Paul's complete guide to installing OSX Leopard on your MSI Wind / Advent 4211

[Guest WearTheFoxHat]

re: the new Asus, my new rule is if it ain't got onboard HSDPA, I ain't interested... Bring on the Wind U120! B)

P

Couldnt agree more, especially for a "netbook" which is inherently mobile device.

[Guest YOCHAYT7]

Hey every one

first of all thank you very much paul

but i have a very very frustrating problem

when i boot up from the dvd

i press the button as you asked me

and after the line

bsd root:disk1s2 major:14 minor: 5

i get this line three times :

found a transaction past the completion deadline os bus 0xfd, timing out! (addr: 2,ep; 2)

and after i watched your video i have seen that i am not supposed to get that massage

so what i need to do now?

needless to say im using msi wind ....

p.s. sorry for my english i live in israel and im trying my best

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Do you have an external HDD plugged in?

P

[Guest Conn18]

Will THIS external DVD drive work? Like, Will I be able to boot from it so I can use the Kaylway CD with my new hard drive?

[Guest nscxp2005]

Fantastic Guide Paul!!!

I would like to know is it possible to upgrade to 10.5.5 on this netbook?

Also would you be able to do a guide or direct me on how to install the retail version of OSX on this netbook?

Thank you for your time

NSCXP2005

UPDATE

Paul would you be able to try this guide to update your Advent to 10.5.5

OSX 10.5.5 Guide

NSCXP2005

Edited November 27, 2008 by nscxp2005

[Guest YOCHAYT7]

Do you have an external HDD plugged in?

P

do you mean HARD DRIVE or an external dvd ?

ive got an external dvd and an external hard drive if needed..

what should i do?

p.s. 10x for the help

oh and i dont have any sort of hard drive plugged in at the time of installing os x except from the one on the computer

Edited November 28, 2008 by YOCHAYT7

[Guest andywilson460]

OK- I have stuffed up big time - My Hackintosh started being a bit unreliable, so I went back to windows to start sorting it out - HOWEVER I had not made a backup of the OS onto a memory stick as I should have done, and now the machine is not recognising any LAN or Wifi connectivity, as I had to reinstall from disc and then load the drivers - which didn't work.

Has anyone got a copy of the Recovery files on a memory stick, or much better a DVD/CD that I can get a dupe of? I'm happy to pay for media, postage and a bit of someones time to burn it, but I don't really want to have to take it in PCWorld and let them mess, as it will be about £50 for something that I could do easily.

If anyone can help (please), just drop me a PM and I will hopefully be able to sort something out.

Thanks so much

Andy

[Guest Harvz]

Hi People

I was just wondering how you can do a dual boot between OSX and XP? Can you use boot camp or is there another method? If so could some one advise?

Thanks

[Guest Conn18]

Hey. I have done all this, got OS X installed on my Advent 4211.

I also just installed a Dell 1490, which OS X recognises natively. But, it cannot find any networks in airport.

Anybody know why this is?

Thanks.

[Guest -Safran-]

Hi People

I was just wondering how you can do a dual boot between OSX and XP? Can you use boot camp or is there another method? If so could some one advise?

Thanks

Hi everyone, thought I'd add my (almost) complete success story to the forum. I've now got an Advent 4211 dual booting Mac OS X 10.5.5 and WinXP. Here's what I did, using Paul(MVP)'s instructions with a little modification from bigmikebrooklyn @ MsiWind.net to get the dual boot working. All the links/posts I mention can be found at the bottom of this post. Most of this information is already out there, but I wanted to bring it all together for my benefit as well as anyone else who may be having problems.

I researched the upgrade process extensively on the MSI Wind forum, reading most of the main threads and ALL of the posts within them. This is where I came across Paul(MVP)'s thread here on MoDaCo, which is excellent and covers all the important points.

To get the Mac wifi working I purchased a Broadcom (Dell) 1490 card from eBay as, on the whole, the reviews seem positive. (For those who are interested it's a 1490 Rev A03.) I also purchased a WD 320GB 5200rpm hard disk. For my install I also needed an external hard drive caddy for cloning the WinXP partition and usb DVD ROM drive to run the Mac OS installer DVD (I used an old IDE DVD drive connected to the external caddy's bridge).

Setup Part 1 - WinXP:

I began by starting the 4211 and setting up XP with my usual programs etc. This was mostly due to the Netbook arriving before the new wifi card and I didn't want to start the full process without it. I also downloaded the new wifi card's driver, ready for the upgrade. Once I was happy with XP I put my new HDD into the caddy and used Acronis True Image 10 to clone the entire 4211 drive to the new disk. I had to format the new disk first, before True Image would recognise it, but after that it successfully copied both the XP partition and the recovery partition to the new drive. (I tried Norton Ghost too, but I only have an old copy of that so I thought I'd go for something new, having read good reviews of the Acronis software on this forum.

Setup Part 2 -Installing the new wireless card

To open the case, I removed all the screws and began to lift the case up from top-right corner (assuming the space for the battery is at the top), working my way down and around the case, lifting it away from the usb and VGA ports along the way.

With the antenna cables at the top of the card, the longer black lead was attached to the right socket. I disconnected the antenna leads and removed the fixing-screw holding the card in place. The card is slightly sprung and pops up once the screw is removed and can then be easily pulled out. I decided not to remove the mounting post that you've probably read about. I didn't want to void the warranty, so I simply used a couple of layers of electrical insulation tape to cover the mount. I then placed the new card in the PCI-Express slot and installing the fixing screw. I Tightened the screw until I could see the card start to flex slightly. I then backed off half a turn so that card appeared level. I also added some tape to the top left corner of the case, where the antenna cables enter the case. This was to stop them getting caught when trying to reassemble the case later. I then reattached the antenna cables (my new wifi card was marked to show black on the right).

Setup 2.5 *Warning*

I then plugged the power cable in and started the computer. I wanted to install the HDD and wifi card at the same time, but didn't want to keep opening and closing the case. But I also wanted to test that the wifi worked before swapping the HDD, otherwise I may have found myself in a situation where the hard drive clone or the wifi didn't work and I wouldn't know which component caused the problem. Using a USB mouse (the 4211 became rather flimsy with the bottom case off and I didn't want to risk breaking anything) I installed the new wifi driver and connected to my router. At first I was worried that I'd broken something/fried the card but a quick Fn+F11 turned the wifi on and all was well.

Setup Part 3 - Install HDD

With the wifi working, I shut down the computer and removed the power cord. To install a new hard disk you have to first remove the wifi card to locate the hdd retaining screw. Remove this screw and gently lift the hard drive by the tab at the top. The drive can then be disengaged. Remove the drive from the carriage and install the new one. Installing the new drive is then the reverse of the above. I then started up to check everything was working, remembering to reinstall the wifi driver. With everything running smoothly I formatted the remaining space on the HDD into a partition for the Mac OS. Click Start, then right-click on My Computer and select Manage. There you can select the Disk Management tool and format the unallocated space left by the Acronis clone program. (I'm not sure that this step is necessary, but it's what I did and it worked for me.)

Setup Part 4 - Installing Leopard

At this point I explicitly followed the guides offered by bigmikebrooklyn and Paul(MVP). bigmikebrooklyn covers the dual boot aspect of the install - be sure to follow the instructions if you get the hfs+ partition error.... message. You can then use Paul(MVP)'s guide to get your machine setup with Mac OS X. If you've got the same hardware as me and follow these instructions, you should be up and running in an hour or two.

Setup Part 5 - 10.5.5

I followed Paul(MVP)'s guide to the letter when installing this update. Once I was up and running in 10.5.4 I was pretty happy and was worried that I'd break my new favourite toy. However, all seems well at the moment. After the initial reboot the machine crashed just before reaching the mac login screen (grey screen of death - Please hold the power key to turn machine off etc). But after a restart everything seems fine. I did have to install all of the kext files again to get things working properly. If you read the thread, it does appear that this is a bit hit and miss as to whether you just need the graphics drivers again. I needed everything.

Ancillary Setup - A brief list of what's working and what isn't

I've got the headphone out working with the script uploaded by pizzaboy75 @ MisWind.net. There's a Wired blog that details adding an AppleScript to the process, but I found that setting the shell script to always open with Terminal (it was opening in TextEdit when clicked) (CMD+i to get info on the file then select "Open With") and including it in the Dock works for me.

I used the guide at www.hutsby.net to change the "About This Mac" image to one of the 4211 (Geeky, but it was good to see what could be done). This site is useful for general OSX tips and tricks. For Mac noobs I'd also point you towards macosxhints.com an excellent site for all things mac. One of which I always like to do is change the 3d Dock to a 2d version, as demoed if you swap the Dock from the bottom of the screen to the side.

To turn the 3D off open Terminal and type:

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES; killall Dock

To turn 3D back on type:

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean NO; killall Dock

Simple, but effective.

Two finger scrolling: try and try and try again... I just couldn't get this to work. I've got the right touchpad so I don't know what the problem is, but I couldn't get this installed.

I've got the ethernet working by following the tips at www.hutsby.net

I sometimes experience the disappearing (icon with an X in the menu) battery meter. Still looking on a fix for this.

Roundup

Overall I'm very pleased with the 4211 Netbook. Windows XP works as expected and Mac OS X works very well indeed. It's not as smooth as on a real mac, but it's pretty close. I'm fairly paranoid about updating via software update incase I break something but other than that it's pretty much smooth sailing. The touchpad is a bit over-sensitive in OSX, but I don't particularly like it in XP either, so I usually use a bluetooth/wireless mouse.

I hope this post highlights a few useful posts that people may not have come across yet. Thanks so much to Paul(MVP), bigmikebrooklyn @ MsiWind.net, and all the people who have made this possible. Now if only Apple could save me the best part of two days tinkering with the 4211 and release a netbook with a similar spec for £280

-Safran-

Must-read pages:

Dual booting: http://forums.msiwind.net/mac/super-easy-d...32us-t5291.html

Installing Mac OSX: This thread!!

Upgrading to OSX 10.5.5: http://www.modaco.com/content/asus-eee-pc-...-5-4-to-10-5-5/

Fixing headphone output in OSX: http://forums.msiwind.net/mac/news-headpho...orks-t4854.html

Fixing headphone output in OSX Extended: http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/10/gadget-lab-hack.html

About this mac: http://www.hutsby.net/2008/08/osx-changing...ac-picture.html

Two finger scrolling: http://forums.msiwind.net/mac/two-finger-s...ling-t3267.html

Ethernet fix: http://www.hutsby.net/2008/08/osx-ethernet...n-msi-wind.html

Edited December 3, 2008 by -Safran-

[Guest Harvz]

Hi.

I was just wondering how u installed the xp image back onto the laptop after installing os x?

Cheers

[Guest izzyforreal]

Hi: First of all, thanks go to Paul's excellent documentation. I tried setting this up several times with no success before I found your instructions. I'm looking for some help. I have installed kalyway 10.5.2 on my MSI Wind. I'm dual booting with my Vista installation. I have run the 10.5.3.update and 10.5.4 update from Apple. It runs fine, but I have several driver issues. I can't set 1024 X 600 video, I can't seem to get sound drivers installed, and there is a strange time problem. The odd thing is that during installation sound was working and the screen resolution seemed just fine. The time issue conflicts with my Vista install. It is a 7 hour discrepancy, apparently tied to my Mountain time zone (-7 hours from GMT) If I set the clock properly in Vista, the Mac shows the time as seven hours earlier. If I correct the time on the Mac, then Vista shows it as 7 hours later. I really want to get this to work, so I'd greatly appreciate any help.

Thanks

mark(at)skiandsail(dot)com

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Er, so one of your OS' is in the wrong time zone! B)

P

[Guest jamesormrod]

I have just followed Pauls guide and successfully got to the end of it. However the display would not fit properly. There was a black margin in 800x600 and off the screen in a larger size. I then installed switchresx and after using various settings, (which none worked) I used one that required a reboot, I set the size to 1024x768 and rebooted.... After the intial logo the screen remains lit but nothing appears.

I am not very clued up on macs so is their a way to bypass switchresx at the startup?

Any other method to get round this would be much appreciated.

Thanks James

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Reinstall the GMA kexts and reboot...

P

[Guest jamesormrod]

I'm not sure if that answer was for my question. If so how do I do this?

[Guest -Safran-]

I'm not sure if that answer was for my question. If so how do I do this?

You need to use Paul's kext helper, found in the utilities folder in the "paulswinddriverutilitypack". Open the helper, drag the GMA kext into the helper window, enter your password and hit install.

Reboot and all should be well

-Safran-

[Guest -Safran-]

Hi.

I was just wondering how u installed the xp image back onto the laptop after installing os x?

Cheers

Hi Harvz, have you had any luck reinstalling XP? You shouldn't have any problems. If you formatted the hard drive into one partition then you'll need to repartition the drive with a 3rd party utility, as Apple's Disk Utility won't allow you to resize the startup disk without a complete reformat. I'd use something like Prosoft's Drive Genius. Once you've got your second partition sorted you can reinstall XP.

The only difficulty will be in dual booting between the two operating systems, as XP will set itself as the boot partition. I recommend you read this article on the MSI Wind forums: http://forums.msiwind.net/mac/installing-a...-osx-t5001.html

-Safran-

[Guest jamesormrod]

The screen doesn't show anything after the apple logo at the start. So I cant use the kext helper. I need a method that will fix this from the menu you get to when you press F8 when you first turn it on.

[Guest jamesormrod]

Could someone tell me the code for deleting switchresx from the F8 menu when you first start up?

[Guest YOCHAYT7]

PAUL you still didnt reply for my problem at the second post from the top

i hope you will help me

im dieing for os x plz ...

[Guest Harvz]

Hi Harvz, have you had any luck reinstalling XP? You shouldn't have any problems. If you formatted the hard drive into one partition then you'll need to repartition the drive with a 3rd party utility, as Apple's Disk Utility won't allow you to resize the startup disk without a complete reformat. I'd use something like Prosoft's Drive Genius. Once you've got your second partition sorted you can reinstall XP.

The only difficulty will be in dual booting between the two operating systems, as XP will set itself as the boot partition. I recommend you read this article on the MSI Wind forums: http://forums.msiwind.net/mac/installing-a...-osx-t5001.html

-Safran-

Hi Safran

i was just wondering if the boot camp assistant will work on the advent for reinstalling xp aswell? or if wen partitioning the mac install u create 2 partitions?

Cheers

[Guest -Safran-]

Hi Safran

i was just wondering if the boot camp assistant will work on the advent for reinstalling xp aswell? or if wen partitioning the mac install u create 2 partitions?

Cheers

No, sorry. The bootcamp assistant won't work with any sort of hackintosh (as far as I'm aware). Macs use EFI rather than BIOS to boot. Windows XP won't boot natively with EFI so Macs use bootcamp to startup in windows (see this site for more info). As your Advent uses BIOS to boot, the bootcamp tool is unnecessary. All you need to do is create 2 partitions - one for windows and one for osx.

Installing XP should be fairly straightforward and is discussed at length on mac section of the MSI Wind Forum. The link I gave you before will explain how to get the dual boot working properly - you use a bootloader that allows you to select the XP/OSX partition to boot from.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you'd like any more info.

-S-

[Guest macstor]

Hi,

I've just ordered my MSI Wind and I'm doing a lot research on different methods of getting MacOSX on the Wind.

Here is my question: I've read Paul's guide on installing MacOSx but I have also seen this clip http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/12/gadget-lab-vide.html which seems significantly faster/easier. The "Wired" video uses the MSIWindowsX86 iso. What is the difference between the Kalyway and the MSIWindowsx86 installation ?

Thanks...

[Guest loffers]

Have you also managed to install iLife 08 on your Advent netbook hackintosh? How much HDD and RAM do both need on this machine?

Thanks for the public service - bringing Apple's wonderful OS X to those who can't afford their over priced macbooks.

Cheers,

Paul