Snow Leopard on Acer Aspire One: Part 3: First Phase of Installation

UPDATE: For an updated version of the installation that is more general and detailed, click here.

Now that you have your install media ready, start up the netbook and go into the boot screen. Hit F2 to enter the options.

In the boot options, use the arrow keys to go to the Main tab where you will use the arrow keys to scroll down to the SATA Mode.

Hit enter at SATA Mode and change ICE to AHCI. It will not effect your Windows boot, but will allow the bios and boot loader to recognize Mac OS X once the install is finished. Hit F10 to save the changes. Let it boot into Windows and then before logging in, shut down in the bottom right corner.
Now, plug in the DVD drive and put in the boot loader CD or plug both USBs at the same time. Hit the power button and hit F12 during the boot. You will be presented with a list of devices to choose to boot from. Choose the device that contains the boot loader – whether it be the USB or the USB DVD drive.

You will now see this screen. With the arrow keys, go back and forth a couple of times before selecting and hitting enter on the iAtkos s3 titled disk. I found that this saved me from the first round of errors because when I did this directly, iAtkos refused to boot and gave error after error after error. Although going back and forth with the arrow keys once or twice and then choose iAtkos worked like a charm – for some reason.

When you enter the iAtkos hard drive, you will be welcomed by Apple’s boot. It will take a while but then you will get to the language choice. Choose your language and continue and it will start the installation.

Before you continue, you need to go to disk utility. Go to the Utilities menu to access Disk Utility.

In Disk Utility, you will select the partition that you designated for your Mac OS X boot and erase it as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

Once this is done, you will click Continue and see this window. Do not click install.

You can skip this Read Me. It gives you configuration instructions but we are using a different method.
You should then see this window. As I said earlier, don’t Install.

Click customize in the bottom left corner.

In the customize section choose the settings that apply for your system. Here is what I did for my Acer Aspire One D250.

I deselected the boot loader completely because I have NBI and I didn’t want to risk breaking the dual boot that I have with Windows 7. You can install a boot loader later, but I personally prefer NBI on my USB stick and using Windows as my default system. If you don’t want to keep Windows and want a Mac only system, you can install a boot loader, but if you like and want NBI, it would be best to do so after the install is complete.

Select Sleep Enabler in the Patches and move on.

Now for the drivers, it is crucial that the Hard drive is set to AHCI or your Mac Hard disk won’t be recognized or work at all. Choose that driver in the list.

For the keyboard, represented as PS/2, choose the Voodoo option as it will be compatible.

The Acer Aspire One comes with built in graphics from Intel so that is the VGA driver you should install.

While the network won’t work when the installation is complete, I still recommend selecting these kexts.
Once this is done, hit install. The installer status will not be accurate, just ignore it and don’t panic if it makes giant leaps from time to time.

Once completed, you will see this screen and then restart. Make sure that the NBI boot loader is plugged into your machine and then choose the Mac partition instead of iAtkos and continue to phase 2 of the installation.

Note: If the installation freezes close to the end and you can’t move your mouse or get any response, press and hold the power button until it turns off. When you boot up, it will recognize the Mac Partition and Mac Will Boot up.