[GUIDE] Lion on Sony Vaio SA/SB/SE (VPCSA/SB/SE)

[zurih]

Regarding Trackpad.prefPane, I put it in /Library/PreferencePanes, and what then?
If I try to open it, I get "“Trackpad” preferences is installed with Mac OS X and can't be replaced."

What exactly this file is for?

 

[pgh550]

Im not sure what "power.zip" you used, but all the latest info needed for proper CPU power management is in the first post and the pack. All those kexts you installed for power management are outdated and will not work with 10.7.4. You will need to restore the kexts from backups, and then follow the instructions from the top of the first post, execpt you wont need to use nullcpupowermanagement. Just install the correct power management kext with multibeast, install the ssdt, and everything should be fine. The kexts from the pack should be all you need.

Also, I'm pretty sure IOUSB rollbacks are not needed, even on the SE. They certainly aren't needed on the SA/SB.

Regarding boot, the setup I have at the moment is pretty "optimal". Lion disk is partitioned as MBR, with the mac partition set as active. Chimera is installed on the lion disk. Windows and linux are on a separate disk, with no partitions set as active. I use syslinux for linux, which is only installed to the partition, not the mbr. The windows bootloader is in the mbr. The laptop then bootuts straight into chameleon, which can see both disks, and can boot mac, windows, and chainload syslinux for linux.

That's a problem I had tracking the packages, cannot remember from which page downloaded which version of the package. It would be nice if we can search just within a thread.

After installation, USB and Webcam did not work. I can read the UniBeast USB but putting in any USB freeze the machine. So I replaced the IOUSBFamily with the one in 10.6.7, which made USB work but WebCam still not, until IOUSBFamilyRollback was installed.

My boot situation was kind of unique. BIOS does not recognize the SSD I had in the DVD bay so it cannot boot from there. Fortunately Grub2 can find it and it can boot, but got stuck at the last stage with the login screen not coming up. Seems the boot loader on SSD is missing something which UniBeast boot loader has.

 

[pgh550]

Be aware that if you change the wift card you will losse all the Intel wifi features such as the wifi display and the internal bluetooth.

I've looked into to all the alternatives that you suggest plus some others to get internal wifi and bluetooth but none of them will give you both, just wifi not bluetooth.

It depends on what will be your primary OS, for me it is OSX so I went with the ATHEROS AR9287 and bought a Belkin Mini USB Bluetooth Adapter F8T016NG, and works OTB. If you use windows with the intel wifi display and bluetooth a lot then maybe a usb wifi dongle maybe a better option for you.

I have not updated to OSX 10.7.4, I think it introduces many changes to the power management. @cyberwalrus & @wadalada have done a great job getting the P states working well in the DSDT and the new SSDT but battery management still seems to be a problem. I may try to give it a go later in the week and see if i can get it working better but for me 10.7.3 is rock solid like my tag line says, If it ant broke dont try and fix it.

In that case probably I'll get the AR9285 one with the Bluetooth module to see if I had the luck to make both work . I had a Magic Mouse, which I really like to use.

In case it happened that I only had the 10.7.4 install app. When you get your power management work, did you use these DSL files? What are they? How to use them?

Also are you still using the HD3000 or you get the Radeon work? Which kext for the Radeon?

 

[jaymonkey]

In that case probably I'll get the AR9285 one with the Bluetooth module to see if I had the luck to make both work . I had a Magic Mouse, which I really like to use.

In case it happened that I only had the 10.7.4 install app. When you get your power management work, did you use these DSL files? What are they? How to use them?

Also are you still using the HD3000 or you get the Radeon work? Which kext for the Radeon?

@pgh550

I did look into that card as it would have been good to have both internal wifi (n) and bluetooth, however when I (we) started this project the Atheros AR3011 which is the bluetooth chip embedded into the the bluetooth version of the AR9285 would not work all though the the Wifi side of the card has been supported for a while.

The main problem is that the firmware for the AR3011 bluetooth chip is actually uploaded to the chip during the driver initialization proces. Since the chip has never been used on a real mac there where no OSX drivers hence the chip had no firmware so no bluetooth

Your best bet might be this link :-

http://tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?t=18410

Looks like these guys have managed to port the Linux AR3011 loader/driver to OSX so you may now have a chance, although it looks like it may introduce some sleep issues, if you try and have any success please let us all know how you get on.

Cheers
Jay

Edit: No one ha even attempted to get discrete (Radeon) graphics working, we all think it would be a massive undertaking largely down to the way sony have implemented graphics switching. Not saying its impossible but would be a hell of a lot of disassembly / understanding of the sony windows drivers and then implementing a OSX solution.HD3000 is rock solid.

 

[zurih]

Anyway to make sleep work? Right now I just get a black screen but the laptop is still on.

Thanks

 

[pgh550]

Im not sure what "power.zip" you used, but all the latest info needed for proper CPU power management is in the first post and the pack. All those kexts you installed for power management are outdated and will not work with 10.7.4. You will need to restore the kexts from backups, and then follow the instructions from the top of the first post, execpt you wont need to use nullcpupowermanagement. Just install the correct power management kext with multibeast, install the ssdt, and everything should be fine. The kexts from the pack should be all you need.

Also, I'm pretty sure IOUSB rollbacks are not needed, even on the SE. They certainly aren't needed on the SA/SB.

Regarding boot, the setup I have at the moment is pretty "optimal". Lion disk is partitioned as MBR, with the mac partition set as active. Chimera is installed on the lion disk. Windows and linux are on a separate disk, with no partitions set as active. I use syslinux for linux, which is only installed to the partition, not the mbr. The windows bootloader is in the mbr. The laptop then bootuts straight into chameleon, which can see both disks, and can boot mac, windows, and chainload syslinux for linux.

That's a problem I had tracking the packages, cannot remember from which page downloaded which version of the package. It would be nice if we can search just within a thread.

After installation, USB and Webcam did not work. I can read the UniBeast USB but putting in any USB freeze the machine. So I replaced the IOUSBFamily with the one in 10.6.7, which made USB work but WebCam still not, until IOUSBFamilyRollback was installed.

My boot situation was kind of unique. BIOS does not recognize the SSD I had in the DVD bay so it cannot boot from there. Fortunately Grub2 can find it and it can boot, but got stuck at the last stage with the login screen not coming up. Seems the boot loader on SSD is missing something which UniBeast boot loader has.

Copy the DSDT.aml from the UniBeast /Extra to the SSD's /Extra. Booting works now, just a little mysterious with grub2: "c" and "exit", but at least no need to use the UniBeast USB every time.

Follow the instructions on top of page 1. Cannot boot with AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement. Taking it out, boot OK but laptop keyboard and trackpad not working. Installed NullCPUPowerManagement and VoodooPS2Keyboard. Rebooted fine, laptop keyboard, trackpad, webcam all worked. Did not install IOUSB rollback this time, not sure if the last install went away.

 

[ninditsu]

idk if this was mentioned but try removing the device for the graphics card you want to disable and any calls to it and any subsequent methods blah blah in the dsdt or ssdt
do this by finding your device ID i think (I'm not so experienced in dsdt editing, but it is safe to do if you backup)

also, what patches to the dsdt/ssdt have been made here?

 

[CyberWalrus]

Im not sure what "power.zip" you used, but all the latest info needed for proper CPU power management is in the first post and the pack. All those kexts you installed for power management are outdated and will not work with 10.7.4. You will need to restore the kexts from backups, and then follow the instructions from the top of the first post, execpt you wont need to use nullcpupowermanagement. Just install the correct power management kext with multibeast, install the ssdt, and everything should be fine. The kexts from the pack should be all you need.

Also, I'm pretty sure IOUSB rollbacks are not needed, even on the SE. They certainly aren't needed on the SA/SB.

Regarding boot, the setup I have at the moment is pretty "optimal". Lion disk is partitioned as MBR, with the mac partition set as active. Chimera is installed on the lion disk. Windows and linux are on a separate disk, with no partitions set as active. I use syslinux for linux, which is only installed to the partition, not the mbr. The windows bootloader is in the mbr. The laptop then bootuts straight into chameleon, which can see both disks, and can boot mac, windows, and chainload syslinux for linux.

That's a problem I had tracking the packages, cannot remember from which page downloaded which version of the package. It would be nice if we can search just within a thread.

After installation, USB and Webcam did not work. I can read the UniBeast USB but putting in any USB freeze the machine. So I replaced the IOUSBFamily with the one in 10.6.7, which made USB work but WebCam still not, until IOUSBFamilyRollback was installed.

My boot situation was kind of unique. BIOS does not recognize the SSD I had in the DVD bay so it cannot boot from there. Fortunately Grub2 can find it and it can boot, but got stuck at the last stage with the login screen not coming up. Seems the boot loader on SSD is missing something which UniBeast boot loader has.

Copy the DSDT.aml from the UniBeast /Extra to the SSD's /Extra. Booting works now, just a little mysterious with grub2: "c" and "exit", but at least no need to use the UniBeast USB every time.

Follow the instructions on top of page 1. Cannot boot with AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement. Taking it out, boot OK but laptop keyboard and trackpad not working. Installed NullCPUPowerManagement and VoodooPS2Keyboard. Rebooted fine, laptop keyboard, trackpad, webcam all worked. Did not install IOUSB rollback this time, not sure if the last install went away.

Thats really annoying, seems the SE may require a different SSDT to the SA/SB. Just to confirm: You have the 10.7.4 patched appleIntelCPUPowerManagement kext installed, and the SSDT from the pack in /Extra right?
Do you have a quad core cpu by any chance? I might just need to add 4 more cores in the SSDT.

idk if this was mentioned but try removing the device for the graphics card you want to disable and any calls to it and any subsequent methods blah blah in the dsdt or ssdt
do this by finding your device ID i think (I'm not so experienced in dsdt editing, but it is safe to do if you backup)

also, what patches to the dsdt/ssdt have been made here?

In our case we are using some methods taken from the SSDT and inserted into the DSDT, and then calling the _OFF method on (from memory) _SB.PCI0.PEGP when the intel card initialises, and then calling again in the WAK method so it stays off after wake. Removing the card from the DSDT was one of the first things we tried, and it doesnt make it power off, since its powered on by default.

As for patches... Gah, lots. The SSDT was assembled from all the bits sony split it into, and rewritten following macman's blog post. As for the DSDT, I guess the bulk of the patches are fixing the errors it initially had, injecting information about the intel 3000/screen, and then more generic patches to fix IRQ issues, USB issues, Power management, HPET, things like that. Did you need anything in particular?

 

[ninditsu]

So it needs either a method to power it off or a BIOS mod that gives option to use only one graphics option

 

[pgh550]

Thats really annoying, seems the SE may require a different SSDT to the SA/SB. Just to confirm: You have the 10.7.4 patched appleIntelCPUPowerManagement kext installed, and the SSDT from the pack in /Extra right?

Do you have a quad core cpu by any chance? I might just need to add 4 more cores in the SSDT.

I tried again with AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext today, same result with panic in booting. I am sure I installed the 10.7.4 patched version. One thing I noticed is that the BuildMachineOSBuild is 11E29 from the kext's Info.plist, same as the one in 10.7.3.

The CPU is i5-2430M. HWMonitor shows it has only two cores as well.