Installing Mac OS X 10.6.2 on AAOD250 with SnowyWindOSX

hey guys, it's been a while! I've got a nice and easy way to install Snow Leopard on to an Acer Aspire One D250.

The reason why I haven't gotten to this sooner is because of the Intel AHCI drivers- they would cause my netbook to kernel panic, and I wouldn't even be able to get in to the installer, much less install the OS on it.

SnowyWindOSX fixed this, and numerous other bugs and problems; therefore, I give a HUGE thanks to the Insanelywind forums.

Requirements-
SnowyWindOSX (a hackintosh distro designed for the MSI Wind) http://insanelywind.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1801
A BCM43xx 1/2 size card; the stock Atheros wifi card will NOT work in Snow Leopard
Script for the BCM43xx series wireless cards- http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t51725.html
Time, and patience

In this tutorial, I will assume that you own a USB DVD drive, and that you have already replaced your stock wifi card with a BCM43xx or otherwise compatible Broadcom wireless b/g/n card. If you don't own a USB DVD drive, it's not hard to copy the disc on to a bootable USB flash drive- but I won't be going over that in this tutorial. Likewise, I won't go over how to replace the stock wifi card; there is a search function for a reason.

I also assume that you're not an idiot and/or noob, and you know the basics of hackintoshing.

I assume that you've already burned the SnowyWindOSX ISO, and are ready to go.

1.Boot from the SnowyWindOSX DVD. At the prompt, press F8 and use the following flags-

Code:

-v cpus=1

without the cpus=1 flag, your netbook will get stuck in an infinate boot loop due to kernel panics.
Snow Leopard will also automatically detect that your CPU is NOT 64-bit compatible, and will use 32-bit by default; therefore, the -x32 flag is not necessary (but it won't hurt either).

2.Installing SnowyWindOSX is pretty straightforward.
Disk Utility -> format which ever drive OS X will go on to. You may partition as MBR or GUID; definately use MBR if dual/triple booting.
Once you have done this, simply click 'continue' a few more times until it starts installing. There's no need to customize packages- SnowyWindOSX is already set up (for the most part).

3.Once it is finished installing, reboot your netbook and allow it to boot normally. You should see the Mac OS X video sequence, as well as hear music. Follow instructions until you get to the desktop.

4.Once you are on the desktop, plug in your DVD drive and open optional installs -> GPT. Wait 5-10 minutes, and then reboot again. This will clean some stuff up and make the system run smoother. Note- Only for GUID partitions; MBR users, skip this step. Do NOT do this if you used MBR partitioning.

5.When you're rebooted and back at the desktop, run the following two things WITHOUT rebooting in between-
the BCM43xx script; Assuming the script is on your desktop, do this by opening a terminal and typing

Code:

/User/(username)/Desktop/bcm*.sh

as root.

SnowyWindOSX DVD -> optional installs -> wifi drivers -> pick one. There is a bug in Snow Leopard that requires this (I'll explain below).
After you have done BOTH, reboot your computer. You should have wifi after the reboot.

6.If you're stuck with an 800x600 resoution, don't worry- this is (just another) glitch in Snow Leopard. Simply run Apple Update and reboot; it should be fixed afterwards. Even if you're not stuck in that resolution, you still should update- it's safe

If you're STILL stuck in 800x600 after rebooting (or if there are no updates available), you can try installing the 32-bit Leopard GMA950 drivers from here -> http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=18111 Note- they may break your system!

and... that's it! Here's a screenie-

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/3922/screenshot20100210at853.png

Things that don't work-
Ethernet
Stock wifi card (atheros)
Webcam

Things that do work, but are glitchy-
Trackpad- the right side is very insensitive; this is a bug in voodooPS2. Solution- use the left side more

Untested-
VGA out
Microphone

About that Snow Leopard bug...
There's a Snow Leopard bug that refuses to allow things in the first PCI slot to work; installing one of those wifi drivers forces Snow Leopard to search for something in the "second" PCI slot on the netbook. Otherwise, they don't do anything.

If I find anything new, I'll update this post. Good luck!

History
February 17th 2010- A few minor grammar edits, as well as a few things to increase clarification. Added a couple more tips as well, and a link to the InsanelyWind forums.
February 10th 2010- Original post

 

Thanks for the write up but i'm stuck on step 4. I've tried to install the GPT package but as its installing i get the kernal panics. I also tried installing the other mbr package but same thing. By the way i installed on mbr (dual boot xp/osx). any ideas?

 

Just installed this on my A150. Worked fine out of the box, installed MBR plus extras (triple booted with Win7 and XP). Webcam worked fine too, so did the Dell 1390 Wireless card.

Only half the trackpad worked but you can fix that by disabling 'Use two fingers to scroll' in the trackpad options, also worth enabling 'Clicking' too so you can click by pushing the pad.

Just about to install the updates... hoping for the best!

 

It should be noted that not all D250's come with an atheros wifi card. They will either come with the atheros card, or a broadcom 4312 card. (same chipset as one of the airport cards). Users can look at the sticker on the bottom of their D250 to see which wifi card they have.

 

I have a d150..it says installation finished than it reboots then it says cant find match kernel? Any ideas? Anyone have any success on a d150??

 

Indeed, I installed this in a D250 that originally came with an Atheros card; your mileage may vary on Broadcom D250s

 

So Im having a bit of a problem. Everytime I try to install a program, I get a big power button of death. I was thinking it might have to do with the IDE kext, so I deleted IOATAFamily.kext. Still same issue, besides not being able to install wireless drivers, everything on the system runs smooth. Only issue is when I install, so I haven't installed GPT or the wireless drivers. Is there some sort of logs or debug mode I can see what is actually causing the system to crash when I try to install a program? (edit: found the logs, just tells me setup assistant is the problem)

edit2: re-installed. same issue with GPT. I got it working before the reformat by installing netbook maker, and it seemed to install a different boot loader. Could chameleon be the problem? but still can't get my broadcom to be recognized *even though its listed in the patched kext.
My D250 hardware:
N270
1gb ram
Broadcom wifi 4312
Atheros Ethernet
Suyin(Sonix) webcam *works, havent tested mic.*
Bios 1.26
Single partition, GUID. Formatted to unallocated space in linux with gparted. Formatted to normal hfs (have tried both journaled, and normal no journaling and not case sensitive.)
As far as I know, the only parts that are changed in the D250 are the atom chip (n270, n280) the webcam (liteon, suyin, chicony), and the wifi chip (broadcom, atheros)
I shouldnt be having this many problems right? I am using SnowyWindOSX Final. (have checked against the md5 just to make sure theres no corruption.

I think its a partition issue. apparently mac is just as picky as windows when it comes to what partition you install on. I got that message setting up dual booting with mbr. Wasn't sure if it was the partitioning or the mbr. I got tired of messing with it, and just wiped the drive and installed using guid partitioning.

 

You mean "mach_kernel" right, thats due to the name of the partition you set up for your install, try installing it again but name the partition "Leopard" (without quotes).

 

Hello,

Aspire one D250-1624. When using this disk in an external DVD drive, I get sam: multimedia read write error, with all the numbers next to hex 00's.

Any advice?

Thanks

 

I have installed the SnowyWindOSX final version on my Acer Aspire One D250. Initially the install went great, but every 2-3 minutes I get a kernel panic which has prevented me from installing the MBR package. I ran OSX86 Tools and repaired permissions, set the extensions and cleared the cache, hoping that was the intent of the MBR package, but I still get the kernel panics. On a previous attempt at installation I kept re-booting and over time it seemed the kernel panics eventually went away or atleast the time between crashing was increased and I was able to install the MBR and the Upgrade, but this attempt has not yielded those results.

Also was unable to get the wifi to work. I disassembled my netbook and I have the 1/2 height Broadcom 4312 card. I tried running the script but it did not work. I tried running the broadcom package that I used with my IAtkos v7 disk that I used on my AMD 4420 and it got about 95% completed then came the kernel panic. When I rebooted I had the Apple Airport Wifi icon but it would not turn on.

I have tried rebooting with the below in hopes that it would at least allow me to install the optional packages, in hopes they would correct the kernel panics. But no such luck.

-v cpus=1
-v -f cpus =1
-v -f -x cpus=1

Originally I had BIOS v 1.13 and I recently updated it to v1.26

I am also dual booting, and thought about trying to install on a USB drive formatted with one partition GUID to see if that would improve performance.

Becuase I tend to only get the kernel panic when I do an install, I thought there must be a corruption in the disk permissions, but I booted the install disk and went to disk utility and repaired permissions and repair disk. All appears ok.

If anyone has any ideas it would be appreciated.

 

well some new news about our broadcom 4312 cards. even though they are listed in the broadcom script, and even one of the apple airport cards has the 4312 chip, for some reason our cards will not work with it. so it seems regardless of whether you have the atheros or the broadcom half card in your D250, it will need to be replaced.

still not sure how I got it working once, and formatted and tried again trying to get the wifi to work. wasn't able to get the install stable again.

will try again, even if it requires replacing the wifi, once a more constant and stable install is available. right now, its back to win7. (not to mention the lack of broadcom crystal hd support keeps me with windows. the appletv has a crystal hd chip, but apparently no macs do.)

 

I haven't tried snowywind, so can't comment on that, but still think mechdrew's netbook installer with Snow Leopard retail is the way to go on the D250 ;

http://osx.mechdrew.com/guides/

I have the D250 that came with Win 7 Starter and Android, and used mechdrew's netbook method, and have a rock solid 10.6.2 retail install, which hasn't kernel panicked once in 3 months since its been installed. I had to swap out the atheros card for a DW 1510 half-height card for wireless to work.

I initially had a KP during install, but read somehere that was due to a battery management kext issue, so removed the battery during install, rebooted, inserted the battery, and all was fine.

Like most, the wired ethernet and webcam doesn't work, but everything else including card reader does

 

well thats one thing that was amazing with SnowyWind OSX, I had both sleep/resume and webcam working *didnt check internal mic, which i havent seen anyone say work*

Maybe someone with a bit more mac knowledge than myself tell why this released worked with sleep/hibernate where I havent seen ANYONE else report that this works for a D250.

 

Hartley, yes forgot to add the internal mic and the sleep/resume also didn't work using netbook installer + SL retail, and I just needed the VoodooHDA kext from one of the other D250 how-to's here to get the sound working. Netbook installer can't install specific kexts for the Acer's, just general one's, as it's more geared toward the Dell Minis.

 

Well I re-installed Iatkos v7 and ran the pkg file that I got off this board for Broadcom and everything is working fine wifi was recognized as Brcm 4312/4315. So, definitely the kext is the problem for the broadcom in snow leodard. I used the same pkg for Snow Leopard, and the Wifi Light comes on but wil not turn on.

 

I just installed SnowyWind Finial on my Acer one AOA-150-1777, everything was going great till I tried to test the mic. Kernel crash and now the display res is back to 800x600. I followed your install and in step 6 you said to run the Apple update. Is that the apple software update or the UpdateExtra package in the optional installs on the disk? thanks for your guide other the video res and mic, sound, webcam, and wi-fi worked after the setup. Also has any one tried to use the apple software updates other the java, itunes? Also is the any way to get my NTfS particion icons to show on the desktop? thanks for any help you can pass along.

Bestman50 :geek:

 

OK I reinstalled the Video ktext got it back to 1024x600 got the icons to show up on the desktop. Can any one tell me what the updater package in the optional installs folder does?

thx bestman50 :?:

 

@bestman50:

The Updater packages (such as UpdateExtra) simply allow you easy Finder access to the /Extra folder (for a MBR install) without having to use terminal commands. You can add kexts, edit com.apple.boot.plist, etc. from the Finder.

See the "NOTE:" in the middle of this post at InsanelyWind.com:

http://www.insanelywind.com/forum/viewt ... =11#p20230

- Ken

 

thanks kentest for your reply just one more quick question what about the Apple software updates I did update iTunes, java, but not the security updates. I think my acer is running a bit cooler too with snowleopard using iStates to monitor cpus and temp, shows 2 cpus so hyperthreading must be working.


thanks again bestman50

 

Hi, i dont know what happens but today i cant load mi Mac Osx on my Acer Aspire One D250-1238... yesterday i have updated my BIOS to last BIOS 1.27 version. Today i cant access my Mac Osc hackintosh installed with SnowyWindosx Final version. I have tried to install again on my partition, and this dont let me install anymore
ANy ideas? i have tried entering the -v cpus=1 flags on boot to reinstalling and nothing the same problem kernel panic and crash!.
Thanks in advance.
Alejandro