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Not certain what's causing this issue - Mountain Lion, Thinkpad T61

LonelyTV

By LonelyTV,
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LonelyTV
LonelyTV
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TL;DR version: Window open and close animations hang and the computer eventually 'locks up'.

 

Full story: I've been trying to get Mountain Lion up and running on my laptop (Lenovo Thinkpad T61) which has been unable to run Os X due to it having a nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M GPU. The previous versions of Os X lacked support for it so I gave up on it. However, when I gave 10.8.2 a try I found that it natively supported the GPU with acceleration and all. However, it has been giving me a strange issue that I haven't been able to troubleshoot.

 

In both the installer and operating system I often have a "beach ball" (not spinning) as a cursor, rarely does it turn to an arrow and the only time does it spin is when a program is "not responding" and only when the cursor is over that non-responsive window. However, the real issue lies in the way windows open and close, as well as icon animation. If I open "About this Mac" from the Apple menu the window will fade in correctly however, If I were to close it or click "More info" there is a 95% chance that it will stop mid-fade and remain on the screen overlaying the "System Information" window. The same happens any other window that fades in, sometimes I'll get a tiny, pre-fade in window in the center of my desktop that is interactive, but it's super small and I can't read anything on it. The same goes for icons if there is any animation it will freeze and leave a residual icon. See the screen shot for an example. Eventually, enough windows will start doing this that I can't use the computer. Either it will stop working completely (as in it will become non-responsive) or no other windows will open (such as, opening Safari won't open a window). I have to reboot to "fix it".

 

p0rIU.jpg

I have a DSDT installed, but I haven't edited it. And, I've tried other graphics related KEXTs (even rolled back to 10.8.0 thinking 10.8.2's KEXTs were causing it), however since 10.8 is the first version to support this video card none of them worked. I'm not having much luck with anything else.

 

If anyone has had similar experiences or can think of another way towards a solution, I'm all ears / eyes.

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PROTOCOL X™
PROTOCOL X™
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Add cpus=1 to your boot.plist, I don't know which bootloader you're using, but this solves the problem for sure in Lion 10.7.. I don't know if this works also in 10.8.x.. But we will see..

 

OSX is using 1 core of you're dualcore processor in this mode, but is stable enough to work with, comparing to Windows..

 

I'm looking for a solution to make both cores running stable, At first I thought it was a video related problem, but when I switched off dualcore processing in my T61 BIOS, OSX was running stable for the first time with CI/QE!!? TSC synchronization isn't optimized for core1 darwin reports..

 

Maybe this problem is fixable with DSDT editing, but I'm totally not into that.. So for now this is the best solution so far..

 

Good luck!!

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LonelyTV
LonelyTV
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Thanks, I added the flag and got it up and running. What little DSDT editing that I have done hasn't given me any knowledge on how to solve our CPU issue. I'm sure it can be accomplished. I'm just glad to have the machine stable.

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PROTOCOL X™
PROTOCOL X™
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Hi, fine that your system is running stable now.. But I've got a solution!! I'm running on 2 cores now, and the system is as stable as with 1 core running.. But now performance is even better! Of course... But is wasn't so easy to find a good solution for this problem..

 

But after a lot of trying and searching on the internet it finally came to me.. I think the TSCSync.kext is the main trigger to solve the problem.. But I added some more kexts, maybe they are also needed. I don't know for sure.. I have them attached to this post..

 

Good luck!!

T61_TSCSync_FIX.zip

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LonelyTV
LonelyTV
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Thanks for the KEXTs, they worked perfectly and gave a significant boost to the laptop's performance as well. I had originally tried the TSCSync kext when I first installed the OS thinking it would fix it. But, I found that it didn't help, and it would rarely boot. I had a few Kernel Panics with the ones you attached, but when I rolled my AppleACPIPlatform back it fixed them and it has been running smooth since. I'm excited to see that the laptop takes to 10.8 like my desktop has. Now to iron out a few things and it will be a near perfect install.

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jugdus
jugdus
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Yes at last a solution!!! Well done

PROTOCOL X™

Thank you!! I installed your attached kexts, and the Lion 10.7.4 installation on my T61 is running great!! I was having the same problems as LonelyTV talks about above. Safari is working properly now and no more tiny tiny windows that I can't read!! :thumbsup_anim:

So LonelyTV, how did you get Mountain Lion to install on your T61? I have tried TonyMac's ###### and myHack, with various boot flags, I only get to the white/silver apple, but can never get to the usb install page and then the screen goes to black and reboots.

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hill33
hill33
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So LonelyTV, how did you get Mountain Lion to install on your T61? I have tried TonyMac's ###### and myHack, with various boot flags, I only get to the white/silver apple, but can never get to the usb install page and then the screen goes to black and reboots.

 

I think the rebooting problem is caused by the CPU.

I have thinkpad with T7250 CPU with NVS 140m graphics, I coudn't install ML on my TP because of rebooting problem/.

 

I'm not so sure, and don't knows that following is exact information but, T7250 CPU dosen't support 64bit boot mode or something like that.

 

I want to know is there anybody had successful installation of ML on computers with T7250 CPU.

 

(although, Installation with ML developer preview 1, with arch=i386 boot flag, installation was available. on TP R61, nvs Quadro 140m was with QE/CI with VBIOS + graphicsenabler + above TSSync.kext. ML DP1 is the last ML that supports bootflag arch=i386 )

 

Jugdus // please let me know if you succeed ML GM or 10.8.1 or 10.8.2 installation. Thank you.

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jugdus
jugdus
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Did you buy Mountain Lion? That's the only way I got TonyMac's way to work. You can use this tutorial to make a bootable USB of your 10.8.2 InstallESD or the 10.8.0 (GM) InstallESD. it worked for me.


Hi LonelyTV - I originally bought 10.8.0 ML from the Apple site and subsequently downloaded the 10.8.2 version - so Ive tried to install with both versions
I also tried the guide you suggested, but still can't boot to the usb installer install screen. At boot up I get to the white page, and the rotating wheel with the Apple sign. After a few seconds of rotating wheel, the activity light on my usb installer stops and the screen goes black , then the computer reboots.

 


Jugdus // please let me know if you succeed ML GM or 10.8.1 or 10.8.2 installation. Thank you.


Hi hill33
No luck yet. I have a T9500 cpu in my T61
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LonelyTV
LonelyTV
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T7250 CPU dosen't support 64bit boot mode or something like that.

 

ML DP1 is the last ML that supports bootflag arch=i386 )



According to Intel your processor is a x64 processor. And, the i386 flag no longer works in 10.8.

Have you tried CPUS=1?
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hill33
hill33
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No, I didn't, I'll try later, thanks :)

i386 doesn't works in the regular version of ML

but, only in Developer preview version(beta) 1,

from DP2, the removed 32bit kernel extension support.

If it works with CPUS=1, then after installation,

I have to rollback AppleACPIplaftform and, then might be boot without cpus=1 flag.

Is it right?

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LonelyTV
LonelyTV
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First things first, if CPUS=1 works then you can try out the T61 kext Protocol X posted above. It has a TSCSync kext that fixes the need for the CPUS=1 flag. And, for me to get the KEXT to work I had to rollback AppleACPIplatform. Your milage may vary though.

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hill33
hill33
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My goodness,

 

Thank you LonelyTV, you were right. The processor was 64bit capable.

 

the mountain lion instant reboot problem was BIOS setting.

Judgus // please confirm memory execute protection was enable in CMOS

 

after setting this, i was available to boot into installation screen with only npci=0x2000 (without arch=i386)

 

Thank you

 

after installation done , I'll post another comment.

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hill33
hill33
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Installation was very successful.

 

I put TSsync.kext into the installation USB. --> installation proceeded with graphics acceleration.

 

Now I haver to get sound, and speedstep.

 

It's time to work on DSDT.

 

Do you have any DSDT source for AD1984 sound chipset or patched AppleHDA.kext?

 

Thanks.

 

my old R61 8918-A14 notebook was resurrected by ML !!!

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jugdus
jugdus
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My goodness,

 

Thank you LonelyTV, you were right. The processor was 64bit capable.

 

the mountain lion instant reboot problem was BIOS setting.

Judgus // please confirm memory execute protection was enable in CMOS

 

after setting this, i was available to boot into installation screen with only npci=0x2000 (without arch=i386)

 

Thank you

 

after installation done , I'll post another comment.

 

Ok hill33- well done mate!!! :thumbsup_anim: :thumbsup_anim: After I enabled memory execute protection, I rebooted with the ML ###### usb plugged in and it went straight to the install window without any boot flags. Mountain lion is installed now after many many many many attempts, but at this stage I have to use -x to get into it. So a few more things to sort out

 

Yes I also installed the

TSsync.kext to stablize the desktop

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distratios
distratios
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First post here - Hi to all!

 

I found this thread while searching for a resolution problem on a u100 hackintosh and I can't believe that my R61 could run ML. I knew that the 140m was not supported by sl and had given up the hope to install it on my old R61 (which I still use with Chakra Linux).

I think of replacing the ultrabay dvd with a sata drive to install ML and my wifi with an atheros ar5b93. Since I intend to use it seriously I would like to know how stable ML is running on the R61. If somebody could share this information with me it would be great.

Another question would be DSDT patching. Do you think it's worth to invest time for a patched DSDT?

I read somewhere that BIOS VT should be disabled for ML. I would prefer to keep it (for my linux box).

 

Thanks for feedback

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