Get Ready for OS X Lion: Update to 10.6.8 on a Socket 1155 Sandy Bridge System

Posted by tonymacx86 on Monday, July 18, 2011
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Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8 was Apple's first release that includes universal kernel support for Sandy Bridge systems. Performing a Combo Update on these rigs can cause system crashes and general instability. We've created this simple guide that will allow any Socket 1155 Sandy Bridge system to update cleanly to 10.6.8 and be ready for Lion.

1. Install and configure system using iBoot + MultiBeast
2. Run UpdateHelper
3. Reboot
4. Run 10.6.8 Combo Update
5. Reboot

What's causing the kernel panic? Mac OS X doesn't recognize Sandy Bridge systems, as every one was shipped with a special version of 10.6.7. Since we use either the 10.6 or 10.6.3 retail DVD, then try to update to 10.6.8 it doesn't know what to do with certain configurations as it's completing the update, and crashes.
UpdateHelper deletes the ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin.kext from IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext plugins folder (in System/Library/Extensions). The Combo Update will replace this kext.

Hope this clears up any 10.6.8 confusion, and helps you get ready for Lion!

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