[louididdy]

Dell Mini 9, Snow Leopard 10.6.1, Netbook Installer 0.8.3RC3 with Full Sound, Sleep, Restart and Reliable Boot.

****This post attempts to outline the steps necessary to reach a reliable 10.6.1 install on a Dell Mini 9. I have assembled a guide after putting together several fixes from other posts. Im not an expert by any means, but I can tinker enough to get results. Thanks be to Waldo Pepperjack, LeeG23, Reberto and Bmcclure937.

I recently have reached a very stable and usable state with my Dell Mini 9 (2GB RAM, 64 GB Runcore SSD, Bios A03) running 10.6.1 with Netbook Installer 0.8.3RC3 with sound output from the speakers, working headjack and mic (haven't tried audio input), reliable sleep and no hang ups during boot at the grey Apple logo screen thanks to a terminal edit.

Here are the steps I took, as I remember them:
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I - Installing OSX on the Dell Mini 9 and booting into Snow Leopard (Runcore via Mac method)
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1- Connected Runcore SSD to my Mac Mini and formatted it with Disk Utility after selecting "Format: Mac OS Extended Journaled"
2- Inserted my retail copy of Snow Leopard 10.6.0 into the Mac Mini and rebooted.
3- Installed Snow Leopard 10.6.0 on the Runcore.
4- Booted into the Runcore by holding Option after the startup chime.
5- Ran Software Update and updated to 10.6.1.
6- Ran NetbookBootMaker.

*****At this point, I didn't run Netbook Installer 0.8.3 as the guide I was using said I should've (making sure not to select "create custom DSDT.aml"), but regardless, the SSD drive was able to boot up once inside the Dell Mini 9.

7- Shut down the Mac Mini, disconnected the Runcore, installed the Runcore into the Dell Mini 9.
8- Booted up into OS X on the Dell Mini 9.

*****My install method is the "Runcore via Mac" as its always worked and is pretty easy. This is the method that works for me, you might have success with another install method, thats fine, as long as you can get it to boot into 10.6 you should be able to make the next changes
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II - Netbook Installer 0.8.3 RC3
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Download Netbook Installer 0.8.3 RC3 (this is still in testing so be aware of that, there might be issues I haven't run into yet) and run it:

Downloads - netbook-installer - Project Hosting on Google Code

Check the following boxes:
Install Chameleon 2 RC3
Install Dell Mini 9 Extensions
Generate a system specific DSDT.aml file
Disable Hibernation

As far as I know the rest are optional, I chose to have the following done
Enable Remote CD
Disable Quiet Boot
Fix Bluetooh (if you have it)
NetbookInstaller Files (Check "show" if you are having trouble with section V)
Do not Install mirror friendly GMA Kexts

-About this one, if I chose it, I can mirror my Dell Mini 9 on my 40 inch HDTV but I lose the ability to launch video on iChat (crashes every time) and functionality on some screen savers.
Its your choice, its either mirroring the display or iChat video (Photobooth as well), but not both for now as far as I know. You do have the option of rerunning Netbook Installer 0.8.3. RC3 picking the options that will set you up with the one you want and use it that way and vice versa. You will have to do the audio fix as well each time you do this along with a couple reboots.

Reboot if you want.
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III - Increasing Boot Up Reliability
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1- Launch Terminal.app
2- Type the following and hit enter after each line.
cd /Extra
sudo cp com.apple.Boot.plist com.apple.Boot.plist-backup
sudo nano /Extra/com.apple.Boot.plist

3- Be very careful with your typing here! You need to add

<key>UHCIreset</key>
<string>Yes</string>

at the bottom right before the "</dict>".

Code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs$
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Boot Graphics</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>Kernel</key>
<string>mach_kernel</string>
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string></string>
<key>SMBIOSdefaults</key>
<string>No</string>
<key>Timeout</key>
<string>6</string>
<key>device-properties</key>
<string>c600000001000000020000006100000002000000 02 010c00d041030a000000$
<key>UHCIreset</key>
<string>Yes</string>
</dict>

4- Control X to Save. Thats it, you should notice a more reliable boot up process now, in fact, almost 100%!
*Restart after sleep does not currently work. It will seem to go through with it, but after the screens turns off as it normally should, the power light will stay on and you have to manually turn it off and back on. It will then restart without a problem.
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IV - Fixing Sleep
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1- Download Smartsleep: Apple - Downloads - System/Disk Utilities - SmartSleep
2- Install it.
3- Select it from your preference pane.
4- Chose "Sleep only" from "Current Sleep State".
5- Chose "Remove Sleep Image".
*Sleep will work, but restart after sleep will hang as explained at the end of section III.
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V - Fixing Audio
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1- Download the VoodooAudioKexts.zip file (attached at bottom).
2- Inside the Extras\Mini9Ext\ folder (in your HD) delete the two files that have the word "Azalia" in them, one is patched the other isn't.

*This folder might be hidden in your case, if so, just search for azalea with Spotlight and then select "show all" and then right click on the azalea result and chose "Open Enclosing Folder" and then you will get to the folder containing the two files. If for some reason your spotlight search doesn't come up with these files, re-run Netbook Installer and chose the option to "show the Netbook Installer Files", then try looking for the \Extras folder again.

3- Unzip the VoodooAudioKexts.zip and ONLY move VoodooHDA.kext into this same folder (Extras\Mini9Ext).
4- Run UpdateExtra in the Extras\ folder and be patient.
5- Install VoodooHDA.prefpane. I got an error every time I did this, but just ignore it. You might need to force quit your System Preferences.
6 -Reboot
7- Sound should now work with computer speakers and headphone jack as well as the microphone. Play with the settings from the VoodooHDA.prefpane to fine tune the mic.
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I hope this helps others as it has helped me. I know that eventually Netbook Installer will have the audio situation fixed in an easier manner, but for now, this works.
Feedback welcome and please let me know if this worked for you by voting in the poll. Thanks.

Louididdy
DM9 | 64GB Runcore SSD | 2GB RAM | BIOS A03 (USB LEGACY OFF, USB WAKE OFF, BT ON)
OSX 10.6.1 - NI 083 RC3 - VooDooHDA - SmartSleep - Reliable Boot Edi

[Akki]

Nice summary and congrats.

[tm1986]

thank you

[ydpng]

Hi Louididi,
Thanks for this entry. I have a problem for restarting after using it for hours. Do you have any idea how to fix it? Thanks.

[louididdy]

Are you using 10.6.1? What kind of problems exactly with restart? It wont work after sleep, you have to do it manually, other than that I haven't had any restart problems.

[spida505]

Sleep works, resume on wake works, full sound with voodoo kexts works (but crappily), won't restart after sleep, hibernate is not on: standard for this stage of the game?

[louididdy]

Originally Posted by spida505

Sleep works, resume on wake works, full sound with voodoo kexts works (but crappily), won't restart after sleep, hibernate is not on: standard for this stage of the game?

Thats correct as far as what I've been able to gather from the boards. I expect they will get sound working better soon, but I can wait with Voodoo for now although it isnt perfect. I really like the fact booting is very reliable now and that my bluetooth can now be controlled within OSX under Snow Leopard since I couldnt do it before under Leopard.

[spida505]

Originally Posted by louididdy

Thats correct as far as what I've been able to gather from the boards. I expect they will get sound working better soon, but I can wait with Voodoo for now although it isnt perfect. I really like the fact booting is very reliable now and that my bluetooth can now be controlled within OSX under Snow Leopard since I couldnt do it before under Leopard.

Amen to the reliable boot, although I'm getting that anyway without further tweaking and I have no bluetooth probs apart from being a little slower to sort itself out after sleep. However, I'm finding that audio degenerates as I'm using it until I have to restart to clear it. It's especially bad with streaming video after about 20 mins. Anybody else experiencing this?

[nathug]

I can't get this bit to work? Please help

*This folder might be hidden in your case, if so, just search for azalea with Spotlight and then select "show all" and then right click on the azalea result and chose "Open Enclosing Folder" and then you will get to the folder containing the two files.

Cheers

Nathan

[louididdy]

Originally Posted by nathug

I can't get this bit to work? Please help

*This folder might be hidden in your case, if so, just search for azalea with Spotlight and then select "show all" and then right click on the azalea result and chose "Open Enclosing Folder" and then you will get to the folder containing the two files.

Cheers

Nathan

You need to find the folder, if you dont see it via the finder, you can search for a file that you know is in that folder, like the Azalea files.

1-Did you search for Azalea with Spotlight?
2-It should be listed in the results and you should also see an option thats says "show all", select it.
3-You will see all the results, you can then right click on Azalea and select "show containing folder" and it will take you to the folder so you can delete these files and complete the rest of the audio fix.

Does that help?