8800 GTS Resolution limited to 1360x768 - acceleration working fine.

[koalaelf]

For some reason, the resolutions available in System Preferences > Displays are a maximum of 1280x1024 or 1360x768. The TV i am connecting to has a native resolution of 1920x1080, and it worked fine with my older nVidia 7600 GS - which had MANY more resolution options available - up to and beyond what is required.

 

I have set the Graphics Mode in Chameleon to force the resolution to be 1920x1080, which works fine for the operating system, but the second I load a game such as World of Warcraft, the resolution is limited again.

 

System Profiler appears to be detecting all of the graphics card's 320MB memory, unlike other peoples similar experiences I have found via Google. Quartz Extreme and Core Image appear to be working due to Front Row loading fine and Dashboard "ripple" effect displaying with no problems.

 

Sorry for my first post to be a question, but I am stumped - yet I reckon the solution is likely to make me feel very stupid. I figured rather than drive myself mad with this - I would check whether a more experienced OSx86'er here can kindly offer me some insight, or point me in the right direction.

 

Should I be looking at editing the DSDT, using EFI studio or a kext or what? I am willing to put in the effort to get a decent, stable system - but as you can see this is new to me - hence the use of a simple install technique as detailed in my signature.

 

I will need to get my head around editing the DSDT anyway since my sleep and shutdown are not functioning correctly, but I wanted to get a working system before I started breaking it again!

 

I will be grateful for any tidbits of info anyone can spare. Many thanks for reading.

[koalaelf]

In case anyone wants to have a look - I have uploaded a screenshot of the System Profiler screen for the graphics card here :

http://i1000.photobucket.com/albums/af122/...SHackintosh.png

 

 

Currently, the /Extra/Extensions.store has these kexts in :

AppleACPIPS2Nub.kext

AsusP5WDHDeluxe.kext

fakesmc.kext

VoodooPS2Controller.kext

 

 

And my com.apple.Boot.plist in the /Extra folder looks like this :

 

<?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>DSDT</key>

<string>/Extra/DSDT.aml</string>

<key>Default Partition</key>

<string>hd(0,2)</string>

<key>Graphics Mode</key>

<string>1920x1080x32</string>

<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>

<string>Yes</string>

<key>Kernel</key>

<string>mach_kernel</string>

<key>Kernel Flags</key>

<string>-x32</string>

<key>Quiet Boot</key>

<string>Yes</string>

<key>SMBIOS</key>

<string>/Extra/smbios.plist</string>

<key>Theme</key>

<string>Default</string>

<key>Timeout</key>

<string>3</string>

</dict>

</plist>

[Gringo Vermelho]

You should upgrade to Chameleon 2.0 RC5. Judging by your screenshot (Video ROM version is not correct), you're using an old version.

 

I think your issue might have something to do with the fact that you're using an adapter. Is there no way to connect the display digitally?

 

Also:

 

DSDT

/Extra/DSDT.aml

 

Redundant, /Extra is the default location for DSDT.aml

 

Kernel Flags

-x32

 

Invalid for Chameleon. The correct flag is arch=i386

 

SMBIOS

/Extra/smbios.plist

 

Redundant, /Extra is the default location for smbios.plist.

 

Quiet Boot

Yes

 

Timeout

3

 

If you have Quiet Boot set, do you even see the timeout?

[koalaelf]

You should upgrade to Chameleon 2.0 RC5. Judging by your screenshot (Video ROM version is not correct), you're using an old version.

 

I think your issue might have something to do with the fact that you're using an adapter. Is there no way to connect the display digitally?

 

Thanks for your input Gringo. Your suggestion re. the adapter made sense; with the old card I was using a straight VGA cable. I went out and bought a DVI-HDMI cable, since unfortunately there is no DVI input on the TV.

 

The result of the new cable is that the required 1920x1080 resolution is now available as shown here :

http://i1000.photobucket.com/albums/af122/...5upgrade001.png

http://i1000.photobucket.com/albums/af122/...5upgrade002.png

 

However, when this resolution is selected, on the top, bottom and sides of the screen - a small amount of the image is now missing off the edge. In other words, it is as though the resolution is too big for the screen or is somehow scaling incorrectly. This was not an issue I encountered with the 7600 GS, so I am assuming it has little to do with the TV itself. It is enough to make the menubar and dock disappear completely.

 

Is this an issue you have come across before? Again i have tried to search for it, but it isn't a particularly easy search term to find decent results for.

 

I will upgrade to Chameleon RC5 as suggested - I plan to use iReset's installer package (found here : http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=231075) since I don't have the confidence to try doing it manually at the moment.

 

I'll also fix those things you mentioned in the com.apple.plist and keep messing around to try and make more sense of everything - maybe try my hand at creating more customized DSDT - you never know I might stumble upon a solution.

 

I am still trying to figure out how chameleon, the com.apple.boot.plist file, kexts, DSDT, mkext etc all fit together - even with all the wonderful resources and wisdom shared by people on this site and elsewhere, I feel like I am flailing in the dark a little. If nothing else I am learning stuff - but this resolution issue is incredibly frustrating!

[Gringo Vermelho]

However, when this resolution is selected, on the top, bottom and sides of the screen - a small amount of the image is now missing off the edge. In other words, it is as though the resolution is too big for the screen or is somehow scaling incorrectly. This was not an issue I encountered with the 7600 GS, so I am assuming it has little to do with the TV itself. It is enough to make the menubar and dock disappear completely.

 

Is this an issue you have come across before? Again i have tried to search for it, but it isn't a particularly easy search term to find decent results for.

 

Disable overscan (see your own screenshot).

[koalaelf]

Disable overscan (see your own screenshot).

 

When I disable overscan, the screen goes blank and then displays a "static" effect all over - ie. no picture at all, just white/black speckles like an untuned TV. Waiting for the resolution to revert, or rebooting does not fix this - I have to restore an older backup of the OS from another partition. (I am sure I could have found and manually edited/replaced the display pref file - but it seemed quicker just to copy the whole lot!)

 

Not sure why that happens, although I did see exactly the same effect a few times when changing resolutions after first plugging in via the DVI>HDMI cable. I fixed it by restoring from a backup - and at some point it just stopped doing it - no idea why as I don't think I changed anything.

 

Thanks for giving me a name for which to search for other solutions though - I had no idea it was called overscan, so that at least is a step in the right direction!