Sniki
Moderator
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2016
- Messages
- 2,313
- Motherboard
- HP Elite 8300 SFF
- CPU
- i7-3770
- Graphics
- Intel HD 3000 | GTX 1650 LP
- Mac
- Mobile Phone
Overview
This laptop does also have decent upgrades support if you want to enhance your experience and fix some of the flaws that this laptop have.
This guide is based and uses the Cover UEFI hotpatch method and for this reason i would recommend everyone to start with a clean install if you are coming from a different guide.
Upgrades
This laptop has an advantage that it has a big variety of possible upgrades so you can upgrade or customize it the way you want it.
Below i listed some possible upgrades for Lenovo Thinkpad L440 that can make the experience more pleasant.
Wireless and Bluetooth Card
The Intel Wireless and Bluetooth card that comes with this laptop is not supported, therefore a replacement is necessary in order to have working Wireless and Bluetooth. Some compatible replacement cards are:
DW1830: This card has 802.11AC Dual Band Wireless Support and Bluetooth 4.1 LE and it should be cheaper than the DW1560 model, the other advantage is that it has native ID(s) which works out of the box in macOS.
The only downside is that it has 3 antenna connectors and L440 does have only two antennas.
That shouldn't be a hard workaround as you can order an antenna from AliExpress for super cheap price or just use the two connectors and leave one empty as people reported having it working correctly even like that.
DW1560: This card has 802.11AC Dual Band Wireless Support and Bluetooth 4.0 LE it recently became more expensive which i think is due to the fact that the number of existing cards is being reduced thus becoming rare.
BCM94360CS2: This card is the one available on real Macbook and Macbook Pro and has two antenna connectors.
It needs the NGFF adapter in order to be able to use it in our laptops that have NGFF slots if there is enough room or space to fit it without getting in the way for the cover or any other part of the laptop.
(Haven't tested because i don't have this laptop anymore, web pictures of laptop interior show that there should be enough room to fit it, you may only need to trim or cut the last part of the NGFF adapter to fit it perfectly)
Note: BCM94360CS2 is natively fully supported on macOS without using any kext at all wether for WiFi or Bluetooth.
All features like HandOff, Continuity, Instant Hotspot, Universal Clipboard should work without a single issue.
DW1820A: This card has also been flying under the radar recently on many forums and seems to work well.
Note: be careful and only pick the model from the link that i attached as the other models with different IDs seem to have issues with kernel panics and random disconnects, the one i attached on the link is the correct one.
The model that you should look for is the one with the part number: CN-0VW3T3
The two other variants with part number starting with: CN-096JNT and CN-08PKF4 seems to be problematic.
Display Panel
If you have the Lenovo ThinkPad L440 with the 1366x768 or 1600x900 Display panel, i know you hate the display and so do i, these two panels have terrible viewing angles with a blu blurried tint when you look from the sides.
It has not so bright display and also terrible color reproduction, thankfully there are great replacement models:
B140HAN01.1 B140HAN01.2 till B140HAN01.8: These models are mostly the same, just some minimal differences between those that are not even worth writing about it and can barely noticed in the in-depth spec sheet on which you can compare and decide which one to pick on www.panelook.com
These panels are the perfect replacement and the best 14" compatible panel replacements for this laptop with:
- IPS Panel
- Excellent viewing angles (89/89/89/89)
- Excellent colors (16.2M colors and 72% CIE1931)
- Better Contrast ratio (700:1)
- Brighter Display (300 nits)
TouchPad
The touchpad can be replaced with a T450S or newer model as it fit's perfectly (same housing and screws).
T450S: The ClickPad (Left Middle Right) Clickable buttons make the Touchpad experience much more pleasant.
Note: Be aware that some sellers may send you an ALPS or ELAN model so whenever you order or plan to do so,
write a message to the seller before ordering to ask if they have the Synaptics model for purchase.
Or as some of them have random models, make sure to specify on the Order message:
" Please send Synaptics model! "
Replacing the touchpad requires you to disassemble the laptop and to have some disassembling tools for the process
In order to do so, i attached a video walking through step by step instructions on how to replace it:
You can use this video as a walkthrough for disassembling the laptop for other replacement parts like:
HDD or SSD, Wireless and Bluetooth Card, Internal Battery or for Upgrading the RAM memory of your laptop.
What works
- Intel HD4400/HD4600 Graphics QE/CI/Metal
- USB Ports
- Intel Ethernet
- Audio (All Inputs & Outputs)
- Sleep and Wake
- Mini DisplayPort and Mini DisplayPort Audio
- Dual Band AC Wireless 2.4GHz & 5GHz
- Bluetooth 4.x LE
- CPU and IGPU Power Management
- Battery Status
- Brightness
- Function Keys (Fn)
- ClickPad and TrackPad
- Integrated Camera
- Rest of the things that i forgot to list & non listed on "what doesn't work"
What doesn't correctly work yet
- SD Card Reader (no completed kext yet, still under development, kext attached on the L440 repository folder)
- Dock Audio (i have a codec dump with dock, i will patch AppleALC to support it when i get time for it)
- Dock Video (i have no dock, haven't tested video ports, i assume they don't without additional patches)
What you need
- Lenovo Thinkpad L440 Laptop
- macOS Mojave downloaded from the Mac App Store
- 8GB+ USB flash drive
- Downloaded Lenovo-Thinkpad-L440 Project from my Github (click on Lenovo Thinkpad L440),
- Download as zip like shown below:
BIOS
There are some settings that you need to change to have a fully working macOS setup on this laptop.
All of these settings are required to be turned off on Bios for you to have fully functional setup.
If left enabled you won't be able to wake laptop from sleep as it will start the 3x Beep Beep Beep sound.
You will have to force restart or shutdown by holding the power button for 5+ seconds.
BIOS Settings to change:
- Disable Security Chip
- Disable Anti Theft Module
- Disable TPM
In order to install supported Wireless and Bluetooth Card you are required to do a BIOS Mod in order to bypass that which involves dissasembling your laptop & requires some tools to complete the process.
Whitelist Removal
BIOS Mod
Modding the BIOS to remove Whitelist requires some skills and it's mean't for more advanced users.
It requires to disassemble the laptop to reach the BIOS EEPROM.
To complete the process, these tools are required (which they can be found very cheap on AliExpress or eBay):
- CH341a Flash Programmer
- SOIC8 Test Clip
- Another Windows laptop to complete the process
You first make a dump of your BIOS and make sure to Backup a copy of it somewhere safe in case something goes wrong, you can always write it back !
You post your Bios Dump into the whitelist removal thread on: https://www.bios-mods.com
Make sure that you request whitelist removal when you post on the thread !
Within a few minutes or hours someone will eventually show up or PM you with the Modded Bios.
Now you download the modded bios.
First erase your EEPROM with the program and after the erase process has been completed,
You open the modded bios and press write to flash it.
Reboot and your laptop should accept every Wireless & Bluetooth card that you can fit.
For more details on the process, visit this thread: Specifically for more details go to: https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-Guide-Whitelist-remove-for-2014-Lenovo-thinkpad
Reboot and your laptop should accept every Wireless & Bluetooth card that you can fit.
Creating USB Installer
Before proceeding with this guide i would highly suggest that you begin with a clean install rather than upgrading as the method and kexts are different than what you might be currently using on your laptop.
Step 1:
Download Clover Bootloader:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/cloverefiboot/
Step 2:
Format USB Drive as HFS+J with GPT partition table and make sure to name it: install_osx
Step 3:
Download macOS Mojave from the Mac App Store, after the download process has finished, now create the USB Installer by opening terminal and writing the following command:
Code:
sudo "/Applications/Install macOS Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia" --volume /Volumes/install_osx --nointeractionPress "Enter" and write User and password, hit enter, wait for the process to end which takes around 10-30 minutes.
Step 4:
Download all the needed kexts which are listed down below.
They are hyperlinks and should direct you straight to the download page when click on them:
- VirtualSMC.kext
- SMCProcessor.kext
- SMCBatteryManager.kext
- SMCSuperIO.kext
- VoodooPS2Controller.kext - from Acidanthera if you have standard touchpad (read "TouchPad" section)
- VoodooPS2Controller.kext - from Sniki/Rehabman if you have upgraded touchpad (read "TouchPad" section)
- USBInjectAll.kext
- IntelMausi.kext
- CodecCommander.kext
- Lilu.kext
- WhateverGreen.kext
- AppleALC.kext
- AirportBrcmFixup.kext
- BT4LEContinuityFixup.kext
- BrcmFirmwareRepo.kext
- BrcmPatchRam2.kext
- EFICheckDisabler.kext - included on the Lenovo-Thinkpad-L440 folder of my Github Repository
(Preparing USB Drive with the correct configuration, kexts, Bootloader, config.plist and ACPI)
Note: if you accidentally install Clover Bootloader into the real iMac, MacMini or MacBook that you are using,
you might brick it, so be careful and choose the USB drive for installation!
Install Clover Bootloader by carefully following the steps explained down below:
Open Clover bootloader installer, click on continue, agree to the terms and conditions, continue,
Click on "Change Install Location..." like shown in the picture below:
Like shown in the picture below:
Now we expand "UEFI Drivers" to see the full list of the UEFI Drivers by clicking in the arrow in front of the checkbox and then we select all the UEFI Drivers that we need like i selected them in the picture down below:
Now click Install, it will open a prompt for your Username and Password, write it and press Enter,
the installation will start, after bootloader installation ends, your EFI partition of the USB Drive will be mounted.
Open the mounted EFI partition of your USB Drive and go to EFI/Clover/
Replace the config.plist with the one from the downloaded Lenovo-Thinkpad-L440 repository of my Github
Into EFI/Clover/ACPI/Patched add the SSDT-L440.aml from the downloaded Lenovo-Thinkpad-L440 Repo
Into EFI/Clover/Drivers64UEFI make sure to add HFSPlus.efi (click on HFSPlus.efi to download it)
Into EFI/Clover/Drivers64UEFI make sure to add AptioMemoryFix.efi (click on it to download it)
Into EFI/Clover/Drivers64UEFI make sure to add VirtualSMC.efi (from downloaded VirtualSMC.kext folder)
Into EFI/Clover/kexts/Others make sure to add the following kexts listed down below:
- VirtualSMC.kext
- SMCProcessor.kext
- SMCBatteryManager.kext
- SMCSuperIO.kext
- VoodooPS2Controller.kext - from Acidanthera if you have standard touchpad (read "TouchPad" section!)
- VoodooPS2Controller.kext - from Sniki/Rehabman if you have upgraded touchpad (read "TouchPad" section!)
- USBInjectAll.kext
- IntelMausi.kext
- CodecCommander.kext
- Lilu.kext
- WhateverGreen.kext
- AppleALC.kext
- AirportBrcmFixup.kext
- BT4LEContinuityFixup.kext
- BrcmFirmwareRepo.kext
- BrcmPatchRam2.kext
- EFICheckDisabler.kext - included on the Lenovo-Thinkpad-L440 folder of my Github Repository
Step 6:
Backup all your important data because we will continue with the installation process on the next step.
Backup Clover Bootloader installer into the USB Drive for installation (not on the USB EFI folder !)
Backup my Lenovo-Thinkpad-L440 folder download from the Github repository
Installation
Step 1:
Reboot your laptop, after the laptop screen turns on, press F12 repeatedly to enter into the Boot Menu.
On the Boot Menu, choose the USB Drive and press "Enter"
Now it should bring you into the Clover Bootloader menu, select Install macOS Mojave (USB Drive) and press enter.
The Installer now should boot and reach installation menu.
Step 2:
From the installation menu, open Disk Utility, select the partition that you plan to install macOS, format it as APFS and for the purpose of this guide we will name it "Mac". Exit Disk Utility after the format process has finished, this will bring you back to the Installer Main Menu.
Now select install macOS Mojave, agree to the "terms and conditions", select your HDD/SSD that you formatted and the installation process will begin. this will be the part 1 install. Part 1 should take around 5 minutes.
Step 3:
Laptop will automatically reboot when Part 1 installation ends. now as soon as Clover Bootloader menu shows up, this time you select the "Mac" partition to boot from, the installer will continue with Part 2 now and show the progress bar with time remaining under the Apple boot logo.
Note: Sometimes as soon as the time remaining shows up under the Apple boot logo, the laptop will reboot once more, if this happens, choose again to boot from the "Mac" partition and part 2 installation will continue and complete.
After the installation has been completed, laptop will reboot and bring you to the part 3 - first boot user setup.
Step 4:
Select Language, Continue, Connecting to Internet is optional or you can skip it for now.
When you reach the menu to sign with your Apple ID, make sure to skip this step, it will be important if you want to setup iMessage & FaceTime.
Post Installation
Step 1:
Run Apps from anywhere is now missing from SysPrefs > Security & Privacy > General.
Open terminal and enter the following command:
Code:
sudo spctl --master-disableStep 2:
Open Clover Bootloader installer and continue with bootloader installation into the HDD/SSD that we installed macOS.
The procedures are exactly the same as on the Creating USB Installer - Step 5 of the guide except that this time, instead of the USB Drive, we select the "Mac" HDD/SSD that we installed macOS Mojave as shown below:
Step 3: Disable Hibernation
Be aware that hibernation (suspend to disk or S4 sleep) is not supported on hackintosh.
You should disable it:
Code:
sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0
sudo rm /var/vm/sleepimage
sudo mkdir /var/vm/sleepimageAnd it may be a good idea to disable the other hibernation related options:
Code:
sudo pmset -a standby 0
sudo pmset -a autopoweroff 0Step 4: Install Tools
Create a new folder on desktop and name it: tools
copy patchmatic and iasl and paste them on the "tools" folder that you created on desktop
Get "patchmatic" by clicking on this: Link
Get "iasl" by click on this: Link
Open terminal and write the following commands to install these tools:
Code:
cd desktop/tools
sudo cp iasl /usr/local/bin
sudo cp patchmatic /usr/local/binAudio
For audio we use AppleALC as it has support for "ALC3232" codec using "layout-id 28" which everything is already configured into the config.plist and the SSDT-L440.aml of my files that you downloaded from the Github Repo.
The Realtek ALC3232 Audio Codec does have problems with correcting and detecting Inputs and Outputs which results in no Audio on Headphones or Static Noise and also no working Input (External Mic) through the Combo Jack.
For this we have to install "ALCPlugFix" application which does these correction and fixes all the problems on this codec.
You can download my Fork of ALCPlugFix which is patched to work with Realtek ALC3232 Audio Codec.
Copy the alc_fix folder which is inside the downloaded Lenovo-Thinkpad-L440 folder from my Github Repo.
Open terminal and type the following commands:
Code:
cd desktop/alc_fix
Code:
./install.shPres enter and the alc_fix installation is completed
Keyboard
Keyboard is fully mapped and every single button works starting from Brightness to the rest of FN Buttons.
Fn Buttons do work but you have to assign them as shortcuts on Sysprefs > Keyboard > Shortcuts like my example:
- F4 (Mic On/Off) mapped to Siri shortcut
- F7 (Projector) mapped to Video/Mirror Toggle
- F8 (Radio On/Off) mapped to Notification Center
- F9 (Settings) mapped to System Preferences...
- F10 (Cortana/Search) mapped to Spotlight Search
- F11 (Open Apps/AltTab) mapped to Mission Control
- F12 (Start Menu) mapped to Launchpad
- PrtSc (Print Screen) mapped to Screenshot area of selection or known as the default cmd+4 shortcut
TouchPad
If you have the standard touchpad that came with the laptop:
If you have upgraded to the standard TouchPad with the one that does have physical buttons like the (T450, etc):
We use my fork of @RehabMan VoodooPS2Controller.kext because it has support for physical buttons which is why most of you have updated to this model and also on my fork i fixed a problem with rare kernel panic occurring on some devices and also fixed the Caps Lock map function with SSDT on macOS Mojave.
However with my Fork or Rehabman VoodooPS2Controller.kext you don't have the native Gestures that the Acidanthera VoodooPS2Controller.kext does have like the real MacBook do: "ZoomIn/Out", "Rotate Left/Right","ForceTouch", etc.
It wont be too long until they add full support as they are already working on that and then i will update this section of the guide accordingly so all of you can use that VoodooPS2Controller.kext and enjoy the native Gestures.
With my Fork or Rehabman VoodooPS2Controller.kext:
3 Fingers scrolling is supported and i assigned these gestures into SysPrefs > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Mission Control
- 3 fingers swipe up for "Application Windows"
- 3 fingers swipe down for "Show Desktop"
- 3 fingers swipe right for "Move left a space" (to move to the desktop on the left side)
- 3 fingers swipe left for "Move right a space" (to move to the desktop on the right side).
Wireless and Bluetooth
In terms of functionality, if you replaced with one of the compatible cards there is nothing left to be done.
Card should work with AirportBrcmFixup.kext BT4LEContinuityFixup.kext for Continuity, HandOff, Universal Clipboard, Scan from iPhone and take photo from iPhone, calls and FaceTime in MacOS.
Some customizations that you can do is to change the country code by using the boot-arg: brcmfx-country=XX
Replace XX with your corresponding country code, some examples are: (US, CN, #a, etc).
US is the the default country code that is set on the kext without using the boot-arg brcmfx-country=XX
iMessage and FaceTime
This is one of the last steps and things that you should fix after you stabilized your setup in order to properly work.
For iMessage and FaceTime @P1LGRIM has a step by step detailed guide which you can follow on the link below:
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/an-idiots-guide-to-imessage.196827/
Keep in mind that even if you have setup iMessage and FaceTime correctly, newer AppleID(s) are not having much success as they do get the message to call Apple Support.
Contrary to this, old Apple ID(s) seems to be working perfect without having a single issue.
If you do have a newer AppleID and you can't make iMessage and FaceTime work, the only possible "current known" fix is to get an older Macbook that is not being used anymore, dump the MLB and ROM.
Generate your unique Serial Number and UUID as the guide describes and after you have correct setup:
Just replace the generated MLB and ROM with the ones you got from the dump of the older Macbook.
iMessage and FaceTime should now work correctly with your Unique Serial Number and UUID.
Customization
Themes
There is a huge list of available "Themes" across the web for Clover Bootloader which you can google.
I included the ThinkPad theme which i also used previously on my ThinkPad guides because i think it better fits these laptops, it is included on the Lenovo-Thinkpad-L440 folder Downloaded from my Github Repository.
To install it you simply copy the Thinkpad folder into EFI/Clover/Themes and set it as default theme on config.plist
System Logo - To be added later
Computer Name
To change the computer name you go to Users > YourUserName > RightClick somewhere and click Show View Options
Select Show Library Folder and close the Show View Options Window, now you open have the visible Library Folder.
Go to Library/Preferences and open com.apple.SystemProfiler.plist with a Plist Editor file (example: PlistEditPro)
Expand CPU Names and type: Lenovo Thinkpad L440 click file on the menu bar and save.
Problem Reporting
It is impossible to diagnose a problem without data that shows how your system is configured.
Also, impossible to analyze any data that you might provide without a clear understanding of your hardware. So make sure your profile is filled as per the first question in this FAQ, "Q. Where do I start?".
If you can't boot, a bare minimum is:
- Boot verbose, attach photo
- Attach EFI/Clover folder as ZIP (press F2 then F4 at main Clover screen just before collecting). Please eliminate 'themes' directory. Provide only EFI/Clover, not the entire EFI folder.
Note: Some Keyboards swap Fn+Fx for Fx. For those Keyboards, press Fn+F2 then Fn+F4. If you're not sure, press F2, then F4, then Fn+F2, then Fn+F4. You can also verify by pressing F1 (or Fn+F1) to see which one brings the menu.
If you can boot, but are having some other problem, describe the problem clearly and provide data...
Download patchmatic: https://bitbucket.org/RehabMan/os-x-maciasl-patchmatic/downloads/RehabMan-patchmatic-2015-0107.zip
Extract the 'patchmatic' binary from the ZIP. Copy it to /usr/bin, such that you have the binary at /usr/bin/patchmatic.
In terminal,
Code:
if [ -d ~/Downloads/RehabMan ]; then rm -R ~/Downloads/RehabMan; fi
mkdir ~/Downloads/RehabMan
cd ~/Downloads/RehabMan
patchmatic -extractAttach contents of Downloads/RehabMan directory as ZIP.
Attach ioreg as ZIP: http://www.tonymacx86.com/audio/58368-guide-how-make-copy-ioreg.html. Please, use the IORegistryExplorer v2.1 attached to the post! DO NOT reply with an ioreg from any other version of IORegistryExplorer.app.
Provide output (in Terminal):
Code:
kextstat|grep -y acpiplat
kextstat|grep -y appleintelcpu
kextstat|grep -y applelpc
kextstat|grep -y applehda
ls -l /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext/Contents/Resources/*.zml*
pmset -g assertions
pmset -g
system_profiler SPSerialATADataType|grep TRIMNote: Some Keyboards swap Fn+Fx for Fx. For those Keyboards, press Fn+F2 then Fn+F4. If you're not sure, press F2, then F4, then Fn+F2, then Fn+F4. You can also verify by pressing F1 (or Fn+F1) to see which one brings the menu.
For 10.11 and later, attach output of (in Terminal):
Code:
sudo kextcache -i /
Code:
sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions && sudo kextcache -u /Q. Is there a script that will collect all Problem Reporting data automatically?
Yes! (almost)
User @black.dragon74 has created a script (gen_debug.sh) that automates most of the "Problem Reporting" tasks (as described in the previous question).
The part it cannot do is pressing F2 and F4 for you at the main Clover screen.
And of course, it only works for the case you can boot into your system. If you have a problem booting, you must obtain and collect the verbose boot photo manually (and EFI/Clover).
Full details are here:
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/tool-generate-proper-problem-reporting-files.235953/
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