[Guide] Dell XPS 8930 Big Sur 11.4 (upgraded from Catalina 10.15.7), RX580/UHD630, OpenCore

[brousseau6933]

Well, the XPS 8930 will end its life with Ventura!

Why?

1- iPhoto doesn't work anymore with the help of Retroactive (unfortunately abandonware it seems ). My other computers are still using iPhoto Library so I like to keep one on this computer too even if I have a Photos Library. Working fine in Ventura;

2- iTunes buggy (again, Retroactive!) and I even had to uninstall/reinstall it as it was simply crashing after Sonoma update. All is ok in Ventura;

3- Some extra content of iTunes/TV bought movies shows a black screen, be it with an RX 580 or an RX 5500. Again, fine in Ventura. Other computers are relying on iTunes libraries as they are on Sierra or Mojave;

4- I had to reinstall iMovie as it simply crashed after update. Fine but worrysome!

5- The hassle of reverting OCLP root patches (and even the patching process is not that easy!) for my Broadcom based Asus Wifi adapter each time an update would be needed.

I am not too worried about security as the XPS should get security updates until MacOS 16... and my MBP early 2011 is still on Sierra and my MPB 2015 and my Designare Hack are on Mojave indefinitely!

Patrice

 

[brousseau6933]

Still solid as a rock (finally) after Ventura 13.6.5 except a short glitch after first reboot: volume-hash-mismatch error! Didn’t occurred since and, to be sure, updated OpenCore to 0.9.9 from 0.8.8 for good measure.

 

[Skyfoxxp]

Hi !
Here on Ventura 13.6.5 perfect stability.
Actually I had to unplug the internal DVD drive because some time to time it made the finder instable (for no reason, but often after multiple standby / wakeup cycles). This issue didn't occur since these CD-ROM removal.

 

[brousseau6933]

Hi !
Here on Ventura 13.6.5 perfect stability.
Actually I had to unplug the internal DVD drive because some time to time it made the finder instable (for no reason, but often after multiple standby / wakeup cycles). This issue didn't occur since these CD-ROM removal.

I've bought an external Pioneer DVD/BR/M-Disc writer on my side.

 

[baryw]

My wife is running a Dell XPS 8920 and has found it to be great. It has been on Ventura but I moved it to Sonoma today. Easy stuff, extracted the config file, changed it to run SMBIOS 19,1 (was running 18,3). App store allowed me to upgrade to Sonoma, ran the upgrade and things are running great. No issues so far.

 

[trs96]

1- iPhoto doesn't work anymore with the help of Retroactive (unfortunately abandonware it seems ). My other computers are still using iPhoto Library so I like to keep one on this computer too even if I have a Photos Library. Working fine in Ventura;

2- iTunes buggy (again, Retroactive!) and I even had to uninstall/reinstall it as it was simply crashing after Sonoma update. All is ok in Ventura;

3- Some extra content of iTunes/TV bought movies shows a black screen, be it with an RX 580 or an RX 5500. Again, fine in Ventura. Other computers are relying on iTunes libraries as they are on Sierra or Mojave;

4- I had to reinstall iMovie as it simply crashed after update.

That's interesting. I'm using a 2014 Dell Optiplex 9020 running Sonoma and most apps you mention work well. I used OCLP for patching it. The only glitches I've run into is freeze ups in iPhoto once in a while. Requires a reboot. ITunes and iMovie work without any problems. TBH I was surprised it works this well. I only upgraded this old hardware because I needed the latest version of Pages that Apple doesn't allow on Monterey. One difference, I never tried to patch my Broadcom Wifi/BT card. Stuck with ethernet only, but that works well enough.

 

[brousseau6933]

That's interesting. I'm using a 2014 Dell Optiplex 9020 running Sonoma and most apps you mention work well. I used OCLP for patching it. The only glitches I've run into is freeze ups in iPhoto once in a while. Requires a reboot. ITunes and iMovie work without any problems. TBH I was surprised it works this well. I only upgraded this old hardware because I needed the latest version of Pages that Apple doesn't allow on Monterey. One difference, I never tried to patch my Broadcom Wifi/BT card. Stuck with ethernet only, but that works well enough.

My 9020 is still on Mojave, at work. The XPS 8930 did had a lot of little bugs that « bugged » me but maybe I should try it again, now that Sonoma is more mature and Retroactive got an update. However, if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it they say: Ventura is really stable and don’t need to be patched.