Success!
I finally managed to hack this notebook to a (very) usable state!
What works: trackpad, full resolution, ethernet, sound, HD4000 w QE/CI, Bluetooth, Cmd key
What's still broken: wifi, USB 2.0, Nvidia 630, Fn keys, battery indicator
and it's quite straightforward to get this to work when knowing what to do, so I'm leaving a guide here for whoever is interested...
and for myself, when I'll have to reinstall
N56VM with Mountain Lion, a guide
-- setup --
(if you have an USB3.0 stick or an USB2.0 port (not all the n56s have USB3.0 ports only) you can skip this one)
This is needed because USB2.0 sticks aren't working with the installer, and lead to a "still waiting for root device" hang before the installer loads.
*unscrew the notebook's back panel, extract the HDD, and connect it in any way to an existing mac.
I've connected it via standard SATA to an hackintosh, but you could use an external adapter box.
*Use Disk Utility to create a new 8 gb HFS+ partition on it; I've named it "Unibeast" (yep, I like obvious names)
*Run Unibeast on it using the Tonymac guide
*Download Multibeast to the partition (this is the only way to get it on the system!)
*Run Unibeast or iBoot on any 8GB stick you got around - this is needed to boot the installer. You can probably run it on the drive itself and have it self-boot, but I didn't try.
*Place the HDD back in the notebook.
*connect a mouse. The trackpad stops working after installation.
-- fun starts --
Or, how to get to normal mode
*boot the Unibeast partition with no flags
*create or format a HFS+ partition ("MountainLion") using Disk Utility, when the installer starts
*follow the installation instructions, the pc will reboot after it
*boot into MountainLion partition with "-x -f GraphicsEnabler=No", you should be able to configure it and boot into safe mode
(choose "My Computer does not connect to the internet" when prompted)
*now, you have to remove the Nvidia kexts as they will KP your system.
I'm removing the bluetooth too as I found it can hang the boot, but you can try to leave it there if daring enough
Code:
cd /System/Library/Extensions
sudo mkdir backup
sudo cp -R GeForce* *Bluetooth* backup
sudo rm -R GeForce* *Bluetooth*
do not remove NV* kexts as this will hang the boot, as far as I can tell - and anyway they do no harm.
*reboot with "-f -v GraphicsEnabler=No" and you should be able to get to normal mode
*trackpad should work now!
-- Multibeast --
(you can probably run multibeast before rebooting, but I think it's best to run it in normal mode to be sure)
*run Multibeast from the Unibeast partition and install
-Easybeast
-UserDSDT-DSDTFree install
-VodooHDA 2.7.3 for the audio
-Atheros - Shailua Enabler for the Ethernet card
-Chimera 1.11 for the boot (it won't enable HD4000 by itself though)
*it will say "installation failed" but THIS IS OK DON'T PANIC
*now, open Champlist.app (get it in any way, or manually edit the plist if you like to live dangerously)
-deselect "Graphics Enabler" - we don't need it
-select 1920x1080x32 in "set Graphics Mode"
-click Device Properties, and paste in the EFI string for the HD4000 found in this pc:
5e0000000100000001000000520000000100000002010c00d041030a000000000101060000027fff04002c0000004100410050004c002c00690067002d0070006c006100740066006f0072006d002d006900640000000800000004006601
*disclaimer: I found this string around on the internet; it worked for me, it might not work for you*
*optional(?): open the SMBIOS tab, select the macbook retina 10,1 with a Core i7 2.3 Ghz, probably the "most similar" macbook (same CPU, same GPU, HD screen)
*apply all the changes
*reboot with "-f"
And that's it! At this point, you should have a pretty good working hackintosh if everything went ok.
Persoally I'm only missing the keyboard backlight, the wifi and the Fn keys, as the 630 is still a pretty weak GPU over the HD4000 (mostly 2x or 3x faster, meh)
if someone is able to get some other pieces to work, do post!
And... is it advised to install the combo update to ML 10.8.2?
