[Guide] Dell XPS 13 9360 on MacOS Sierra 10.12.x - LTS (Long-Term Support) Guide

[CosminCucu]

wow, that was a fast response. Thank you.

 

[bozma88]

Just to let you all know, I'm experimenting with HWP.
I will thoroughly test if hwp improves battery life and system responsiveness, otherwise we'll stay with vanilla power management.
Will update in a few days.

Got HWP fully working.
The fact is: even on maximum performance profile, the laptop is 5/7% slower than with vanilla SSDTs (that, in our case, give full cpu+gpu power management, even though not native).
On maximum battery profile the laptop is 30% slower. Idle power consumption is almost unvaried.
I'm not sold yet on HWP.
I have still to swap smbios with macbook pro 15w, but I'm afraid it won't change so much.
I think I'll focus more on saving battery by trying to undervolt the CPU and by enabling deeper sleep states for the nvme drive.

 

[CosminCucu]

Another issue. i managed to set the dvmt, the setup booted, i selected to install macos sierra, but i can't use the drive, it said drive is locked. Any idea why ?

 

[landmarker]

Thank you for this great guide and publishing the files.

I'm a complete newbie to this, albeit with some IT background and experience with OS X and LINUX, and it took me about a full day to go from Windows to working macOS (signed into iCloud but now yet able to send/receive iMessage, I'll get there...).

I did some things from scratch (DVMT patch, Clover etc.) and copied across some files and drivers without deliving in too deeply. I will learn to do all from scratch eventually.

My config is i7-7500, 16GB, 512GB Toshiba SSD and QHD display. I've already had the machine for a couple of months, oddly enough the only time I heard coil whine was during a fresh installation of Windows 10 (it was really loud!). Under OS X, Linux, or Windows 10 with the proper drivers, there's total silence.

By far the trickiest part was replacing the Killer WiFi card with DW1560. The mini coax pins on the old Killer card are incredibly fragile, the first one sheared off with the antenna jack, I was very careful with the second one but in the end I couldn't disengage it cleanly either. I ended up digging the broken pins out from the antenna with a needle and a magnifying glass, fearing I would end up having to replace the whole antenna.

Really, if you are not used to repairing laptops, phones or other small electronics (I am only used to working on vintage guitar amps...) take extreme care at this step.

 

[bozma88]

Thank you for this great guide and publishing the files.

I'm a complete newbie to this, albeit with some IT background and experience with OS X and LINUX, and it took me about a full day to go from Windows to working macOS (signed into iCloud but now yet able to send/receive iMessage, I'll get there...).

I did some things from scratch (DVMT patch, Clover etc.) and copied across some files and drivers without deliving in too deeply. I will learn to do all from scratch eventually.

My config is i7-7500, 16GB, 512GB Toshiba SSD and QHD display. I've already had the machine for a couple of months, oddly enough the only time I heard coil whine was during a fresh installation of Windows 10 (it was really loud!). Under OS X, Linux, or Windows 10 with the proper drivers, there's total silence.

By far the trickiest part was replacing the Killer WiFi card with DW1560. The mini coax pins on the old Killer card are incredibly fragile, the first one sheared off with the antenna jack, I was very careful with the second one but in the end I couldn't disengage it cleanly either. I ended up digging the broken pins out from the antenna with a needle and a magnifying glass, fearing I would end up having to replace the whole antenna.

Really, if you are not used to repairing laptops, phones or other small electronics (I am only used to working on vintage guitar amps...) take extreme care at this step.

If you already signed in iClouud with wrong SMBIOS and serials, you'll have an hard time activating iMessage now!

 

[landmarker]

If you already signed in iClouud with wrong SMBIOS and serials, you'll have an hard time activating iMessage now!

I set up the SMBIOS and serials first, and activated using other macOS/iOS devices. All seems to be good for app store, iCloud etc but can't send messages or initiate facetime calls. Will work my way through the rest of that guide -
e.g. I notice there is no ethernet in System Profiler, but en0 shows up in ifconfig...

EDIT: iMessage and Facetime now working; deleted the system from all iCloud and account settings, then deleted pref files and recreated SMBIOS information from scratch.
Definitely follow the "Idiot's Guide" https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/an-idiots-guide-to-imessage.196827/ before connecting to any Apple services.

 

[CosminCucu]

Ok, new question, i did manage to install, but i am only able to boot on the laptop SSD with the USB stick. When installing it doesn't allow me to create anything else but a macos journaled partition. I did install Clover on the root drive, but can't get the bios to boot off it, and can't find why after looking on google & forum.

Thank you,
Cosmin Cucu

 

[bozma88]

Ok, new question, i did manage to install, but i am only able to boot on the laptop SSD with the USB stick. When installing it doesn't allow me to create anything else but a macos journaled partition. I did install Clover on the root drive, but can't get the bios to boot off it, and can't find why after looking on google & forum.

Thank you,
Cosmin Cucu

The main drive should have a small EFI partition at the beginning, then an HFS partition with the OS.
Pressing f12 at boot opens the boot prompt.
If you don't see your bootloader, add the entry in your bios setup.
All of this assuming that you have correctly installed Clover in the internal partition.

 

[CosminCucu]

Ah yes, i had to mount the small EFI partition, wasn't aware there is one, couldn't see it. Thanks for the help, great guide by the way, i have used your files and everything worked like a charm. I have a wireless card on order, after i install it, i'll start to fix all issues, and see if i figure out how to install everything.

Thank you,
Cosmin Cucu

 

[RaymondXie]

Dear Bozma88,
Thanks for your detailed&beautiful guide and attached files. By following your guide, I've finished a wonderful Sierra. However, I don't know how to use the kexts in the POST-INSTALL folders. Should I install cloverHDA and CodecCommander into SLE by Kext Utility? Is CodecCommander neccessary?
Hope for your reply. Thanks!