Updating to Mojave 10.14.4 on an unsupported Apple hardware

I am running 10.14.3 on an unsupported Apple hardware. macOS 10.14.4 update showed up on the App Store Updates for quite a while now. I had the opportunity to update to 10.14.4 rather early this morning before skipping out for training. Popped by the mac couple times and before realising the mac hung after a reboot.

I relied on dosdude1’s Mojave Patcher as this mac hardware was no longer supported by Apple. I somehow skipped checking his page for the latest news on 10.14.4, and this turned around and hit me squarely in the face.

-> Dosdude1’s patcher page indicated the 1.30 patcher tool needs to be installed before updating to 10.14.4. <-

Drats! Training called and I had to leave. I was mulling over this problem and googling to no help – It is very no one tried updating to 10.14.4 WITHOUT dosdude1’s 1.30 patch.

Just not long ago, I bit the bullet and applied the 1.30 patch over the currently non-functioning partition. After 32 minutes and applying the dosdude1’s Post Install drivers, the mac booted up. [Hooray!]

I quickly ran a check and all seemed fine except 10.14.4 was not applied and the mac remained on 10.14.3.

I’ll keep the mac on 10.14.3 until this weekend.

Steps to convert a Parallels (OSX) VM to VMware (Linux)

I had couple VMs in Parallel lying around on the old storage. Some of these still have a valid Microsoft Windows and Office licences which would mean throwing away good money if I’ve just dumped them.

I managed to figure out how to move these VMs to VMware Workstation on Linux. Here are the requirements and the steps.

Things to note after the conversion
1. The extraction will transmigrate the underlying OS innards to VMware’s. This will trigger reactivation for Microsoft Windows and also Office. Interestingly all I need was to click the reactivation notices (1 for Windows and 1 for Office) and all was done!

Requirements
1. Able to boot into the Parallels VM (It should be running Windows)
2. Make sure the host storage space is at double the size of the Parallels VM you want to convert.
3. Download VMware Converter from VMware (The current version is 6.2)

Steps
1. Boot into your Parallels VM
2. Make a shared folder to the host operating system from Parallels. You will save the new VMware image here.
3. Install VMware Converter
4. Then run VMware Converter as an administrator 

5. This screen will be shown. Select Convert Machine

6. Next select “This local machine”. The source type should say “Powered on” since this Parallels instance is powered on.

7. The screen below will pop up. The options look alright. Make sure there is a location where you can save the converted virtual machine to, at the last selection.

Note if C:\ drive is selected, it means the virtual machine will be saved back to the same Parallels instance – this is not what we want.

Click Next.

VMware Converter will chug along, depending on the speed of medium which the virtual machine will be saved to. It took less than 60 mins with a SSD.

Start up the newly created VMware instance on VMware Workstation. Done!

Setting up Raspberry Pi 3 with Linux

I had a requirement to run a headless Linux device, coupled with a 3G USB dongle for communications. The Raspberry Pi 3 I bought about 9 months back came in handy.

Here are the steps I took to setup Linux on Rpi.

1. Download and copy the Linux image file onto a micro SD card.
2. Insert the micro SD card into the Rpi and start it up with the keyboard and mouse connected.
3. Log in, and run ‘sudo apt-get update’
4. Update gparted to expand the partition space. You will need to apt-get install gparted
5. Run gparted and expand the existing partition space.
6. Reboot
7. Insert the following string into the /boot/cmdline.txt file. ‘usbhid.mousepoll=0’ at the end of the string. This step removes the laggy mouse scroll.
8. Insert the two following lines into /boot/config.txt file ‘dtoverlay=pi3-disable-wifi’ and ‘dtoverlay=pi3-disable-bt’ at the end of the file. Each lines on their own. This step disables the wifi and bluetooth.
9 Reboot
10. Insert 3G Dongle and update the APN configuration in network-manager.
11. APN: hicard, Username: , Password:

How to remove and reapply Office 2016 activation

If you have registered multiple Office 2016 (standalone) to only one email address, Microsoft activation is likely to deny your second or subsequent activation even when you have valid product keys.

Why so? The reason is simple -> Microsoft Office activation was written by a bunch of kindergarteners.

if any of the microsoftie kindergarteners are reading this, go check out McAfee AV’s activation as a model to follow.

Here’s the steps to reset the second or subsequent activations, assuming you are comfortable with the Windows command line.

1. Determine whether 64bit or 32bit version of Office 2016 was installed. To find out, look for the OSPP.VBS file in the Office16 directory.

Go to the Program Files -> Microsoft Office -> Office16. There’s either “Program Files (x86)” or “Program Files”. If you find the OSPP.VBS file in the “Program Files (x86)” directory, means you are running a 32bit Office 2016.

2. If you are using the 32 bit version, go on to step 3. Else jump to the bottom then back to step 3.

3. Run the following to get the existing Product key
Look for the last line that says “Last five characters of the installed product key: XXXXX”

cscript "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16\OSPP.VBS" /dstatus

4. With this five chars, run the next command to remove the (incorrect) product key currently registered with, XXXX refers to the 5 chars from the above /dstatus output.

cscript "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16\OSPP.VBS" /unpkey:XXXX

5. Next, run this command, substituting the xxxx with the new Product key which you can find on the Office 2016 subscriptions page.

cscript “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16\OSPP.VBS” /inpkey:xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

6. Then activate the licence

cscript "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16\OSPP.VBS" /act

If you are running the 64bit version, replace

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16\OSPP.VBS"

with

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16\OSPP.VBS"

 

How to stop Spotify from starting up after login

I thought I had left the Spotify app running when I shutdown the Mac. It turns out that Spotify set itself up to start up after login.

The more interesting thing is that you can’t disable this automatic startup from the Spotify app.

The method to stop Spotify from starting up after login, is to:

  1. Go to > System Preferences > Users and Groups > Login Items
  2. Select Spotify  and click on the  (minus) icon.

 

Repairing an unbootable Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro

Updating this blog after a busy weekend. I came into possession of a Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro ultralight which could not boot up. The BIOS showed the stock 256 GB SSD was not recognized – uh oh not a good sign.

Quickly went to Sim Lim to pick up a replacement (and one with a larger space) mSata SSD – Samsung  850 EVO 500 GB and prepared for the operation.

Something at the back of my head was stopping me from replacing the SSD, so I thought to give another spin on the repair bandwagon. After some mucking around, I managed to resuscitate the Y2P, not after downloading a Windows 8.1 ISO (its free to download but you will need to key in a serial number if you are doing a bare metal install) from Microsoft.

The magic is found within the Repair Options -> Command Line in the Windows 8.1 thumbdrive.

c:\> bootrec /FixMbr
c:\> bootrec /FixBoot
c:\> bootrec /RebuildBcd

The Y2P started to boot up normally. I was able to log into the Windows 8.1 desktop.

All’s well.

Another easy Saturday (wireless mouse cleaning)

Went to the library to study in the morning, followed by lunch at Fortune Centre and coffee at Mellower (hipster joint, I know).

Recrimped 1 x RJ45 cable and researched for a wireless mouse to replace the two I currently have. Both wireless mouse have scrolling problems (missed scrolls)

Just as I was about to hit Pay on the online website, a thought came across. Why don’t I try cleaning the scroll wheel on the mouse? So I gathered the tools:

  1. Screwdriver,
  2. Denatured Alcohol,
  3. Can of compressed air.

Opened up the mouse and removed the scroll wheel assembly. Surprisingly clean, despite it going places and more than 8 years old. (Dangling white connector – I’ve removed the two-wire connector from the base PCB)

Removed the scroll wheel and wiped the wheel slits clean. The slits triggers a counter in mouse programming to keep track on the number of clicks, thereby translating it to scrolls.

Did you note a possible JTAG header where the ribbon ends? 🙂

Cleaning the scroll wheel with Denatured alcohol on cotton buds and a few blast of compressed air helped to remove the minute debris stuck in-between the slits.

Note the white connectors from the outer shell connected back to the base PCB. A quick test after cleaning and saved another $40 under 10 minutes of work.

Very Naise.

Replacing a frayed Apple charging cable – (Part 4)

ATTENTION: Opening the AC adapter means you are voiding the warranty provided by Apple. In case of any accidents, fires or mishap, you will hold me harmless against all liabilities, lawsuits, etc.

Part  1 – Preparation work to open the ac adapter
Part 2 – Work steps to open the ac adapter
Part 3 – Re-soldering the terminals
Part 4 – You are reading Part 4

Aesthetics here means I want to keep it as Appleque as far as I can, even after a good working repair.

Unlike other tinkerers, I’m not in favour of using superglue (cyanoacrylate, err) to glue the two halves together. Instead, I’ll be using a roll of white vinyl electrical tape, easily found in most hardware stores.

Step 1

Inspect the replacement charging cable stopper attached to the ac adapter. Make sure its seated properly between the two halves. Then take care to press the two halves of the ac adapter together to ensure a tight fit.

Step 2

Wrap white electrical tape around the ac adapter as many times as required.

Job done!