Sapphire HD 5670 not loading KEXTs

[joescarborough]

Using Kabyl's r700 branch of Chameleon, I can get video on boot. However, the card only offers one resolution, and applications using any amount of graphics either die or perform incredibly poorly. System Profiler does not show that a KEXT has loaded? If I add ATY_Init, the system will not boot past the grey Apple logo. I am quite sad. I have a ROM file, but cannot tell if it is being used (no apparent change when I remove it from /Extra). I have found several threads, but none of the instructions provided so far work for me. Does anyone have suggestions? I'm sure I am simply missing something, but don't know what.

[dothacker]

delete your ATY_Init.kext, and reboot your machine. Since you're using r700, type GraphicsEnabler=Yes on boot (with -v) and look if it loads.

[joescarborough]

dothacker, thanks for your help.

 

When I tried this, the Chameleon theme starts loading and showing kexts, then as it appears to switch over to the OS (it's too quick for me to catch the last lines of text, but shortly after pciroot is selected), the screen goes black. Then there is no video until I restart and set GraphicsEnabler=No.

[joescarborough]

Haha, I just double-checked myself, since I tend to do stupid things sometimes. I had gotten the bright idea to load ATY_Init.kext on the EFI partition. Removed, and now boots with GraphicsEnabler=Yes. The System Profiler still shows Kernel Extension Info: No Kext Loaded, and the VRAM is reported as 256MB instead of the actual 512MB. Any other ideas (you are doing much better than I did, so far!). Only 1440x1050 resolution is available too.

[joescarborough]

Realized I had not added the ATIX3xxx kexts back in. After I did, I now boot to a blank screen again (also shortly after pciroot is selected). Will remove and try again. I noticed that boot.plist is not currently set to UseAtiROM, should I set it to do so?

[bcc9]

Boot with AtiConfig=Uakari, or in your com.apple.Boot.plist:

<key>AtiConfig</key>
 <string>Uakari</string>

Then DVI & HDMI ports should work.

You may need to unplug/replug the DVI port if you get a black display (longer term solution is to define a VESA supported resolution in your com.apple.Boot.plist.

 

No ATI rom or kext hackery required.

[joescarborough]

Don't know what I've done exactly, but everything seems to be falling apart. I'm going to do a fresh install, follow your suggestions, and will post again with the results.

[joescarborough]

Okay, so after clean install and update, if I use GraphicsEnabler=No, I get a grey apple indefinitely (-v shows hanging after device in slot 1), until I boot to single-user mode and mv ATI5000Controller.kext. After that I boot fine, as long as I use GraphicsEnabler=No.

[bcc9]

Okay, so after clean install and update, if I use GraphicsEnabler=No, I get a grey apple indefinitely (-v shows hanging after device in slot 1), until I boot to single-user mode and mv ATI5000Controller.kext. After that I boot fine, as long as I use GraphicsEnabler=No.

When using kabyl's branch of chameleon to inject ATI EFI strings, you *do* want GraphicsEnabler turned on. Turning off GraphicsEnabler is what people use when using a different means to inject the necessary ATI EFI strings (such as netkas's ATY_Init kext). I'd recommend kabyl's solution, and so using GraphicsEnabler. With my sapphire 5670 my complete com.apple.Boot.plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.
 com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
 <plist version="1.0">
 <dict>
		 <key>Kernel</key>
		 <string>mach_kernel</string>
		 <key>Kernel Flags</key>
		 <string>arch=i386 -v</string>
		 <key>EthernetBuiltIn</key>
		 <string>Yes</string>
		 <key>GraphicsEnabler</key>
		 <string>Yes</string>
		 <key>AtiConfig</key>
		 <string>Uakari</string>
		 <key>Graphics Mode</key>
		 <string>1600x1200x32</string>
 </dict>
 </plist>

You'll probably need to tweak the resolution to a lower VESA resolution.

[joescarborough]

Anytime I use GraphicsEnabler=Yes, I boot to a black screen with "No Video." With verbose mode, I still see loading up until shortly after pciroot is acknowledged, then video disappears.

[bcc9]

Anytime I use GraphicsEnabler=Yes, I boot to a black screen with "No Video." With verbose mode, I still see loading up until shortly after pciroot is acknowledged, then video disappears.

So did you try this:

"You may need to unplug/replug the DVI port if you get a black display "

??

Are you even using DVI?

Can you at least boot single user in this situation without loosing the video (you should be able to).

[joescarborough]

I will double-check everything tonight, as I did something god-awful to the system yesterday, and spent quite awhile getting rid of a kernel panic.

 

I primarily use HDMI, but also use DVI and VGA (just to confirm that all three work, really). My latest testing has been with HDMI, but I will try unplugging and re-plugging tonight. I tried setting a manual resolution, but that did not seem to help. As I recall, no matter what other values I enter at boot, GraphicsEnabler=Yes caused a blank screen. Again, since my system works once more, I will try again tonight.

[joescarborough]

dothacker and bcc9, thank you, thank you, thank you. I don't know what I had done previously to foul up my configuration, but this time around, implementing your settings has video working beautifully, at least in VGA. HDMI and DVI were being difficult for me earlier, but I'm okay with that for now. Thanks again, this saves me the extra effort of selling this card and buying a new one (and hoping it works).

[bcc9]

Great, glad it's finally working for you. So did you use the Uakari ATI config or the default (Bonobo)?