Dell Latitude D530

[nypoet]

Some quick facts about the Dell Latitude D530:

 

1. It was the last Dell model to have the 4:3 aspect ratio (square) screen.

2. It supports the T9500 Core 2 Duo, 2.6 GHz, 6Mb Cache, 800 MHz FSB CPU.

3. It accepts 4 Gigabytes of DDR2 667 MHz Ram and has built in X3100 graphics.

4. As a result (for me) it handles and runs Windows 7 Ultimate effortlessly.

 

Here is how I was able to get up and running with Snow Leopard 10.6.7 in only 45 minutes.

 

1. Follow the instructions outlined within this forum on mounting and then burning a retail Snow Leopard 10.6.0 or 10.6.3 to an 8 Gigabytes USB stick or external drive. For me I was able to come across a 10.6.3 DMG image file where I used Disk Utility on another Mac to restore my DMG image file to a USB thumb drive.

 

2. Now having and then creating the proper CD Rom boot disk to get the Snow Leopard installation going is the key. The absolute best that I have found is Empire EFI from Prasys’ Blog version 1.085. If it weren’t for this boot disk (thanks to Prasys and others who have contributed I wouldn’t be writing you all now with my success on my Dell D530.

 

3. Once you have created your Empire EFI boot disk, use it to boot your Dell D530 and then select your Snow Leopard USB stick to begin the install. Note: It really doesn’t matter if you select ACHI SATA mode in the D530 A10 bios or not. I personally kept it at ATA as that was the mode that I installed Windows 7 and Windows XP on my additional hard drives and caddies so I don’t have to go back and forth in the bios while swapping out my Windows and OS X drives.

 

4. After Snow Leopard finishes installing, leave the Empire EFI boot disk in your CD Rom drive as you’ll be using it to boot into your actual Snow Leopard 10.6.0 or 10.6.3 install. Upon doing so, answer all pertinent questions regarding setting up your user account and a password if you choose along with any key required to connect to your wireless network etc.

 

5. Once you are up and running and have your wireless connection working, immediately go and download the 10.6.7 Combo Update from the Apple website and install it.

 

6. After the 10.6.7 Combo Update finishes, leave the Empire EFI boot disk in your CD Rom drive and boot into your Snow Leopard 10.6.7 install. (This boot CD really is a dream come true!)

 

7. You can then launch the Software Updates module within System Preferences and/or from the Dock and choose everything available except the 10.6.8 Update. I repeat, please uncheck the 10.6.8 Update and selected everything else, such as updates to iTtunes, AirPort etc. After all updates finish, and if you are required to boot, once again use the Empire EFI boot disk to do so.

 

8. The only thing left to quickly do is install sound support and if you like the driver for the D530 built in Ethernet port, which is the BCM 5755M with a device ID of 1673. Use the Kext Wizard to install VoodooHDA.kext (I personally like version 2.72 better than the latest 2.73) and if you like use the AppleBCM5751Ethernet.kext (version 2.1.0d21) for Ethernet support. These two Kext files get installed into the System/Library/Extensions directory also know and referred to as (S/L/E).

 

9. Ensure that you then repair the permissions and rebuilt the cache of the S/L/E directory, which is done within the Kext Wizard program. Then reboot your machine with the Empire EFI boot disk to enjoy sound and additional network support.

 

10. The above is a quick rundown of quickly getting Snow Leopard onto and updated to 10.6.7 on a Dell Latitude D530. My reference to doing it all within 45 minutes is based off of having your USB stick (Snow Leopard install disk) already created along with the Empire EFI CD Rom boot disk. I also had the 10.6.7 Combo Update (1.06 Gigabytes in size) already downloaded and saved ahead of time.

 

11. Once again special thanks to Prasys for the Empire EFI boot disk as well as all here at OS X Latitude. Long live the Dell Latitude D530, the very last 4:3 aspect ratio screen and powerful solid notebook.

 

I will be following up on this post and will have a question or two for the advanced forum moderators regarding how to get the 10.6.8 update fully functioning. I believe the only bug is my wireless card in my D530, which is the 1505 Draft 802.11n (using the BCM 4328 chip) All is fine if I disable this wireless card in bios with 10.6.8 fully functioning and stable. However, even though I am using 3 Kext files from 10.6.7 in S/L/E - AppleACPIPlatform version 1.35 - IO80211Family version 3.14 - IOPCIFamily version 2.6, I get no Airport wireless functionality and the usual no USB and CD Rom detecting along with a very sluggish system when I re-enable my wireless card in the bios. - Darren

 

PS: To give a little back to this site I have used both EDP 1.91 and 1.92 on my D530 which works flawlessly along with their included boot loaders for 10.6.7 and 10.6.8 (with my wireless disabled in bios) Hence I will not give up until I have 10.6.8 working with wireless and consider me your official D530 feedback provider. Currently using T7700 Core 2 Duo (4M Cache, 2.40 GHz, 800 MHz FSB) with Mushkin Enhanced 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 667 (PC2 5300).

[nypoet]

Excellent job!

 

T9500 you say? Oh nice! Can't wait till your benchmark that! Actually it would be the first (and probably fastest) D530 in the list.

 

Yes, I love this very last square screen notebook and best of all, just tonight, I have Lion 10.7.3 working flawlessly. See the D530 Lion Install I just posted. Where are you at on the OSX versions on yours? Best, Darren