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

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My 2018 Mac Mini Prediction​
trs96 said:
I've heard of a refresh coming but I think the prices will only go higher. I'd predict the 2018 Mac Minis, now called the "Mini Pro," will start at $799.99. Anyway, I hope they will have NVMe drives and Th.Bolt 3 onboard. Desktop class chips ? Maybe, if they improve the cooling system like they did in the iMac Pro. An i5-8500 or an i7-8700 in the upgraded model would make a lot of people happy, but only if it won't thermal throttle.
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Dell Optiplex 7010 MT i7-3770 on sale:

HTG, an Ebay Seller and MS registered refurbisher is selling these for about $158 right now.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=Dell+OptiPlex+7010+-+Core+i7+3770&_sop=15

These are not in perfect condition on the exterior but you get the 4 core / 8 thread i7 CPU. You also have the option to easily upgrade the PSU and use a more powerful graphics card. A mini-ITX size AMD RX 570 would work nicely in this if you want to edit video in iMovie or FCP X.

This Sapphire Pulse ITX card woud fit easily. Just upgrade to a 500W PSU and you're good to go.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6KX6WY1494&Description=rx%20570%20itx&cm_re=rx_570_itx-_-27N-0005-000R5-_-Product
A2W0_131632983827630922Mzo2iqaD1b.jpg
 
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Dear Trs96, I realize this is probably not kosher and makes me a target (which seems to be a theme on this site and almost a reason not to post); however, I cannot thank you enough for this walkthrough!

We had one of these guys (SFF 7010) laying around at my office that was going to be "recycled" (thrown away) so I grabbed it. i7 3770 16gb RAM. I bought a cheap SSD, Fenvi Mac wifi, and found some bluetooth USB which all work to make this for my sisters dying MacBook computer. She's a teacher.. it's good to help them, right? Anyway, it wouldn't have been possible without this walkthrough. I'm a programmer by trade too so it's not for lack of technical knowledge.

Because I'm a total "noob" I've got everything up and running perfectly according his amazingly clear walkthrough. I plan to make a boot drive to give her if things go South. I have two drives 1) small SSD with OS 2) 2tb with stuff / time machine. You mentioned the image solution. Is this the best thing for a non technical person or something else? Basically, I want to give her the means to if things aren't working use this thumb drive, hit this, and hit time machine. I'm somewhat of a Windows person so can I rely on the recovery clover drive? Or is a direct copy of the entire functioning OS on an image on some thumb drive with instructions on how to recover everything else using time machine possible? I realize things can always go wrong but generally speaking just trying to give her a way to fix it herself.

Thank you (and all moderators) so very much for the time helping all of us out!
 
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dcdansk said:
Dear Trs96, I realize this is probably not kosher and makes me a target (which seems to be a theme on this site and almost a reason not to post); however, I cannot thank you enough for this walkthrough!

Because I'm a total "noob" I've got everything up and running perfectly according his amazingly clear walkthrough. I plan to make a boot drive to give her if things go South. I have two drives 1) small SSD with OS 2) 2tb with stuff / time machine. You mentioned the image solution. Is this the best thing for a non technical person or something else? Basically, I want to give her the means to if things aren't working use this thumb drive, hit this, and hit time machine. I'm somewhat of a Windows person so can I rely on the recovery clover drive? Or is a direct copy of the entire functioning OS on an image on some thumb drive with instructions on how to recover everything else using time machine possible? I realize things can always go wrong but generally speaking just trying to give her a way to fix it herself.

Thank you (and all moderators) so very much for the time helping all of us out!
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Good to hear the guide was helpful for your install. The best and easiest thing to do is make a bootable SSD clone with Acronis 2017 as per that guide. Try booting from it after you make the clone to make certain it worked.
so can I rely on the recovery clover drive? Or is a direct copy of the entire functioning OS on an image on some thumb drive with instructions on how to recover everything else using time machine possible?
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It's good to keep a Unibeast drive handy too if the 7010 CustoMac fails to boot and you just need to get back to the desktop and make a change or two.

Also tell her to not run any updates of the OS (safari and app updates are fine) you can check here first to determine if there might be problems with a security update or whatever else. If there are any problems due to an update that doesn't install properly, it's easy to just swap the drives and be up and running normally again in minutes.
 
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I used the Guide and successfully installed HS 10.13.6 to a 9010MT with i3-3220, Radeon 5450 (512MB) in 'legacy boot' mode (legacy ROM enabled and Serial Port disabled in BIOS). I didn't use UEFI for other reasons.

One issue I had is MultiBeast 10.4 would not install bootloader onto the hard drive (legacy boot mode). I'd seen the same issue using Clover while experimenting with a Vostro 400 (aka Inspiron 530). I used Rehabman's r4701 Clover to successfully install the bootloader. Afterwards, used the Unibeast USB to boot up the HS on the hard disk, and finally used MultiBeast to install Clover.

USB 3 sockets seem to be working. Applied FakeID to get the Radeon 5450 working. Used the 'free' app ResXtreme to fix the colour flickering issue instead of the 'limited trial' SwitchResX app.

One issue is I have not been able to get HDMI audio to work. I am using Voodoo instead of Lilu. I can choose HDMI audio as the output device when using Voodoo, but there is no sound. Lilu doesn't offer HDMI sound option. I'm having to use VGA and audio line-out as a temporary workaround. I've also noticed the voodoo volume level is very low and fluctuates too, so I switched to Lilu which is much better.

[Partially solved, Dec 2018]: One of the HDMI sockets on the monitor is marked for DVI use. I plugged the HDMI cable into this socket. I now have analogue audio from the Dell's Line-Out socket successfully feeding into the monitor. Screen was blank (no signal) when waking from sleep if using HDMI, but worked fine with VGA.... Using ATI injection with Fake ID:0x68E01002. Replacing FB Name: 'Eulemur' by typing in 'Cedar' resolved the HDMI wake problem.



For anyone who wants to put a 7010/9010 MT/DT motherboard into a 3rd party case, fixes for some of the 'Alert!' POST messages are described here:

7010/9010 MT/DT 'Alert! Front I/O Cable failure', and 'Alert! Air temperature sensor not detected' fixes:
https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/987783-optiplex-70109010-front-io-pinout/
0dell2.jpg

0dell3.jpg


7010/9010 'Alert! Power Button Cable failure' fix:
https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/925354-optiplex-7010-power-pinout/
0dell1.jpg
 
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I've only spent a few hours doing this so not a person who should be trouble shooting; however, I can confirm I have HDMI sound working on my version per this guide with relative ease. I just clicked Voodoo on Multibeast and it worked. Subsequently, I've uninstalled and use the AppleALC and Lilu which also works. I realize this doesn't help you but you can at least know that my HDMI pretty much worked out of the box so it's definitely possible.
 
Hi, I can't get Airplay to work on the 7010 now. The strange thing is it was working about 2 days ago (so it's definitely not hardware). My MacBook Air works so its not the other hardware or the network. That being said, I did follow a walk through for the 7010 Dell per the moderator so I did install/mess with some kexts. Any one have a way to point me in the right direction? Hardware is unchanged from when it was working so this must be a kext/multibeast change I made inadvertently. Thanks!
 
dcdansk said:
Hi, I can't get Airplay to work on the 7010 now. The strange thing is it was working about 2 days ago (so it's definitely not hardware). My MacBook Air works so its not the other hardware or the network. That being said, I did follow a walk through for the 7010 Dell per the moderator so I did install/mess with some kexts. Any one have a way to point me in the right direction? Hardware is unchanged from when it was working so this must be a kext/multibeast change I made inadvertently. Thanks!
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Here's the guide by Toleda: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/amd-nvidia-primary-display-with-airplay-mirroring.118662/
read through it and post questions there for support.
 
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