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Incorrect resolution; *but* GFX card is detected correctly (nv 210)

Marmite

By Marmite,
in OSx86 10.9 (Mavericks)

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Marmite
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So I've managed to get my system running nicely; even dualbooting with Mint Linux! Audio is crystal clear and pretty impressive really, everything is functioning correctly - you could even say flawlessly, it's perfect.

 

Except for my Display; it's at the wrong resolution - and even aspect ratio.

 

Now I say Display as my graphics card appears to be detected correctly and I'm not seeing any adverse performance issues regarding using it. (I can stream videos, play videos and do multiple tasks that include graphics intensive activity without any performance issues)

 

Here's how my Graphics Card is displayed in System Report:

 

1zmckds.png

 

Everything appears correctly. Note this is after implementing an EFI string - but prior to the EFI string it was appearing correctly too. (This EFI string was just something else to cross off the list so to speak)

 

Yet when I go to About This Mac I see this, "spdisplays_display"...

 

rmvj3s.png

 

Delving in to System Preferences, I can see that even going to "Scaled" only provides me with the option for 1024x768...

ip3wnb.png

I've tried "Graphics Mode" too, which I thought would do the job. I've tried output from both DVI-I and VGA. (BTW, Surprisingly VGA does indeed work through the 210 in Mavericks - it's only during installation that it results in a black screen with output incorrectly being sent via HDMI when you have all default NVD* kexts)

 

Now if the Graphics Card is working correctly, and "Graphics Mode" isn't providing me with any luck, is it possible to extract the VendorID and ProductID from the Display and do something with these? (Do what? I have no idea! I just remember doing something similar a few years back, but that may have been with a Linux distribution actually..)

 

Failing that, any ideas? I did some searching and see that this is an incredibly common side effect of other issues - but from what I've seen, most cases usually involve incorrectly recognised Graphics Cards?

 

Currently running 10.9.0 on a system utilising 8GB of RAM (2x 4GB modules), an intel i3 at 3.3Ghz and a Gigabyte H67N-USB3 motherboard. Current graphics card is a nVidia 210 1GB - although I've just realised I have an 1GB nVidia GT510 sitting in my desk drawer that may perform a little better..

 

Cheers guys (and gals!) :)

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Marmite
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Cheers guys!

 

The graphics mode flag is for setting the boot resolution.

 

Try dumping that device properties string and set GraphicsEnabler=y instead.

 

haha, Oops! That explains a lot.. I thought I was making a mistake when typing it in.  :P

 

I have GraphicsEnabler set to Yes with my nvidia 520 (I just popped it in to test). I have a feeling I tried it with the 210 but it made no difference.

 

@ Marmite

 

Follow the topic of the link to get your unknown display fully recognized: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/208410-fixing-scrambledstretched-or-wrong-resolution-laptop-display-problems/?hl=%20forced%20%20edid

 

Have fun.

 

That! I think that's the exact link I had in mind when I wrote the last paragraph of my original post, thankyou! I shall try that (probably tomorrow morning as I need to pop out now) and report back.  :)

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Marmite
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So weird!

 

Did the Display override using the EDID I acquired through my linux boot - and it now recognises the name of display (most likely due to the string in the override).. but that's all. Still no default resolution or any ability to change the resolution at all. I tried it with both graphics cards too.

 

Absolutely stumped now..

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That's just done generated an identical override but with the the DisplayVendorID and DisplayProductID set as an iMac; so the display appears as an iMac but it's still using the EDID from before - so there's no change.

 

However I'm still getting a widescreen image on About My Mac:

 

mwtr21.png

(Except now it says "iMac")

 

I'm pondering whether it's an issue with EDID - and the way I abstracted it.

 

I did take a dump of all the info parsed from the EDID when I was in my Linux boot, mainly as an aid in case I have driver issues in Linux at any time and need to modify Xorg. I may try and use the information I've got to generate something using SwitchResX; but I don't feel too confident about that either tbh.

 

Edit:

 

Pah, SwitchResX had no effect other than changing my display name again; if it wasn't for this I'd think the overrides were targetting a different display!

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Mmmm.. Had a bottle of beer whilst doing some more tinkering and I'm now completely out of ideas. 

 

1) The Override is working. Check.

 

The new display name is coming up in "System Report" and "About My Mac". 

 

2) The EDID is being picked up correctly, and when ran through parse-edid and other tools it verifies as OK. (Without going through the whole EDID spec I can't be 100% sure it's correct and without errors, but it looks it.)

$ ioreg -lw0 | grep IODisplayEDID | sed "/[^<]*</s///" | xxd -p -r 
??????r??y??0h,x*ZL?&PT????@??qO/&@?`?00 5???8K/F
      ?LF4080054200
?Acer V203H

$ ioreg -lw0 | grep IODisplayEDID | sed "/[^<]*</s///" 
00ffffffffffff00047281009979808430120103682c19782aee95a35a4c99260f5054bfef8081808100814081c0714f0101010101012f2640a060841a3030203500bbf91000001a000000fd00384b2f460e000a202020202020000000ff004c46343038303035343230300a000000fc00416365722056323033480a20200075

3) My Graphics Card(s) are being detected correctly.

 

When using both the nVidia 520 and the nVidia 210 they are recognised and displayed with the correct amount of memory and correct names in "System Report".

 

4) This isn't a VGA specific issue.

 

This occurs with both DVI and VGA output, from both cards.

 

 

Is there anything obvious that I'm missing? Perhaps going off of the System Report isn't the best way of verifying my graphics card is functioning correctly? Perhaps there's another way of forcing EDID recognition/overrides? Is there some kext file I should've looked at?

 

I did a google for NVidia 520 and Mavericks and just got people saying it worked OOB for them! Although I did also see mention of a new nvidia driver for 10.9 ( http://www.osx86.net/files/file/3565-new-109-nvidia-gt-520-native-lastest-driver/ ) - but I have no idea what they were on about, as there isn't a new native driver and in their upload was just a solitary .kext for something post-driver install related. sigh

 

Very confused!

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Aha, thats a new one on me!

 

I copied the .plist file in question and found it had next to no information in it for me to modify. As I can't change my resolution I couldn't even force System Preferences to generate me a new one.

 

So I backed it up, and removed it from it's original directory - restarted and it had generated me an identical one, with no information in. I'm going to see if I can find any examples anywhere so I can see what kind of format/keys it expects information to be provided in.

 

For the record though, here is the information it contained:

 

11ujhb4.jpg

 

Not a great deal. :(

 

 

 

Hello

 

A silly question: Did you try choose the option Best for Display in Resolution?

 

 

There are no silly questions! :)

 

I do indeed have my display set to "Best for Display"; and even if I select "Scaled" I can only get the same 1024x768!

 

Interestingly, when tinkering earlier on - even trying to rotate the display it had no effect.

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Marmite
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Update time!

 

I have a suspicion this may be down to my display itself, it's about 4 years old now - and despite being a very good servant for those years - it probably is time to relinquish it to a new owner and treat myself to a new one. Not only is it 4 years old, it's also relying on a VGA<->DVI-I adaptor.. that's not going to be making matters easier!

 

Hopefully before Christmas, although I think it may be after Christmas now unfortunately (damn payday!!), I will get a HDMI compliant one and switch over to HDMI completely. I think this will alleviate these issues. Additionally.. Bring on 1920x1080! (I've been living with 1600x900 till now.)

 

To be honest it's not that urgent - I'm a developer by profession and work exclusively in a Mac environment, I just need to brush up on my Objective-C a little in my spare time for a future project. I can code with a mangled up display..  :P

 

Cheers for everyone's help! I've certainly learnt a lot..  ;)

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Ciao, have you tried press ALT while click SCALED? I have more resolution...

boh??

 

That's weird, when I press ALT it shows me the "Detect Displays" button.. but that does nothing :(

 

I have noticed some slight issues with scrollbars as well, so pondering whether I need to consider my graphics card again; but that definitely is recognised!

Asus GeForce GT 520:

  Chipset Model:	Asus GeForce GT 520
  Type:	GPU
  Bus:	PCIe
  Slot:	Slot-1
  PCIe Lane Width:	x16
  VRAM (Total):	1024 MB
  Vendor:	NVIDIA (0x10de)
  Device ID:	0x0de4
  Revision ID:	0x00a1
  ROM Revision:	rsion 70.08.5C.00.00
  Displays:
Acer V203H:
  Resolution:	1024 x 768
  Pixel Depth:	32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
  Display Serial Number:	LF4080054200
  Main Display:	Yes
  Mirror:	Off
  Online:	Yes


====


Asus GeForce GT 520:

  Name:	NVDA,Display-B
  Type:	Display Controller
  Driver Installed:	Yes
  MSI:	No
  Bus:	PCI
  Slot:	Slot-1
  Vendor ID:	0x10de
  Device ID:	0x0de4
  Subsystem Vendor ID:	0x1043
  Subsystem ID:	0x83d2
  ROM Revision:	rsion 70.08.5C.00.00
  Revision ID:	0x00a1
  Link Width:	x16
  Link Speed:	2.5 GT/s

That said my display serial number is also correct with the EDID I set. Sigh! :(

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