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How to tell if VideoROM in Chameleon RC3 works?

Burpethead

By Burpethead,
in OSx86 10.6 (Snow Leopard)

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Burpethead
Burpethead
Posted
Posted

Hey Guys,

 

I have PCEFI 10.3 working great on my Snow Leopard machine with a MSI 8800GT OC NVIDIA card. I now want to pass the Mac Pro's NVIDIA 8800GT Video ROM to my video card for maximum compatibility. (My card has a 1 MB PC ROM, while the Mac Pro's is a 512k ROM, so flashing the card is not possible).

 

I have the Mac Pro's Video ROM downloaded and put in my boot partition - /PreBoot/Extra/NVIDIA.ROM

 

I have edited the com.apple.boot.plist with:

<key>VideoROM</key>

<string>/Extra/NVIDIA.ROM</string>

 

My system profiler reads as:

 

VideoROM.jpg

 

Everything is working fine and dandy - but I just wan't to know if the ROM is being passed or not? How can I tell?

 

Thanks!

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Beerkex'd
Beerkex'd
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wow, that's sweet, seeing this makes me wish I had a video card that Apple actually use.

 

I don't know what you could do to test it...obviously it would have to be something that normally only works on a real mac with the same video card as yours. Maybe you can see something in IORegistryExplorer (comes with Apple XCode).

 

I wonder if I could use the ROM from another G92 based board with Chameleon 2.0 without killing my 9800 GTX+.. I don't care too much about performance, I just want the video card fan throttling and power management to work right, it's a bit flaky - very rarely, on shutdown or wake from sleep the card's fan spins up to the highest RPM (noisy!) and then my PC reboots instead of doing what it was supposed to do.

 

Maybe AquaMac knows something about this....

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Burpethead
Burpethead
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Maybe you can see something in IORegistryExplorer (comes with Apple XCode).

 

I wonder if I could use the ROM from another G92 based board with Chameleon 2.0 without killing my 9800 GTX+

 

Here is my IORegistryExplorer Developer Tool file - the card is located in IODeviceTree under pci-bridge@1.

 

This method wouldn't kill your card - flashing it could do that. If the passed ROM didn't work, simply reverting the changes would fix the issue. Anyone interested in downloading the Mac Pro's NVIDIA 8800GT 512 ROM can get it here.

 

Also, is my syntax correct in the com.boot.plist file?

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SA22C
SA22C
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Posted
Hey Guys,

 

I have PCEFI 10.3 working great on my Snow Leopard machine with a MSI 8800GT OC NVIDIA card. I now want to pass the Mac Pro's NVIDIA 8800GT Video ROM to my video card for maximum compatibility. (My card has a 1 MB PC ROM, while the Mac Pro's is a 512k ROM, so flashing the card is not possible).

 

I have the Mac Pro's Video ROM downloaded and put in my boot partition - /PreBoot/Extra/NVIDIA.ROM

 

I have edited the com.apple.boot.plist with:

<key>VideoROM</key>

<string>/Extra/NVIDIA.ROM</string>

 

My system profiler reads as:

 

VideoROM.jpg

 

Everything is working fine and dandy - but I just wan't to know if the ROM is being passed or not? How can I tell?

 

Thanks!

 

Looks like it's working. I've got a flashed 8800GT with the Mac Rom and it reports the same string of x's for the rom as well.

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Burpethead
Burpethead
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OK well I disabled the VideoROM pass by reverting the changes and my System Profiler is still reporting the same exact Graphics Card & ROM Revision "xx.xx.xx" - so I guess it's not working.

 

I also changed the string to point to the ROM with "/Volumes/PreBoot/Extra" with no results.

 

:)

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d00d
d00d
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Posted
OK well I disabled the VideoROM pass by reverting the changes and my System Profiler is still reporting the same exact Graphics Card & ROM Revision "xx.xx.xx" - so I guess it's not working.

 

I also changed the string to point to the ROM with "/Volumes/PreBoot/Extra" with no results.

Are you also using GraphicsEnabler=Yes in your com.apple.Boot.plist file?

If so, perhaps it's overriding VideoROM=/Extra/NVIDIA.ROM.

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Burpethead
Burpethead
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Are you also using GraphicsEnabler=Yes in your com.apple.Boot.plist file?

If so, perhaps it's overriding VideoROM=/Extra/NVIDIA.ROM.

 

Hmm well I took the GraphicsEnabler line out (yes, I was using it), and then the System Profiler shows all the same information except no ROM Revision information - the line does not show. This then happens regardless if the VideoROM line is also taken out along with the GraphicsEnabler line.

 

So, basically I see no evidence yet that this feature works.

 

:D

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d00d
d00d
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Hmm well I took the GraphicsEnabler line out (yes, I was using it), and then the System Profiler shows all the same information except no ROM Revision information - the line does not show. This then happens regardless if the VideoROM line is also taken out along with the GraphicsEnabler line.

 

So, basically I see no evidence yet that this feature works.

Let me know where to get a GTX285 ROM image and I'll check this out.

Also, it's probably better to compare ioreg output for the video device.

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mitch_de
mitch_de
Posted
Posted

Perhaps it is better way (but more work) to modyfy an nv bios by ntibitor in the MHz (down! of course - 30%+ less Mhz should be enough) use that as file for new netcas/PC EFI 10.3 function and look if OpenGL Extensionsviewer bench values also go significant down.

So with 30% less GPU/VRAM/Shader Mhz using OGLViewer fullscreen, bench, multisampling*4 should show if the bios (30% less clocked) has an effect=loaded or not.

Do not use Xbench for that test - not reliable.

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d00d
d00d
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Posted
Hmm well I took the GraphicsEnabler line out (yes, I was using it), and then the System Profiler shows all the same information except no ROM Revision information - the line does not show. This then happens regardless if the VideoROM line is also taken out along with the GraphicsEnabler line.

 

So, basically I see no evidence yet that this feature works.

It's working for me.

I'm using GraphicsEnabler=Yes in my com.apple.Boot.plist file, and get the following in System Profiler;

ROM Revision: xx.xx.xx - internal

I got Gigabyte.GTX285.PCIe.1024MB.Rev.01.rom from mvktech.net, copied it to /NVIDIA.ROM and rebooted, now I have;

ROM Revision: xx.xx.xx - NVIDIA.ROM

If I then set GraphicsEnabler=no, the monitor feed goes dead after verbose boot.

So it appears that GraphicsEnabler=Yes must be set if one wants to use a ROM image, and copy it to /NVIDIA.ROM.

If it's in a non default place or named differently, something like VideoROM=/System/gtx285.rom would also need to be added to com.apple.Boot.plist.

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  • 3 weeks later...
el_charlie
el_charlie
Posted
Posted
It's working for me.

I'm using GraphicsEnabler=Yes in my com.apple.Boot.plist file, and get the following in System Profiler;

ROM Revision: xx.xx.xx - internal

I got Gigabyte.GTX285.PCIe.1024MB.Rev.01.rom from mvktech.net, copied it to /NVIDIA.ROM and rebooted, now I have;

ROM Revision: xx.xx.xx - NVIDIA.ROM

If I then set GraphicsEnabler=no, the monitor feed goes dead after verbose boot.

So it appears that GraphicsEnabler=Yes must be set if one wants to use a ROM image, and copy it to /NVIDIA.ROM.

If it's in a non default place or named differently, something like VideoROM=/System/gtx285.rom would also need to be added to com.apple.Boot.plist.

 

 

What about if the Bootloader is on the EFI partition?? Should I place the ROM on the root of the SnowLeopard partition or on the EFI partition?????

 

Do I have to delete the EFI string of my 8800GT too?????

 

Please help.

 

EDIT:

 

So far, I've placed the NVIDIA.ROM on both the root of the SL partition and the EFI partition. I've also placed the ROM on the Extra folder as well and no luck. My Geforce 8800GT is not detected.

 

I tried with GraphicsEnabler=Yes and without it and still no luck. The only way to detect my card is with the EFI string.

 

How can I do to use the Mac Pro's 8800GT bios????

 

I repeat, the bootloader is on the EFI partition. I use Netkas' PCEFI V10.4.1 wich is based on Chameleon 2 RC3.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Cheers!

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  • 2 weeks later...
geo afa
geo afa
Posted
Posted

finally!!! ITS WORKING, dual monitor hw accel....

 

i ripped my bios with dos.

 

and i renamed to NVIDIA.ROM and copy it in root

 

and in my com.apple.Boot.plist

 

added

 

<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>

<string>Yes</string>

<key>NvidiaRom</key>

<string>Yes</string>

 

and its working!!!!! the key nvidiarom doesnt need the path of rom, needs yes!

post-149765-1257115841_thumb.jpg

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shoarthing
shoarthing
Posted
Posted
finally!!! ITS WORKING, dual monitor hw accel....

 

i ripped my bios with dos.

 

and i renamed to NVIDIA.ROM and copy it in root

 

and in my com.apple.Boot.plist

 

added

 

<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>

<string>Yes</string>

<key>NvidiaRom</key>

<string>Yes</string>

 

and its working!!!!! the key nvidiarom doesnt need the path of rom, needs yes!

. . . :( thank you for sussing this out :)
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shoarthing
shoarthing
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ok i make a test today..

 

and its worked with and without

 

<key>NvidiaRom</key>

<string>Yes</string>

. . oh, right: so all that's needed is the correct extracted: 'NVIDIA.ROM. in root, with no key referencing it in com.apple.Boot.plist ?

 

. . . . hmm: with my motherboard [using the ION chipset & integrated 9400m] you have to use the key:

<key>VBIOS</key>
<string>Yes</string>

. . . for correct function.

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nvflash
nvflash
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<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>

<string>Yes</string>

 

Has nothing to do with:

 

VideoROM | /PATH/TO/THE.ROM

 

GraphicsEnabler adds the Correct NAME SPACE to the DeviceTree for Nvidia Cards, So the NV*.kext can Match Correctly.

 

On REAL Mac's EFI does this, it Reads the Module in the Video Cards EFI Rom.

 

Adding and EFI Rom will not do you any good, as you don't have EFI, adding an Apple/Nvidia EFI Rom won't work unless you are Booting EFI from Apple EFI Kernel, DUET and DUET2 will KP.

 

OverWriting the Video Bios will let you make changes to the ROM without Flashing it, not much more, it is usefull.

 

If you have correctly set VideoROM you should see this:

 ROM Revision:	xx.xx.xx - /Extra/OPROM1.ROM

 

Where /Extra/ is the $PATH$

AND OPROM1.ROM is the FILE

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el_charlie
el_charlie
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<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>

<string>Yes</string>

 

Has nothing to do with:

 

VideoROM | /PATH/TO/THE.ROM

 

GraphicsEnabler adds the Correct NAME SPACE to the DeviceTree for Nvidia Cards, So the NV*.kext can Match Correctly.

 

On REAL Mac's EFI does this, it Reads the Module in the Video Cards EFI Rom.

 

Adding and EFI Rom will not do you any good, as you don't have EFI, adding an Apple/Nvidia EFI Rom won't work unless you are Booting EFI from Apple EFI Kernel, DUET and DUET2 will KP.

 

OverWriting the Video Bios will let you make changes to the ROM without Flashing it, not much more, it is usefull.

 

 

So, what do I have to do??? I have a 8800GT and my PCEFI 10.5 bootloader is on a EFI partition.

 

Should I place the MacPro's 8800GT bios on EFI/Extra and place VBIOS????? or Should I use my own 8800GT bios with modded fan speeds????

 

What exaclty should I do????

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Cheers!

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nvflash
nvflash
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So, what do I have to do??? I have a 8800GT and my PCEFI 10.5 bootloader is on a EFI partition.

 

Should I place the MacPro's 8800GT bios on EFI/Extra and place VBIOS????? or Should I use my own 8800GT bios with modded fan speeds????

 

What exaclty should I do????

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Cheers!

 

Use your own Bios with any mods you want, the EFI Rom will be ignored, you don't have APPLE EFI.

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el_charlie
el_charlie
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Posted
Use your own Bios with any mods you want, the EFI Rom will be ignored, you don't have APPLE EFI.

 

Thanks for the fast reply.

 

And now what should I do?? Where do I have to place the ROM file and which name should I use???

 

Do I have to get rid of the EFI string on my com.apple.Boot.plist???

 

Which parameters should I use (GraphicsEnabler, NvidiaBios, Vbios)???

 

I know there are so many questions, but I want to do it right. If you can, you can paste the right code here with the parameters, please.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Cheers!

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nvflash
nvflash
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>VBIOS</key>
<string>y</string>
<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>
<string>y</string>
<key>VideoROM</key>
<string>/Extra/OPROM1.ROM</string>

 

REMOVE ANY VIDEO Injectors or EFI Video Strings.

 

I'm not sure about the GUID EFI Partition, I don't use it.

 

FULL PATH to your .rom NAME of your .ROM.

 

It's case sensitive, yes.

 

For me, the video bios needs to be on my Default Boot Volume, where ever your com.apple.Boot.plist that the Bootloader is reading.

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el_charlie
el_charlie
Posted
Posted 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
 <key>VBIOS</key>
 <string>y</string>
 <key>GraphicsEnabler</key>
 <string>y</string>
 <key>VideoROM</key>
 <string>/Extra/OPROM1.ROM</string>

 

REMOVE ANY VIDEO Injectors or EFI Video Strings.

 

I'm not sure about the GUID EFI Partition, I don't use it.

 

FULL PATH to your .rom NAME of your .ROM.

 

It's case sensitive, yes.

 

For me, the video bios needs to be on my Default Boot Volume, where ever your com.apple.Boot.plist that the Bootloader is reading.

 

It didn't work.

 

To be safe I've placed the ROM on the root of the SL partition, on the root of the EFI partition and EFI/Extra and my GFX card is not detected. It says my card is 32MB only and I only get 10x24x768. I0ve also checked that the name of the ROM is the same (case sensitive) of the com.apple.Boot.plist (I named it NVIDIA.ROM)

 

I don't have any injectors or anything. Obviously, I've removed the EFI string. I'm using PCEFI 10.5.

 

What can I do???

 

Cheers!

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