I thought I'd make a guide on how to install Snow Leopard onto an HP Pavilion Elite, since I managed to get a copy working on mine this weekend (although there are a few little quirks that I need to iron out).

I have an HP Pavilion Elite m9180f flashed with custom firmware 5.23. I also had a working copy of OSX 10.5.8 which I used to install Snow Leopard from.

PLEASE FOLLOW THIS GUIDE AT YOUR OWN RISK! I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU MESS UP YOUR PC!

First, you'll need the following:

-A working install of Leopard on your HP Pavilion Elite (see: http://www.hackint0sh.org/f181/66823.htm)

-Retail Version of Mac OSX Snow Leopard (mounted .dmg preferred as files on installation disk need to be modified)

-Second HD/Partition free for Snow Leopard Install (with at least 10GB free space)

-Download all other required files from: Free File Hosting Made Simple - MediaFire

Update: MIRROR ADDED! You can also get all required files used in this tutorial here: MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service

Now if you got all that then you're good to continue....

The first thing I did was take my retail disk of Snow Leopard and copy it to a 16GB USB key that I had (using Disk Utility -> Restore) and that way I could replace the OSInstall.mpkg file; You can do this too or mount a writeable .dmg file of Snow Leopard to the desktop.

Download OSInstall.mpkg.zip and extract the file and replace under your snow leopard installation disk (in the folder "/Volumes/<Mounted Snow Leopard Install Disk>/System/Installation/Packages"
The open disk utility and erase and partition a SEPARATE PARTITION OR DRIVE that you will be installing Snow Leopard to. (You can use either GUID or MBR I believe, as long as you replaced the "OSInstall.mpkg" file above)

After the format, ensure that the permissions of this drive that we are installing to are correct by running the following in the terminal:

Code:

sudo –s 

chown 0:0 /Volumes/<Drive to install Snow Leopard to>

Then we are now ready to install Snow Leopard. Run the "OSInstall.mpkg" file you replaced earlier (under the "/Volumes/<Mounted Snow Leopard Install Disk>/System/Installation/Packages" folder) and ENSURE THAT YOU SELECT THE NEWLY FORMATTED DRIVE that we want to install Snow Leopard to. YOU MUST Also choose "Customize" and uncheck printers, languages and fonts as you may get an error installation without doing so).

Wait for the installation to finish BUT DO NOT RESTART YET!

After Snow Leopard finishes installing, we need to setup a bootloader for it.
For this example, I will be using Chameleon RC3.
First Download Chameleon RC2 at: Free File Hosting Made Simple - MediaFire then extract and run installation package. Make sure you chose the partition or drive that you just installed Snow Leopard on!!!

Then download Chameleon RC3 and extract all the files. Go into the extracted folder and then the "i386" folder and copy the "boot" file to the partition or drive that you just installed Snow Leopard onto (under the root folder, or "/Volumes/<Snow Leopard Installation Drive>/". You can do this by using the Terminal (if you know how), or you can use a utility called ShowAllFiles which will display (or hide) hidden files is OSX. You can download this tool from: Free File Hosting Made Simple - MediaFire (ShowAllFiles.zip).

Extract and run ShowAllFiles and select "SHOW", then open the root directory of the partition you installed Snow Leopard to and overwrite the "boot" file in it with the one from the Chameleon RC3 package.

Also, navigate to the "/Volumes/<Snow Leopard Installation>/Extra/Extensions" folder and remove the Disabler.kext, as it is NOT 64-bit compatible and you will just simply remove the affected kext later. After deleting this kext, you will need to use Kext Utility (download from here) to repair the permissions. Download "Kext Utility.zip" and extract to desktop, then copy the ""/Volumes/<Snow Leopard Installation>/Extra/Extensions" folder to your desktop, and then drag this newly copies folder OVER the Kext Utility app to repair the permissions. Then copy back this folder to "/Volumes/<Snow Leopard Installation>/Extra/" and overwrite. Also copy over generated "Extensions.mkext" to this folder.

You can now run ShowAllFiles again and chose to HIDE files if you wish.

Now you need to patch your DSDT. Download the "DSDTPatcherGUI_1.0.zip" file, extract and run it.
Select Darwin/Mac OS X in Operating System, Select Apply DSDT patch to under options and before hitting the Run DSDT Patcher button make sure to change the destination to the Snow Leopard Installation Drive (Where you Installed the Snow Leopard).

Then you'll need to install some addition .kexts for Snow Leopard Support (all of which are 64-bit) by downloading the "Snow Leopard 64bit Kexts.zip" at: Free File Hosting Made Simple - MediaFire

Please note that these kexts include the following: AppleACPIPS2Nub.kext, fakesmc.kext, NullCPUPowerManagement.kext, OpenHaltRestart.kext, PlatformUUID.kext, VoodooHDA.kext and VoodooPS2Controller.kext.

Extract these files and copy them to your Snow Leopard installation partition/drive, under the "/System/Library/Extensions" folder.

Also, you should remove the "AppleHPET.kext" file and the "AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext" file from this folder as well (as they are know to cause issues and removing them works best for this tutorial as the "Disabler.kext" installed with Chameleon RC2 is not 64 bit compatible and was removed as per the instructions above.

Now all you need to do is repair the permissions for the Extensions folder.
To do so, open the terminal and type the following:

Code:

sudo -s
cd /Volumes/<Snow Leopard Installation>/System/Library/Extensions
chown -R root:wheel *
chmod -R 755 *

Now download and launch EFiStudio (mirror: http://www.kexts.com/view/91-efi_studio..html) and look for your Video Card through the drop down menu. Click add device and you will see some alphanumeric (HEX) numbers, copy these numbers. Add the following code to your com.apple.boot.plist in /<Snow Leopard Installation>/Extra:

Code:

<key>Graphics Mode</key> 
<string>1280×1024x32 </string> 
<key>device-properties</key> 
<string>HEX code you generated with EFiStudio</string>

Save and Exit…

Also, if you have an HP Pavillion Elite with an Atheros AR5007 wireless card, it WILL NOT WORK in 64-bit mode of Snow Leopard (which I have yet to get working under 64bit mode); IT WILL, however, WORK IN 32-BIT MODE - So if this is a nessesity of yours, add the following "kernal flag" to
com.apple.boot.plist in /<Snow Leopard Installation>/Extra:

arch=x86_32

IF ANYONE HAS OR KNOWS HOW TO GET THE Atheros AR5007 WIFI CARD RUNNING IN 64-BIT MODE OR HAS 64-BIT KEXTS THEN PLEASE POST A RESPONSE TO THIS FORUM!

Final Step is to download, "smbios.plist.zip" and put the SMBios.plist into "/<Snow Leopard Installation>/Extra".

Now hopefully everything was followed and (providing I didn't miss anything ) you should now be able to restart your PC and launch Snow Leopard (remember to select the partition you installed to from your BIOS boot menu)

When the bootloader (Chameleon) displays, press TAB and use the following flags on your first boot:

Code:

-f -v

Also, after Snow Leopard loads (and hopefully it does), try opening Disk Utility and repairing permissions. If it does not work (and says something about missing installation packages), then you'll need to run the BSD package on the original Snow Leopard installation disk, under the /<Snow Leopard Installation Disk>/System/Installation/Packages" folder.

Try running disk utility again after and repair disk permissions. It should now work. Restart your computer and see if Snow Leopard loads without any flags (normal boot). Hopefully it does and you're in business!

------------------
Screenshot:

----------------------
Please let me know if there are any issues with the above. Again, I just got Snow Leopard working today on my HP Pavilion Elite m9180f and I have not tested it thoroughly yet, although it appears to be working very well (and faster) than Leopard did.

Thanks and enjoy!

EDIT: To Update to 10.6.3 on HP Pavilion Elite, See this post: http://www.hackint0sh.org/showthread...732#post556732

Thx for sharing man, surely will help other members

Update: Links working

Thanks Ouija and Icchansan,

This guide works for my ipibl-la using a un-moded HP 5.08 BIOS. I'm using it on a separate MBR formatted HD. Audio and Video worked. I finally got LAN working with a Intel82566mm.kext 64bit found at

intel ethernet 82566 kext for snow anyone? - InfiniteMac OSx86 Community

I'm having no issue accessing my other SATA HD's.

I've been running this machine for the past hour. I'll see how things go. I can notice the speed difference immediately it's a lot faster then Leopard.


Thanks A lot!!

great guide now i just need my quartz extreme and quartzcl working im good

igotjshoe, in this step just need to add your efi strings to get QE/CI

Now download and launch EFiStudio and look for your Video Card through the drop down menu. Click add device and you will see some alphanumeric (HEX) numbers, copy these numbers. Add the following code to your com.apple.boot.plist in /<Snow Leopard Installation>/Extra:
Code:

<key>Graphics Mode</key>
<string>1280×1024x32 </string>
<key>device-properties</key>
<string>HEX code you generated with EFiStudio</string>

You can use EFI studio or OSX86 tools to get your efi strings

i did but no go but the card runs smooth like its there its just doesnt show it in about mac

Excellent, I'm glad that someone else found this tutorial useful.

I have added a mirror for all the files used in my original post.

After running Snow Leopard for a few days, the only issue I have found is with my systems Sleep Function, in that it does not work properly (the monitors will shut off and the system appears to be sleeping, but the computer itself DOES NOT go into sleep mode and it cannot return from this crippled state either without holding down the power and shutting it down completely)

However, I have found a few kexts today that might solve this issue, and I will post my results later upon further testing.

Also I am still looking for a 64-bit compatible driver for the WIFI card for my system (which I believe is an Atheros AR5007) but it is not urgent as NTFS-3G is not yet 64-bit compatible either, which leaves to to run the system in 32-bit mode regardless (as I require read/write access to my NTFS partitions).

Another thing I found out is the Chameleon WILL FAIL TO INSTALL under Snow Leopard, so you must use an existing installation of Leopard to install it to your SL partition (in case anyone else runs into this issue!)

I have also noticed that Windows Live Sync is NOT Snow Leopard compatible (yet), which really aggravates me -- but is completly unrelated to my system setup as it is a software-compatibility issue (I just hate that I rely on a M$ product with my Mac system -- look where it gets ya!!)

like i said i love your guide just got figure out this graphic card problem

for some reason i cant get my ntfs drives to show up in snow leopard

Originally Posted by igotjshoe

like i said i love your guide just got figure out this graphic card problem

What is the model of your gfx card?

Originally Posted by igotjshoe

for some reason i cant get my ntfs drives to show up in snow leopard

None of your drives will appear on the desktop in Snow Leopard as they have with previous versions of Mac OSX; You need to enable this in the "preferences" page for Finder.

NTFS is available by default in Snow Leopard, however WRITE access is not; You'll need to install NTFS-3G (NTFS-3G: Stable Read/Write NTFS Driver) and enabled 32-bit mode in Snow Leopard for the drivers to work (add the "arch=x86_32" flag under the Kernal Flags section of your com.apple.Boot.plist file (usually found in "/Volumes/<Snow Leopard Partition/Extra") and also force the drivers on first launch by using the "-f" flag.