MacBook Mid 2007 - Windows advice please

[tigerintank]

I recently used the detailed info in Henk Ps thread to install Windows 10 64 bit on my MB 2,1. So thanks to him I have a largely working Windows 10 installation - more than I expected initially if i'm honest - so thats vm appreciated!

But there are some problems, whichI think are possibly related to my uninformed initial choice of 64 bit rather than 32 bit and also possibly of Windows 10 rather than 8.1.

So thats where I'd like some thoughts of those more experienced than myself please.

For info the issues are mainly;

• Internal backlight/brightness and external monitor issues
• Fairly regular trackpad issues where 1 and 2 finger tap stops working until logout/reboot
• No Sound

Though I've put more specifics in Henks thread and can do that here too, as I say I'm firstly trying to establish the 'best' starting point for a low maintenance Windows instal.

In case its relevant to the above, I have an SSD boot drive (dual booting 10.7 Lion - no Bootcamp), with a HDD in an 'Optibay' like mount for additional storage and 3G RAM.

Like many I suspect, I only use an external screen occasionally for more space and even less often an external keyboard/mouse.

So to make use of the Macbook with Windows, I really need a reliable trackpad and internal monitor.

Sound would be good too of course, for some background music/occasional video

All feedback welcome, even if its of the type 'it'll never work fully', as I then won't invest time in trying to find fixes that don't exist!

 

[tigerintank]

Nearly 200 read but no replies…not sure if there's something unreasonable about the question?

Is it too simple, have i provided too much/not enough info, has it been answered before maybe - if it has I didn't find it when I looked.

Would be good if I could get some feedback from a more experienced Windows person before I go ahead and try windows 10 32 bit on sunday. If no improvement there then i'll fall back to 32 bit 8.1 and see how that goes.

 

[Pockets69]

1 - a link to the tutorial may come in handy, so i can see what type of install you did, EFI or bootcamp, i would guess bootcamp but to make sure it would help having the link.

2 - which drivers are you using? bootcamp drivers? or most updated drivers from the hardware manufacturer?

3 - the trackpad issues are not new with bootcamp and EFI installations, i have a tiny delay when using trackpad on windows 7 and windows 10, one installed in legacy mode, and the other in EFI, but none of the issues are as serious as the trackpad stop working...

4 - as for sound, there were some people who installed windows 10 and 8.1 through EFI that had problems with sound, but it was on newer macbooks actually.

its kinda hard to help you out without knowing what you did.

 

[tigerintank]

1 - a link to the tutorial may come in handy, so i can see what type of install you did, EFI or bootcamp, i would guess bootcamp but to make sure it would help having the link.

2 - which drivers are you using? bootcamp drivers? or most updated drivers from the hardware manufacturer?

3 - the trackpad issues are not new with bootcamp and EFI installations, i have a tiny delay when using trackpad on windows 7 and windows 10, one installed in legacy mode, and the other in EFI, but none of the issues are as serious as the trackpad stop working...

4 - as for sound, there were some people who installed windows 10 and 8.1 through EFI that had problems with sound, but it was on newer macbooks actually.

its kinda hard to help you out without knowing what you did.

Hi Pockets, thanks vm for the reply. I'm just heading out, but wanted to reply as best I could now and will come back later tonight/tomorrow depending.

Sorry should've been clearer I used the process that Henk Polley laid out here

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-fixed-brightness-and-battery-status.1731382/

except I modified it to 64bit -as by then I'd installed 64 bit thinking it was 'best '.

As you'll see I did ask a similar question on the end of that thread -but I realised that a separate thread with my 2,1 situation might be more sensible - hence this thread.

I did a fairly convoluted method due to a faulty internal dvd, involving a optibay, sata cable, external windows 7 install, then in situ upgrade to 10 plus drivers.

As I say I need to go out now but will check back tonight - lateness of return permitting - failing that tomorrow morning.

 

[Pockets69]

Ok so, the reason for some of your hardware not working may exactly be because you installed windows 10 64 bit, you see for instance the sound, since your macbook is quite old it probably doesn't have the audio driver that supports 64 bits and only the 32 bit version, it may be that only the 32bit version of the audio driver was included in the bootcamp files.

This may not answer all your problems, but it is probably the reason that not everything is working, for instance i see a reference on the guide to some sort of software called padset, did you install that, i never heard of it, i have always used bootcamp software to configure windows on my macbook, and never had a problem, apart from the one i mentioned above, the short delay on the trackpad.

as for the screen brightness did you apply the dsdt patches? those should work regardless your windows version 64 or 32, don't know if the patches are any different from windows 8.1 or 10 to be honest though.

So if i had to guess at least the sound part i can tell you that it has to do with the lack of drivers, what you can do is find out which manufacturer is your audio card and get the drivers from their website directly, maybe they do have 64bit version on their website.

 

[tigerintank]

Thanks again Pockets. Ive broken down your post and responded in line.

Ok so, the reason for some of your hardware not working may exactly be because you installed windows 10 64 bit, you see for instance the sound, since your macbook is quite old it probably doesn't have the audio driver that supports 64 bits and only the 32 bit version, it may be that only the 32bit version of the audio driver was included in the bootcamp files.

Right so it looks as though my suspicion re making the wrong choice of 64 bit was correct - thats good to know, I'll reload a 32 bit version and start again from there. Now the decision re whether 8.1 will be significantly better than 10. If not then I'll stick with 10 as I like it a fair bit better than 8.1.

If you have any thoughts as to whether one will be more straightforward than the other please let me know, though I guess that it's likely to be a bit of an unknown and dependant on various manufacturers supply of drivers!

This may not answer all your problems, but it is probably the reason that not everything is working, for instance i see a reference on the guide to some sort of software called padset, did you install that, i never heard of it, i have always used bootcamp software to configure windows on my macbook, and never had a problem, apart from the one i mentioned above, the short delay on the trackpad.

I did install padset and it did work, in the sense that without it (memory is a little hazy here) the only thing the pad would do was move the cursor - no tapping supported at all. With it- the tapping does work, but then as I say will stop working for some reason.

I think Bootcamp may be a problem as it was designed to support windows 7 on the 2,1 Macbook and so wouldn't work with 10? I did definitely try it at the time, though iirc it failed right at the beginning when I was first installing windows 7 - for some reason that I couldn't fathom. Iirc i gave up and just ignored it completely, booted from the windows 7 dvd and installed without bootcamp at all.

It might be that my lack of knowledge of Windows generally is making me misunderstand something here.

Whats the best way to make use of bootcamp in the situation where a Mac has installed a later version of windows than Apple supports? For example would it be best to run the correct version of bootcamp for the 2,1 and so install windows 7 drivers on windows 10?

as for the screen brightness did you apply the dsdt patches? those should work regardless your windows version 64 or 32, don't know if the patches are any different from windows 8.1 or 10 to be honest though.

I didn't apply the dsdt patches because that part of the process looked too complicated to get into to achieve the ability to vary the brightness i.e. I wasn't bothered enough. It seems as though Henk still had backlight issues occasionally on his machine so I assumed that the dsdt wasn't relevant to the backlight switching off. If thats not correct or if it causes other problems, I'll take another look.

So if i had to guess at least the sound part i can tell you that it has to do with the lack of drivers, what you can do is find out which manufacturer is your audio card and get the drivers from their website directly, maybe they do have 64bit version on their website.

As I say above it seems from what you say above that I'd be better switching to 32 bit, see how far I get and then i'll take your advice and look to the manufacturers site.

I'll hold fire for a bit on the 8.1 vs 10 decision to see if you or others have a steer on one being less problematic than the other.

 

[Pockets69]

1 - yeah that's up to you if you want to stay on 8.1 or move to 10, but i don't think it should make much difference when it comes to drivers as long as you stick with 32 bit.

2 - I see you are not installing the drivers through the bootcamp installer, that's why you have no trackpad support and no bootcamp running on windows when you boot.
What you have to do is bypass the restrictions apple is imposing, by not allowing you to run the bootcamp installer on windows 10, you need to download bootcamp and install it through the command line don't forget to run it as administrator, download extract the packages, and navigate to c:\users\username\desktop\bootcamp\drivers\apple (this is assuming that you extracted the bootcamp drivers to your desktop) either way you should then type the following msiexec /i bootcamp.msi that will bypass the popup of not allowing you to install windows drivers, and the installation will proceed automatically and install all the drivers for your machine, no need to install the drivers manually.

3 - yeah the dsdt patches are needed otherwise there won't be any brightness control.

 

[tigerintank]

1 - yeah that's up to you if you want to stay on 8.1 or move to 10, but i don't think it should make much difference when it comes to drivers as long as you stick with 32 bit.

2 - I see you are not installing the drivers through the bootcamp installer, that's why you have no trackpad support and no bootcamp running on windows when you boot.
What you have to do is bypass the restrictions apple is imposing, by not allowing you to run the bootcamp installer on windows 10, you need to download bootcamp and install it through the command line don't forget to run it as administrator, download extract the packages, and navigate to c:\users\username\desktop\bootcamp\drivers\apple (this is assuming that you extracted the bootcamp drivers to your desktop) either way you should then type the following msiexec /i bootcamp.msi that will bypass the popup of not allowing you to install windows drivers, and the installation will proceed automatically and install all the drivers for your machine, no need to install the drivers manually.

3 - yeah the dsdt patches are needed otherwise there won't be any brightness control.

Ok thanks for the clarifications.

A follow up to 2 - do I need the last bootcamp that Apple say 'supports' the 2,1 or do I need the latest bootcamp that aligns to todays Macs?

I suspect its the last one that Apple say 'supports' the 2,1 - working on the assumption that all of the later bootcamps wouldn't include any drivers for a 2,1.

But the thing I don't get there, is how drivers that are for Windows 7 would work with 8.1 or 10.

------------
Edit
Maybe its that you install the versions for 7 initially and then update any that are then out of date...

 

[tigerintank]

What you have to do is bypass the restrictions apple is imposing, by not allowing you to run the bootcamp installer on windows 10, you need to download bootcamp and install it through the command line don't forget to run it as administrator, download extract the packages, and navigate to c:\users\username\desktop\bootcamp\drivers\apple (this is assuming that you extracted the bootcamp drivers to your desktop) either way you should then type the following msiexec /i bootcamp.msi that will bypass the popup of not allowing you to install windows drivers, and the installation will proceed automatically and install all the drivers for your machine, no need to install the drivers manually.

Ok I've tried this step just now and I get a popup from boot camp saying 'boot camp requires that your computer is running windows 7'

Steps I actually took were;

• Get bootcamp version 4.0.4255 and unzip it to the desktop
• Open an administrator: command prompt window
• type cd c:\users\username\desktop\bootcamp4.0.4255\bootcamp\drivers\apple
• get new prompt showing the above path
• type msiexec /i bootcamp.msi

which gets me the above windows 7 message
-----------
edit
Googling around and I see that there is a number of options for that command. I used /a as an alternate to /i and it seems to make progress. There's a very brief window flashes up - too quick to read and then 30 seconds later there's a bootcamp prompt to reboot.

Unfortunately on reboot there's no sign that anything has actually been installed. i.e. no bootcamp icon on the bar at the bottom with the various options and no change to trackpad behaviour. So at this point I'm a little stumped.

 

[Pockets69]

yeah that may happen, i have had a bootcamp version that wouldn't be bypassed with that method, there are drivers that have been packed in newer versions of bootcamp that work with that method.

I have over here (for my macbook) 4.0.4255 and 5.1.5621, the later works fine with the bypass i mentioned above the 4.0.4255 actually doesn't work.

So try to find the 5.1.5621 and install it running the method i detailed above, that one will work, then if not all the drivers were installed use the 4.0.4255 to install the rest of the drivers manually, but make sure to start with the newer bootcamp version hopefully it will have all the drivers you need.

good luck

 

[tigerintank]

yeah that may happen, i have had a bootcamp version that wouldn't be bypassed with that method, there are drivers that have been packed in newer versions of bootcamp that work with that method.

I have over here (for my macbook) 4.0.4255 and 5.1.5621, the later works fine with the bypass i mentioned above the 4.0.4255 actually doesn't work.

So try to find the 5.1.5621 and install it running the method i detailed above, that one will work, then if not all the drivers were installed use the 4.0.4255 to install the rest of the drivers manually, but make sure to start with the newer bootcamp version hopefully it will have all the drivers you need.

good luck

I'll give it a try- likely tomorrow now.

Thanks for all the help

 

[tigerintank]

Well progress of a sort - maybe 1 step forward 2 back :-(

I actually had a v5 bootcamp 5.1.5769 - so tried that instead - close enough to yours right...

Nope - a windows installer window pops up - 'This installation package is not supported by this processor type. Contact your product vendor'

So I've tracked down the 5.1.5621 specifically and its downloading now. Slowish internet here so will be tomorrow before I can try it I think. Will report back.

 

[Pockets69]

well apparently that bootcamp version only supports 64 bits thats why you got the error, and since your windows is now 32 bit (due to driver compatibility) you are now running into that problem, well keep trying my method with that new package you are downloading (see if there is an bootcamp32.msi or something along those lines in the apple folder).

good luck

EDIT
wait just realized, mine doesn't have a 32 bit bootcamp.msi, try with another bootcamp version.

EDIT2
did a small search, do you have the snow leopard install dvd that came with the macbook, or is it an earlier version? apparently the snow leopard install dvd has the bootcamp drivers, for 32 bit and 64 bit, so you may try that

 

[tigerintank]

I tried the other version with same problem - as you suggest above.

It came with an earlier version - either Tiger or Leopard - as its a 2007 model its all a bit hazy now!

I'll have a look and see what I have in my disc wallets. Failing that it might be that I can find the right download on the apple site somewhere - though whether they retain files that old I don't know.

 

[Pockets69]

they do retain old files, you just need to somehow find out version of bootcamp tiger or leopard came with :S

Then you have to hope that the method i described above works, it works on 5.1.5621, but it only has 64 bit versions of drivers, and earlier versions like 4.0.4255 although you have 32 and 64 bits versions (i believe) the trick doesn't work

you have to find that "sweet spot" where there are 32 and 64 bit versions so you can use 32, and the msiexec /i bootcamp32.msi trick works.

I would do a google search first before actually dowanloading 30 versions of bootcampp to your drive :S

EDIT1
Worst case scenario install all the drivers manually :S

 

[tigerintank]

Thanks again for your help here Pockets your guidance and thoughts are keeping me on the right path!

I had a google around and couldn't find anything that specifically fit my bootcamp a MB 2007/Win 10 scenario. I suspect I'm suffering with the age of the machine - not too many of them out there running Win 10 sadly.

But your mention of a manual instal reminded me - I started this post looking to confirm if I should switch to 32 bit Win 10 or stick with 64. What i'd in the process forgotten, was that Henks original post was based on a 32 bit 8.1 instal onto his older Macbook 1,1.

So now having a 32 bit Windows 10 starting point- I thought i'd retry it.

His automated steps at the top of his post threw up some errors - asking if the drivers had installed, did I want to diagnose and so on. So as you suggested -I tried the manual steps instead (after reloading windows so I had a clean instal) and got no errors at all!

The outcome is definitely much more positive than the original 64 bit result. Referring back to the issues I listed in the post at the top of this thread;

• Internal backlight/brightness and external monitor issues - unfortunately these same problems exist - more info below :-(
• Fairly regular trackpad issues where 1 and 2 finger tap stops working until logout/reboot - appear to have gone completely
• No Sound - Analog sound and slide adjuster both fine. Not tried digital yet but since the LED is now off I believe it will be fine too

The display backlight will fail to come on 60-70% of time on boot / wake from sleep. A big problem for a laptop - so any suggestions / help would be vm appreciated. Its definitely not a hardware problem as Ive checked with 10.7 / Lion and its fine every single time.

External screen has issues mirroring at the 1280/800 native laptop res but is ok 1024/768 mirror or 1680/1050 extended. I suspect this is a simpler issue and am assuming that somewhere Dell will have something - i'll search around.

 

[Pockets69]

well at least you were able to install the drivres, and good on solving the other problems, the backlight needs to be solved as detailed on the tutorial, by adding the dsdt patches, without those it's not going to work.

 

[tigerintank]

well at least you were able to install the drivres, and good on solving the other problems, the backlight needs to be solved as detailed on the tutorial, by adding the dsdt patches, without those it's not going to work.

I think I did run the dsdt patches - though sorry I didn't explicitly say that above.

In Henks post he mentions - 'Run load.bat in the dsdt-fixes directory as administrator'

I did that, though I'm not sure I saw any specific results.

Is there any way to check that it has worked?

———
Edit

I suppose its obvious it hasn't worked - otherwise the backlight would be ok!

So maybe a better question is - are there any signs of why it might not have worked. I'm thinking if windows has an equivalent to console then that might shed some light.

I'll try the load.bat again and make sure I didn't do anything wrong the first time. I'll also take a look and see whats in the load.bat file and maybe I can step through the process manually - as I seem to have made more progress that way...

 

[Pockets69]

yeah you can dump your dsdt tables and see if the patches that are in the files were applied to the dsdt if the fixes are present then they were applied successfully.

You need to search a bit on google to see how to dump your dsdt tables on windows, then look through it, and see if the patches were applied.

 

[tigerintank]

I reran the load .bat and watched carefully. There's a brief flash up of a black window that disappears in a fraction of a second, suggesting that something is definitely running. No change to backlight behaviour afterwards though.

Thanks for the dsdt pointers - had a quick scan for info and there's lot there - I can see much of it is hackintosh related. Will take a proper look later this week.