25
Installing Mac OS X Snow Leopard on my Dell Mini 10v
22 Comments | Posted by Victor Goh in Blog, Dell, Guide, Mac OS X
I received my Dell Mini 10v yesterday afternoon. After getting it out of the box and taking some photos, I quickly started charging the laptop battery while installing Snow Leopard on the laptop. Dell’s instructions is to charge the battery for at least 12 hours before using the laptop on battery power.
Not so smooth installation process
I had expected a simple and straightforward installation, but it wasn’t so. There were some installation hiccups along the way and I had to retry the installation a couple of times before I managed to install Snow Leopard on my Dell Mini 10v. It wasn’t a smooth installation process because I was in a hurry and didn’t prepare a proper checklist.
Here’s the list of things that went wrong.
- First, I forgot to run Disk Utility and reformat the laptop hard disk before starting the installation process. I had to back track to Disk Utility when I couldn’t continue the installation because no suitable hard disk was found. The Dell Mini 10v came with 3 partitions on its hard disk. In my first attempt to erase the 3 partitions using Disk Utility, I got a spinning beach ball that refuse to go away. I had to power off the laptop and restart the installation process.
- Second, I forgot to downgrade the Dell Mini 10v Bios version A06 to version A04. On my next second and third installation attempt, the installation process would stop halfway with a dialog telling me to reboot the laptop. After a couple of reboots, I remember reading about the need to downgrade the Mini 10v Bios to version A04 before installing Mac OS X. After downgrading the Bios to version A04, the installation completed without any problem.
- Third, after the installation completed, I powered off the laptop while it was rebooting. I felt it was taking too long and assumed that it had frozen. When the laptop booted up for the first time, I didn’t see the Mac OS X welcome video when the Snow Leopard desktop came up.
Mini Mac up and running
After a bumpy installation process, I now have Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard on my Dell Mini 10v. I am named the laptop minimac, short for Dell Mini Mac 10v. I also made a Time Machine backup of the laptop once it was up and running.
Above is a screenshot of this website taken on my Dell Mini Mac 10v.
I will write more about my first impressions of the Mini Mac later.
Related posts:
- How to Install Mac OS X on the Dell Mini 10v
- A Beginners Guide to Installing Mac OS X Snow Leopard on the Dell Mini 10v
- Installing Mac OS X Snow Leopard on the MSI Wind
- Post Installation Steps on My Snow Leopard Dell Mini 10v Hackintosh
- The Easy Guide to Install Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.1 on Your Lenovo S10
22 Comments for Installing Mac OS X Snow Leopard on my Dell Mini 10v
Andy | September 27, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Derek | September 28, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Congrats on the install! I will be making my own tomorrow 
does everything work with your snow leopard install including sound, microphone and sleep mode?
Author comment by Victor Goh | September 28, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Hi Derek, everything is working on my mini 10v snow leopard install including sound, mic and sleep mode. All the best on your mini 10v hackintosh installation.
KaosCreator | October 3, 2009 at 2:38 am
Hey what did you check or uncheck for the NetbookInstaller?(i must be missing something)..its odd I boot up with the CD/DVD click the drive it is installed on the internal 160GB and sound works and shows up, but after I load the NetbookInstaller 0.8.3 RC2 and check what mechdrew says it boots from internal hard drive no issues, but no sound…ODD??? *scratches right nut* 
And hey nice wesbite and grats on the mini 10v..cant wait to nail the sound issue!
Author comment by Victor Goh | October 3, 2009 at 5:06 am
Hi KaosCreator, I did the setup using NetbookInstaller 0.8.3 RC1 and checked
Install bootloader (Chameleon 2 RC3)
Install Dell Mini 10v Extensions
Generate a system specific dsdt.aml file
Enable Remote CD
KaosCreator | October 3, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Hey thanks for getting back to me so fast!
I cannot find NetbookInstaller 0.8.3 RC1 hmm?
I looked at mechdrew site and netbook-installer wiki/google code.
I am sure it has to do with bootup, I have disabled all the extras and tried almost every bios changes to make.
It boots fine when I use the NCD disc (has sound)
It boots fine with NetbookInstaller installed on internal HD (Chameleon 2 RC3) but no sound.
I wonder if the fix would be the (0.8.3 RC1) or I do not have BlueTooth on this machine…hmm?
Any thoughts…I know mechdrew hasn’t installed or runnning SL yet…one day soon i hope..
Author comment by Victor Goh | October 3, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Hi kaoscreator, do you want a copy of 0.8.3 RC1? I could upload a copy for you.
KaosCreator | October 3, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Yes that would be great, thx a ton!
By the way you gave me the incentive to take this project on! or email?
And the sound/sleep fix worked like a charm, just to bad I have to use the boot cd to get sound on.
So now I use sleep and let it sit there till ready to use power it up/un-sleep and way it goes. Would be better if I could just boot and not need the cd. Oh well…
KaosCreator | October 4, 2009 at 12:37 am
Let me know when and where to get the upload copy from of 0.8.3 RC1..thanks again!
Author comment by Victor Goh | October 4, 2009 at 10:42 am
Hi KaosCreator, I just found out the older versions of NetbookInstaller are still available at http://code.google.com/p/netbook-installer/downloads/list?can=1.
KaosCreator | October 6, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Hey thanks, quick question, did you say that you ordered bluetooth or not…does this “Fix bluetooth” in NetbookInstaller. Is it for ppl that have it or dont have it? hmm…tiss the question of the day…lol
Author comment by Victor Goh | October 6, 2009 at 4:22 pm
My mini 10v comes with bluetooth and it works fine on Snow Leopard. No idea what the ‘Fix bluetooth’ option in NetbookInstaller does. 
KaosCreator | October 6, 2009 at 4:34 pm
How odd, the procedure for booting into safe mode to do the first time running after install ..NetbookInstaller just crashes after typing password when prompted…and i know it aint the password..ugh
KaosCreator | October 6, 2009 at 4:40 pm
LOL ok get this…way too wierd or for me to even understand…i think two days straight installing hasnt helped my brain much. LOL
it boots fine without running the NetbookInstaller, i wonder..hmmm why? sound, wifi, etc etc…why do we need to run this? if things boot fine…maybe the issue was that when i run it in regular mode (not safe mode) that is where I have frak’d things up…hmm??
You need a FORUM on this site..or am i blind..heheh
Author comment by Victor Goh | October 7, 2009 at 2:57 am
KaosCreator, you should check out the forum at mydellmini.com. There are lots of discussions going on for the Dell Mini 10v Mac OS X installation.
KaosCreator | October 7, 2009 at 2:20 pm
I do but with all the helpful ppl and opinions I just thought your page looked so inviting! But you know what I now have from all my research, triple booting MacOSX 10.6.1 SL (retail), Windows 7 Ultimate (RC, buying as soon as available) and Ubuntu 9.04(for now). All working with sound, video, wifi, lan, etc etc.
Alot of thanks goes to you and your input and my re-reading alot of stuff and loosing sleep over it. lol
THANKS AGAIN and keep on posting on your blog love reading it.
By the way I work in the software programming industry with NYSE. So this mini-multi will come in very handy, plus being a tech support guru. THANK! 
nooidea | October 8, 2009 at 12:31 pm
a different perspective of sharing your experience
i like to read the 3 mistakes part ~
Shane | November 10, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Hey KaosCreator. I’m having the same problem with sound that you specify on my 10v. How did you fix it?
Author comment by Victor Goh | November 16, 2009 at 1:13 am
Shane, try using the latest NetbookInstaller 0.8.3RC4 to fix the sound problem on your 10v.
rogerh | January 23, 2010 at 4:23 pm
Just installed 10.6 on my new 10v and had no sound and no sound source listed in System Preferences (although strangely I did get sound with Apple’s 10.6 install welcome video). However running NetbookInstaller (which NetbookBootMaker had put in my Applications folder) with a re-boot fixed it.
oswcab | March 18, 2010 at 10:28 pm
I just buy a brand new Mini 10v and followed the tutorial instructions. When I made the installation, the computer hangs and the screen gets smaller. I tried the installation with the -x – flags and the installer begins but when it’s finishing it shows the error: “Install failed. The installer could not start up the computer from the disk …” I’m using a retail Snow Leopard DVD and NetbookMaker 0.8.3. What I’m doing bad?
Author comment by Victor Goh | March 19, 2010 at 1:48 am
Hi oswcab, when things don’t work I usually go to http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/dell-mini-10v-mac-os-x-discussion/ for help. Sorry, couldn’t be of more help other than pointing you to the mydellmini forums. Hope you can get your hackintosh up and running soon.
Leave a comment!
<< My First Impression of Mac OS X Snow Leopard on my Hackintosh Laptop
Congrats! You are on the cutting edge. I am very interested to hear more. I may follow suit soon. Best of luck and keep posting!