Modified Dell 5558 laptop build
Modified Dell 5558 laptop build
Has anyone attempted to modify a Dell Inspiron 5558? What challenges did they face? The Wi-Fi might not work, so I plan to get an adapter. Besides that, what other issues arose? Should I upgrade the hard drive to an SSD before proceeding? I’m considering installing a high-end SATA or M.2 drive. If it worked for others, did they also set up dual booting? I’m currently using Ubuntu and may want to keep it for now. Thanks!
Well, hackintosh mostly depends on the motherboard, which is the biggest challenge. If you can crack the hardware part, the rest becomes much simpler. With a branded PC it gets trickier since few people own them and can help you out. Luckily, if your system is similar to custom builds, you can look up specific motherboard models in forums. OS installers and bootloaders are improving, so you might succeed without too much trouble. For components, refer to this guide: https://www.tonymacx86.com/buyersguide/b...ers-guide/. What obstacles did you face? I’m sure the Wi-Fi issue was a concern—maybe an adapter would fix it. Other concerns? Once the board is in place, focus on the GPU: most NVIDIA cards need custom drivers, especially Pascal. Some AMD models work out of the box without drivers. Next, try setting up sound drivers, network settings, and Wi-Fi. I’ve had good results with inexpensive non-brand USB adapters. After hardware is sorted, tackle OS issues like sleep/hibernate and ICloud login so you can use the App Store or Xcode. Upgrading from an HDD to an SSD doesn’t matter much unless you’re using SATA 3; it’s fine either way. I’m considering upgrading to a higher generation SSD or Mojave, but sticking with the current one is fine. I use BIOS quick-select boot (F9) to pick the drive, which avoids messing with your existing boot loaders. I have Windows and OS X on separate drives, each with its own bootloader.
Thanks! I'll gather more details before proceeding. Those two VMs functioned on MacOS High Sierra and Mojave beta, but I didn<|pad|> to use a bootloader.
I hackintoshed my laptop semi-successfully after a few tries. It took a few days to get it to work the first time, but I had to reinstall it multiple times cause of things that I've done. (Breaking the config, kernel panic loops, messing with audio drivers, etc) Things that didn't work (or worked, but not consistently/not very well): The built-in WiFi; all intel WiFi cards are not supported. Solution: USB WiFi adapter, if you don't want to replace the card. (Bluetooth worked tho) The audio driver (AppleHDA) didn't seem to work for me even after multiple changes to the config file and multiple new installs. Solution: used a third-party audio driver called VoodooHDA, but the sound wasn't very good. (For me at least) Sleep did not work, whenever I put my laptop to sleep, the screen turns off, but everything else kept running. It wasn't very stable; sometimes it would kernel panic whenever I turn the laptop on, other times it would not shutdown properly. (Leading to me having to force shutdown using the power button) There was no minimum brightness limit; the back light would turn off if I lowered the brightness too much, in turn, you can't see a thing. (There's probably a fix for this, but I didn't bother looking for it) Audio over HDMI didn't work, there's a fix for it I believe, but I didn't try it cause I didn't need it. These are the things that I remember from that experience, I've since reverted to using Linux. Might get back into hackintoshing if I get the time to tinker with it and/or get another laptop/desktop to try it on.
Attempting to retrieve an old airport card usually means Broadcom or a newer Atheros card. They function adequately and cost around thirty dollars. Ensure the model is correct and you obtain the WiFi/Bluetooth versions. Sleep is difficult. I remember needing to update the DSDT patch. Voodoo remains the older driver and likely won’t perform well. Getting WiFi and audio settings right can be tricky. Macs don’t have a minimum brightness setting either. Audio over HDMI probably stems from graphics driver issues.