The purpose of this guide is to provide a step-by-step guide to installing El Capitan on the Dell Inspiron 3437.
The Hardware Detail of Dell Inspiron 3437:
- CPU: i5-4200U/HM87
- Graphics: HD4400, GT720M(discrete card, be disabled), 1366x768
- Ram: 8G DDR3 1600 MHz
- HDD: ST500LT012-1DG142 (500G)
In case of my computer, I add a SSD and replace the wireless network card(WiFi), because the origin WiFi is not compatible.
- SSD: PLEXTOR PX-128M6S (128G, Mac OS Installed)
- Broadcom 4322(better OS X feature support)
To start, set BIOS to defaults.
Then ensure:
- Intel Virtualization disabled
- UEFI boot is enabled
- secure boot is disabled
- disable fast boot
This guide for creating USB and installing using Clover UEFI works well for this laptop: http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-booting-the-os-x-installer-on-laptops-with-clover.148093
Just follow the guide and do the initial installation.
Special notes: When prepare the kext，you only need these kexts：
For convince, you can use the files in for_install by this repo, put the files in the right place.
Install Clover UEFI as described in the guide linked by the http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-booting-the-os-x-installer-on-laptops-with-clover.148093.
After installing Clover, and configuring it correctly (config.plist, kexts, etc, just as you did for USB) you should be able to boot from the HDD/SSD. The configuration at this point should be exactly the same as USB. Don't forget the HFSPlus.efi.
But there are still many issues and devices that won't work correctly. For that, we need to patch ACPI, provide a proper config.plist, and install the kexts that are required.
The most useful article for patching ACPI is [Guide] Patching LAPTOP DSDT/SSDTs.
The normal extract/disassemble/patch/compile process is difficult and have to try many times to success.
So I write a batch command to do it. It can make the patching ACPI more easier.
In Terminal:
mkdir ~/Projects
cd ~/Projects
git clone https://github.com/xiangtailiang/Dell_Inspiron_3437_DSDT_Patch.git
With the current project, no patched DSDT/SSDTs are used. Instead, this guide uses Clover hotpatches and a set of "add-on" SSDTs. The advantage of hotpatching is that hardware and BIOS can be changed without re-extract/re-patch. It is also a bit easier to setup as the normal extract/disassemble/patch/compile process is not needed.
In Terminal:
chmod +x build.sh
./build.sh
After the build step, you should find SSDT-HACK.aml in the build dir.
Now you need to copy it to EFI/Clover/ACPI/patched .
In Terminal:
sudo ./mount_efi.sh /
cp -rf build/SSDT-HACK.aml /Volumes/EFI/EFI/Clover/ACPI/patched/SSDT-HACK.aml
Use the ssdtPRgen.sh script by Pike R. Alpha: https://github.com/Piker-Alpha/ssdtPRGen.sh
You only need to do the first two commands:
curl --fail -o ./ssdtPRGen.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Piker-Alpha/ssdtPRGen.sh/master/ssdtPRGen.sh
chmod +x ./ssdtPRGen.sh
./ssdtPRGen.sh
When it asks if you want to copy to /Extra just respond 'n'. Same for opening ssdt.dsl... respond 'n'.
The results are at ~/Library/ssdtPRgen/SSDT.aml.
Copy that file to EFI partition, /EFI/Clover/ACPI/patched/SSDT.aml
sudo ./mount_efi.sh /
cp ~/Library/ssdtPRgen/ssdt.aml /Volumes/EFI/EFI/Clover/ACPI/patched/SSDT.aml
The download.sh script will automatically gather the latest version of all tools (patchmatic, iasl, MaciASL) and all the kexts (FakeSMC.kext, IntelBacklight.kext, ACPIBatteryManager.kext, etc) from bitbucket. The install_downloads.sh will automatically install them to the proper locations.
In Terminal:
chmod +x *.sh
./download.sh
./install_downloads.sh
All kext will be install as follow:
VoodooPS2Trackpad.kext
VoodooPS2Mouse.kext
VoodooPS2Keyboard.kext
VoodooPS2Controller.kext
USBXHC_dell_3437.kext
RealtekRTL8100.kext
IntelBacklight.kext
FakeSMC.kext
FakePCIID_Intel_HD_Graphics.kext
FakePCIID_Broadcom_WiFi.kext
FakePCIID.kext
CodecCommander.kext
AppleHDA_ALC283.kext
ACPIBatteryManager.kext
Copy the project config.plist to /EFI/Clover/, replace the old one.
DO NOT edit your config.plist with Clover Configurator. Clover Configurator will erase important settings from the config.plist, and as a result, it will not work.
That every thing is done~
In Finder, 'Enject EFI' partition(remember to to do that, or the changed files will not save), and restart the computer.
Welcome to the Mac World~
I have tested the following features:
- UEFI booting via Clover
- built-in keyboard (with special function keys)
- built-in trackpad (basic gestures)
- HDMI video/audio with hotplug
- WiFi, provided you have compatible hardware
- native USB3 with AppleUSBXHCI (USB2 works also)
- native audio with AppleHDA, including headphone
- built-in mic
- built-in camera (if you are lucky)
- native power management
- battery status
- backlight controls with smooth transitions, save/restore across restart
- accelerated graphics
- wired Ethernet
- Mac App Store working
The following features have issues, or have not been tested:
- Messages/FaceTime have not been tested
- card reader is not working (not important to me)
First of all, I am very grateful for RehabMan's help, I have benefited from his guides. This patch project reference to his great ProBook repository.
I would also thanked dummyone, the first installation of Mac OS is based on his guide [Guide] Dell Inspiron 3x37 - 5x37 -7x37 Clover, Yosemite/El Capitan.