Lenovo E420 HD 3000 black screen (Framebuffer patching?)

[GameX2]

Hello!

As of 2022, this is a follow-up to this old thread:

I have been struggling with this since 2014, and although this old laptop is no longer my main computer, I never figured out why it doesn't work while it SHOULD, and it's driving me nuts. =(
Model: Lenovo Thinkpad E420
Motherboard: 1141BTF
CPU: Intel Core i5-2540m (Sandy Bridge - 2nd Gen) 1366x768
Graphics: Intel HD 3000 Graphics (6-series)
RAM: 2 x 4 GB
OS: High Sierra 10.13.6 (Same problem since... Mavericks? Lol. I started with Chimera at the time, then Clover, then OpenCore as of now)
OpenCore 0.7.6

SMBIOS: MacBookPro8,1
boot-args -v keepsyms=1 debug=0x100 alcid=1 igfxonln=1 agdpmod=vit9696

macOS is bootable with device-id <00000000> which disable the HD 3000 iGPU, however stuck @ 1024x768 with no QE/CI. If we remove the line, we get a black screen on boot on the internal display or any other option (Laptop has VGA and HDMI. I only care for the internal display by now lol). However, we are able to TeamViewer inside the OS and we can see that the system is functional at full resolution 1366x768 (It's glitchy but not sure if it's the old laptop and/or outdated TeamViewer version on High Sierra - Using Clover back then, TeamViewer was fluid).

Using TeamViewer, I managed to dump a log of IOREG and "System Informations" at full resolution and attached it here hoping this may help troubleshooting.
Pretty sure the solution is related to WhateverGreen framebuffer patching ( https://github.com/acidanthera/What...-hd-graphics-20003000-sandy-bridge-processors ) and/or patching bus IDs ( https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore...l-patching/busid.html#parsing-the-framebuffer ) but try as I might, I never pulled it off since years =(

Apparently, someone actually succeeded as he provided his SSDT ( https://dsdt-database.monster/thinkpad-edge-e420-opencore/ ) . No use without a functional Config.plist however huh.

 

I recently tried this on different forums (with help from @Shaneee !):

 

DeviceProperties
    Add
        PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x2,0x0)
            AAPL,snb-platform-id <00010000>
            framebuffer-patch-enable <01000000>
            framebuffer-patch-enable <00003001>
            device-id <16010000>

 

Unfortunately, still black screen and idk what to do anymore
Can provide EFI if needed!

Appreciate the help,
Regards

IOREG.zip

[LockDown]

Have you tried EDID?

[GameX2]

Thank you Hervé for the help and detailed response.

 

This is what I have now, with MacBookPro8,1 as always (generated with GenSMBIOS) - Unfortunately, I still have the black screen on boot.

 

boot-args		String		-v keepsyms=1 debug=0x100 alcid=11

Included is the ID I obtained from Monitor Asset Manager (MonInfo) in Windows 11, with no external display attached:

00 FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 4C A3 4C 30 00 00 00 00 00 14 01 03 80 1F 11 78 EA 87 F5 94 57 4F 8C 27 27 50 54 00 00 00 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 97 1D 56 E8 50 00 16 30 30 20 25 00 35 AE 10 00 00 19 00 00 00 0F 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 25 D9 06 6A 00 00 00 00 FE 00 53 41 4D 53 55 4E 47 0A 20 4C A3 41 54 00 00 00 FE 00 4C 54 4E 31 34 30 41 54 32 30 34 30 31 00 D0

When I did it years ago in 2014, it was also a similar process under Windows 7.  At the time, still on the internal screen, I had a slightly different ID:

00 FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 4C A3 4C 30 00 00 00 00 00 14 01 03 80 1F 11 78 EA 87 F5 94 57 4F 8C 27 27 50 54 00 00 00 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 12 1B 56 60 50 00 16 30 30 20 25 00 35 AE 10 00 00 19 00 00 00 0F 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 25 D9 06 6A 00 00 00 00 FE 00 53 41 4D 53 55 4E 47 0A 20 4C A3 41 54 00 00 00 FE 00 4C 54 4E 31 34 30 41 54 32 30 34 30 31 00 DF

They should not be any different... Uncertain on which one was correct, I followed another process from here (The DOS way):

 

I obtained the "edid-out" file and extracted the raw EDID from a Hex editor.  I ended up getting the same EDID as MonInfo, which should safely confirm that it's correct:

 

00 FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 4C A3 4C 30 00 00 00 00 00 14 01 03 80 1F 11 78 EA 87 F5 94 57 4F 8C 27 27 50 54 00 00 00 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 97 1D 56 E8 50 00 16 30 30 20 25 00 35 AE 10 00 00 19 00 00 00 0F 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 25 D9 06 6A 00 00 00 00 FE 00 53 41 4D 53 55 4E 47 0A 20 4C A3 41 54 00 00 00 FE 00 4C 54 4E 31 34 30 41 54 32 30 34 30 31 00 D0

 

The IOREG was obtained on the black screen with no external display attached, using TeamViewer, so I am not sure why IOREG report everything perfect, but no go.

 

If any help, here's the output of lspci -nn I obtained long ago, confirming me that I have a 6 series chipset and not a 7 series.

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller [8086:0104] (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0116] (rev 09)
00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 [8086:1c3a] (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 [8086:1c2d] (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller [8086:1c20] (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 [8086:1c10] (rev b4)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 [8086:1c12] (rev b4)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3 [8086:1c14] (rev b4)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4 [8086:1c16] (rev b4)
00:1c.7 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 8 [8086:1c1e] (rev b4)
00:1d.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 [8086:1c26] (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation HM65 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller [8086:1c49] (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port SATA AHCI Controller [8086:1c03] (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller [8086:1c22] (rev 04)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 06)
03:00.0 System peripheral [0880]: Ricoh Co Ltd PCIe SDXC/MMC Host Controller [1180:e823] (rev 07)
08:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter [10ec:8176] (rev 01)

Quote

Is it really worth carrying on after 8 or 9 years of persistent failure???

 

Oh well, people were not successful, I've had help in the past but I must have done things incorrectly, according to you (and you must be right) it should be all we need, but the odd thing is the laptop haha, it should be compatible, but it's not (I'm definitely very curious about the solution, if any) 😂🥲 Thankfully for me I didn't played with it for 7 years, it sat mostly unused until Clover came out and then OpenCore, so I tried again with the newer technologies and also WhateverGreen documentation that did not existed at the time.  I got encouraged by this guy recently claiming it works, but no config.plist provided, so I decided to give it another go: https://dsdt-database.monster/thinkpad-edge-e420-opencore/

Thanks again for all the help

Edited January 13, 2022 by GameX2

[GameX2]

34 minutes ago, Hervé said:

What if you put laptop to sleep and wake it?

Oh, and after any change to your OpenCore config, remember to perform a ResetNVRAM (from OC Picker) at 1st reboot.

 

I had a look at that database monster stuff; totally useless and horrid ! 

 

Just tried what you suggested - Seems sleep is broken (for now): with iGPU disabled on purpose (device-id <00000000>), going to the Apple menu > Suspend will cause the screen to go black (lighted) but the laptop is still running.  Pressing a key on the keyboard will wake it right away.  If we click "suspend" on the login screen instead, the screen freeze on this frame.  Again, pressing a key will wake it.  Closing the laptop lid instead, will cause the laptop led to blink ~9 times, go to sleep (fans will stop like normal), and restart 2 seconds later - Laptop is running with the lid closed.

 

Tried this process without device-id <00000000> as normal, on the lighted black screen with TeamViewer.  Apple menu > Suspend, screen will turn off.  Pressing a key returning to the black screen lighted.  Cloding the lid, same result.

I say black screen lighted, because I forgot to mention: Function keys are not working (not a priority lol) but I'm able with TeamViewer to got into Preferences>Display and see the brightness slider at the maximum.  If I play with the brightness slider, the laptop brightness will definitely change despite the black screen (So at least we know brightness isn't at zero).

 

"Database Monster Stuff" lol too.  Not only covered with ads, but one file is missing from his archive.  Without proof, I suspect they might be robots, idk (It's just odd because why would this be posted in July 2021?  Why now, this laptop is from 2011...

Oh and yes, now I reset NVRAM everytime Last week I forgot and now never again hehe

Edited January 13, 2022 by GameX2

[GameX2]

2 hours ago, Hervé said:

No point trying the sleep/wake exercise with acceleration disabled; the aim was to see if this fixed the issue on wake or not but with acceleration enabled. Anyway, you've done it and issue remains.

 

Wanna try this?

https://osxlatitude.com/forums/topic/10236-how-to-fix-black-screen-in-high-sierra

It's EDID related too but it aims to inject Apple's ids instead of the original vendor's.

 

Thank you.  I've read throught the tutorial and tried but no luck either, same black screen (black screen with no cursor at all that is).

 

The tutorial said to dump the EDID with DarwinDumper which I did, on the black screen via TeamViewer (does it matter if a previous EDID was already included in the config.plist?  Could this falsify our results, or it really dump it from the screen no matter what?).  I used FixEDID.app and then converted the result from base64 to HEX as instructed.

 

Essentially, I did 4 attemps, dropping 4 BIN files in FixEDID.app and then converted them all, one by one.

 

Dumped with DarwinDumper (Apple MacBook Air Display 16:9) as instructed by the tutorial:

00FFFFFF FFFFFF00 0610F29C 00000000 1A150104 951A0E78 02EF0597 57549227 22505400 00000101 01010101 01010101 01010101 0101121B 56605000 16303020 250035AE 10000019 000000FC 00436F6C 6F72204C 43440A20 20200000 00FE0053 414D5355 4E470A20 4CA34154 000000FE 004C544E 31343041 54323034 30310009

Dumped with GET-EDID.EXE in FreeDOS previously(And fixed to Apple MacBookPro) - The output file from DOS has no extension, is RAW and the HEX EDID can be obtained in a HEX Editor.  I assumed it was binary format but I might have been mistaken:

00FFFFFF FFFFFF00 061014A0 00000000 0A160104 A51D1278 026FB1A7 554C9E25 0C505400 00000101 01010101 01010101 01010101 0101121B 56605000 16303020 250035AE 10000019 000000FC 00436F6C 6F72204C 43440A20 20200000 00FE0053 414D5355 4E470A20 4CA34154 000000FE 004C544E 31343041 54323034 303100B5

Dumped with GET-EDID.EXE in FreeDOS previously(And fixed to Apple MacBook Air)

00FFFFFF FFFFFF00 061014A0 00000000 0A160104 A51D1278 026FB1A7 554C9E25 0C505400 00000101 01010101 01010101 01010101 0101121B 56605000 16303020 250035AE 10000019 000000FC 00436F6C 6F72204C 43440A20 20200000 00FE0053 414D5355 4E470A20 4CA34154 000000FE 004C544E 31343041 54323034 303100B5

I tested all 4 IDs in AAP:00,override-no-connect <Data> format as usual, keeping the spaces in (don't think it matters, does it?).  I made sure to clear NVRAM after every attempt.  On all 4 attempts, I ended up on the black screen.  I hope I did this correctly
 

This time I used TeamViewer on my Ryzen 3950X Hackintosh rather than my Android.  True that TeamViewer on the laptop is outdated because of High Sierra being old, but TeamViewer slowness/glitchyness was awful still and it doesn't seem normal - Back when I tried TeamViewer in the Clover days, I don't remember it being that bad tho 🤨  It takes about 1 minute to connect and ~30 seconds for anything to happen when you click.  In some cases, the Finder is responsive but that's really the only thing, the Dock is slow as hell and everything else, sometimes I had to force shut down and start TeamViewer again.  Could the old TeamViewer be broken with QE/CI ?  TeamViewer is running very fast with acceleration disabled 🤨 Both the laptop and desktop are wired Internet too, no choice.

 

See the Finder menu bar, the Desktop and the Dock appearing glitched here:

 

In some cases, this get as worse as this, but this is all temporary.  Just VERY slow (guess why it took me so longer to reply? ) - I don't think it can be considered normal 🤨  Years ago, someone said it worked flawlessly with QE/CI using VNC remote control.  It might be a good idea to try an alternative just to check.

 

Thanks again!

 

 

 

[GameX2]

1 hour ago, Hervé said:

I'm pretty sure you should do your dumps without any form of EDID injection to begin with.

 

Deleted the line AAPL00,override-no-connect and kept the rest.

Still on the black screen, I attempted to remote control with VNC, which logged in but all VNC showed was a black rectangle.  Later on I tried the included macOS ScreenSharing.app (cool stuff, I didn't knew this existed bundled), which connected about a bit.  Seem more fluid than TeamViewer but tbh not by much, still very slow and glitchy sometimes.  Then I dumped the EDID again with DarwinDumper.  This this I tried them all lol

Cinema HD 16:10

00FFFFFF FFFFFF00 06103292 7C9F0002 2A100104 80402878 2AFE87A3 574A9C25 13505400 00000101 01010101 01010101 01010101 0101971D 56E85000 16303020 250035AE 10000019 000000FC 0043696E 656D6120 48440A00 00000000 00FF0043 59363432 305A3655 47310A00 000000FE 004C544E 31343041 54323034 30310012

LED Cinema Display 16:10

00FFFFFF FFFFFF00 06103692 00220D02 03130104 A5342078 266EA1A7 554C9D25 0E505400 00000101 01010101 01010101 01010101 0101971D 56E85000 16303020 250035AE 10000019 000000FC 004C4544 2043696E 656D610A 20200000 00FF0032 41393033 34315A30 4B300A20 000000FE 004C544E 31343041 54323034 3031002A

iMac 16:10 / iMac Retina 16:9 (Both are identical.  Double-checked)

00FFFFFF FFFFFF00 061012A0 00000000 1C160104 B5301B78 226FB1A7 554C9E25 0C505400 00000101 01010101 01010101 01010101 0101971D 56E85000 16303020 250035AE 10000019 000000FC 00694D61 630A2020 20202020 20200000 00FE0053 414D5355 4E470A20 4CA34154 000000FE 004C544E 31343041 54323034 30310022

MacBook Air 16:9

00FFFFFF FFFFFF00 0610F29C 00000000 1A150104 951A0E78 02EF0597 57549227 22505400 00000101 01010101 01010101 01010101 0101971D 56E85000 16303020 250035AE 10000019 000000FC 00436F6C 6F72204C 43440A20 20200000 00FE0053 414D5355 4E470A20 4CA34154 000000FE 004C544E 31343041 54323034 303100FA

MacBook Pro 16:10

00FFFFFF FFFFFF00 061014A0 00000000 0A160104 A51D1278 026FB1A7 554C9E25 0C505400 00000101 01010101 01010101 01010101 0101971D 56E85000 16303020 250035AE 10000019 000000FC 00436F6C 6F72204C 43440A20 20200000 00FE0053 414D5355 4E470A20 4CA34154 000000FE 004C544E 31343041 54323034 303100A6

Thunderbolt 16:09

00FFFFFF FFFFFF00 06102792 1F002316 23160104 B53C2278 226FB1A7 554C9E25 0C505400 00000101 01010101 01010101 01010101 0101971D 56E85000 16303020 250035AE 10000019 000000FC 00546875 6E646572 626F6C74 0A200000 00FF0043 30324A39 30305846 3247430A 000000FE 004C544E 31343041 54323034 30310057

Same process, dumped, FixEDID.app and then converted to HEX.  Modified Config.plist on each attempt re-adding/editing AAPL00,override-no-connect as data type, made sure to clear NVRAM everytime (even had to double check once), unfortunately still black screen of doom. 😂

 

Idk if revelant at all, but the furthest I ever went with this, the black screen switched to a green switch at one point, I believe when I connected an HDMI monitor to it as a test couple of days before our discussion.

 

Appreciate the help again - I'll probably dream in hexa tonight 😵‍💫

Edited January 14, 2022 by GameX2

[CrisHotpatch]

Great tests and conclusions. This is leading me on how I should proceed in the solution here on a laptop that is also having a black screen. It has an i7-2620M processor and the iGPU is an Intel HD Graphics 3000. I'll get back to you if there are any positive results.

[Slice]

Sometimes 'slide=0" cures artifacts on SandyBridge graphics.