Dell Inspiron N3421 with Sierra 10.12

[Jake Lo]

Check BIOS, see if you have Legacy Option ROMs. If yes, enable it.

[dunhill]

I have corrected Clover as your instruction and also set value yes for Legacy Option ROMs

The problem still exits

 

EFI.zip

[Jake Lo]

Give this a try, add the SSDT-xxx to patched and replace the Config file

N3421.zip

[dunhill]

Thank you Jake Lo,

 

I have tried your SSDT, no luck, the screen still flickering.

But I have found  this topic https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/299911-dell-inspiron-3x21-5x21-clover-install-guide-dell and tried to patch:

1. DSDT by the file https://www.dropbox.com/s/8udi7ki1qxgl1iz/Dell Exx21 1600x900 patches.txt

2. SSDT-4-SgTabl by

into definitionblock code_regex External\s+\((.*_SB_\.PCI0\.GFX0\.DD02\._BCM),\s+IntObj\) replace_matched begin External(%1, MethodObj) end;
into method label _BCM parent_label DD02 code_regex Return\s+\(([^\)]*)\)\n.*Arg0 replace_matched begin %1(Arg0) end;

# rename GFX0
into_all all code_regex \.GFX0 replaceall_matched begin .IGPU end;
into_all all label \_SB.PCI0.GFX0 set_label begin \_SB.PCI0.IGPU end;

# call _OFF from _SB.PCI0.PEG0.PEGP
into method label _INI parent_label \_SB.PCI0.PEG0.PEGP code_regex . insert begin _OFF()\n end;

into definitionblock code_regex . insert
begin
External(\_SB_.PCI0.PEG0.PEGP._OFF, MethodObj)\n
end;

3. SSDT-5-OptTabl by 

into_all all code_regex pnp0c14 replaceall_matched begin PNP0C14 end;

into definitionblock code_regex External\s+\((.*_SB_\.PCI0\.GFX0\.DD02\._BCM),\s+IntObj\) replace_matched begin External(%1, MethodObj) end;
into method label _BCM parent_label DD02 code_regex Return\s+\(([^\)]*)\)\n.*Arg0 replace_matched begin %1(Arg0) end;
into method label WMMX code_regex If\s\(CondRefOf\s\(\\_SB\.PCI0\.GFX0\._DSM[^}]*\} replace_matched begin //nothing end;


# rename GFX0
into_all all code_regex \.GFX0 replaceall_matched begin .IGPU end;
into_all all label \_SB.PCI0.GFX0 set_label begin \_SB.PCI0.IGPU end;

4. Run the command in the terminal

sudo perl -pi -e 's|\x05\x03\x00\x00\x02\x00\x00\x00\x30\x02\x00\x00|\x05\x03\x00\x00\x02\x00\x00\x00\x30\x00\x00\x00|' /System/Library/Extensions/AppleIntelFramebufferCapri.kext/Contents/MacOS/AppleIntelFramebufferCapri

 

The problem has been solved, no flickering screen. Any one who want to install Sierra on Dell N3421 may use the attached EFI folder for reffering

 

Credit to:

1. sugarface (from insanelymac.com) for patching guide

2. Jake Lo and Hervé for clover configuration

 

 

 

 

EFI.zip

[Jake Lo]

Seems the only difference from my attached files is the additional FB patch which can be accomplished by adding the hot patch to KextToPatch rather than actually patching the kext.

sudo perl -pi -e 's|\x05\x03\x00\x00\x02\x00\x00\x00\x30\x02\x00\x00|\x05\x03\x00\x00\x02\x00\x00\x00\x30\x00\x00\x00|' /System/Library/Extensions/AppleIntelFramebufferCapri.kext/Contents/MacOS/AppleIntelFramebufferCapri

Comment: Flickering screen Fix

Find: 050300000200000030020000

Name: AppleIntelFramebufferCapri

Replace:  050300000200000030000000

 

[Hervé]

Wondering if the screen corruption experienced here could not be due to the Capri FB memory size that caused a fairly similar issue on our Ivy Bridge/HD4000 Latitude E6x30 laptops when BIOS exceeded a given version... Fix was to adjust FB mem. size from 256MB to 8MB:

 

[Jake Lo]

Could be possible since he only has 4GB ram as noted on the 1st post.

[dunhill]

@Jake Lo, I have tried your hot patch without run the command in the terminal, the problem has not been solved

 

		<key>KextsToPatch</key>
		<array>
			<dict>
				<key>Comment</key>
				<string>Enable TRIM for SSD</string>
				<key>Disabled</key>
				<false/>
				<key>Find</key>
				<string>AEFQUExFIFNTRAA=</string>
				<key>InfoPlistPatch</key>
				<false/>
				<key>Name</key>
				<string>IOAHCIBlockStorage</string>
				<key>Replace</key>
				<string>AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=</string>
			</dict>
			<dict>
				<key>Comment</key>
				<string>Flickering Screen Fix</string>
				<key>Find</key>
				<string>050300000200000030020000</string>
				<key>Name</key>
				<string>AppleIntelFramebufferCapri</string>
				<key>Replace</key>
				<string>050300000200000030000000</string>
			</dict>
		</array>

 

 

[Hervé]

Result is normal, that's not the way you were meant to do it. Clover config file does not use standard text in its Find/Replace field but Base64 strings. Use Clover Configurator app to apply Jake Lo's on-the-fly patch in plain ASCII text.

[Jake Lo]

Here

			<dict>
				<key>Comment</key>
				<string>Flickering screen Fix (1366x768)</string>
				<key>Disabled</key>
				<false/>
				<key>Find</key>
				<data>
				BQMAAAIAAAAwAgAA
				</data>
				<key>InfoPlistPatch</key>
				<false/>
				<key>Name</key>
				<string>com.apple.driver.AppleIntelFramebufferCapri</string>
				<key>Replace</key>
				<data>
				BQMAAAIAAAAwAAAA
				</data>
			</dict>