Dell Inspiron 6400

[kannan]

OS X 10.7.3 is working well on Dell Inspiron 6400. Everything works except sleep. I could not test sleep as my power button is broken and I use the MediaDirect button to start my laptop.

I have not used any DSDT or injection.

I have not had a single KP so far.

 

Please note that upgrading to 10.7.5 and above will break the OS, it will boot to a blank screen. if you patch the AppleIntegratedFrameBuffer.kext, it will panic as the patched version is not supported beyond 10.7.4.

To get it to work on 10.7.4, you need to patch AppleACPIPlatform.kext with the one from Snow leopard 10.6.8 and also patch the AppleIntegratedFrameBuffer.kext.

 

Since I was happy with the performance of 10.7.3, I decided to stay on this version.

 

All the native OS X softwares like Aperture, iWork etc and third party softwares like Adobe products, office for Mac etc. run without any issue.

 

My Inspiron 6400 configuration is as follows:

 

Intel Core2Duo 7200 with 64bit support;

Intel ICH7 family chipset optimized by Dell

Onboard Intel 945GMA video driver with 64MB shared memory;

    (1680x1050 full resolution, QE/GL everything works including mirror) : patched with AppleIntegratedFrameBuffer.kext (version 1.4.20.28)

4GB 667Mhz DDR2 RAM,

RICOH R5C822 memory card reader (in-built),

    (works well with patched VooDooSDHC.kext)

2-port UBS 3.0 ASMedia 1042 Express Card in ExpressCard slot;

   (works with native AppleUSBHub.kext and patched CallDigitUSBxHCI.kext), CallDigitFastO.kext is optional but recommended)

500GB SATA HDD;

Onboard Broadcom 440family ethernet;

   (works with AppleBCM400.kext)

Broadcom BCM4322 mini-wifi card,

   (works Out of the Box, no need for any additional kexts)

Sigma Tel Stac9200 onboard Audio Device :

   (Works with VooDooHDA (version used 2.7.2)

Trumobile 350 bluetooth card :

    (Works OOB)

Slot loading CDwriter/DVD ROM

 

I will attach a list of kexts that I have used and also the Extra folder which includes my edited chameleon.plist and smbios.plist.

For the patched kexts, you may need to patch with your Dev-id and Ven-id of your hardware.

 

Prerequisite:

You need to find a working OS X Snow Leopard machine to create a bootable USB stick of OS X Lion patched with AppleIntegratedFrameBuffer.kext from here.

Any windows software like MacDrive to access OS X partiton from windows to edit the Extension folder after fist install.

 

You will need to edit the info.plist of some of the kexts to insert the Ven-id and Dev-id of your hardware for full compatibility.

 

I can post a full tutorial on request.

 

I am multiboot (chameleon, stolen and rebranded)ing with Lion/Linux/Windows 8/Windows 7 and Windows XP from a single drive.

 

Regards

 

 

OS Lion on Inspiron 6400.zip

[Hervé]

Lion 10.7.4/10.7.5 should be reachable with replacement of AppleACPIPlatform kext with that of an earlier release (10.7.2 or 10.7.3 for instance). Copy the 10.7.3 version (or earlier) to /E/E and delete the other one from /S/L/E. Repair permissions + cache and you should be good for reboot to 10.7.4/10.7.5.

[kannan]

Lion 10.7.4/10.7.5 should be reachable with replacement of AppleACPIPlatform kext with that of an earlier release (10.7.2 or 10.7.3 for instance). Copy the 10.7.3 version (or earlier) to /E/E and delete the other one from /S/L/E. Repair permissions + cache and you should be good for reboot to 10.7.4/10.7.5.

Ok I will try using the ACPIPlatform kext from 10.7.3 in E/E instead of S/L/E in 10.7.4 and report back.

 

However in 10.7.5 the replaced AppleIntegratedFrameBuffer,kext (version 1.4.20.28) crashes AppleIntel950GMA.kext.

 

The original kexts only produce a black screen. I have not found a workable solution for display in 10.7.5 as yet.

 

Mountain Lion is anyway ruled out on this machine as ML supports only 64bit kexts. The only version of GMA950 64bit kext was natively available in 10.6.2 which do not work in any other versions.

 

Thanks and Regards 

[Hervé]

Mmm, blank screen issue might be resolved with DSDT patching, in a similar way as it's done for D620 or D630 GMA models. Worth investigating as it may avoid the need to patch the FrameBuffer kext and support update to 10.7.5.

[bobdamnit]

A quick workaround...

 

Set a hotcorner to sleep the display in 10.7.3, then enable auto-login and update to 10.7.4/5. Once you get to the blank screen, move your mouse to the corner that "sleeps" the display. 

 

See if the display wakes back up.

 

This was a common problem with GMA950's on both Dell Laptops and desktops.

[Hervé]

There's a also the eventual test with an external screen...

 

In my early (pre-myHack, pre-EDP) days of trying to install SL on my D630 X3100 HiRes, I was not using bootpack or DSDT and systematically got a black screen on boot completion. However, I could bypass that issue by booting on an external LCD (pressing Fn-F8 at startup) and, right at the point of launching the Mac OS X desktop, display would automatically revert to built-in LCD. Very awkward, but it would get me where I wanted to be! This was only fixed by using the correct HiRes DSDT.

[bobdamnit]

I remember that trick, too.

 

If my memory serves me correctly, you don't even need an external display connected. Pressing Fn+F8 after OS X loaded forces the laptop to attempt to output display to the VGA port, and finding nothing connected, will default the display back to the internal display and somehow magically wake the display up!

[Hervé]

Well, if you did that on a non-DSDT D630 Intel HiRes, it would KP.

[bobdamnit]

Cant say I've ever encountered that. Something to watch out for though, original poster.

[kannan]

I have tried the above tricks except DSDT.

 

I have managed to install both 10.7.4 and 10.7.5. Everything works except sleep function.

 

AppleACPIPlatform.kext needs replacement after both 10.7.4 and 10.7.5 updates.

Works only with AppleACPIPlatform.kext from 10.6.8 which is actually version 1.3.6.

 

AppleIntelFrameBuffer.kext also needs to be substituted with version 1.4.20.28.

 

Direct update from 10.7.3 to 10.7.5 often KP's. The best method is to update to 10.7.4 and then to 10.7.5.

 

Infact I did all this testing using a external HDD via USB.