.

    Juanski

  162. Juanski

    @ Dieselboy. I am running 10.5.8 and made the mistake of installing the Sleepfix for my version of OSX and now it kernel panics (even in Safe mode). I’d stay away from it at this point. Atleast if you are on 10.5.8 that is.

    Juanski

  163. flackend

    I updated to 10.6.3 today. Replaced the new IO80211Family.kext in S/L/E to get wireless to work again. Downloaded new SleepEnabler since old one KPs.

    http://code.google.com/p/xnu-sleep-enabler/downloads/list

  164. dieselboy

    I’ve heard bad things about the sleep fix. I don’t have it installed and haven’t tried it. YMMV.

  165. Esher

    Cool beans. Do I need the sleep fix after update? Or does it work properly now.

  166. dieselboy

    Yes 10.6.3 works fine for me, I’m currently running it. Just make sure you don’t have the sleepenabler.kext installed or you’ll get a KP.

  167. Esher

    That would be nice yea. And not exactly that hard to setup either. :) Might consider doing something like that myself.

    Now, does anyone know if updating to 10.6.3 is safe yet?

  168. dieselboy

    I really wish there was an IRC for us Dell 1525 Snow Leo users. That way we could all get together and share experiences etc in real time. If that’s not possible you can follow my twitter @dieselboy28.

  169. Esher

    dieselboy. I love you man. Dunno how I missed something so simple. Thanks dude. Extremely appreciated!

  170. dieselboy

    In order to get sound working go to System Preferences > Sound, then make sure that you have selected speaker (fixed) under the Output tab.

  171. Esher

    Thanks diesleboy. The Kext Utility permission fix worked like a charm. It even fixed my trackpad functionality! I did already do the Voodoo stuff, as per the above guide, which of course is why I have a working trackpad now.

    But alas, despite having a speaker icon, I still don’t have any sound. In System Profiler it says no Audio device is present.

  172. dieselboy

    I had the same problem with the extension errors coming up. Have you tried repairing permissions with kext utility?

    Also, in order to get your sound and trackpad working you need to use the voodoohda with prefpane installation. You’ll need the trackpad prefpane installed for that to work also.

    The following link has all those files available in one download.

    http://antyalias.wordpress.com/2009/10/03/dell-1525-snow-leopard-10a432-10-6-retail-single-usb-method/

  173. Esher

    Just when I think everything is good. I keep getting an error for those six extensions from step 10. It says

    System extension cannot be used.

    The system extension “/System/Library/Extensions/AppleIntelPIIXATA.kext” was installed improperly and cannot be used. Please try reinstalling, or contact the product’s vendor for an update.

    It repeats that for each of those kexts. I tried to get them in using kext helper but it made the OS stop booting again. I repaired it with hooking the drive up to a VMWare Mac on my Windows machine and recopying them over, but it still does it.

    I also dont have any sound and my trackpad doesnt work. Otherwise she seems to be working fine. Even updated to 10.6.2 with no problems.

    Its not a huge problem, but annoying. Thanks in advance!

  174. Esher

    AH HAH! SOLVED!

    Ok, so the issue appeared to be that Chameleon wasn’t installing properly. Upgrading to v2.0 wasn’t working. But I figured out why.

    Running the cp boot / command was executing, but it wasn’t actually copying it over. I only figured out what was going on by trying to copy it over using finder and getting the error “Cannot replace boot because it is invisible”

    So I killed boot and replaced it with the Chameleon one, and bang, OS X boots up fine now.

  175. Esher

    I did that. No such luck.

  176. dieselboy

    Why not just put the dsdt.aml file into the root of your Snow directory?

  177. Esher

    So I get as far as step 16. When I reboot it hangs at “Loading Darwin/x86” for about 5 minutes, then the screen turns off and nothing happens ever again.

    Attempted the sleep trick (Close laptop, unplug for 15) to see if it may work, but of course it failed. Any help at all would be great. This has been an extremely unsatisfying and frustrating experience so far, after already going through a nightmare of a time getting regular Leopard working. (And even then I couldn’t update beyond 10.5.3)

  178. dieselboy

    Quick question: Has anyone experienced a spontaneous kernel panic after running Snow Leopard for long periods of time? I used to get it on 10.5.6 after about 3 days uptime, but today just had 10.6.3 panic on me after only 1.5 days of uptime.

  179. Andre

    Sorry about posting this here again but its for continuity purposes.
    No luck at doing FN+Esc.
    However i plugged an analog cable to a monitor and it shows the verbose.
    The last line is:
    “couldn’t read user-specified local hostname bla bla bla”

    thanks in advance

  180. George Burfeind

    BSD Easy Install:
    Open terminal, run “sudo su” then “while true; do killall update_dyld_shared_cache; done”. Install BSD. Reboot with -s. Run “mount -uw /”, “update_dyld_shared_cache”, “reboot”. Done.

  181. George Burfeind

    Just a small tip:
    After installing BSD 21 times before a successful install, I decided there had to be a better way and popped open the install log while it ran. It turns out that whenever the command update_dyld_shared_cache is run, it causes a kernel panic, and at least for me, even after the install of BSD. You can easily get around it by running the following commands:

    Su to root:
    # sudo su

    And type out the following script into terminal:
    # while true
    > do killall update_dyld_shared_cache
    > done

    After that, there will be a ton of No Matching Process messages in the window, but you can safely proceed with installing BSD. When you are done, anywhere that shows a terminal prompt (verbose boot, terminal.app) will have a bunch of spam in it. This can be fixed by booting with -s and running:
    # mount -uw /
    # update_dyld_shared_cache
    # reboot
    This will be able to run just fine in single user mode. This will work as well if you cannot install packages after running BSD. A slightly more complex-yet-similar method can be used to run updates that require a reboot in Apple’s Software Update application, yet it is a bit much to explain right now.

  182. Andre

    Hello again =)

    I have tryed to install OSX using iPC x86 but i cant get to the partitions GUI. It just gets flashes a light blue screen then it goes black and its gone…
    I have tried the sleep trick but no luck at all =/

    Thanks in advance

    Andre

    • Thomas

      Andre- Please submit your question in the appropriate post next time (ie. a post on Leopard). Anyway, wait for about 30 seconds after the screen goes black and the HDD activity light stops blinking, and then press Fn + Esc. The screen will then come to life. From there on, use this guide to never have to do a sleep trick again.

  183. Ash

    Hey,

    Thanks for guide but I have a big problem

    My X3100 will not boot. It will spin the startup and when it starts to enter the desktop screen goes balnk.

    This is only on i386, on 10.6.0, if i use x86_64 then it boots graphical but no QE/CI

    any help or ideas much appreciated
    cheers

  184. Dieselboy28

    Is it really that easy to dual boot windows 7 and osx snow leopard? Just using chameleon sounds too good to be true. I have snow Leo on one partition and would love to put win7 on another. It would be great if they could happily coexist.

    • Thomas

      That’s the basis of it! It can get a little more complicated, albeit it still remains fairly simple. When it comes down to it, you just run a couple Windows commands and it works! You can find a complete guide here.

  185. mattizmyname

    how do you get quartz extreme to work with the X3100?

    • Thomas

      Andre- Just make sure to run the most recetn version of Chameleont o support multiple OS’s.

      matt- Quartz Extreme will automatically work in 32-bit SL. Just make sure to boot with arch=i386

  186. Andre

    Hello there,

    First of all thanks a LOT for this tutorial although i have a pretty “simple” question:
    How can i have dual boot?

    Thanks in advance
    Andre

  187. cedyc

    Did you ever get the crackling sound fixed? Also does anyone (Thomas :-) ) know where I can get the kext for Intel Integrated 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV????

    • Thomas

      Sorry guys, I’ve been super busy lately. To anyone who still needs assistance: please repost your question (a simply copy and paste will suffice) and I will answer.

  188. Michael

    I have SL 10.6.3 up and working on my 1525 except for sleep. I’m using Meklort’s sleepenabler.kext 10.6.x version, and have installed the SleepWatcher package. Also have set “pmset -a hibernatemode=0”. Entering sleep mode causes a reboot and freeze at Chameleon boot screen. I must unplug A/C adapter and remove/replace the battery in order to boot. Any suggestions as to getting sleep to work properly?

    Thanks.

  189. Alex

    I have read articles that the crackling/popping sound is caused by the update to the sound driver, where can I get the driver for the sound to stop it crackling when playing audio, thanks. Alex

  190. steveo

    Hi,

    I have two issues with Snow leopard 10.6.3:

    1. Two finger scrolling really sucks, It is no 2 finger scrolling but edge scrolling… :( Am I missing something? Do you have the same issues? Also, when I scroll it literally flips when I touch the edges of the pad. Is there a special Version of the Voodoo-Driver I need to bring back 2finger scrolling?

    2. My second problem is the sound. it works, but well… it is Voodoo again. To be fair, I am glad and thankful to have sound at all, but I liked the HDA workaround better. I also modified my dsdt to have HDA but it seems not to work on our Dells.

    But, to say something positive :) I have native Speedstep working and I use it together with a tool named Coolbook. So my Dell is very chilled now. No more high temps. It is around 63 to 73° now. not that cool, but it’s OK.

  191. dieselboy

    One thing I have noticed is that the trackpad can sometime be finicky. Especially with the two finger scrolling. I disable horizontal scrolling, but each time I reboot I have to re-disable it. Nothing huge, but it’s a slight issue.

  192. Nathan

    I managed to get pass the kernel panic.

    I think it was caused by the voodoo power kext.
    I deleted that and no more kernel panic.

    Im currently on Snow Leopard.

    Do I install AppleHDA on Leopard or Snow Leopard?

    And also I think the VoodooPS2Controller pkg might be making me fail
    Last night when I rebooted after I installed Apple HDA on SL my screen was not normal and my trackpad and keyboard wouldnt work so I had to do the install again.

    Nathan.

    • Thomas

      Which AppleHDA are you referring to? And I don’t think the VoodooPS2Controll.pkg would cause you to be unable to boot. Just make sure that you boot with arch=i386 on each boot (or just add it to your com.apple.Boot.plist).

  193. Nathan

    Sorry for double post.

    I fixed that problem, it was cos I was installing off usb.
    Now I did all the kexts and I get kernel panic when booting.
    I have tryed booting with various flags with no success.

  194. Nathan

    When installing I keep getting ‘The installer could not validate the contents of the ‘Essentials’ package. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance’ It happens about halfway through installation.

    What does that mean?

  195. dieselboy

    10.6.0 sorry for not being clearer.

  196. dieselboy

    I just went and downloaded the 10.6.3 combo update and went straight to it. It’s important to not have sleepenabler kext installed otherwise panic. Everything else is working fine for me. Webcam, SD card, USB, dual monitor, audio. This is much better than my leopard install, and I finally have the iTunes store working.

  197. dieselboy

    Thank you very much, I have a fully working version of 10.6.3 SL, save for sleep mode.

    • Thomas

      May I ask which method you chose to upgrade to 10.6.2 and then eventually 10.6.3, or did you upgrade straight to 10.6.0 from 10.6.3?

  198. dieselboy28

    I am also getting a “system extension cannot be used” error pop up after 15 minutes running Snow Leopard.

  199. dieselboy28

    Ok, so I have installed 10.6 to my 1525. However I am only getting 1024×768 resolution, I have no video hardware acceleration. I have even put my x3100 kexts from Leo to Snow Leo without success. I have read that people say you can modify com.apple.boot.plist with the strings to get it working, which it does, but still I haven’t got hardware acceleration. No ripple effect when putting new widget or transparency in task bar at the top of screen. Just wondering if anyone can help me.

    • Thomas

      Dieselboy28- If you know how, copy the Snow Leopard graphics Kexts back from the disc to your SL partition. As a rule of thumb, never use Leopard kexts in SL as they do much more harm then good. To fix the resolution issue, boot with arch=i386 or add it to your com.apple.Boot.plist so it automatically does it for you. Finally, reinstall the offending kext with Kext Helper and upon restarting the message should no longer appear.

  200. Clint

    Made a little more progress. I redid the OSX install to the USB thumbdrive, followed the steps above, but am now seeing this error:

    BSD root: disk1s2, major 14, minor 5
    panic(cpu 0 caller 0x475588): “Process 1 exec of /sbin/launchd failed, errno 2\n”@/SourceCache/xnu/xnu-1456.1.25/bsd/kern/kern_exec.c:3146
    Debugger called:

    — the CPU backtrace is similar to the above, w/”Return Address (4 potential args on stack)” and numerous hex values. The only differences after this from my previous stack trace were:

    BSD process name corresponding to current thread: init
    and
    System model name: MacPro2,1

    This is with flags -v -f arch=i368. There were no obvious errors prior to the panic line above, and in fact it seemed like everything was running well. I read one place online that indicated that it could be an issue with the BIOS. I’m running BIOS version A17. I did all the steps up #16, and am stuck at the ‘boot’ side of things.

    Any thoughts?

    Thanks!

  201. Spencer

    Thanks, One more question. I just did a clean install of XxX 10.5.6 and I now have two partitions one has leopard on it and the other is for snow leopard, but when i try and install it on the partition it says it can’t install it due to it not being a GUID, Will Gparted do the trick?

    Screenshot included:

    http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/9918/imagedr.png

    • Thomas

      To change the disk to GUID, you would have to complete wipe everything. Just follow step 1a in this guide to install onto your MBR Hard Drive.

  202. Spencer

    Hey,

    So I understand that i have to install it on a separate external drive or partition. I know that you can’t partition Leopard while using it, so could I like install it on a USB or would it have to be an External Drive. Also is it possible to do a clean installation so there is just one partition with only Snow Leopard?

    Thanks.

    • Thomas

      You actually can partition Leopard, and this fantastic guide shows you how. And using the same software from the previously mentioned guide, you can delete your other partitions once Snow Leopard is all installed. I don’t recommend this however as if something goes wrong, you may not have the means to repair it.

  203. Clint

    Thanks for the great tutorial! I hope you might be able to help me figure out what I’m doing wrong. I followed the steps above line by line, except in step 11 where I used the instructions for the new version of Chameleon, but since I don’t have a version of Leopard installed, I used the DSDT.AML file from here:

    https://dailyblogged.com/post/adding-a-dsdtaml-to-older-installs/

    I’m trying to set this up such that I can run SL from a 16 GB flash drive to my 1525. If I try booting the USB drive, I get the Chameleon screen and boot with “-x -v -f arch=i386”, I end up with a kernel panic. I’ll type up most of it below:

    ——————

    npvhash=4095
    PAE enabled
    64 bit mode enabled
    Darwin Kernel Version 10.0.0: Fri Jul 31 22:47:34 PDT 2009; root:xnu-1456.1.25~1/RELEASE_I386
    vm_page_bootstrap: 764105 free pages and 22327 wired pages
    standard timeslicing quantum is 10000 us
    mig_table_max_displ = 73
    SAFE BOOT DETECTED – only valid OSBundleRequired kexts will be loaded.
    panic(cpu 0 caller 0x2a6ac2): Kernel trap at 0x00508684, type 14=page fault, registers:
    CR0: 0x8001003b, CR2: 0xs2ee5fa7, CR3: 0x00100000, CR4: 0x000006e0
    EAX: 0x6576206c, EBX: 0x0099a000, ECX: 0x6576206c, EDX: 0x6d783f3c
    CR2: 0xd2ee5fa7, EBP: 0x3c9d3e68, ESI: 0x06278d00, EDI: 0x000005a2
    EFL: 0x00010006, EIP: 0x00508684, CS: 0x00000000, DS: 0x06270010
    Error code: 0x00000002

    Debugger called:
    Backtrace (CPU 0), Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
    0x3c9d3c28 : 0x21acfa (0x5ce650 0x3c9d3c5c 0x223156 0x0)
    0x3c9d3c78 : 0x2a6ac2 (0x590a50 0x508684 0xe 0x590c1a)
    0x3c9d3d58 : 029c968 (0x3c9d3d70 0x24 0x3c9d3e68 0x508684)
    … (this repeats for a number of lines until…)
    0x3c9d3fa8 : 0x22847d (0x0 0x0 0x0 0x84bbbc)
    0x3c9d3fc8 : 0x29c68c (0x0 0xffffffff 0x0 0x0)

    BSD process name corresponding to current thread: Unknown

    Mac OS version:
    Not yet set

    Kernel version:
    Darwin Kernel Version 10.0.0: Fri Jul 31 22:47:34 PDT 2009; root:xnu-1456.1.25~1/RELEASE_I386

    System uptime in nanoseconds: 47957257

    ——————

    Any thoughts? I’m sure I’m doing something wrong, but I don’t know what. I made it as far as step 16. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks!
    Clint

  204. CME

    @Thomas After I installed Snow Leopard on another partition, is there a way to remove Leopard partition and use that space for Snow Leopard?
    Thanks

    • Thomas

      From Snow Leopard, use Disk Utility to delete your Leopard partition. Then use this guide to add the space to Snow Leopard. Just note that I don’t recommend deleting your Leopard partition as anything could go wrong with this fairly young OS.

  205. CME

    Great tutorial, but do I have to install Snow Leopard on another partition. Can I install it over Leopard. Like an upgrade?
    Thanks

  206. Joey

    Sorry to say, but yes. This might be easy, but how do you increase the size of an HFS+ volume. I am going to remove my leopard partition now that snow leopard works well, so I need to let snow leopard have all the room that leopard occupied. Also, should I receive a kernel panic when booting up without the boot flags “-f arch=i386”. If so, how do I make it so those boot flags are used every time I boot without having to type them in.

    • Thomas

      You can learn about resizing HFS+ partitions with this post. I recommend keeping your Leopard partition in case Snow Leopard decides to crap out. If you remove all unneeded applications and files, and then shrink it down, it shouldn’t take up more than 10GB. As for the Kernel Panic being ok, I would say yes and no. The Kernel Panic most likely means you are having a kext conflict, but it only rears its ugly head when you boot to 64-bit. Due to most users never using SL 64-bit (unless you will), I would just let it be. To make these flags automatic at every boot, add them to your com.apple.Boot.plist located in /Extra/ in your Snow Leopard partition (or, alternatively, /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/ in your Snow Leopard partition). As a second, easier option, you can replace the corresponding lines in your com.apple.Boot.plist with the lines from this file.

  207. Joey

    Got it all working, What I did was I shrunk my xp drive by 1 gig and inserted a partition in there. I formated it as HFS+ and then installed chameleon to the new drive. I made the drive active and rebooted and guess what I didn’t see:
    “boot0: error”

    • Thomas

      I think the extended partition formatting may have done it. But, congrats on getting it to work. Are you facing any other issues?

  208. Joey

    Ok, did the diskpart stuff again. Fail! “boot0: failed”. Does it have anything to do with the fact I am using the windows bootloader or the fact I am using an extended partition to run leopard and snow leopard?

  209. Joey

    Ok, when I turn on the computer into windows xp, I still use that old clunky xp bootloader. It has osx as the second option because I use that chain0 thing. When I selected mac osx, I saw a chameleon at the top of the screen! Best of all “boot0: error” didn’t show up, at all!!!!!!!

    YAY! YAY! YAY!

    One question (again, sorry): how do I enter boot arguments in Chameleon?

    • Thomas

      Now that that works, that means both Windows and OS X have their respective MBR’s setup properly. If you’re feeling brave, you can run the diskpart stuff again and it WILL work this time. As for boot arguments, hit any key to stop the auto-countdown and then type in whatever boot flags you want.

  210. Joey

    Um… finished install, rebooted.

    “boot0: testing”
    “boot0: testing”
    “boot0: error”
    (expected)
    Running gparted so I can get into windows and fix it with the commands and I’ll let you know if it all plays out the right way, or if this boot loader sucks eggs (Joking, not angry). (:

  211. Joey

    Ok, I was just afraid my computer would be bricked unless I gave up all my data on my Leopard partition and my windows partition, if I loose windows, I don’t have my activation key to reinstall it, so it is vital to keep windows and I worked so hard to get 10.5.8 working, I don’t want to do all that over again. I trust you fully though, so I will do as you say. Thanks again

    • Thomas

      It is impossible for Chameleon to “brick your computer” as all it does it overwrite the MBR. It never accesses any of your data, so even if it did render Windows or OS X unbootable (which it won’t), all the data would still be there.

  212. Joey

    Sorry to be a worry wart, but are you sure that I should install Chameleon to my leopard partition, it took me 3 days to set that up, and I don’t want to screw up what I have, Is this confirmed to be safe? I’ll wait to do it until I get some word on what I need to do.

  213. cedyc

    Hey Thomas, I have a Dell Optiplex GX260 that I want to install Snow on. Do I just use this same guide or is this specific to the 1525?

  214. Joey

    I have also noticed that on my machine when snow leopard was installed, I can’t boot directly into the leopard partition, I have to use the windows bootloader to select MacOSX and then the mac bootloader shows up. If i set the leopard partition as the active one it gives me the “boot0: testing” “boot0: testing” “boot0: error” thing again. Strange, huh. (Don’t get mad if I should have mentioned this before (: )

    • Thomas

      Yikes! Try this out: boot to Leopard and reinstall Chameleon to your Leopard partition using the previous link. Then, boot to Windows and redo your previously listed commands in diskpart (they appear correct). Finally, reboot and you should see Chameleon.

  215. Joey

    Executed the following:
    – Booted in windows
    – Opened up a run prompt
    – Typed in “diskpart”
    – In the command window i typed in “list disk”
    – typed “select disk 0”
    – typed “list partition”
    – typed “select partition 3” (Leopard)
    – typed “active”
    – typed “exit”
    – rebooted
    – Same errors
    – went into gparted and used that to get back into windows
    – opened up diskpart again
    – typed “select disk 0”
    – typed “select partition 4” (Snow Leopard)
    – typed “active”
    – typed “exit”
    – same error again!!

    My computer is trying to give me a stroke or something.

  216. Joey

    Oh, I didn’t understand how vital windows was, I shall do it from my windows xp side.

  217. Joey

    Should I have installed chameleon to my Leopard partition or my new Snow Leopard partition? I installed to my Snow Leopard, so that may be the problem.

  218. Joey

    did what you said, but the computer is still not booting right, here is what it spits out now:

    “boot0: testing”
    “boot0: testing”
    “boot0: error”

    That’s 2 more lines than before, so we must be on to something. (:

    • Thomas

      Unfortunately, for this you HAVE to use Windows. It allows Windows’ MBR to update with the OS X options (even though you won’t be using Windows’ MBR) so it doesn’t give errors. In other words, follow my previous comment and it should fix it.

  219. Joey

    PS, I am using gparted to set leopard the boot partition, screw windows (:

  220. Joey

    Thanks Thomas, I will do that and let you know how it plays out! Thanks SO MUCH For all the support you have given and will give me (yah, I might do something stupid again and come crying to you “Fix my computer..’sobbing'”)

    Joey

  221. Joey

    Yep, pretty much (Meaning Exactly right).

  222. Joey

    Resize went fine, Got the install to work, but now I get “boot0: error” when booting up, I set my windows partition as the boot for now so that I can use the computer and the leopard side, but when I set the snow leopard side to boot it gives me that error, my computer hates me. Help, Please (:

  223. Joey

    Ok here is a problem, My install (OSInstall.mpkg) failed and it said it was because It couldn’t write some printer drivers to my install volume because of some issues with privileges, I tried to erase the Snow Leopard volume, but It wouldn’t unmount. What is wrong with my hackintosh?

    • Thomas

      Reboot and then try to format the drive with Disk Utility. If it doesn’t allow you to, you can always use GParted to take care of it. Then, when installing Snow Leopard, don’t install any of the included printer drivers. By the way, how did the resize issue turn out?

  224. Joey

    Thanks For the advice, I’ll do just that!

  225. Joey

    Is it possible to do a dual boot with windows xp and Mac OS X 10.6 using this guide with the slight change of adding chain0 to the windows side and using the windows boot menu?

    • Thomas

      While that is possible, I would recommend that you instead use Chameleon as the default bootloader. Reason being, Chameleon boots both OS X and Windows without a hitch; the XP bootloader sometimes has issues with booting OS X. Plus, Chameleon has a nice GUI while the XP bootloader is more text-based.

  226. Kyle

    I followed this guide and everything is working, except I keep randomly getting the “You need to restart your computer” error. How do I fix this?

  227. Kaya

    Nope, everything seems to be running smoothly now.

  228. Kaya

    Nevermind, the keyboard and mouse just randomly started working again.

  229. Kaya

    I seem to have somehow installed the voodoops2controller on my leopard partition and now my keyboard and mouse don’t work at all, even during boot up. So, I can’t boot from a cd or change which partition I boot into or enter any boot flags. Please, is there anyway to get my keyboard working again so that I can continue the installation?

  230. cedyc

    That’s funny. I thought my speakers were just going bad. I have the same crackling noise on mine. Good to know there is a fix. Has anyone been able to get all of the applications installed on the 1525, i.e. iphoto ect.? I can get some of them like garage band and a few others but now iPhoto and I can’t remember the other ones that are on that application disk.

    • Thomas

      cedyc- I don’t seem to be having any issues with installing applications. Do you get some sort of error message when installing them? And check to see if there are any updates for them in Software Update if they install but don’t launch.

      Alain- There’s a wonderful guide on setting your HFS+ partition as active from within Windows here. Let me know if you have any trouble as I personally use the guide, so I should be able to walk you along.

  231. Alex

    The sound works on my Inspion but sometimes there is a ‘crackling’ noise when music is played…

  232. MilkyTech

    that didn’t work. that file already had the timeout set to 0. it still goes to the boot device selection screen

    • Thomas

      MilkyTech- Make the Timeout change to any com.apple.Boot.plist that could be affecting Chameleon. In other words, change the timeout to 0 in the com.apple.Boot.plist in Snow Leopard, Leopard, and any other OS that is using one.

      Alex- The crackling is a common issue in Snow Leopard, and I have a fix for it. I just need to finish the guide for it and the crackling will be resolved.

  233. MilkyTech

    Question: How can I set Chameleon to just boot to the HD without me having to press enter at the boot device selection screen?

    • Thomas

      Add/replace the lines in your com.apple.boot.plist file in /Extra (or /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration if not in /Extra) with these, but changing 10 to 0. This will tell Chameleon to wait 0 seconds before booting the default OS.

  234. cedyc

    @MilkyTech & Thomas.. Actually that’s not true Thomas. I did a fresh install of Snow on my 1525. It had Windows 7 on it and I formatted it and did the fresh install of snow. I used my iMac running snow to follow this turtorial and just installed everything to my 1525 hard drive. I have an IDE to USB cable that I used to hook the 1525 Hard Drive to my iMac. Then when I was done installing everyhing to it, I just put the HD back in my laptop and booted it up and continued with Step 16. So I wouldn’t say that you need Leopard installed but I will say that you need access to a Machine runing Mac OS in order to read the Snow Disk and run the install. Make sense?

    • Thomas

      I was trying to explain in layman’s terms. You are correct though in your statement that you can install Snow Leopard onto the hard drive from another computer. To rephrase, you must have a computer currently running OS X to install Snow Leopard onto the hard drive, whether it be the 1525 or installing from another computer onto the 1525’s hard drive (most will install from a current copy of Leopard on their 1525, as they have no other way).

  235. MilkyTech

    I am very well versed on a pc and have done a few OS and software installs on Macs, but this is my first time trying to put OSX on a PC. My original intention was to get OSX working as a dual boot optioon on my Dell Dimension desktop when I came across this post and what-do-you-know, I just happen to have a 1525 that I am not really using right now running win7 x64.
    So, am I getting this correctly? I cannot do a clean install of Snow Leopard on the 1525? I have to first go through the tutorial to install Leopard and then use this tutorial to “upgrade” to snow leopard??

    • Thomas

      Unfortunately, you are right. You must first have Leopard installed in order to install Snow Leopard. On the bright side, Leopard installs fairly quickly, and is great for troubleshooting and repairing issues with Snow Leopard.

  236. t34p075

    thanks. that fixed the sound for me.

    • Thomas

      Awesome! Let me know if you face any more issues with your system. And if a fix for the hard drive icons does arise, I’ll be sure to let you know.

  237. t34p075

    Thanks guys. I actually got it to work on the very next try from posting, go figure…anyway now i’ve got a new problem. I’ve installed the kexts from the post, and now my audio hardware is recognized as well as my battery, but i still don’t get any sound (tried through headphones too). used kext helper b7 to install. also hard drive icons are still messed up. any ideas?

    • Thomas

      Go into System Preferences->Audio->Output and be sure “Speakers” are selected (I’m not in OS X, so the exact wording may be different). As for the icons, the included kext only works for some. Many people have reported that the icons remain messed up for them, and there is currently no fix that I’m aware of.

  238. cedyc

    Yeah I would boot up in safe mode and try it. It took me a long time when I first did it. It’s a hit or miss with that.

  239. t34p075

    I’m having a problem with step 21. I’ve tried about 30 times to install bsd.pkg, but it ALWAYS KP’s. I know you said it is expected to do that sometimes, but…I’ve been at it for hours and it still won’t go through. are you sure there’s nothing else that can be done?

    • Thomas

      As far as I know, there’s no other way to get around this step. Try restarting between times to improve your odds. Also, try booting with -x arch=i386 and report back if that helps as I suspect it might.

  240. farooq

    Dear Thomas,
    Yes, you are right, I am talking about once its installed and i reboot, and press f8 for boot options and then i select Snow instead of Leapord. with -v arch=i386, I get the following repsond,,
    Loading HFS+ file system at register ##### (some no here)
    and this line repeats on two rows and thats all, no activity happens, and when i press power button, it just turns itself off.
    What should I do next?
    Thanks,
    Farooq

    • Thomas

      Verify that all the kexts from Step 9 have been copied over to their respective folders. Also, what version of Chameleon are you using (assuming you’re using Chameleon)?

  241. Farooq

    Dear Cedyc and Tomas,
    I arranged a mac book pro for creating the dmg of retail snow and the same errors happened. Then, during the installation, I deselected the optional installation packages and this time it installed. But when i boot with the mentioned options, a message appears saying Loading HFS+ file system ….. but on waiting for like 5 minutes, there was no activity on the laptop so it was not loading anything. And on pressing power button, it simply went off. Any clues?
    Thanks in advance
    Farooq

    • Thomas

      So you’re talking about booting to Snow Leopard once it has been installed? If so, boot with -v arch=i386 and tell me what happens.

  242. Troglos

    When this happens I can still move the cursor, but everything else if frozen. Apps and Finder dont respond, I can only force reboot.

  243. dandaman

    Hey Thomas thanx for replying.

    So basically, the easiest approach would be: i have to partition my internal for SN and i have to use the external for the DMG Image restored using the GUID option for booting?

    When i mentioned the other guides, i meant that parts of your guide are outside from from it, in a way that confuses me. But it’s me i guess, my english, or something like that.

    • Thomas

      Make a partition on your internal HDD for Snow Leopard to be installed to. Then just follow the guide step-by-step. You wouldn’t need to create a new partition on your external HDD to restore the DMG to, as you can just mount it from Leopard.

  244. dandaman

    Ok this might sound dumb, but… one small detail on this guide for beginners like me, The dmg is on my desktop, but on step 6 “where do i actually install SN?” does it have to be installed in the external drive? Could i partition my current drive and install sn in there? And why on this guide there is links to other guides that give you different approaches? that totally confuses the dumb ones like me.

    sorry for the dumb questions Thomas. :)

  245. dandaman

    I don’t quite get this one, where should i actually install SN? On to an external drive? Could i partition this same drive on Leopard and install it there? I’m not that good on these things. :)

    • Thomas

      Either of those are fine options, though partitioning and installing it onto your internal hard drive is recommended as it would be faster than a USB hard drive. And which “other guides” are you referring to?

  246. Troglos

    I am having strange issues with my 10.6.2.
    Randomly it freezes while using applications like Firefox, Safari, Coda or Photoshop. The beach ball of death starts spinning and the only thing I can do is to force the reboot.

    This is really annoying.

    I tried to remove some plugins like FusionVMDKPlugIn.plugin -as adviced on others sites- without success.

    Any suggesition?

    • Thomas

      Troglos- It all depends on what exactly you mean by “freeze”. Does the computer just completely stop responding and the mouse no longer moves, or does the beach ball spin and programs won’t respond (ie. can’t quit programs, programs won’t launch, etc.)?

  247. cedyc

    @Farooq are you using the dell to make the disk image? I was having the same issue when I was using my Dell 1525 to make the image from the install disk. It’s almost like the Dell has an issue with reading dual layer. When I used another computer to do it, I had no problems at all.

  248. farooq

    Dear Thomas,

    As you suggested I ordered the retail snow leapord dvd and got it yesterday, followed the steps to created the image by following step1 and then tried to install it. I am using GUID Partition Scheme. First of all, i did not encounter the error as mentioned in step5 and installation started normally. But installation did not completed and it gave the following error.
    ‘Ths Installer could not install some files in “/Volumes/Snow”. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance.’
    I have tried this many times but the same result. I am installing from Leapord 10.5.8 host from Dell Inspiron 1525, 4 GB ram, 2.4 Ghz processor with 3 MB L2 cache.

    What am i doing wrong?
    Thanks in Advacne!
    Farooq

  249. alexdarcy

    Ive just made System Preferences work again, I can change the speed of my trackpad but I cannot tap it yet. I might do that on another day.

    • Thomas

      I am not sure if Tapping is supported in Snow Leopard, but as a last hope, try enabling the “Clicking” option in the Trackpad Preference Pane.

  250. Alex

    When I typed /User/Alex/Desktop/Trackpad.prefPane and I click on System Pref as soon as I click it, System preferences crashes :S

  251. Alex

    I forgot to add that I cant install the trackpad.prefPane when I go into terminal it says this:

    Last login: Sun Feb 21 06:36:27 on console
    Alex-DArcys-MacBook-Pro:~ Alex$ sudo su
    Password:
    sh-3.2# rm -rf /System/Library/PreferencePanes/Trackpad.prefPane
    sh-3.2# cp -R ~/Desktop/Trackpad.prefPane /System/Library/PreferencePanes/
    cp: /var/root/Desktop/Trackpad.prefPane: No such file or directory

    • Thomas

      For that second step, instead of “~/Desktop/Trackpad.prefPane,” type “/Users/YOURUSERNAME/Desktop/Trackpad.prefPane” and the Preference Pane should now install properly.

  252. Alex

    Thank you Cedyc and Hawered and Thomas for writing this post, it works! Ive just got one more problem *sigh* I want to be able to tap my trackpad and not keep on clicking the button. This maybe an easy question to answer but im only 13. Also I managed to boot snow leopard from my usb, without a problem but the trackpad not tapping maybe due to that. Alex

  253. cedyc

    Yep thats exactly what I was going to say ;-)

    • Thomas

      I’m sorry, I thought I had included that step in the guide. Cedyc and Hawered are correct however, you need to manually select “Built-in Speaker.”

  254. Hawered

    Alex, I had to go into System Preferences, then to sound, then change my output source to “built-in-speaker.” I hope this works for you!

  255. Alex

    The Icon is normal with no ‘cross’ on the Speaker Icon. I can turn the volume up and down but no sound comes out of the inspiron 1525.

  256. cedyc

    Is your speaker icon grayed out or is it normal but you don’t have sound?

  257. Alex

    Ok, I have installed Snow Leopard, everything works apart from the Sound. I really need help putting the sound on the Inspiron 1525. Any help I would really appreciate. Thanks Alex

  258. cedyc

    @David, that’s EXACTLY how I did mine.

  259. david

    would it be possible to do this through a real mac onto an external hard drive then use carbon copy cloner to copy it to the target computers hard drive using the boot 132 cd?

  260. aaronsnyder

    is there anyway i can install it without having a computer running on snow leopard?

  261. John Paul O'Loughlin

    After I have set up my account and loaded the desktop I install the combined update and with that window still open I launch the kernel thing and I have tried both but after both osx will not boot.

  262. Kerim

    I have an old Dell optiplex 645 with pentium D 2.8 ghz 2 GB ddr2 ram, ATI 4350 HD card in it. I can install snow leopard but cant get the audio, lan, or video card to work. I need help installing this system, not for free of course.. let me know if you can help.

  263. Hawered

    The only reason I am using time machine is because I can use migration assistant to transfer all my information over to Snow Leopard when I am ready. I will go ahead and use Super Duper just to be safe.

    • Thomas

      You can actually transfer all your stuff from a backup made with Super Duper/CCC through Migration Assistant as well. When Migration Assistant asks you where to get the data from, select “From a Time Machine backup or other disk,” but instead of selecting your Time Machine partition, select your Leopard partition. Do note that this can cause major issues as Migration Assistant will transfer some of the older Leopard kexts (most of which are third party/hackintosh specific) and this can lead to instability, Kernel Panics, and a 37% chance of going blind.

  264. Hawered

    AWESOME! I just needed an experts opinion! Now I will start the process! I have a time machine backup on my external so do you think I am good to just format my laptop’s HD and just copy over my Snow Leopard’s image?

    • Thomas

      Personally, I advise against Time Machine. It’s great on *cough* real macs *cough*, but has been known to do some funky things on hackintoshes. I have a post about backing up your system here or, if you don’t want to read the whole thing, just give Super Duper or Carbon Copy Cloner a shot. They’re much better at what they do than Time Machine, a bit faster, and, plain and simple, just work.

  265. Hawered

    Quick Question: I am running Snow Leopard from my external right now. (Yet I have Leopard On my Laptop), and I was wondering about switching Snow Leopard over to my laptop to serve as my main OS. I REALLY want to do this but what do you think would be the smart thing to do? I haven’t had ANY problems with SL yet but I wanted some advice. So what do you think I should do? Thanks!!

    • Thomas

      Early on in Snow Leopards life, it was no secret that I absolutely despised the instability of the OS. I was receiving Kernel Panics left and right, and the trackpad was extremely jumpy. About two weeks ago though, I reinstalled Snow Leopard to give it one last chance. Overall, I’ve gotta say that the OS is much improved. I have yet to receive a Kernel Panic, and the only issue I’ve faced in the two weeks was caused by Chameleon (damn RC4). I’m even running 10.6.2 without any issues, so I would go far enough to say that Snow Leopard is ready to be run as the main OS. However, I would recommend that you keep a copy of Leopard on your external, just in case anything does go awry. And look forward to a guide in the near future about getting the basics working as well as they do in Leopard (ie. Audio, Graphics, etc.).

  266. cedyc

    I’ll wait on your update. Is the update going to be an upgrade guide or fresh install?

  267. cedyc

    I got it running with no problems what so ever. I don’t want to updgrade to 6.2 because it won’t really buy me anything.(Unless there is a flawless install/upgrade) Time machine is not a big deal. I can back the file system up manually.

    • Thomas

      The update practically is seamless. And it does boast some stability updates. Regardless, check out this post from a while back on backing up OS X. And the update is just through Software Update; it just requires two extra steps.

    • Thomas

      Try updating to either 10.6.1 or 10.6.2. Both updates are super easy, with the difference being that 10.6.2 requires a new SleepEnabler.kext and for you to delete one kext. I’m going to write a post on it right now – should be up shortly.

  268. cedyc

    I just noticed that time machine is not backing up my files. It says it is and it looks like it works when I got into time machine (it goes into the “space” screen. But it’s not backing anything up. I can’t move past the current day. Is there a fix for that?

  269. Hawered

    Here is the Pic where is failed: http://bit.ly/b9eURt

    I am not sure at which point it failed. I will try again and watch.

    Thanks

  270. Hawered

    When installing, I use the default options except for languages. I deselect all the languages. I also install rosetta. I downloaded the install dmg, but it worked before. And I am installing to GUID. Thanks!

    • Thomas

      To be honest, I have no idea why the install is failing. All I can suggest is that you retry the install and verify that the dmg is completely downloaded. By the way, at approximately how far in does the install fail? A screenshot would be helpful.

  271. Hawered

    Hey Thomas,

    Just trying to install Snow Leopard again and when I try to install Snow leopard, I get “Install Failed” “The installer could not install some files in “/Volumes/Snow”. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance.”

    Any Ideas?

    • Thomas

      What options do you select when installing Snow Leopard? Also, did you download the Install DVD or did you purchase it? And are you installing to MBR or GPT?

  272. farooq

    Dear Thomas,

    I tried this method from a macbook accompanied dvd and it never starts installation and quits everytime giving no info with “Alert” subject.
    I tried it on another dmg file downloaded from a torrent and it starts installation without erros, but near to completion, it gives error saying “Few files missing at /Volumes/Snow” , Snow here is label of the partition on which its been installed and then it exits. I tried it no of times but no result. What can be wrong here?

    Just for info, i tried this method “http://macyourpc.com/2009/09/13/mac-os-x-10-6-snow-leopard-retail-install-boot-132-method/comment-page-11/#comment-3534” and it installed alright and everything was working including mic etc. But upon live updating to latest update, it restarted but during boot it stucks up.

    Thanks in advance for assistance on this one!
    Farooq

    • Thomas

      The Macbook disc is most likely specific to your Laptop and not a retail install disc. It also sounds like the torrent you downloaded didn’t download completely so it’s missing files. Go out and pick the DVD up for $25 (at amazon) and this will guarantee that the install goes smoothly.

  273. farooq

    Dear Thomas,

    What’s the result of updated the snow leopard to the latest update available on Apple site? Do it gets successfully installed without any issue like a regular update or you have to work it around as well?

    Thanks!
    Farooq

    • Thomas

      The update went fine for me. Bluetooth went dead but came back after installing the batch of updates after the 10.6.2 update and restarting. Just make sure to follow Flackend’s comment at the top of this post for the new SleepEnabler and tips for WiFi. I haven’t tried 64-bit yet but we’re suposed to now have Quartz Extreme in it as well.

  274. farooq

    Dear Thomas,

    Is there any update on working of Internal Microphone on snow leopard? And in absence of Internal Microphone, does external microphone works or that too does not work ?

    Regards,
    Farooq

    • Thomas

      There actually is a fix for it but I’ve been too busy/procrastinating too much to get a guide up. Keep checking back for one in the coming days.

  275. cedyc

    I will give that a try tonight and let you know tomorrow. Thanks

    Edit: @Thomas I re-did it from scratch and followed your steps very closely (except I did it from Snow on my iMac rather than Leopard) but it worked flawless. Thanks a lot.

    Edit 2: Everything is good. Just need some audio drivers. Also I’m still getting System extension cannot be userd errors but so far it hasn’t crashed. I notice that all those errors point to those 6 kexts I installed.

    Edit 3: Just re-installed the kexts using the kext helper and also the audio and so far so good. No more errors and haven’t crashed yet.. Keeping my fingers crossed..

    • Thomas

      Glad it’s all working now. Let me know if you have any more issues. Also, look forward to a new guide in the coming weeks regarding perfecting your 10.6.2 retail install. Btw, I combined your last 5 comments into one larger one so as to take up less space.

    • Thomas

      Whatever extra kexts that were installed from that guide must be messing with the ones provided. I recommend that you just start from scratch with only these instructions and kexts as they have been confirmed to work for the Inspiron 1525.

  276. cedyc

    Does anyone know where I can get some audio drivers for a Dell 1525 on Snow? The only onces I have is for Leopard and it doesn’t work.

    Thanks :-)

  277. cedyc

    @Thomas I just emailed you the pics. I did have to install some more kext because it wouldn’t boot just using the ones in your link. They have a pack that’s geared towards the 1525 that I used. When I installed those it booted right up.

  278. cedyc

    @Thomas I will try what you said here in a minute with the arch thing. As far as taking 5 mins to get started I am serious about that. All I have a a fresh copy of Snow, I haven’t installed any other programs yet. I know, it’s weird. I got the Dell 1525 with 4GB of ram. I think its a 2.4ghz processor. It should handle Snow. Like I said after the (close to 5 mins) it smokes..

    • Thomas

      Your processor is above and beyond the requirements so that certainly isn’t the issue. It could be some sort of kext conflict. Have you installed any kexts besides for the ones included in the guide?

  279. cedyc

    @Thomas I tried booting using arch=i386 and it crashes right away.

    • Thomas

      The issue of your laptop taking 5 minutes before you can use it (and I hope you’re exaggerating) could be cause by several things, including too many programs running at startup, or just not a fast enough processor. As for arch=i386 causing it to crash, do you get a Kernel Panic? Boot with -v -f arch=i386 and take a picture, if you can, of the screen it freezes on.

  280. cedyc

    @Thomas Hello, I also noticed that my CD ROM doesn’t mount and when I log in it takes a good 5 minutes before I can do anything. I can move the mouse around but that’s about it. I can’t open anything or click on anything. But once the 5 mins is up it rocks… Oh and I’ll let you know about the arch thing here in a few.

  281. Cedyc

    Thanks for the guide. I finally got it to work. Followed the guide completely but I had to use the newer version of Chameleon. The cool thing is I installed it on my 32gb usb drive and boot to that with my laptop. After I got everything working I used Carbon Clone to clone my usb drive to my hard drive on my laptop. The nice thing is that now I have a copy on my USB drive that I can boot to and play with. I have a Dell 1525, does anyone have any video drivers that I can use to get a better resolution than 1024X678?

    Thanks and good luck to everyone.

    • Thomas

      Glad the guide worked for you. Try booting with arch=i386 and see if you get a better resolution. If you do then your system is booting into 64-bit by default.

  282. Kyle

    @Thomas – Thanks for the response. I think I may be running like A11 or something close to that from when I got my 1525 Summer ’08.

    I was hoping there was a way because on my Dell Mini 9 I was able to create a bootable usb drive and update that way.

    • Thomas

      The Mini 9 most likely supports BIOS updates from USB Drives because, in some cases, it was sold with Ubuntu (which doesn’t support the BIOS exe’s). All 1525’s were sold with Windows so Dell assume’s you’ll be running it to update from.

  283. Kyle

    I’m still running a very old bios… anyone have a procedure to upgrade the bios using OS X to A16?

    • Thomas

      Actually, the newest BIOS is A17. You should be fine with the older version you’re currently using but, if you truly want to upgrade, you’ll need to boot to Windows. From there, run the BIOS exe found at support.dell.com and you’re done! Fairly simple if you have Windows installed, but not the case if you don’t.

  284. GFX

    @Thomas,

    i have a leopard installation running on my second partition and I would like to install SL to my first partition. As you may guess, I formatted my HDD as MBR. Assuming that I handle this with the package above, Am I correct in saying that as I have a chameleon installed on my Leopard partition I do not further need to install a second chameleon for SL. May be later, I would delete Leopard completely and install chemeleon to SL partition and use it right away.

    Do you think this will work?

    • Thomas

      GFX- I believe you would still have to install Chameleon on the Snow Leopard partition, but I’m not 100% sure. To follow along with the old addage “better safe than sorry,” I would advise that you install Chameleon as indicated in the guide.

  285. flackend

    I upgraded to 10.6.2 and GMA X3100 loads in 64 bit now.

    The upgrade broke my wireless so I removed a new IO80211Family.kext from /S/L/E so the version in /E/E would load. I also had to install a new SleepEnabler.kext from here: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=196466

    • Thomas

      Thanks for the update flack. I’ll point to your comment in the guide so anyone else having upgrade problems will be enlightened by your helpful tips.

  286. flackend

    Success! I deleted AppleDecrypt.kext and Disabler.kext (leftover from the 10.5 distro install) and it booted up in 32bit.

    I was comparing the differences in system.log between 64bit and 32bit and noticed that those two were causing an error in the 64bit boot. Basically they were only loading in 32bit mode and causing the fontd, mds, and loginwindow crashes.

    Thank you so much for your help!

    • Thomas

      And your help is much appreciated as well. I’m glad you got the issue fixed though because if it wasn’t a kext conflict then a reinstall would have been the next step. Would you like to appear on our new Hall of Donations page?

  287. flackend

    I’m running 10A432, 10.6 (with a MBR partition map) along side Leopard 10.5.8 and Vista. Since I can boot in 64bit I’ve repaired disk permissions (didn’t help). Then tried reinstalling S/L/E kexts with Kext Helper b7 which also didn’t help.

    I’ve tried booting with every combination of boot flags (-x, -f, -v).

    I get this line during boot:

    Warning – kext com.apple.driver.AppleIntelGMAX3100 has immediate dependencies on both com.apple.kernel* and com.apple.kpi.* components; use only one style.

    I googled it but didn’t find anything relevant to SL. I removed all the AppleIntelGMAX3100 kexts and didn’t get the warning but didn’t help either.

    I also get:
    FakeSMC: key not found RPlt, length -8
    FakeSMC: key not found EPCI, length -4

    I didn’t find anything relevant on Google for this either, but I did try the new fakesmc 2.5 (snow), also didn’t help.

    Screencap (-f -v arch=i386):
    http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2648/4238056299_80b61879e1_o.gif

    • Thomas

      I’ve spent the last couple days pondering your issue and am unable to come to an exact cause of the issue. The only immediate thing I can think of that would cause this is a kext conflict. Were you ever able to boot into Snow Leopard? Did you install any new kexts/hardware/software before getting the panic?

  288. flackend

    I’m still unable to boot in 32bit. No KP, It stalls during boot (grey apple screen).

    I get crash reports for fontd, loginwindow, and mds in /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports after I boot in 32bit mode.

    And my system.log looks like this (http://pastie.org/pastes/763819) after a 64bit boot, and like this (http://pastie.org/pastes/763816) after a 32bit boot attempt.

    /E/E
    IO80211Family.kext
    SleepEnabler.kext

    /S/L/E
    AppleIntelPIIXATA.kext
    fakesmc.kext
    IOATAFamily.kext
    NullCPUPowerManagement.kext
    OpenHaltRestart.kext
    PlatformUUID.kext
    AppleACPIPS2Nub.kext
    ApplePS2Controller.kext

    Chameleon 2 RC3

    (VoodooPS/2 doesn’t work for me)

    Any idea why I can’t boot in 32bit mode?

    • Thomas

      flackend- I read your logs and I was able to get some information out of the 64-bit log, but nothing from the 32-bit log (I’m far from an expert on this stuff). The first thing I would recommend is booting with -f -v arch=i386 and, if that doesn’t work, boot with -x arch=i386. If you are still unable to boot successfully try recopying all the kexts over from the drivers pack to their respective locations on your Snow Leopard partition (kexts from Extra Folder to your Extra folder and from Needed Kext to System/Library/Extensions/).Note that you will need to have access to another OS, preferably OS X Leopard, to attempt the previously mentioned step. If you are still unable to boot successfully write back to me and we can continue to troubleshoot your system. By the way, which version of Snow Leopard are you running?

  289. Badboy

    If upgraded to 10.6.2 and broke wifi, run that Broadcom-Script enabler to bring back Wifi. No need to replace IO80211Family.kext from previous version.
    Only problem I have left is the Hard drive icon fix. If I put AppleRTC.kext in /Extra/Extensions/ folder, it doesn’t work. Using kext helper to install, can’t boot because of KP.
    The Machine can’t boot without -f flag.

  290. flackend

    Nevermind .’)

    SleepEnabler was only loading in 32bit mode causing the KP.

  291. flackend

    Hi, I’ve got Snow Leopard installed but the only display resolution available in System Preferences is 1024×768 (instead of 1280×800). I’ve tried installing different kexts and adding my desired graphics mode to Boot.plist, but no luck.

    Also I KP if I boot with arch=i386.

  292. Derek

    The llink for OSInstall.mpkg.zip doesn’t work for me.

  293. bryan

    when i boot my snow leopard partition, i always get “still waiting for root device” ???

  294. bryan

    i always encounter this when i launch osinstall.mkpg..

    “Unable to install”
    “The installer could not install the software because there was no software found to install”..

  295. Dan

    1. install works great
    2. boots in to snow leo in *safe mode* after install, but all seems to work great
    3. tweaks applied (have also tried not applying tweaks)
    4. never boots again, black screen after apple logo on grey bg.

    would really appreciate anyones thoughts on why it only boots once, or what a black screen could mean and how to look in to finding the cause/fixing it. I have tried booting in to safe mode but that doesn’t work either.

    • Thomas

      Dan- That’s a very strange issue. Make sure your dsdt.aml is still in place and that you aren’t making any changes to Chameleon. Also, try booting with -f -v arch=i386 and see if you are able to successfully boot.

  296. Scott Ricketts

    FYI – 10.6.2 also breaks support for Celerons.

  297. Joshua Jenkins

    Okay, It has come to this.

    How can I install leopard on another partition and not break Snow Leopard. Should I not install chameleon or something?

    Thanks for your help!!

    • Thomas

      Install Leopard as you normally would but uncheck any option about installing Chameleon. Basically, you are correct in saying not to install another Chameleon.

  298. Troglos

    Fix it!
    I reinstalled IO80211Family.kext from 10.6.1

    Now I have to solve the slow shutoff

  299. Troglos

    I just upgraded to 10.6.2 with the new Netkas SleepEnabler. Everything seems fine but it broke my wireless.
    I tried to replace some kext from my 10.6.1 backup (where I am logged in now) but nothing works.
    Any suggestion?

    The other problem I have with Snow (10.6.0 to 10.6.2) in the slow shutoff or reboot.
    Its just my 1525, or other people are having the same issue?

  300. Joshua Jenkins

    heh, Thanks. I love Snow Leopard so that is why I am sticking with it. I edited a whole video in Final Cut by booting without -f. Seemed to work great! I need -f for wireless though. I weigh the good and the bad of each and I try to make use of what I have. Thanks for all your help. I’ll be sure to keep you updated!

  301. Hawered

    This is crazy. I really do hate kernel panics. It is always something different. If it’s not iCal Helper, is Safari, if not that then it’s Final Cut Pro. I just don’t know what to do. It is getting annoying because I am working and I can’t have stuff pop-up. Any last ideas?

    I really don’t want to switch back. :( :( – but if that is what I have to do then so be it.

    Thanks :)

    • Thomas

      To be honest, I still use my Leopard Partition. I just don’t find Snow Leopard stable enough yet. If you need Snow Leopard’s new features and what not then stick with it but, if you can do without the new crap, stick with Leopard until better drivers are released for SL.

  302. Chris

    I was able to update to 10.6.2 w/o a problem, you can check out my website here.

    http://dellosx.forumotion.com/

  303. Hawered

    Not Sure. I guess I should Start looking… I currently have closed Mail, and I will see if it KP’s. We can go from there I hope.

  304. Thomas

    Is Mail open every time you receive a KP. Is Safari?

  305. Hawered

    I am trying to remember. I think I was running Mail. But that and Safari was all.

    • Thomas

      That is very interesting indeed lol. At the time of the KP were you running any apps that might access iCal (ie. Mail, Entourage, etc.) and/or iCal itself?

  306. Hawered

    Alright I will take a picture.

    I will defiantly be looking at the ads. It’s the least I can do!

  307. Thomas

    Boot with -v and when it KP’s, take a picture of it if you can. Then upload it to photobucket, mediafire, etc. and send me the link. That way I can figure out what’s causing the issue. And it would be greatly appreciated if you could pay attention to the ads around the site and, if you like one, click on it.

  308. Hawered

    Well, I had a KP. :( Seems like it is something else. I will try to investigate. Anymore ideas? Lol

    Thanks for all your help! I really do appreciate it!

  309. Hawered

    I Ran “sudo mdutil -a -i off”, and so far everything seems to be working fine. The only problem that still persists is that wireless only works when booted with -f. Is that how it is for you? Just wondering.

    Thanks again!!!!

    • Thomas

      Awesome! It seems that spotlight indexing is causing these random Snow Leopard KP’s and that command disables Spotlight. Unfortunately, you are giving up that spotlight feature, but it’s a small price to pay for a stable system. As for booting with -f, I always do it as I find it does help with loading drivers. It’s not uncommon that the wireless kexts only work when booted with -f though. If you want, you can add the -f flag to your com.apple.boot.plist. You’ve been around the Hackintosh scene a while now so I’m going to assume you know how to do that. If not then let me know and I’ll walk you through it.

  310. Hawered

    Hey, I have tried every-way there is to install 10.6.2 and NOTHING works. :(

    I have tried (FAILED):

    • 10.6.2 Combo update (in Safe mode, -f, and regular)
    • 10.6.2 Update (After installing 10.6.1, which installed fine) (In Safe Mode, -f, and regular)

    I have succeeded with:

    •10.6.1 Update (regular)

    **
    Upgrading to 10.6.1 did not help the KP’s. Nor did it help the wireless problem.

    I cannot install 10.6.2 no matter what I do.
    (Any Suggestions?)

    Thanks!

    • Thomas

      10.6.2 is still fairly new and since I haven’t even tried the update myself, I can’t help you too much with that. I may have a solution for the KP’s though. Launch Terminal and type the following:
      mdutil -a -i off
      Then restart and see if you notice a difference.

  311. Hawered

    Thanks again! I’ll post the outcome once I have finished.

  312. Thomas

    Since we’re running retail Snow Leopard you should be able to run whichever update Software Update has. I’m going to sleep now so I won’t be able to answer your questions until the morning. Good luck and let me know what happens.

  313. Hawered

    Should I do the “Mac OS X Update Combined?” Or one at a time?

    Thanks again.

  314. Hawered

    UPDATE: I got snow leopard working by re-installing. The only problem now is that WiFi only works when I boot with -f. Also I get random kernel panics still, after I installed the BSD package.

    Any idea how to fix both these problems?

    Thanks for you help. It is well appreciated!!

    • Thomas

      Try updating to 10.6.2 through Software Update and see if that fixes the KP’s. Boot with -v and when it gets a Kernel Panic, write down what process it gets it on.

  315. Hawered

    I was installing and it came upon an error. The error was something like “It was unable to complete the installation. Please contact the software maker.”

    I was installing to a HD for a Inspiron 1525. I Was using a inspiron 1525 to install from. (2 total) The one I was using to host the installer crashed and I have to reinstall.

    Snow leopard didn’t work either. Every time I boot, It boots, then shows a cursor. Not blinking. Just a cursor.

    Any recommendations?

  316. Neal

    Hello Thomas, Im having some problems getting this to work. Currently trying to install to an external harddrive so that I don’t mess up my current 10.5.5 setup. Anyway I have followed the steps very carefully and have done the process 5 times but still can’t get the thing to boot…..I get a Kernal Panic with system uptime display and then the laptop tells me to restart it. I have followed the steps to the letter and booted with -f but is it because I’m installing it to an external drive?
    Cheers Neal

    • Thomas

      Neal- The only thing I can suggest is to make sure you’re using a supported version of Chameleon (Either the included versions 1 or 2 RC3) and that all the “Needed kexts” are placed in their appropriate locations.

  317. Nathan

    Im going to try doing this once I download my copy of snow leopard.

    I have a question, When installing, I cant install to the partition Leopard is booted onto? I triple boot so would that mean instead of installing Windows-Linux-Mac, I would somehow have to go Windows-Mac-Linux?

    So I install Windows then install OSX then I put SL on the 3rd partition and then delete the leopard partition then install Linux and with gparted set OSX to boot? Would that work?

    It gets confusing for me at this step.

  318. Peter

    Apparently 10.6.2 kills some hackintoshes. The article says that it blocks intel atom processors. Does anyone know if this update will block all hackintoshes or just ones with atom processors?

    http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/11/snow-leopard-update-blocks-intel-atom-kills-hackintoshes/

    • Thomas

      cooldraft- If your Snow Leopard partition is named “snow” then you would type cp /Volumes/Snow\ Alternative/boot /Volumes/snow/

      Peter- I haven’t tried the update yet but I would recommend you stay away until either
      a) you backup your hard drive using this guide and then want to try the update out or
      b) you can wait until other people can confirm that it works
      Either way, the update hasn’t officially been released yet (still just a developers version) so just hang tight until it’s released to the public.

  319. cooldraft

    I do not see an dsdt.aml in the root of my osx folder. I do not understand cp /Volumes/Snow\ Alternative/boot /Volumes/<>…if my sl partition is snow and other is osx what would I type?

  320. mbebop

    was aware of the partial VGA functionality; mine doesn’t work for now because it’s stuck in mirror mode from before I found this out, but it’s not a feature I really use so I’m not too worried about it. I remember there was some kind of mirror display on/off switcher string/app, but I don’t think it worked for me. Upping to SL will fix it once I do that I’m sure. But again, what I’d really like to see working is the HDMI, simply because its a much more useful interface for newer screens/tv’s.

    Unfortunately, from what I’ve read at least, it seems that HDMI functionality is linked to several different drivers, not just one. We’d likely need a set of kext’s to get it working properly.

    • Thomas

      HDMI Output will most likely never be a supported feature in OS X for our laptop. It would be a great feature to have and I would also contribute to the project as I do know some coding. Problem is, I wouldn’t know where to begin if it was just me working on the drivers.

  321. cooldraft

    Guess nobody had/has dual XP boot (thought the instructions would have helped) Now I am fighting with an HFS+ Partition error. I run -s and use fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0 and expecting OSX I got XP on boot. I checked gparted and the osx partition is still there, just can’t get to it with the HFS+ Partition error. Time to start over and install 10.5.3 again?

  322. mbebop

    Hey guys, long time since I’ve visited.

    Good to see everyone hard at work with Snow; I’ll be installing as soon as I can get a hold of a retail disc, but that might be a bit.

    Judging from what I have here (Inspiron 1525, still running 1.5.7-things have been busy), we have a very close-to-perfectly running lappy. It looks like no functionality has been lost in the upgrade to SL. The only thing we lack is the HDMI/S-Video and VGA inputs. I’d like to have these working, but we’re missing a compatible driver(s). I personally have no programing experience, but I was hoping some brave coder lurking around these blogs might be willing to give writing the driver a shot. I’d be willing to do a little research to see what’s been tried already.

    Just an idea, let me know what you guys think; if we can get enough people working on this we might just be able to spearhead something awesome!

    Also, just an aside- stick with 10.5.7 till I can up to SL, or upgrade to 10.5.8?

    Thanks and later all

    • Thomas

      Hey mbepop! Just wanted to let you know that VGA output works for extended display but messes up when trying to operate under Mirrored Display. Also, I would stick on 10.5.7 until you upgrade to SL as 10.5.8 is just not worth the trouble.

  323. cooldraft

    I would like to know how to get the shrinked partition guid, so that I can use this partition to install SL. I have shrinked my Leopard partition and created a HFS+ partition (Disk utility does not recognize when I just leave it unallocated space) There must be something that I am missing to make this partition GUID (for starters the new partition came back as MS-DOS even though I explicitly formatted it at HFS+–and It showed HFS+ in gparted) Thank you. I already have an xp, and osx- and now I want to install Snow on a new partition, copy the data frm Leopard to SL and grow that partition to wipe out the old Leopard to give me room on the SL partition.

  324. cooldraft

    OK, some clarification please..I guess I should have known not to shrink the partition to minimum, now there is 0 kb free. Can I run gparted live again and quickly give it more space? When I run disk utility I can not see any unused space on the left (am I supposed to see unllocated space in the column. I verified that gparted live had 40 mb unallocated before I rebooted and then re-enabled journaling.

  325. rahul

    Ok, i’ve decided to buy a retail copy and use the boot132 method. After i paste the dsdt.aml into SL, i wont have to use any sleep tricks right?

  326. Rahul

    Can i install clamshell display like the one in Richard’s guide?

    If so, how? Is it included in the retail dvd?

    • Thomas

      The clamshell display kext might work in Snow Leopard, although there is a good chance that it will not and can cause system instability. Clamshell Display is not included in the Retail DVD because it was not made by Apple but rather a third party software vendor.

  327. Thomas (tc11228)

    I recently purchased a Bluetooth dongle. My machine recognizes it. It shows in the Networking preference panel and in task bar. My machine shows two bluetooth devices Mighty Mouse and Mac Keyboard. However, it does not discover my Logitech V470 mouse. Also, it cannot connect to any of the devices. Any help would be appreciated.

  328. Cooldraft

    OK, I’ve read all the posts about getting SL to install to my existing Leopard partition. Guess that I am confused. I have 10.5.3 installed on a patition and xp installed on another. I understand that I should use chamelion. But my questions are what order/how do I install on a partition that I am not booted onto? Do I install chamelion first? Do I make some kind of bootable disc to boot to so it is not booting to leopard? Scrink 10.5.3 so that SL has how much space? The guide is great but I seem to not be following, or there is an assumed step that I am not assuming.

  329. flackend

    Hi, I followed the tutorial but I get stuck during the boot up after I install Snow. No panic, it just gets stuck. Here is a screen cap:

    http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2759/4031269422_e7f9eda6bb_o.gif

    Thanks for any advice!

    Dell Inspiron 1525 OS X 10.5.8 (iATKOS v7)
    Mobile Intel GM965 Express Chipset
    Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
    Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN MiniCard (BCM4312)
    2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7250 processor
    3 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM

  330. Rahul

    Hey Thomas, i’ve decided to first upgrade to SL and then 7. I might be able to create a partition of around 30-50gigs from Windows after backing it up.

    I think it was by fluke that i got dual boot working. That’s why am afraid to lose the setup i have right now. And one more thing,
    1) how can i find out which sort of partition i have used? i forgot if i chose GUID or MBR while installing Leopard :(

    2) What is chameleon for?

    p.s – i have lost touch of all things hackintosh.. its like learning to start walking all over again :(

  331. Thomas as well

    guys,
    while booting i always get the message ‘before you begin there isn’t a keyboard….’
    voodoo ps2 controller is installed but seems not to work…what am i doing wrong?

  332. Chris

    i got snowleopard to work, but i am having trouble with sleep when its plug in. maybe we can get a fix sometime down the road.

    • Thomas

      Sleep while plugged in is a common issue. I was never able to get it working in Leopard either so lets hope this can change for Snow Leopard.

  333. Rahul

    Hey Thomas,

    Had a hard time finding this post. So right now, i’ve got a vista/leopard dual booting Inspiron. Am planning to upgrade both os’s to 7/SL.

    What are the things i should look out for? You mentioned that we cant install SL on the same partition as of Leopard. I dont have any more partitions or space to create partitions :(

    Am like really nervous to upgrade cuz i have a mac os, dont want to lose the one i have. but at the same time i want to upgrade to SL.

    • Thomas

      You can temporarily shrink your Leopard/Vista partition to make space for SL. Then, once SL is installed and running well, delete your Leopard partition and give space back to the Vista/7 partition. You can find out how to do this in our guide here.

  334. Kevin

    Sort of.

    I don’t really know how I fixed it, started installing everywhere hahah

    No, seriously, I set up my boot.plist but I want snow to be the default boot
    how do I do that?

  335. Kevin

    Confirmed: Snow Leopard rocks and leaves leopard and tiger pointless

  336. Kevin

    To the guys installing on a MBR drive:

    As Thomas said, you have to use a special OSInstall.mpkg package.

    If you cannot replace the file, you’ll have to convert the dmg to read/write, replace the OSInstall.mpkg file, and convert it back to read only using disk utility.

  337. Kevin

    In a scheme where I install from kalyway 10.5.2 (just the fastest way I had to get leopard working) I have an internal hdd with the following disk layout:

    /dev/disk0 (GUID Table — 160gb)

    /dev/disk0s1 — EFI (~200mb according to gparted)
    /dev/disk0s2 — Leo (20gb)
    /dev/disk0s3 — Snow (130gb)

    I follow the installation guidelines here, and once I try to load the snow installation, I get ‘b0 error’ before loading chameleon.

    I tried setting up the disk0s3 partition as active but that won’t solve the issue.

    Is there a way of having chameleon boot both Leo and Snow Leopard using chameleon? I’ve been a linux/unix user for years but I’m new to the way the bootloader works here :)

    I’d appreciate a quick response!

    Thanks,

    Kevin

  338. Richard Ward

    I’ve noticed after waking the computer up from sleep, the audio is forever crackly and noisy with a lot of popping sounds during any type of playback. I tried to use the old Leopard AppleHDA.kext from previous installations past to no avail, only causing a kernel panic. There’s some information on modifying your Leopard AppleHDA.kext to work on Snow Leopard but it’s ungodly complicated.

    Does anyone have a solution to the crackling sound after wake? Not even logging off and back on my user fixes the problem, rather I’m forced to fully reboot the laptop before the sound fixes it. Now it will sound great and run fine until you wake it up from sleep, then the sound is craptastic. Even with the latest VoodooHDA.kext this problem persists in my Dell Inspiron 1525.

    Any ideas? :)

  339. Richard Ward

    ** TO ANYONE RUNNING OR TRYING TO RUN LEOPARD **

    Stop. Snow Leopard is here to stay. Buy it, download it, bum it from a friend, install it, love it. It’s fast, it’s sexy, it’s “future proof” and it works great.

  340. cooldraft

    After reading Richard’s oust just after Thomas’…Should I go 10.5.3 to 10.5.8, 10.5.6, or 10.6.1.

  341. Richard Ward

    In one word: Outstanding.

    This guide works perfectly to get all you HackBook fans on the Snow Leopard train for a non-stop ride to increased speed and compatibility. And you don’t need the big fancy box set (Confirmed!), I purchased the basic disc for $29.99 at Best Buy and I’m now sitting on 10.6.1 and can’t wait for 10.6.2 (It has been seeding to developers and should be out soon).

    One thing you’ll notice right away is that Snow Leopard hauls ass, leaving Leopard and Tiger in its dust. I feel like I’ve bought a brand new computer for this $30 bucks and all my applications are running fine.

    As for the internal microphone — in the sys prefs when I tap really hard on my touchpad, something moves… there’s life in there somewhere but it’s extremely low and I’ve yet to test it with someone on the other end to see if you can actually hear me but it looks hopeful and I’ll be following closely and playing around with it myself to get this worked out. Everything else is A+!

  342. cooldraft

    If I use Chameleon, and this install process, will I lose my windows partition? Just trying to get everythig ready before I jump in to this upgrade. Should I just go from 10.5.3 to 10.5.6 (and not do snow leopard) to get back up in the fastest manner?

    • Thomas

      You won’t lose you Windows partition just as long as you use the MBR fix from step 1 and you install Snow Leopard onto a separate partition from your Windows partition, thus leaving your Windows Partition untouched. For now, until Snow Leopard is a little more stable, I would recommend just updating to 10.5.6. We have a guide for doing updating to 10.5.6 so check it out!

  343. Richard Ward

    Any word on an internal microphone fix for Snow Leopard?

  344. Thomas

    I believe you just answered your own question…

  345. cooldraft

    What if my 1525 already has darwin bootloader so I can select xp or osx. Are the stepsthe same?

    • Thomas

      I don’t believe that the Darwin Bootloader will be able to boot Snow Leopard. You will need to install Chameleon using this guide and then follow all the steps for installing Snow Leopard.z

  346. Sam

    I’ve Dell 1525 with screen res – 1440×900. In 64bit mode I get 1024×768, in 32bit mode – black screen & no sleep & wake up. In tutorial I didn’t find info about screen res. Did all steps & nothing ((

  347. Sam

    Hello,

    Anyone who have Dell with 1440×900 res. get a native screen res. with full QE&CI working?

    I did all as Thomas wrote, but when tried to boot in 32bit kernel mode i’ve got black screen. In 64bit mode it’s work cuz intel gmax3100 kext not loaded & we get only 1024×768 screen res.

  348. tc11228

    Thomas, I followed your instructions to the letter and got about 90% there. Next, I used specific kext for the X61. It worked great.

    Feeling brave, I tried the same approach with a Lenovo X200. Once again, the baseline process worked well. However, when I started to apply kext it began unstable and I need to re-fresh the drive. What do your kext in the NEEDEd kext do? what does /Extra/Extensions do? I would appreciate any advice with getting sleep to work on the X200?

    tc11228 (thomas)

    • Thomas

      The /Extra/Extensions/ folder is an alternate location for kexts to be placed. Any kexts placed in /Extra/Extensions/ will always work (As long as the kext is still compatible with the upgrade/update) and will never be replaced after an update. This is a great improvement over placing kexts in /System/Library/Extensions/ but the downside is that not all kexts are compatible with the /E/E/ folder and must be placed in /S/L/E/. As for sleep issues, give insanelymac.com a try as they will probably have a kext/fix for you. God luck!

  349. tc11228

    Thomas, My X61 is now working. I reinstalled as per your instructions. Everything, aside from the tablet, seems to work fine. I upgraded to 10.6.1 without incident. The only issue I am having is sound does not work after sleep. I am using the Voodoo kext. Thank you for the help.

    What machine were you original instructions written for?

    tc11228

    • Thomas

      The original instructions were for the Dell Inspiron 1525 but if the guide works for you as well then great! I would imagine that you used different kexts though.

  350. gayb

    I can not understand that takes place for me.
    I set SL. All works fine except for WIFI.
    Before an update WIFI worked only at a load with -f.
    After update to 10.6.1 WIFI disappeared finally. Help to decide a problem.

  351. Thomas (tc11228)

    Thomas, First, I want to comment you on your diligent responses. I have a X61 Tablet that works fine with 10.5.8. I have recently upgraded to SL using your guide and another from outZider on Insanely Mac. I am using a newer version of Chameleon (which I will downgrade). My system boots fine with -F option. It ran fine. However 2 or three minutes later, I get a KP. It just crashed as I was doing a Disk Permission Repair.

    I do not get keyboard or mouse with either Voodoo of standard kext. I have been swapping thinking this was giving me the KP.

    Help.

    Thomas

  352. R

    Any news on an updated HDA?

    • Thomas

      I honestly haven’t had too much time to check although I haven’t seen anything as far as a standalone kext goes. There are fixes which require multiple items and steps but I’d personally much rather wait for a “real” fix.

  353. Steven

    No worries, I did use the sleepwatcher.dmg from Genaro so that could be it. But I did get sleep working by deleting the hibernate image and using sleep only (with smartsleep). I searched through the comments here and couldn’t find if sleep by closing the lid worked.

  354. Steven

    Oh yeah I should have known that Thomas, I’ve been thru your tutorial a few times. But I just placed the kext in the right folder and when I rebooted I had a KP, booted with -f -x and gave me a KP, finally tried -v -f and the same thing.

    • Thomas

      Hmm it could be interfering kexts between my guide and Genaro’s. If you can get into another OS X Partition, remove SleepEnabler.kext (if you haven’t done so already) and you should be able to boot again. Sorry about the inconvenience caused.

  355. Steven

    Thomas-I moved my install from my external drive to my internal, I’ve read that it might help my sleep issues (I do have Win7 on my internal though). This didn’t give me sleep with Genaro’s instructions. I then tried your sleepenabler, kext helper & repair disk permissions and after the reboot I lost sound, QE and sleep didn’t work haha.

    • Thomas

      SleepEnabler.kext was supposed to be placed in /Extra/Extensions/, hence it being in the “Extra Kexts” Folder. The adverse effects could be from placing it in the wrong location.

  356. Steven

    Well I’ve made a lot of progress, I installed the OSInstall.mpkg on an external then installed Chameleon on it. I then used instructions/kexts from Genaro’s site, it has quite a few differences. After the first reboot I noticed resolution was right and Expose was smoother, Quartz Extreme wasn’t listed in my profiler but a QE Check app found online shows my display as accelerated. Wifi, keyboard and trackpad also worked. Installed more kexts for sound and battery and I’m currently trying to get sleep working.

    • Thomas

      Steven- For Sleep, you can use SleepEnabler.kext found in my Kext Pack. As for kexts in general, I emailed Genaro about trying to get a set package of kexts but he stiffed me and never wrote back.

  357. EZG

    Thanks for the reply Flackend but I went ahead and used a different guide. (Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Retail Install Boot-132 Method) I’m just learning mac and that guide seemed to be a little easier on a noob like myself. But… I learned a lot from this guide and thank the publisher for posting it. I also applaud his willingness to help everybody who needs it.
    Thank you
    EZG

  358. Kyle

    @Steven – I did a fresh install using 0.8.3RC1 and pretty much everything is perfect (except headphone jack). I got sleep working once I disabled Legacy USB in the bios. I have a factory 16gb SSD from Dell, but I’m not sure what brand it is.

    @Thomas – Thanks for the honest answer. I have 10.5.8 running great and only thing I’ve noticed so far is my keyboard will stop working (space bar, backspace, etc). It might be an easy fix, but I haven’t searched around yet. The progress made from the 10.5.4 kalyway days is simply amazing!!!

  359. flackend

    EZG:

    Did you install your kexts to System/Library/Extensions/?

    I got KPs booting when I would just install them to Extra/, but once I installed them to S/L/E the KPs stopped.

  360. EZG

    Hey all. I got Snow Leopard installed but I keep getting Kernel Panic every time I try to boot it up. I tried booting with -f -v and it still KP’s on me. It tries to boot for about 10 seconds but never finishes. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Also I am using the Chameleon from the guide.

    Thanks

  361. Steven

    Kyle, it seems Snow Leopard reacts differently to different 1525. I have a 1.86ghz, 160gb, 3gb ram, no webcam/bluetooth and I haven’t been able to get Quartz Extreme woeking with several install attempts. I just tried recently with the updated instructions a minute ago. I have 10.5.8 working perfectly though. About your mini 9, I have one too and been following mydellmini. I also have 10.5.8 working perfectly with the Stec 8gb ssd. Which SSD do you have, mine has a few quirks with sleep last time I tried it out.

    Also a strange note for Thomas, my 1.86 processsor is listed as 1.93. I thought I might throw that out there.

  362. Kyle

    Great article! What’s still not working at this point? Also, how is this guide fundamentally different than the macyourpc guide?

    Trying to decide if it’s a good time to upgrade from 10.5.8. and I’m getting anxious since I just loaded SL on my Mini 9 and it’s really good!

    • Thomas

      Kyle- The main difference between this guide and Macyourpc’s is the install method. Mine is done from within a current Leopard install (great if you downloaded Snow Leopard instead of purchasing it) while his is done using the actual Snow Leopard disc (great if you purchased it). As for upgrading, I would recommend that you don’t. Many things still aren’t working in SL and the upgrade just isn’t worth it.

      Steven- You can change what is displayed in About Mac using OSx86 Tools. It’s worth mentioning that incorrect info being listed will not effect your speeds.

      Flackend- Not at all kexts work in /Extra/Extensions/ and same for /System/Library/Extensions/. The Extra kexts should only be placed in /E/E/ and the Needed Kexts should only be placed in /S/L/E/

  363. Zulu

    No matter what I do, BSD.pkg refuses to install (at the last step “optimizing …) I get a shutdown message “keep holding power button etc).

    Ideas?

  364. Zulu

    Thomas,
    In step 14, should not the copy go from the “Extra” folder from the download instead of the “Needed Kexts”?

    Need kexts have already been installed in step 10, but the “Extra” kexts do no get installed according to your instructions.

    Also, step 1-a, the only way to do this is to restore the DVD image into a internal or external volume.

    • Thomas

      Zulu- Thanks for the heads up on that. I updated step 14 with the correct folder name. As for step 1a though, you can make a .dmg of your Snow Leopard Install Disc using the instructions in step 1. That would work as an alternative to restoring the .dmg to a whole other partition. Lastly, the installation of BSD.pkg just requires patience. Keep installing it and eventually it will be successful.

  365. R

    Anyone found a fix for audio crackling after sleep issue yet?

    Cheers

    • Thomas

      R- It’s an issue with our VoodooHDA. I’ll look for some solutions and, if I find one, I’ll put it up this weekend.

      T- I haven’t tried exporting anything so I’m not too sure. Maybe try raising the quality of the export to see if that helps as it doesn’t sound like it would be an issue with our laptop or graphics card.

  366. T

    Hey Thomas,

    Have you had any issues with exporting videos using the Quicktime H.264 encoder?

    Everytime I export a video or presentation slide, the movie is discolored and looks a lot lighter. Even pixelated at times.

    Can you help me with this? Or point me in the right direction?

    Thanks.

  367. Osmac

    Just a simple question:
    Is there a difference in putting kexts in /Extra/Extensions and /System/Library/Extensions?

    Would be good to keep /S/L/E/ as clean as possible and put everything extra in /E/E/

  368. Sami

    Hey, Tom. It’s good to have you back. My problem is that I can’t boot in SL partition after install. It gives me some error like Can’t get Kextd port and the it gives something about IOkit timeout. Im using Chameleon RC3. I managed to boot it once with Boot Think 2.3 but only in 64 bit. Any ideas?

    • Thomas

      Sami- Using Chameleon, trying boot Snow leopard with the boot flags -x32 -v -f and see what happens

      Osmac- The difference is that in /E/E/, the kexts cannot be erased and so the hardware will always work (as long as the system version supports the kext). When placed in /S/L/E/ the kext might be removed after an update (as seen with certain Leopard updates that knocked out wifi). The reason not all kexts are placed in /E/E/ is because not all kexts can be loaded from that location. Some kexts require that they be placed in /S/L/E/. I’m not too sure why all kexts can’t be loaded from there, I just know that they can’t.

  369. R

    EDIT: Snow 10A432 working with quartz extreme. Only problem now is hard drives showing as folders. The fix on this page doesnt work for me :(

    • Thomas

      Hey everyone. Sorry I haven’t been answering questions lately but I’ve been super busy between school starting back up and football. Just to get a general idea, who is currently facing what problems?

  370. R

    ok guys, here it is – I have SNOW10A432 on one partiton which has no QE, and default is 64bit. Try to boot 32bit results in boot up then blue screen flashes continuiosly. Fail.

    Now I just installed SNOW10A380 i think, and guess what – it loads fine, keyboard trackpad even welcome video and QE. My HD’s are showing as folders which is a pain and I dont think you can update to 10.6.1 as I’ve tried…it doesnt show up in software update so I downloaded and wont let me install to that partition. And this one is default 32bit.

    Now if anyone can tell me how to default SNOW10A432 then I may be in business with QE…

    Have a think and get back to me, cheers folks!! :)

  371. Scott Ricketts

    R: are you sure you don’t have it? System Profile doesn’t list anything, but I can run iMovie, which flat out pukes at startup if you don’t have QE/CI.

  372. R

    Snow installed fine, got everything to work near enough. One problem is the quartz extreme. I check QE by going to dashboard and dropping a widget and waiting to see the ripples, at the moment this is not working. This is a problem for me as QE is needed for most apps so I need to get this to work asap. Anyone with the same problem or a solution?

  373. Scott Ricketts

    Oh, and I just used the 64-bit IOATAFamily kext in the pack above and it does let you boot in 64-bit mode, however I lost QE/Core Image at that point, it’s like they only included a 32 bit X3100 frame buffer.

  374. Scott Ricketts

    I used the kext pack from here:

    http://www.infinitemac.com/f57/dell-d630-kext-pack-t3840/

    And keyboard and touchpad both work out of the box. Also, I don’t have to use the sleep trick to wake up my screen anymore, it is working perfectly. I am staying in 32bit mode, as I can’t get anything but leopards IOATAFamily.kext to recognize the PATA controller the DVD is on.

  375. R

    Osmac – You will need a USB keyboard and mouse to make this work.
    It had me stuck there on the welcome page with USB keyboard and mouse, kept clicking continue eventually it worked. it will seem to freeze but it will work eventually. To get keyboard working and trackpad i installed a different Voodoo PS2 found here:

    http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=175372

    It has to be installed via your Leopard partiton using osx86 tools, be sure to install to Snow – it will give you the option. Boot with -v -f and it should be up and running…it’s all trial and error really, give it a shot!

    Ok, anyone know to solve the Quartz Extreme issue?

  376. Sami

    Ok I tried to install it a lot of times but with no success. I’m using Chameleon RC3 and on booti see that it gives me a lot of messages like can’t load kextd port and then it gives me IOkit timeout. I managed to boot in SL with Boot Think 2.3 but it could load my DSDT.aml and I could get my 1280×800 resolution. So i’m back on chameleon. Today I’ll try the boot132 SL method form Genarro Bonilla and see what will happen. But anyone know why it gives me this line when I boot?

  377. Osmac

    R, could you share how you resolved your issues?

    I am experiencing something similar, i.e. the Touchpad and Keyboard do not respond when arriving at the Select Coutry”screen….

    USB works

    Thanks

  378. R

    UPDATE: ok, only thing i’m missing now is Quartz Extreme. I’ve managed to get everything else up and running – google is my friend :)
    Anyone know the solution for the Quartz Extreme issue?

  379. R

    What’s up guys…

    Ok, so had to reinstall Snow and things are a bit crazy. When I first installed Snow all was well, quartz extreme, trackpad, keyboard etc
    Now I’ve reinstalled it after a few weeks nothing works.

    (I used the same install config, selected nothing)

    Had to add graphics key to boot.plist so I can boot into 1280×800 and now that works BUT…When I do get into Snow the trackpad and keyboard dont work and here’s the catch – When I use a USB mouse and Keyboard they work but I can’t click anything on screen. It’s like the screen is frozen, very weird!!! Wifi installed as far as I can see and sound from the icons up top but I cant check anything out because of this “screen-freeze” problem.

    Anyone know anything about this??

  380. John Demented

    Just wondering if anyone is having trouble with wifi. Lately I been dropping connection only on my snow leopard (wifi). Lan works great, my iphone no problem. But for some reason SL seems to drop wifi connection a lot. Please let me know if anyone else is experiencing this.

  381. Scott Ricketts

    I used this guide to install to a USB stick, which I then booted from to install it to my hard drive and the only change I had to make was to before dismounting the usb stick (and my hard drive the second time) to rename the IATAFamily.kext to IOATAFamily.kext.old to stop it from loading. I have a good boot disk that once you make this change on the Snow volume will let you boot just fine.

  382. Osmac

    Thomas, this did not work…. A USB mouse does work, but I do not have a USB Keyboard to test.

    I also tried the ApplePS2Controller and AppleACPIPS2Nub kexts from Leopard. with no change in the result.

    I figure it must be related to the IOATAFamily.kext that I removed to prevent a kernal panic

  383. Steven

    I noticed that when I try to install from the OSInstall.mpkg the essential install size is 3.9gb but when I try to install from the “Install Mac OS X” (Disc icon) it’ll show a 7.xgb number. I’m thinking this might have to do with quartz extreme not working. Nothing else worked either out of the box with the mpkg install, no wireless, sound and keyboard. Did anyone else get the 3.9gb number when they installed?

    • Thomas

      Steven- I got the 3.9GB install and I do have Quartz Extreme. The full install of Snow Leopard is ~7GB but when you uncheck printer drivers and what not, the size decreases immensely.

      Osmac- That could be the issue although I’m not too sure if IOATAFamily.kext effects the KB/Trackpad. Regardless, keep trying to use IOATAFamilt.kext as it is an important kext for SL operation.

  384. T

    Hey Thomas,

    Now we know you are not the only one with this USB problem..

    @gbonilla – where can I get the IOUSBFamily.kext for Snow Leopard?

    Are you able to post it here or notify us of the link?

    Thanks.

  385. Osmac

    Thomas, thank you for this great guide.

    I had to remove the IOATAFamily.kext as it caused a kernel panic.

    When booting into SL the first time and getting to the account creation, I have no response to the keyboard nor the trackpad (did not try mouse).

    Re-installed but skipped the step installing voodooPS2, same result.

    Booting with -s also does not give response to the keyboard.

    Any thoughts on next action to take?

  386. gbonilla

    That’s really strange… I have full usb support on both sides. Did you guide install a modded IOUSBFamily.kext? or are you using Vanilla?

  387. T

    Hi Thomas,

    Has any1 had problems with their Left USB ports not working?

    I think after upgrading to 10.6.1 the left USB ports stopped working.

    I tried plugging in a USB mouse and USB keyboard and it doesn’t respond.

    Quite strange. The right one has no problems..

    Thanks.

    • Thomas

      I actually noticed that issue after upgrading to 10.5.8 and it continued in Snow Leopard. I assumed I was the only one facing the issue. It’s also probably worth mentioning that in 10.5.8, my USB ports are recognized as 1.1 ports in System Profiler and operate at USB 1.1 speeds. In Snow Leopard, they work at USB 2.0 speeds but the left ones don’t work. I’ve tried alternate USB kexts but to no avail.

  388. Rocha

    Hi everyone, i have 1525 running almost perfect snowleopard.
    im running it in 32bits and a i have 2 problems:
    First is the trackpad isnt working very well, everytime i went sleep mode or restart macos i loose the click in the pad and sometimes the cursor acts strange and i really miss the 2 finger scroll.

    Second is the battery life that went from 2h30 on leopard to 1h45 on snowleopard. I have this with voodoopower and speedstep working.

    Anyone with same problems????

    Thanks in advance

  389. Greg

    I totally agree Thomas, I hate the LEDs on the 1525 so much that I have taped over all of them. The webcam one is especially blinding. It’s funny because I usually love LEDs and they’re beautiful glow, but these are the crappiest ugliest that Dell could have used.

    I was even considering opening the laptop to yank them out, just because they irritate me so much.

  390. Noyasoft

    I’m going slightly mad here..

    Got SL installed on my Dell 1525, it’s working OK,
    There is only this little issue with the Wi-Fi connection led (the blue light when connected)
    In 10.5.x it was always on (the blue light was pale when compared to the Bluetooth or power leds) and in SL it’s completely off.
    Is it only me? I thought of installing XP just to figure if it is an OS driver issue,

    • Thomas

      I am having the same issue although I don’t mind at all. I think the LED’s are too bright and hope they all burn out. I’m not sure why anyone would actually want them.

  391. Steven

    I tried your kext Thomas but quartz is still a no go. I installed them in a single bunch with kext helper, I’m not sure if it’s safer to do them one by one. I also did the standard repair permissions and a -f boot after seeing the first reboot did not enable quartz.

  392. Steven

    Are there any methods to get Quartz working? It didn’t working after a fresh install. You can see my post at the top of this page, I had to add 1280×800 since I was stock in 1024, thanks for the help why so serious! External displays also don’t work. But now I’m in 10.6.1 and the install is running off an external drive, It’d be great to get the last few kinks worked out so I can move it onto the internal (I still have Leopard on it).

    • Thomas

      Try out the Graphics Kexts from my Snow Leopard install and see if they help as I do have Quartz Extreme. Oddly enough, I am using the original graphics kexts that were installed with SL as I have always had Quartz Extreme support.

  393. T

    Hey Thomas,

    I’ve tried WhY.SoOo.Serious install for the HD missing icons and still doesn’t work.

    Any1 have better luck?

    Also I installed 10.6.1 and it works without a problem. So u should try n see.

    Thanks

    • Thomas

      I tried installing the 10.6.1 update and it got a KP on update_dyld_shar right before it went to reboot. I don’t think it was so much the update being unsafe as it was my system being unstable. I might reinstall SL and see if I can’t get this thing running right.

  394. Josh

    Hey Tom, I donated to you last week sometime, could I get some help with my install over IM if you get a chance?

  395. Thomas

    Added new step 11 for using Chameleon 2 with Snow Leopard.

  396. WhY.SoOo.Serious

    i backed up the original and i will restore it but is there any ps2 kexts needed as u gave me once when i faced the same problem ( if u remember it ) ?

    • Thomas

      I just checked our chat logs (logs are great if you ever need to look back for situations like these) and I found that the kext that worked for you last time can be found here.

  397. WhY.SoOo.Serious

    i just replace the Graphics card kexts and the system works but i can’t use both mouse and keyboard and i tried usb mouse and still nothin

    i didn’t find any solution for the graphics so i thought about that

    i don’t think that there are relation btw mouse and keyboard with the Graphic kexts, right ?

    • Thomas

      There shouldn’t be any relation between the two although I doubt its coincidence that the KB & Trackpad decided to stop working when the Leopard kexts were installed. I’m not really sure what else I can say/do to help you as you used unsupported kexts that I told you not to use and it messed around with your system, like I warned you it would.

  398. WhY.SoOo.Serious

    i have messing around with my Graphic card and i had an idea

    i reinstalled and replaced the GMA x3100 files with my leo one

    the point is and it is knida of silly problem when i reboot to snow leo

    i don’t have working mouse or keyboard and i am stuck on the welcome screen , i tried a lot of ps2 kexts but nothin and of course i tried urs but still the same so if u have any idea , plz share it

    • Thomas

      How many times have I told you not to try Leopard kexts? Seriously, don’t do it. And have you tried replacing the Leopard kexts with the original Snow Leopard ones?

  399. R

    Anyone else having a problem with the audio. MIne works ok but every now and then it starts to crackle and hiss, very annoying. Is there a different audio kext out there other than the voodoo kext that we’re using?

    • Thomas

      This seems to be a known issue with VoodooHDA.kext. Unfortunately, I don’t know of any other audio kexts that work for us in SL (AppleHDA doesn’t).

  400. T

    Hey guys,

    Just letting you know that Thomas is the man! His helped me setup Snow Leopard on my Dell 1525 and it works really well!

    His been extremely helpful and just a few questions he’ll have your Snow Leopard running on your Comp.

    All the best everyone!

    Thanks.

  401. T

    Hi Thomas,

    I send you an email just then.

    Answering ur question, I haven’t tried with -f -v. It doesn’t allow me to even have time to enter that before it boots.

    Also I’m using the latest one Chameleon 2 RC.

    Hopefully we can find a solution soon.

    Thanks.

  402. T

    Hey Thomas,

    Me again. Thanks for answering the questions. Got a major problem.

    I installed SL okay and went all the way to see the desktop and everything looked fine after completing Step 15. When I went to reboot on Step 16, it brings up with this message:

    “You need to restart your computer. Hold down the power button until it turns off, then press the power button again”.

    I’ve done that 3 times and everytime I restart it still has this message. Do you know what could be the problem and how I can fix this?

    Thanks and much appreciated!

    • Thomas

      That restart message is known as a Kernel Panic. Try booting with -f -v and see what happens. If it KP’s again then when does it happen (instantly, etc.). Also, are you using the Chameleon from the guide or the newer Chameleon 2?

  403. T

    Hi Thomas,

    Don’t worry mate. I got it working. Just didn’t install the Printer drivers and it works.

    Now I’m stuck at step 13.

    Where do I find the dsdt.aml file to copy to SL from Leopard partition?

    Thanks.

  404. R

    10.6.1 update went smoothly no problems here. Icons are still playing me up. I have changed most of them but the one I cant change is when a DMG is mounted it should be a USB icon but its still a folder. Tried changing it and it’s not having none of it. OH well, Snow Leopard is running fine apart from that so I’m happy :)

    Update also fixes youtube videos not loading with the flash plugin fix on Safari – happy days!!

  405. Steven

    10.6.1 is safe from Software Update. Is anyone stuck on 1024×768 resolution? I am, is there any pkg or kext I can install?

  406. T

    Hi Thomas,

    Thanks for the quick reply. I decided to format my drive and do a clean install in GUID.

    Though, during the installation, after it installs the BCD files and moves onto the next stage of the install, the installer pops up with a message and says the Install failed.

    Any ideas of what to do to fix it?

    Thanks.

    • Thomas

      T- Just try installing it again and see if it still fails. Some people do receive a message stating the install failed yet Snow Leopard still works fine so just be sure that you can’t boot before you go ahead and reinstall.

      Steven- To fix this issue, open com.apple.boot.plist found in /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration and add the lines from this file. That should fix your issue. Thanks to WhY.SoOo.Serious for the tip.

      R- I haven’t gotten around to the updating yet but I’ll give it a shot being you seem to not have any issues.

  407. T

    Hi Thomas,

    Thanks for the write up. I’m trying to install SL on my computer which already has Vista and Leopard 10.5.6 on the harddrive. It’s been partitioned into 3, with Vista, Leopard and blank for SL.

    When I try to install SL, it brings an error saying it can’t be installed because it requires GUID partition. Do you know how I can get my partition into GUID without having to erase the whole drive?

    Thanks.

  408. Sami

    I’m going to test it tomorrow. I read at InsanelyMac that update went well.

  409. Jaraeez

    Gosh 10.6.1 update is already out – anyone tried it yet?

  410. Sami

    I just got my SL installed with another bootloader called Boot Think 2.3 and it quite good it loads leo and SL with no problems and it’s looks like Boot Camp GUI I’ll post you in the next few days my results because now I had to back up all my HD and reinstall from scratch.

  411. John Demented

    Step 21 is also one of the most important steps. Cheers on the add. System is running smooth for about a week now no problems. I may try and add the new Chameleon bootloader but I dont want to risk an already running good system.

  412. Jaraeez

    Step #21 looks interesting – I’ll give that a go!

    Cheers

  413. jaraeez

    Yep I second that where I use it for any SL installs (Version 2.3 at the mo) just google it. You can drop kexts onto the app & it will install them, or just double clicking will repair permissions etc few other features as well.

    • Thomas

      Kext Helper not only does the same thing, but check out the new Step #21 in the guide to greatly improve stability and add support to Disk Utility to repair permission without getting an error.

  414. John Demented

    One important tool I have been using and I think is very good is called “Kext Utility”. What it does is repair your kext folder and creates a new extensions.mkext. I have not had any errors, weird hdd views, or anything.

  415. R

    Tried all them methods dude and still nothing, it’s no big deal right now just annoying. I’m sure when the update comes out then it will fix bugs like this, well, hopefully.

  416. R

    I tried that Hard Drive fix and it doesn’t work for me… strange! Another thing I’ve just noticed is that preview on a movie/video in Finder on the actual icon doesnt work for me – anyone else with this problem?

    Hard drive fix for me is just changing the icon with the ‘get info’ trick ;-)

    EDIT: Movie/video thing does work with Quicktime I’ve just found out but doesn’t work with VLC – sorry my mistake!

    • Thomas

      Since the fix didn’t work for you, trying Kext Helpering it from within Snow Leopard and see if it works. Make sure you’re booting with the -f flag though or else you might not be able to see the effect of the kext. It’s quite possible that when I installed the kext, it didn’t work but Snow Leopard just so happened to show me the HDD icons for the one boot. Later today, when I get home from school, I’ll see if the icons still appear and if they do, I’ll remove the kext and see what happens. Do try that alternative method to isntall the kext though and once again, remember to boot with the -f flag.

  417. John Demented

    I was just corrected. I believe I am running in 32 bit mode. I am going to play around and see if I can get 64 bit. :-P If you dont hear from me … I am reinstalling…

  418. Jaraeez

    @John Demented When you say “Also not sure why but I am able to run on a 64 bit kernel no problems.”

    Does that include the graphic card & Quartz Extreme? Other than that my SL in 64 bit runs fine (as of today) other than the mic etc

  419. R

    Another problem I’ve found is that since I’ve had Snow Leopard running is that it seems that drive icons are not showing up as they should be.

    Hard drive icon shows up as a folder icon
    USB icon shows up as a folder icon
    etc…

    …drives are showing up as folders which is annoying but you can easily change them. Is there some sort of fix for this?

    • Thomas

      R- I have the same issue as you. Some have reported that the issue resolves itself over time although I am yet to see any change. You said it is easy to change so does that mean you were able to fix the issue?

  420. John Demented

    W.S.S (IPT)? At any rate, some of the problems I experienced with my hardware not being recognized had to do with my dsdt.aml file. Its weird but I had to delete and put in my dsdt file in my root again, reboot and everything worked. Not sure why that happened but check it out. Also not sure why but I am able to run on a 64 bit kernel no problems. But as I learned not all 1525 are alike.

  421. WhY.SoOo.Serious

    i fixed one issue which is the resolution but still the video profiler is wrong and isn’t givin me a good performance

    =======================================

    Display:

    Type: GPU
    Bus: Built-In
    VRAM (Total): 64 MB of Shared System Memory
    Vendor: Intel (0x8086)
    Device ID: 0x2a02
    Revision ID: 0x000c
    Kernel Extension Info: No Kext Loaded
    Displays:
    Display:
    Resolution: 1280 x 800
    Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
    Main Display: Yes
    Mirror: Off
    Online: Yes

    =======================================

    what i did for any one who need it is open the file: /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist

    Open the file, and add these two lines

    Graphics Mode
    1280x800x32

    i tried everything possible even i reinstall again but still the same silly proleme

    i don’t have a proper system profiler which give me bad performance with no quartez Extreme

  422. Zulu

    Thanks. I am assuming sleep works (including closing lid) as well as ethernet, power management etc based on your post “HDMI, S-Video, and VGA Mirrored Display” not working.

    Were you ever able to make HDMI work with Leopard?

    • Thomas

      Zulu- Sleep works when running on battery but instantly wakes back up when plugged in. Also, both ethernet and power management work. Unfortunately though we were never able to get HDMI working in Leopard as it would be a great addition to our OS X bundle.

  423. Zulu

    Thomas,
    In step 12, you are copying the boot file from the current running leopard partition, to the new Snow Leopard partition, correct? I do not know what the “Snow alternative” is.

    • Thomas

      You are copying the boot file from the mounted Bootloader.dmg used in step 11 to your Snow Leopard partition (When mounted, the volume name is “Snow Alternative”).

  424. WhY.SoOo.Serious

    thnx Thomas 4 ur guide and ur instant support

    i still have 2 minor ( Audio & Video Cards ) problems but my biggest concern now is that GMA x3100 isn’t workin right

    this is the details form snow

    Display:

    Type: GPU
    Bus: Built-In
    VRAM (Total): 64 MB of Shared System Memory
    Vendor: Intel (0x8086)
    Device ID: 0x2a02
    Revision ID: 0x000c
    Kernel Extension Info: No Kext Loaded
    Displays:
    Display:
    Resolution: 1024 x 768
    Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
    Main Display: Yes
    Mirror: Off
    Online: Yes

    and this from leo

    Intel GMA X3100:

    Chipset Model: GMA X3100
    Type: Display
    Bus: Built-In
    VRAM (Total): 144 MB
    Vendor: Intel (0x8086)
    Device ID: 0x2a02
    Revision ID: 0x000c
    Displays:
    Display:
    Resolution: 1280 x 800
    Depth: 32-Bit Color
    Core Image: Hardware Accelerated
    Main Display: Yes
    Mirror: Off
    Online: Yes
    Quartz Extreme: Supported
    Built-In: Yes
    Display Connector:
    Status: No Display Connected

    i wanna fix this and i tired a lot of thing which aren’t working

    any idea how to fix this

    • Thomas

      WhY.SoOo.Serious- Try booting with the -x32 flag and then see what it says in System Profiler.

      R- I’ll try out the kext in a bit and report back. Rumor has it that this will work for us though so I have high expectations.

  425. R

    Spot on Thomas, thanks!

    I managed to get SD card reader to work people, here’s the link:

    http://blog.0xabadba.be/

    This is the VoodooSDHC.kext – works fine for me.

  426. R

    Thomas, I want to thank you. Editing the com.apple.boot.plist with timeout worked a treat. I’m able to boot into Snow. Wireless wasn’t working but I installed Kexts you provided in the pack and that works as does sound.

    Only problem I had with gliches was sometimes after installing kexts a box pops up saying that: ‘System can’t use these files’ – these are refering to the ones in the ‘Needed Pack’ (the ones for boot)
    No problems with that apart from popping up, just click ok and carry on.

    One thing…How can you boot into Snow without having to use -f all the time??

    Thank you for your hard work fella.

    • Thomas

      To take care of that error just reinstall the “Needed Kexts” using Kext Helper but this time from within Snow Leopard. As for not having to type -f every time, open com.apple.boot.plist and change the line found underneath Kernel Flags to look like the one in this file.

  427. John Demented

    Hey Thomas, I sent you another e-mail. I am done with all my testing, retesting, crashing, screaming, testing and provided you with the kext that work for me. Hopefully you will be able to combine them with what you have and info you have. I have my keyboard and mouse up and running fully, with the No ~ voodoo pack I sent you. It even works with the media keys. This is an alternative for people that use them, if not stick with the less annoying new keyboard/mouse kext I sent that way you will have keyboard and mouse working on first boot. I provided all the info and as always Thomas you know how to reach me.

    • Thomas

      Thanks for all your help John. You have my IM so you’re also welcome to reach me there if you ever have any issues (Usually only for people who donate but with everything you’ve done, how could I say no).

  428. Jaraeez

    Yeah cheers for the guide though I’d already installed it with the help from here http://www.infinitemac.com/f57/dell-inspiron-1525-t3860/ (more the merrier! :) )

    Strange as I didn’t get the KP in 64 bit (having said that I wasn’t in to long) – From my understanding the X3100 hasn’t been ported to 64 bit by Apple so I guess we’ll have to wait..

  429. Thomas

    Much to my surprise, I was actually in 32-bit the whole time. I assumed I was running 64-bit as when booting in Verbose Mode, I saw “64-Bit Mode Enabled.” In 64-bit, I don’t have Quartz Extreme either, KB & Trackpad don’t work, and I got an instant Kernel panic. For now we can stick with 32-bit Mode.

  430. Thomas

    Glad you were able to get Snow Leopard up and running using this guide. I’ll reboot and check if I have Quartz Extreme in 64-bit (I’m in Leopard right now) and I’ll let you know.

  431. Jaraeez

    Thomas – go to ‘system profiler’ & click on the actual word software on the left column it’ll state 64 yes or no

  432. Jaraeez

    OK first off apologies as the laptop KB doesn’t work (initially) if you don’t install the Voodoo KB kext.

    I did a fresh install on a new USB connected to my 1525 (Leopard) & after finishing the process as Thomas has documented (though I purposely didn’t install the Voodoo package) rebooted (-v -f).

    Did the jig at the start-up jingle :) & created my account etc & logged in. After about say a minute on the desktop it KP with an error (mdworker)

    Rebooted back this time using the -x flag & logged in again. Ran the Kext Utility, fixed permissions & rebooted.

    Booted using the -v -f flags & again logged in & this time no more KP’s (phew!) – all the time using an USB KB.

    To save this turning into an essay here are some off my observations (I will try to keep them in order)

    Installed Voodoo packaged (on reboot noticed that the ApplePS2 could not load & the VoodooPS2 took precedence)
    Laptop KB started to work along with touchpad.

    In 32 bit mode (which my installed defaulted to) wireless, battery, sound (no mic), Graphics card (Quartz Extreme) & dual monitor, KB & touchpad all seemed to work.

    In 64 bit mode wireless, sound (no mic), battery (after fighting with the kexts) all seemed to work.
    What didn’t work for me was the Graphics card which defaulted to 1024 x 768 (as stated before) no 2nd monitor & certainly no Quartz Extreme.

    Well that’s it for a while I’m off to unwind for a while :)

  433. Jaraeez

    OK rebooted into 64 bit & system profiler shows that the max resolution is 1024 x 768 & also ‘no kext loaded’? & my dual monitor doesn’t start.

  434. Jaraeez

    Thomas – the keyboard & mouse are working fine though the trackpad preference pane doesn’t alter anything.

    One thing I’ve notice is that I’m running in 32 bit mode!

    Gunna reboot using -x64 & see what happens.

    FYI – in 32 bit the wireless is working fine, sound (no mic), not sure if Quartz Extreme is running – anyway off to reboot!

  435. Thomas

    To everyone unable to get past the “mach_kernel” message when booting, redo step 12 above as it has been updated.

  436. Thomas

    flackend- Get rid of the PC EFI v10 boot file and just follow step 12 again in the guide but of course replacing < > with the name your Snow Leopard partition. If the name of the partition has more than one word then you need to type it as follows:
    If the partition was named “Snow Leopard” you would type “/Snow\ Leopard” as in Terminal, Volumes with more than one word must be separated by a backslash (\) and then a space.

    Jaraeez- So are your trackpad and Keyboard working now or do you need an alternative for the provided kexts?

  437. jaraeez

    Again confirming the Voodoo PS2 Kexts are conflicting with the ApplePS2 ones. I booted back into Leopard & deleted the Voodoo PS2 Kexts then booted back into SL with -v -f & all was well.

    Just for the record initially while in Leopard I actually installed all kext you provided using osx86tools along with what you suggested regarding the ‘Extension’ folder (don’t know if this was better or not?)

    Changed the timeout to 10 as per your suggestion which is much better.

  438. flackend

    Hi,
    Thanks for you quick response!
    I made a fresh iPC Leopard install, and made a backup image.
    I installed SL and followed your guide skipping steps 11 and 12.
    Rebooted and got this (no chance to enter boot flags):

    starting hibernate
    sleepimage has garbage
    hibernate failed
    loading darwin/x86

    Then the screen went blank after 30 seconds or so. I let it sit for 15 min with the computer unplugged/screen shut but nothing changed.

    Then I did step 12 via terminal as directed and the same thing happened as my last comment with the grey apple but it KP’d. I added -v -f to boot.plist again and when I rebooted I got the same KP as before in my last comment.

    I tried installing chameleon but with the original SL boot file but didn’t get past ‘Loading HFS+ file [mach_kernal…’ at the beginning.
    I tried the PC EFI v10 boot file and when I tried to boot it kept restarting every 2 seconds.

    Oh, and occasionally the repeating ‘7’ happens when I’m typing in leopard but it only lasts for a second.

  439. R

    Hi, again, thanks for the guide boss!

    Having a bit of trouble installing SL. I’ve followed the instructions and all goes well until I have to reboot. Here’s the thing…
    I have a 320GB HD
    partition 1 = Leopard
    partition 2 = Snow.

    Chameleon 2.0 installed on Leopard. Installed Chameleon from your pack on to Snow. Realised that when I restart that it brings me to Chameleon 2.0 bootlader, chose Snow and KP.
    So…I installed your Chameleon on to Leopard and reboot. Now It will instantly start Leopard, I can’t choose which one to boot from.

    Booted into Leopard OSX DVD, and chose startup disk Snow. Reboot and it starts Leopard again. I’ve tried to make Snow active partition with fdisk, but it still starts with Leopard – or I get HFS+ Partition error.

    Any ideas where I’m going wrong?

    • Thomas

      You need to edit the com.apple.boot.plist on the partition you installed Chameleon on so that it includes a Timeout. Your com.apple.boot.plist can be found in /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/. Copy and paste the lines from this file into your com.apple.boot.plist and reboot. It should now allow you to select which drive to boot to.

  440. flackend

    Hi, Thanks for posting your guide!

    *specs at bottom*

    I’ve been struggling to install SL for a week or so. So I made a fresh install of Leopard 10.5.6 (iPC) to follow this tutorial. I didn’t take the time to install the sound, wifi, or ethernet fixes. Just booted it up once. Then I followed your guide to upgrade my new install to SL. I got similar results from my previous attempts.

    However unique to this install, when I boot up it doesn’t give me a chance/option to enter any boot flags and goes right to the grey apple boot screen and stays there. So I put -f and -v in boot.plist.

    With a previous install I was able to enter boot flags and the same thing would happen but in verbose mode. I would get to a certain point and just get stuck without ever finishing booting. No KP.

    With this install (because of the voodoo PS2 kexts I think) during the boot sometimes ‘7’ and once a weird different character repeat like when you hold down a key when booting in verbose mode.

    During one boot I got this KP:
    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3453/3891812576_5aca1becac_o.jpg

    I tried using the PS2_Univers kexts, didn’t help.

    I’ve tried different dsdt files, one from your old post “adding a dsdtaml to older installs”, which worked great in leopard. And another from another Inspiron 1525 user.

    Any ideas what I should do?

    Thanks again for your guide!

    Dell Inspiron 1525
    Mobile Intel® GM965 Express Chipset
    Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
    Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN MiniCard (BCM4312)
    2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7250 processor
    3 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM

    • Thomas

      Just to confirm that the Voodoo PS2 Kexts are the issues, even though it appears that they are, try reinstalling Snow Leopard but skip step 11. If it boots fine without the Kernel Panic then we will look for alternative kexts for you.

  441. chris

    “Chris- If you only have one partition then you can follow this guide to make another. You can always use an external drive though it wont be as speedy since USB connections are much slower then sata çonnections.”

    the main part of my concern i guess was installing to external then swapping it to internal and I guess I was confused. Thanks. Going to try again tonight.

  442. jaraeez

    Cheers for that. I agree with waiting to have SL as the main OS yet as I do believe the 10.6.1 is already being worked on by Apple.
    On a side note I’m running SL on my mini 10v & it’s not to bad quite a lot quicker than 10.5.8 though we’ll see.
    I think what I’ll do is wait a little then probably do a full install of SL then migrate my stuff over from 10.5.7.

    I remember reading somewhere that the kext for our graphic card isn’t 64 bit capable though from above it seems I read wrong?

    • Thomas

      Jaraeez- In 64-bit Snow Leopard Quartz Extreme is listed as supported for me and I didn’t even do anything either for it. I’m using the kexts that installed with Snow Leopard and they work fine.

  443. Thomas

    To my knowledge it hasn’t been tried yet. There are probably too many incompatible kexts that would be carried over to SL that wouldn’t allow it to boot.

  444. jaraeez

    Nice one! :) Can I ask if it will be possible to do a upgrade from Leopard to SL or do we need to install separately?

    Thanks again

  445. Makeitrain

    Ok sure will once i get everything working. :). I also a hang on thr boot screen much like the post above. Booting with -v shows that it hangs with the line: Loading hfs file: [mach kernel] from 42346f0.

    • Thomas

      Try using my mach_kernel found here. Just delete the one on your Snow Leopard partition (Found in the root of your HDD) and then place the new one in there. Note you need to enable hidden files in order to see mach_kernel (Instructions in step 2 above).

  446. Thomas

    No problem. To show your appreciation you might consider donating or even clicking on some of the ads around the site. ;-)

  447. Makeitrain

    I see, i guess ill hold off on installing windows 7 until we can get SL to be stable. Btw thank you so much for ur guide and all of ur help

  448. Makeitrain

    For dual boot with windows 7 can i just install windows over the leopard partition and use easybcd?

    • Thomas

      You can although I don’t recommend getting rid of Leopard just yet as Snow Leopard is FAR from stable. For now I’ll still be using Leopard as my main OS because I just can’t justify the constant KP’s with the slight speed improvement. Anyway, make sure Chameleon is installed on the Snow Leopard partition since EasyBCD can’t load a dsdt.aml.

  449. Alex

    I’ve tried both Chameleon 1 and 2. 2 gives me the KP, 1 just seems to hang on the black screen. I tried booting with -v -f. Same thing. All the extensions were copied.

  450. Alex

    I get a KP every time I try booting the SL partition.

  451. Prybar

    Any idea why we can’t just install over top our existing Leopard? The same way real Mac ppl are doing? Is this something that could become a possibility, ie a true upgrade?

    Thanks!

    pry

    • Thomas

      Prybar- To my knowledge it hasn’t been tried yet. There are probably too many incompatible kexts that would be carried over to SL that wouldn’t allow it to boot.

      Alex- When you boot, do you see the Chameleon 1 Bootloader (Just simple text) or the newer, sexier Chameleon 2? Also, be sure to boot with -v -f and that all the “Needed Kexts” were copied over to the Extensions folder on your Snow Leopard partition.

  452. Sami

    Great guide, Tom I’ll try it a soon as get my laptop back. Just one question about voodooPS2 controller. Anyone got 2finger scrolling on alps Trackpad? and I know that Voodoo got some kext for card readers anyone tried them now?

  453. Chris

    Just to clarify a couple things – if we only have one partition, we will need to make a new one in Disk Utility correct? Or if I have an external drive, I can install to there from Leopard and then not worry about my Leopard disk?

    • Thomas

      Chris- If you only have one partition then you can follow this guide to make another. You can always use an external drive though it wont be as speedy since USB connections are much slower then sata çonnections.

      Sami- I haven’t tried to get two finger scrolling yet although I will do some testing and see what happens. Same goes for the SD Card Reader as I have a kext that might work so I’ll give it a shot.

  454. Eitan

    Is there any way to install it without previous installation of Leopard?
    10x

  455. Chris

    This came faster than I was expecting. Hopefully I’ll have time to try it out tomorrow.

  456. Makeitrain

    I received a KP on reboot. Ive used the guide on macyourpc.com for my leopard installation and am currently using chameleon rc1 as the bootloader.

    • Thomas

      The KP can be caused by Chameleon 2.0 (RC1 or RC2) which is why the included Chameleon (A variant of version 1) is recommended. Set the partition you will be installing Chameleon from as active/boot and then reinstall the included Chameleon. This should fix your issue. If it doesn’t, you might want to try repairing permissions on your Snow Leopard partition from Disk Utility on your Leopard partition.

  457. WhY.SoOo.Serious

    thnx so much for ur guide , i have been waitin 4 this since the day one of snow leo realease

    i will try it out and will give u my feedback

    again man thnx 4 ur great work

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