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[UPGRADE] Nvidia 7900GS to ATI 4670

night_rider

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night_rider
night_rider
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I'm looking for help (@netkas) with an upgrade from an Nvidia 7900GS 256 to an ATI 4670 1GB.

 

Current status:

vanilla install

Chameleon 2RC3

Asus P5K-e

2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo

4GB 800MHz DDR2

7900GS using EFI strings and GraphicsEnabler

DSDT Patches: sound (AD1988B), USB, SATA

supplemental kext: AD2000b.kext, fakesmc.kext, IONetworkingFamily.kext, JMicronATA.kext, LegacyJMB36xSATA.kext, NullCPUPowerManagement.kext, OpenHaltRestart.kext, PlatformUUID.kext

 

extra kext in : main partition - /Volumes/MacOSX/Extra/Extensions

test drive - /Volumes/EFI/Extra/Extensions

 

What I tried:

 

1. downloaded these kext: http://rapidshare.com/files/297629498/ATI4...Netkas_Beta.zip

 

2. copied boot to /Volumes/EFI/ on my test drive

 

3. copied kexts to /Volumes/SL2/System/Library/Extensions

 

4. chown/chmod/repaired permissions for above. I think I also ran kextcache but have a -f flag in my Boot.plist

 

Results:

boot hangs at:

ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin: :pushCPU_CSTData - _CST evaluation failed

ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin: :pushCPU_CSTData - _CST evaluation failed

ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin: :registerLPCDriver - Warning - LPC device ....

 

Second try:

booted with -x

 

Results:

boot hangs after:

DSMOS has arrived

 

Appreciate any insight offered on my upgrade.

 

BTW I did notice that using netkas' beta bootloader was a little different than the Chameleon 2RC3 bootloader. It seemed to ignore my /Extra and DSDT in my EFI partition install but did pick them up on my production install where they are on the same partition as the OS. I'm guessing that if the 4670 only runs with netkas PC EFI bootloader I'll have to make some minor changes to my existing setup based on Chameleon 2RC3.

 

Also should I expect to create a new DSDT and re-patch when adding hardware?

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night_rider
night_rider
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Still looking for help in getting my 4670 installed.

 

I did some further cleanup and have new, but unsuccessful, results. I...

 

* cleaned up some errant .kext in S/L/E that were copied by mistake

* force copied the Netkas .kext to S/L/E

* chown/chmod S/L/E

* repaired permissions

* ran Kext Utility to rebuild kextcache

* edited com.apple.Boot.plist for PC EFI boot flags (arch=x86_64, -v), removed 7900GS efi strings, removed DSDT key which was previously causing the DSDT.aml to not be read

 

My results are now consistent:

 

** Device in slot: Slot 1 **

ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin.kext - waitforService(resourceMatching(AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement) timed out

 

I tried booting with boot flags:

-pci1

-pci0

-x32

-x

 

All, the same result.

 

Appreciate any input. Thanks.

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night_rider
night_rider
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It wasn't showing on-screen but it does appear to be an issue with the graphics. I'm leaning towards removing my DSDT.aml and seeing if it will boot with the new 4670 and then creating a new DSDT.

 

Can anyone confirm this is necessity of generating and editing a new DSDT after a video card upgrade?

 

Nov  9 01:28:16 marks-mac-pro kernel[0]: DSMOS has arrived
Nov  9 01:28:16 marks-mac-pro kernel[0]: ** Device in slot: SLOT--1 **
Nov  9 01:28:21 marks-mac-pro kernel[0]: ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin::start - waitForService(resourceMatching(AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement) timed out
Nov  9 01:28:22 marks-mac-pro kernel[0]: NVDA,Display-A: Not usable
Nov  9 01:28:27 marks-mac-pro kernel[0]: NVDA,Display-B: Not usable

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night_rider
night_rider
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@og-phantom thanks for the feedback!

 

Progress. Well I've advanced to another problem to solve.

 

Of course my issues were my own. I had two key 'light bulb' moments:

 

1. I'm in a multi-boot environment (Vista, Win7, SL1, SL2). I had forgotten to change the boot drive in my bios so I was booting from my production SL install instead of my test SL install where I'd made changes to the Boot.plist, etc. A 'duh' moment.

 

2. Looking at kernel log I couldn't resolve why it kept trying to load Nvidia displays. Then it struck me again that I'd updated my EFI strings using OSX86 Tools which altered the com.apple.Boot.plist in /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration. Sure enough when I checked in nano there they were. I removed and am no longer hanging on the boot screen but am getting black screen on VGA and DVI connections as others were reporting at netkas.org.

 

I'll think about it at work today but I'm now leaning on upgrading to 10.6.2 (currently totally vanilla 10.6 install) to see if the new OS changes for ATI remove my black screen.

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BatcOuntrY
BatcOuntrY
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Don't forget

 

<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>
	<string>y</string>

 

in your

 

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist

My Saphire 4670 is working but at only one resolution 1024x768

 

koko what kext's or files did you use to get your 4670 working?

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set77
set77
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OK guys

 

I forgot about the QE/CI part.

What I get is card being recognized, kexts loaded and only one basic resolution.

 

I removed all other ATI kexts from S/L/E

put 3 kexts from netkas there + beta bootloader + GraphicsEnabler Y

 

Would love to hear how to go beyond that.

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  • 2 months later...
nypnyc
nypnyc
Posted
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OK guys

 

I forgot about the QE/CI part.

What I get is card being recognized, kexts loaded and only one basic resolution.

 

I removed all other ATI kexts from S/L/E

put 3 kexts from netkas there + beta bootloader + GraphicsEnabler Y

 

Would love to hear how to go beyond that.

did you get the new imac 2009 kexts?

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