Acer Aspire 5810TZ

[Raditude]

Hello,

I am new to MacOS, but not computers in general. I have an Acer Aspire 5810TZ Laptop, that I would like to install MacOS X Snow Leopard 64bit on.

The computer came with Windows 7 64bit, which I have erased, and currently have Ubuntu Linux Karmic Koala 64bit installed.

I want to install Snow Leopard on my laptop, and also be able to multi-boot into Ubuntu, Windows 7, and Windows XP. I don't have anything on the laptop worth saving, so a reformat/repartition is fine.

I tried installing a custom patched OSX made by "Hazard," (http://osx86.net/f57/snow-leopard-10-6-1-10-6-2-t5431/) but it hung on boot, giving me the "Still waiting for root device" error. I think it means that the SATA drivers aren't being loaded or it can't find my hard drive or partition.

Also, does anyone know of a good program for burning DMG files with Windows XP or Ubuntu?

My Laptop Specs:

Intel Pentium SU4100 - 1.3Ghz, 800 Mhz FSB
Intel GMA 4500M, Up to 1695 MB DVMT
15.6" 16:9 HD LCD
4GB DDR3 Memory
320 GB Hard Drive
802.11b/g/Draft-N Wireless Networking
Ethernet Port
4 USB Ports
HDMI Out
VGA Out
Webcam
Built in Speakers and Mic
Headphone and Mic Jacks
Touchpad Mouse

Thank you much

[Mets08123]

if it says it right where you first insert the CD. Do the following : boot up computer, keep press F12 (or whatever button it is for your computer) to get to setup options. scroll through the menus until you see SATA Something. Change whatever its set to compatibility or whatever you have. then when its done installing. go back to the setup utility BEFORE first boot into mac. and change the SATA back to what it was. then everything should be ok :)

[Raditude]

I've messed with the Bios settings, and I don't think it had the right options for me to change.

The option available to change is "SATA Mode." the options available are AHCI Mode and IDE Mode.

I changed it to AHCI, like a tutorial told me, but it didn't work. I'm changing it back to IDE and trying it now.

EDIT: I got a mouse pointer and a startup screen.

[Raditude]

Ok, I got this to work. Now I'm working in the Disk Utility. Like I said, I want to multiboot this. I'm hoping to run Snow Leopard, Windows 7, Windows XP, and Ubuntu. I would also like to run Live Android, but I can't get the installer disc to work right now.

How many partitions should I have? I have a 320GB Hard Drive (shows 298.1GB)

[Raditude]

Ok, I got it installed, but now it's not booting. It doesn't recognize the OS.

[Raditude]

Ok, I installed Ubuntu Linux in another partition. This installed GRUB (bootloader) Now I get the option to boot MacOSX, but when I try it, it gives me the Darwin Kernel Panic. I'm stuck here.

[Raditude]

Here's the Panic Error I get. Sorry the camera isn't that great.

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h46/RaditudeForever/OSX86PanicError.png

[Raditude]

Ok, I figured out part of the problem. I wasn't selecting the Kexts to install. I thought they were installed automatically with each distro.

So I did that, and when I rebooted, it loaded Chameleon and the Apple logo came up, and it gave me the "Please restart your computer" message.

[mesco64]

Hi, Ratitude,
as far as I see, you've repeating my steps just a month after me :). Here is what I did until now, results were encouraging but not excellent, I'm telling here hoping will save you time.

My laptop is an Acer Aspire 5810T (no 3G module) European version bought in July 2009. I had a pre-installed Windows Vista Home Premium that I didn't want to remove, and a 20Gb Linux on a second partition that used very rarely, and so I wanted to put Mac on the second one.

At first I got Kalyway 10.5.1 and installation seemed to go fine but in fact never booted correctly, I fixed many problems but had to surrender in front of "HFS+ Partition Error". Yes, I've read some tips & tricks to solve it but none of them worked (and I was tired of the trial/error cycle).

Then I decided to try with iAtkos v7, which really seemed better. After two or three attempts of install I think I've found the closest set of options to the best possible on this laptop.

After your iAtkos DVD boots you should get to Customize... and set the following options:
- Leave all the default choices that are already checked
- Add USB support only, NOT the other suggested (3 in 1 memory card, etc), only USB
- Add the first ACHI driver (unlike Kalyway, with iAtkos you don't have to change the SATA controller mode from the BIOS, you just put the dvd and boot)
- Add PS/2 handler with trackpad support
- Under Kernel, check the highest version, the second one
- Add support for Laptop battery
- Add support for Intel Processor Stepping mode (throttle, etc)
- I also added Network (wired), Intel Gigabit driver, but it didn't work, perhaps it's better to leave it out
FIXES:
- I had EasyBCD under Windows to manage dual boot. I added Chameleon v2 under the Mac partition, now my first boot is Win dual boot, then it jumps to the mac partition and I see the Chameleon screen, allowing (for a second time) to move back into windows or, as default, boot Mac OS. I think you'd probably find a simplest solution (Chameleon in the first place, for example, with no windows menu, but for the moment it's fine like this).
- Native screen resolution fix as explained here: www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=173338 (http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=173338)

RESULTS:
What I tested and works out of the box:
- Trackpad and keyboard, OK
- USB ports OK, so pen drives OK.
- Screen resolution OK (now it shows several screen res. available, not only 1024x768)
- HAIWEI USB Internet Key was installed automatically, the 3g provider put Mac drivers on it, but cannot connect from the software given with the key.
Connecting from the Mac works fine, I had to configure manually the number to call, but worked fine. (In fact in the meantine I applied a patch, a package E220.dmg with drivers for a newer model)
Reading forums about HUAWEI I found that it's a very common issue not related to iAtkos or Kalyway but to the Mac itself. Our Italian 3 provider has apparently distributed a buggy version of the software.
Absolutely OK (be warned, by using the Mac connection utility you can't tell when in roaming)
- Webcam, seems to work but didn't test it in depth (I think it's internally connected as USB device) OK
- Power management ok, reacts immediately to power supply plug/unplug. OK
- Sound, Yeah! OK
- Memory card 5 in 1 slot, OK
- Bluetooth, OK (In fact it didn't work until I realised that I had to enable it with Fn+F3, exactly the same as in windows mode) so...
- Soft Acer keys (FN + F2 (?) NO, F3 (bluetooht) sometimes YES (check better), F4 (Sleep) NO, F5 () NO, F6 (turn off screen) YES, F8 (mute/unmute) YES, Volume up/down YES, Brightness left/right YES) I'd say OK.
- Mounting/unmounting the Windows partition OK
- Opening 3gp videos from my cell phone (iTunes), OK
- Listening mp3 files (with iTunes), OK
What I tested but doesn't work:
- LAN support
- Wireless lan support
- Opening DIVX file, a message appears telling you should download something, maybe it's easy to fix
- Microphone... seems not to work
What I haven't tested yet:
- Video acceleration (as told above, cell phone videos look perfect, but it should be tested with a bigger frame/higher frame rate)
So as you may see, the final score is very high, most of the functions I used, (excluding LAN), work fine with no or little effort. The system performance is remarkable, boots and shutdowns in
a flash. I'm really impressed with "my new toy" (as my wife named it :)

Right now I'm trying to add the Atheros (or Attansic, I'm getting contradictory information) LAN and WLAN driver... let you know later.

[mesco64]

I forgot to say that in iAtkos v7 the version is Leopard, not Snow Leopard. Please note that the BIOS change is no more necessary (at least for me) since I'm using iAtkos.

UPDATE:
Now after having connected to the internet with the USB Key, I updated the software from the Finder menu... Some updates were fine, the last one, labeled Mac OS X updates or something similar (200+ Mbyte), had a devastating effect on my previous install: screen reverted to 1024x768, no USB hotplug, and only God knows what else :mad:... keep in mind this before you try updates. Seems like the whole Extensions folder has been overwritten by the update.
Patched the screen again, now it's ok. Need to reinstall the USB driver and (perhaps) the newest kernel mentioned in my first post, but my dvd is at home...

REMAINS UNRESOLVED: the network card (wired and wireless) not working yet. I've just downloaded a driver named AttansicL1Ethernet_10.5.6.zip but haven't tested it. I'll post updates later, in case of success will give you the path. No. Not the good one.
Next step: I've found there's an Universal Network Driver for Mac OS project in sourceforge.net, I think I'll try it, even if it's in beta.
Stay tuned!

[Raditude]

Ahh, thank you. I found the iAtkos torrent, and am working on downloading it now. I appreciate the help.

I'm going to wipe my hard drive to install this, so what order should I install my operating systems? Windows 7, Windows XP, Ubuntu and Mac OSX.

Can I upgrade to Snow Leopard after I install the iAtkos v7?

[Raditude]

Ok, I looked at the specs for your computer, and it has a different processor. Yours has a Core 2 Duo, and mine is a Pentium Mobile Processor. Will that make a difference in the install?

[mesco64]

I'm getting confused about the brand of the LAN adapter on the Acer 5810T

Could anybody help me to find out the brand/model ???
From Windows I see Atheros...
From OSX86Tools I see Attansic... what the hell shoud I look for ?

Thanks

[mesco64]

Oh, I didn't know the meaning of the Z on your laptop model... not too bad, in my opinion. Read about "backward" compatibility towards mono core processors somewhere. Your experience will be precious.
BTW, it's nice seeing that there are travel mates in this desparados journey :D

Now the problem is: how to upgrade to Snow Leopard ? I've made some search around, but there is no iAtkos v8 available (if you find it, pls reply), and as you may have read in a recent reply the automatic update broke some parts of the system. So I'm very skeptical about the success of an upgrade from the retail SL DVD... we need something that's already patched, I suppose.

Right now, I applied the screen patch and it seems to be fixed... but USB... mmm don't know where to start.
Stay connected, Radi.

[Raditude]

Thanks. I'll update you when I get this downloaded. It'll probably be tomorrow or the next day.

[Raditude]

Well, I followed your directions, and I got Leopard installed on here. It seems to be working so far. I'm hoping to get wifi and ethernet working on here asap.

[mesco64]

Hi everyone,
as I told before the resolution needed to be fixed, and I've installed the USB driver again. Now I'm (almost) back to the previous step, that is, no network card (wired or wireless, some problems with the webcam (I remember that at the first post-install, when configuring the user info, it worked and I shot an image for the account with it, now it's apparently broken).

After installing iAtkos v7 I applied several updates (from the web):
- Safari
- Security updates
- Quick Time
- System updates (after this one I had to apply the two fixes, screen and usb)
- Java (two updates, 6 and 7)

[Raditude]

I finally got everything installed correctly. To triple boot, I installed Leopard first, Windows 7 next, then Ubuntu last. Windows 7 changed the bootloader so you couldn't boot anything but Windows 7, and deleted the partition Ubuntu was installed on. Chameleon wouldn't boot Windows 7. I ended up having to use GRUB to boot them all.

In Windows 7, I found that the Wired Network Card for my laptop is an Intel card. I tried the Kext that isn't Gigabit, but haven't tested it yet.

My three main goals are to get Wired and Wireless Networking on my laptop, and to get the DVD drive to work.

[Raditude]

Ok I found some kexts for the Atheros Ethernet port. Here's the link.

http://code.google.com/p/iats/

I haven't got it working correctly though.

When I try to install it, I keep getting the "the system extension cannot be used" error.

UPDATE: I figured out how to make this work

extract the zip to your desktop (not into a folder, literally to your desktop) this means there should be a file on your desktop called AtherosL1cEthernet.kext

Go to Terminal

type sudo -s in terminal then your admin password following this, now you should be root.

type cd /System/Library/Extensions

type sudo mv /users/(YOUR USERNAME)/desktop/AtherosL1cEthernet.kext /system/library/extensions
at this point the file AtherosL1cEthernet.kext should have dissapeared from the desktop,

type sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/AtherosL1cEthernet.kext

type sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/AtherosL1cEthernet.kext

now, CLOSE TERMINAL
then go to /system/library and look for
Extensions.mkext, and also look for extensions.kextcache,

DELETE BOTH OF THESE FILES (dont worry theyll come back on nxt boot.)

[mesco64]

Hi, everyone,
just wanted to report partial success after installing Snow Leopard from iAtkos S3 dvd.
Three attemps with iAtkos and a 4th with "dvd_by_hazard" had several problems.
I finally did it with iAtkos S3, fixed the USB problem, fixed the screen and voilą...

Refer to this post to see what works and what doesn't work yet...
http://osx86.net/f47/iatkos-s3-on-acer-aspire-5810t-t6267/

[smashton818]

awesome work, guys! I have an acer aspire 5810tz with leopard on it now thanks to both of you! Typing this message with it right now, too. Raditude, any luck with wifi, yet?

[mesco64]

UPDATE ON MY PREVIOUS POSTS:
I must report success on LAN adapter, (thanks to Raditude), I downloaded the AttansicL1c driver from http://code.google.com/p/iats/ (http://code.google.com/p/iats/)
and works fine.
I update my system regularly from the Apple site, ALWAYS skipping system updates (preventing overwrite of drivers) but allowing the rest (new versions of iTunes, Safari, ecc are ok).
Starting this summer I installed several pieces of free/shareware programs sometimes getting weird errors.
For example, opening JPG images doesn't work (Preview utility). I found another way to see the files (right-click then choose Quick Preview or something similar, my menus are in italian).

SOFTWARE ISSUES
I didn't install many software yet, but noted some install problems:
- Google Chrome installs and works fine, but when I tried to add the 3D Earth plug-in the installer locks at some point
- Audacity (audio editing software) comes in a .DMG package, and works fine from that location, but when I try to move it to the Applications folder it doesn't work anymore... found a couple of tutorials that explain how to solve that but they didn't solve.
- The Divx free suite installed fine but the player crashes on start. Anyway I needed the codecs and they work fine.

BTW wouldn't it be great if someone collected in a database or something similar the success/failure stories about software installs on Hackintosh machines? Anyone knows about a site like this?

[mesco64]

SOME NOTES For .NET/Mono developers (maybe this is the wrong thread):
I put it here just to show the typical usages of my x86 Mac.
I brought to my Mac an application written in C# in Visual Studio (under Windows XP). I previously tested that on a Linux Ubuntu with Mono installed, so I was curious to see If it worked. The app is essentially a program for vector drawing and animation (not public for now) at a prototype stage.

In order to run .NET apps I installed Monodevelop (IDE) for Mac OS (needed only if you intend to develop), then I installed Mono from www.monoproject.org (http://www.monoproject.org) and copied the sources on the machine.
I opened the solution in Monodevelop, pressed F5... and voilą!. It runs!
The software works, yes, but not exactly as I expected. I had to put a fix that consisted in a try/catch around a piece of code that was raising an exception (under Linux that didn't happen, but was a year ago... could be a minor change in the Mono framework) to run it.
Then there seems to be a problem with MouseMove events as well as transform matrices.
You should consider a couple of facts: first of all, there is a new OS version of the framework that I didn't test yet.. Second, there maybe some differences on the Mac OS platform that make the .NET implementation harder...

Stay tuned, the guys at the Mono Project are really doing a great job anyway!!

[mesco64]

awesome work, guys! I have an acer aspire 5810tz with leopard on it now thanks to both of you! Typing this message with it right now, too. Raditude, any luck with wifi, yet?

Hi everybody, just curious about any issues (and solutions) after update to 10.6.7. In my case, I downloaded from the Software Updates in the Mac menu and it went rather well, except for USB devices...