[rwilts]

I am getting stuck really early, when I am restoring the install disc to usb it gets to 20 min left and then fails reporting i/o error. I have run this four times and each time same result.

Using a 16g HCSD card in usb reader.

My new mini 9 is due tomorrow morning and i wanted to get ready

[blehmann]

Originally Posted by mechdrew

There is a setting in the BIOS that allows you to set the boot order. By default, the BIOS will boot from the internal drive. You will need to hit "2" during the Dell boot screen and change the order that the Dell boots from, setting USB as the top positions. That will fix your problem.

Thanks Drew. I actually did this yesterday but it still did not work; I must have done something else wrong. In the meanwhile, I realized I made a dumb mistake when I tried Method 1. Everything worked perfectly (eventually) and I am writing on a brand new Dell Mini 9 running mac os x. As I said earlier, I really appreciate this public service.

[Wipeout]

I used the External DVD method posted on Drew's site with my 10.5.6 retail disk. Worked perfectly. Only hiccup was after rebooting on install, I had to boot: -x -f in order to actually get into the OS. Great stuff!

[l1vefrom215]

Originally Posted by mechdrew

You haven't by chance partitioned the drive with GUID, have you? It needs to be MBR, and usually this results from the wrong partition scheme.

Nope, drive is definitely partitioned as MBR. When you select the drive in disk utility it says it's MBR. Just tried to redo it and got the same "could not install the bootloader. Error 1" again. ughhh!!!

[EricsVostro]

Originally Posted by mechdrew

You can keep running on 10.5.6 if you so desire. The DMG will open properly in 10.5.6 so you don't need to copy it on another Mac.

After I figured out that the DVD I had was not 10.5.6 and did the install as per 10.5.6 the 10.5.7 update went smoothly and I'm up and running like a champ.

I want to take this opportunity to say thank you for all your hard work on this project and to all the other contributors as well. A word of advise to all those doing this install, don't take anything for granted, do everything exactly as outlined and it works as easy as any software installation could.

After upgrading my system storage and memory I have a very cool and usable "Mac" Netbook for under $350.

In fact, after installing Office 2008, Firefox, PocketMac and all associated data, music, emails, contacts, etc. (eveything I need) I have 8 out 32GB free.

This is the perfect companion to a desktop Mac.

Again, a hearty thanks you.

[rajisabbagh]

Originally Posted by l1vefrom215

Nope, drive is definitely partitioned as MBR. When you select the drive in disk utility it says it's MBR. Just tried to redo it and got the same "could not install the bootloader. Error 1" again. ughhh!!!

I'm running into this problem. I have confirmed that the drives where partitioned as MBR as well.

I've tried to use both an external hard drive and a 16GB USB thumb drive.


Anyone?

Thanks

[rajisabbagh]

Originally Posted by rajisabbagh

I'm running into this problem. I have confirmed that the drives where partitioned as MBR as well.

I've tried to use both an external hard drive and a 16GB USB thumb drive.


Anyone?

Thanks

Just wanted to post an update. My Intel MBP is running 10.5.7 and that is where the DellEFIBootLoader was erroring out. I tried to run the DellEFIBootLoader on a friend's machine that is running 10.5.6 and it worked. I'm installing OSX on my Dell Mini 9 as I type this.

I would like to publicly thanks Mechdrew for his wonderful writeups. Thank you

[lancegoddard]

Running a cool Mini Mac with 10.5.7. Thanks Mechdrew for all of your hard work and dedication.

I've run into a problem trying to sync with MobileMe to populate my mail, address Book, and calendar. Upon opening MobileMe Sync preferences all the choices such as bookmarks, calendars, etc. are greyed out. The only box I can select is "Synchronize with MobileMe" but that doesn't change anything. Clicking on the "Advanced" button doesn't show any of my other Macs that are registered.

Any ideas?

[markbullen]

Everything worked fine until I rebooted after the 10.5.7 combo update. I restarted, did the -x, enter and now it seems to be stuck with a grey screen with two band of one inch horizontal lines and the spinning Apple wheel. It's been in this state for about 10 minutes.

Any suggestions?

Mark.

[markbullen]

Okay, ignore the previous message. A second reboot and it worked.

Mark.