- Joined
- Oct 20, 2015
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- Mac
- Classic Mac
- Mobile Phone
(App Store)Is my machine a lost cause?
Hi, I'm a complete and total beginner when it comes to trying to install OS X on a regular PC, but I absolutely need an OS X machine for developing some applications as part of my degree program, so I need to figure this out. I'm running a Dell XPS 8300 - touted by many as a usable out of the box hackintosh requiring little to no alterations - however I've been cursed with the DW1501 WLAN half-mini card, an ethernet port that has NEVER worked (not even in windows), and of course my graphics card died a few months back so I replaced my supposedly compatible Radeon 6870 card with a newer nVidia GTX 960 card (the best I could afford that didn't require a power supply upgrade, the 460w supply isn't much to work with). So, I have a slightly altered model, but my specs are as follows:
i7-2600
8GB RAM
3 drives, 120gb SSD (windows 10 is on this), 2TB Data drive (w10 programs, media, whatever), and a 500GB OS X drive. Right now during the installation I have the first two drives unplugged so only the OS X drive is in.
EVGA GTX 960 (4GB VRAM model)
NOTE: I am using PDAnet for internet coupled through USB from my phone. I CANNOT get the ethernet to work (it has never worked, was too much of a hassle to send the whole damn thing back to Dell for 1-2 months when I never expected to use it in the first place. Now of course it's far out of warranty). The PDAnet software installs a virtual ethernet adapter to the network settings pane labeled 'en0' and it's the only adapter at this time since my wireless card doesn't work. I will eventually buy a compatible usb wifi adapter, but that's not happening any time soon.
Right now I've managed to get OS X 10.6.3 retail DVD installed using the iBoot+Multibeast guide on this site from 2010 (which was written for the snow leopard install), flailed around for about 5 hours when it didn't work the first time until I finally made enough random changes that it worked and booted after the install, then I magically was able to upgrade to 10.6.8 without issue. Obviously the graphics card is NOT compatible so I've been booting with GraphicsEnabler=No every time. I installed PDAnet to get internet working, then verified everything seems to work, but when I went into the app store to try and download Yosemite (the latest version of OS X tested on my machine), I can't find it. Supposedly it's been replaced by the newest version 'El Capitan' and I can't even have the chance to download it?!
With no other choice, I decided I would have to be the guinea pig for El Capitan, but when I clicked 'get' and entered my Apple ID and password, it gives me the infamous "Your device or computer could not be verified. Contact support for assistance." message. I have been searching the internet for about 6 hours now trying to find a fix that works. I've tried installing this thing called a nullethernet kext, I've tried using Chameleon Wizard to generate a new serial number, and I've tried deleting and re-adding my network interface, I've even tried just doing a complete installation from scratch again in case I messed something up while trying random things, still no luck. I've also tried installing the various other ethernet kext files and they don't help. I have no idea what to try next? Everything points to a network issue, but I've tried just about every solution offered short of "go buy a real mac" and "install in a virtual machine", both of which I can't do (real mac too expensive, virtual machine won't even boot the snow leopard dvd. What else can I try, or am I stuck selling a kidney or something so I can buy a Mac Pro? Full disclosure, I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing...All I know I have no hope of even getting working (not slideshow) graphics and decent program support until I can get off of Snow Leopard and upgrade to something that at least has a chance of supporting my video card.
EDIT: Ok, so apparently changing the serial number in the smbios.plist file in /extra isn't actually changing the serial number when you view it in the system profiler...is that supposed to be that way, or did I mess something up?
EDIT 2: After sleeping on the issues, I was able to discover why the serial number didn't match the smbios.plist file. I was still booting with iboot and not letting the hard drive boot on its own. I fixed that so it now boots without a disc, serial number and info all now shows properly (I changed the default serial to one that is similar to an ebay listing for a Mac Pro 3,1, changing only the week of manufacture to get a valid serial number according to the Apple service checker website).
Unfortunately, I'm still getting the error message when trying to sign in to the app store. Right now I'm in the process of backing up my system with Time Machine, then once it's done I'm just going to start changing settings and trying random things until I accidentally fix the problem. Any help or suggestions are appreciated and will probably save a few years of my life, so please chime in if you have anything!
Hi, I'm a complete and total beginner when it comes to trying to install OS X on a regular PC, but I absolutely need an OS X machine for developing some applications as part of my degree program, so I need to figure this out. I'm running a Dell XPS 8300 - touted by many as a usable out of the box hackintosh requiring little to no alterations - however I've been cursed with the DW1501 WLAN half-mini card, an ethernet port that has NEVER worked (not even in windows), and of course my graphics card died a few months back so I replaced my supposedly compatible Radeon 6870 card with a newer nVidia GTX 960 card (the best I could afford that didn't require a power supply upgrade, the 460w supply isn't much to work with). So, I have a slightly altered model, but my specs are as follows:
i7-2600
8GB RAM
3 drives, 120gb SSD (windows 10 is on this), 2TB Data drive (w10 programs, media, whatever), and a 500GB OS X drive. Right now during the installation I have the first two drives unplugged so only the OS X drive is in.
EVGA GTX 960 (4GB VRAM model)
NOTE: I am using PDAnet for internet coupled through USB from my phone. I CANNOT get the ethernet to work (it has never worked, was too much of a hassle to send the whole damn thing back to Dell for 1-2 months when I never expected to use it in the first place. Now of course it's far out of warranty). The PDAnet software installs a virtual ethernet adapter to the network settings pane labeled 'en0' and it's the only adapter at this time since my wireless card doesn't work. I will eventually buy a compatible usb wifi adapter, but that's not happening any time soon.
Right now I've managed to get OS X 10.6.3 retail DVD installed using the iBoot+Multibeast guide on this site from 2010 (which was written for the snow leopard install), flailed around for about 5 hours when it didn't work the first time until I finally made enough random changes that it worked and booted after the install, then I magically was able to upgrade to 10.6.8 without issue. Obviously the graphics card is NOT compatible so I've been booting with GraphicsEnabler=No every time. I installed PDAnet to get internet working, then verified everything seems to work, but when I went into the app store to try and download Yosemite (the latest version of OS X tested on my machine), I can't find it. Supposedly it's been replaced by the newest version 'El Capitan' and I can't even have the chance to download it?!
With no other choice, I decided I would have to be the guinea pig for El Capitan, but when I clicked 'get' and entered my Apple ID and password, it gives me the infamous "Your device or computer could not be verified. Contact support for assistance." message. I have been searching the internet for about 6 hours now trying to find a fix that works. I've tried installing this thing called a nullethernet kext, I've tried using Chameleon Wizard to generate a new serial number, and I've tried deleting and re-adding my network interface, I've even tried just doing a complete installation from scratch again in case I messed something up while trying random things, still no luck. I've also tried installing the various other ethernet kext files and they don't help. I have no idea what to try next? Everything points to a network issue, but I've tried just about every solution offered short of "go buy a real mac" and "install in a virtual machine", both of which I can't do (real mac too expensive, virtual machine won't even boot the snow leopard dvd. What else can I try, or am I stuck selling a kidney or something so I can buy a Mac Pro? Full disclosure, I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing...All I know I have no hope of even getting working (not slideshow) graphics and decent program support until I can get off of Snow Leopard and upgrade to something that at least has a chance of supporting my video card.
EDIT: Ok, so apparently changing the serial number in the smbios.plist file in /extra isn't actually changing the serial number when you view it in the system profiler...is that supposed to be that way, or did I mess something up?
EDIT 2: After sleeping on the issues, I was able to discover why the serial number didn't match the smbios.plist file. I was still booting with iboot and not letting the hard drive boot on its own. I fixed that so it now boots without a disc, serial number and info all now shows properly (I changed the default serial to one that is similar to an ebay listing for a Mac Pro 3,1, changing only the week of manufacture to get a valid serial number according to the Apple service checker website).
Unfortunately, I'm still getting the error message when trying to sign in to the app store. Right now I'm in the process of backing up my system with Time Machine, then once it's done I'm just going to start changing settings and trying random things until I accidentally fix the problem. Any help or suggestions are appreciated and will probably save a few years of my life, so please chime in if you have anything!
