|-Request-| dell XPS M1730 tutorial (paid)

[spiritonline]

Hi all,

I've got an dell XPS M1730 running windows 7, but I would really like to run leopard (preferbly snow.)
I've search high and low and all I can find is compatibility isues with all distributions.
What I'm looking for is a tutorial that will give me a fully working dual boot.

I am willing to pay 50$ for this tutorial.
Under the condition that you will be able to activly support me after writing it.
I wouln'd have any trouble having it posted here at the website as a tut what so ever.

Hope anyone can help me out !

Thanks, Jason.

specs:
Intel T9300 2.5GHZ dual core
4GB RAM
2x 8800 geforce GTX (sli)
(if more is needed, il take a screen from everest)

Edit: screenshot with detaild specs:
http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/3985/compsettings.th.png (http://img40.imageshack.us/i/compsettings.png/)

[milanca]

I wouldn't rush for Snow if i was you, it's still too early for it. I was able to install it and run it of course including gfx etc but it's still far from stable system. Still lots of things are needed for it. It uses to reset my bios settings to default values on every reboot/shutdown. Once the final version is out and all the tweaks are there i am sure you'll be capable of running it with no problems at all.

I would install and use the latest 10.5.7 version.

[spiritonline]

Hi,
thanks for your reply ! a thing I hear now, I didn't knew that yet. Would you know if it's there's a distribution compatible with my system and if there are any guides for it ?

thanks again ! :)

[milanca]

Hi, you're welcome. Also, i forgot, you're welcome here at infinitemac board, enjoy your stay. Hope you can find answers to your questions or for your problems and also have fun here with us. Enjoy your stay. I have nothing against your offer (paid tutorial), but i personally just want to help the community as much as i can, share experiences in the waters of OSX. Never required any money and i ever will. That's just my point of view. As i said i also have nothing against it so if someone is willing to guide you through install process for a small fee, i am alright with it too.

Well, you laptop is really great. Hell of a beast. I am almost 100% positive that it is capable of running vanilla OSX with great performances and be a rock solid system. It's pretty much compatible, almost everything. But, as there is always something when it comes to laptops, your wireless lan isn't compatible with osx. Some intel wlan adapters have drivers for osx, being more or less stable, but some are totally unsupported. I would suggest you to use either USB wlan adapter or to replace your intel wlan mini pci-e with a broadcom one (can be found on ebay for around $10-15).

Is your laptop capable of booting off USB HDD, and do you have a spare usb hard drive ? Do you have any (preferable newer) OSX distro? Do you have retail OSX install dvd maybe?

[spiritonline]

Thanks for the warm welcome !
I respect your point of view but I see it as fair since I would pay for this kinda of service in a store as well.

Ghe ghe thanks for the compliments on the specs.
Altough it's outdated to the top systems already now :'(

I've got an external usb wlan adapter from sitecom with has mac drivers on the CD.
Regarding the HD, I don't really have an spare external HD. The one I got is the one I use for all my backups. And i'm almost done downloading OSX 1.5.6 retail.

Other then that all will work ?
I've read about a lot of problems regarding the dual graphics card.

Thanks a ton !

[thorazine74]

I took a quick look at the specs and it looks your HD is partitioned in a weird way, as a RAID array maybe? If thats the case you would need to repartition it to get Leopard to be installed there or use an external drive as suggested.

[spiritonline]

I do not mind making a new partition for the mac OSX... ?
Is it really such an advantage to have it on a external HD ?
(Plus can I use the main HD for storage when the mac OS is on the external HD ?)

[thorazine74]

I'm not sure exactly how is your disk layout, just from the report, but OS X doesnt support any kind of motherboard RAID that I know, so it wont see your internal disk(s) or partition(s) at all, neither for installation nor for storage.

[spiritonline]

hmmm that sucks big time... Would anyone know a way ?

[milanca]

i think its not a raid, though confused a bit with hardware listing, it says 'array'. there is one hdd 370GB, i guess it could be set to ahci and re-formatted/re-partitioned.

[maxweb]

Have u got any further with your request ?

I Have the same M1730 , Ive tried 10.5.7 version Managed to Install it the once , but every time after i get a Kernel panic, ive reset everything , and now im back at square one , Im going to try the iAtkos 4i DVD someone has tried this and said they got it to work, i will post results ( THE iAtkos V7 ive tried and failed in all ways ! Prehaps its me :( ) anyway
would be nice , if someone did manage to give u a Step by Step Guide.


MaxWeb

[spiritonline]

under device manager it says its array...

@maxweb,

nope, not yet. Just follow this threat and mabeye it will lead somewhere.
Please keep me updated on your iAtkos 4i

thanks all ! :)

[maxweb]

I managed to get iAtkos 4i DVD working :D (BUT ! only by itself e.g not dual boot) Im having major problems with my Intel RAID controller (Basically i have 2 * 149.1GB drives in my laptop , and the RAID makes them into 1 basically (Stripped) . But the MAC OSx doesnt seem to like my Hard drives , unless , I delete the RAID controller , and leave them to separate drives. So basically thats what ive done, and a couple of extra drivers ive added , just for the screen at the moment 1900 x 1200 , that seems fine. (Sleep mode freezes the computer so turn that off) I am starting to like it to be honest ( Im surpised ! )

Anyway think im going to install VMWARE for MAC (Fusion) and try and run windows 7 from inside the MAC , Then im happy , and going to leave it this way ! ( Thats if it works ! )

I will post about that next time , Planned for thursday as its WEDNESBEER day today ( All Day Drinking ! Wooooo !!! )

Also not working yet , All Network devices , and sound ,but i have a few things planned for them. Hope this may help.

MaxWeb :cool:

[spiritonline]

That post is putting my hopes up :D! However... If I do not have an internet connection nor sound it is pretty much useless to me. I really need those things to work. :-/

Please post any progress you made, and how you've done it !

Thanks a ton!

[spiritonline]

Could you please tell me if you made any progress and what things you checked on the costumize tab ?

I'm attempting my install all day but it isn't going so well.

Thanks a ton in advance ! :)

[maxweb]

I deleted the RAID controller , that was the main thing (BEFORE BIOS SCREEN) (Ctrl + I ).Also In the custom table I clicked speed Step (Shouldnt really matter tho), and that was it.

It should install without anyprobs. Let me know if u get stuck, will try my best to help.

Just trying my sound drivers now. Will let u know again. Also VMFusion , working fine. Install Vista , but no network is NOT Good !

MaxWeb

[spiritonline]

I've deleted the RAID as well, il try to install with just the speed step :)

Regarding audio and wifi, i know that the latest iPC has support for them. It doesn't work to install from that DVD but mabey there's a way to extract the "drivers" for it.. ?

EDIT
----------------------------------
I've finnaly managed to install with a modified 132 boot loader and a retail DVD :D:D:D

Next step:
Finding out how and what kext to add :S