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[Guide] Install High Sierra or Mojave on the Dell Optiplex 7010 / 9010 Desktop PC - Revision II

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With your excellent guide and my old ssd I was able to get up and running in seriously no time at all, job as such on an i7 desktop 9010
Good to hear it went so well for you. I wrote this at a beginners level. People with a lot of previous experience can breeze through this in no time at all because pretty much everything is done already. Just install macOS then the required kexts and SSDTs and you've got a working build with 0 troubleshooting needed.
 
Just succeeded in enabling ME/AMT on a 7010 that was factory ME Disabled (a big 3 on the white label inside). This seems to be needed to get the HD4000 going properly on this build. I basically followed the instructions on the win-raid forum but it took a little sifting through to get to the point that I was confident to give it a go. Luckily it worked. So for anyone wanting to try this also, the thread is over at the win-raid forum. Or the simple version is to follow the instructions below - At Your Own Risk. Basically I downgraded the firmware to A25 first as that was the matching ME/AMT-Enabled ME section of the firmware that I had. I dont think you strictly need to do this and whether you do or dont, the firmware can be reflashed to A29 (current as of today) in order to get both the latest BIOS and ME versions back to latest. If you struggle with this then the best bet is probably to ask over at win-raid as I dont have any expertise in this; I was just the guinea pig.

You will need to locate the Service Mode jumper on the motherboard (in different places depending if you have a MT/DT or a SFF). I do not know if the USFF has a Service Mode jumper as I do not have that machine, but the other 3 definitely do.

Credit to the win-raid forum and plutomaniac in particualar and others who worked out how to do this.

Here is what I did and the necessary files are attached:

1. Flash BIOS to A25
2. Reboot
3. Reset BIOS to defaults
4. Shutdown
5. Set jumper to Service Mode
6 Have a FREEDOS Boot USB ready with "fpt.exe" and "fparts.txt" files (Flash Programming Tool from Intel ME System Tools v8.3) on it
7. Have the "me.bin" file also on the FREEDOS Boot USB ready
8. Boot the FREEDOS USB (F12) and flash the ME area of the firmware ONLY using "me.bin" via the command "fpt -rewrite -me -f me.bin"
9. Perform ME reset via "fpt -greset"
10. Shutdown
11. Set Service Mode jumper back to normal mode (Jumper Off)
12. Set the Clear CMOS jumper (may be marked RTCRESET on some models)
13. Switch on and allow CMOS to clear
14. Switch off and put Clear CMOS jumper back to normal
15. Switch on and AMT should now be operational
16. Adjust BIOS settings as necessary
17. Update BIOS to latest as desired

Once again, try this at your own risk, although it seems relatively safe as we are only changing the ME region, which is currently disabled anyway - but having said that........
I did this and my graphics acceleration seems to be (knock on wood) working now. I am, however, still having the problem where videos in apps completely freeze the computer. Does anyone have any advice on how to fix that?

I appreciate everybody in this thread's help, especially jed2, trs96, and Sniki!
 
I am, however, still having the problem where videos in apps completely freeze the computer. Does anyone have any advice on how to fix that?
I've seen some fixes for similar problems within the Chrome browser fixed by disabling hardware acceleration in the browser settings. Look at all the various options and settings within those apps that have issues. Try some of the potential fixes.
 
NVS 510 2GB Quadro Deal on Ebay
60 USD and you can run two or even three 4K monitors at 60 Hz if you are a photo editor, use CAD or write code. All you'd need is the MDP cables to adapt to full DP. Nearly every 4K monitor has DP input. It's not good for gaming and is not completely silent like some newer graphics cards that stop the fan at lower temps. Consider those things too. The seller is in Canada but ships free to the US. Good deal for a card that sells for over $250 new on Amazon.com. Comes with a LP bracket pre-installed if you have a SFF or DT Dell Optiplex.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009S2F268/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
 
Good to hear it went so well for you. I wrote this at a beginners level. People with a lot of previous experience can breeze through this in no time at all because pretty much everything is done already. Just install macOS then the required kexts and SSDTs and you've got a working build with 0 troubleshooting needed.
yup... out of the box as such (mistyped as job in first post).

in retrospect I would have liked a note at the start on the similarities between the 9010 and the 7010 (more or less identical it seems), as the 7010's are around half the price here, as as ever I naturally go for the bigger number (bigger netter right? hahah).
 
Yes, that is an artificial limit set by Dell. I think that it may be related more to the install of Windows 7 Home Premium. MS put a 16 GB limit on that. Dell likely didn't want people installing that and finding that they couldn't go past 16. So they conveniently say limit of 16GB to avoid angry customers. Some 7010s were shipped with 7 Home to corporations as a cost saving measure. The Pro version (retail price) was always 100 dollars more than the Home version. If a co. is buying thousands of these it really adds up. In 2009 16GB was a huge amount of ram and MS thought that no average Home user would need more than that. Most Win7 PCs shipped with 2 or 4 GB of ram installed back then. Here's proof that the 16GB limit on 64 Bit Win7 Home was artificial. Win7 Pro could address 192 GB !!

View attachment 393767

I looked on the crucial.com website and they guarantee that the 7010 takes the full 32 gb, so yes, and artificial limit to justify the 9010 as a premium machine...
 
I would have liked a note at the start on the similarities between the 9010 and the 7010 (more or less identical it seems), as the 7010's are around half the price here
Now you know to buy the 7010 next time. Nobody here buys just one of these. Just ask @nicksoph he just got a 9010 MT.
 
Never got the TIMEOUT = 0 to work. I used the CLOVER CONFIGURATOR and set it to 0, the menu also still showed.

Right now, the HIGH SIERRA (when connected) and the MOJAVE (connected at the moment) -- two sep SSDs. Are exactly as they would be per trs96's guide. That horrible (IMHO) Green Borg CLOVER screen <he he>

Grizz

So If I have BOTH SSDs attached, I Clover from one drive will see ALL of the SSDs?

So if SATA 1 is chosen as the DEFAULT BOOT in BIOS.....CLOVER will see that one and the other one on SATA 2?

Grizz
 
NVS 510 2GB Quadro Deal on Ebay
60 USD and you can run two or even three 4K monitors at 60 Hz if you are a photo editor, use CAD or write code. All you'd need is the MDP cables to adapt to full DP. Nearly every 4K monitor has DP input. It's not good for gaming and is not completely silent like some newer graphics cards that stop the fan at lower temps. Consider those things too. The seller is in Canada but ships free to the US. Good deal for a card that sells for over $250 new on Amazon.com. Comes with a LP bracket pre-installed if you have a SFF or DT Dell Optiplex.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009S2F268/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
I had my graphics go out again. I made no changes. Do you think it's worth trying this card?
 
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