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

[Grizz]

Hi!
just finished setup a 7010 with 3770. All went smooth thanks to this excellent guide.
CPU power management, audio, ethernet all work fine.
At the very last restart though - and all reboots after that - a strange thing is happening. PC seems to hang after post. There is a black screen and only if i disconnect, wait 5 secs and reconnect DP cable. screen shows clover and immediatelly it boots as it should.
Could it be i forgot some little detail?
I don't have a second DP cable to test or any adapter for that matter. Truth is up until booting without unibeast USB it was booting perfectly fine.
Any ideas?

Caniggia,

Which DP port are you using? I had a similar issue. POWER OFF. Unplug A/C from unit. Press the POWER BUTTON and hold for 10 seconds. Put the DP cable into the port furthest from the power supply - not sure they are labelled (but DP 1). Power on the MONITOR first, then the computer (especially if you are using a DP to HMDI cable). Also make sure fully seated.

Try booting with the UNIBEAST first, and once you get to the desktop - re-apply of your KEXTS from the guide and make sure you use re-do this step:

B. Download Kext Utility (attached below) Run it to repair permissions and rebuild caches
You'll know it is finished when you see the quit button appear in the lower right of the window.

I have seen instances where something in the machine gets confused as to which DP port is actually in use. It did it to me too.

Grizz

 

[caniggia]

Caniggia,

Which DP port are you using? I had a similar issue. POWER OFF. Unplug A/C from unit. Press the POWER BUTTON and hold for 10 seconds. Put the DP cable into the port furthest from the power supply - not sure they are labelled (but DP 1). Power on the MONITOR first, then the computer (especially if you are using a DP to HMDI cable). Also make sure fully seated.

Try booting with the UNIBEAST first, and once you get to the desktop - re-apply of your KEXTS from the guide and make sure you use re-do this step:

B. Download Kext Utility (attached below) Run it to repair permissions and rebuild caches
You'll know it is finished when you see the quit button appear in the lower right of the window.

I have seen instances where something in the machine gets confused as to which DP port is actually in use. It did it to me too.

Grizz

Yesss! got it working.
First two tries of your suggestions didn't work. But i rerun kext utility without reinstalling kexts, shut down. pull off cable, reconnected, powered on without the DP cable connected, waited for SSD light to start working, connected it to the second DP port(furthest from PSU as advised), nothing, then to the first DP, nothing, then to the second again and.... i got signal on the monitor!!!
Tried restarting
Shut down and power on again.
All work fine since then.

strange, but done

and yes it is a DP to hdmi cable.
thanks a million Grizz!!

 

[Grizz]

Yesss! got it working.
First two tries of your suggestions didn't work. But i rerun kext utility without reinstalling kexts, shut down. pull off cable, reconnected, powered on without the DP cable connected, waited for SSD light to start working, connected it to the second DP port(furthest from PSU as advised), nothing, then to the first DP, nothing, then to the second again and.... i got signal on the monitor!!!
Tried restarting
Shut down and power on again.
All work fine since then.

strange, but done

and yes it is a DP to hdmi cable.
thanks a million Grizz!!

GOOD DEAL... They is why they call it REBOOT. If kicking it the first time did not fix it - KICK IT AGAIN.

Glad you got it going. I know I was super frustrated when mine did it. Apparently using DP1 over DP2 (when only one monitor) the computer likes that better.

Grizz

 

[caniggia]

GOOD DEAL... They is why they call it REBOOT. If kicking it the first time did not fix it - KICK IT AGAIN.

Glad you got it going. I know I was super frustrated when mine did it. Apparently using DP1 over DP2 (when only one monitor) the computer likes that better.

Grizz

That was for a friend of mine, so i am waiting till he gets his new monitor, connect it using DP to DP cable and giving feedback (don't you even think trying to define "FEEDBACK" .... )

by the way i am amazed how small and excellent made the 7010 MT case and it's hardware housing is. adding how extremelly helpfull this guide can be, i think this by far is the best PC deal nowdays.

 

[trs96]

i am amazed how small and excellent made the 7010 MT case and it's hardware housing is.

These were not built with flimsy thin steel such as they use for $299 consumer desktops sold at Walmart. When new, these sold for $1,300 and up to corporations, universities, hospitals and small businesses. They were shipped all over the world so they built them to withstand long distance shipping. I've shipped cases as durable as a Fractal Design R4 and it was completely mangled when it reached it's destination over 1000 miles away. Part of it was my fault for not packing it better so I learned a valuable lesson. Dell certainly has a good system for packing desktops for shipment but damage can still happen depending on how it's placed in the truck or shipping vessel and how handlers treat it.

So why are these Dell Optiplex models so inexpensive now ?

Because they are considered EOL by the companies that either bought or leased them. There are hundreds of sellers/refurbishers with tens of thousands of these for resale. So the laws of supply and demand kick in and you've got all the sellers competing to get your money for one. Certainly works out well for us, getting something compatible with macOS that is so well built and reliable.

 

[caniggia]

These were not built with flimsy thin steel such as they use for $299 consumer desktops sold at Walmart. When new, these sold for $1,300 and up to corporations, universities, hospitals and small businesses. They were shipped all over the world so they built them to withstand long distance shipping. I've shipped cases as durable as a Fractal Design R4 and it was completely mangled when it reached it's destination over 1000 miles away. Part of it was my fault for not packing it better so I learned a valuable lesson. Dell certainly has a good system for packing desktops for shipment but damage can still happen depending on how it's placed in the truck or shipping vessel and how handlers treat it.

So why are these Dell Optiplex models so inexpensive now ?

Because they are considered EOL by the companies that either bought or leased them. There are hundreds of sellers/refurbishers with tens of thousands of these for resale. So the laws of supply and demand kick in and you've got all the sellers competing to get your money for one. Certainly works out well for us, getting something compatible with macOS that is so well built and reliable.

Considering how much i have been through with my 3 X79 boards all these years, i am seriously thinking of sacrificing 2 cores for the ease of use and reliability of these dells...
I got a RX 580 8Gb, a Corsair 750 PSU and 24GB DDR3 ram 1600MHz. Can i use these parts on a 7010 or 9010 MT and have a steady gaming rig along with my/our beloved macOS?

 

[trs96]

I got a RX 580 8Gb, a Corsair 750 PSU and 24GB DDR3 ram 1600MHz. Can i use these parts on a 7010 or 9010 MT and have a steady gaming rig along with my/our beloved macOS?

The 7010 or 9010 MT should be able to use your PSU (if not too long) and graphics card, just be aware of the Sata ports blockage issues with an over 9 inch long card like the 580. See craighazan's posts earlier in this thread and in his G5 mod thread for pics of this.

 

[craighazan]

I got a RX 580 8Gb, a Corsair 750 PSU and 24GB DDR3 ram 1600MHz. Can i use these parts on a 7010 or 9010 MT and have a steady gaming rig along with my/our beloved macOS?

Hi caniggia. I too have a Corsair 750 PSU, mine is the CX750M. And an RX580 8GB graphics card, all seems to be working well with the 7010. I have my PSU sat under the CPU cooling fan and it just seems to blow cool air all the time. And the graphics card doesn’t spin the fans constantly, especially in Mojave. So yes you can have an excellent gaming rig that also works well with Mojave.

 

[trs96]

I got a RX 580 8Gb,

Even if your 580 blocks 2-3 of the Sata ports so they arent usable you can add a few back via the PCIe x4 slot. Since this is an older card, I don't know if it works with Win10. All the reviews say it should work with macOS. Connect a Win10 SSD up to the onboard Sata0 port and that will certainly work. Connect your macOS drives to these two ports on the card.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005B0A6ZS/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

This would of course, take away the one slot you'd have for an internal Wifi/BT card but you can always connect via Ethernet which is faster and more reliable anyway. For BT there are some compatible dongles you can put into a USB 2.0 port. Range is not great but there is always a USB 2.0 extender cable that will work.

 

[caniggia]

Even if your 580 blocks 2-3 of the Sata ports so they arent usable you can add a few back via the PCIe x4 slot. Since this is an older card, I don't know if it works with Win10. All the reviews say it should work with macOS. Connect a Win10 SSD up to the onboard Sata0 port and that will certainly work. Connect your macOS drives to these two ports on the card.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005B0A6ZS/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
View attachment 399219
This would of course, take away the one slot you'd have for an internal Wifi/BT card but you can always connect via Ethernet which is faster and more reliable anyway. For BT there are some compatible dongles you can put into a USB 2.0 port. Range is not great but there is always a USB 2.0 extender cable that will work.

True, and thanks!. Tis one of my major concerns. Being on a X79 platform i had in mind upgrading to a 1680 v2 and filling all these (4) PCiE slots with controllers for NVMe, SATA, USBC and stuff like that to keep it fresh. On the other hand this little stiff and stable Dell made me think again. These are great advise for everybody having such thoughts so thanks once more. If make the step i will keep this updated.
Cheers all!