[Question] Dell 3521 Hackintosh

[davidcolehunt]

Hello everyone. First off I'd like to say that I am pretty much a complete noob. I know basic things, I try basic troubleshooting, but I have no idea about what to do when something goes wrong when installing a hackintosh.

 

I have a Dell Inspiron 15 (3521) and I want to hackintosh it. I want to use the iFail ML2 distro, because even though my computer supports UEFI, I don't think ML3U will work. I have installed ML2 into a virtual box environment before, but that's the closest I can get. I've tried creating bootable USB's with transmac on Windows, but they do not work when I try and boot into it. My Dell just shows a black screen, I have no idea what's wrong. I think it MAY be because the bios are locked, but I am unsure. I have seen posts of people hackintoshing this laptop, and the only main problem is a dysfunctional WiFi card. Could I please get some help? Any kind of directions where to go? I have no idea what a DSDT is, it's all almost foreign language to me. But I really, really, really want to install Mountain Lion. 

[hibernian56]

Hi David,

 

The best way to start is to make a bootable USB drive yourself, do you have access to a mac or are you using windows only? Ideally if you have a mac you can make your own install USB. This guide is fine... http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/apple-in-the-enterprise/how-to-create-a-bootable-usb-to-install-os-x/

Not being funny but I would be concerned of about potential malware in some of the distros bouncing around, but thats probably paranoia on my part.

 

If not, get a program called "HP USB Disk Tool" and do it from windows, you will need an "ISO" of the 10.8 install disk, like the distros you mentioned above. I've added that below, its a freeware tool that makes bootable USB drives.

 

Another tip I would give is to use a USB hard drive for this purpose, the reason being speed. You may find yourself having to reboot several times into the installer to add files and fix kernel panics etc. A USB key is painfully slow, and sometimes harder to convince the BIOS to boot off.

 

After you have your install drive set up follow the guide below and let me know how far you get. DO NOT USE THE DSDT's, they are specific to 3721 hardware.

 

https://osxlatitude.com/index.php?/topic/2836-how-to-dell-inspiron17-3721-fully-working/

 

Good luck.

HP USB Disk Tool.exe.zip

[davidcolehunt]

I got a hold of a retail OS X installer. The main problem I have now is with my Intel HD 4000 graphics card. I managed to get Chameleon to run Mac installation by booting with "-f -v GraphicsEnabler=No" but I also deleted all of the graphics kexts. Now that I have installed it on my HDD successfully, it hangs on a blue tooth problem but forums say its actually the graphics. (If I attempt to boot normally into OS X I get a loading apple screen then an infinite black screen. I'm reinstalling windows. I'm posting from my phone. I really wish I could just get this to work. How should I go about making sure the graphics work?

[hibernian56]

I looked at the dell specs for your laptop (Inspiron 15). What processor doe you have, I'm assuming it's a core i3 if it has HD4000 graphics.

 

You might consider this service...

https://osxlatitude.com/index.php?/topic/1945-dsdtssdt-patching/?hl=%2Bdsdtssdt+%2Bpatching

 

For ~$25 they will make the DSDT / SSDT files for your machine which will be essential to get most of the hardware working. If you can't do it yourself, it could save you lots of time. I used their service for my 3721, then did a couple of tweaks afterwards myself.

 

To get your graphics working you will need a DSDT, which vary depending on motherboard and cpu.