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Acer v3-771g Mountain Lion


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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Hi,

 

long time no post, but... got the notebook just back from Acer ;-)

 

Yes, messing up with the BIOS is something I really should not do in order to get the Optimus Nvidia to work... But they installed BIOS V1.14, resetted it and everything is back to normal.

 

Something I learned from it: The BIOS recovery method in the Acer Service Guide DOES NOT WORK. At least for me.

 

I also updated to 10.8.4, "renewed" VoodooHDA to 2.8.4 / GenericUSB 3.0 to 1.2.4 / kozlek FakeSMC to 5.1.67 and ioath3kfirmwr (Bluetooth) to 1.2.4.

I had to disable the "GeForce.kext" after the Combo update - and not all of the Nvidia stuff (did that before the reboot).

Oh, I had to reenable TRIM after the update for the SSD (Chameleon SSD Optimizer).

 

And yep, everything is fine.

 

This far I can say:

 

- It seems that there is just no way to enable the NVIDIA.

- The Atheros 9462 Wifi is a pain in my side, because the system does not want to detect it. I patched the DSDT so far that the IOFamily Kernel extension is loading, but does not activate the card. I guess this depends on the other kernel extensions and so I will start investigating again.

- SMBIOS MBP8,3 seems so far the best to play around with to get the most CPU P-States (I patched AGPM.kext for the Intel to work better with this smbios).

- the SD Card reader is also a pain. Like the Wifi, the system detects the reader correctly, but just doesn't fire it up.

 

...so there quite some things to investigate. Again.

 

I just upgraded ML to 10.8.4,works great,I had to delete all the Nvidia Stuff again in order to boot :)

 

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Well,you are not allowed to put here files over 10 MB so I uploaded the kexts,HD4000 code injection ,patches and the apps I used to get my laptop working on the following link 

 

--->>>    https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jmpbsxe4w0h6ycm/D2JMC6Lm8p

 

@wartomato, I reinstalled the bios without any issues.Unfortunatelly,the unlocked bios made my fan spin like crazy,and even if I switched the fan options in the bios, the fan would not respond to the bios commands,therefore it is best to use the original bios because the unlocked ones are not well written and in my opinion the guy who unlocked it did not know what he was doing because the unlocked bios makes the laptop behave weird.

 

I have a question to all of you : Why do you want to have mac on your laptop? Please,write your answers below 

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Finally i got the HD working, thanks soo much iClock. Impressive all works except the gt650m. For the Wlan problem i changed the wlan hardware to one that is supported built in.

I dont recomend to update to the mod Bios 1.12 because it can leave your notebook dead if you set it wrong in the bios settings.

To answer your question iclock, i want to have mac because its far more easier to work on,and there are exclusive mac soft that win users cant get. If the Mac werent so expensive i would definetly buy a mac

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You welcome,

 

I also changed my Wlan to a supported one.I switched the wlan with the one I used on my last Acer laptop which is AR5B93 works flawless,detected Out of the box.It does not have bluetooth but who uses that anyway,just in case I have a usb bluetooth device.

 

Regarding that mac is far more easier to work on,I can say that yes it is but on a lapingtosh is not actually the experience I was looking for.The touchpad on v3-771g is alps which means cheap touchpad,you won`t get the same experience like the Synaptics which was on my last Acer laptop.I had momentun,inertial movement and all those premium stuff,whereas with the v3 I get only Alps.I thought of replacing the touchpad with a synaptics one 

 

-->  http://www.laptop-parts.gr/en/Touchpads-Mice/Touchpad/ACER-ASPIRE-5738-TOUCHPAD-BOARD-56AAA2134A.htm  ,but it is glued on to the plastic with some sticky glue.I think it fits but who knows...

 

I also have issues with the screen brightness I can get to full brightness only after waking up from sleep and also I the cpu i5-3210m does not go to full load,it has only 2 states 900 or 800 mhz and 2.4 ghz.It can go as up to 3.1 ghz with turbobust but in Mountain Lion it is stuck at 2.4GHZ.Also the cpu temperature seems to be 2-3 degrees higher.

 

My answer to the question "Why do you want to have mac on your laptop?" is that I want Xcode,I would like to make apps,I wrote one :) but it is a very basic app.:P

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I have the same issues with the Brightness, CPU and Webcam that is very dark... Im looking for solutions to this major problems. My Goal is it to have a decent mac it must not work 100% but the experience must be good.

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@Tuning-> wartomato does not have issues with CPU and screen brightness for some reason.I think he has the i7 v3 laptop and it is better recognized by Mountain Lion,I have the i5.He said he uses some macbook definitions and the cpu issue gets fixed as he mentioned that he can use the full power of the cpu,I can`t.

 

About the screen brightness I have no ideea how to fix it,if anyone can help it will be great!It only goes to full brightness if I wake from standby.

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@Tuning-> wartomato does not have issues with CPU and screen brightness for some reason.I think he has the i7 v3 laptop and it is better recognized by Mountain Lion,I have the i5.He said he uses some macbook definitions and the cpu issue gets fixed as he mentioned that he can use the full power of the cpu,I can`t.

 

About the screen brightness I have no ideea how to fix it,if anyone can help it will be great!It only goes to full brightness if I wake from standby.

Hi there,

 

sorry, but I was busy working...

 

To iClock & Tuning: Yes, wartomato has the V3-771G with the i7 and everything maximized. Again, I think you all are using the wrong Speedstep settings. You HAVE to use the SMBIOS for a MacBook Pro 8.3 or 8.2 or 8.1. My speed was also stuck at 2.4 with a MPB 10.1 SMBIOS. With the MBP 9.x SMBIOS I got 2 Speedsteps (1,2 Ghz ans 2,4 Ghz). After Changing to the "old" SMbios the Speedstepping went fine (as posted before).

Oh, of course you should have patched the AppleCPUPowermanagement.... ;-)

 

Yes, again, the Webcam is dark, but lightens a little by using iGlasses. Well, so it's usable during daytimes....

 

The Brightness. Again: I installed DSDT patches and so on, but they don't work and I am (right now) to tried to mess around again with the DSDT. I Just installed "Brightness 1.2.2". It handels the Brightness at login and I do not have these "Wakeup" issues. The issues have got something to do with the AppleIntelPowermanagement and can be corrected by patching the Extensions info.plist with Powersettings from an MBP 9.1 for example...

 

The BIOS Thingy: Yep, using V1.14 from Acer right now... I had the patched Bios running (V1.12) and I had NO fan issues. I installed it for testing purposes with the Optimus and NVidia features.

 

For all of You: I really do not have many extensions up and running and not really much patched. It is allmost an vanilla system. By doing this, it is much more easier to update the system.  :-)

 

So to stop any speculations, my specs:

 

CPU Typ   Mobile QuadCore Intel Core i7-3610QM, 2500 MHz (25 x 100)
Motherboard Name   Acer Aspire V3-771G
Motherboard Chipset   Intel Panther Point HM77, Intel Ivy Bridge
RAM   16224 MB (DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM)
 
Graphics internal   Intel® HD Graphics 4000 (2176 MB)
Graphics external   NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M (2048 MB)
Monitor   Chi Mei N173HGE [17.3" LCD] (1920x1080)
 
Soundcard1   Intel Panther Point HDMI @ Intel Panther Point PCH - High Definition Audio Controller [C-1]
Soundcard2   Realtek ALC269 @ Intel Panther Point PCH - High Definition Audio Controller [C-1]
 
IDE Controller   Intel® 7 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller
IDE Controller   Realtek PCIE CardReader 5209
 
SSD1   INTEL SSDSA2BW120G3A (120 GB, SATA-II)
SSD2  Crucial M4-CT256M4SSD3 Media (256GB, mSATA-II)
HDD   ST1000LM024 HN-M101MBB (1000 GB, 5400 RPM, SATA-II)
Optical   Slimtype BD E DS4E1S (Bluray Multinorm)
 
Trackpad  ALPS
Mouse    Apple Magic Mouse
Webcam  HD Sunplus Innovation Technology Inc. (1280x960) USB
 
LAN  Realtek AR8151 Gigbit Ethernet PCI-E Lan
WLAN Qualcomm Atheros AR5BWB222, 2.4/5.0Mhz Wireless Lan
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@wartomato

I change the Smbios to 8.2 but the speedstep doesn't change, its the same as 9.1 i stuck at 2.4 Ghz. With 8.3 i couldnt boot at all. Did you change some kext to work with the older smbios ? AppleCPUPowerM.. is patched

I have a Core i7 with the gt650m in my system too, so it would be very nice if you can explain me how you can activate higher Speedstep settings with the lower SmBios Version...

 

@iClock

It must be a problem with the SmBios. If you have the i5 you can look for an i5 in Chameleon Wizzard and chose the one above the i7.. But it can happend that your sytem doesn't boot like mine and you have select another smbios or replace smbios with your older used one to be able to boot again.

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@wartomato

I change the Smbios to 8.2 but the speedstep doesn't change, its the same as 9.1 i stuck at 2.4 Ghz. With 8.3 i couldnt boot at all. Did you change some kext to work with the older smbios ? AppleCPUPowerM.. is patched

I have a Core i7 with the gt650m in my system too, so it would be very nice if you can explain me how you can activate higher Speedstep settings with the lower SmBios Version...

 

@iClock

It must be a problem with the SmBios. If you have the i5 you can look for an i5 in Chameleon Wizzard and chose the one above the i7.. But it can happend that your sytem doesn't boot like mine and you have select another smbios or replace smbios with your older used one to be able to boot again.

Hi.

 

yep, you are right. I only got 2 Speedsteps first before I patched the AICPM Kernel extension using this Script (http://olarila.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1003)

and using this SSDT script (http://www.tonymacx86.com/mountain-lion-desktop-support/86807-ml-native-ivy-bridge-cpu-gpu-power-management.html).

 

If you want to know what CPU States are initialized since a login, use this kernel extension(http://www.tonymacx86.com/ssdt/91551-appleintelcpupowermanagementinfo-kext-msrdumper-successor.html). It just displays the states in System log. Another way is checking the graphs in HWSensors (FakeSMC branch by kozlek).

 

This link is also interesting... (http://olarila.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1703)

 

I do not use the generate C-States or P-States in Chameleon. I just load the patched and extracted SSDT.aml (Put it in Extra folder and change the name to SSDT.aml. In Chameleon use "Drop SSDT" to enable it).

After applying both patches, remove NullCPUManagement.kext (if installed) and everything should be working fine.

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Hi there,

 

awesome video... who doesn't know this pain ;-)

 

For the System: The Acer actually has got 6 SATA ports and 3 Controller on board, of which we can easily use 5.

The SSD Intel is the main boot (Win SSD).

The HDD is on the second SATA controller.

The Blu-ray is on the third controller.

 

With that configuration all internal drivs bays are fully loaded (if you don't chosse a smaller sized SSD).

 

When opening the case, there's another unused SATA port (MSATA) for a half sized PCI Card. It is quite as big as the WLAN Card slot and you can see it "between" the RAM slots and the WLAN card.

That's where you can place the second SSD and plug it in. I chose a crucial SSD tat is suitable for mSATA (that's the connector description) and is easy to install and it is cheap and will perform twice as fast as a "normal SSD", because it runs at 6 Gigabits and the internal SSD and Drives are at 3 Gigabits.

 

As a reminder: the second SSD is NOT available in the "F12" Boot Order screen. You will not see it :-)

 

So, my system is configured this way:

 

  • the Windows SSD is untouched. The SYSTEM reserved partition on the HDD (Mirror/backup of Windows for the SSD) is also left untouched.
  • The HDD now has one new partition (just shrinked the one that was there with Windows Management Console - so no program is needed). The second partition is formatted HFS+ and holds a copy of the SSD system and all the data that i need on the Mac (I guess that 500 GB are enough for this stuff)
  • The Boot order is changed, so the HDD will start up and not the internal SSD. That is because Chameleon lies on the internal HDD Mac-partition. This is a must, because, well read the F12 thingy again...
  • On Bootup: Chameleon is loaded from HDD and lets me boot my "Mac SSD", the built-in SSD with windows or my internal Mac-partition (as a backup)
  • Last but not least: I installed on MBR partitions with a patched 10.8.0 install.pkg (...looonnng ago), because I didn't want to harm the Windows system.

So the above config is very stable; I always have a backup system (on the HDD, which is also the Time Machine Backup partition) and my Windows 8 is virtually clean.

Even if you reset the BIOS (like myself for a 1000 times trying to get Nvidia running) the system will always boot from the internal SSD and startup Win, because the internal SSD is on port 1 and first in the boor order.

If you don't know it, you might think this is a "normal" win notebook (even Acer, hihi).


For the curious ones:

 

here is a photo of the openend case. I marked the slot for the second SSD... (I hope the upload is working)

 


Oh, I almost forgot:

 

Has anybody tested the atk3frmwr.kext for bluetooth with and exchanged WLAN card like the 928x or 9380 cards.

 

I thought, if I ever decide to change the WLAN card it night be helpful to know if this works.

post-804732-0-55885500-1371882753_thumb.jpg

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@wartomato

I simply cant get the Speedstep working right, i get 1.12 Ghz - 2.2 Ghz and 3.15 Ghz Steps... I tried the methods posted before but it doesnt give me the P-States that you get..

Have you tried to install nvidia driver for the gt650m, because on 10.1 mac its already built in and i could imagine that it somehow can work.

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  • 2 weeks later...

@wartomato

I simply cant get the Speedstep working right, i get 1.12 Ghz - 2.2 Ghz and 3.15 Ghz Steps... I tried the methods posted before but it doesnt give me the P-States that you get..

Have you tried to install nvidia driver for the gt650m, because on 10.1 mac its already built in and i could imagine that it somehow can work.

Hi,

 

well, what did you do? - Did you make a custom SSDT.aml in the Extra Folder with the script? - Did you disable in your chameleon.boot.plist all "Enable C-States", "Enable P-states", etc.?

 

Okay, I attached the view Extensions I am using right now as well as my current DSDT and SSDT.

(This DSDT, SSDT might not work for you, if for example you changed the internal Wifi card or have a different system like an i5!!!)

 
You can also look at the screenshot from my Chameleon wizard and compare it to yours...
For the SMBIOS Problems: always remember that we might have different configurations (another Touchpad, etc.), so my SMBIOS works for my machine, but might not work for yours.
Anyway, using an MBP 8,x SMBIOS seems to be the best & easiest way to get Speedstep working...
 
The Nvidia drivers:
 
Yes, I've actually installed all drivers available. The "normal" Apple drivers, the Nvidia Drivers and the Nvidia Web Drivers.
None is working.
As mentioned some posts before: I can get the system to recognize the Nvidia. The Acer BIOS (patched) refuses to boot up from the Nvidia.
The reason? - Well other notebooks have separate graphic cards installed (an Intel from the CPU and an EXTERNAL GPU).
The V3-771G has a combined graphics card (optimus) which is no longer used in other models (!) even the new V3-772.
 
... so you might say: "what's wrong then, the optimus cards are installed in many MBPs?" - Yes, but they are branded with a Apple BIOS and Firmware that handles the automatic (or manual) switching of the GPU different than the standard GPU from Acer. That's the trick. Unlike other notebooks, we cannot separate the switching process because OSX just doesn't understand what we want.
 
As mentioned in earlier posts: That is - for myself - a good thing, since the Nvidia part of my card is slow compared to separate cards and only useful, if you need all the shading etc. So, I like my Intel HD4000 and hate OPTIMUS.
Optimus is great on Win, but a pain on the OSX-side.
 
I hope this helps at least someone out there...

V3-771G Extensions from S:L:E.zip

V3-771G_DSDT_SSDT from Extra.zip

Chameleon wizard.tiff

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Hi sometin1,

 

I think you did not get my point. As mentioned some posts before, I already did change the memory size of the Intel, I already tried switching through BIOS.

As an example: Changing the VRAM size of the Intel to 64MB from 128MB is nice, but does do anything for me. This RAM is "only" the "startup" RAM allocation for the Intel. The real VRAM size is set afterwards in conjunction with the all RAM size of the system. This means I start up with 384MB for the Intel and got 2176 after startup.

This won't do something for the Nvidia.

 

My prob was that I actually COULD activate the Nvidia at startup, but got no screen. The System always wanted to start (at BIOS time) with the IntelHD and THEN switch to the Nvidia. I just could not get the system stick to the nvidia right from boot time.

 

Well, If you can manage that, go ahead...

 

 

For the V3-772: The system that's sold here (and tested) had two GPUs. The IntelHD and a GTX760... but - as always at Acer - there are many different configs for the system available.

And guess what, one can buy a system of the v3-772 WITH a GT750M (Optimus). As far as I can say from the specs: this is the "smaller" system.

Conclusion: We are both right. -> yeah, but i think anyway that one should better buy the system with the "extra" GTX and not the Optimus. These systems hace a 99% chance of getting the Nvidia to work without all this DSDT hacking.

 

 

I've managed to be able to change any setting in the BIOS! Whether you have the newest (2.X) or the older (1.X) I can help.

If you'd like some help to change eg. The memory (vram) for the Integrated Graphics, set it to 64MB from 128!

 

And you don't need to change your BIOS at ALL, so you don't have issues with the corruption etc

 

Also, wartomato, the new Acer V3-772G does in fact have Optimus, its in the BIOS! Under 'Special Features', its by default now locked on and hidden

 

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You could be right about the Acer you have over there, I see your from Germany. I'm from Australia, so yeah probably a big difference, not sure!

 

I did read a while ago that you disabled the IGP in the BIOS, which is, as you found, not going to allow you to see anything, since Optimus uses the Intel's framebuffer...

I see what you'd like, which is for the BIOS to still have the Intel on, but just have the nVidia constantly using the framebuffer, therefore always being on. 

 

Also, I've only been able to get my Hackintosh to boot if I have 64mb startup ram for my device, and the Switchable graphics disabled totally or it doesn't start at all!

Hi,

 

yep, you understood what i wanted to do... and that's a pain in the a** to do with a Optimus card and quiet easy for users with "normal" nvidia cards. Dawn, i wish i'd bought one with a separate Nvidia card.

 

Aehm, for the 64mb thingy: we all had these probs, because of the 128 VRAM that Acer has set in the BIOS. Freaking around with the device-properties that Apple uses gave - I guess all of us - the chance to do it without hacking the BIOS. So mine uses 32MB - 1 pipe - 1 bank at startup, which leads my system to think that I've got 384 MB VRAM installed.

But... openGL Viewer mentions 2178 MB VRAM size while testing the Intel.

So we all managed it this way, just the system displays the VRAM size wrong... Yep, using a patched BIOS I changed to 64MB myself, which i comfortable, because Chameleon boot loader "knows" about my card then (but using a device string is still easier...).

Oh, remember: Did you disabe the GeForce.kext / GeForceWeb.kext (you can leave the rest of the Nvidia driver stuff installed)? - You have to do it or the system tries to switch at boot time (the apple way) and leads you to a black screen or the ever spinning boot symbol.

 

Just post your specs or the bdmesg log and I'll take a look, cause I didn't change the VRAM size in BIOS and did not disable switchable graphics.

 

Australia, puh.. so 8 hours ahead of myself, hihi, have a good night (must be like 23:30 over there)

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 @sometin1

How exactly can i change my 128MB to 64MB without installing a ModBios ? Because i am Aware of installing a patched Bios.

 

@wartomato

Thanks for your OsxConfig, but i have a problem the i get Graphic artefacts and it boots only with -x. So i Changed Back to my Config. The Problem could be that you use 64MB instead of 128

 

 

BTW: Bios 1.15 from Acer is out. Dont know what they optimize  with this release...

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 @sometin1

How exactly can i change my 128MB to 64MB without installing a ModBios ? Because i am Aware of installing a patched Bios.

 

@wartomato

Thanks for your OsxConfig, but i have a problem the i get Graphic artefacts and it boots only with -x. So i Changed Back to my Config. The Problem could be that you use 64MB instead of 128

 

 

BTW: Bios 1.15 from Acer is out. Dont know what they optimize  with this release...

Hi,

 

installed BIOS 1.15, but guess what, nothing really changed.

 

Oh, sorry for the Intel artifacts, but as long as our system is not the same... it might happen, BUT...

 

this has nothing to do with the BIOS and the 64MB / 128MB startup memory for the Intel. The configuration on my system uses the Aplle 32MB spec. This means I actually have the 128MB set in BIOS, but have to use a 32MB VRAM config for OSX to startup right. This has something to do with the display ports and RAM banks etc. used by OSX at startup.

After initialisation of the INTEL with 32MB VRAM this changes to 1024 to 2048MB after system startup.

 

I changed the settings in BIOS to 64MB startup memory, which helps the OSX initial display at startup, but I was nor able to recognize a measurable speed improvement with this setting.

In "About my Mac" the Intel displays as 512MB INTEL HD4000.

 

My advice, use your own INTELHD settings that run the best on your system from the 10 (?) settings that Apple supports.

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For now I have smbios 10.1 get 3 or more states cant really detect. The Cpu gets a bit hot on load but everything is working. I upload my Config if someone wants to try. Is there any Replacement for the VodooHDA Kext. I dont know what chipset from Realtek this notebook has to find a Patched AppleHDA.kext, which would be better than the Vodoo one...

 

http://www26.zippyshare.com/v/96662267/file.html

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  • 2 weeks later...

Long time no see.

 

Did someone find a fix for the brightness issue?So that we can have full brightness of the display without having to enter sleep mode mandatory to reach full brightness.

Nice to see you here again :)

As far as i know, it can only be done by patching your dsdt file to inject the Brightness function.

 

i found this but dont know if this works/ havent tested it...

Inject and patch DSDT. Add Device (PNLF) into Scope (_SB)
example:
Device (PWRB)
{
...
}
Device (PNLF) //begin
{
Name (_HID, EisaId ("APP0002"))
Name (_CID, "backlight")
Name (_UID, 0x0A)
Name (_STA, 0x0B)
} //end
Device (SLPB)
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