Jays MonkeyBook Pro - The Ultimate Sony VPC-SE CustoMac Build

[jaymonkey]

@jaymonkey,
Have you enabled CE123H under Yosemite? Is the procedure still the same? Continuity works? I just bought this card in order to enable full funcionality on my 10.10

@Majkwin,

I have it working on three different desktop systems, however i'm not sure how well continuity and handoff works, I only have iPhone4 so not able to update to IOS 8.1 : so cant test any of these features.



I've had to use the latest BT Firmware uploader and on some systems needed to play around with the USB3 kext as USB is used to control the transport protocol (see above)

I suspect that a binary patch may help to get the card to working 100% since it uses the correct kext/plug-in and is BT4, its early days for this so i'm sure devs such a skvo are working on it.

Cheers
Jay

 

[Majkwin]

Could You please write brief tutorial what to do? I read that on the first page hoping that on Yosemite everything will be the same

 

[somed00d]

@yuchen1211,

On Sony SE (and I think SA/SB) the BT is part of the mini PCIe card that also has the WiFi .... not sure why you think its necessary to dismantle the laptop, you only need to remove the battery cover as detailed in my guide.

If your having issues with BT under 10.9.5 (or later) it's possible that the issue lies with the USB3 kext .. i've seen this on a number of systems now, remove any and all generic USB3 kexts from /S/L/E and replace with RehabMans build from here :-

https://github.com/RehabMan/OS-X-Generic-USB3

Always use Kext Utility to install and rebuild kext cache

The USB protocol is used to control the BT chip (transport control)

Cheers
Jay

This kext fixed the issue for my USB3 port. Thanks for the info!

FYI - I tried the Bluetooth plist edits for the existing Intel wifi/BT card (detailed in this thread I think), but I am unable to Turn On/Off Bluetooth.

I am trying to find an extra SSD to install Yosemite on, but am I correct that:

Clover boot is needed? UEFI compatible BIOS is needed?

Thanks
somed00d

 

[roninfellows]

I successfully upgraded my fully working jays monkey book pro with this method...

http://www.tonymacx86.com/yosemite-...-os-x-yosemite-using-unibeast-multibeast.html

Most everything worked after the update. Except sound and videos only play in vlc but no sound. Working on sound but very happy with results

 

[jaymonkey]

I successfully upgraded my fully working jays monkey book pro with this method........most everything worked after the update. Except sound and videos only play in vlc but no sound. Working on sound but very happy with results

@roninfellows,

Yep, that method will allow you to install Yosemite but since FileNVRAM is currently broken under OSX 10.10 some important system ID's will not be valid/persistent which effect's certain Apple iCloud apps such as tunes, iMessage, facetime ... etc - if you don't use these then it's no problem to install using unibeast/Chimera.

FileNVRAM is being worked on and i'm currently testing daily builds, but it may be some time before its working correctly .... that's all i can say on that at the moment.

I am working on a new build for the Sony-S series laptops using Clover but its slow work as i've got a lot of other projects on at the moment and spending a lot of time working on iMessage under Yosemite (see How to fix iMessage)

I'll update the guide once i'm happy that the build is solid and complete, i need to re-patch the new native 10.10 AppleHDA with the ALC175 codec support which should resolve the sound issues.

Cheers
Jay

 

[jaymonkey]

This kext fixed the issue for my USB3 port. but I am unable to Turn On/Off Bluetooth.

I correct that ... Clover boot is needed? UEFI compatible BIOS is needed?

@somed00d,

If your using BCM943225HMB combo card then i you'll need to edit the info plist as detailed in the guide, if using AW123H then then you muse use the very latest Bluetooth Firmware uploader.

SSD is always a good update .... Clover can boot in legacy mode as well as UEFI .... however UEFI support on Sony-S is not very good and is only available via modded Advanced BIOS, i'm looking into using Clover in legacy boot mode but due to the crappy BIOS it's proving to be a challenge ... I hope to have some good news soon.

Cheers
Jay

 

[somed00d]

If your using BCM943225HMB combo card then i you'll need to edit the info plist as detailed in the guide, if using AW123H then then you muse use the very latest Bluetooth Firmware uploader.

@jaymonkey,

I just installed the AW123H using the instructions in this thread and I am blown away at the Wireless performance difference vs the original Intel 6230 - in both OSx and Windows 8.1. Just unreal. I will also enjoy not needing a USB dongle for wifi access in OSx now.

I am able to Turn On/Off Bluetooth - but I have yet to install the BTFirmwareUploader.kext. Loving this renewed laptop - Thanks again!

 

[jaymonkey]

@jaymonkey,

I just installed the AW123H using the instructions in this thread and I am blown away at the Wireless performance ....I am able to Turn On/Off Bluetooth - but I have yet to install the BTFirmwareUploader.kext. Loving this renewed laptop - Thanks again!

@somed00d,

Glad your enjoying the new speedy wifi, blue tooth 4.0 LT will work great under OSX but you should install the latest BTFirmwareUploader kext .... if you boot first to windows and then to OSX without a power down then the firmware will be the version uploaded by the windows driver. If you cold boot straight into OSX then the BT firmware will be that which is already flashed on the card and tends not to work well with OSX. all of this can cause your bluetooth plist(s) to become corrupted - causing paring and re-paring issues which can be fixed by deleting bluetooth and BT device plists, so best to install the Firmware uploader and have a constant BT firmware version from day one.

You should ensure that the firmware is v14 c5575 for it to work correctly under OSX 10.9.X and 10.10



Cheers
Jay

 

[pgh550]

Sony VPCS Battery Issues:

Hi, Sony VPC S series users, I have a serious issue with the Sony batteries. I have a VPCSC and VPCSE. The battery in VPCSE went dead -- won't boot with battery attached and flash orange when connected with AC. I bought a new battery from a online shop and VPCSE won't recognize it. VPCSE can boot with the battery the first time and it won't boot afterwards. At beginning I thought the the battery not authentic, but the battery with VPCSC won't be recognized on VPCSE either while works perfectly on VPCSC, even though VPCSC and VPCSE have the same battery model VGP-BPS24.

I found that if I alternate the VPCSC battery with the newly bought battery with the same machine, both machines can boot but VPCSE won't recognize either batteries, while VPCSC only recognize its own battery. So it looks like Sony is more weird in that they put some signature into the battery chip, not just by the battery model but also with the machine model as well, so this way a VGP-BPS24 shipped with a VPCSC won't work with a VPCSE.

Has anyone experienced this before? Any way to get around? I saw there is a BIOS patch on the net to fix the Sony battery issue but I feel it risky of bricking the machine.

Any suggestion is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[jaymonkey]

Sony VPCS Battery Issues:

Has anyone experienced this before? Any way to get around? I saw there is a BIOS patch on the net to fix the Sony battery issue but I feel it risky of bricking the machine.

Any suggestion is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

@pgh550,

Sony laptops are notorious when it comes to replacement batteries - i've had a few 3rd party batteries and they caused nothing but trouble - i know they are expensive but try to stick to original Sony Batteries.

You could try re-setting the SMC - remove all batteries and AC power, then hold the power button down for 30 seconds, this discharges all the capacitors on the mobo which may be powering some IC's volatile memory which is used for various low level systems configurations.

@All,

My OSX 10.10 Yosemite build for Sony S series Monkey Books made great progress this week, I now have Clover running correctly and booting Yosemite from the SSD - I am trying to make all patches dynamic via clover which means no more backing up and restoring of kexts when performing OS updates. iMessage is working great as is the AC-WiFi & BT4 LE with handoff and continuity working too. The system is stable but not quite ready yet - I'm still working on the Clover AppleHDA patches for audio and HDMI frame-buffer settings but all looking good so far, once everything is working and the build is 100% stable i'll document the update method as a new guide, should not be too long now.

Cheers
Jay