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This guide for the Dell Optiplex 7010/9010 is a complete description of 7 steps necessary to get your system working with macOS High Sierra. If you have read the
HP 8300 Elite Sierra guide or watched the
High Sierra video guide you are already familiar with the overall process. Both of these business desktop lines, the HP 8300 and Dell 7010/9010 have much in common. Both are Ivy Bridge based and utilize the Q77 Express chipset. They have BIOS and UEFI which allows either legacy or UEFI booting. UEFI is the preferred choice and will be described here. They work nearly as well with macOS High Sierra as the HP 8300s do. They are not as close to perfection running macOS as the HP models are. If you prefer the Dell brand, these Optiplex PCs are a good choice.
What Works
- HDMI / DisplayPort audio
- Headphone and Mic Jacks
- USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports
- Sleep and Wake
- Intel 1 GigE wired Ethernet
- Continuity and Handoff *
- Messages
- Airplay Mirroring
- Graphics Acceleration - QE/CI
- Night Shift
- Compatible with macOS Mojave (requires HD4000 or a Metal 2 capable discrete graphics card)
* Requires a macOS native PCI-E wifi/BT card like the BCM94360CD or BCM943602CS
Click here to see some possible choices for native Wifi/BT cards
Five things you can do with a Dell 7010/9010 Optiplex you could never accomplish in any model of Mac Mini:
- Easily open the case and replace or repair components quickly and at a low cost - USFF - SFF - DT - MT
- Install a desktop class Intel Quad Core CPU (i5-3470/3475S or i7-3770/3770S) - USFF - SFF - DT - MT
- Install a dedicated full height Graphics Card with enough power for AAA gaming - MT
- Replace the PSU with one that is standard ATX form factor, rated at 500W or more - MT
- Upgrade the ram to 32GB of 1600 MHz DDR3 - SFF - DT - MT
If you plan on maxing out the ram, purchase the 8GB per DIMM ram modules. You can start with a 2 x 8GB kit and then add a second kit of 2 x 8GB of the same brand, timings and clock speed later on if you need that much. In SFF, DT and MT models only.
Graphics Options
If you buy an Optiplex with HD4000 graphics then you can use any of the four form factors. You won't need dedicated graphics.
There are five Ivy Bridge CPUs you can use in your Dell Optiplex desktop that have the HD4000 graphics built in to the CPU.
i3-3225 - i3-3245 - i5-3475S -
i7-3770S -
i7-3770. Do not try to use the
i7-3770K in the 7010 or 9010. It produces too much heat and the BIOS doesn't let you overclock. So the extra money paid for one is not well spent. The i5-3570K can be found used on eBay. With those, you run the risk that someone has overclocked it for years in their gaming PC. It's not a risk I'd suggest that you take. You won't be able to overclock it in your Optiplex anyway. The USFF model has no PCIe x16 slot. You'll need to purchase a
Displayport to HDMI cable or get an adapter if your monitor only has HDMI inputs. Do not use VGA. It is not supported.
The Mini-Tower version can use a standard ATX power supply with a 24 pin power connector. This will allow you to use more powerful PSUs that have supplemental 6 and 8 pin power connectors. You can easily use a GTX 1060 or even a mini-itx sized 1070 with the right power supply upgrade. Your graphics card length can be up to about 7.5 inches (19cm). If longer it will run into sata connector ports. It is probably best to go with 7 inch Mini-Itx versions of the 1060 or 1070 if you want more graphics power for gaming. The MT version has a microATX size case and is the only one of the four Optiplex form factors that allows you to use a full height dedicated graphics card. See some graphics card choices in post #2. If you are wondering whether the Dell Optiplex 3010 model would work, see the
post here for more info on that.
Installation Tips
The following guide will be easily completed if you use the HD4000 graphics for the install and post install on your Optiplex PC. Most 7010/9010s shipped with the i5-3470 or the i7-3770. The 3470 has only the unsupported HD2500 graphics. It is easy to swap that out for an HD4000 CPU if you'd like to. When using HD4000 make sure to use the DisplayPort output on the back I/O panel. If your Dell has any kind of
Wireless Adapter installed (USB, PCIe or Mini PCIe) remove it before attempting the installation of macOS. Use Ethernet until after you've got everything else working properly. Then you can work on WiFi function after that.
Step 0. Replace the CMOS battery in your Dell Optiplex
The CMOS battery in these is likely have lost it's ability to hold a charge. These Dells are at least 5 years old so it's a good idea to replace it. My USFF and SFF model both had a battery like this. I kept getting a black screen at boot up on my 7010, was not able to even access the BIOS until I removed the battery for a minute and replaced it. Replace it with a fresh new one before you make the BIOS changes in step 1. Once you remove it from your board, all BIOS setting changes will be lost and you'll have to reapply them. See the following post for more on this topic.
CMOS battery failure
Step 1. Update your BIOS and Adjust the Settings for UEFI Booting
You can do this from right within Windows by double clicking on the .exe file. If you don't have access to a Windows drive simply create a DOS bootable USB on a PC and boot from that and flash the BIOS.
Rufus works well to make a DOS USB. If you do not have access to a Windows machine then try the
Etcher App and FreeDOS LITE to create the USB on a Mac or CustoMac.
BIOS Downloads available here: 7010 BIOS ver. A29 --
9010 BIOS ver. A30
Run the BIOS update utility from a DOS environment in Legacy Boot Mode
1. Copy the downloaded BIOS file to a bootable DOS USB key.
2. Power on the system, then Press F12 key and Select "USB Storage Device" and Boot to DOS prompt.
3. Run the file by typing the copied file name where the executable is located.
4. DOS System will auto restart and update the BIOS.
5. After BIOS update finishes, the system will auto reboot for it to take effect.
Setting up the Dell BIOS
Load optimized defaults and set the
Boot List Option to
UEFI. Under
System Configuration disable the
Serial Port. Under
Advanced Boot Options leave the
Legacy Option ROMs box unchecked unless you have an older graphics card without UEFI capability. An example would be a GT 210 by Nvidia which is only Legacy capable. The GT 710 and all 10 series Pascal cards have UEFI capability. Also leave Legacy Option ROMs unchecked if you are using built in HD4000 graphics.
Secure boot is disabled by default.
SATA Operation is set to
AHCI by default. Check these as well to make sure of the settings. If you don't plan on ever booting your Dell remotely, change
Integrated NIC to
Enabled instead of Enabled w/PXE.
BIOS Settings Screenshots: Click here to view the 4 mandatory BIOS setting changes.
Step 2. Create your UniBeast Installer for UEFI Booting
Follow the standard tonymacx86.com guide for this. If you are using
Nvidia discrete graphics, you may need to replace the UniBeast config.plist with a customized one attached below
after you have created your installer. If using DP and HD4000 graphics, the standard UniBeast created config.plist will work. If you are installing with HD4000 and the USB ports are not working at the country selection screen, reboot a few times and they should work. If even that doesn't work, try the HD4000 only config.plist which is also attached at the end of this post.
Step 3. Install High Sierra and run MultiBeast 10.4.0
Boot UEFI from the UniBeast installer (tap on the F12 key at boot up). Have your keyboard plugged into one of the back panel USB 2.0 ports (below the ethernet jack are best). Have the UniBeast drive and your mouse also in USB 2.0 ports.
Always boot in verbose mode during the install. It helps you see the exact place where a kernel panic may occur. If all you see is a progress bar, you'll have no idea. Get to the boot options screen by pressing the spacebar on your keyboard at the Clover boot menu screen.
The initial boot from your UniBeast drive to the macOS installer is very slow. Be patient and let everything happen in it's own time. There will be 3 automatic reboots after you agree to terms and start the install to your hard drive. That is normal for this part of the install process. When you get back to the Clover Boot menu, hit your right arrow key and select the HFS drive icon and not the External icon which it will go back to each time. The install may take 40 minutes or more.
3b. Make the following selections in MultiBeast post-install.
You can use iMac 13,1 if you have an i3-3225 CPU and will use HD4000 exclusively.
If you are using an Nvidia Graphics Card instead of HD4000
If you have an Nvidia graphics card and your CPU has unsupported HD2500 graphics, replace the MultiBeast created config.plist on your
hard drive's EFI partition with the same one you've used for your UniBeast installer. This will allow you to boot from your macOS High Sierra installation drive. Change your SMBIOS back to iMac 13,2 if you will be using an SSDT for CPU PM.
Link to download EFI Mounter V3 or
Clover Configurator Global Edition
If your Nvidia graphics card is not supported by the drivers in macOS High Sierra (Maxwell/Pascal based cards) GeForce GT 1030, GTX 1050, 1050 Ti, 1060, 1070, 1070 Ti or GeForce GTX 750, 750 Ti, 950, 960, 970, 980 graphics cards, alternate NVIDIA drivers are required. Download the correct Nvidia Web driver for your build of macOS.
Download it here Open the installer package and click through the prompts. Then remove nv_disable=1 from your boot arguments in the Clover config.plist so your graphics card will work with full acceleration. The Nvidia GT 710 or AMD RX560 do not need any drivers installed.
3c. Eject UniBeast and Reboot
You should now be able to boot from your High Sierra Installation drive instead of from the UniBeast USB. Once at the desktop check to make sure that everything is working. Audio will be enabled in step number six below.
Step 4. Edit your DSDT with MacIASL - DSDT patching tools zip attached below (at the end of this post #1)
Extract your DSDT by pressing the F4 key while at the Clover Boot Menu screen. Boot to the desktop and mount the system drive's EFI partition with
EFI mounter v3 or Clover Configurator. Drag a copy of your DSDT.aml file from the EFI / Clover / ACPI / origin folder to the desktop. Next, download the DSDT patching tools zip file and
leave it in downloads. Copy and paste the following text into Terminal and press the return key:
Code:
cd ~/Downloads/DSDT_patching_tools
sudo cp iasl /usr/bin
Enter your password (invisible) and press return again.
Now open the DSDT patching tools folder and drag MacIASL into Applications. Then drop your newly extracted
DSDT (on the desktop) into the DSDT patching tools folder. Next copy and paste the following text into terminal:
Code:
cd ~/Downloads/DSDT_patching_tools
iasl -da -dl -fe refs.txt DSDT.aml
Locate the .DSL file in the patching tools folder and double click it to open it with MacIASL. Use the ⌘ + F key combo then type in Windows 2009 and press return. Replace "Windows 2009" with "Darwin" see image below (line 10264) for how it should look.
Click on the Compile tab in MacIASL and then fix any Errors (red) that present themselves. Warnings are OK. Click on Compile again and you should only see 7 warnings. Then click on File ➞ Save As ➞ ACPI Machine Language Binary and save the DSDT.aml to your desktop. Place your edited DSDT.aml file in the EFI/Clover/ACPI/patched folder. Reboot and check that USB 3 and sleep are working. For comparison, here's the warnings that presented after compiling my .DSL file. Yours should look similar to this.
If you are more of a visual learner, then watch this video to learn the steps. I haven't shown moving the MacIASL app to the applications folder but you will still need to perform that step as well. Also note that you must press the
F4 key when at the Clover Boot Menu screen before doing any of these steps. This will save your DSDT to the /EFI/Clover/ACPI/origin folder.
Patching your DSDT will do much more than just enabling USB 3.0. Note the 96 optimizations in the compiler summary. It will help sleep and wake to work normally and also help you to get your native audio working via the AppleALC method in step six below.
See the
DSDT Patching Guide by Rehabman for more detailed information on this subject.
Step 5. DSDT Renames with Clover Configurator
These renames will help your USB ports work better among other things. Simply mount your system drive's EFI partition with EFI Mounter and then double click on the Clover config.plist to open it with CC. Click on "List Of Patches" and then enter the following patches in the ACPI section as shown in the following screenshot.
Step 6. Enable Audio via the AppleALC + Lilu Method - Recommended
If you'd like to use the builtin ALC269 audio, simply install the latest AppleALC and Lilu kexts to /L/E. (The Library ➞ Extensions folder on your CustoMac) Use the current MultiBeast
10.4.0 to install. This will get your onboard audio functioning and DP/HDMI audio as well.
Do not use AppleALC and VoodooHDA at the same time. This AppleALC method gives you a working front headphone jack and rear line out jack via ALC269. The Mic jack also appears to be functional. If you choose this method, make sure you have edited your DSDT as shown in step number four.
If you will be migrating to Mojave soon it is best to download the most current releases now. So do not use MultiBeast if that is what you plan to do. Mojave will require the newer kexts that MultiBeast 10.4.0 does not have yet. It's fine to use MultiBeast to install Apple ALC if you will be staying with High Sierra for the longer term.
To get the newest versions of the AppleALC and Lilu Kexts
Currently this is
Apple ALC 1.3.2 and
Lilu 1.2.7 you can download each of the zipped release files from
Github
https://github.com/acidanthera/AppleALC/releases --
https://github.com/acidanthera/Lilu/releases
You won't need to disable SIP for these to load properly from /Library/Extensions. Install them with Kextbeast 2.0.2
6a. If using an Nvidia Graphics Card
It's recommended that you also install the WhateverGreen kext at this time. Make the selection in MultiBeast 10.4.0
6b. Alternate Approach: Enable Audio via VoodooHDA 2.9.0
Place the VoodooHDA 2.9.0 kext and the AppleHDADisabler kext on your desktop. Run Kextbeast2 and choose to install both to /L/E. Reboot and adjust the settings in your Sound Preferences accordingly. This choice can give you working analog and HDMI/DP audio from a graphics card. The two onboard Display Ports (USFF) will work if you are using the HD4000 graphics from your CPU. The AppleALC method should be your first choice and will give you the best audio quality possible. I would only use this Voodoo method if you absolutely need the internal speaker to work in the SFF, DT or MT models of the Optiplex.
Step 7. Implement the iMessage Guide and Generate a Unique Serial Number
It is important to do this before you sign in to iCloud and the Mac App Store the first time. You will do this through the Clover Configurator application. P1LGRIM's guide gives you step by step directions for doing this the right way.
iMessage Guide to enable Messages and Facetime
Optional: Create an SSDT for CPU Power Management
Simply follow the tonymacx86 guide and place the ssdt.aml in the Clover/ACPI/patched folder on your system drive.
Click here to see the guide Make sure you are using iMac 13,2 as your SMBIOS/Sysdef if you will use this SSDT for power management.
Dual Boot with Windows 7, 8.1 or 10
See the UEFI Dual Booting Guide:
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-multibooting-uefi-on-separate-drives.198869/
Recommended Final Steps: Backup your working EFI folder and make a clone of your System drive
Put a copy of your finalized EFI folder onto your UniBeast installer USB. That way you can easily replace it if your config.plist or anything else gets corrupted. You can also make a complete clone by using Acronis True Image after you have everything installed and working exactly the way you want it. Use Kyhi's WinPE boot USB. Using Acronis True Image as a trial version is completely free. Click the link below for the guide on this.
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...able-clone-of-your-macos-system-drive.254705/
Remember that if you are
installing individual kexts and not using MultiBeast, you'll need to use
Kextbeast 2.0.2 to install them.
