Install Snow Leopard retail on Dell Vostro 1510
Tue, 03/23/2010 - 12:00 | 
Anonymous
THIS IS AN EDUCATIONAL GUIDE NOT INTENDED FOR ANY ILLEGAL USE OF Mac OSX.
This is another guide for installing Mac OSx on so called PCs. Last time I wrote about how to install Mac OSx 10.5.7 on Dell Vostro 1510. And that was through the customized Mac OSx version called iAtkos version 7. I installed on my Dell Vostro 1510 and all the things worked excluding SD card and inbuilt microphone which I hardly use. So it was a good installation for me at least and I used it for some time but since Snow Leopard is out I have been trying to get some hacked versions but could not get. One or two versions are there and I tried them but they didn't work at all on my Dell Vostro 1510.
So finally I decided to install Snow Leopard from the retail DVD. I realized that installing the retail version of Mac OSx Snow Leopard is far better than installing any of the customized versions available on internet. Here is the guide for you if you have a Dell Vostro 1510 and want to convert it into a Mac Book Pro running Snow Leopard.
What you will need ?
A retail copy of Snow Leopard.
You can buy a retail copy of Snow Leopard from any computer shop in your locality or you can buy it from internet. I believe you know how to acquire it.
USB flash drive ( 8GB or 16GB )
If you have bought the retail DVD then you are not going to need it. But in case you have the disk image on your system then you have to use this flash drive to install Snow Leopard. The bad news is this that you have to have a Mac OS running so that you can make a bootable USB Drive.
Empire EFI
This is the magic tool. Thanks to Prasys for this wonderful piece of software. You can download EmpireEFI form http://prasys.co.cc/osx86hackint0sh/. There are two EmpireEFIs, one is regular and the other is Legacy. On my system the regular one didn't work so I tried the legacy one and that worked wonderfully. So I recommend the Legacy version of EmpireEFI.
USB Mouse and Keyboard
You will need USB Keyboard and Mouse because initially your Keypad and track pad will not work and for some time you need an external mouse and keyboard. If you don't have USB Keyboard then you can manage with the on screen keyboard but a USB Mouse is a must.
A blank CD
Yes, you need a blank CD to burn the image file of EmpireEFI.
Lets do it now !
Preparation
The first step is to burn the EmpireEFI on a CD. If you are on windows then use any iso image writing tool like magicISO burner. If you are on Mac then use Disk Utility to burn the image on CD.
If you don't have Snow Leopard retail DVD and you have an image downloaded from internet then you will have to use a USB flash drive to install Snow Leopard. For this you need a Macintosh running.
Here is how to make a bootable USB-
- Plug the USB Flash Drive to your computer
- Open Disk Utility
- select your flash drive from the left side
- Choose partition tab
- Choose one partition
- And from the option below choose GUID partition table
- in the format, choose Macintosh Extended ( Journaled )
- Apply the changes.
So now you are ready to install Snow Leopard retail on your Dell Vostro 1510
Installation process
NOTE: if your hard drive has GPT then go ahead but your hard drive has MBR partition table then save your data to another hard drive because we are going to use GPT which is a must for Snow Leopard. SO if your hard drive is not formatted with GPT then we are going to format it and all your data will be lost in this case.
First thing to do is to boot the computer with EmpireEFI boot CD. So insert the CD in the optical drive and restart your computer. When the computer restarts keep pressing F12 to enter booting options and choose boot from CD/DVD Drive.
Now when the computer has booted you will see a EmpireEFI screen showing you the options. This is the time to remove the EmpireEFI CD from the drive and insert Snow Leopard DVD into the drive. If you have the USB flash drive to use then plug in the USB flash drive. Wait for 40 - 60sec and press F5. Now you'll see you DVD drive or USB flash drive in the option. Use arrow keys to choose and press enter. Now the computer will boot your Snow Leopard.
In case of flash drive you can have it plugged in even from before. And just choose it from the options.
Now you'll find your real Snow Leopard booting.
Choose your language and go ahead.
Now open Disk Utility from the menu on the top.
Here you have to partition your hard drive using GPT. The procedure is same as I explain above for USB flash drive. So partition it and close Disk Utility.
Now go ahead with the installation process. Choose the partition on which you would prefer to install Snow Leopard.
Rest of the things are just continue continue kind of things. The final thing would be INSTALL. Click install and it will start to install Snow Leopard.
Now when the installation is done it will restart the computer. Here you have to do something more.
When the computer restarts you have to boot it with the same EmpireEFI CD which you used before to boot the computer. This time no need to put Snow Leopard DVD or Flash drive. Just choose the hard drive partition where you installed the Snow Leopard OS.
The computer now will boot with the installed Snow Leopard OS for the first time. You will have to just follow the instructions and finish the basic setup. The strange thing is that you have to do all this without your keypad and touchpad. For this situation you need a usb mouse and keyboard. If you don't have a keyboard then you can use on-screen keyboard. But mouse is needed in any case.
On screen keyboard can be activated from the System Preferences. Go to Keyboard and check the box saying "Show Keyboard & Character Viewer in the menu bar". Now you can see the icon in the menu bar. Click it and open keyboard.
Now when you are done and you are inside your newly installed Snow Leopard open the EmpireEFI CD in Finder and go into a folder called "Post-Installation". Here you are given all the instruction for patching. Actually there is nothing for you who have Dell Vostro 1510. You just need to run the package called "myhack Installer".
Now restart your computer. This time you don't have to use EmpireEFI CD. Still your keypad and touchpad won't work. But don't worry we are going to fix that now.
Now lets fix some issue and finish it off --
Audio - For audio go to this link http://nawcom.com/osx86/files/10.6/Audio/VoodooHDA/ and download the latest release and install it.
Keypad and touchpad - Go to this link http://nawcom.com/osx86/files/10.6/PS2/VoodooPS2Controller/ and download the VoodooPS2Controller.pkg.zip file. Unzip and install it.
Wireless - Go here http://nawcom.com/osx86/files/10.6/Wireless/Broadcom/ and download the zip file and install the kext using OSX86Tools.
Now restart your computer for the last time.
I hope this guide will help you to install Snow Leopard retail DVD on your Dell Vostro 1510. Enjoy !!!
