Really wierd problem with the 6870

[syntax21]

Im using an old dell inspiron 530 as my hackintosh. Works great actually, and Ima throw a quad core in it soon. I threw one of my 6870 gpus in it and it worked great, as I couldn't get the 9600gt I had in it to have proper acceleration. (10.6.8)

Now fast forward to a new installation, same settings same kexts and same options on iATKOS.

When it passes the bootloader, it doesnt even show an apple logo before stopping and the GPU's fan spins at max speed. I tried -v, but the problem is to fast to read it.

I have tried everything, new installations, boot flags, everything. I've been hunting around online for this problem, but the only problems I find with the 6870 are black screen/white screen problems, after an apple logo. What stumps me is this worked for me before, just plugged it in and BAM, it worked perfectly.

Thanks ahead of time for you help, and any additional info I can provide if needed, I just dont know where to start. It works when I use the onboard GPU, the 9600, but not this one.

[eep357]

for bootflags you've tried, were any of them like this?

<key>AtiConfig</key>
<string>Gibba</string>
<key>AtiPorts</key>
<string>5</string>
<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>
<string>Yes</string>

[syntax21]

Ill try that, however I didnt do that the first time when it worked just fine. And I did already try

GraphicsEnabler=yes

=)

_____________

No cigar...still fires up the fans and doesnt even start to load.

If it helps, I can record what its doing and upload it.

[eep357]

also take a look here for possible modified kext depending on card layout http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=279100&st=0&p=1822821&hl=6870%20framebuffer%20&fromsearch=1entry1822821 ATI6000controller edited by TH3L4UGH1NGMAN who quite possibly is a genius amongst geniuses and founder of his local Mensa chapter.

[syntax21]

I did already try that kext and some others as well. However, it origionally worked without these. (thats cool an the mesa thing though.)

Meanwhile, I will try something I did last time I think, though I doubt it should help, but worth a try.

Oh wait his kext is different

Ill try it as well

[eep357]

Duckweed may be another Framebuffer to try as well. that it worked before without doing anything extra is irrelevant because obviously it doesn't work doing the same thing now. Also since your using a disastro to install who knows what other crud may be on there with it and prob and older bootloader version as well. Upgrade Chameleon b4 anything.

 

the Mensa thing was me BSing

[syntax21]

oh well nice bsing lol

and I am on the latest Chamelion. And I dont think its actually loading the kexts, not even seeming to get that far from what -v tells me in the millasecond it shows...

[eep357]

wait, so you kernel panicing, not booting with no display?

 

in that case, what does it say above the milliseconds? a picture would be worth a few hundred words

 

or does it reboot instantly?

 

have you tried using bootflags together: -v -x -f npci=0x3000

 

based on what I'm gathering thus far tho, doesnt sound like it has anything to do with graphics card if your barely getting past chameleon boot prompt

[artur_pt]

hi

 

about ati read that

 

http://olarila.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=736

 

but my opinion about u tell, is not the graphics u problem...

 

good hack

[syntax21]

Im not home currently and I just woke up. I will try what eep suggested, however I'm sure I tried something like that before. And I already have fulfilled the steps in the guide suggested above, however again the first time I didn't need to do this. However the first time I was screwing around with getting the 9600 to work, so that might have something to do with why it worked. What really confuses me is it doesnt even show me a kernal panic, or show signs of it.

Here's some more info on this problem-

The dell I'm using is a pretty wierd rig. I think I had this problem happen in one of my custom AMD computers yesturday (890FXA-GD70 mobo), although I didn't know it was this problem at the time. As soon as it exited chamelion, the computer restarted, seemingly immediatly after the bootloader. I assumed this was a problem with the AHCI mode on my motherboard. (sounds like that wouldn't be the problem since it passed the bootloader, but that motherboard does really, really irratic things when you switch it to AHCI, so I assumed it was the problem. Its really my only complaint about the motherboard so far I can think of off hand.)

Anyway I think the dell is doing the same thing, but not restarting rather just hanging, possibly explaining the fan goin to on/off mode. To my memory this dell does that, hangs instaed of restarting.

I don't know enought about the MAC boot process, Im doing this to learn how to use macs XD. But what I assume is this is tripping up before loading any kexts, and It has to somehow be a boot flag of some kind I need. I'll be looking into this deeper, but Im stumped so far simply due to lack of knowledge, so all help is still appreciated.

I'm goin to look at that above guide one more time than I will try to replicate what I did last time to the best of my memory.

Might I mention again that when I switch to any other grpahics card It works with generic graphics, as normal

[syntax21]

update-

at -v the last few lines seem to say something like- (took a video, but cant find cable)

No SmBios replacement found

Patched DMI Table

Found SMBIOS System Information Table 1

Using SMBIOS UUID='444[Cant read past there, cut off on video]

[WARNING] /extra/DSDT.aml not found

Using PCI-Root-UID value 0

ATI VGA Controller [1002:6738] :: PciRoot(0x0[sorry, again its cut off]

old pci command - 7

boot display - 0

duping pci [something or another it disapeared really fast]

 

again when I take the card out or put a different one in it works just fine.

[eep357]

What your seeing is chameleon, after that screen the boot process should be handed off to osx and continue booting from there along with loading extensions, etc. AHCI is not needed to get chameleon to work, but OSX will fail to boot if not enabled. On some dells, having it enabled can make to bios post take FOREVER. Usually this is on models that don't have seperate options for IDE, RAID and AHCI so you must choose RAID mode, then bios always looks for a RAID for a while before moving on to boot. So to clarify after the last lines you see above, does it reboot or just stop and hang? adding -x boot flag will run safe mode where only generic VESA video drivers loaded and should get past any issues directly related to your graphics. adding -f will prevent it from trying to load kernel and extensions from the cached version and instead reload them all as a traditional boot would do, until you've had the system up and running with the current hardware, if there is a kernel cache, it won't include the proper extensions, so you need to prevent it from loading. You can also adjust the VESA resolution from Chameleon boot prompt if text is getting cut off. Different PCI root could help as well. Want to try the easy stuff first. So after making sure AHCI is enabled or RAID mode if no AHCI option, then try booting wit ALL these commands written exactly as I have:

 

-x -v -f npci=0x2000 PciRootID=1 USBBusFix=Yes

 

if not work, then try without PciRootID. can also try adding cpus=1 flag.

 

Again, still not sure by what you posted so if you can clarify, as knowing if THIS pc with 6870 is actually restarting as if you had hit the reset button, or just display goes black, or if it freezes will make a HUGE difference in diag the problem

 

again when I take the card out or put a different one in it works just fine.

What do you mean by it works fine if you take the card OUT OR put in a different one? I get the working with different card, but sounds like you also saying it works fine with no graphics card of any kind installed?

[syntax21]

there is an onboard gpu. I did get it to work, it was actually a conflict with some other kexts related to the CPU power management, but it still didn't explain that had caused that, I think it whatever it was doing actually was shorting my gpu, because another PSU I tried actually tripped and shut off. I cant believe it!

(the current psu setup has no failsafe as I have the GPU on a separate PSU, that psu is just resisted to minimum load and jumped, no PWK_OK or whatever that pin is called was hooked up. )

I am speechless as I never thought this was the problem, but the sound it was making was very odd I knew, I actually recorded it but I could find my iPod cable. (I have no camera, just an ipod 5th with me)

So what seemed to be happening was the GPU was shorting or something, which seemed to back-feed to the rest of the mobo. I guess the PSU on the mobo did trip, however was for some reason kept on almost like the green wire was jumped, causing the GPU to spin like that. That’s either because of some backfeed, or it’s a {censored} GPU I’m not really sure I’m not adept enough to figure that out, nor do I care to.

I learn something every day

Glad my GPU is ok. I did take my more powerful psu that could handle this card and put it in the case, and it simply shut off when it got past the bootloader, no restart. So upon investigation with a multimeter I found it had got an irregular voltage from somewhere and shut off or something along those lines. I deleted all unnecessary kexts (for some reason safe mode didn't work, but this did....-.-) and I was delighted to see an apple logo. After solving a couple more issues, I added some the kexts back one by one until I encountered the problem again, and it ended up being that voodo pstate or whatever its called. I am so shocked this was the problem.

And now I am happily using the 6870 will qeci and all the goodies, now I just need to replace it with a cheep card...my local best buy has a 6570 I might pick up tomorrow.

Thanks for your help, I still cant believe this. -.-

Anyway now I have this problem, a very minor one-

http://www.insanelym...9