[GUIDE] D520 OS X Lion

[bobdamnit]

Since I don't see any other guide's for this machine, I figured I'd try to help out the community by creating one! Keep in mind that this guide isn't exactly machine specific. Several of the Latitude D4x0's, D5x0's and D6x0's are very similar to the Latitude D520 and this guide can easily be used for them too.

Pre-Installaiton

Thing's you'll need:
-8Gb USB Flash drive/Small partition on HDD
-InstallESD/Mac OS X Lion.dmg from App Store
-MyHack 3.1.2
-Some form of OS X 10.6+ (VM, previous install, etc...)

You can follow the Preinstall Guide already written up here on OSXL. I modified it a little bit, which I will outline here in this guide, however I will assume you chose to follow the USB guide exactly.

I chose to install the OS X Lion installer on my hard drive in the D520. I chose to do this because I want to experiment with a bunch of different configurations in 10.7 before I update to 10.7.X. Having the install media on the hard drive makes install times dramatically faster than using USB flash disks. Also, I didn't have a flash drive.

Once you have your install media prepared, its on to configure BIOS and install OS X

BIOS configuring and installing OS X:

Note: I chose not to use the modified BIOS for the D520. Using the modified BIOS removes the need for a patched/modified DSDT as the DSDT is patched/modified in the modified BIOS. (Thats the only benefit, as far as I can see.)

Place your install media in the D520 and power the machine on. As soon as you turn the machine on, start tapping F2 to enter BIOS. Once in BIOS, set a "System" password inside the "Security" settings. Don't set an "Administrator" password, make sure its a "System" password.

Note: The System password can only be 8 or less characters. Any more than 8 characters and BIOS will not accept the characters past 8. (You'll know you hit the max amount when BIOS beeps at you.) Make it something you can remember! While technically its pretty easy to bypass the password if you forget it (Even EDP has an option to do it!), it makes it very hard to do when any time you start the computer it asks for a password. If you can't remember the password, you won't load ANY operating system to be able to bypass the password. Make it easy on yourself, DONT FORGET THE PASSWORD!

Further down, you will see the "Bypass" settings. Go to that and set it to "Bypass restart" only! Now, every time you cold boot, or wake from standby, BIOS will present you with a screen to input that System password. However, because we selected "Bypass restart" whenever you restart the D520, BIOS will not prompt for a password. Tap escape and select "Save and exit". The D520 should reboot.

Note: I had you do this in preparation of having OS X installed. Setting a system password will help later with Hibernation issues, and selecting "Bypass Restart" will save you from entering a system password sometimes.

Start tapping F12 to bring up the boot selection menu. Select "USB Removable Media" and hit enter. If you've done everything correctly, Chameleon boot loader should start and begin loading the OS X installer. I like to boot the installer with the verbose flag, and if you need any specific flags for your machine, now is the time to input them.

Select your language. Once the installer is up and running, click "Utilities" in the menubar and select "Disk Utility". Once Disk Utility loads, make sure you select the drive you want to install OS X to. Format the drive in MBR if you plan on using Windows on the machine as well as OS X. Exit Disk Utility.

Select your recently formatted drive and hit "Install". You can't customize any options. Install time should be anywhere from 15-40 minutes, depending on your install media read/write speed.

First boot:

Once OS X is installed, reboot. Remove your install media and let the computer boot from the hard drive. Since this is the first boot, you'll need a few boot flags to help you along. I'll outline the ones I used to help me get booted the first time:

-v
-USBBusFix=No (DO NOT INCLUDE THE "-"!)

"-v" means "Verbose". This will show you everything OS X is doing while it is booting. "USBBusFix=No" tells Chameleon that USB doesn't need any fixes. Setting this will enable the stock ApplePS/2 keyboard driver to work during the OS X setup. Neither of them are required after first boot. Once setup is finished, VoodooPS/2 will take over in OS X and allow your trackpad/keyboard to work and since setup only runs the first time, "USBBusFix=No" is only helpful the first boot.

Once OS X is up and running, you'll need to download EDP and run that. Most D520's came with the Broadcom 4311 wireless card, and if you still have that card, you should have wireless out of the box. Of course, there are some Broadcom cards that aren't intended to run in OS X. I happen to own one of these cards. Its labeled the Broadcom 4312, however the device ID's show me that its a 14e4:4315. There are drivers for the Broadcom cards that don't work in OS X. I'll include the one that worked for my specific card. Alternatively, you can rebrand the Broadcom card to an Apple Airport or Airport Extreme card and it will work natively. Rebranding Broadcom Cards Guide.

Configuring EDP:

Ok, I'm assuming you have OS X installed and wireless working. Download EDP and run that. Put in your password and select option 1. Select the D520 and then select option 1 for "Default Values". When it asks if you want NullCPUPowerManagement, select yes. When it asks if you want SleepEnabler, select yes. When it asks if you want Emulated Speedstep support, select yes. Select yes for VoodooTSC. It will ask what sound driver you want. The D520 comes with the STAC9200 device. I chose patched AppleHDA for STAC9200, but I installed SoundFlower because I still get audio lags. VoodooHDA #1 works, however has no microphone support and no audio lags. If you do not need a microphone, I suggest this one. I also picked VoodooBattery to get battery readings in the Finder menubar. EDP has its own version of MyFix, so once EDP is completed you can reboot.

At this time, you should have a mostly working copy of OS X 10.7. Sound should work (if it doesn't, check System Preferences/Sound and make sure "Internal Speakers" are selected), as well as wireless, battery, keyboard and touchpad. We are going to do a bit of extra configuring with EDP to get the best out of our machines.

Re-run EDP and select option 2 (Configuration). Select Option 4 to install SoundFlower. EDP will return to the configuration menu after a few seconds. Select option 2 to disable Hibernation. EDP will return back to the configuration menu after a few seconds. Select "X" to return to the main menu. Select "Q" to quit. Reboot. Hibernation/Sleep should now work properly because we configured it with EDP and because of the "Master Password" we set in BIOS. Any sound delays you might have had can be taken care of witht SoundFlower. Just make sure it starts up with OS X.

Updating:

Updating is easy. Run the 10.7.5 combo update and before it automatically reboots, re-run EDP and select your choices again. Reboot with verbose. If you have my wireless card, you MUST reinstall the Broadcom43XXFamilyRev2 kext with Kext Wizard for wireless to work again after updating to 10.7.5.

Now you are fully updated, and everything should be working properly!


Tips:

If anything fails, feel free to drop a post in here. Hopefully we can help you figure it out.
Hibernation works, but display sleep does not. It works, but the screen will come back to life distorted but usable. Nothing seems to bring it back except a reboot.  Fixed in latest EDP.
Battery icon in menubar doesn't automatically update. Removing the charger and replugging it back in will make it update. Fixed by using AppleSmartBattery in EDP
Adjust the "TJMax" value in /Extra/Extensions/IntelCPUMonitor.kext/Contents/Info.plist. Set it to whatever your TJMax temperature is for correct temperature readings in hardware monitor software. Also keep in mind that anytime you run EDP you will have to make these changes. Be sure to lookup your CPU on the Intel Website.
Wireless doesn't reactivate after Hibernation. You have to shut it off in OS X and turn the card back on. After that, it operates flawlessly. Fixed with latest Apple AirPort update

Display sleep is still broken. Disable clamshell sleep via PMSET and the display will only wake when closing the lid by using a hot corner to sleep/wake the display. Minor annoyance.


Please feel free to let me know if I missed anything important!

Credits:
OSXL community for being such a great forum
OSXL development team for such a great driver pack
Hervé for the "USBBusFix=No" flag
Anyone else that deserves credit I didn't give. (Apologies!)

Broadcom43XXFamilyrev2.kext.zip

[Hervé]

One little comment re: Tjmax. The value depends on your CPU, so check the Intel web site to obtain the correct value before editing the plist file. Not all CPUs have a Tjmax of 100...

[bobdamnit]

Mine comes with the T5500, so if you have that CPU then the TJMax is 100. I don't exactly know if all D520's came with the T5500 CPU though. Thanks for the tip!

[bobdamnit]

Can anyone tell me why temps are getting out of hand? Running just a web browser playing a simple Kongregate game (flash based games) my temps skyrocketed to easy 88 degrees celsius and were climbing before I had to do something about it. I ended up shutting down the browser, and that brought temps back down. Then, I brought up the FN+Shift 15324 hidden menu and spun the fan up to "D7" (about 4,800 RPM) and temps dropped back down to normal after a minute. But I noticed while I was in the hidden menu that even though BIOS had control of the fan, it wouldn't spin to max.

 

I've noticed that there is a IO Kit driver for controlling the fan, and when loading the next manually I can control the fan with the I8kfanGUI app. Although the kext doesn't load manually (and I cannot force it with launchd) you have to load the kext manually every time you boot OS X. While its a nuisance, it does work.

 

Why won't BIOS force fans to high even when temps are out of this world? BIOS controls the fan just fine in Snow Leopard on this machine. I also run Linux daily on this machine on a LiveDVD and BIOS has no problem forcing the fans to run max in Linux. So whats different in Lion?

 

TJMax value's have been modified correctly so I am getting correct temperature readings. (In I8kfanGUI, Temperature Monitor, and iStat, all readings are identical.) I do have VoodooPState installed, and I leave it on "Conservative Performance". Because I cannot make I8kfanGUI work properly, I do not use fan control unless I absolutely have to via the hidden menu. I do use Safari, and it is fully updated. So is OS X.

 

Also, I tried this with EDP DSDT and with the recently modified DSDT by user joe82 seen here. Both have the same issue.

[Hervé]

Have you ever opened up the laptop to check the fan for a big/thick dust clog?

 

You could also renew the thermal paste of your CPU. It's probably all hardened up by now.

[bobdamnit]

Yeah, I had the laptop open about 3 months ago. I usually open it up once every six months and blow the dust out with a can of compressed air. The thermal paste may be old, definitely. But I can keep temps down in the low 30's C if I put the fan (hidden hardware test menu) in a medium speed and run "Conservative Performance" in VoodooPState.

 

Thats kind of why I'd like the I8kfan project working. I just have never worked with I/O Kit. And don't have the time right now to tackle it.

[Hervé]

Not owning one, I don't know how the D520 is built but I can tell you that on the D620/D630 and D820/D830, you most usually have to completely open up the laptop and remove the casing top part to access to the fan & heatsink and properly remove the clogged dust.

 

I did this on my D620 when it started to heat up a few months ago. I had previously put a hoover hose to the undertray and lifted the keyboard to blow compressed air but that did not really help. Once I fully opened it up, I found a 3-4mm layer of dust tightly built in the small gap between the fan casing and the heasink radiator grill. There was a narrow piece of sticky tape on top of that. Nothing made that clogged dust go away but my own fingers...

[bobdamnit]

When I said I fully open her up, I mean remove everything. Keyboard, top case/touchpad/buttons, and get all the way down to where I can see the second RAM bank under the keyboard, the only fan, and the motherboard under the case/touchpad/buttons. I also remove the underside RAM/WiFi door, DVD-RW drive, and HDD before I spray with compressed air. I can see the fan/ducts from the fan port, and they look relatively clean. I do know that it could benefit from a new coating of thermal paste, however seeing as the CPU is locked down with a copper heatsink/aluminum block and 4 screws, I've been hesitant to perform that action on this laptop. (I re-do thermal paste every year on my desktop computers.)

 

I tend to stay away from using vacuum cleaners because they cause too much static electricity and will fry the computer. I've done this on many desktops lol.

[Bronxteck]

does it still have the stock blue thermal pad under the cpu heatsink or have you upgraded it with the copper shim? sometimes the blue pad comes off and leaves a gap where it used to be. just filling in the void with thermal compound will not suffice. it has to make direct contact with the heatsink.

[bobdamnit]

Its the stock blue pad, but the machine was under extended warranty until November 2011 and I had it replaced about September 2011. (I purchased it through school and they offered business extended warranty dirt cheap so I paid extra for it.) I also had them replace the motherboard fan, touchpad (it was wasted), and the display hinges. All in all, its a pretty new computer I keep regularly maintained.

 

Windows temps (at idle) stay around 38-40C. OS X temps (at idle) stay around 50-55C. So I just dont think its the heatsink/thermal pad. I remember having high temps way back in Leopard/Snow Leopard. I think this machine just runs hotter with OS X. (Fan control would help that, as would undervolting the CPU. I paid for CoolBook, but I never really saw any temperature differences with undervolting.)