This is a small guide on how to set up Natit for PCI-E Radeon HD graphics cards in Mac OS X Leopard (10.5.5 & higher). By following the steps below you will get full QE/CI/OpenGL and DVI output. HDMI, S-Video and Composite outputs are confirmed to work with a Radeon HD3870.
It is actually a lot easier than you might think.

Important!
This guide is for advanced users only. If you want a simple installer, check lastExile's installer collection.
In case you have an older version of Leopard installed, see the archived copy of this post.

Supported Radeon HD cards:

• Radeon HD 2400
• Radeon HD 2600 Pro, Radeon HD 2600 XT
• Radeon HD 2900 Pro, Radeon HD 2900 XT
• Radeon HD 3850
• Radeon HD 3870
• Radeon HD 3870x2
• Other Radeon HD 2x00/38x0 cards might work as well

Step by step guide:

1. Get Natit (attached to this post)
2. Extract the archive and copy Natit.kext to /System/Library/Extensions
3. Locate ATIRadeonX2000.kext in /System/Library/Extensions, Open /System/Library/Extensions/ATIRadeonX2000.kext/Contents/Info.plist with the editor of your choice and add the PCI ID of your card (if it is not already in there). Save.
4. • Only if you have a Radeon 2900 Pro or a Radeon 2900 XT download this
     Extract it and copy ATY_Franklin.kext to /System/Library/Extensions/ATINDRV.kext/Contents/PlugIns.
   • Otherwise skip this step.
5. Open Terminal (if you haven't already done so) and type:
   
   CODE
   cd /System/Library/Extensions
   sudo chown -R root:wheel *
   sudo chmod -R 755 *
   sudo rm /System/Library/Extensions.mkext
   sudo rm /System/Library/Extensions/Caches/com.apple.kext.info
6. You are done. Reboot and pray

Additional files
If you have problems with white menus, you might want to try one of these files. Starting with 10.5.5 it should not be necessary to install these patches any more.

• If you have a Radeon 2600 Pro or a Radeon 3850 and 10.5.1 download this (white menu fix)
  Extract it and replace the original ATIRadeonX2000GLDriver.bundle in /System/Library/Extensions with the one you have just downloaded.
• If you have a Radeon 2600 Pro or a Radeon 3850 and 10.5.2 download this (white menu fix)
  Extract it and replace the original ATIRadeonX2000GLDriver.bundle in /System/Library/Extensions with the one you have just downloaded.

Notes:

• It is recommended to perform a clean install. Do not select any graphics-related things during the installation.
• AMD users: you might need a patched OpenGL.framework.
• Radeon HD 2400 users: You do not get DVI support. You have to use a DVI2VGA-converter instead.
• If DVI works, HDMI will work as well (with DVI2HDMI adaptor), no HDMI audio ATM
• AGP versions of these cards require additional patching. I cannot test it and therefore this guide does only apply to the PCI-E versions.

Changelog:

• 2009-03-01: Updated permissions of Natit.
• 2009-02-27: Added new Natit.kext and updated the post.
• 2008-04-03: updated 2900 information, added ATY_Franklin.kext link, added link to FAQ

Thanks to netkas who made these great drivers. For more information check the #radeonhd IRC channel at irc.osx86.hu
Please also have a look at this FAQ!

Hello,

I am a newbie just have Kalyway 10.5.1 installed on a 945G chipset MB. Going to buy a HD 2600 pro to get rid of the GMA950 mouse glitch problem.

May I know if the above steps enable DVI output?

Rgds.

Yes, they do enable DVI.

do you have to have the graphics update? Because i have tried everything and all i get is a display of white vertical lines. my install takes 5 hours. i havent had a successful install of these drivers yet.

Zephyroth 10.5.1
amd athlon 64 x2
radeon hd3850
ide hard drive

Thanks for the guide but is all that necessary really? With my completely vanilla install all I had to do was add Natit and my card worked great. I am using an MSI HD2600XT Diamond 256MB.

Thanks,
sdelano

edit: nm I guess my dev id must have already been in the other kext

No, 10.5.1 and 10.5.2 have the update included already. You just need 10.5.1 or 10.5.2, no updates, no custom kernel, no OpenGL.framework and all that stuff...


Have you really tried the steps above with a clean install? By clean I mean not selecting any graphics-related things during the installation process. Are you using DVI?


Yes


Yeah, if your device ID is in ATIRadeonX2000.kext you're good. The other steps don't apply to your craphics card either, so all you need is Natit

mcsmart

I have the Sapphire 2600 xt ddr3.
I've followed the above steps (skipped step 4. because I have the 2600 "xt" not the "pro".
VGA works fine, but DVI does not work. I also get a blue screen for about 2 minutes on startup. Eventually I get a bit a graphics tearing and I see my desktop.
In my system profiler my card shows up fine and appears to have full support including resolution switching, QE and CI, just no DVI.

Thanks to everyone who puts effort into this site.

[quote name='mcsmart' date='Mar 30 2008, 08:12 AM' post='689030']

Are you using DVI?

I am using DVI with a DVI to VGA converter attached.


I also have another question. I noticed how many forums mention a modified bios of the 3850. Do i need this?

That is strange. DVI is supposed to work in this version. You could wait for netkas' next driver release and give it a try. I will update the instructions above, as soon as a new driver comes out



No you don't need it at all.

Dang I can't get it working even on the rev 2 install disk. I have PCI 2.0 if thats a problem. Which kernel are you using?And by not working I mean a garbled screen at startup..

Strange, PCI-E 2.0 should not be the problem. I use the 9.2.0 kernel (10.5.1 users would probably use the 9.1.0 kernel) (Darwin Kernel Version 9.2.0: Tue Feb 5 16:13:22 PST 2008; 9c31:xnu-1228.3.13~1/RELEASE_I386 i386). Your DVI2VGA-Adaptor should not be a problem either.

Are you sure you have added the device id of your card?
Did you install the ATIRadeonX2000GLDriver.bundle? If not, do it. If you have, try it without it

I haven't used Zephyroth 10.5.1, so maybe something is missing or outdated there. If you can, try getting Zephyroth 10.5.2.

mcsmart

Thanks for your help. I tried again yesterday with my sb600 kext injected into a 10.5.2 install which now takes 30 minutes rather than 5 hours

I noticed there are 2 versions of the driver on the installation disc. One that is called 38x0 driver that is about 13mb, and another that is called the title of this forum that is 356kb. If no success today, I will try the x1600 and see how that works out.

typing on the iPhone is tireing!

I had the 7300GT, I pulled it and installed the HD2600XT, failed to load, did not know I needed a new kext. I found this thread, just installed the netkas kext and put the HD2600XT back in and it works great. Only slightly better performance over the Asus 7300GT I had, but it works as a dual link DVI, both ports are working. Check my sig for my specs if you have questions.

Well, good that you got 10.5.2. But actually you might want to try it without the drivers from the install DVD, and use the drivers from my post above. They should be more up to date. Good luck!



Good to hear, thanks for your feedback.

Regards,
mcsmart

i tried with my 2400 but got no success! the system gets panic at very early boot; even with the "-s" flag I can't boot anymore.
using amd 5200+ , asus M2v motherboard, and Leo4all 10.5.2

never mind, i quit, i'll purchase another graphics card

Well, if it panics when booting with "-s" it is probably not because of your craphics card. What does the kernel panic say? My guess are some Nvidia kexts. Put in your install DVD, open Terminal and navigate to your Leopard install. Then try to remove all Nvidia kexts

Regerds,
mcsamrt

Hi all, I followed all the above instruction but after rebooting, the white screen with the apple logo appears (distorted res) and then the screen turns blue (a very nice and smooth blue though). All I can see is a mouse which i can control and it appears to be in the correct resolution (1650x1080). And also I think that OSX is running behind that blue screen 'cuz I notice when i moved the mouse to the corner that I set up to display all windows, the mouse changed into a hand with a finger pointing.
Any advice, guys?
Thanks

Here's my system:
Zephyroth Leopard 10.5.2 AMD EFI
AMD X2 3800+
Asus A8N-VM CSM
Visiontek HD 2600 Pro 512mb (dev id:9589)
HDD: Maxtor 200GB IDE (MBR partitioned)
audio: Soundmax (got it working with azalia package installer)
Lan: Nforce ethernet (not working, tried forcedeth and skge)

so.. Im back. I can't live with my 3850 sitting in the static proof bag on my table. But, even without selecting any drivers off the zephyroth 10.5.2 rev2, I still get the "scrambled" screen at startup. do you have any guess of what this might be?Do I have to edit the Natit.kext or anything??

Thanks for you info and guide but no Qe/ci on hd ati 2600 where and how to put device id (may another name) in info plist.
thanks once again

Very strange. Are you using an AGP card? You don't have to to anything with Natit.kext!
Try to install the Leopard Graphics Update and tell me if it helps



Locate "<key>IOPCIMatch</key>" and add your device id in the string field below:
"<string>0x95891002</string>" (where 9589 is the device id of your card).

mcsmart there was a BIOS released by ATi for the 38x0 series recently that affected the fan controls.

Since that update I cannot use my 3850 in OSX once drivers are installed. Until the point that they are installed it works, but only at 1024x768 with no QE/CI etc.

I think a lot of people moving forward will be affected by this. The DevID stays the same for the cards, but I'm thinking that something else must have changed that affects the rendering.

Any ideas?

mcsmart:

Do you think my trouble is caused by my card being 512 mb and not 256?

2 questions.
1) I have the 2600 Pro, does this mean because it has 2 DVI that both ports work, making me be able to do dual screens
2) Is the resolution changeable, or is it stuck, IE can OS X change the resolution in Control Panel, or do I have to use a boot flag.

Thanks

So, anyone got any idea for my problem yet? Please, guys?
I've just tried the Leopard graphic update and got my kernel panic. Really don't know what else I can do.


My previous post:

Hi all, I followed all the above instruction but after rebooting, the white screen with the apple logo appears (distorted res) and then the screen turns blue (a very nice and smooth blue though). All I can see is a mouse which i can control and it appears to be in the correct resolution (1650x1080). And also I think that OSX is running behind that blue screen 'cuz I notice when i moved the mouse to the corner that I set up to display all windows, the mouse changed into a hand with a finger pointing.
Any advice, guys?
Thanks

Here's my system:
Zephyroth Leopard 10.5.2 AMD EFI
AMD X2 3800+
Asus A8N-VM CSM
Visiontek HD 2600 Pro 512mb (dev id:9589)
HDD: Maxtor 200GB IDE (MBR partitioned)
audio: Soundmax (got it working with azalia package installer)
Lan: Nforce ethernet (not working, tried forcedeth and skge)

i have an asus EAH3870x2 and installing the drivers gives me a black screen after boot.. i tried using DVI and vga nothings working so far.

Does that mean you have updated the BIOS of your card? If you really did so, I guess I cannot help you. I know that Natit dumps your video BIOS and inserts it into IOReg, therefore a modified BIOS should not be much of a problem. Maybe someone on the IRC channel can help you.



No, not really, I am using a 512MB Radeon HD 2600 Pro as well. But is your card AGP or PCI-E?



Yes

You can change it in the Control Panel



I really cannot see what could be wrong. Do you have a PCI-E or AGP card? Try this installer.




Try this installer for x2 owners.

I have a PCI-e slot. I tried with the graphics update and then I get a kernel panic right after the drivers are loaded. I think that it is probably my setup, not the driver. something else might be causing the problem.

I'M HAVING THE SAME EXACT PROBLEM!
I've had the same problems with ToH 10.5.0 (patched for AMD), Zephyroth 10.5.2 Rev. 1 AND Rev. 2!!! I set Leopard to go to the login screen so it doens't automatically logon, and I get my cursor and a blue background. It didn't freeze, I can start to type in my password and press enter and the hard drive activity light starts to blink like it normally would.

The only way to get it working is to boot with -s and remove ATIRADEONX2000.kext and Natit.kext. WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN?

I guess i'll have to live without accelerated support, I can still change my resolution by changing the com.apple.Boot.plist file.


It doesn't matter what method I use or what drivers I try installing.

Now one thing I noticed that after I install the drivers and look at the dates of the .kext files in /System/Library/Extensions, all the dates for the ATI-related drivers are from October 2007, even after the Leo graphics update. The only thing the installer does is install a natit.kext.

how can i add my ID???
will you please post how to do it?


thanks

I think thats the same installer available in the #radeonhd channel, if i use the installer i get a black screen and if i use the first method i get a garbled display, either black with blue and white splotches or purple and white (which i believe is the osx login screen). i think we need some type of fix.. my device id and vendor are the same 0x950f1002 . Im on an nforce motherboard with efi 8 and im not using vanilla kernel so maybe that could cause problems?

This also counts for me and I have a ATI mobility 2400 in my MSI ex610 Notebook (so I can't upgrade :-()... Is there nothing we can do to overcome this problem?

Well if you want your resolution changed go to /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration then open com.apple.Boot.plist. Make it look like this:



Change the string to whatever you want.

EDIT: Well, I took another stab at installing the drivers; heres what I did:
1. Boot with -x (safe boot)
2. Installed the Leopard Graphics Update v1.0.
3. Installed the new natit; logged out.
4. Installed the white menus fix for the 2600PRO; logged out.
5. Installed the triakis DVI stuff; restarted.

I got the SAME EXACT RESULT as all the other times before.

My videocard Ati Radeon HD 2400 Pro AGP. My system Kalyway Leopard 10.5.1, but this card not working. After reboot and login, my screen only white backround. Different driver is card aviable? Please help me!! Thanks!!

Hí,

I have a Ati 3850. The temperature is +65º (127w) with Macosx86 and 55º (165 w) whith XP. Have this a solution.

thanks

AGP cards are not supported by this driver. Check your the IRC channel to get more help.



The high temperature is normal. You might want to get a better fan for your card

Hi guys,

I think I know why some of you are having problems with this.

Info.plist isn't the only file in the X2000 kext that refers to your device ID. If you go inside the MacOS folder, the ATIRadeonX2000 file in there also refers to the device ID's.

Instead of ADDING your device ID to Info.plist, try changing one of the device ID's. For example try changing 0x94c91002 to 0x12341002 where 1234 is your device ID.

Then open the ATIRadeonX2000 file inside MacOS with a hex editor (with the appropriate permissions), search for 3D C9 94 00 00 and change this to 3D 34 12 00 00 where 1234 is your device ID. Make sure you enter 34 12 and not 12 34! Then do step 5 to repair permissions.

Let me know if this works or not!

Nice guide by the way mcsmart!

Will

And also consumes more watts (+30 w)

Thanks

My ATI Radeon HD 2400 working only with 1024*740.. when i tried to install FCP it says no agp graphic card is install. But mine is PCI-E.. why it says agp card is not installed...

Thanks mcsmart, but I know so little about IRC, and even less about how to know how to properly change that stuff out.

I could probably learn it pretty quickly, but I work so much that I barely have time to even play with my PC's anymore

These days I just like to post up my problems and see if others can figure out the issues.

I can even provide a BIOS dump if that would help.

I've just followed the instruction ( got ati hd 2400 ).. rebooted and just for few sec i saw blue scren and monitor went off. monitor light is blinking but me sure my monitor not supporting 1600+ resolution . May i know how to change resolution in safe mode.. pls help otherwise have to re-install whole osx again.

ufo_all when you first boot up and it asks you to press any key to choose startup options press any key.
At the prompt that comes up type this exactly as it is written (quote marks and all):
"Graphics Mode"="1024x768x32"
That should change the graphics down to a lower mode and allow you back into the OS to make changes.

Yes i've tired still it is dark.. monitor LED is blinking.. It just goes off after Blue screen apears..Is there any other way to edit.. can i edit with bootable dvd...

I got my 2600Pro working with dual screens, I used the Leo4all r2 dvd, and selected the check for 2600.. and it just worked!
I got into System profiler and it says I have the 2600XT (Even though the box and the card's fan say 2600Pro), anyways I looked for system updates and there is an update for the 2600XT firmware, should I do this update or not?


Thanks

Maybe you (or someone) could help me out with that?

Huh? Help you out installing? try the Leo4All v2 dvd (v3 will be out soon!), and select the ATI 2600 driver!

But firmware?

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I would recommend not doing the firmware update.

That firmware is meant for a specific card that is made for the Mac hardware. It is different than the card that you actually own.

Flashing the firmware if it is not the exact correct firmware for your card can damage it permanently.

hey.
i have the 2600 pro. it is giving me a problem with the menus, and popup windows---i'm not sure if this is what you qualify as the white menu. Any ideas how to get this to work. I've used the steps noted in the first post, and they didn't not help me fix it.

Thanks in advance.

You can take a screenshot...Winkey+Shift+3. Shows up on your desktop as 'Picture #.png'.

My Radeon X1950Pro broke, and I got a HD 3850 256mb as a replacement.

I managed to get it working with the instructions from the 1st post - I had to remove previous Natit.kext from single user mode (-s) first and the boot into safe mode (-x) to install the HD 3850 things.

But I also have the noisy fan problem. This is bad for me because I am supposed to make music on the Hackmac side (even bought Logic Studio for that).
How can I see the video card temp. in OSX?

I guess I'll wait for a while if somebody comes up with a solution. But if not, what video card would be the best option for a quiet hackmack operation but still powerful enough on the Windows side for playing modern games? Nvidia 8800GTS 512MB?

P.S. One improvement is that I can now shut down (vanilla kernel) - I couldn't with the X1950Pro, had to use the power switch.

Thanks, BTW.

"AGP versions of these cards require additional patching. I cannot test it and therefore this guide does only applies to the PCI-E". What's driver need for me, ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro AGP version card, and what's like patch use this card? Pci-e driver not working this card, my default screen resolution 1024x768, and QE not supported. I use dvi2vga connectors, but don't work. Please write me step by step tutorial this card. Thankyou everybody!