Hackintosh HP Mini 1000! OS X 10.5.8

hackintosh explained

A hackintosh is a computer that started its life as a pc and had had osx massaged onto it. This has been made possible by apple’s move to intel based machines. If a machine has a similar enough hardware profile to existing apple hardware, then it is generally possible.

who should do this?
This process (creating a hackintosh) is best sited for people who don’t mind getting their hands ‘dirty’ in the ‘guts’ of a computer. It could (note the implied possibilities of could) be a painless install process, but since you are putting an operating system onto hardware that it wasn’t intended to be run on, one will inevitably run into problems.
At the very least this requires someone who is good at following directions, very good at googling (to find other people in their specific situation) good at finding files online (bittorrent makes this much easier) and easygoing about minor-to-major flaws in their computer setup. If you are the kind of person who gets angry that the f12 key doesn’t start up your widgets, maybe this isn’t the procedure for you.

If this is the kind of project for you, read on…


Most of this info has been taken from the tutorial I followed to get my mini running. This will be partially a block copy, and partially rewritten for clarity. I take no credit for finding the path, I only hope to help better illuminate it.

Please read this entire page (and hopefully many others) before attempting the install.

overview

software needed.

iDeneb 1.3 (do not download 1.4 – it will not work) get this from bittorrent. Try looking on the pirate bay.
the HP Mini essential files
Prior to starting this process you need to update your BIOS in your mini. Go to the HP site and find the most up-to-date BIOS and follow HP’s directions. Once you go hackintosh, you generally can’t easily update the BIOS.
*Note – if either one of these two files isn’t available at the links provided, just google it and post your findings in the links. They are out there somewhere…

hardware needed.
HP Mini 1000 series 16Gb ssd or larger. (I used a 1030NR with a 16G ssd)
8GB or larger usb drive or usb hard drive.
It is also nice to have a second usb drive. My mini came with a 2g one, I’m not sure if yours will. It is really useful for moving files from your main computer to the mini.

A working computer (my instructions are mac-specific) with an internet connection.

The install is a 3 step process

1) prepare the drive-

This is going to take the iDeneb disc image and make it so that you can boot to it from your pc and install it. The other way to do this requires a usb DVD drive. It doesn’t matter if you are using a usb stick or a usb drive, they both should work.

Creating an iDeneb Install
1. Open up Disk Utility.app in /Applications/Utilites/
2. Select the drive you will be using in the left hand pane.
3. Click the “Erase” tab
4. Under “Volume Format” select Mac OS Extended
5. Click Erase
6. Click the “Restore” tab
7. If you haven’t already, go to your iDeneb.iso and double click it.
8. Back in Disk Utility, you should see the iDeneb.iso in the left pane with another image under it with an apple logo on it.
9. Drag the image to the “Source” location
10. Drag your drive you have erase to the “Destination” location.
11. Click Restore
12. Open up UInstaller and select your newly formatted drive
13. Check the “Install PC_EFI v9 Chameleon Edition 1.0.12”
14. Click Install

15. Once the install is finished, eject the drive and unplug it.

2) install os x-

This step you are going to boot your pc from the drive we prepared in the last step and install OS X.

Installing OS X
From this point on, everything on your mini is about to be erased. Say goodbye to XP/Linux Mi or whatever it’s called. It’s worth it in the end I promise.

1. The installer will now begin. Wait at the apple logo until a language selection screen is shown. Select your language and hit next.
2. Go to the top of the screen where it says utilities. From this menu select “Disk Utility”
3. Click on the Mini’s Hard drive in the left pane.
4. Click on the “erase” tab
5. Under Volume format, select Mac OS Extended
6. Click Erase
(NOTE: If you plan on ever dual booting or wanting partitions on your drive, now is the time to do it. You wont be able to partition/resize your drive after the install. If you would like to dual boot, go to thepartitiontab on you HD, and click the + button. Add a partition any size you like and assign it as “Free Space”. You can format it later)
7. After erasing is complete, exit the disk utility
8. Now click next and select your newly erased hard drive as the destination. (Note: Use 2 to cycle through, and to commit, if you have a 1024×576 screen and cuts off the Next button)
9.On the next screen you will see an option at the bottom that says “customize”. Click on it (or 3 then ) and apply the following patches:
a. Expand “fixes” and select: acpi, cpu, and remove firewire
b. Under “patches” expand chipset and select ichx fix
You can now continue with the installation (or 2 and a ). Feel free to add any applications that are included with the installer but they are not necessary.

After sitting at the install screen for a while your computer will reboot. There will be a countdown from 5 in which the migration assistant should appear. If you’re lucky, you can go through the assistant without a hiccup. Most likely it will start looping and not let you get anywhere. To fix this, hold down the power switch and reboot. When the countdown starts press enter immediately.

3) boot and fix os x-

In this last step we are going to go in and fix any bit of weirdness that may remain on your install. Things might be a bit strange here for a bit, but hold on and we’ll fix them up. This is a long quote too, so just sit tight and carefully read it all.

Loop fix method:
For the loop fix you will enter a series of commands. If there is a (space) in the text it is suppose to be there, so look/type carefully.
1. Type “-s” and hit enter
2. Wait for the text skim by until it stops. Then type “/sbin/fsck –fy” and press enter
3. Once it says “File System was modified” type “/sbin/mount -uw /” with spaces
4. Next type in “passwd root”
5. Now type in whatever password you’d like, twice, pressing enter after each time.
6. The type “touch /var/db/.AppleSetupDone” being sure not to forget the . or Caps
7. Now type “reboot” and hit enter

Alternative loop fix method:
1. Select your language and time zone after install.
2. hold ALT+Q which will ask if you would like to skip the registration process and simply set up a user.
3. Setup your desired user account
4. Once logged in, run Directory Utility.app located in /Applications/Utilities/
5. Click the lock in the lower left hand corner of the window which will prompt you for your password
6. In the menu bar, select edit and then “enable root user”
7. Create a root password then proceed as directed below.

Installing Kernel Extensions
Once the loop issue is resolved you will be prompted asking for a user name and password after the apple boot logo. User Name is “root” and password is whatever you set it to. Now that you are in OS X:
1. Click “System preferences” in your dock. It’s gray and looks like gears in a square box.
2. Click “Accounts”
3. To the far left there is a “+” sign. Click it.
4. In the username box type whatever you like. DO NOT SET A PASSWORD.
5. Under “New Account” it should say Standard, but change it to Administrator.
6. Click create account. It will prompt you asking if it’s OK to not have a password. Click OK.
7. Under the list of accounts to the left, click “Login Options”
8. Under “Automatic Login” select the new account you made.
9. Reboot

You should now be in OSX again, but this time you’re under you’re account instead of root. Now open up UInstaller.
1. Select your Hard Drive under Drives
2. Choose OSx86_Essentials as the package to install
3. Click “Apply kext package”
4. Click “Install PC_EFI v9 Chameleon Edition 1.0.12”
5. Hit Install

Now lets go ahead and apply the DST Patcher to get ready to update to 10.5.7. Open up the DST Patcher GUI.
1. Select “Darwin/Mac OS X”
2. Select “New HPET Option”
3. Select” Apply DSDT Patch to:”
4. Select your Hard drive.

Now let’s get wifi and all the fun stuff working. Open up OSX86Tools.
1. In OSX86Tools, click on “Repair Permissions”, then click on “Run Selected Tasks” button. Wait for permissions to be repaired which will take a few minutes.
2. Click on “Install kexts” towards the bottom right
3. Find the kexts folder on your flash drive. Select the THIRD(excluding AppleGMA950.kext and AppleIntegratedFramebuffer.kext)one.
4. Shift+Click the last one to select all (excluding the two mentioned).
5. After the installer completes it will ask you reboot. Just click on OK and Cancel on any dialog boxes that appear.

Update to 10.5.7
You should now be OSX again after reboot. Here’s where things could go horribly wrong, or awesomely easy. There are two methods that can be done. Update to 10.5.7 via Software Update or downloaded updater (DMG).

Software Update Method:
1. Connect to your wifi network. If you don’t know how, its should be the symbol farthest left at the top right of the screen. Looks like a wireless bar signal
2. Go to “System preferences” again.
3. Select “Software Update”
4. Click “Check Now”
5. After they all load, uncheck all of them EXCEPT for “Mac OSX Update”
6. Click “Install”
7. Go through all the prompts. It will start to download then reboot. The download may take a while depending on your Internet connection.

Downloaded Update (Mac OSX 10.5.7 Combo Update) Method:
1. Copy the downloaded 10.5.7 Combo Update to the Desktop.
2. Double click it to mount the disk image.
3. Run the updater by double clicking it.
4. Go through all the prompts. It will start the installation process. It will reboot twice.

If all went well, you will be in OS X after rebooting itself a couple times. Be patient. If not, you’ll be sitting at the apple boot logo for a while wishing you had followed the guide more closely. If it fails, you have to do a complete reinstall. Start from step 1, at the top of the guide.

If you are in OS X congrats! Time to get out the USB Mouse and get your keyboard and track pad working.

Mouse and Keyboard Fix
First, run the VooDooPS2 Controller package located in the HP MINI Essentials package. When prompted, make sure to check that box that says trackpad. Go through all the prompts until it’s installed. Reboot.

If you still have problems with a stuck key, there may be existing Apple PS2 drivers to remove. If so, either open a terminal or reboot in single user mode.
1. cd /System/Library/Extensions
2. sudo rm -Rf ApplePS2Controller.kext AppleACPIPlatform.kext/Contents/PlugIns/ACPIPS2Nub.kext
3. clear caches and Reboot.

Other Drivers
Now with working trackpad and keyboard, Open up OSX86 Tools again. Go ahead and reinstall all the kexts in the kext folder.
1. Click on “Install kexts” towards the bottom right
2. Find the kexts folder on your flash drive. Select the first one.(this time select ALL BUT ONE kext — Do not install the Intel GMA kext, it will disable your screen)
3. Shift+Click the last one to select all.
4. After the installer completes it will ask you reboot. Do it.
*Hint: To get sound working, you need to delete the AppleHDA.kext in the /System/Library/Extensions folder. (2009.06.05-This may not be needed as there was no difference after removing it – sound works with and without it).
*Hint: If you install the INTEL GMA kext, you should be able to go into safe mode by booting with -x in the command line)

Enable Quartz
To enable Quartz open OSX86 Tools and click the Enable/Disable Quartz GL button. It will tell you the current status. If its disabled, feel free to enable it by clicking the button that says “Enable Quartz GL”.

Enable Volume Keys
Open the ‘Sound’ extension in the System Configuration folder.
Select Output and highlight ‘Analog PCM #0: PCM’.

Fix CPU (Allow dual-core)
If you start ActivityMonitor before doing this you will see that OSX only sees 1 processor (press the CPU tab below te process list). To allow it to use the second core do the following:
1. Open Terminal when logged in as an Admin user.
2. Gain root access (“sudo su -” and enter your user password).
3. cd /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration
4. Recommend backing up “com.apple.Boot.plist”. Copy it to your home directory or somewhere else.
5. Edit “com.apple.Boot.plist”. Use vi (ie: vi com.apple.Boot.plist). Move the cursor to the line that has “cpus=1 -f“, then press lowercase d twice to remove it.If there are no other lines between the line with “Kernel Flags” and the next line, then delete the Kernel Flags line as well. Save the file by pressing uppercase Z twice.
6. Reboot
7. Launch ActivityMonitor and confirm OSX now sees both cores.

Fix FAN (10.5.7 only?)
If you upgrade to 10.5.7 and are missing your system’s fan, then you may need to do the following modifications to restore a missing AppleACPIPlatform plugin:
1. Download and uncomress a fixed AppleACPIPlatform.kext (http://www.mediafire.com/?ii0wdxzynw4)
2. Backup and remove the original \System\Library\Extensions\AppleACPIPlatform.kext
3. Install modified AppleACPIPlatform.kext using OSXTools
4. Clear Extensions Cache, Set Extensions permissions, and Reboot
Notes
2009.06.05-Confirmed working process and operating system on HP Mini 1035NR (bluetooth, 60GB HD, 1GB Ram, 10.1 screen at 1024×600).
1035NR 10.5.7 Caveats:
1. Microphone does not work.
2. Built in Ethernet doesn’t work (hp2140)
2. At random, the Apple battery monitor pops up and ack’s itself saying its on reserve power when it is not.
3. Bluetooth does not turn on when the system boots. After initial boot, close lid, wait a few seconds, open lid. Bluetooth will turn on. (Works fine on 2140)
4. Wireless networking is also off even though the button shows blue. Closing the lid and reopening it does not resolve it. Instead you must slide the switch to deactivate (orange), wait a few seconds, then slide it again to turn networking back on – bluetooth is fixed this way as well. ***However, networking will appear to work, but wont acquire an address and hardcoding doesnt allow it function either. *** (Works fine on 2140)
5. After removing AppleHDA.kext and ApplePS2Controller.kext, the Restart menu option dumps you to a black screen where your only choice is to power off hard by holding the power button for a few seconds. (Does not occur on 2140)

You’re Done!
You should now be in a fully functioning OS X 10.5.7. Now it’s time to play with the settings if you like. It’s all you!
From here on out, you should be able to install updates without a problem. Now you can mess around with your system preferences if you like. Change the background, mess with the trackpad settings to your liking, adjust the colors of the display, personalize your dock, all the fun stuff. If you want to be able to use the volume keys to adjust sound, go to the sound preference pane and select PCM under the output tab.
Note that if you ever install Airport updates from apple, you will need to reinstall the wifi kexts. When in doubt, just reinstall all the kexts. Also, I would recommend using Slimbattery, google it, because it accurately displays the battery information, unlike the original battery monitor.

Credits / Additional Information:
Credits to all the guides i used. Feel free to visit them yourself if you run into problems.
http://myhpmini.com/forum/how-to-install-osx86-on-the-hp-mini-t37.html
http://myhpmini.com/forum/how-to-install-10-5-6-on-the-hp-mini-t387.html
http://myhpmini.com/forum/how-to-create-usb-startup-disk-t832.html
http://chameleon.osx86.hu/articles/voodoo-team-proudly-presents-voodoops2controller
http://code.google.com/p/voodoohda/
http://myhpmini.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1575&start=12 (Fan Fix)

NOTES: After my install I didn’t have the 10.5.7 option available, so I had to go for the 10.5.8 upgrade. Seemingly it worked fairly well. My computer has 2 things remaining that need to be fixed. The sleep function and the hibernate function both act strange (as in, they don’t work!) Also, I would like to add that sometimes after a crash the airport doesn’t turn on. The icon shows the hollow pie piece, and the led on the front is orange instead of pink. The fix for this is to hold down the wifi switch for the entire start up procedure. From before the hp logo to after the spinning wheel goes away. Wait until you see the blue screen.

If you have gotten this far – good work! There are plenty of great sites out there where people are pushing the limit every day, go check them out and see if they have any easier / better ways of doing this. Have fun, and enjoy your new mac!

UPDATE – 9.2.09
– I fixed the sleep function by reverting to the 10.5.7 kernel. I used OSX86Tools to do it. I then ran into a problem where usb devices wouldn’t work unless they were plugged in at boot. I fixed that by replacing the seatbelt and system.ktext files from the 10.5.7 version (osx86tools again). Now it sleeps just fine! but it still doesn’t hibernate :( follow directions at macosxhints.com to disable hibernate (since it is broken anyways…) and save 1 or 2 gigs of hard drive space!

UPDATE – 9.29.09 – check out my one month review here.

UPDATE – 10.10.09 – Check out the upgrade to snow leopard here!