Dell XPS L321X - El Capitan / Sierra Install

[thesuffering]

Ill have to test via my usb stick tomorrow, don't want to mess up the SSD install too much.  Tried just the ACPI/Patched and Kexts but brightness and audio stopped working after sleep.

[Jake Lo]

I'm using EAPDfix.kext. CodecCommander didn't work after sleep for this system.

For Brightness I'm using AppleBacklightInjector. Clover patches and SSDT-PNLF.aml.

USBXHCI_FL1009 seems to be working , it detects my USB 2.0/3.0 devices in the right port, but it won't mount my USB 3.0/Sata adapter device.

[thesuffering]

EAPDFix fixed sound after sleep.  Laptop sleeps and wakes fine now.
Brightness....still not working, even with the kext, patches, and ssdt
I did have to pull out the clover patches for HD3000.  System report did show 1GB video memory, but I had artifacts everywhere.  Removing those patches only gives 384MB but the artifacts are gone.

[Jake Lo]

I was testing to see if increasing the VRAM fixes the flickering. I read that it requires minimum 512MB, but since the system is soldered in with 4GB of ram and no way of adding. It just turns out it's my system. I had install it onto another L321x and no flickering.

 

Hmm, on my new install, brightness is not working either. Let me verify the other system and compare.

[GatorGeek]

I'm certain I am missing something obvious here in properly patching the installer for MBR but this is as far as I get.

 

I've created my USB following Rehabman's instructions.

# copy installer image
sudo "/Applications/Install macOS Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia" --volume  /Volumes/install_osx --applicationpath "/Applications/Install macOS Sierra.app" --nointeraction

# rename
sudo diskutil rename "Install macOS Sierra" install_osx
 

Those commands put all the files onto the install_osx partition of my USB.

 

I then follow line #8 of the MBR patch instructions and create on my USB the directory structure to add the OSInstall patched file.  See screenshot.

 

Everything boots correctly, more or less (I do have to swap USB ports from right to left) but eventually the installer loads and I get to the screen shown above.

 

I'm certain it's something simple that I'm missing here, but would be grateful if you can point out what I'm doing wrong.

 

Thank you!

 

[thesuffering]

Since you've made it to the installer, what I did was open Disk Utility, and formatted the SSD as GUID and Mac OS Extended Journaled.  It installed.  Then after getting in, convert GUID to MBR with Ubuntu, install Clover, and in theory you should be good.

[thesuffering]

I was testing to see if increasing the VRAM fixes the flickering. I read that it requires minimum 512MB, but since the system is soldered in with 4GB of ram and no way of adding. It just turns out it's my system. I had install it onto another L321x and no flickering.

 

Hmm, on my new install, brightness is not working either. Let me verify the other system and compare.

Have you figured out power management?  On battery, it seems to suck down extremely quickly.  I want to say it was ~10% per 15-20 minutes.  Looking at Intel Power Gadget, it appears the CPU has some kind of power management working since its moving up and down, but GPU is flat lined.

[GatorGeek]

Since you've made it to the installer, what I did was open Disk Utility, and formatted the SSD as GUID and Mac OS Extended Journaled.  It installed.  Then after getting in, convert GUID to MBR with Ubuntu, install Clover, and in theory you should be good.

Agreed..that is an option.

I've applied the MBR patch successfully for Yosemite...not sure what I'm missing for Sierra.

[Hervé]

The right patch maybe?

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/files/file/563-sierra-mbr-patch/

[GatorGeek]

The right patch maybe?

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/files/file/563-sierra-mbr-patch/

I'm confident I have the correct patch.