mda185

Should I avoid upgrading to 10.6.8? Is there anything in that upgrade that makes it essential or desirable other than the app store? I was wrong about Bluetooth not working in my last post. It does work OOB with 10.6.3 on my D630.

Well I went in a different direction but have had some success. I read on the thread started by TechieJustin about someone using myHack to create a USB installer using a functioning OSX machine and retail copy of SL 10.6.3. I borrowed a friend's OSX machine and followed these steps: 1. Format USB stick as GUID. 2. Download myHack app from http://myhack.sojugarden.com/guide/ 3. Download D630 Boot Package from OSXLatitude Wiki site. 4. Run myHack app. It will install Snow Leopard install image on the USB memory stick and also include Chameleon bootloader. Near the end of the process, myHack will prompt you to add your own Extra package or just use the vanilla one included. I used the Extra directory included in the D630 Boot Package. 5. Boot the D630 using the USB stick and run the Snow Leopard installation. It worked and I now have a working machine with DW1390 Broadcom card recognized and working. Trackpad, bluetooth, and audio are not working yet. I will tackle that next. I am using a USB mouse right now and truthfully do not miss the trackpad. myHack app is a lot more user friendly to newbies like me but the D630 files on OSXLatitude are also essential. Thanks to the contributors on this site that made this possible. I will post more as I continue to refine and improve this installation.

No joy. Neither npci instruction worked. The boot process still stalls right after the wireless DW1390 is recognized as an airport card. I can try pulling the wireless card but it does appear that there are other problems prior to this step when I look at the verbose statements. Several lines above the wireless card being recognized, there is an error message regarding the GMA3100 graphics. I have a few basic questions: 1. Should I expect this older version of the SLD430USB image file to be able to boot my D630 without modifying it somehow? This is the only download image I was able to find. 2. Am I supposed to figure out a way to modify the boot image with the D630 Boot Pack I found on the wiki site? 3. If I manage to borrow another OSX86 machine to format and prepare a hard drive for my D630, should I expect that this alternate method will be more successful than my failed attempts with the SLD430USB boot image torrent I found? I see that a lot of forum members have success with the D630 so I assume the problems I am having are due to my newbie lack of knowledge and possibly, a hardware problem that has not been detected yet. I am persistent and will put in the hours to figure this out. I will appreciate any further pointers in the right direction that can be offered. Thanks, Bronxteck for the ideas posted already.

It is GMA graphics and I flashed the right one. The wireless network card is the Broadcom DW1390 which is supposed to be OSX compatible. How do I try Npci=02000 -v at boot? Do I have to edit a file with boot instructions or type this at the screen with the boot logo? Is there recommended reading for folks at the early part of the learning curve like me? I have spent hours reading posts on this forum and several others but many posts assume a level of basic knowledge I don't have yet. I am a EE but my work has been primarily in analog circuits and control systems. I have no experience with OSX or any other Mac system so far. I took Unix classes many years ago but never used the knowledge and don't remember most of it. I used DOS and Windows for many years but little of that experience is helpful right now. I am having a hard time figuring out where to start reading and learning.

Hello. I just found this forum and am excited to see a group of enthusiasts dedicated to the older Latitudes. I have a D630ATG with different screen resolution than most and I have not been able to load any version of OSX following directions on this site. My bios reports 1280 by 800. I downloaded the USB image and successfully made a boot pen drive. I also flashed the bios with the modified version on this web site. The boot process hangs right after the network driver loads when I use verbose mode. I have tried using bios defaults and I have tried with one cpu core disabled, dynamic acceleration and Speed Step disabled. I had SATA mode set to AHCI and also tried in ATA mode. I should note that the D430USB image I downloaded via torrent is not the most recent. It has Chameleon V2.0-RC3 and is dated 09/06/2009. What am I doing wrong? I ran memtest and had no problems after 5 passes. I do not have access to a working OSX machine. I do have a legal copy of SL 10.6.8 but have not been able to get far enough into the install process to use it. Any help will be appreciated.